#ch:bea

There was no reason to be at the property line, staring at her parents’ home, but Bea found herself there nevertheless. It was as if someone had placed a magnet in her navel, drawing her with such intensity she couldn’t deviate from the path until she reached this line. The knife had been made, beautifully crafted and the last part of her quest for revenge seemed done. Yet, she didn’t feel finished. Her mother didn’t know it was finished and Bea hated stories that were never completed. She stepped through the line, knowing her parents would feel her there, just as she could feel those who came to her home. She leaned against their porch railing, a carefully constructed mask of calm over her as she waited. There was no need for her to knock, they would come soon enough. She had agonized over how she would look when she came here, her appearance would tell as much of a story as her words did. Wearing the white pantsuit had been an obvious choice, a reflection of her mother’s own fashion choices at her daughter’s age. Bare neck, scar on display had been a difficult decision, but one Bea made nonetheless. Let them see what had been done to her and let them understand that she was not ashamed of it. A symbol of power. Or at least, Bea was determined to make it one. As the door swung open, Bea didn’t move from her place, ankles crossed as she leaned. She wouldn’t have her mother see her as anything but in control here. “I believe it’s time for us to have a discussion in person,” She told her mother nodding to the seats on the porch. She wouldn’t be going into the home, that was giving her mother far too much control.

Somehow it was Nisa’s eldest daughter that was the last to return home. Even a pseudo-daughter in the form of Leah had come back before Beatrice had, demanding to know if Nisa had even cared that her daughter had died. That the other two had undergone more pain than the average person could imagine. And of course she cared. What kind of mother’s heart didn’t break to learn that she’s lost a daughter? That the girls she’d brought into this world to protect were facing all the hardships she’d never wanted them to find? It wasn’t so simple, but her daughters didn’t want to listen. It wasn’t surprising when it came to Nell. The youngest Vural had never wanted to listen. But Luce had always been eager to please, and Beatrice had been the most ready and obedient of them all, a star that shined so brightly it had given Nisa hope. But she supposed Beatrice had been the one with the most to lose, so it made sense that she would be the last to return. 

But Beatrice hadn’t come here to listen. That much was obvious in her choice of clothes, stance, and words. Nisa couldn’t help the sad smile that spread over her lips as she made the connection, already recognizing herself in her eldest daughter. Everything carefully chosen down to the way she wore her scar like armor, just as Nisa would have done. “Sure, sweetie,” she began as easily as any other day, though she couldn’t even remember the details of the last civil conversation her and Beatrice had. “What exactly did you want to discuss?” She’d let Beatrice think she was in control for now— no doubt that was the best way to find out why her daughter had come.

Nisa Vural was a dangerous woman and Bea was aware that as good as she was at control, her mother was better. She had taught her daughter some of the tricks of the trade but kept enough hidden to always keep the upper hand. The one thing Bea had in her corner was the fact that her mother had not seen her in months, she did not know her as well as she once did. The things that she could use to get under her skin were dull now from lack of use. Though, the eldest daughter knew that she couldn’t discount her mother’s ways. This was a battle and they both knew it. They both had weapons to wield and hurt. 

She pulled out the knife slowly, obvious to make sure her mother knew it wasn’t a threat. “I’m sure you’ve heard from the girls, but it’s done. The Hunter is dead,” She offered the knife to her mother to look at. There was no need for her mother to be told, to be given this closure, she didn’t deserve it, but Bea did. This chapter would be done after this. “I took a part of him like he took a part of me,” She smiled, pride clear on her face. 

A knife wasn’t what Nisa had expected. She recognized the non-threat, but it was still a surprise to watch the blade unfold from Beatrice’s hand. Reflexively she reached out to take it into her own hand, recognizing the bone of a man. This was the man who was responsible for her daughter’s death? A flame of vengeance ignited in her chest, pleased to know that Beatrice was no longer in danger from the man who’d stolen her life. But these movements didn't entirely match with the Beatrice she’d known. Nell had always been the one taking too much interest in the athames placed across the household altar, and Luce had her swords. Beatrice had always simply been flame, though she supposed killing the man who’d murdered her was simply another form of that fire. It was another thing entirely to learn that your daughters had killed. She knew Nell fancied herself some form of hunter, but Nisa had been kept on that outskirts of that, kept in the shadows for the better part of the last decade when it came to her youngest. There was something different about having physical proof lying in her hand. She was proud to know her daughter had solved the problem, ensuring that she would never be victim to the man again. And yet… “I never wanted this for you. To have to make these choices.”

Bea exhaled slowly through her nose, tears pricked at her eyes, but she would not let them fall here. She would not let her mother see how her words could still affect her. It was a good thing that they had taught her a poker face early in life. “I know you didn’t,” Nisa’s love for Bea was well known, it had been so great that her sisters had been left behind to fend for themselves. “But they were made.” Her rib cage felt cracked, broken and exposed to the world as though they could all feel the raw sorrow that these two women held for each other. “And you still made your own choices, ones we never would have made in your place.” That was the linchpin in all this, wasn’t it? All the horror that they had faced, accented with the betrayal from their mother. Bea, the most like her mother, could never see herself making these decisions as easily. She could not understand the disconnect, but perhaps her mother could explain some of the questions that had been rattling through her daughters for the last year.

There was the blame her other daughters had been so eager to thrust onto Nisa, unable to understand the choices she’d made when it came to the coven and their exile. “I know you wouldn’t have. I’m sure you know by now both your sisters have talked to me. Or yelled at me. Sometimes both.” It wasn’t pity she was looking for, but what Beatrice wanted was the truth. “Even Leah joined in, but I’m sure you already know that, as well.” Beatrice had always had Nisa’s gift to make friends in good places, to find those that were willing to go the extra miles she might need. “I can tell you what I told them, but I doubt you’ll like it anymore than they did.” Her conversation with Nell had been a disaster, with Luce not going much better. Leah had been the most productive, but that made sense considering her greater distance from the situation. Perhaps she could learn from the other talks with her daughters to make this one a success. “We can sit, gözümün nuru,” she told her daughter, heading towards the bench Beatrice had indicated when she’d arrived. 

“I was told,” Bea replied simply. She knew her sisters had spoken to their mother, she knew Leah had. She knew that her corner was stacked full of people who tried to handle this battle for her and for that she was blessed, but as much as this was her sisters’ fight too, Bea needed to handle their mother on her own. She needed to look into the mirror, she needed to see how who she had so desperately become was as flawed as them all. And she needed to see if they could mend any of the cracks they had both left. “I imagine you’ve had time to find a way to phrase your words in a less catastrophic way,” Bea quirked an eyebrow at her as she sat. “But why don’t you tell me your side and then I can respond. If we do it any other way, I think we’ll both be interrupting to defend ourselves.” Until this year, her mother had little faults in her eyes and now Bea could not remember something about her without it being tarnished. Was that the downfall of growth? Realizing the people that you had loved were more or less just as human and broken as you were? 

Beatrice’s fire had burned the brightest of her daughters, but the eldest had always been the most put together whether that was of Beatrice’s own design or Nisa’s, the one most in control of her flames. Even now it showed in the words she spoke, the careful choices she was making, and yet again the matriarch was reminded of their similarities. Somehow Beatrice was even closer to Nisa in these moments, finally taking the time to speak her own mind instead of giving her mother the words she thought Nisa wanted to hear. “Well I’ve always told you practice makes perfect.” Nisa had been a taskmaster of a mother, but she’d thought Beatrice had thrived under it. Handing the knife back to her daughter, she sat alongside the other woman on the bench, carefully gathering her words and thoughts until she decided on a path. “Did Lucinda mention your Uncle Tahir to you? I know I’ve talked about him less over the years, but maybe it’s time for you to know more.” She’d always been vague in the telling of her brother's death, worried that the details might push her daughters into a need for revenge, or frighten them into standing still. And she wanted her daughters to be scared of the world, but only in a sense of appropriate self-preservation. “You know I was pregnant with you when he was murdered?”

Her mother, her carefully put together and controlled mother, had had her brother. Bea had known this, been aware of how similar their stories had started and how differently they had ended. Tragedy in this family was a shared trauma, each colored similarly to another’s, but this was far too close and Bea had never thought of how her mother must have wondered what if after she heard the news of how far they had gone for Bea. “No, she didn’t. We didn’t go into details of how your conversation went.” That was too raw, too dangerous to dive into with each other. “I remember you telling me that, yes.” Her fingers held tightly to the knife, knowing the closure that she held as a lifeline was something that the woman next to her would never get. 

Nisa nodded along with her daughter's confirmation, watching Beatrice’s knuckles clench around her knife. “He was young with two children of his own on the way though he didn’t know it at the time- your cousins.” But he’d seen fit to sacrifice his own future for that of his sister’s and her unborn child. “He loved you even though he hadn’t met you yet, and I don’t think I could blame him.” He’d loved Nisa, too. “He died to buy us time- to make sure you and I could get away from Miriam while she was hunting us. I never wanted him to have died in vain.” She’d had the usual protectiveness of a mother, but also had the weight of her brother’s sacrifice hanging over her shoulder, trying to make sure that she and her daughters lived the safest of lives so that his death hadn’t been useless. “He’d died for you. For me, and for me to make sure you were protected. And to find out that you’d died despite all that-” Her shoulders were still perfectly straight, face carefully composed just as it always was when she spoke. “-I could only think of one way to make sure something like it never happened again. To take away one of the most important things in your lives’- your family. Surely it was a big enough consequence to have you and your sisters finally learn your lessons? To teach you to actually take care of yourselves and each other?” Of course there had also been the matter of the family’s pride, and the pressure of the coven, but she was certain Beatrice already knew those reasons.

Bea couldn’t help the tension that entered her shoulders when her mother mentioned her cousins, another part of her family unable to contact her. They had been close once upon a time and now she was treated like a stranger. Her lips pressed, unable to keep the disappointment from her face. “I’d like to think Uncle Tahir would understand better than anyone else why I dived in front of my baby sister. And I’d like to think that he wouldn’t think those actions should be punished.” She wished she could speak to him, he would understand her better than all the others did. She shook her head, “And you didn’t think we needed our family? Luce and Nell have always felt second best to me, they have always felt abandoned by you and you proved them right.” Her mouth felt dry, “What we did was taking care of each other. Those girls risked their lives for me, they went beyond what others would do for their family. How can you punish that? Would you have punished him for it?” She smoothed out her face and looked at her mother head-on, “You abandoned us, showed us that no one will be there for us if we need it. You put us in insurmountable danger by making us this vulnerable. You swept away our support system, our fallback for a lesson. What if the Hunter had come back for us? We would have no coven to help us, no mother or father to fight with us. Our cousins turn their backs to us and if we needed them you have made them decide to either let us suffer alone or face the consequences we do. You put us in more danger.”

“I’m not condemning you for wanting to protect your sister, Beatrice,” Nisa clarified. Perhaps she’d been unclear. “I’m saying that I wish Penelope would have taken my warnings to heart- that she would have learned the value of her life, and how fragile it really is, and all this could have been avoided in the first place. I’m not punishing the fact that you and your sisters were there for each other when you needed one another.” Her daughters had taken care of one another, but it had only been after the most dire of consequences. “It shouldn’t take the death of a sister to remind you all that you can do more than bring one another back to life. That sisters and brothers aren’t just meant for emergencies.” She’d seen the ways her girls had drifted with Lucinda distancing herself, and Penelope treating Beatrice more and more like she treated Nisa. As for her dedication to Beatrice, and Lucinda’s and Penelope’s feelings of being ignored...she supposed she could recognize that she’d been acutely focused on her eldest child. And yet… “You know Penelope shut me out as well. Once she decided to hate me there was no going back for her. But if they’d like to talk to me about such things, they know where I am.” Nisa was past the point of pretending that the coven rules would keep her from conversing with her daughters if they were careful.

“I ‘abandoned’ you, and how has it gone for your sisters and yourself? Are you still only actually talking to each other when one of you dies?” Nisa’s methods hadn’t been kind, but if they’d worked that was what mattered in the end. If they brought a stronger bond to her daughters that couldn’t be broken...they’d hopefully never have to worry about a hunter ever again. They’d solve the problem between the three of them before it got to the point of death. As for the hunter coming back… “I would have known if the three of you were actually still in danger. You think that just because you were exiled, I stopped watching? Leah has to have told you about the times I asked after you three as well as your other friends. I wasn’t foolish enough to think she wasn’t reporting back to you.” But her argument wasn’t air-tight, and she knew it. Still she couldn’t bring herself to admit that she’d been wrong. 

“Use the names we prefer,” Bea reminded Nisa, politely. Beatrice and Penelope didn’t bother the sisters, she knew that, but Lucinda did and it coming from Nisa would be far more painful than coming from her sisters. “I am aware that we aren’t meant for emergencies. I am aware of how my sisters treated me, but I am also so keenly aware of how I treated them. I treated them like they were burdens, people for me to mother and care for even if they didn’t want that. I would push someone away for that. Luce was right to push me away for that.” Bea had good intentions with her sisters, but that did not mean that she had always done the right things when it came to them. She had been so much like their mother that she had even thought of herself as separate from them, sisters but with hierarchy, and always Bea at the top. She might not have realized it at the time, but she had let her mother’s treatment of her sisters change everything in that family. She let out a soft breath, “Nell is not some coworker of yours that is acting childish. She was your kid, you were the adult in the situation, you can not blame her for looking at how you treated her and deciding to protect herself from your disappointment. Yes, of course, it is hard when a child is shutting you out, but she was a child. Everything there, in that power dynamic, leans toward you being the one in control. You can’t blame her solely for this.”

It was so incredibly like her mother to somehow twist this entire situation into being a good thing that she had done that Bea wasn’t surprised. “You did not lead to me and my sisters getting closer. Listen to me very closely, you did not do that. Your actions did not do that.” Hearing her own voice, Bea thought of the amount of times she heard this tone from the other woman. Every practice, every performance, every critique was done in this tone. “We understood what we had lost the moment I was gone. You taking something else from us did not teach us that we needed each other. We learnt together without you. We grew together without you. You do not get to take credit for the work those girls put into themselves and this.” She had pictured herself getting angry when speaking to Nisa and yet she was calm, standing within the eye of the storm. She controlled her emotions here, her mother would not break her. “Relying on my friend to tell you if we were in danger is a lame excuse for what a mother should be doing, Nisa.”

“If they’d like me to use different names, they can ask me.” Nisa replied sagely, not particularly wanting to fight this battle, but providing something of a compromise. Lucinda was the one who’d always objected to her name the most, and Nisa supposed she was grown enough to choose her own name nowadays, but she wouldn’t accept secondhand requests. “I’m more than happy to grant them the names they’d like now that they’re older. But they should be the ones to ask.” Nisa waited patiently while Beatrice outlined her various thoughts, tucking the few loose strands of hair the soft breeze had tugged from her intricate and braided bun behind an ear. “I never said I was blaming Penelope,” Nisa commented. Certainly it had been hard to raise a daughter that was always at odds with herself, always wondering how things had gotten so twisted, and being met with constant resistance. “Just providing a snippet of my own half of the experience. But if you don’t enjoy my answers then why did you come here, Beatrice? You said you wished to talk, but every time I do, you don’t seem to like what I say. 

“I’m not taking credit, dear,” Nisa continued on, beginning to wonder if any true progress would come from this conversation. “You asked for the truth, and the truth is that I did what I thought would best protect you. If you don’t wish to accept it, that’s your choice. But if it’s easier for you and your sisters to hate me whether it’s paired with knowing my side or not-” The mother’s shoulders raised in an elegant shrug that glossed over the place in her heart that missed her daughters dearly. The same one that held the grief for her brother, and her exiled mother. Did she miss them? Of course she did. What mother wouldn’t miss her own daughter, the precious life she’d cradled in her womb, and nourished into adulthood? But she’d learned long ago that aches such as these couldn’t always be helped, and matters only grew more complicated when her daughters had grown into their adulthood. “Like I said- I’m not sure what you and your sisters want, but I can’t change who I am. No more than I could change any of you. I did what I thought was best. I did my best.” 

A sigh slipped from between Bea’s lips, “They shouldn’t have to. You have seen what they prefer, you know it as well as I do, but you still choose to call Luce a name she doesn’t identify with.” Bea did too at times, maybe it was time to stop using it as a way to tease her sister. “Kindness is not something people should have to ask for,” She concluded softly, looking at her mother, hoping that she could see the plea in Bea’s eyes to for once listen to this. She was her mother’s mirror in so many ways, and she embraced it, used it as a shield, but it did not mean she was unaware of their flaws. The pride that Bea was driven on was taught to her by this woman. The inability to take criticism was an act reflected from mother to daughter. “Talking does not inherently mean we will agree,” She replied, that patient, borderline patronizing tone mimicked back. “I came here to air my grievances, to give you the chance to listen to me about how you hurt me. I came here to tell you the Hunter is gone. I did not come here to convince you that my way was right. I just wanted you to have peace, to hear that what happened was done.” She paused for a moment, “If you want to show Nell and Luce that you care, met me Saturday in the field near Stockholm street. They might need you.”

Nell wasn't entirely sure why she'd been chosen to receive a VIP invite to the grand re-opening of Pat's Place, but she certainly wasn't complaining. After all, it meant she got an entirely free meal instead of only getting 20 percent off like the flyers around town were advertising, and she'd never say no to free food. Perhaps she should have been a little more suspicious about the invitation, but only hindsight is 20/20. And she was hungry. With Bea by her side, she presented her special invitation to the host at the door, who promptly showed Nell and her sister to the long row of food laid out on a table. But not before being presented with two free drink tickets. "Oh, hell ya." As others filtered in with the regular flyers, they were also shown to the large spread of Americana style food, tall tables meant for standing and eating scattered around the dining area after paying at the door with their discounted price. "Where should we even start?” Maybe she should have waited a bit with the truth serum still working its way through her system, but it would be fine...right?

Remmy was excited to be going out tonight. It'd been a while since they'd done something just for fun, and even better, they were there with someone who they'd recently made friends with. Nadia was nice, and fun to talk to. And she made Remmy stutter and ramble, like some other people could make them-- and though they felt a little guilty, still, Luce had made her position clear. They stepped up and pulled the door open for Nadia. "Ladies first," they said with a big grin, trying to push away the nerves and anxiety that trembled their fingers each time they left the house. But this would be fine, right? They were out with someone they trusted, and it was a big public place. Nothing bad would happen here. "Thanks again for inviting me," they said as they headed inside with her. "You'll have to introduce me to your friend so I can thank them sometime."

When she first got the invitation, Bea had assumed she had been given a VIP ticket because she was also a business owner. Turned out that she wasn't quite so special and her sister got one too. "Well, I want a free drink to start the night," The eldest Vural answered, finding herself moving to the bar without seeing if her sister was following. She placed her free drink ticket down and the bartender smirked at her before making her drink and sliding it to her. She turned to her sister, "That guy was weird."

Dave wandered in curiously. Hell, he was always down for a cheap meal. Circumstances of their reopening sounded fishy (seriously, a whale shark had crushed the place?) But with two free drink tickets he wasn't about to complain. Food smelled good too, although he was only hankering for the meat section. Not knowing anyone yet, he went right for the table, picking up a plate and starting to serve himself with the tongs by each option.

Skylar blinked at the flyer she'd found around town-- it seemed a little too good to be true, but a part of her was curious about Pat's Place. She'd heard about it, but never got a chance to go before the fish rain incident had taken out the roofing. She wondered if Shiloh had helped fix the restaurant and idly wondered what the other woman was doing. Maybe she'd bring her back something? As she entered, she saw the long buffet set up and shrugged. Ah. Maybe not. Oh well. As she took a plate from one end of the line, she glanced at the drink tickets that had been handed to her. "Oh-- I don't..." But she was left with the drink tickets all the same. Looking to the person next to her, she offered a slight smile. "Um... I'm not really a drinker. Do you want these?"

Jared was already inside. He wasn't adverse to cheap food and definitely wasn't deterred by the thought of eating alone. He was too busy loading up a plate with as much as he could get his hands on from the table to notice others filing in behind him. He only had eyes for the food. Jared only glanced over when someone else came close. "Great spread huh?" He commented to the bloke with a grin.

Morgan couldn't believe she'd let Remmy talk her into visiting a restaurant of all places. They were zombies. They didn't need to eat, there was nothing here for either of them but--oh. Morgan arched a brow as she saw her friend playing chivalrous with a pretty girl. Well, maybe there was something here for one of them, and she supposed she could play wingwoman if Remmy felt a little awkward. And maybe give them a tinsy bit of a hard time if they weren't. "Wow, and here I thought I was your date," she teased. "You guys really know how to pick a place. It's so packed, I think half the town is here." She scanned the room, looking for someone familiar, or at least unaccompanied in case the maybe lovebirds needed some privacy later.

Dave nodded at the guy talking to him. "Better taste as good as it looks. Did you go to this place before it had shut down?" He carefully balanced his plate on one hand to offer Jared his to shake. "I'm Dave."

With an easy grin on her face, Nadia let Remmy hold the door open for her as she walked into Pat's Place. "Why, thank you," she said with a wink. The place was pretty nice in kind of an old school kind of way. Nadia could definitely see a crime boss of some sort owning a joint like this. Definitely the kind of person that Tommy would work for. Speaking of... "I'd love to introduce you to him, some time. Don't see him around at the mo, though." Truthfully, she didn't expect to. Probably for the best. She didn't want him to get distracted. She looked over at the other woman that came up to her and Remmy, giving her a smile. "I wasn't expecting it to be this packed. Really hoping it lives up to the hype."

Nell followed her sister over to the bar, all too ready to get that started. After getting her own drink and taking the first sips, she made a mocking face at her sister before saying, "You think tons of people are weird. But now it's time for food, come on! I wanna be rolled out of here." Somehow...the truth serum had allowed her to say such a thing which meant it was, in fact...true?

Norma saw the flyers for a gathering. It was not taking place at the best restaurant in town, the Bottomless Booty, but she would hardly hold that against this Pat's Place place. And if she was lucky, perhaps a fight would break out and she would get some delicious chaos energy to feed on. For now she hopped inside and saw a bar and many tables full of food. None of it was necessary for her but where there was lots of human food, there was usually lots of humans to feed from. She took a plate and picked up many of the green leafy things on the platters to put on her plate on the way down. "Oh, you don't need water to survive?" she asked the woman in front of her who was brandishing her drink tickets. "That's rather unusual. I'm perfectly fine with my two tickets, however. Thank you! I'm Norma! Norma Lee," she said holding out her hand.

Luce had found a flyer hanging outside of Ink Inc after a particularly long shift and you know what? Fuck it. Why not. Pat's Place had been decent enough before it had been taken out by that fucked up fish rain bullshit. And if they were trying to get more people in the door, she couldn't blame them too much. Pushing open the door, she raised an eyebrow as she noticed that her sisters were already here, with Nell eyeing the buffet spread and Bea leaning against the bar. "Bitches." She muttered under her breath before freezing when she saw who else was inside. Remmy. They were here too? Why the fuck-- they didn't even need to eat. Catching sight of the woman next to them, Luce felt the color drain from her face. Fuck. Shit, fuck, fuck. Taking her drink tickets, Luce made a bee-line to the bar and glared at her sisters. "Whiskey. What are you guys doing here?"

Jared grinned and nodded. "Yeah, lived in town all my life. It's real tragic about Pat, but I'm glad the place could re-open." Shuffling his two plates into one hand he offered the other a free one to shake. "I'm Jared."

"Luce!" Nell exclaimed at the sight of her sister, before brandishing her VIP invitation by waving it in the elder girl's face. "I was invited. You weren't?" she teased the fire caster. "So was Bea."

Agatha was a big fan of the place before it shut down, but after having heard that the staff had died crushed under a whale (which sounded like bullshit, by the way), she was no longer sure that the restaurant would ever be worth it ever again. But none of this mattered anymore, Agatha had spotted the buffet spread, and all she could think about right now was food. Some people were more interested in the bar? Their loss. Her plate full, she made her way to an empty table. She did not come with company, but it was fine. Nothing unusual for her.

"Tons of people are weird. Do I have to remind you of the man at the Stacked Deck or that lady in the grocery store? They were all weird." Bea frowned at her sister before taking a drink. She raised an eyebrow at the middle Vural. "We're VIPs." She said with a little smirk. "Did your VIP ticket get lost in the mail?"

Q was a bit over his head here, but he had promised his dad that he'd try to get out more and not lock himself away in the laboratory until he had a white beard. Everyone seemed friendly enough, even if that familiar feeling crawled under his skin. He moved with a small plate towards the woman sitting alone. "Hey, I didn't realize this would be so busy. Can I sit with you?"

Luce raised an eyebrow at her sisters, waving at them with the drink that was slid her way. "Bitches. Both of you. And yeah, I guess it did. Worked out for me, though, I found a flier next to work so I decided to pop by cuz it's apparently pretty popular." She said, bending her head to hide behind Bea's taller form. "Knowing Nell, she probably tossed my invite in the trash." She replied.

"Jared, nice to meet ya," Dave said with a grin, taking the kid's hand. Working hands, at that - this wasn't a guy with some office job. Then again, considering the long narrow scars that stretched along Dave's face and hands, nor did he. "Yeah, I heard. Sounds real shitty, what happened here. Did you know the staff at all?"

Skylar was a little confused by the woman's response and her head cocked slightly. Had she misheard her? There was a lot of noise happening around her, but... "Um, I mean, I do need water. But these are for beer or alcohol or other things?" She said, looking at the little tickets closer. Mhm, yeah, that's what they were for. At the woman's introduction, Skylar awkwardly shifted her empty plate from one hand to the other and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Norma. I'm Skylar. McKay." She said and nodded. "Did you find a flyer too?"

Tilting her head at her sister, Bea looked over to Nell, "Nellie, does it seem like Lulu is hiding from something or is it just me?" Over the last few weeks, it had gotten easier to be outside and in crowds. She was growing more confident every day, finally feeling like maybe her paranoia could ease up a bit.

Morgan snorted. "Aww, you're Nadia? That's so amazing, we talked so much when we first moved here! I didn't realize you knew Remmy. They are, I gotta say, one of the best people in town I've ever met. I'm sure they've got an amazing night planned out for you." She side-eyed Remmy and lowered her voice. "Does she know you don't need to...you know?" This might be more awkward than she wanted in her night. The loner tables in the back were starting to look a lot more cozy.

Agatha, her cheeks filled with food, raised her eyebrows as a young man approached her to get a seat. She glanced around her. Yeah, he was talking to her. "Mmmh," she nodded, wiping her mouth clean. "You know, you could have gotten more food?"

"I probably will, I was feeling indecisive at all the choices and didn't want to seem greedy," Q shrugged, but he did notice her plate. "Not saying that you were greedy-- maybe you have the appropriate amount. I’ll know for next time." He grinned and sat down. "I was at this place before, why is it so popular?"

"Oh definitely, Bibi. Poor Lulu, looks too upset to not be hiding anything." Nell knew it was only a matter of time now until Luce decided to take a swipe at either one of her sisters, so Nell took another gulp of her drink while she still could. "Sure you found a flyer, but did you get in free?"

Jared began to say, "Likewise bud." Taking both his plates back in a more steady grip the nymph shrugged one shoulder. "Knew of them, Pat was the knowable one if you get me? Always happy to chat to the customers. Wasn't here for the funeral or I woulda gone, he was a cool guy."

Norma's brow furrowed. Had she said something incorrect once more? "Oh, why would they call them drink tickets if they were meant for alcohol? That's odd," she said as she tossed one of the garnishes back over her shoulder. She had seen that's how children ""ate"" their broccoli, she assumed it would work here, too. "Nice to meet you too, Skylar! And yes, I did find the flyer. I work at Bottomless Booty, you know. I needed to check out the competition." Her eyes scanned the food table. 'Tell me, is any of this worth consuming?"

"That's me!" Nadia said, though mentally she was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Fuck Nadia for talking to people. "Yeah, Remmy and I are new friends. I took a bit of a fall, and they were there to help me out. Totally agree with you, though. They're the fucking best." She gave them a smirk. It was strange, that both of the people around her were complete emotional and literal dead zones. She looked over to the bar, watching as people took their drinks. Huh. Well, there was one familiar face, and she didn't look too happy.

Bea took another long sip of her drink before half choking as her sister called her Bibi. God, she hadn't been called that in a long time. "Do you think you got in for free because they know you're broke, Nellie?"

Remmy couldn't help but blush. "Morgan," they muttered, "shut up." But then Nadia was agreeing and they sort of wished they could sink into the floor. Clearing their throat, they pointed towards the bar, not even noticing the familiar faces by it yet. "Anyone want a drink? I'm gonna go get us drinks," they said with a squeak, getting ready to head off.

Dave walked them over to a standing table, mouthing back Jared's words to make sure internally he'd gotten them all right. "Right, that sorta guy. I hear it was some sorta freak weather event. Anyhow, you probably don't want to dredge all this back up." Dave picked a chicken drumstick, and took a big bite. He hated eating with his teeth caps on, but needs must and all. "So, Jared, what do you do? You a student, working?"

Luce clenched her hand around the whiskey, the glass heating slightly in her fingers. "Yarrağımı ye, both of you." She gestured to the two of them. "You can both fuck off. I'm not hiding from anyone. You're hiding from someone." She growled. Leave it to Nell and Bea to make shit even worse. Christ. As she glanced around the restaurant, Luce froze as she caught sight of Nadia staring at her. And fuck. Remmy was coming up to the bar. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." She mumbled, leaning against the bar, head ducked low.

Nell's shit-eating grin she'd been wearing for the roasting of Luce quickly disappeared at Bea's words. Hold on. That wasn't fair. They were supposed to be going after Luce right now. "If I'm broke, so are you!" Apparently hospital bills did that to a person when they didn’t have insurance. So caught up was she with Bea's betrayal, that she didn't realize Luce slipping even further down. "Your’s is probably just a pity invite, anyway."

"I was invited because business owners support business owners," Bea sniffed. "I am not broke. I just have less money than I did before." She patted Luce's back. "Do you need me to distract someone if they notice you?"

Morgan pulled Remmy back. "No, I'm good. I don't really drink much these days, you know? I'm on this great all protein diet and don't really wanna mess up my insides. I'm gonna check out who else is here but--" she kissed her fingers and reached to smush them into Remmy's cheek. "You two kids have fun. I'm sure we'll circle back after the line gets less long. I definitely want to spend more time with you, Nadia, when I get back." Pleased to have thoroughly embarrassed her friend, she slid away from the entrance and sidled up to the back by the more empty tables. There was a woman and what looked to be a college kid sitting together, plates piled high. "I gotta respect people who have their priorities in line. Does it taste any good?"

Jared nodded. He'd heard the same, despite not being in town. Fish rain had been a particularly interesting story to hear. Stuffing a whole wing in his mouth Jared nodded. "Farmer. Own a farm just in town. So not devoted enough to be a student or anything like that. Sounds like too much school to me." he laughed. "What do you do, bud?"

Skylar shook her head apologetically. "It's a little weird, right? I've never really worked in food service, but I think it's because of the cost of alcohol?" She offered helpfully. But, she was only more confused when Norma tossed one of the lettuce garnishes onto the ground. "Um, I don't think--" She said, but was too caught off guard by the woman's words to do anything other than flounder. "Ah-- I mean, I think the ribs look nice? And the fried chicken smells nice too." Skylar said as she put a few pieces of each on her plate. "Bottomless Booty? I've heard of them, that's the pirate restaurant, right?" She asked, a little confused how Pat's would have any kind of competition from the kitschy themed restaurant.

"...Dude, people are going to get food, and you'll be left with the stuff no one likes," she eyed at the vegetables, then back at Quintin. "I'm Agatha by the way," she didn't take notice of his comments. She did not mind being called greedy if it was about food. Being greedy about good things was not a sin. Or maybe the exact definition of a sin. Sin sucked. "I don't know, maybe because for one, there's no mimes here?"

"Oh I'm with ya. Just about scraped my GED, and that was enough for me," Dave replied with a rough laugh. "You got animals or crops on your farm? Oh, I'm a fisher, deep sea angling. Keeps me busy and fed, and the van working."

Norma nodded and then grabbed some of everything Skylar pointed out. That was perfectly normal, she was sure of it, asking for recommendations and then taking them with no questions asked. "Oh yes, it is perfectly pirate themed. I wear a hat when working there. Where do you work?"

Skylar nodded at Norma's words. She didn't really understand what she meant about the hat thing-- did she mean a pirate hat? She couldn't really imagine that Norma meant she showed up wearing a ball cap or something. Wandering down the line, Skylar picked out a few more meat based items before adding a couple vegetables just for appearances sake. She didn't really want anyone to ask any questions about what she was eating. "I work for the school district. I'm not a teacher," She added quickly, trying to avoid that particular rabbit hole. "I do interpretation."

Jared "Got one up on me there, I didn't manage to graduate." He laughed heartily. Looking up at the other man and spotting a congregation of people at the bar he knew. He smiled and then refocused. "Animals. A small greenhouse for flowers though. Oh a sea dog huh? Sounds pretty rad. Got a boat and everything of your own?"

Norma could not imagine working with children. Normal mortals were far too young to have anything in common with as it was. "You do interpretation? Of what? Ancient languages?" She didn't quite understand why small children would need to know demonic languages but that did make some sort of sense given their nature as tiny agents of chaos. "I'm going to go get an alcoholic beverage with my drink ticket, would you like some water of which you need to survive?"

"Q, or Quintin--" Q responded, happily munching on his plate as he never enjoyed enough good food. "So you are on team 'no mimes'." He air quoted, glancing up towards a few other people. All, he didn't know. "Do you know anyone else here?"

Luce rolled her eyes at Nell and Bea. "Broke. Both of you. At least I own my cabin outright." She muttered, head still bent low. For the first time in her life, she wished that her tattoos didn't make her stand out so much. She'd probably be able to blend into the background and just slip out the door if it wasn't for them. But, Nadia had already seen her. "I really don't think that will work. But thanks for everything, Bibi." She shook her head.

Jared took a water from a passing waiter.

It was kind of amusing to watch Luce sink away from the way Nadia watched, but she wasn't super focused on the witch. When Morgan left, Nadia gave a slight wave. "Looking forward to it." She watched Remmy walk away as well, enjoying the blush on their cheeks while she could. Then, she opened her phone and checked the time. She made eye contact with one of the bartenders.

"Cool, what sorta animals? Not at the moment," Dave replied, polishing off the last of the meat on his plate. He eyed the buffet table, that was beginning to look somewhat crowded. Eh, he was a grown man, he could wait for a bit. "Used to have a pretty little ship, but I had to move inland for a while, so now I'm boatless. If I end up staying here long enough I'll get a new one, but for now I'm renting."

The thing Bea had started to notice about herself was sometimes she didn't need anything to make her feel unsafe for her body to begin to react. Tonight, apparently, was one of those nights. Her heart had begun to pound. She put her drink down, the sharp click of it against the bar ringing in her ears. She took a deep breath, far too aware of how fast she was breathing now. "I'm... I'm just going to go to the bathroom for a second okay?" She slipped away from her sisters then and only made it so far before bumping into someone as she tried to walk fast to the bathroom. She wasn't going to freak out in front of all these people. "Excuse me. I didn't mean to hit you." She swallowed hard, trying to control her breathing, but couldn't seem to make it regulate. "I'm just- I have to... I'm just running to the bathroom."

Nell wasn't entirely sure what to make of Bea's quick departure, but she knew that her sister didn't seem quite as social as she'd once been in situations like these ever since she’d been resurrected. Maybe she just needed some air? Still, she wanted to make sure that the eldest Vural was doing alright, and took a quick step after her. One step in, and her head was spinning. What the hell? She'd barely had half her drink at this point. Dizziness wasn't something she should be feeling this early on in the night. Another step forwards, and she had to clutch the end of the bar to steady herself.

For what felt like the third time in as many minutes, Skylar blinked in confusion. "Ancient languages? Like... Latin?" She guessed, not sure what the other woman was talking about. She didn't think that ancient languages were part of the White Crest curriculum. "I-- No, I'm a sign language interpreter." She said before shaking her head. "Oh, no, I'm good. Thank you for the offer, really. I'm okay." She said before wandering away from the buffet. As she wandered through the crowd, her face went slightly pale as she saw Jared and Dave talking to one another. Two people who knew what she was? Mmmmmm, nope, nope nope. Hurrying away, she settled into a booth at the back, sighing as she relaxed into the seat.

"Q? That's funny, my other name is 007," Agatha deadpanned, although a smile soon followed. As much as she liked chit-chat, she was no longer eating. When he asked about mimes, her mouth was, thank God, full again. The food was alright, but there were really too many people in here. Another person had approached the table, and Agatha glanced at her with her eyebrows raised. Nice. "I really think you should hurry to get a plate if you ever want to find that out by yourself," she replied with a smile. "But to answer your question, it's pretty good, yeah."

Remmy swatted at Morgan. "I hate you," they mumbled at her before she left and they headed to the bar to get a drink for Nadia. On their way over, they felt a slight pang in their stomach. That was weird, they shouldn't be hungry? They'd eaten before Nadia came over. "Two whiskeys," they said to the bartender when they arrive, ignoring the feeling. They glanced idly around, noticing just down the bar were two familiar faces. "Luce?" they said. Two drinks were set down in front of them and it echoed loudly in their ears, glass clinking. Remmy shook their head, went to grab a glass. "Nell, are yo--" they started, but the glass suddenly fell from their grip and shattered on the floor. Remmy blinked, looking down. The world swayed under their feet. "S-sorry..." they mumbled as someone came around to clean up the mess. They looked at Luce again, went to say words, and found their throat too dry.

Jared blinked rapidly. His heart sped up and his head started to spin a little. It was faint at first but was building rapidly. He leaned his elbows on the table, taking a larger drink of the water he'd gotten, finishing the glass in the hopes it'd help. "Some cattle mostly." He lied in answer to Dave. He thought he spotted Skylar whiz past behind Dave but couldn't be sure as he got more dizzy. "Renting hah right..."

Norma thought that Skylar girl was rather odd, but nice. Once she got her drink, a tea from a long island, though she was unaware of which one, and took a sip. As she did, she felt a familiar sensation. It was like a pit dropped into her stomach and churned and turned it. The room started spinning and she gripped to the edge of the bar to try and hold herself up. "Fucking bounty hunters, not again!" she growled as she felt herself falling and tumbled to the floor, her heart pounding in her chest and the world starting to go black around the edges of her vision. Why these idiot hunters thought this could take down a fury, she'd never understand.

Quintin laughed. "That's awesome, do you have the scars to prove it?" The question didn't need an answer, clearly he was also playing along. "Hello," he said to the person who plopped at their table. "You alright?"

Jared's face grew a little slack, his eyes unfocusing as he leant heavily against the table. Dave's brow creased, leaning in concern. "You alright, kid?"

Morgan was bumped not once but twice on her way to the booths. One couple rose, spilling their drinks, and as she sidled down the aisle, one more person ran into her so hard she slipped and had to brace herself on the nearest table. There was something...off about all this. "Uh, I am, but I'm not sure if everyone else here is," she said to the young man. "Are you?"

Jared shook his head before realizing that made everything worse. His legs grew wobbly and he closed his eyes firmly hoping the feeling would pass. That was until his attention caught someone to his left falling to the floor. "Something is wrong."

The second Remmy dropped the glasses, Nadia moved over to where they were at the bar. Some poor fuck dropped their glass and stumbled in front of her, but she side stepped them, eyes on her target and concern in her eyes. "Remmy?" she asked as soon as she approached. "Hey, are you alright?" She completely ignored Luce, not seeing any sort of reason to pay attention to her. She wasn't getting paid to watch over Luce.

There was a tightness in her chest that seemed like it was set to stay, and no amount of air that Nell drew seemed to be enough. He hand slipped off the end of the bar as weakness gripped her, and she didn't even notice the floor coming up to meet her as her knees gave way. One second she was standing, and the next she was simply...not standing, trying to scramble to all fours on the ground. "Remmy? Luce? Bea?" Where did her sister go? Was she still here? Her brain was trying to connect dots, but the fuzziness around its edges was making it hard to understand.

Luce stared in confusion as Bea wandered away from the bar, her face pale. And then Nell-- she seemed to be holding tightly onto the bar. "Are you--" Before she could finish her words, Remmy was next to her, equally startled and just as out of sorts as Nell. Looking from her sister to Remmy, Luce slid her untouched whiskey away from her, glaring at the bartender for a moment before reaching out to steady Nell. "Nellie, are you okay?" She asked. In a moment, Nadia was there. Glancing over to the other woman, her eyes narrowed for a moment at the way she seemed to ignore her. "Are they okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, no shit," Dave replied, putting his hand on Jared's back. He looked around, eyes narrowing, as people staggered, looking green in the gills and falling over. Food poisoning usually took a whole lot longer, but... this was a lotta sick people. Could be a spell, could be, well, real poison. Shit. He smacked Jared's drink away. "Don't drink anymore of that. Don't eat. Hold tight kid. Think there's something in the food."

Bea pushed her way through the crowd, trying to get out of the thick of it. She found herself leaning close to the entrance, head beginning to pound as she slid down to the ground. This wasn't just a panic attack. No something was really wrong. "My sisters," She called out. "I need help finding my sisters."

Skylar quietly ate at her table, idly looking around as she ate. The dining room was quite crowded and, now that she was out of the fray, she could see that there were quite a few people that she recognized. Besides Jared and Dave, she could see that Nadia was there-- she hadn't seen her in ages, Skylar idly wondered if the woman had been keeping up on her ASL-- and then, Morgan. That was a little surprising, given.... Morgan's new situation. She didn't think that zombies could eat normal foods. But, the more she looked, the more she realized that things weren't quite right. People seemed to be stumbling around, people were rushing away from the bar? Glancing down at her plate of food, Skylar pushed it away before wandering towards where Morgan was standing, "I, um, hi Morgan." She said before dropping her voice slightly, "I-- Are things off to you too?"

The world was getting sluggish, fuzzy. So were Remmy's arms. And legs. And mouth and tongue. They blinked, heavy lead eyelids, and looked over at Nadia. Nell had collapsed, Luce was on the floor with her, asking if she was okay. If they were okay. Remmy stumbled backwards a little. A jarring pain ripped through their stomach and they jerked, keeling over a little. Wide eyes looked up at Nadia. "S-somethings wrong," they muttered, barely able to get the words out. "I'm not-- supposed to feel--" but another jolt of pain made them jerk wildly again, this time lower down in their stomach. They collapsed to the ground, hands digging so hard into the counter the wood gave way under their fingers.

Morgan tried to wave the woman’s attention away. “No, I’m good. I’m good, really.” But then she was off, darting into an increasingly unstable crowd. Then she saw another familiar face. “Skylar! No, I’m okay, just knocked around. Are you—?” She looked between her and the other kid at the table. “Are either of you okay? Are y’all seeing this?”

Jared was shaking, his knees knocking together like he was some sort of scared cartoon character, but there was nothing he could do. But he could hear voices he knew and he forced himself to move. "In the food? Pats would never." he whisper yelled stumbling towards a nearby table and almost toppling over someone on the floor, crashing to his knees next to the woman. "Fu-dge."

"Hey, I've got you," Nadia told Remmy soothingly. She slipped herself under their arm and wrapped her own arm around their waist, supporting their weight against her. "I've got you." She looked at Luce long enough to shoot her a look that said Not now. Then she pulled Remmy away from the bar. "Gotta be a fuckin' bathroom around here somewhere."

Things had gone to shit real fucking quick. Luce gently patted Nell's face, resting her hand on her sister's head for a moment before glancing over at Remmy, who seemed to be in an equally bad state. What the fuck? How could something be affecting them? They were a zombie this-- Watching as Nadia held onto Remmy, Luce felt a wave of emotion-- jealousy? Relief? Confusion? She couldn't fucking tell-- wash over her. Whatever was going on... it didn't matter. She needed to make sure Nell was okay. "Nellie? Nell, hey, what's going on. Talk to me."

"What the fuck is happening," Q frowned, standing up to catch a guy falling down to their knees. Was someone killing these people? Could he really not have a normal time anywhere? "I'm okay," he said to the woman asking. He didn't know how to help them.

"Pats ain't here kid, and new management don't seem too friendly," Dave said, and tried to catch Jared as he stumbled to the ground, the kid just slipping out his grip. "Shit!" He yelled, pulling out his phone to dial emergency service. "Got a whole lot of people suddenly sick at Pat's Place. Haven't been going long enough for it to be alcohol." He frowned as the call operator said there were already people on route, but was grateful someone had made the call before him. Putting his phone away, he knelt beside Jared. "Keep talking to me, kid."

Skylar's eyes darted around the room as she tried to make sense of what was going on. All around her, people were doubling over, some of them stumbling into tables, others of them just dropping where they stood. What was going on? She swallowed and nodded. "I-- I'm okay. This, there's--" She struggled with words as she caught sight of a familiar form falling to the ground. Remmy. And Nadia, she was carrying them away. "Remmy-- they're here too? They don't, I don't think they're doing alright." She said, her fingers instinctively signing the words as she spoke.

 “Good! Okay is good!” Morgan said. “Maybe don’t touch anything on your plate to make sure it stays that way huh? I mean it’s gotta be the food, right?”

Roland rushed out of the station as quickly as the police had received the tip. On the way over to Pat's Place, he radioed paramedics and a good deal of the officers who worked under him to make sure they could get to the bottom of this. His team was still tracing the tip, but they'd been told a special strain of cyanide was planned to be used at this event. Worry was evident in his features as he rushed over. He didn't bother with parking in an actual space and sirens were still blaring when he arrived with a slew of cop caps and ambulances behind him. He ran into the restaurant and it seemed people were already starting to feel the effects of the poison. "Everyone, remain calm and don't eat or drink anything else." Medics were already rushing over to those obviously affected.

Norma tried to talk but her words were slurred. "H-hey, wa-watch it!" she said as someone tumbled over her. The world went black. She fucking hated poison. Why poison? It was so slow. A stab to the heart was so much easier. She could simply pull out the knife and walk away then, but poison. What a trip. Ugh she would have to wait a bit until she could wake up again.

Back with a glass of water, Agatha felt like this was not going to be much of a help. What a mess. The sound of sirens stopped her in her tracks and she put the glass of water down on the table, heading toward the Sergeant hurriedly. "Hey, do you have any idea of what is going on?"

Jared mumbled an apology to the woman he'd fallen over, looking back at Dave as he reminded Jared that Pat was gone and something was definitely in the food. He squinted up at the new face as well. "Who're you, soft landing." he mumbled incoherently before looking back to Dave. "What if I stop? Will I die? This is far too early for that right?"

Roland looked to Agatha with a worried look on her face and immediately asked, "Do you feel okay?" He examined her for any sign of illness before he finally explained, "We received an anonymous tip that a special strain of cyanide was supplied for the reopening. Paramedics are on the scene and ready to treat anyone affected. Police are looking for whoever is in charge of this shindig."

Morgan barely heard Skylar over the noise of panic and sickness. But she caught her signing out of the corner of her eye and followed her gaze. “That...shouldn’t be happening,” she said. “C’mon. We gotta go.” She took the girl by the hand so they wouldn’t get separated but turned quickly back to the boy. “Hey, I mean it about not eating anything else weird. I’ll check on you later if I can.”

Kaden had planned to stay at home until the stripes were gone completely, he would use up all his sick days at work and then some if he had to. But when he got the call, the tip of a mass poisoning, all hands on deck, he couldn't let his vanity outweigh the risk of human lives lost. Putain. He grabbed gloves and made sure to wear long sleeves. His face and neck were harder to cover, but Regan could be mad about his attempts at using her makeup later. It wasn't great, but a least it hid most of the fucking face paint as he ran out the door and sped directly to Pat's Place, bursting in right behind Sarge and the rest of the crew from the station. The place was pure chaos. Fuck, he didn't even know where to start. Then his eyes landed on a familiar face by the door. "Bea!" No, no, no, she looked bad. But she couldn't die again. She couldn't. No. He ripped an antidote kit out of someone's hand, he didn't see whose. "Bea, talk to me!"

Nell was only slightly aware of Luce, only able to focus on her breathing and the fact that she felt like the world was quickly fading. Was there someone yelling about poison? Who the fuck would poison an entire restaurant? Whoever the hell thought they could get away with poisoning was in for a rude awakening when she was done with them. Luce was hard to make out, the edge of everything blurring. But wait. What about Bea? Was Bea poisoned? she wanted to ask. But instead when she parted her lips, there was nothing. Only the sound of her gasping for air and coughing. 

Marley had gotten the call while she was out on patrol. It was an emergency broadcast, which meant Jane had gotten the call, too. By the time Marley arrived, the place was in disarray. She had her kit in hand and rushed in, ignoring the swells of fear she felt as she waded through the crowd to the closest person passed out on the ground. Sarge was talking to Agatha, Kaden was with Bea-- Kaden knew Bea? Ugh, small towns-- and other officers were filling in behind her. She came to a man, collapsed on a table, an older gentleman helping him. "Is he sick?" she asked the man who didn't look like he was about to collapse.

Q's skin crawled in that familiar, warning way from the weight of the other. "Just listen to him," Q said to the one in his arms, talking wasn't the worst thing to keep doing when the threat of closing your eyes forever was the other option. "The cops are here, it will be fine." Though the words were stale on his tongue if this was supernatural related and not human.

"Medical's here," Dave replied, ignoring Jared's question about death entirely as he looked up as police and paramedics came up. A woman approached her, holding a kit, and Dave couldn't help breathe a sigh of relief. "Yeah, he is. Started about five minutes ago. What is this, you know?"

Remmy watched the floor slide by them as Nadia carried them off somewhere. Where were they going? Why couldn't they move? At some point, they'd stopped moving. Remmy slid to the floor, barely able to keep themself upright. "Nadia...what's..." they muttered, looking around for her, reaching out to try and grasp her as the world went fuzzy, dark, then sprung back to life again. They gripped their stomach in agony, trembling. "What's happening?"

Norma couldn't tell how long she had been asleep, or dead, it was hard to say, she never really knew, but her eyes flew open and she sat up and then turned to her side, the contents of her stomach spilling out on the floor beside her. Disgusting. She looked around and saw there was a man halfway fallen on top of her and another man helping him. And what she presumed was a medic. Oh no. Should she have played dead? "Wow, I must have eaten something horrible. Oh no, so tragic. How is it going here?"

Skylar let Morgan slip her hand into hers before offering an apologetic grimace to the two people the other woman had been talking to. "I'm sorry-- I--" She managed before hurrying away with Morgan towards where she'd last seen Remmy. They'd been by the bar, she'd seen them with Nadia. Where had they gone? And then, she saw that the two of them, Remmy's arm flung over Nadia's shoulder. "Morgan, over there." She said, tilting her head towards where she'd seen the two hurry off.

Bea looked up at Kaden's face, dizziness making it hard to focus on him. "Why do you look like that?" She asked, voice a bit choked. She coughed and the reality of what was happening began to hit her. She couldn't control the tears that started to leak from her. "I don't want to die again, Kaden, I can't die again," She told him, not even able to attempt to control how panicked she sounded. She grabbed his arm suddenly, looking back into the crowd. "My sisters are here," She wheezed out to him. She didn't want to die again, the thought terrified her in ways she couldn't even begin to understand, but her sisters couldn't experience what she had. She had told the truth when she said that she was willing to die for them again. She tried to push him toward the crowd. "Please."

Luce glanced around her as police began to flood the room, paramedics following close behind them. As Nell began to gasp and cough, Luce scooped her younger sister up in her arms. No. Not today. She'd resurrected Bea, summoned lightning for Nell, blown up a building and murdered countless people for her sisters. She wasn't going to let fucking Pat's Place hurt her family. Not today. Hurrying towards the entrance, she noticed Kaden kneeling over Bea, her sister saying words she couldn't quite hear, "Grab her and get her out of here." She growled at the man before pushing past him out of the building. She needed to get Nell to the ambulances outside, needed to make sure she was safe.

Jared's vision swam as yet another person arrived. He tried to raise his hand to show a peace sign but all he managed was a weird sort of wave at the newcomer, his arm falling heavily back into the guy holding him up. "Dave the fisherperson is a hero, I'm naming my next kid after you Dave." he decided his mind full of cotton.

There weren't supposed to be cops here. That was all Nadia could think about as she dragged Remmy away from the chaos. She flinched as they reached out to her, though she tried not to let it show. "It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine," she kept muttering over and over, though it was more for her benefit than Remmy's. When she got somewhere less crowded, she set them against the wall and leaned down in front of them. "I don't know what's going on," she said, glancing worriedly back as the cops all filed in, "but it's going to be okay, alright? I'm gonna get you some help."

Agatha 's eyes grew wide. She knew that her belly was more than full and her nervous smile, that probably looked like a freaky grimace told exactly that. "Never better, Sarge, never better," either way, she would have to do her job, anyway. "I'll go gather the staff in the kitchen." And with those words, she turned her back on the sergeant and crossed the restaurant countless times, each and every time with the same strict directions.

Marley took the dizzy man by the arm and shuffled around him. "I need you to open your mouth for me," she said, that firmness to her voice. When he obliged, she popped in the breathalyzer antidote before motioning over to a paramedic to administer the IV. "He'll be okay," she said to the older man, "we've been told it was cyanide. The EMTs will know more. Are you okay, sir? Not feeling any symptoms?"

Nell's heartbeat was growing weaker by the second, her head lolling uselessly as Luce carried her to...to...where were they going? Was she floating? Something felt wrong. Where were they going? There were so many people yelling. There were people in danger. She wanted to stay and help, but the thought was faint as her body continued to shut down, and finally the world faded away as a whole.

Morgan followed Skylar’s lead, all the way up to Remmy, not fleeing the place so much as being dragged away by Nadia. "This is not supposed to be happening, this is definitely not supposed to be happening, flipping universe, this just not..." Chaos was erupting around her. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw the Vural sisters in similar distress, but she couldn't split her attention right now. She grimaced, pulled Skylar along until they were outside with Nadia and Remmy. "What happened?" She asked Nadia, voice shrill. "How long have they been like this?" She dropped to her knees to examine Remmy, though for what, she wasn't sure. "What happened to Remmy?"

Roland was relieved to hear Agatha hadn't been poisoned though he did notice Luce rushing outside with someone in her arms. He'd have to check in on her later. Right now, it was imperative to find whoever was behind this before they got away. Agatha made her way toward the kitchen and he decided to check out the bar first. Not everyone was sick and this was a buffet. There was a chance the beverages were behind this. He walked up to the bar and demanded, "I need to see whoever is in charge of your bar immediately."

Kaden scrambled to get the antidote kit open. This wasn't going to happen, she wasn't going to fucking die again. Once was more than enough. "Open your mouth, you're not fucking dying, Bea, you're--" Her sisters? And then she was up and trying to move. Fuck, he grabbed her and pulled her back, maybe harder than he had to. Just then Luce brushed past cradling Nell. "They're okay, they're fine." He pushed the breathalyzer antidote towards her and called for a medic. "You're not dying. Nell's not dying. Neither is Luce. Now sit still and where the fuck is a medic?" One finally ran over to administer an IV at his second shout.

Dave shifted backward on his knees as Marley leant over Jared, giving him the antidote. "I feel right as rain. Guessing whatever it was wasn't in the meat, that's all I'd eaten so far, and hadn't got to drinking yet." He eyed Jared in concern, rubbing his jaw in concern. "Don't name no one after me, kid. Just keep talking. You already got kids?"

Remmy wanted to cry out, it hurt so bad. Pain torn through the stomach, like swallowed lava. A burning so deep inside they wanted to tear their chest open and rip it out. "Get it out," they muttered, clawing at their chest, "g-get it out. Morgan, get..." they could barely see now, the world spinning around them so fast it made them fall over, even as they were sitting up. Someone's hands caught them. They couldn't see who it was, only hear familiar voices. "Make it stop," they gurgled, feeling something rising in their stomach, their chest, their throat, "make it stop."

Luce made her way out of the building and blocked the path of a passing paramedic, her eyes burning with enough anger and fear to stop them in their tracks. "You're going to save my sister, right fucking now." She snarled as she lay Nell down on the ground. Without a word, the paramedic bent over her sister and opened up the antidote kit. She gripped her sister's hand, holding it tightly as she looked around. So many people were in the same state as her sister, so many people were hurting. "You better fucking save her." She said. "You better fucking save her."

Q let the medic help the person near him, and after setting them down, stood up to aid anyone else to get over towards the medics so there wasn't delay in their care.

Marley patted the younger man on the shoulder. "You're gonna be okay," she said, as the EMT arrived to take over her spot. She gave a glance to the older man, nodding. "We're not sure yet. Count yourself lucky, though," she said, turning to head off to the next person, but-- finding that she was already up and alright. Marley eyed her warily, and the pool of wet next to her. "Everything okay, ma'am?"

Bea fall against Kaden, looking at him with wide, panicked eyes. She finally opened her mouth at Kaden's instruction. He said that her sisters will be okay. She had to believe him. He'd take care of them or make sure they were being taken care of. She knew he would. Her friends took care of her family, she had to trust that. As the medic administered her IV, she realized how hard she was shaking. Through gasping breaths, she asked Kaden and the medic, "What's happening?"

"Get what? Get what out, Remmy! I don't know what you mean!" Morgan shrieked, hands fluttering everywhere and nowhere at once. "Did you actually eat something, Remmy?" She looked helplessly over at Nadia. "I don't understand! Did you see anything?”

Agatha stood in the kitchen with the restaurant's staff. "Everyone here?" She watched them look at each other else before nodding. "Alright. I'm going to need whoever was in charge of food to go over here, and whoever works at the bar to go over here." She had not had anything to drink, so clearly, there was something in the water.

Jared "Got tons of kids. Farm full of 'em." he told Dave. "Don't have a Dave yet so it's perfect." He winced at the IV going into his arm and make a face at Dave. "Feels like a movie, no one gets poisoned in real life do they?"

"I don't know," Nadia said, her tone matching Morgan's. She began to back away, her hands shaking as she watched the two undead. "I--" she needed to get out of there and fast. But there were too many fucking people around. She couldn't be suspicious. Inwardly, she willed herself to calm down, while outwardly she put all of her effort into looking concerned and panicked and horribly inept at handling this situation. "I'm going to get help," she said, backing into the main room. On the way, she saw a discarded drink tray. Fuck, she didn't sign up for this. As slyly as she could, she downed the drink and headed back into the main room, hoping the effects hit quickly. In the mean time, she pretended to look for someone to help Remmy. Not that they could. Zombie poison really was a real bitch.

Skylar followed behind Morgan, doing her best to dodge the people who were between them and Remmy. Before she knew it, Skylar was staring at Remmy, their hands pulling at their chest, their body wracked with pain. Her eyes widened, memories of the last time she'd seen them in pain coming rushing back to her. The way they'd been ripped in half, the way their insides-- "No, no, no, no, no." She mumbled, frozen in fear. She shook her head, trying to force away the memories. She didn't-- they didn't-- she couldn't handle seeing them like this. "Help! Someone, someone help!" Skylar yelled, not knowing what else she could do. She just knew she needed to get Remmy help, and fast. They were in so much pain.

Dave nodded as the officer walked away, turning back to Jared with a bemused smile that didn't quite mask his worry. "Right, your cows're your kids," he agreed, looking around. "Pretty shitty movie, if you ask me. Whoever made that first call saved a fuckload of lives."

Roland gave the timid looking assistant bar manager a harsh look. "Are you the one in charge here?" His words had a bite to them and he was frustrated. A mass poisoning was horrific and he couldn't even begin to wrap his mind around it. The younger man stuttered, "Oh, I-I- I don't know what happened. I was walking a-around seeing if everyone enjoyed their meals. I'm nn-not sure where the bartenders ran off too or what's making everyone sick." Roland narrowed his eyes. It was hard to tell if the nerves were because he was lying or because of the utter chaos ensuring around them. "I'm going to need you to come back to the station with me and answer some questions."

Kaden could feel Bea shaking, closer to death than she had any right to be right after just coming back to life. "Got a call about a poisoning. Breathe, I need you to breathe." Because if she stopped fucking breathing, it would all be for nothing. He couldn't handle that, not again. And he knew Luce and Nell couldn't even begin to handle that. "Luce looked okay. She had Nell. There are medics everywhere, I'm sure she's okay." God fucking help him if he was lying to her right now. He'd never live it down. But he couldn't leave her to go check. He had to trust that Luce would kill someone to keep Nell safe. Had to admit, that wasn't a stretch to believe.

"Get it out, it burns!" Remmy nearly screamed, tearing at their clothes. Sweat was beading on their head, pooling under their shirt. Their arms felt stiff, slow. Their entire body heavy. They sank to the floor, curling up. Exhaustion rushing into them. "It burns, everything burns, it--" they choked on their words, shaking. Wished that the darkness would just take them over, wish they could slip into that release, too. "Please, please," they begged.

"Ma'am-- I need you to--- Ma'am! Get out of here!" The medic yelled and Luce found herself being pulled away from her sister. "Alright! Alright! But, you better fucking, you better save her!" She swore as she stumbled down the pavement. Breathing hard, Luce stared up at the restaurant again, saw Kaden next to Bea, watching over her while the medic administered the treatment. Hurrying back towards them, she glanced around and stopped dead in her tracks. Through the doorway, she caught sight of Nadia... Saw the glass in her hand. What the fuck? What the fuck? Her eyes widened in horror as she watched Nadia drain the glass dry.

Morgan tried to reach out for Nadia before she backed away. "NO, no, you have to tell me what they did! Fucking--Nadia!" But the girl was gone. Yeah, she definitely didn't know that much about her date if she thought the paramedics were going to have anything to help a zombie in distress. Skylar, nearby, was feeling some distress too. "Hey," she said, her voice firm with determination. "We're gonna figure this out, okay? Just not here, and not with the help of human cops. I'm going to take Remmy back to my place. Can you cover for us, Skylar?" She heaved her arms under Remmy's body and picked them up. It was awkward with their difference in size, but she was going to make it work. "If Nadia comes back, tell her we're okay, make sure she doesn't ask any questions?" She tried to lock eyes with the young selkie. Tried to sound as confident as she wished she was. "We're gonna handle this, and we're gonna be fine."

"That's right." Jared’s head still felt wrong, but the cotton was clearing a little as the medic monitoring the IV in his arm gave a nod to someone to help Jared to his feet. "The worst movie I've ever seen bud." he agreed, being hauled into a chair to be moved. "Coming for the ride in the ambulance? A cyanide come down is a great way to meet new friends."

Norma tried to stand up, but still felt weak. The poison was no longer killing her, but the effects always lasted far longer than she would like. It was unfortunate that someone had noticed her fall. She glanced around her, every other mortal who had fallen was being given intense medical care. Gods, how could she explain this one? Hopefully this human approaching her was very stupid. "Oh, yes, I'm fine. I think the poison just didn't stick. It's a miracle! Praise your deity of choice!"

Instead of looking for someone to help Remmy, Nadia immediately went over to the EMTs, stumbling by the time she got to one of them. "I think-- Fuck." Fucking cyanide. Fucking cops. She wasn't getting paid enough to poison herself. She groaned and allowed the EMT to help her out. Tommy was going to be getting some choice words after all of this.

Poison. Some fucking bastard poisoned her and her sisters. Bea was going to fucking kill them. She was going to burn... No, not burn anymore, but she was going destroy whoever fucking did this. Her tears started to clear as she was worked on and she looked up at Kaden, face set in rage, "I'm going to kill them." She looked to the side, trying to find her sisters and saw Luce. Reaching out to her, she called to Luce, voice rough. "Luce!"

Skylar focused on Morgan's words, doing her best to hold herself together, though her shoulders were shaking violently. "Mhm, mhm,. I can-- I can do that. Just, make sure they're okay. Please, please make sure they're safe." Skylar glanced down at Remmy, watched as they screamed and cried, and curled on the ground. Tears burned in the corners of her eyes as she nodded. "It's all going to be okay, it's gonna be okay." She said, more to herself than to Morgan. It had to be okay.

With the sergeant handling this, Agatha left the kitchen, passing a woman who was thanking God instead of medicine with a judgemental look on her face. Yeah, no, no time to argue. Besides it looked like someone was taking care of her. It seemed things were getting slowly under control. But time would tell how bad this truly was.

Marley eyed the woman carefully. "Didn't stick, huh?" she said with a low voice, glancing around them before leaning in, "sounds pretty...supernatural to me." Before leaning away. She didn't exactly have time for this, there were more people who needed poison kits. She backed away from the strange woman, smiling, gave a wave, before heading off to another sick person. This town sure was strange sometimes.

Bea wasn’t usually one to sleepover. Not that she thought it was too intimate or anything, she just simply preferred her own bed. At least she knew her bed wouldn’t hurt her back. When she started to wake up in an unfamiliar place, her heart rate spiked. With a heavy weight on her chest she frantically looked around to realize she was in the hotel room she and Dario had gotten. She sighed as she sat back and tried to slow her beating heart. Maybe this was why she didn’t sleepover places either, she always did this when she woke up somewhere new. The heavy weight on her chest turned out to be the man in question and she attempted to nudge him awake,”Dario. Dario, get off me.” She didn’t hate cuddling, but she liked breathing more. When he made no moves, she began to try to wiggle herself out of his grasp. She wanted coffee and a shower, not whatever this was. 

Dario loved cuddling. That was simply a fact, and always had been. He knew some people thought it was too intimate, or that it was strange, but who the hell didn’t enjoy the warm feel of a body next to their’s? Of course...perhaps Dario was sometimes a little too attached, so desperate for warmth and the confirmation of another life being in the world besides himself that he could be a little...close. This, paired with being an extremely heavy sleeper while in a sound sleep often made it difficult for his bed partners to wake him. Vaguely, he was certain that someone, somewhere in the world was calling his name, but that didn’t matter as he felt his delicious warmth slipping away, and instinctively clung to it, following it as it tried to escape. A disgruntled and muffled sound came from him as his grip only tightened, his subconscious mind seemingly determined to stop Bea’s attempted Houdini act.

Bea let out a grunt as he tightened his grip and her wiggling intensified. She never really liked clingy sleepers. She liked having the freedom to get out of bed as she needed and return as she wanted. This was not the ideal situation for her. “Dario!” She said louder this time as she attempted to force his hands open to free her. She was never sleeping over with him again, if there ever was an again. She didn’t usually do this, one night stands or friends with benefits situations, but it had been a long time and he had been there. Still, she didn’t expect it to happen that often if it did happen again. 

Bea’s grunt was met with Dario’s own sleepy version of it, still quite displeased with his source of warmth slipping away from him. But as she said his name more insistently, he woke with a bit of a start, looking quite alarmed for a moment before taking in Bea’s morning look. Then he simply frowned, still grumpy upon having his sleep stolen from him. “Why are you yelling?” It took him a moment to remember where he was as well, taking in the hotel room in the new light of day. His place wasn’t exactly….fit for company, and Bea hadn’t wanted her sisters finding out what she was up to. “I’d say good morning but- pretty sure you’ve stolen any chance of it being ‘good’.” The words were only a little disgruntled, shifting more into teasing now.

“You were suffocating me,” Came Bea’s own grumpy reply. She didn’t usually get grumpy in the morning, but to have him be annoyed at her for trying to get out made her own irritation spike. Her eyebrows came together, a frown on her face. She knew he was kidding but it still annoyed her. It wasn’t her fault he was clingy in the morning. “Go back to sleep then, but let me out first,” She said her frown still etched into her face. She was going to get shit from Nell if she noticed she wasn’t at home last night. She pushed that thought from her head as she tried to sit up, hoping that he would finally release her now that he was awake. “You didn’t strike me as a cuddler,” She told him, her voice a bit more relaxed. 

Dario opened his mouth to make some joke about cats smothering babies in their sleep before his sleepy mind reminded him that Bea certainly didn’t know why that would be a funny joke when it came to him, and he didn’t care to explain. “It didn’t work?” Was the response she got instead, his voice still a little rough from having just woken up. Reluctantly, he moved a bit to the side, freeing her with an expression that could only be described as a pout. He didn’t want his human heater to leave, and he wasn’t sure how effective going back to sleep might be without it. “I can’t sleep now. I’m just gonna be too busy thinking of you. And how much I miss you.” The words held a healthy amount of sarcasm. “What makes a person more likely to strike you as a cuddler or not?”

“Shut up,” Bea replied with a small kick aimed at him. As good as he was in bed, he was ridiculously annoying. She didn’t remember him being such a smartass in high school, but she couldn’t remember as clearly as she wished she could. It was still strange to her that thirteen years had passed since she last saw him. “I’m sure you’ll figure out a way to live,” She replied as she scooted up to sit up against the headboard. She ran a hand through his hair, absentmindedly. “Usually I don’t associate fuckboys with cuddlers.”

“You gonna make me?” Dario shot back, though it was all in the good fun they normally joked with. He did his best to dodge the kick with a still sleepy smile on his lips, his recent awakening making him a touch too slow for it to miss him completely, even with heightened reflexes. “Wow, you’re gonna hit the man who was so kind to you last night. And continues to only be kind to do.” His sarcasm was heavy as he simply continued to lounge where he was, seeing no reason to rise. “But what if I can’t live without you?” he continued to joke, his face rather similar to that new emoji thing he’d learned online in the last few weeks. The “:/” one. “Wow, you’re going to just put me in a box like that? Haven’t you ever heard to not judge a book by it’s cover?” Nevertheless, he basked in the little moment of her hand in his hair, reflexively stretching out like a cat sunning itself. 

“Don’t try to flirt with me right now,” Bea replied. She figured he wasn’t trying to get into her pants again this morning, but she figured she’d lay down the rules right now that that wasn’t on the table. She didn’t like morning sex that much anyway. She felt sweaty and she didn’t want to experience morning breath. “What you did last night is not a free pass to be annoying.” She couldn’t help but admit that Dario was funny sometimes. Annoying a lot of the time, but funny occasionally. “I guess you have to die then,” She told him, trying to keep a straight expression, though her lips quirked a bit. She kept stroking his hair as he stretched out, enjoying that he seemed to enjoy that. “It’s very easy to put you in a box, Dario. You are a fuckboy and you like to cuddle. You’re complex.”

“Abelha, you know that’s like asking me not to breathe. Which I’m sure you’d also be happy if I stopped doing but- you understand my point.” Dario continued to tease, generally always finding amusement with the woman. He personally wouldn’t say no to morning sex, but he also was very much enjoying the way Bea’s hand was making its way through his hair, loving the petting for now. “Don’t you mean what we did last night? I wasn’t the only one there.” Beyond the sex though, he enjoyed spending time with Bea, feeling more like his old self when he was around her. “I don’t think I’d mind dying with a pretty girl’s hand in my hair.” By now, he knew she quite liked it when he called her pretty, and he wasn’t above using it to his advantage at times. He hummed contentedly as he continued to just lay there, still stretched out. “Was that you complimenting me? Calling me complex?”

Bea couldn’t help the little blush that went to her cheeks at his nickname for her, it was just so cute. “I suppose it would be tragic if you stopped breathing while I was here,” She teased him back. At his response she stopped her petting for a moment to tug his hair lightly, “Whatever happened last night still doesn’t give you a pass to be annoying like I said.” There certainly times Bea felt like she was sixteen again around Dario and the stress she held so often melted away. She supposed it was nice to not worry around him. (Or at least worry as much). “As the pretty girl in this situation I would mind a lot if you die on me.” She wasn’t the most squeamish about death or bodies, for obvious reasons, but that didn’t mean she wanted him to die on her, even in a hypothetical. “Well I wasn’t completely insulting you, so I suppose it’s kind of a compliment.”

“So when you leave,” Dario began, amusement in his voice, “then I can die?” Her little blush didn’t go unnoticed, and a hint of smirk began to form on his lips as he reached up to gently brush her cheek. “You like it that much? When I call you abelha? Você gosta de ser minha abelhinha?” It was a fairly simple phrase in his mother tongue, and he wouldn’t be surprised if she picked up on it— half curious whether she would or not. Either way, he was curious to see her reaction. But then a frown quickly replaced the small smile, wincing slightly as she pulled. “Now, now. You’re going to start something you can’t finish,” Dario pretended to admonish. “I take offense to that. I would also like to be the pretty girl in this situation. Or are you too selfish, to share?” As for him dying...well- it might come sooner rather than later if his hunt for those that had killed his family went wrong, and he wasn’t particularly concerned for it. “Do I get another compliment? I’ve given you plenty. Isn’t it my turn?”

“Yes. Then I don’t have to witness it. I have no desire to try to figure out how to bring you back.” Bea told him with a little eye roll as if that answer was the most obvious in the world. It took her a moment to try to translate his words and she only understood some of it. “Your little bee?” She asked, her eyebrows furrowed. She had never excelled with language, even between english and turkish she took to them much slower than her sisters had. She let out a laugh,“Noted, no hair pulling in the morning before we brush our teeth.” She leaned down to press a kiss to his temple, “I am the only pretty girl in this room but good try. Your one compliment is that you are less irritating now than you were before, congrats.” 

“But that implies that you’d at least be interested in bringing me back,” Dario continued to tease, seemingly content to stay here until they were forced to check out of the hotel. There were few places he felt this relaxed, though it was less about the place, and more about the person he was with. Bea was safe. That much he knew. “Yes, my little Bea,” he repeated with a smile, reaching out a finger to poke between her now furrowed eyebrows. “You’re going to get wrinkles.” His smile was now turned to a childish pout. “You don’t like my unbrushed teeth? Why do you keep being so mean?” His eyes closed for a moment to accept the little kiss on his forehead before he raised his head, landing a soft, morning kiss on her lips while his hand found the hollow of her waist. He knew how much she liked all kisses. “I’m pretty girl. I don’t care what you say. And I’ll take it.”

When Clementine had come running to the coven council and Nisa about the strangeness of the Vural daughters, the matriarch had been ready to dismiss whatever was happening as one of her youngest daughter’s typical shenanigans. Certainly she wasn’t pleased, but it was hardly worth bridging to the council. But the longer Clementine had talked, the more dubious things became, and the harder the rock in Nisa’s stomach had grown. It was too elaborate of a story to be made up, and she herself knew of the animosity that August and Penelope had shared for the bulk of their life. How could Bea and Luce have gotten caught up in such things, though? They were meant to be more responsible than this. How had everything gotten so tangled when she’d only been gone for a couple of months? She waited with the other council members for her daughters to appear in the chambers. The only choice they’d had was to summon the three witches in for examination, to question them just as they would have done to any other coven member. For a long moment, Nisa had played with the concept of warning her daughters. She’d always been one to believe in facing the consequences of one’s actions, but this was a step up from that in severity. She hadn’t reached a decision, and her lack of decision had found her running out of time to warn them, thus the Vural daughters went unaware of why they were being brought forth to the council. As the three of them filed in, she cleared her throat, straightening her back in her chair to become the formidable council member she was known to be. “Beatrice Vural, Lucinda Vural, and Penelope Vural— you’ve been summoned by the Witches of the Silver Flame to answer for accused crimes that fall outside of this coven’s parameters.”

Rosemary clasped her hands tightly around the wooden arms of her chair, her eyes dark and unreadable as she stared at the girls who stood before the council. The Vural girls. She should have known that it would be them, but she’d doted on them as children. She could still remember the three of them being tutored with the other young children of the coven-- bright, studious Beatrice, quiet, moody Lucinda, and excitable, energetic Penelope. With no children of her own, she’d viewed all the young spellcasters of the coven as extensions of her own family. But, the allegations Clementine had approached the council with, talks of murder, of dark magic and necromancy? The women who stood before her were not those same children. They had gone down an unforgivable path, done unspeakable things to one of their own. A member of their coven. “You stand before this council facing the following charges: the practice of dark magic, the practice of necromancy and human resurrection, and the murder of another member of this coven, August Thompson.” Rosemary spoke, doing her best to keep her voice level and calm. Just as she remembered the Vural sisters as children, so too could she remember young August, always trying so hard to prove himself. How could they do this? How could these girls do… any of it?

When Clementine had come forward with her claims, Helena had been beyond thrilled. The Vurals had been good enough members of the Coven and she had no issues with them, but this gave her the opportunity to gain more standing on the Council. Everyone would be looking at Nisa now and if Helena was lucky, the woman would step down with grace after this scandal. Then there was room for someone new and more aligned with Helena’s thoughts to join the council. Her chin tilted upward, face stern as she looked over the woman. “We have witness testimony and evidence against you. Telling us the truth will make things much easier for you.” Helena hoped they would be too much like their mother to step down from a challenge of their pride. “How do you plead?”

Nell hadn’t seen her mother since she’d returned from Turkey, not knowing how to explain away the scars that encompassed her entire arms, nor the one that went a third of a way across her neck. Especially in conjunction with the matching one Luce had, and the one that spanned Bea’s entire neck. But it seemed that someone had done the explaining for them. Standing in front of the council on trial for their actions was not how she’d expected it to go, though. As she took in the council, a sinking stone formed swiftly in her gut, weighing her down in a way that made her push her shoulders back forcefully, as if trying to prove that she wouldn’t be defeated by it, or the witches sitting before her and her sisters. They wanted a plea, and there was really only one way this could go. The council already had the information, and there was no use in fighting it. In addition, the truth spell placed on the chambers wouldn’t permit any of them to lie. At this point, it wasn’t a matter of whether or not they’d be found out, but what their punishment would be. Maybe she could draw a good amount of the attention. Take the blame like she always had growing up. Nisa’s favorite target. So Nell stepped forward, apart from her sisters to say. “I plead guilty.”

On some level, Luce had known that their actions would come back to bite them. She hadn’t wanted to admit it, had instead taken to hiding her fears with violence and anger and lashing out with magic. Of course, that was the reason for their whole situation wasn’t it? When she’d received the summons from the coven, there had been some fear, some anxiety. But, for the most part, she’d resigned herself to her fate. Luce’s fingers brushed against the choker around her throat, covering her scar. It had served as a reminder of what she’d done. She cast dark magic, practiced necromancy, committed murder, slain another member of their coven. Even without the magic that seeped into the very walls of the council chambers, she would readily admit it to them. When Nell took a step towards the council, Luce’s eyes widened. What was she doing? Why was she doing that? Casting a glance over at Bea, Luce clenched her jaw before taking a step forward as well. “I plead guilty.”

There had been a part of Beatrice that had thought their mother might have tried harder to protect them from the Council’s wrath. She was disappointed to see that her mother only had loyalty to her daughters in small measures. She had worn an outfit her mother had once picked for her, crisp white lines of a suit that screamed look at me. Hiding her scar was the scarf Felix had gifted her. Anger simmered under her skin as she looked at each of the Council members. She stepped forward, pulling the scarf from her neck and linking hands with her sisters. “I plead guilty, but I feel no guilt for what I have done.” She pressed her lips, trying to force herself from snarling at the Council. “Were you told the whole story or just the parts that painted us badly?” She asked, rage making her voice even more ragged than what it usually was.

The scar on her daughters’ necks and arms were ugly, and not just for cosmetic reasons. Nisa’s lips tightened as the three of her daughters said the most disappointing words they’d said in their entire lives, but it was hard to weigh the council responsibilities on her shoulders against the heart of a mother, even one that was as demanding as herself. The scars were obvious marks of magic gone wrong to the trained eye, and this was magic that had gone very wrong. Her daughters could have died. One of them had died. And she’d been in Turkey. She wished she could have protected them from all this, but now it was too late. They’d made their choices, and now they’d have to deal with the consequences. She wasn’t Nisa Vural, mother of three in these moments. She was Councilwoman Nisa of the Witches of the Silver Flame. And exceptions couldn’t be made, especially for her family. “I’m sure we’ve yet to hear the whole story. We’re eager to hear the rest, and are waiting. As it stands, though— there are still crimes to be atoned for.

As Nisa began to talk, Bea’s eyes went to her mother’s. They were mirrors of each other. Bea was the spitting image of her mother and many had thought she would do great things just like the matriarch. She glared at the woman now, she didn’t want to be like her mother. Bea wouldn’t pick the coven over her family. “August paid a man to kill Nell. He was going to butcher her because of petty jealousy. Every single one of you knows how he felt about her.” Her lips pressed together as she took a moment to shove her emotions down,“I got between her and the Hunter that coward brought and I had my head cut off. I died because of the actions of August Thompson. So personally I don’t see it as murder, but rather retribution. Something we were owed.”

Rosemary flinched in her seat at Beatrice’s blunt explanation of what had occurred. Clementine had already told Nisa about what she’d overheard, but still. Little August Thompson had done such a thing? He had paid someone to take Penelope’s life? How could he have done that? She’d always known there had been friction between the two of them, but Rosemary had dismissed it as little more than the rivalry that came with youth. She looked over at Nisa, her heart breaking for the woman. Nisa was a member of the council and her daughters had flagrantly disregarded the rules and measures of the coven. They’d done unspeakable, dark magic. Shifting uncomfortably, the woman shook her head, “We are aware of the general circumstances that occured. The murder of August Thompson… that is not our primary concern.” She said, though the words hurt to say. A member of their coven, dead. Though, she supposed, there was no other way things could have gone. Beatrice, Penelope, or August, one of them would be dead regardless. “The matter of necromancy is what troubles me the most. You three know that necromancy is prohibited by the tenants of our coven and yet, you thought to exert power over forces beyond your control.” Her eyes flickered to Penelope’s arms and she swallowed, “Clearly, you are aware of the consequences of this. However, the blatant disregard for our sacred laws cannot go overlooked.”

Everything felt as if it were slipping away from Nell. The coven had always been a safe haven for her, a place to belong when the rest of the world shied or ran away from here. Part of her wanted to clutch it to her chest, and hold it tight, as if it were her last security blanket left in the world after everything had happened. But they were also wrong. Her mother’s detached words weren’t a surprise. Nisa had always been big on punishment, especially when it came to the coven and her youngest daughter. Now it seemed she was finally extending it to Luce and Bea as well. But would she have been harsher if it were just Nell on trial? It was something the young witch couldn’t help but wonder. “If we’re talking about blatant disregard for sacred laws, is it not the most sacred of laws that we look after one another, that we protect our sisters in both magic and blood? Bea was doing just that, and Luce and I did it for her in return by bringing her back from death. Are we really going to be punished for going to the ends of the Earth for another witch and our family? Weren’t you the ones who taught us to do that?”

Helena could laugh, they were making it easy for her to spin all of this. She tutted at Penelope,“You went behind the Coven’s back to perform magic that goes against the Coven’s rules. If you had come to us, perhaps this would be different.” She glanced over to Nisa with a faux pitying look,“After all your mother did to drag her family name from the dirt where her mother left it, you go and betray her and our trust. It seems like this type of behavior runs in the family.” Idly, she flipped a few pages in her notes. “Now, you say that August did this because of ‘petty jealousy’. However, we have multiple witnesses who claim to have seen August in pain at Beltane and Penelope and Lucinda Vural dragged him away from the scene. Doesn’t seem a little odd to anyone else?”

As both of her sisters argued against the council, Luce’s lips pressed together into a thin line. Rosemary had a point-- they’d gone against the laws of the coven and while she didn’t just want to lie down and just accept what was happening, there wasn’t any way to get around what they’d done. But, Helena’s words had her frowning, the words slipping from her mouth before she could stop herself. “‘If we’d come to you?’ You’re seriously trying to say that you would have just signed off on us bringing back Bea? We all know that’s a load of-- that’d never happen.” She caught herself as anger burned in the pit of her stomach. “Don’t you bring our grandmother into this. That has nothing to do with what’s being discussed here..” She glared at Helena. Bitch. She’d never liked Helena and even less so now. 

Nisa’s eyes flashed towards Helena, the witch having hit the sorest of spots when it came to her family and history. She was right. Nisa had worked hard to continue to build on the family legacy her mother had tried to tarnish by dabbling with demons. But she knew better than to think that Helena was bringing it up for any productive reasons. “Yes— well, I wouldn’t expect you to understand what it is to uphold and grow a family legacy, Helena.” The Matsdotter family was relatively young in comparison to the Vurals and some of the other witch families, yet to have a place on the coven council until Helena had come along. “Thankfully, Lucinda is correct in saying that the crimes of the past are, indeed, past.” But there was some truth in the other parts of Helena’s words. What had antagonised August? “There is still a piece of the puzzle missing, though. Why did August feel the need to hire a killer?” She looked each of her daughters’ directly in the eyes, showing no mercy when it came to needings answers. “As for what this council may or may not have done in the face of Beatrice’s death, we can’t possibly assume anything one way or the other. For we weren’t given the chance to pass judgement.”

An amused smirk grew on Bea’s lips as Helena spoke to their mother, though she quickly schooled her face. She had expected the Council to act like adults and yet here they were, digging into past issues. “Because he was a cowardly man who realized he would have no chance against Nell? He was a mediocre spellcaster at best and Nell is one of the better in the Coven.” She couldn’t help the snort that came out then, “We all know what would have been done. I would be condemned to rotting in the ground because you all would have never allowed for them to learn my craft.” She had pulled away from the coven for many reasons, but this right here was one them. She never wanted to face people who refused to learn that there was beauty in necromancy. “No one trusts this Coven to do what’s right when it comes to things of this nature. So we have to do them behind your back. You all would rather stay in the past than to see why what we did was good and just.”

Though Rosemary hardly liked drudging up the unpleasantries of the past, Helena brought up a fair point-- this behavior, going against the ways of the coven, taking matters into their own hands, practicing dangerous magic were all hallmark traits of Nisa’s mother. And these girls seemed to have inherited that desire to test the limits of what could be done. Or rather, what should be done. At this point, what alarmed her was how blatant they had been with their practices. It seemed as though the girls hadn’t even attempted to hide what they’d done. That sort of thing was sure to attract attention, from the wrong kinds of people. People who would seek to harm the coven. “Penelope, do not cite the ties of family to me-- this coven is my family. And the laws exist for that precise reason, to protect us all from harm. What you did, it could attract unwanted attention. By practicing this magic, you endanger not only yourselves, but the rest of the coven.” She said, her voice trembling with worry. “How dare you insult this coven, Beatrice. Nature has laws, magic has laws that must be abided by. Your very presence is... “ She swallowed, “Unnatural.”

“Well you’re not acting as if it’s your family,” Nell retorted hotly before listening to the rest of Rosemary’s words. Not even her mother was acting like family in these moments. Family would fight for one another, just as Bea and Luce and Nell had fought for each other. It shouldn't hurt. Not after all these years of similar treatment. Nell had expected as much, but foresight couldn’t help her when it came to saving her from the twist of Nisa’s distanced knife. As the council member carried on, she wondered if there was perhaps the smallest grain of truth in the older woman’s words. Would outside forces try and bring harm to the coven for what the girls had done? But no. Certainly there were other ways. “There wouldn’t even be any unwanted attention if it wasn’t brought to light! Who’s going to tell people? I sure won’t. The only reason there’d be any danger would be from the council telling people about it.” Still, what if people did come after her sisters? If they somehow stayed in the coven, would that make the two of them safer? She had one more card to play— didn’t she? Something that could hopefully distract from what Luce and Bea had done. “August wanted to kill me because I stole his memories. Took them after he caught me summoning a demon. He was going to out me to the council, but I stopped him. I guess I take after my grandmother Suna more than we thought. So really, this was all my fault.” Let the blame fall to her.

Being scolded wasn’t unexpected and Helena could deal with the ire of Nisa. All she wanted to do was remind those on the council that Nisa’s blood sang with issues. With this blow to her reputation, perhaps it would be easier to start sowing distrust in the other council members. “You three have brought unnecessary danger to our coven. You were selfish and went against everything we have taught you. You children turned your backs on the people who raised you.” Helena regarded Nell with a cold look,“You admit to more crimes then? I suppose we should discuss punishment.” Helena turned to look at her fellow council members, before looking forward to the guilty. “You have admitted to murder and breaking our most sacred rules. You have become things unnatural and have hurt the cycle of the universe by doing so. Some of the council members would not be opposed to sacrificing your lives to bring order again. Others wish to be lenient and simply excommunicate you from the coven.”

Luce resisted the urge to groan when Nell stepped forward, telling them about the demon summoning, the circumstances surrounding why they’d been involved with August in the first place. They weren’t on trial for any of that, they weren’t being asked about it. Why the fuck had she brought it up? Before Luce could intervene, Helena spoke of… sacrificing their lives? Her eyes widened and she stared, first at Helena, then to their mother. She knew that the coven would deliver punishment for what they’d done, but-- death? That was what was on the table here? How could the council even consider that. “Who on the council wants to sacrifice our lives to the great order of things, Helena?” Luce snapped, leveling the woman with a searing glare. “A life for a life, equivalent exchange-- yes. We sacrificed August, but it never would have happened if he hadn’t attempted to-- no, if he hadn’t killed Bea. She’s only here because we intervened. Because the council would have never helped us and would have never punished him for what he’d done.” Her hands shook with anger at her sides, but she held herself tall, proud. The coven… they couldn’t kill them. They couldn’t. 

For a small moment, utter shock had paralyzed Nisa. Demons as well? Had she failed her daughters so miserably that they were repeating the sins of her mother and more? Where had she gone so miserably wrong that all three of her children had even brushed against the illegal practices of the coven? Had she not hammered into each and every one of their heads how important family was? How they needed to protect one another and hold the family name in high esteem? Perhaps she’d taught them a little too well— to the point where they were willing to save their sister’s life over all else. And if she’d been given the chance to save her brother, killed by that Miriam bitch all those years ago...would she have done it if it meant throwing away everything she’d worked to build back after the shaming and excommunication of her own mother? But breaking through the anger and shame of these thoughts was the mention of death. To kill her three daughters? The little girls she’d raised from diapers, and cleaned the scrapes of? To watch them fall? It was unthinkable. She’d spent her entire life trying to steer them right, cornering them into protective and approved spaces where they wouldn’t be hurt. “We’ve never made ourselves a coven that doles out death, and I don’t anticipate we’ll start now,” her tone was steely and cold, the protectiveness of a mother finally peeking through. “Playing with death is one of the very reasons necromancy is banned, and why these three women are on trial now. To dabble in it would make us hypocrites.”

Bea’s shoulders grew tense as she heard the words sacrifice and without even meaning, she looked toward her mother. Nisa wouldn’t allow that. She wouldn’t make her die twice. Bea’s jaw clenched, she refused to cry at the prospect of death, not in front of these people. They would take that as a sign weakness and Bea couldn’t afford to be weak here. Her shoulders sagged ever so slightly as her mother spoke against the penalty of death. Her mouth was dry, but she spoke anyway. “I take then we’re excommunicated and not allowed to contact those in the Coven? Or use your resources?” Bea might have distanced herself but she still had friends there. Her grandmother was still there and Bea loved her grandmother. Her parents were there and even though she was angry and disappointed in them, the isolation this punishment would give her made her throat tight. They would miss out on so many moments in her life and her sisters’ lives. Guilt pooled in her stomach. Bringing her back now meant the loss of their family. She straightened her back. They were deciding this. It wasn’t as though she had chosen to die. Their parents were deciding to leave them behind, she could live with their decision, even if it stung as badly as the blade that had taken her life. 

Rosemary’s breath caught in the back of her throat when Helena said those words-- there had been murmurs of bringing the girls to justice, of meting out punishment in order to demonstrate what became of those who attempted to fight against the natural order of things. And, their crimes, their crimes. Demon summoning, necromancy, murder, violence within the coven? Such things would attract so much attention to the coven. People would notice, people were bound to talk. And what then? What fate would befall them all? Helena’s methods were brutal, but punishment… it needed to be delivered. And the girls, though she loved them dearly, were far too dangerous to be affiliated with the coven of the Silver Flame. At Bea’s words, her lips pressed together in a thin line. “I hope you all understand that I take no joy in this. But, yes. It is far too dangerous, for all of us, for you to remain within our coven. We cannot extend our protection to those who would bring harm to the very community they are a part of.” Looking around at the other members, she spoke in a clear voice, “I vote for excommunication. Council?”

In the span of a short moment, death as a sentence had come and gone. If she’d blinked, Nell might have missed the entire interaction. Still, she had felt her magic pool in her gut. If the council had been set on killing her and her sisters, she would have been ready to fight, to tear their way out of here and never look back, or at least try not to. Things of the past often had a way of making themselves unforgettable. As it stood, the council had begun to vote, and that familiar sense of powerlessness began to creep along Nell’s neck. They wouldn’t take the coven away from her. They couldn’t. Even if it was full of rules she broke, and council members of hypocrites, that wasn’t all this place was. The coven was her home, her literal family with the Vurals making up a good chunk of it, a place she’d always been able to be herself when there was nowhere else in the world she’d been able to do that. And now it was going to be ripped away? Just like that? It’d be taken from her sisters, too. Control was slipping out of their grasps along with the coven, and Nell tried vainly to grab the fraying ends of it, to tie a knot on the last of the rope. She turned to face her mother. “Do something! Can’t you just do something for once? Be on our side for two fucking seconds?!”

Nisa’s youngest daughter’s pleading voice fell on hard ears, though they weren’t entirely deaf. “I did so something, Penelope. I told you time and time again what would happen if you continued down this path, and now your sisters are on it as well.” There was only one way for them to learn, wasn’t there? They wouldn’t realize the error of their ways until they hit rock bottom. So if it was tough love they needed as a teacher, it was what they would get. Taking the time to make eye contact with each of her children, she simply said, “Let this be a lesson.” It would be as hard for her as it was for them. Then she turned to the council, her shoulders having never moved from their steeled position. “I cast my vote for excommunication.”

Bea stepped forward, grabbing Nell’s hand, trying to tug her back. She turned to glare at Nisa, rage rolling off of her as she stared her mother down. “This path was my own and I took them down it. I taught them necromancy. This isn’t Nell’s fault.” Stepping forward, Bea pointed at Nisa, hand shaking with anger as her voice raised. “This is your fault. You have blamed Nell since she was a child. You ignored Luce. You were a bad mother! You were fucking blind to what any of us needed unless it fit what you wanted! That’s what put us on this path.” She lowered her hand, head shaking,“I wanted to be you, Nisa,” She pronounced her mother’s name sharply. She would never call that woman Mama again. “I’m disappointed that you’ve picked a coven over your children. I hope they’re as loyal to you as you are to them.”

Death seemed almost preferable to excommunication as Luce heard her mother cast her vote against them. They were being thrown out, tossed aside, abandoned by the only people who could ever understand their struggles. Had she done terrible things? Yes. There was no denying that. And she had known there would be a price to pay. But she had tricked herself into believing that their mother would never turn her back on them, would never choose the coven over them. And now, reality was staring her hard in the face. "We are exactly the women you raised, Mother. Nothing more and nothing less than that! We did what we knew was right, what you taught us was right!" Luce yelled before shaking her head. But, she knew their fates were sealed.

Nell was crumbling in a way only her mother could cause, the rockfall known as Nisa Vural taking no prisoners as she barreled through the three of them. She recognized Bea and Luce’s anger, had experienced it herself for years growing up when faced with the injustices of their mother. She still felt it even now, boiling down beneath her broken heart as their mother laid down her verdict. It’d taken her far too long to learn that chasing after her mother’s approval was a fool’s game, and now her sisters would have to realize it for themselves. “She’s not worth it,” she said in a trembling voice, linking hands with her sisters to pull them towards the doors of the chambers. It was time to go. “She’s not fucking worth us. We’re better off without her.” Maybe if she said it aloud to her sisters, she’d believe it was true. Nell had told herself long ago that she wouldn’t let her mother break her heart anymore, that she wouldn’t let Nisa Vural have any power over her and the way she felt. But no matter how many times she’d whispered the words to herself, a part of her still struggled to make them true. “We don’t need them. We don’t. We’ve got what we need right here,” she said with a squeeze against her sisters’ hands. But it was hard to believe what she was saying when an errant tear was sneaking down her cheek. “We’ll show them,” she finished hotly, refusing to address the way her chest felt like it’d been cleaved in two. Replace it with anger and empty spaces and move on.

Montgomery drew in a long, steadying breath. Vampire spawn. Scum, but scum that paid well. Vampire dust -- to the discerning eye -- was of course only purer and more valuable if you were able to get the older vamps. Fortunately, Montgomery was selling vamp dust to someone with far less discerning eyes then his own. Machete gripped in his right hand and a stake gripped in his left, Montgomery crunched down into the gravel of the catacombs. The dim light didn’t hide the obvious signs of the spawn and it didn’t take Montgomery long to pull the vial of bait from their belt. Within moments they were swarmed with three spawn. Easily more then Montgomery would’ve needed for this particular job, but a few extra supplies weren’t going to be the end of the world. The first Spawn snarled, darting forward through the dark. Montgomery’s machete sliced through the air, decapitating the vampire into a pile of ash. Montgomery pivoted on their heel, bringing the stake through the second vampire’s heart and watching it collapse. Without hesitation, Montgomery ripped the stake from it’s chest. Satisfied by his work, Montgomery began to whistle at a low pitch as they began collecting the vampire dust. 

Tracking down a target wasn’t anything new for Nell— not when she’d made a life of it in the past few years. But this was different. This time, her prey was more important than it had ever been before, and much more personally charged as well. The man who had hunted her. The man who had killed her sister. The man who was responsible for her still troubled sleep, always on edge as if he or someone else were going to appear out of the woods, tranquilizer in hand to hurt her, her friends, and her family. The sound of her heartbeat pounding in her ears was a testament to the adrenaline pumping through her veins, razor sharp in her focus as she made sure Bea and Luce were beside her, in position and ready to go. She nodded to each of them, signaling that Montgomery had finished his own hunt, and it was time to finish their’s. Her hellhounds were already summoned beside them, and with a tap on Shaggy’s shoulder, she sent him towards the Hunter, cast in the darkness that the catacombs provided. He was low to the ground, careful per Nell’s instructions as he let out a low whine that almost melded with the tone of Montgomery's whistles, joining the hunter’s song until the hellhound’s whines grew into a low, eerie howl that echoed off the craggy walls. They’d waited long for this, and with the full moon quickly approaching she’d known they needed to act now, or else she’d be left magicless to deal with the man whose actions  seemed to have been the beginning of everything going wrong. Tonight would be the night he'd finally pay his penance for the scars he’d left on each of their souls.

When Nell had led them down into the creepy tunnels under White Crest-- the Catacombs?-- Luce had been less than thrilled. But, it did little to dampen the vengeance that still burned within her. Montgomery had gone for far too long without facing the repercussions of his actions. But, just as retribution had come for August, it was coming for Montgomery now. What did they have to lose now anyways? Their coven? Their family? They’d already lost those. All they had left was each other. And they were going to make him pay for all the anguish and suffering he’d put them through. As Shaggy made his way to Montgomery, his belly practically pressed down against the dirt, Luce glanced over at her sisters. She wanted to let the fire dance from her fingers, let the flame lick the sandstone walls of the catacombs. Can I set the fires? Or should we wait? She asked, relying on the magical link that they’d set between the three of them. She would wait, if that’s what the others thought was best, but she wanted to watch the panic grow in his eyes when the fires spread. She wanted to witness the very moment he realized there was no escaping the Vural sisters. 

Months. They had to wait months to begin the hunt. Bea understood why, of course, the injuries they had all sustained, both physically and mentally, needed to heal. She hoped that the Hunter had let himself forget the women he had wronged, she hoped that he thought himself safe from them. She wanted to see the realization in his eyes when he understood what their presence meant. Start the fire, Bea thought to her sisters, nodding forward for them to start their approach. Bea couldn’t be sure he would remember her, but she did her best to make it easy for him. She had purposely dressed similar to the outfit she had died in. She wanted her sisters to appear before her. She wanted the Hunter to think this was a simple case of revenge rather than knowing his kill had crawled her way out of death. She used her magic to begin to rattle the bones around them in the catacombs. Let the Hunter know he is prey now. 

Montgomery heard the low whines of something, and turned his eyes on the darkness. Spotting nothing. Hairs stood on end. Shivers trickled down his spine and he couldn’t help but swallow nervously. Normally everything was planned for and accounted for. But there was always some level of surprise to every hunt. Whether it was a change in the wind or whether it was an extra kill to be made. As the bones of the catacombs began to rattle, sweat poured down Montgomery’s back from the exertion that he’d given to the killing of the spawn. Clutching the vials of vampire dust that he had collected, Montgomery’s hand slipped to his holster and his hand curled around the revolver sat there. “Who’s hiding there?” Montgomery asked curiously. Fake it till you make it. It had been a hunter’s motto. He couldn’t remember the fool's name. Montgomery had never had been one for faking anything, but maybe just this once. Swallowing, they peered into the darkness, daring someone to make a move. 

As Montgomery turned, and his face came into focus, Nell’s stomach began a tumultuous gut reaction. First, it dropped like a rock, her fight or flight reminding her that this was the man who turned her life upside down. This was the face she’d seen when she’d been convinced she was going to die. The hands that had ended Bea’s life. The heaving feeling was quickly replaced with anger, pure and hot as he reached for his gun. They’d have to get rid of that. Without warning, Shaggy dived forwards, aiming to clutch Montgomery’s hand and gun between his teeth, trying to disarm the hunter of his initial weapon. In tandem, Nell darted out from the shadows, taking advantage of the distraction to jerk a hard and swift knee between Montgomery’s legs. They needed to get him down before they could do what they wanted. To make sure he couldn’t fight back. To make him pay for all he’d made them and countless others lose. “Hey, Monty.” Her tone was sickeningly sweet. “Thought we could do with a rematch.”

At the nod from Bea, Luce sent the fire creeping around the edges of the room, low and barely flickering. Like snakes, the streams of fire wrapped around the perimeter, docile and low. She watched. And she waited. Watched him pinch vampire dust into tiny vials, watched the sweat drip down the back of his neck, watched him reach for that gun. In an instant, Shaggy and Nell struck, the two of them lashing out against the man. With a laugh, Luce fed the flames, their blue tongues leaping into the air. The room was illuminated in an eerie glow as she stepped forward. He didn’t know her, hadn’t seen her that night. He didn’t know that he’d wronged all three of them when he’d raised his sword against her sisters. But he would now. Stepping forward, she let fresh flames trail across the skin of her arms. With a smile, she nodded at Nell. “We thought it was about time for a little hunt of our own.”

Bea let her sisters walk forward some paces before slowly following them. She heard the sounds of Nell attacking him, heard the hellhound, heard Luce’s fire. There was no way this man had a chance against them. Bea hoped he thought he had a chance, she hoped he fought and failed. As she saw the Hunter, a shark-like smile began to tug on her lips. She had been starving for sometime now, hollow without her vengeance, and now she was staring into the eyes of her meal. Unconsciously, Bea licked her lips. “I don’t think we got a proper introduction last time we saw each other, Montgomery. I’ve been dying to change that, I’m Beatrice Vural. I hope you don’t mind that we’re here to return the favor.” Her shadows swam at her feet, vicious little things ready to strike out if it came to it.

Montgomery was confident that he could deal with one Vural and her pet mutt, after all dealing with her sister and taking her head as a trophy had been easy enough until the arson attempt at his home. As a knee caught his legs, Montgomery grunted in pain and collapsed down to one knee, bringing him to eye level with the hellhound. As it leaned forward, saliva frothing from its maw as it prepared to snap down on Montgomery’s hand, his finger curled around the trigger and tugged at it, letting off a shot. The explosion at the end of the revolver rang out in the cavern catching the hellhound in its front shoulder. It yelped in pain but Montgomery realised that they should’ve been more concerned with everything other then the hound. A sapphire conflagration enveloped a second figure who stepped out of the shadows. Montgomery didn’t recognise her, but she looked like Penelope and Beatrice. Confused but ready for a fight, Montgomery’s stomach didn’t truly give out until a third figure came into view. “No, you’re dead…” Montgomery’s tone was rough and hoarse, full of disbelief. He’d spent hours gazing into her eyes as they hung suspended In formaldehyde. “I guess I’ll just have to do it again.” Montgomery could barely grunt the words as he tightly gripped his machete, turning and slicing at Nell in an attempt to gain some space. Any advantage that he could gain might get him out of here. 

Nell’s ire only grew stronger as Shaggy yelped. It tugged at her heart, but she knew the hound would be okay. After all, the demonesque dogs were built to take a hit or two. Next came the other two hellhounds from the shadows, eager to taste the blood of the man who’d hurt their brother. Almost as eager as Nell was to spill it- to savor it. Montgomery dropped down, and Nell didn’t have to imagine how he’d felt on that day while he stood over her anymore. For as he went down to one knee, and she watched the top of his head droop, the sense of power she’d been chasing after ever since that day had come to pass blossomed in her. It mixed readily with the rage pooling in her belly, and her eyes watched sharply as the machete that had most likely been the one to behead her sister, swung in her direction. “Drop it,” she demanded in a darkened tone, letting the magic she’d been practicing on Bea’s reanimated corpse flow through her savagely as she tried to twitch the gun and knife from his hands, bending his fingers against their own will. The same magic that had been unlocked in her on that cursed day.

The otherworldly glow of the blue flames danced across her skin as Luce stalked behind Nell. She could feel the fire within her growing, changing, just as it had the night she’d rescued Nell from the Ring. It sparked and crackled within her body, but she tamped the magic down. The delicate patchwork of scars across her chest tingled at the sensation of the lightning that rippled beneath her skin, but now wasn’t the time. No. This was just the hunt. She’d save the lightning for later. Instead, she curled her fingers, the blue fire  from around the room slithering across the floor, encircling the four of them. She kept her magic in check near her sisters, taking care not to burn them, but spurred the eager flames near Montgomery, She let them dance and jump, barely restrained. He was the reason for her blue flames, he was the source of their misery. It was about time they inflicted a little misery of their own.

“To have survived as long as you have, I expected you to be smarter,” Bea tsked as a shadow began to move toward the Hunter. “You aren’t going to do anything again, not after us. I won’t die again because of you.” The shadow slid up his ankle and tugged. She had little control over her shadows, but fueled by her anger, they seemed to listen carefully to what she wanted. Once he drops the weapons, we’ll restrain him. Bea was under no assumption that he wouldn’t be dangerous without his weapons. Each other magicks were newly acquired and Bea didn’t want to give him a chance to run.

Montgomery was sure that he had been in worse situations then this. He always survived. That was why he was such a damn good hunter. That and preparation. But he hadn’t been given the chance to prepare to have his own body betray him. As he fought the sensation of his fingers releasing the gun and the knife, he watched them clatter to the ground. Unable to speak for a moment as he fought against them, but whatever magic these women had access to kept him in place and Montgomery wasn’t sure how to beat it. He of course had plenty of other weapons hidden around him. A flash bang grenade in the small of his back. A small pistol in his boot. A knife strapped to his calf. More weaponry on his belt. But weapons wouldn’t help him now. “Three against one is so very brave of all of you,” he spat the words out with vitriol and hatred, “I get it, you couldn’t take me on my own so you had to team up. Real smart. You’d better hope that you kill me because if you don’t I’ll make you wish you’d never come back from the dead.” He wouldn’t keep her head as a trophy this time. He’d burn it.

Luce finished off her second glass of champagne, looking around at the party that was in full swing. Literally. Swing dancing, who'd have thought. Setting the empty glass down on a table, she made her way towards the wall of champagne again. A wry smile slid across her face as she took another glass of very expensive champagne. Fuck the coven, fuck their mother, fuck their parents for abandoning them. This was their little revenge, a party fit for a queen, with a bill to match. Glass held loosely in her hand, she glanced over at a person lingering near the wall of champagne. "Help yourself, seriously. We went all out for a reason." She said with a grin before raising the glass up in toast. "Did you watch the show earlier?"

For the moment, Nell had placed herself by the entrance of Grand Illusions, showing those that had been invited to Bea's party to the private box and party room. Now, as she made her way back upstairs to the main events, champagne, and poker tables, she looked over everyone's outfits with a careful eye, trying to spot those that might not have dressed to theme, and preparing some scorching words should they have denied that part of the invitation. But then she spotted something that caught her even more off guard, a certain blonde hanging by the champagne towers. "Blanche?! What the hell are you doing here?" Her voice was loud enough to carry to anyone else in the close perimeter.

Bea had a champagne glass already in hand when she went into the room where the party was truly happening. It was her birthday and she'd get hammered if she wanted to. Taking a long sip, she nodded toward the poker tables in the back. "Anyone care to join me at the table?" She was fully intending on taking her friend's money tonight through the tables and had no shame in that.

Kaden didn't feel a lot like celebrating after what had just happened, but it was for Bea so there was never a doubt that he'd show up for this party if he could. He was also pretty sure there as no way Regan was going to put herself in this sort of big public space with all the stress that came with these kinds fo gatherings. He had her present for Bea with him all the same. A quick look around and the place was immaculately decorated, of course. He hoped his suit was okay, it was all he could manage. But he tried. First thing after dropping of the presents was to grab a thing of champagne from the fucking wall of it before heading towards Bea. "Happy birthday, again. I'll join if you want." He wasn't very good but it was all for fun, right?

There was nothing Jasmine loved more than a good party and she had high hopes that Beatrice could deliver. While her party planning skills weren't quite on par with her own, they'd definitely had some fun in the past. Plus, who didn't love a Gatsby theme? Her flapper headband and red sparkly dress that hugged her in all the right places really was an absolutely look. Some good photos of her Bea, and Leah were a requirement before leaving. She greeted the younger Vurals as she walked in and helped herself to some champagne. "It was quite the show," she mused with a wicked smile, "You don't have to tell me twice to grab some champagne."

Felix had to laugh when he first saw the joint. All they really needed was a couple signs about how silly prohibition was and they really had the theme in the bag. As gilded as the time had been, the party was even more so. He loved it. Bea deserved it. He’d make his way back over to her in time. He sipped idly on his champagne as he fluttered about the party floor, a wide smile in place as he surveyed the crowd. With the way things were going, it wasn’t out of place to keep an eye on anything being just that. Too many parties gone wrong, or right, kept him on his toes. He paused for a moment beside someone and cocked his head. “You lost any money at the tables yet?”

Morgan sauntered in, pleased to have an excuse to wear heels and some of the jewelry Deirdre had bought and kept stashed in their closet all this time. She almost didn't feel the chill of not having her girlfriend on her arm to make the night brighter. The sight of the Vurals excited her enough to make up for coming alone. "Hey, guys!" She called, twirling to show off her black jeweled flapper style dress."Bea, this is for you," she said, rushing over to the oldest Vural, and the crowd gathering around her. "Kaden, looking extra dapper today. I don't know about you guys, but since I can't get drunk, I'm up to blow a ton of money at Texas Hold 'Em."

Anita felt a little out of place at the party. Normally she would be at the bar flirting with any and everyone. But now she had a girlfriend , and it felt weird to continue to flirt with random women given the agreement she had made with Marley. But, surely there were other things to do at parties than just flirt with people, so Anita made her way to the champaign tower and grabbed a glass. Then she just made her rounds, walking around all the elaborate tables and attractions trying to spot somebody she might know. She saw Kaden and Blanche, but she didn’t really want to strike up a conversation with either of them.

Blanche had enough of the hospital after only two nights. She checked herself out early that morning and told exactly no one as she headed home to get dressed, leaving the bandages on her back visible. There was nothing to do about them. Bea deserved to have a good birthday, and honestly, Blanche wanted some time to chill and relax. .... And then there was Nell, yelling at her. "Drinking champagne?" Blanche asked, holding her glass up innocently. "And thinking about winning money by counting cards."

Jasmine eyed the poker tables and decided to follow suit. Was it the best idea when Larry Bob still had a habit of crashing her showings? Probably not, but she was decent enough at poker. Her father always had tables at their parties and she caught on young. She placed Bea's present on the gift table before joining the birthday girl's poker table. "Happy birthday, Bea," she said in a bubbly tone, "You've really outdone yourself with this party."

Jared spotted his two part time roommates and took in Nells face before he even half registered Blanche herself. He made his way through the crowds hover handed appropriately. "Are you...what's going on?"

Jasmine. Of course this bitch wore a red dress too. Whatever. Red was her color and she damn well knew it. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Luce shrugged at Jasmine, champagne flute cradled gently in her fingers. "Bea has an eye for talent, she knows how to put on a show and holds the others to those standards too. But, they did good tonight." She said with a nod of her head. As the woman drifted away, Luce spotted Anita through the crowd. What was she doing here? Making her way across the room, Luce cast a crooked grin in her direction. "Hey, stranger. Having fun?"

Leah was never much of a gambler. She usually preferred to watch in the background, silently judging people's drunken risks from afar. But today was different. Today was Bea's birthday, and with a few drinks in her and surrounded by people she loved and was comfortable with, it was easy to lose her inhibitions. She couldn't help but laugh at Morgan's antics, giving her a little clap as she twirled around to show her outfit. "That sounds like a plan to me!" she said with a laugh, holding up her champagne glass. "I'll drink enough for the both of us." She glanced over at Felix standing next to them, shaking her head. "I think I'm saving it all to waste it in one big blow. That's the way to go, right?"

"Yes, join me!" Bea grinned at Kaden, before catching a glimpse of Morgan twirling. "Looking amazing, Morgan, and I love that energy." She wanted everyone to have that spirit, blowing their money and drinking was the name of game tonight. "Thank you, Jasmine. You look great tonight. Nell and Luce helped me plan a lot."

Squinting her eyes ever so slightly, Nell watched Blanche carefully, as if she might burst back into flames at any moment. "Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?" But she knew from experience that if Blanche wanted to be here, there was no way of making her go back to any sort of medical care. It was, tragically, one of the many ways in which the two girls were alike. "You count cards?" The witch carefully left off the too at the end of that sentence, not wanting and unwitting potential poker challengers to be clued in. "I bet we could start a new table," she said, catching the eye of Bea at one of them already. Might as well spread their resources to bring in as much revenue as possible, right? "Then she turned to Jared to explain. "Someone decided to check themself out of the hospital early, but now we're gonna go legally steal people's money. Did you wanna come? Does anyone else wanna start a new table with us?" she asked to those nearest to them, hoping they'd brought a decent amount of cash.

Anita smiled slightly when Luce approached her. For a moment she regretted coming. The only reason she even did was because she felt like she deserved a fun night, and given how lavish a party this was, it was clearly the place to be. “Hey yourself,” she said as she finished up the liquor in her glass. “I just got here, but so far- yeah. You guys really know how to go all out.” Instinctively her eyes trailed down Luce’s body for a second with a small smirk, “And you really know how to clean up.”

Jasmine smiled at Bea. As much as they bickered, this had all the workings of a good party and this champagne was divine. "They did a good job, too. It's still so crazy seeing them all grown up." She turned and gave Leah a wave and noticed there were a few people at the table she hadn't met yet. She looked to the French sounding man and the pale woman who had joined. She extended a hand to shake, "I'm Jasmine. I don't believe we've met before."

Luce watched Anita over the rim of her glass, eyes drifting up the other woman's form. "We're the Vurals, we never do anything by halves. Besides, 30's a big deal." She said with a wave of her hand to the elaborate decorations around them. Tilting her head at her comment, Luce raised an eyebrow. "Mm. Our father made the dresses, so it's his handiwork. Besides, we set the dress-code. What kind of hosts would we be if we didn't stand out, you know?" She said with a laugh.

Kaden nodded. "Thanks. Looking good, Morgan." He settled down at the table and took his cards. He didn't consider himself a great card player, but he was competitive so he was going to try his best to keep his money in his pocket. He gave the new woman's hand a shake. "Kaden. Nice to meet you. How do you know the birthday girl here?" Kaden caught a glimpse of his cards and groaned. Bad hand already. "Putain," he grumbled to himself, under his breath as much as possible before taking another drink.

Felix looked between Leah and the tables. His smile widened. "Oh, certainly! Nothing really livens things up like losing it all in one fell swoop," he said with a sagely nod. "It happens to the best of us. Even Arnold Rothstein!" Geez, the guys from decades back would be rolling over in their graves if they saw the place. "I think Nell's looking for a crew over there. There's worse places to lose but you gotta watch her. She's sneaky." He waved at Nell and Blanche before he wandered over to Bea. He lightly squeezed her shoulder as he smiled at the small crowd she had gathered at her table. "So, she take anybody's money yet? How're the hands looking?"

Morgan beamed at Leah, primping her finger curled hair and jeweled headdress. "What would I do without you, Leah? I hope that's a promise." She said, reaching over to give her hand a squeeze before settling at the table. She gave Kaden another once over, a little impressed he found it in himself to have some fun instead of doing whatever hunter nonsense or fae damage control he normally got up to. It was kind of nice to see him at least trying to have a good time. "Thanks, handsome. You look pretty good yourself. Maybe we can keep each other out of trouble tonight." As she settled in, she caught sight of a new person and shook her hand. "No, I guess not!" She said with a careless shrug. "I'm Morgan. It's nice to meet you! You're looking very spiffy tonight, I gotta say." And Morgan's hand was looking pretty spiffy too, though she tried not to let it show too much on her face.

Jared looked at Blanche in worry, but didn't voice his concerns, she knew her own limits. And while it didn't sound like a very good thing to be doing, he wasn't one for a fight at the moment. Not that he believed he had any say at all, he was far too soft to win a fight like that with anyone let alone Blanche. "I'll come, got no cash to be throwing down though. More for moral support I guess."

Jasmine couldn't help the sly smirk on her face when Kaden swore in French under her breath. "Nice to meet you, Kaden. Bea and I have been friends since high school. We were on the cheerleading squad together." She wouldn't mention that Bea beat her out for captain of the squad. With a small laugh, she added, "You know, you're not supposed to give away the fact you have a bad hand, but hey, no complaints here." She looked over her own cards and kept her face neutral before responding to the petite woman named Morgan. "Why thank you, Morgan. Couldn't show up to a Gatsby party looking anything but. I'm loving your outfit, too."

Bea nodded,"Yeah, sometimes I remember that Nell is twenty three and lose my mind." She let out a loud laugh at Kaden's groan,"You know, you're not supposed to let people know that you have a bad hand." She glanced at her own, mediocre at best, but she'd make it work. She looked back at Felix with a grin, flashing him her cards,"I haven't yet, but I will soon."

"Maybe," Blanche replied with a shrug, giving her friend a small grin. She was still in a fair bit of pain, but it helped to be distracted and surrounded by people she loved and cared about. She glanced at Jared a little sheepishly. "I hate hospital food." Not that she was feeling very hungry to begin with anyway. Blanche waved at Felix as she reached out to grab Nell's hand. "C'mon, let's go kick some ass with our friendly neighborhood cheerleader."

Anita let out a soft laugh, “I gotta admit I’ve never thrown a party that had a dress code. But you’re certainly right. This is a fancy party, and it deserves to have the people in it looking just as smashing.” She took a brief look around the room, finding herself relaxing a bit more when she spotted Morgan. At least there were two people here that she liked. “This is a bit awkward, but could you point out which one is the birthday girl? I’ve, uh, never actually met any of your sisters.”

Leah grinned widely and waved back to Jasmine, fully planning on pulling her and Bea into the photo booth at some point tonight to reenact some of their photos from high school. She laughed at Felix's comment, although she had no idea who he was talking about. Maybe some defamed poker star? She should have studied up before she came tonight. Turning her attention back to Morgan, she couldn't help but giggle again. As if to prove her point, she took another sip from her champagne, holding it out to Morgan like she was toasting to her once she was finished. Felix's idea was as good as any, though, and she called out to Nell, holding her bag up with a bit of emphasis. "I'll join a game, Nell!" she called, maneuvering through the crowd.

Morgan blinked with surprise at how close this Jasmine seemed to be with Bea. It's not every day Kaden got dragged in perfect stereo. "Neat party trick. Now I know you guys are real friends. It's good to finally meet you. Guess you've got your night cut out for you, Kaden. What're you gonna do about it?"

Felix weighed the pros and cons of asking Kaden how this party compared to the last one but thought better of it. With the sound of despair that the man gave at his hand, Felix figured he was already in for a rough night. The corner of his mouth twitched as he looked over at Morgan. "You think he's gonna need any help or should we just see what happens?"

Luce finished off her drink, the alcohol making things nice and fuzzy around the edges. She fucking deserved to get trashed tonight after all the shit that had been going on lately. Letting out a wry laugh at Anita's admission, she nodded. "I'll do you one better." She said tilting her head towards the table Bea was settled at. She could see Leah and Kaden hanging around Bea, which wasn't... ideal, but fuck it. Whatever. Walking over, she took in the cards on the table, lips curling in a smile. Bea was going to clean them out. "Who's getting fucked over this time, hm?" She asked as she approached the table. "Anita, this is the birthday girl. Bea, Anita. She's a... friend."

Nell knew that now wasn't the time to fight Blanche on this, and finally decided to simply watch the girl closely for the night. Tonight was supposed to be fun, and no doubt Blanche wanted a distraction. So just let it be fun. An excited smirk came over Nell as they neared the table, and her head turned as she spotted Leah making her way over. Was she okay winning money from her sister's best friend? Yeah, she was okay with that. "Come and join us!" Would Leah know the Vurals reputation with poker since she was so close with Bea? That might complicate things. Grabbing a champagne glass on her way to the table, she waved at Leah as she settled in. "Great! Come on over. We even brought our own cheering section," she said with a motion towards Jared.

Kaden grumbled. "Well it's clear why you two get along. I was folding anyway." He tucked the cards away and waited for the next round. He shot a look at Morgan and then at Felix. "There's always next round. It's fine." He downed the rest of his champagne. Good thing there was more where that came from. "Hey Luce. Anita. Come to see them take my money, I see."

Morgan beamed up at Felix, batting her eyes fondly. "It's more fun to see the chaos unfold, right?" She whispered sweetly to him. "Parties are more fun that way. But I won't let him get hurt too bad." She elbowed Kaden gently, warmth shining through her mischievous smile. "And hey," she said to the hunter, "A positive mindset can do a lot for your chances. Aim a little higher, champ."

Jasmine let her laughter ring as she looked to Bea. "Guess we have a habit of doing that, huh?" It wasn't surprising Kaden folded, but Morgan seemed to be pretty giddy. She wondered which of them had the better hand. "Just don't ask us to do that one on command. It's gotta be in the moment." Morgan seemed to be sweet. "There's always next hand... though I don't think you magically develop a good poker face." She added with a shrug.

Leah continued her trek toward Nell and her friends, giving Luce a big smile as she walked by. There was no doubt in her mind that she was about to lose all of her money- she wasn't experienced in poker in the very least, and the Vurals were scary good at poker. Still, her vast experienced in, well, ...lying... it might make her a good bluffer. She sat herself down at the table and finished off her glass, pumping her fist at the mention of a cheering section. "Oh man, dude, that's normally my job!". She drummed her fingers on the table, eager to get started. She let her eyes fall to Nell's, pointing to her threateningly. "Are you prepared to get your ass kicked, Vural?", she asked, teasing. Maybe the alcohol was making her more confident than she should be.

Remmy idled. They had definitely gotten ready on time, but the last time they'd gone to a big public outing, it had not gone well. Morgan was already there, she'd gone early or on time or whatever people wanted to call it these days. Remmy glanced down at Moose. "Not this time, bud," cause no one would try something in a room with all three Vurals present, right? And so, an hour later, Remmy had found themself outside the doors, listening to the chatter inside. Someone came out and held the door open for them and Remmy was suddenly forced to scuttle inside. What greeted them....wasn't exactly what they'd thought it would be. If they had the ability, they might have paled. Still, they swallowed and gathered themself, tugging on the lapel of their suit, and made a beeline for the present table. Maybe if they could just leave their gift and go, it would count as having shown up.

Anita followed Luce across the room, dropping off her empty glass and picking up a full one on the way. She didn’t love that Bea was at a table with Kaden, but Morgan was there also, so that balanced things out. Plus, Kaden had a sour look on his face, so maybe he wasn’t doing so good at the card game. “Absolutely,” She shot at Kaden. “Sounds like a fun way to pass the time.” Anita smiled politely at the other people sitting playing poker, winking playfully at Morgan as she caught her eye. “So nice to meet you, Bea. Happy Birthday, welcome to the big 3-0 club. It’s not as awful as it sounds, I promise.”

A right hunk of a man walked into the building, dressed in a basic white long sleeved shirt and long linen trousers, with a black loose next tie and a white sailor's cap. If you looked closely, you could see the velcro fastenings on all his clothes. With an exaggerated strut and a million dollar smile, he walked up to a random individual. "Well hey now good gentlefolk! I seem to have stranded on this 'ere shore. Could ya point me to the captain of this ship, a Miss Bea Vural?" He winked, flexing his arms, but casually.

"Chaos? Here?" Felix's tone dropped into a conspiratorial one. Chaos in the presence of all three Vurals? "Say, Morgan, I think we got a long, eventful night ahead of us." The fae looked over to Luce and her friend. Raised his champagne glass in greeting. "Glad to meet ya and glad you could make it out. Hiya, Luce!"

"Hey Leah," Blanche laughed as she took a seat next to Nell. "You both talk big game, huh? I think - oh my god." Blanche went a little slack jawyed when she caught sight of a sailor. She swatted Nell and pointed. "Who the hell is that??"

Jared raised his arms in a shared cheer for the cheering section and mumbled about his cheerleader outfit before looking at the sailor who'd just arrived with curious eyes. "That's her." he pointed to the birthday girl.

Luce was about to say something to Kaden, make a pithy joke at his expense. But, as a muscled man made his way to the table, arms flexing and clothes far too tight, she resisted the urge to gag. "I think the fuck not." She murmured. Casting an apologetic glance in Felix's direction, she tilted her head away. "I'm gonna go... away from here. Have fun, Bea." She said, squeezing her sister's shoulder before hurrying away from the table. She was not interested in seeing stripper dick. Walking away, she hurried as fast as she could away from the table to one of the quieter corners of the room, the gift table.

Bea let out another laugh,"Aw, Luce, don't say it like that." She raised an amused eyebrow at Luce,"A friend, huh? Nice to meet you, Anita. I'm trying not to think too much about being thirty. Make sure to grab some champagne." She glanced at Jasmine with a grin,"We do that too much." Grinning at Morgan and Felix, she replied to them,"There is never chaos at a party like this!"

Jasmine peered over her champagne flute long enough to see the hot sailor man saunter on over toward the birthday girl. She set her glass down and arched an eyebrow. "I didn't realize this was going to be that kind of party, but I'm not complaining."

"Oh come on, Leah. You know I don't have the attention span for poker," Nell lied easily. "My sisters were always better at it, which is why I put slugs in their beds." Her face was complete with a sense of resentment, as if the words were true. But the arrival of a certain someone caught her eye, and a wide smirk quickly found her lips. "Oh, that? That is Jack. He's nice, isn't he? Very shiny. Very buff. Very good at dancing."

Morgan followed Felix's gaze to Luce and Anita, who seemed to be looking rather comfortable together. She couldn't help the way her eyes bulged at the combination, especially with Remmy finally strutting up the room behind them all. "You sure aren't kidding, huh," she whispered to Felix. She tried to recover quickly. "Hey! I didn't know you knew Bea and Luce, Anita! It's great to see you here. I hope you plan to drink enough for--" her conversation died into a snort as the sailor stripper came in. "Vural parties really do pull out all the stops."

Bea head whipped toward Luce. "What is this, Luce?" She asked as she was being abandoned. She downed the rest of her champagne before holding her hand out for more,"I need more champagne." What is happening? She hadn't planned for a stripper. She supposed it wasn't the worst thing, but this was a whole lot of a lot.

Remmy had successfully made it to the gift table. They could almost pick out their friends' voices through the haze of everything, spotting them all laughing over at a table. They considered, for a moment, joining them, but if they were playing cards, they weren't sure they could stop themself from card counting and that seemed unfair for a birthday party. So, instead, they set the card down they'd made Bea, turned to slip back through the crowd-- and ran straight into Luce. "Oh!" They stuttered, stepping back. "Hey, hi. Hello! Um-- I'm just-- I didn't see you there. You look--" they paused, staring a little slack-jawed at her. Tried to swallow. "This place is--" they tried to pry their eyes away, but couldn't. "I'm just gonna...." but didn't move. "Leave now."

Anita followed everyone else's glances towards the man in velcro clothing. She had to stifle her laugh because this man was clearly about to strip for the ‘captain’, the birthday girl herself, Bea. “This is gonna be fucking hilarious.” Anita said to Morgan as she finished off a second glass of champagne. After she acquired another glass, she sat down in the chair beside Morga, then looked around the party. “No girlfriend tonight?” She whispered as she mentally prepared herself for the horror that was the male body.

Kaden blinked a moment at the goddamn striper that rolled up to the table. And then he started laughing. "At least he's not a mime." He shot a glance to Felix. "This also your idea?" Knowing he was a fae surely explained a lot more of the chaos. He saw some champagne on the table somewhere, didn't care whose it was and handed it to Bea, still laughing at the whole situation.

Jack smiled beautifully as a couple people pointed him over to a table. "Oh I'll be sure to thank y'all properly later." He winked, strutting his way over to the table with a wide smile. He tipped his cap. "Ma'am. I heard someone was in need of the art of seaduction?" He shifted his pose, so under the thin cloth of the shirt his large, impressive pecs popped.

Luce had made a quick exit from the table, practically fleeing from the male stripper. In her hurry to get away, she didn't realize where she was going until it was too late. Remmy-- Fuck. Shit, shit, shit. "Oh. Hey." She said awkwardly. As she stood there, listening to them stutter, she weighed which was worse-- going back to the table and suffering through... that or stand here and talk with Remmy. Honestly? She wasn't sure. "You... look good. Nice suit." She nodded before frowning. "Leave? Didn't you just get here?"

Leah looked over to the new guest, her eyebrows furrowing at the intrusion. This man was not someone she recognized, and her eyes were accusatory as he walked through the guests. Oh, god, was he a stripper? It all became clear when he spoke, he's dramatic tone making it obvious. If she could have shrunk down into her chair, she would have. She desperately hoped that being situated at the poker table would make her go unnoticed by him... she did not want some random dude dancing all over her, no thank you. He'd probably be pretty distracted by Bea, anyway. She turned her attention back to the table, choosing to essentially ignore his presence. "He's certainly something", she said, responding to Blanche and Nell. Her eyes were accusatory again, and it was all she could do not to laugh at Nell's words. "I'll make sure to buy something nice with the money I'm about to win from you", she said, feigning confidence. "Maybe I'll even get you a gift!". She turned her attention around to Jared, winking at him. "Are you our dealer?"

Felix threw back his champagne in record time and took a moment to get a few more glasses for everyone before he took his own seat. He looked over at Kaden. "Nope," he said with a pop. A grin followed as he took a drink. "It's not my fault this time. I'm just happy to be here, fella."

"... Well," Blanche said, glancing at Nell. This had to be her doing. She started to snicker, tipping back her champagne. She was immediately distracted from counting cards and that was certainly fine by her. "He's certainly... a seaman." Blanche made a face. "And shiny??"

Morgan sniggered alongside Anita and used everyone's distraction to advance her hand in the game a little. "No, she's uh, a little indisposed right now. Although she might be sorry she missed this much fun later. She's a fan of just about everything here, booze, friends, counting cards, and a little chaos." The stripper popped his pecks and Morgan had to look away when she started to laugh too hard, even with her politeness reserve. "Kind of a shame we didn't get one of each, huh?"

"I did not do this," Bea let Felix know as a glass of champagne was placed in her hand. "Thank you," She told Kaden, laughing slightly. As his pecs popped, Bea was both impressed and a little startled. That was a sight. "I suppose that someone is me, sailor. Work your magic."

Something was going on over at the table of all their friends, but Remmy was always a one-track mind kind of person. Easily distracted. And Luce was certainly a distraction. They weren't sure if they wanted to stay there, though, when she was looking at them like that. "Oh, uh--" they blinked and looked up, "I can like...I was just-- maybe? It's uh-- I figured I can just go say hi to Bea and then, you know--" scratched their neck, "leave." Tried to smile, turning to look towards the table and-- "Is that a stripper?" they blurted loudly.

Leah looked over to the new guest, her eyebrows furrowing at the intrusion. This man was not someone she recognized, and her eyes were accusatory as he walked through the guests. Oh, god, was he a stripper? It all became clear when he spoke, he's dramatic tone making it obvious. If she could have shrunk down into her chair, she would have. She desperately hoped that being situated at the poker table would make her go unnoticed by him... she did not want some random dude dancing all over her, no thank you. He'd probably be pretty distracted by Bea, anyway. She turned her attention back to the table, choosing to essentially ignore his presence. "He's certainly something", she said, responding to Blanche and Nell. Her eyes were accusatory again, and it was all she could do not to laugh at Nell's words. "I'll make sure to buy something nice with the money I'm about to win from you", she said, feigning confidence. "Maybe I'll even get you a gift!". She turned her attention around to Jared, winking at him. "Are you our dealer?"

Felix threw back his champagne in record time and took a moment to get a few more glasses for everyone before he took his own seat. He looked over at Kaden. "Nope," he said with a pop. A grin followed as he took a drink. "It's not my fault this time. I'm just happy to be here, fella."

"... Well," Blanche said, glancing at Nell. This had to be her doing. She started to snicker, tipping back her champagne. She was immediately distracted from counting cards and that was certainly fine by her. "He's certainly... a seaman." Blanche made a face. "And shiny??"

Morgan sniggered alongside Anita and used everyone's distraction to advance her hand in the game a little. "No, she's uh, a little indisposed right now. Although she might be sorry she missed this much fun later. She's a fan of just about everything here, booze, friends, counting cards, and a little chaos." The stripper popped his pecks and Morgan had to look away when she started to laugh too hard, even with her politeness reserve. "Kind of a shame we didn't get one of each, huh?"

Something was going on over at the table of all their friends, but Remmy was always a one-track mind kind of person. Easily distracted. And Luce was certainly a distraction. They weren't sure if they wanted to stay there, though, when she was looking at them like that. "Oh, uh--" they blinked and looked up, "I can like...I was just-- maybe? It's uh-- I figured I can just go say hi to Bea and then, you know--" scratched their neck, "leave." Tried to smile, turning to look towards the table and-- "Is that a stripper?" they blurted loudly.

Jasmine considered sharing her champagne with the birthday girl, but apparently Kaden already had her covered there. She leaned over and whispered to Bea, "Kudos to whoever picked the stripper out. He's hot." She scanned back over to see Leah's reaction and grinned at her furrowed brows. "Not the classiest party favor, but hey, fun doesn't always have to be classy."

Anita couldn’t help but let out a fairly loud laugh when she saw the stripper talking about seduction and flexing his chest muscles. It was way too over the top. “Well, at least you’ll have a hilarious story to tell her.” She replied to Morgan, motioning over to the sailor. “Uh, could you imagine? That would be a real party.” Anita looked around the table, looking to see how everyone else was reacting to this man. “But hey, since we’re both here solo, we should have some fun, yeah?” She asked, lifting up her glass to cheers.

Jack met Bea's eyes and smiled temptingly. He saluted. "Aye aye captain. I hear this here's some sorta celebration, and I'm your gift." He winked, lifting up a part of his costume, the faux white belt that attached to his trouser. He offered the end of it to Bea. "So maybe you should unwrap me?"

"How could I refuse?" Bea replied with a chuckle, before taking the belt in her hand, sipping on her champagne. This was a hell of an experience, but she would remember this for her sisters' birthdays.

"I'm sure Bea would be happy to see you, but..." Luce grimaced as she gestured behind her, to the crowd that was growing around Bea's table. She watched as the man handed her the belt of his pants and grimaced. "She's got a little bit going on right now." She said before letting out a sigh and rubbing her forehead. "Yeah. Someone got her a stripper and it sure fucking wasn't me." She mumbled. "I need a drink. I need... many drinks." Luce said as she walked over to the champagne wall and took two glasses, downing one then the other in rapid succession. "Good fucking jesus."

Nell watched the stripper events unfold with far too much amusement in her eye, pausing from her game for a moment. "I don't know why everyone's looking like I did something. He's the one docking his ship at my sister!" She had definitely done something. If you could include hiring a secret stripper as doing something. "It's probably all the sea mist that makes hims shiny."

Jared shook his head to Leah. He was not qualified to be dealing them anything other than an awkward smile and a poorly covered astonishment as the stripper made moves towards Bea. The man took a full step behind Nell as if that would protect from from what was about to happen.

Morgan nodded at Anita, taking two champagne glasses from a passing waiter and holding them up in as classy a double toast as she could manage. "Oh, completely. If I manage to win anything, without her help, showing off her presents--well, she'll either be excited or jealous, and that's a win-win for me." She downed one glass in a single chug. "Sorry yours couldn't be here either. Sincerely. But I am all having a good ol' fashioned time without them." She turned over her shoulder to the stripper, "Dance, Magic Mike!" She called, laughing harder than she meant to.

"Okay, yeah," Remmy said, backing away from the gift table, "not going over there. My eye doesn't need to see that." They followed Luce over towards the champagne wall, not bothering to take a glass themself, feeling a little jealous that they couldn't also down two glasses in succession and get rid of the anxiety-- and the image of that large man unraveling his clothes next to Bea-- but decided it was fine. "So...fun birthday, huh?" Morgan's shrill laugh echoed and Remmy fought their curiosity to look over and see what was happening. "Wanna dance?"

Jared was looking anywhere but at what was occurring (he was bi but too innocent for this sort of thing) and caught eyes with someone he vaguely recognised. His mouth bloomed into a smile and he sidled over to Kaden. "No uniform? You didn't get hired for this one?"

Jasmine giggled with glee and gave a little "woop" as Bea took his belt in his hand. "Yes, sailor, we gotta sea this." She turned to Morgan with a wide grin and noted, "I like you, Morgan."

Leah let her eyes lock with Jasmine's, a clear look of panic gracing her features, though there was definitely playfulness laced within them, too. "I will murder you if something like this shows up for my birthday", she warned her, watching Bea and the stripper with masked amusement. "I think I need more champagne!" She rolled her eyes at Nell's joke, grabbing a champagne flute from a passing waiter.

Slowly, Felix slid off his glasses and blinked. That had to be against some kinda sea safety protocol. "...So anyhow, August is an alright month, huh?" He said absently as he looked at the stripper, his expression a little less than amused. Oh heck. It was August. The ring on the table from the champagne glass stared up at him. Oh, it was that time, wasn't it? So focused on crime and whatnot, he forgot about the dang mushrooms. He loosened his bow-tie before he sat back further into his chair. Nope. Not dealing with that today. He occupied himself with his champagne glass and turned his gaze away from the man who, as Nell gracefully put it, was docking ship.

Jasmine feigned innocence. "I would never, Leah!" She had to admit, it would be pretty hilarious to see, but she wouldn't do that to Leah. "I, for one, disagree. This sailor is more than welcome to my birthday bash." She gave him a sly wink.

Jack gave her a sultry wink, and once she held the belt tightly enough, he stepped back, flexing every muscle in his body as the outfit popped off it, one velcro fastening at a time, until it all dropped to the floor. All he was left in was his navy blue mesh thong, and his matching necktie. His dark skin glistened, every inch of him (and he did mean every inch) was toned and muscled to perfection, a physique that could make anyone jealous or horny. He rolled his hips slightly, letting them look and salivate.

Kaden was sitting back and laughing at this whole thing. And hey, still not a mime stripper so it was really still a win. His brow furrowed when the kid with the tractor came over to him. "Oh, hi. Uh, what are you talking about?" A quick glance to the stripper and then back to the kid, it became clear what he meant. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not a mime. Or a stripper. I'm Bea's friend. You must be mistaken. Who are you anyway?" He was never admitting that was him the other day. Ever.

Luce made the mistake of glancing over at the loud laughs that rang out from Bea's table. And immediately wished she hadn't. Some things just couldn't be unseen. At least, not without far more champagne. "Fuck me." She said and took another glass from the wall, head already beginning to spin from the alcohol. "Dance? I--" She blinked. Dancing. "I... Sure. Why not." She said, taking their hand and walking with them over to the dance floor.

Oh this was much easier to deal with when this man had his pants on. Bea sent a look over to Felix that she hoped conveyed, Oh dear, lord what is happening? "Wow, consider me seduced." She finished her drink quickly. Was there going to be more after this?

Jared was taken aback for a second and then he made an oh shape with his mouth and grinned at the other. "Riiiiiight, not a stripper! Of course. No worries, I won't out you. Not dressed as a mime can't blow your cover I gotchu." he whispered.

Nell cupped her hands around her mouth, wasting no time it letting a loud whoop mixed with laughter fill the air as Bea undid Jack's attire, revealing his seascape to everyone. "Make him your bitch, Bea!" Maybe the champagne was hitting her harder than she'd thought. Then she turned back to Leah to say, "I'm getting you ten strippers for your birthday! You should be so lucky! I'm gonna get you the whole armada of sea-men!"

Oh. Luce had said yes. Remmy didn't actually think she would have said yes, but she had! They smiled, stealing only the slightest of glances over to Bea's table before turning back around when blue mesh was spotted in a place they didn't mean-- or want-- to look. They followed Luce over to the dance floor, placing their free hand on her hip when they made it there. "It was really nice of you guys to do this for Bea," they said to her, smiling. Maybe if they just didn't say anything weird things could be alright, "she deserves it."

Anita hesitated when Morgan made a loose reference to Marley. Realistically, she knew there was no way Morgan knew that they were actually girlfriends now, but she got oddly nervous. “Maybe a good thing given how our last double date went.” She smiled, then decided to change the topic. “How many drinks do you think it would take to enjoy this for more than just comedic purposes?” It was a tease, obviously, since the answer was infinity drinks. Anita looked over at the woman who seemed to be enjoying it the most and laughed. She was kind of jealous of the people who were enjoying it. Then she overheard someone asking Kaden if he was a mime stripper, and she absolutely lost it, keeling over with laughter. “He’s definitely a stripper! You just gotta offer the right price!” She called over in between laughs.

Bea glanced over at Kaden. "If you start stripping here, I will kick you out. I support you, but not here," She teased.

Kaden pinched his nose. "Kid, there's nothing to out. I work in animal control." He sighed, clearly there was no way to convince him so he downed the champagne he had left. Oh no. Anita heard, too? Which was worse, mime fucker or mime striper? "Putain de merde, I am not a stripper! That's a stripper," he said pointing to the lap dance happening across the way. "I'm a cop."

Jared "RIIIIIGHT I gotchu." He looked at the woman he didn't know and whispered "DOn't blow his cover that's not cool, mimes can't be seen talking." and then he clapped Kaden on the back. "Cop as well huh? Good with costumes?"

Blanche was cackling, laughing so hard that it actually hurt her and her injuries. Wheezing, she swatted Nell, giving Bea her own whoop. "Get it, Bea!!" she cackled, grabbing another flute of champagne. "We know this is your.... Fanta-sea."

Leah rolled her eyes, taking a sip from her new champagne. Of course Jasmine would want this dude at her birthday party. "I'll get his number from Nell", she teased. "That way you can just call him whenever you want. Bad day? Call the Sailor Stripper man, he'll make it all better!" Her eyes widened comically at Nell's joke. It felt more like a threat, to be honest. She wouldn't put it past the younger woman to actually pull something like that off. "Nell, Nell. ...Nell." She let out a breath, shaking her head no. "Nell... I think you know that if you even try that, you'll regret it." Would she ever do anything that might hurt Nell? Absolutely not, and Nell probably knew that, too. But it was worth the threat, if only to avoid the embarrassment and the mere suggestion of what Nell was threatening to do.

Morgan snorted again, some of her champagne flying up her nose. "Kaden, you didn't tell me you had a passion-project second job! You gotta follow your heart, and invest in all of the best props for your set list." She patted his shoulder, beaming, and got up from the table, taking Anita by the hand. "Y'all are swell, but Jacky Boy isn't our type. We'll come back around though!" She slid her arm through Anita's and escorted her around the room, aiming for the dance floor at a safe, respectful distance from Remmy, who seemed to be finally working things out with Luce. "How's that for a save?" She asked Anita.

Bow-tie thoroughly loosened, Felix shifted in his seat before he got up and went to Bea's side. His eyes went to Kaden for a moment. Not you too, his eyes said. "Wow, you sure know how to clear a deck, fella!" His smile was sharp as he looked at the stripper. "You know, I think there's someone else here who could really use the kinda good time you've provided us all with. Hey Nell!" He called over before he looked back to Jack. "That's the one. Promise you'll show her a decent time? She's great. Dynamite. Aces. She deserves it. It's been a tough month."

Jasmine joked, "Oh Bea, that's not fun." The French man was attractive enough he could pull off the looks, but he didn't look like much of a dancer. Still, she poked fun. "So, you do a cop strip show then." She could see Bea was getting a bit uncomfortable, so she sauntered over to that side of table and tapped Jack's soldier. "Hey, Sailor, I think your moves may be a bit more appreciated over here."

Luce 's head was spinning, the bright lights and decorations sparkling in the light. The sound of the band's music was almost enough to drown out the chaos of what was happening behind her, but she could still hear Blanche and Nell shouting words of encouragement at the male stripper, who was no doubt... doing his job. Remmy's hand rested on her hip and she blinked. "I don't know if she deserves that specifically. I definitely didn't pay for that guy." She said with a shake of her head. "Fucking Nell... I bet she hired him."

Jasmine grinned widely at Leah. "Please, do. One of the girls is having a bachelorette party soon and he'd be perfect!"

Jack looked over to Nell with a quick promising wink. He'd definitely be by her seat later. But he had to give the birthday girl his attention first. He turned on the spot, giving Bea a show of every single one of his muscles. She didn't seem as eager as the girl to his side, so when he leant in to ask a question, it was with his normal, quiet voice. "Do you want a dance or do you want me to take myself somewhere else?" But it seemed his question was answered by the others around. He flashed both the hot at the gills looking guy and the pretty lady who tapped his shoulder. "You got my sailor's oath!" He told Felix, and turned over to Nell. "You want me to swab your decks, miss?"

"I'm not stripping because I'm not a stripper!" Kaden started cursing under his breath. The kid, Anita, Morgan, Felix, and Bea, too? Come on. "Someone back me up here. Anyone! Come on, let's go back to taking my money, that'd be great, right?"

Bea glanced between both Felix and Jasmine,"Thank you." Standing, she grabbed Felix's hand,"Do you want to go dance?" She could use a little bit of time away from the chaos of the table, even as fun as it was. "Have fun, Nell!" She cackled as Jack made her way over.

Remmy gave a chuckle, shaking their head. "I meant a good time," they said, stepping in time to the music and moving Luce with them. It was a more upbeat tune, the music drifting around them, and Remmy spun her a little before pulling her back in. "You all deserve a good night to let loose and have--" they flinched at the sound of Blanche's loud shout cutting through even the loud music, giving Luce a sheepish grin, "--fun."

Blanche paled as the stripper turned on Nell. "Oh no. You're on your own." She started to inch away.

Anita followed Morgan out to the dance floor, grinning widely. This was far preferred to watching a man strip. “The absolute best save. You’re my hero,” she grinned widely as she began to dance with her friend. As they danced she noticed Luce dancing with some person she didn’t quite recognize. She smiled softly, they seemed nice together. Turning her attention back towards Morgan, she laughed as she could still hear the things people were saying by the stripper. “This party did not really go how I was expecting… but this does make me kinda wanna hire a stripper for my next birthday.”

“What?!" Nell squawked as the tables were turned, and suddenly there was a whole ocean of flesh coming closer. "Blanche, don't you dare fucking leave me. This is what you get for running away from the hospital!" she said as her friend tried to inch away, latching onto a non-injured portion of Blanche with a vice-like grip. "My decks are good, though! Freshly swabbed! Just got them done yesterday!"

Leah pushed herself closer to Jasmine as the stripper came closer to where they were sitting, all but turning her back to him and Nell with an amused but mortified look. In a supportive move, she grabbed Blanche's wrist and pulled her toward them as well, holding her close.

"We know, Kaden," Felix said with a solemn nod. "The champagne tower is all yours, friend. I know it's a real hard time for ya." He laced his fingers with Bea's and smiled as he led her towards the dance floor. "I don't know how I'll compare to our new pal Jack over there but I'll do my best for you, doll."

Jane had been stealing other guests money at a different table, and went to go see what the commotion was. Jane saw Jack, and snorted as she heard Kaden assuring everyone he wasn't a stripper. She clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on Kaden, everyone here knows you strip to ABBA."

"I don't want to think about my sister having a good time with that." Luce said automatically, shuddering. She let Remmy spin her around, her feet just a bit clumsy underneath her as they danced. The haze of the alcohol was settling in, everything golden and bright around them. Tilting her head, she looked at them, eyebrows arching. "Mm, you're not wrong. You know," She said, pausing for a moment before leaning in closer to Remmy, "I can think of a couple fun things we could do."

"Oh, I'll take your money for free, Kaden!" Morgan called over her shoulder, winking at him. "Is that a promise?" The music was picking up and she took her friend's hand, whirling her around as they came near the dance floor. "Anita, I will hire you only the best, most voluptuous strippers for your birthday. Name the date, and they're all yours." She spun them around again as the music picked up. "Also, fun fact about me no one here knows yet? I know how to do the charleston." She started to demonstrate, working more flare into it than usual. "If you take another drink, I'll even teach you too."

Jared had a lot of people backing up the knowledge that this kaden guy was a stripper. He was embarrassed but Jared pat him on the arm. "Don't worry bud, no one is judging. I'm sure you're a wonderful stripper."

Jasmine cackled as Nell tried to back away from the stripper. There had to be some sort of anecdote about not hiring a stripper if you're not down for a lap dance. "Good call, the kid definitely doesn't need a stripper." Leah was held on to the small girl even though Nell tried to keep her in the stripper's orbit. She wondered if this short blonde girl was even old enough to be here. "I'm guessing Nell's the one who hired our sailor friend here." Good taste, just not Bea's. She nearly spit out her champagne when it was mentioned Kaden stripped to ABBA. "Oh honey, we need to get you a better playlist."

As the world faded from view, and tsunami Jack took over the majority of Nell's line of sight, she raised a single middle finger across the room, pointed directly at Felix.

Remmy looked around the hall-- people laughing, people grinning, people just plain having fun, having the time of their lives-- and decided that not everything in the world was bad. In fact, there was a lot more good than bad. There had to be, right? Luce looked stunning, Bea looking like shew as having the time of her life now that she was on the dance floor, even Nell, though flustered, looked like she was having fun. And Blanche and Morgan and everyone else. Remmy spun Luce one more time before bringing her close, smiling warmly at her drunken words. "Maybe tomorrow," they said back to her softly, "once the alcohol has worn off."

Kaden turned to see Jane behind him. Of fucking course. "Fuck you, Wu." He was going to need something stronger than champagne soon. There was no living this down was there?

This had been a long time coming. It had only been recently that Nell had promised her sisters answers, a look into the part of her life that she’d been hiding since...she wasn’t quite sure for how long. And they all had questions about necromancy. As for Luce, she couldn’t be certain what secrets she might hold, but it was time to bare them all to the light, to start anew with one another, and know each other for who each of them truly were. “I think-,” Nell began, knowing that they’d all have much to say. “We should try and just let each other speak at first, maybe. To get the secrets and whatever out before asking questions or anything.” She didn’t want to be judged, and she doubted Bea and Luce wanted to face scrutinous eyes, either. “That’d probably make this all easier.” But which of them would go first? “I don’t know who wants to say their stuff first, but we can draw straws or volunteer or whatever.” 

Leaning back against the countertop of the kitchen counter, Luce stared at Nell as she spoke before her eyes went to Bea. They all had secrets. They all had questions. And for fucks sake, she wasn’t going to wait until the next time one of them got hurt or kidnapped or ki-- there wasn’t going to be a next time. She wanted all of this shit out in the open, right now. She’d wanted answers the day she’d stepped out of the hospital, after her conversation with Bea. But, her mind wandered back to everything that had happened with Nell, with Remmy, with Rio, with Nadia… She hadn’t had time for some spill your secrets session. At Nell’s suggestion of drawing straws, she rolled her eyes. “Fuck me, no. Let’s just get it over with.” Holding up her hand, Luce attempted to tap into the magic she’d felt that night at the Ring, consumed with worry and fear. Fire sprang to life at her fingertips, the flames just as blue they’d been since the day she’d heard of Bea’s death. Trying her best to focus in on the magic, she gritted her teeth and threw more power into the flames, willing them to-- the flames sputtered for a moment, crackled, and the barest hints of electricity arced through the air. With a wave, the magic dissipated. “I’ve been trying to learn lightning magic for the past fucking six years. It’s not necromancy or demon summoning. But yeah.”

There was a bubble of nerves in her stomach as Bea stood with her sisters. She had poured herself a glass of whiskey, but barely sipped from it now. She knew why they were in the kitchen, it had been a place of comfort for all of them before. “It’s best if we leave me to last, you two probably have a lot to ask me.” She would if she was them. She certainly had questions for Nell. As Luce showed them her secret, a smile took Bea’s face. Now that was amazing. Lightning. She had never even considered using her fire to create something like that when she had been alive. “Not necromancy or demon summoning, but it’s pretty amazing. You’re learning that by yourself?” Bea surprised herself when she heard the proud tone to her words. She couldn’t remember the last time she had sounded like her old self. She supposed it would make sense that one of her sisters brought it out of her. “I’ve never even heard of someone using lightning magic before.” Her finger idly went around the rim of her glass, considering her middle sister. 

It made sense that Luce wouldn’t be as reluctant to show her secret as the others might be. Nell didn’t think that lightning magic was something that had the power to tear them apart, but her gaze still lit up as she took in the pretty and powerful way the magic crackled from Luce’s palms. Still, she internally flinched at the mention of demon summoning, a learned panic flaring up at the mention of it. Did Bea realize what Luce was insinuating by mentioning it in the same sentence as necromancy? She tried to focus on Luce, but it was difficult with the dread building inside of her. Nevertheless, Nell’s intrigue and admiration came through her words. “‘How long have you been able to do lightning? That’s pretty badass.” Perhaps she didn’t quite understand it as much as Bea did, seeing as she’d never been a fire elemental, but she could still support her sister in how cool it was in general. “But same, I haven’t seen someone use lightning like that before.” Should she mention her own strange magic that had seemingly popped up? Luce already knew about it, and it wasn’t exactly something she considered a secret. This was secret time, wasn’t it?

For the first time in years, Luce squirmed under the scrutiny of her sisters. They’d always been the focus of attention, either from their parents or from others. Having them stare at her, compliment her, admire her… It was everything she’d wanted growing up, but having it now? It felt wrong. Strange. Foreign. Shrugging, Luce glanced over at Bea’s glass of whiskey, idly wondering why her sister hadn’t gone for gin. “Other people have done it in the past. I read about it one day while going through some of Mom’s books and… just kinda latched onto it. Been doing a lot of reading since then.” She said with a sigh. “It’s part of why I got my cabin. I wanted to focus on figuring it all out on my own.” At Nell’s question, she shifted uneasily. “The first time I did it was at the Ring, but it felt… I don’t know. It felt familiar. Like I’d done it before.” She muttered, thoughts drifting to the spider web of scars across her chest. With a shake of her head, she glanced at Bea. “Yeah… Yours should be last. Your turn, Nellie.”

As her pride simmered, Bea considered Luce, eyes narrowed with thought. Her sister had always been powerful, but this was a different type of power. It was rare and to those who didn’t understand elemental magic, it was scary. Luce had kept it from them, but her secret had power to it. It wasn't magic that Luce would be attacked for either. Bea was sure that if they got that information circling around to the right people, they would begin to solidify the notion that coming after the Vurals was a fool’s errand. “I can ask someone I know if they have any more books on it.” If Leah could find her tomes on necromancy, she could find Luce information on lightning, but she would never betray Leah’s trust by mentioning what position she had. Her friend could tell Bea’s  sisters if she wanted to. “Should start to come easier for you then, if it feels familiar now.” That’s how necromancy had started to work for her after coming back. She was sure the same feeling could be applied to Luce. She turned to look at Nell, eyebrow raised,“Come on, spill.”

Nell’s own mind began to whir as Bea mentioned books. Why hadn’t she thought of that for her own attempts to look into whatever was happening with her magic? Like Luce, she also fidgeted under her sisters’ eyes, though it was for different reasons than the lightning bearer. Most of the time Nell was the center of attention between the three of them and their mother, it was because she was in trouble, and it was hard to shake that feeling now that she was going to get into the things she’d been most afraid her sisters’ would judge her for, possibly even hate her for. But Bea had also broken the rules, and Luce had too now. So that was something, right? They wouldn’t cast her out? “Well- you both already know about the Ring by now. That was part of the reason August came after us,” she said quickly, inclining her head towards Bea. “I started working for them a bit before I got home. But the uh- bigger reason he came after me was that he also saw me summoning a demon.” Summoning a demon like their grandmother had done. “He wanted to out me to the coven to get me kicked.” Luce already knew this part, but she still needed to tell it to Bea. “But I panicked- the coven is- you know it’s the only place I can...do things right.” A place where she wasn’t a freak, or constantly berated by her mother at all times. “I didn’t want to lose that. I tried to take his memories, but I fucked it up. They came back, painfully. And he decided he was done with me, I guess.” Now all she could do was brace herself for whatever her sisters might say.

"I... yeah. Yeah, that'd be great. Thanks." Luce said, slightly taken aback by her sister’s easy offering of help. She'd been working on this for so long, determined to find some kind of way to outshine Bea, to rise above Nell's trouble making streak. And now that she'd accomplished that, it didn't matter. She realized now that her pursuit of this strange and new power had been... petty. Attention, validation, it didn't matter in the grand scheme of things. The only thing that mattered was that her family was safe. And now, she had power that could ensure they would never be bothered again. If she could only control it. Luce looked over at Nell, listening intently to her younger sisters words. It wasn't all that different from the story Nell had told her back in the shed with August all those months ago. Just... a few key fucking details left out. Luce looked at the scarred skin of Nell's arms and remembered the way her sister's skin had been peeled back from her flesh. She remembered the way she'd looked when she'd emerged from the Ring, exhausted and drained. Nell had suffered enough. She didn't need to deal with criticism from them now. "What happened happened. Nothing we can do about it now. How long had you been doing this sort of thing? Just when you left home? Or before that?" She asked, wondering just how long they'd all been keeping secrets from one another.

Only two months ago, Bea would have looked at her youngest sister with disdain, ignoring her own hypocrisy. She had been comfortable ignoring the rules she was breaking, while dishing out judgment at every turn. She hummed as Nell spoke,“Guess you’re more like Grandma than we wanted to admit.” They had been taught to think of their grandmother with disgust, her use of magic being something bad. It was pretty amusing to think of how much they had turned out like her. There was a part of Bea that wanted to tell Nell she should have never attempted memory magic without help, but it wasn’t like the youngest Vural thought she would get support with this. Things would have ended up very differently if Nell thought she could come to Bea. “So that’s how you knew how to bind Greg. I was wondering for a while, but never thought I’d get a straight answer out of you.” She finally took a sip of her drink, letting the strong taste wash over her mouth. “Did you start doing it because you couldn’t do fire?” She knew that question was stepping into sensitive territory, but it was the only path Bea saw leading to summoning demons.

Nell’s shoulders relaxed in the slightest with the realization that she wasn’t about to be burned at the stake, and a small snort of relief passed over her as Bea made the comparison. “Well...technically, I guess I learned from her. I found some of her journals mom was hiding a long time ago and...well...read them and stuff.” It had been nice, almost comforting to read the words of someone that seemed to understand and was also in her family. She could only assume Luce meant how long she’d been working with demons. “I found the journals when I was fourteen. But I didn’t manage to summon any sort of demon until I was seventeen, during the summer between junior and senior year.” She’d worked hard that summer, all too engrossed with what she’d been working on. “But yeah, that’s how I knew what to do with Greg. I was hoping you’d think it just stopped at binding when it happened. And you were right in thinking you wouldn’t get a straight answer,” she finished with a dry chuckle. Nell shrugged at Bea’s question, not entirely sure how to answer it. “I mean- I started summoning cause I couldn’t do fire, obviously. I had to do something. And I understood it, you know? And demons were just...a deeper branch of summoning. I was curious and intrigued and I wanted to know if I could.” She’d wanted to be good at something, not even for her family, but for herself.

At Bea's pointed question, Luce's jaw clenched slightly. Of course she must have gotten started on this shit because she didn't have fire magic-- why else would Nell do something like that? Their whole lives, their mother had praised fire magic above all else and slandered their grandmother for defying the laws of nature. And yeah. Maybe it was fucked up. Maybe it was messing with forces beyond their control. But, any hesitation she'd had surrounding that kind of magic had long faded. She'd willingly fought alongside a hellhound, she'd studied necromancy, she'd helped resurrect Bea. She'd gone against every rule she once abided by... in the name of family. "Well, you succeeded." She said with a nod. "You haven't made any deals with any, right?" The last thing she needed to worry about was fighting a fucking demon for Nell's firstborn or some shit. As she thought more about Nell delving into their grandmother's journals, Luce blinked. "The journals-- is that where you learned about the body manipulation thing?" She asked, mimicking the way that August's hand had snapped backwards before the resurrection. Or had that just been something Nell has discovered on her own? Either way, it was fucking terrifying. Incredible, amazing, but terrifying too.

Bea’s mouth twitched up as she heard the reason Nell started summoning demons. Hadn’t that been part of the reason Bea has started doing necromancy. She had wanted to see how far she could go with the most banned magic. “Deals would be a pretty bad idea, but I’m sure Nell already knows that. She’s the expert after all.” The words slid easily off her tongue, but it felt strange to praise her over demons. Parts of Bea understood the danger of that. Parts of her wanted to weaponize that danger. She looked over to Luce sharply, eyes glittering with the new information. “Body manipulation? What does that mean?” She couldn’t control the excitement in her voice, already thinking of how powerful her sister must be to do something like that.

The way Bea and Luce seemed to talk about the demon summoning as if it were just another day in their lives...it was monumental in Nell’s eyes, to realize that she wasn’t going to be cast out from them for what she was practicing. “Deals are usually bad, yes.” She had to answer Luce’s question, though. “I’ve made some, if I’m being honest. But never any that that I wasn’t sure I’d be able to deliver on, or be tricked by.” Apparently they thought this was also a good time to talk about whatever new thing her magic had been doing, though. She wasn’t sure what to make of Bea’s excitement, but it was certainly better than the alternative. “No, that’s...different. I still don’t really get how it works. But it happened when Montgomery was going to kill me, and I accidentally did it to Kaden once too when things were...not great. I wanted them to stop and then they just...did. It hurt too, apparently.” She couldn’t help the glint beginning to shine in her eyes, remembering what she’d seen in the mirrors when it came to the power, the heart she’d held in her hand. “Kaden said it felt like his insides were being pulled in different directions or something. Maybe I could look in that for books, too. It felt...familiar but...not. I don’t know, it was strange. And then I did on the smaller scale with August’s hand.”

“Uh huh.” Luce said, more than a little uncomfortable by the fact that Nell had made deals with demons. She didn’t want to know what kind of payments she’d made, or what kind of deals she’d made. As much as she hated the idea of secrets, there were some things she just didn’t want to know. Nodding, Luce recalled what Nell had told her about her encounter with Montgomery. At her words about Kaden, she raised an eyebrow though. “Interesting.” She said slowly. Familiar but not. That was almost exactly how she’d felt about the lightning magic that coursed through her. Familiar in the way that fire had been, but altogether different from anything she’d ever felt before. Hm. Glancing over at Bea, she couldn’t help but wonder just who her sister was now. Since coming back, she was still her sister, still the same woman from before. But… there were definite changes. “Your turn. How long have you been at… all of this?” She gestured off-handedly, unsure of how else to put the subject to words. Necromancy.

A frown tugged at Bea’s face as Nell told them that she had in fact made deals with demons before. Even if the younger woman believed that she could take on whatever they wanted, it seemed like a dangerous game to play. She supposed, though, that all of them had been playing a dangerous game for a long time. She tilted her head at Nell, “You can just do it whenever you want?” Humming she took another sip of her drink,“We all need to practice these magics. We’ll need that strength soon.” She wanted them all to be the best they could be when they destroyed the hunter. “Just before I stopped coming to coven meetings. So about a year and a half now. We always talked about banned magic and I had always wanted to know why necromancy was banned.” She had been afraid for years to research it, terrified of what would happen if someone found out. Funny how if she had listened to the coven, she wouldn’t be alive now. “The more I read about it the more I wanted to try it. And when I tried it, I was good at it. It almost felt as natural as fire.”

“I can get the hellhounds whenever I want,” Nell said carefully. “And Greg too since he’s bound to me. Smaller demons are easier to do on the fly, but if you wanted someone powerful it takes more planning. But you can always do that beforehand, and then bind them to something while you wait for whatever it is you summoned them for. They don’t like being seen as tools though, obviously. I’ve developed the summoning...pretty well. I definitely want to figure out the other thing, though. The one that hurt Kaden and Montgomery. I think that could be...definitely useful. With them it was sort of instinctual magic, but I was able to do it intentionally with August.” Well enough to have summoned creatures people didn’t often feel comfortable enough to say aloud, or even knew the names of. As for why they’d need the strength...Nell could guess why. “Montgomery,” she simply said, letting the name fall between them all, the single word spiked with disdain and anger. But as she listened to Bea, she realized she only had more questions. “Is it mostly necromancy that you were exploring? Or was there anything else new?” She’d heard from Kaden about talk of shadows and the like, but she wanted to let Bea tell her if that’s what she wished. 

Nell’s words made sense-- she’d seen her sister summon the hellhounds like it was nothing. If she could do that, it didn’t surprise her that Nell was capable of summoning even greater demons. Fingers flexing instinctively at Bea’s words, Luce’s thoughts were spoken aloud by her younger sister. The hunter. The murderer. They’d dealt with August, wet the earth with his blood to bring Bea back. And now that she was back, now that all three of them had laid their cards on the table, it was time for Montgomery to face the consequences of his actions. “If it felt natural to you, that’s pretty fucking impressive. It didn’t feel that way for me at all.” She said, still remembering the way the magic had felt as it coursed through her body. Tilting her head at Nell’s words, she frowned. “Something else new?” She echoed, wondering what the younger woman meant by that.

Bea was far more interested in hearing about the body manipulation, but she listened carefully nonetheless about the demons. “Well, if Greg is bound to you, can you evict him from my house and call him whenever you need him,” She asked with no bite. The demon hadn’t bothered her in some time, but she had not let go of her grudge against him. She still found him a little annoying. “You can always try to practice your body manipulation on my new friend. He doesn’t feel pain. And if that doesn’t work, we’ll find other ways for you to practice.” Bea refused to call the hunter by his name, if she could help it. To her, he didn’t deserve to have that from her. Hearing his name made her smile sharp, eyes angry, fingers tight against her glass. “Yes, for him. I’m taking his head and I think it would do him well to understand what we all gave up to bring me back.” She would see that man ruined. He would never know peace, she was going to make sure of that. “It was only necromancy. I haven’t been looking into anything else. I don’t know why it felt natural, but it does. Even more now. I guess it’s because it’s all I have now, since my fire is gone.” She had never explicitly said she had lost her fire, but she was sure her sisters had guessed it. 

Nell wasn’t all that sure what to make of the Greg comment, remembering how it had been one of their grander fights before Bea had died, so instead brushed past it in her uncertainty of what to do with it. “He doesn’t?” she asked curiously, already mulling the thought over. “I mean that’d be...great, then. If I can just sort of experiment on him.” Even if the vision of the heart in her hand had worried her in the Hall of Mirrors, she was still curious enough to see if it could be a reality. Or something she could work up to. “You want to keep the head?” Nell asked, also not entirely clear on what Bea’s plans for it would be. “I definitely want to kill him too, but also make him hurt before he gets to die.” She didn’t want to push Bea, entirely. But the point of this was that there would be no more secret, so Nell decided to ask outrightly. “Someone mentioned that they saw some sort of like...shadowy magic pooling around you.” As for the fire...Nell wasn’t entirely sure what to say. It was something she couldn’t fully understand, having never used fire herself. “Well...at least now we outnumber Luce?” she said, trying to bring some levity to the words.

Luce listened to her sisters intently, mulling over their words. From Bea’s cold, callous words of violence and murder, to Nell’s quick agreement and eagerness to join in… She wanted Montgomery to pay, of course she did. She wanted him to feel the consequences of his actions. And if it boiled down to death… A slight chill went down Luce’s spine as she realized that she was just as eager to play her part, to work with her sisters to stop him. She’d killed before-- she’d killed August and even before that… she’d killed monsters. Killed creatures that tried to hurt her, that would have killed her without a second thought. And Montgomery? He was just another one of those monsters. “Death’s almost too good for him, but… it’ll do.” Luce said with a nod. She folded her arms across her chest while the other two talked about practicing on Bea’s new friend-- a corpse? Must be. Swallowing at the mention of Bea’s fire going out, Luce did her best to shoot Nell a grin. “Guess that makes me the odd one out for once. Go figure.”

“No one has ever written about how they feel pain and he’s never reacted poorly to anything I’ve had him do. Not that he reacts to anything,” Bea shrugged. Of course, if it turned out that he did feel pain, she would feel pretty badly about it. She wasn’t sure she would stop, but she would feel bad. “I just don’t want it to be with his body. If he comes back as a ghost, I want him to feel how I did when I realized my head was away from my body.” There was no way to explain how it felt being unaware of what was happening to parts of her body. Bea shrugged,“Kaden saw them when I was mad at the waitress, but I didn’t see them. I wasn’t casting any magic either, so I’m not sure why they were there.” She lifted her hand, staring down at it. She tried to summon something, but nothing truly changed. The light grew dimmer around her fingers, but she knew that could be some trick of her eyes. “How does it feel, Luce?”

“Alright...sure, yeah that doesn’t sound like a terrible idea if he doesn’t feel anything.” If Nell could practice on Bea’s resurrected corpse, that would be the best way to hone the new skill, wouldn’t it? “So what are you gonna do with him?” Nell wasn’t entirely sure how she felt about Bea stealing a body if they still had loved ones around to mourn them, but hopefully Bea would choose bodies respectfully. As for Montgomery not having a head, Nell’s grin grew sharper when her sister’s reasoning was given. “I like that. Good. He better not fucking come back, though.” As for the shadow magic or whatever it was, it seemed Bea was uncertain. “He seemed to think it was magic. Maybe another thing that’ll be worth exploring?” Her lips pursed as Bea’s flames continued to evade her, wishing her sister didn’t have to deal with the fallout of losing such a big part of her magic. “I’m sorry,” Nell apologized reflexively. If they’d done the ritual correctly, Bea would be sitting here with her flames in all their former glory. “And I’d say welcome to the club, Luce- but then you wouldn’t be the odd one out.”

Though they weren’t the same thing-- a resurrected corpse and a zombie were different-- Luce couldn’t help the slight lurch in her stomach at the idea of Nell practicing her body manipulating magic on the corpse. It reminded her too much of Remmy and she didn’t want to think about them right now. Uncrossing her arms, she drummed her fingers against the counter. Murder. Death. Torture. Months ago, she would have balked at the idea. Would have wondered why it was necessary to do something like that, when fear or posturing could get the job done. Not anymore. She’d learned that sometimes, death was the only way to truly protect others from harm. And she had learned there was nothing she wouldn’t do for her family. It had taken a twisted, fucked up lesson, but it had made her stronger. Made them all stronger. “If he comes back, we’ll send him back to Hell where he belongs.” She muttered darkly. But, the mood shifted slightly, from one of anger back to mild teasing and she relaxed a fraction. “Ah, you know me. I can manage just fine on my own.” Luce said with a wave of her hand.

“He’s around for protection and if I need help in the house,” Bea answered easily. She would wait to make more. She didn’t want to be grave robbing that often and she did understand, in some ways, how families would be upset if they knew what she was doing. She would be angry if someone did this to her body, but she needed this. “We’ll find a way to get rid of him if he comes back,” She told her sister resolutely. She considered this for a second, could she have become the opposite of once she once had? “I don’t know how to try to bring it back, Nell. Everything else came back naturally.” She had never once struggled with her fire magic, she didn’t know how to struggle when it came to the magic she was supposed to have. She shrugged off her sister’s apology,“I walked through death, of course I was going to come back different. At least I still have my magic. That’s what I was scared of.”