#ch:jared

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.

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?

Things in town were hard at the moment, but when weren’t they. It was hard to remember a time when there was simply nothing bad happening. And Jared had lived in white crest his whole life, that said a lot. That being said when he’d stumbled upon a ring for the first time that season he decided not to think about the consequences. He was allowed to have some fun right? That’s how the nymph found himself dancing around a big bonfire he’d built in the clearing between the first barn and the house. The flames were big and Jared delighted in prodding the copper pipe he’d put in the middle of the flames to watch them change colour. Drink in hand, a few bouncing bonedoggles around him, and Jared was having a grand time by himself. He swayed to himself in the music coming from the boom box just inside the cab of his tractor. Who knew mushroom season could be so great?

Nell could see the flames of the bonfire from across the field when she pulled up to the farm, leaving her motorcycle far from the kids as always so as not to startle them. Automatically, a grin spread over her lips, thinking of all the times her and Jared had stayed out here by the warmth of the fire to relax and simply enjoy each other’s company. She couldn’t quite make her friend out yet, but she didn’t hesitate to announce her arrival. “Jared! How dare you decide to start the party withou-” Her words cut off in the next instant, surprise flooding her system as she took in the actual full picture. The rosiness in her cheeks seemed to react instantly, and it seemed that old habits died hard as a small blush colored her. “Jared!” she began again in her surprise. “Are you- I mean- where are your clothes? Why are you naked?”

Hearing Nell’s voice Jared joyfully turned around to greet her. A massive grin plastered on his face he waved her over towards the fire. “I had to start without you!! I needed the fire to LIVE.” he told her, dramatically gesturing with both arms grandly at the huge burning mass. He wandered forward to her and threw an arm around her shoulders. “Clothes were only holding me back.” he waved away her concern idly, leading them over to the fire, his face not for a second shifting out of it’s dazed happiness. “I didn’t know how much better life was without anything holding you back.” He enthused loudly, throwing an arm out to the farmland as a whole. “My kids are so much freer than I am. I want a piece of that you know? Why can’t I be like them? Why can’t you be like them? You belong here!”

“Jared!” Nell called out again in pure surprise as he turned, her blush only darkening further. What would highschool Nell have done to be in this exact situation? No, on second thought— she’d probably be even more surprised. The arm around her shoulders was warm, and Nell tried her best not to look at- well- anywhere southwards, even if she was….curious. Instead she focused on Jared’s other horns. The ones on his head that apparently had come out to play. They really were lovely, with the way they gracefully curled, and their fascinating texture. She still wished he’d let himself out of his glamour more often when it was just the two of them and the farm. It seemed like it’d be uncomfortable to keep it up as often as he did. “It’s great with nothing to hold you back,” she tried to recover. “Are you drunk or something? Did you start drinking without me? That’s not fair! Do you want some pants?” Please, want some pants.

“Drunk? No way. Well I mean I wanted some whiskey for the bonfire but I couldn’t find it in the house, can’t remember where I last had it. Maybe the barn?” He squinted behind them still walking Nell forward and then shrugged. He squeezed her shoulders and stooped to whisper as if they were amongst people who couldn’t know, and not just some rowdy bonedoggle pups. “It’s mushroom season, a ring popped up behind the first barn.” he told her impishly. “Took my chances and I feel great.” he says louder than before. The nymph let her go and turned to walk backwards, taking her hand to hold to pull her closer to the bonfire. “Pants are for humans. Coffins for the legs. Life isn’t supposed to be that way, nothing is far more natural don’t you think. Come on Nell don’t tell me being naked isn’t FREEING.” He yelled out the last word, as if challenging the air to argue with him.

Nell still didn’t know where to look. But as Jared mentions mushrooms, things suddenly became clearer. “Ohhhh,” she let out a breath of air as a few things became clearer. “Like...a fairy ring?” She knew the bare minimum about them after her travels, but didn’t entirely understand them. All Nell knew was that she was not supposed to get into one as a human, though Deridre had shed perhaps a little more light on them. “So they’re like...a celebration, right?” That’s what the banshee had said, wasn’t it? Nell gave a small wince as Jared tugged on her hand, the movement jostling her bad wrist that was still tender and in its brace. “Damn, what I’d give to be as high as you are right now,” she laughed a little through the fading pain. “I mean it is, but— isn’t it a little...I just mean- well- with you...I don’t know? Are you saying I should be naked?” 

“Yeah! Like a fairy ring, the mushroom kind and not those weird british cookies...or are those called party rings…” His focus shifted, his brain working overtime trying to work around the effects of the mushrooms. But alas he couldn’t quite grasp the information and instead waved it off. “IT’S GONNA BE A PARTY!” Jared came back with a response, arguably far too loud for the tone she’d asked the question in. “High on LIFE Nells.” he corrected her and grinned. In a very rare rational moment Jared sobered and looked at her as if he was back to normal. “You think I should wear pants…” but the moment broke mere seconds later when his started to giggle and wiggled his shoulders this way and that. “But pants are for humans Nells, Horns on pants off, those are the new house rules. You don’t HAVE to follow the rules too, but you COULD.”

Nell shook her head ever so slightly, still unable to make sense of exactly what it was Jared was getting it. Instead, she tried her best to roll with it. “A party? Am I invited?” she asked with feigned indignance, as if any answer other that yes would result her in being deeply and personally offended. “I don’t...I mean…” She didn’t want to make Jared wear pants, not if this was the way fae were meant to naturally exist in the revelry of the mushrooms, but she also simply didn’t know what to do with all the...skin. Not when it was Jared. “Okay, well if it’s horns on— I’m gonna need to borrow some,” she tried her best to tease, once again avoiding looking directly at Jared. As she spoke, she rubbed her bad wrist absently, trying to soothe away the ache.

“Of course you’re invited, you’re always invited!” Jared told her earnestly. He bustled over to her and put both hands flat on her head, as he drew them away small little baby versions of two of his horns were there, he giggled and snorted and grinned looking at them before being intensely distracted by her movement to rub her wrist. She’d hurt it, he remembered that, and he’d just pulled it oh this would not do. This wasn’t okay. She needed to be seen to. And like he would do with any of his vicious angels his eyes changed to their natural colour and he started to slowly walk her backwards with a single hand on her shoulder. “Your wrist is sore.” he points out innocently, quietly herding her closer to the barn. Not even really registering what he was doing. 

Nell laughed along with Jared as he mimed the horns, half tempted to glamour some onto herself as part of the game. But she was also distracted as her wrist caught his attention. IT wasn’t unlike Jared to be concerned about her and her injuries, but he seemed...much more intensely focused on it than he usually was. “Oh, it’s not that bad. It’s getting better, anyway. And that’s what the brace is for,” she said as she held up the wrist with a gentle shake, nothing that would hurt it. For a moment, Nell walked mindlessly with Jared, further misled by his eyes changing color. They really were lovely, and he didn’t often let him show. It took her for a second to remember what they’d been doing in her admiration, but then she was reflexively turning back towards the truck and the fire he’d been tending. “Wait, I thought we were gonna have a party or whatever.”

Jared took a small side step in front of her when she turned around, still trying to walk her the other way. “The party will be there later.” he cooed, a big smile finding itself back on his face but his eyes intently watched her wrist moments. Seems even the most vicious of creatures needed a little coaxing to be cared for, so he persisted. Jared wrapped his arm around her shoulder and tried to gently persuade her towards the barn again. What he planned to do when they got there wasn’t yet clear even to himself but his instinct was to move them out of the open air and into somewhere safer. Being injured like that she needed protecting. That was what he was best at! “How’d you hurt it? What actually happened?” He was intensely focused on her wrist now his free hand lifting it so he could see. As if she hadn’t already clearly gotten it seen to.

As Jared stepped in front of her, confusion and indignance flickered over Nell’s face, her neck craning back in a gut reaction. Sure, they often played games of chase fairly often, but this felt different. “Why are you talking like that?” she asked. His tone had changed, hadn’t it? And it wasn’t like the usual tone he used when he was concerned about her. Before she knew it, he was leading her away from the fire yet again. What the hell? What was he doing? “It was at the Ring, like I told you. Remember? I landed on it wrong.” Her frown only went deeper as he continued to fawn, thrown by this change in demeanor. “What are you doing?” she asked, trying to take her wrist back. “You’re acting like I’m one of-” And then it dawned on her. The way he kept redirecting her to the barn, the cooing voice he was using. “Holy shit, you think I’m one of your creatures, don’t you?” The absurdity of the situation morphed the trail end of her words into the beginnings of a chuckle. Sure, she could be viscous, but for him to think she was one of his wards?

“Talking like what?” Jared said softly in return not really listening to her. It wasn’t like he ever had to actively listen to any of his charges and process their language before after all. He wasn’t able to do that so he didn’t manage to make the stretch to really process what Nell said in this situation. He frowned very lightly when she pulled her arm out of his reach and he tutted gently. So stubborn. “You’re not a creature.” he once again responds without really thinking about what she was accusing him. He gave up holding onto her and instead decided to try coaxing. He walked backwards and held his hand out to her. “Come on good things in the barn!”

Was he even listening? Nell was just as lost as she’d been in the beginning, having no idea how to combat the mushroom addled brain of Jared. This was a Jared she didn’t know. It was a thought that somewhat unsettled her. Wasn’t she supposed to be one of the people that knew him best? But now she didn’t have any bearings to go off of. “Jared, listen. I’m fine, alright. I don’t need to go to the barn.” What good things was he even talking about in the barn? Hay? Human parts? She wasn’t squeamish, but she had no desire to digest anything that his kids would normally be eating. “No! You think I’m one of them!” she said as she took a step away from the nymph, pointing towards the pasture of bies that were grazing nearby.

Jared squinted at her and then glanced over to the bies and seemed to get lost. The mushroom circle high had yet to fully settle into his mind, so he was knocked off course and his hyperfocus on her wrist injury was diverted to his actual kids. With eyes on his herd of bies he melted when one of them yawned. “Did you see that, so sweet. Why does no one know you’re so cute.” he asked the bies, who looked up at him and then turned its third eye on Nell and then it meandered away. His eyes caught the bonfire again and his direction was shifted once more. The copper pipe he’d placed in it catching and changing the flame colour. He took Nells non-wrapped wrist and pointed bouncing on the balls of his feet. “Look at that holy shit!” He was lost to the mushrooms. He wasn’t likely to make any sort of sense any time soon.

Well, at least the bies had done one thing for Nell today, effectively drawing Jared away from his plans of holing her up in the barn to do who knew what. At least he hadn’t tried to cattle prod her or anything. “They can be very cute,” she affirmed to Jared, hoping it would further placate him. Why did she feel like she was talking to a five year old? As Jared was quickly drawn back to the fire within the span of thirty seconds, Nell’s brow raised. Maybe she was dealing with a five-year-old. “That’s great, Jared.” Normally, she would have loved to go along with any shenanigans including Jared, even if it was just a pretty copper pipe in a fire. But something about this simply set her on edge. If Jared could barely function properly, how was he going to get through the coming days? “Hey, what if we just sit by the fire for a bit? That sounds nice.” Maybe he’d stand still and they could figure this out. “I could even have the hounds sit with us.” Maybe that would be enough to get him to focus.

Finally Nell had gotten to come back to Jared’s, and escaped that god-forsaken hospital. Being in that hospital bed must have been the longest she’d been made to stay still in her entire life, and she certainly hadn’t been a fan of it. Beyond that, everything would go back to normal now that Bea was back...right? She didn’t have to run off to clandestine necromancy rituals, and try and find ways of saying goodbye to Jared that might not be actual goodbyes. And yet...even as she sat on the couch reading a book, it seemed peace wasn’t in the cards just yet. For a moment, she ignored the sounds coming from outside, thinking them to be regular farm going-ons, but soon enough the cries of the creatures became more panicked, and the loud bang! of Jared’s shotgun made her jump. What the fuck? She shouldn’t have moved as quick as she did, her arms screaming in protest as she moved towards the front door, not pausing before throwing it open. Her heart was pounding in her throat as adrenaline began to rush through her veins. She ran towards the sound of the shotgun, worry making her anxious as she went. Finally she found it’s source on the very edge of the farm, along with Jared. There stood another man in addition to her best friend, one she also recognized. “Ronald, what the fuck?” What the hell was another monster catcher from the Ring doing here?

It was all supposed to be sorted, it was all supposed to become a happy normal. Jared got a few days of peace before everything went to shit. Being where he was, no one travelled the dirt track to the farm, you couldn’t even really see the place from the main road either. So it was unlikely anyone but a local would call in, a local who knew what was going on here that is. So an unfamiliar face was not really a welcome one. And as it stood, the unfamiliar face was having a showdown with one of Jared's kids. He’d felt the jolt of something akin to pain while he was in the greenhouse, he’d taken up arms -with what was on his farm it was always best to be a little dangerous yourself- especially as he heard the cries of pain and disruption louder. The sight enraged him and Jared took a warning shot at the unfamiliar face. The man had deployed some sort of trap to one of the younger of his herd, a trap that was causing immense pain by the feel of it. He was fighting against the residual pain he was feeling to steady his hands for another warning shot when Nell appeared at his side. What she said caused him to pause. “What? Who?”  

Nell didn’t have much attention to spare for Jared as she took in the sight before her. One of Jared’s precious animals, ensnared and in pain, quickly brought her to rage, hands balling at her sides as her only sign of warning while she addressed the man who’d done this. “Let the creature go, Ronald,” she said in a scorching tone, eyes hardened to sharp stones as they bore into her coworker. Ronald’s face hardened from confusion to stubbornness before he spoke, thinking Nell was here trying to get in on his prize, “This is my catch. Go find your own.” Now there was another emotion mixing in with the anger that had pooled in Nell’s stomach. Nerves. “Shut the fuck up,” she barked harshly, taking a few threatening steps towards the man. He’d already said too much- no doubt Jared would have questions about what all this meant. Questions Nell wasn’t certain she was ready to answer. “Last chance. Let them out or I’m going to make it very painful for you.” Her hands were raised, obviously at the ready to do magic at any moment. Ronald eyed her hands cautiously, having seen the damage she could wreck in the Ring, and seemed to reconsider. “Alright- alright- jeez. No need to get so fucking testy.” Then he was stepping forward to disengage the trap.

He didn’t lower his rifle, pointing it still at the man's face. Tracking his movement as he reacted to what Nell was threatening to do. But even that brought questions to his mind. “What the fuck?” Jared whispered angrily to Nell who was paying him no attention. His stomach was in knots as this ‘Ronald’ person stepped forward, Jared took a full step forward as well. He didn’t trust strangers, let alone one causing pain to his precious charges. He watched with slowly rising anger in his eyes as the man eased the pain his trap was causing and withdrew quickly from beside the juvenile bies. At this point Jared walked forward, placed a hand on the beast and urged it to it’s full staggering height behind him. With that he turned to Ronald and his usually well kept temper got the better of him. Without a second thought, now that his charge was behind him, with his body fully between the bies and this man, Jared raised his rifle and shot the man. In his anguish, and  with the residual pain of the trap still wearing off his charge and himself Jared missed. He shot again, catching the now running target in the shoulder, almost toppling Ronald over. His intent was to take the threat and eliminate it. Exterminate anything that risked his kids and his existence. But he was shaking still with the aftershocks of whatever trap had been set. His hands jerked and his final round missed its target by an inch. The man's ear erupted in a splatter of blood on the dry dirt grund before his body vanished into the trees. Empty now, Jared simply dropped his rifle and turned to run his hands over the bies enormous face. “What did he do to you, sweetheart.” he whispered. 

The angry whispered words made another shot of pure anxiety run its way through Nell, not knowing how she was going to get out of this one. But at the same time, she didn’t want to. Hiding things from Jared had never been something she wanted, but this last secret was one she knew might be...difficult to approach. And for once in her life, she’d been a coward, letting it fester in silence rather than figuring it out together. She did nothing as Jared acted on his anger, knowing it wasn’t her place, and also knowing that if the world was short a man like Ronald, it wouldn’t be the worst thing. The man had always taken a little too much joy in capturing monsters, though she’d mostly seen him around only in passing. Monster catchers didn’t exactly work together. If anything, they were competing against one another. But finally, Ronald was on his way, leaving nothing more than a trail of blood behind him as he went. As Nell’s fury dissipated, the nerves became her most prominent emotion, not knowing what came now. She was even scared to speak, afraid that Jared would demand answers the moment she did. But she had to say something. “Is she...okay?” Thankfully, monster catchers generally tried their best to not do too much damage to whatever they were bringing in. After all, a damaged creature wasn’t as good in a fight, and their pay would reflect that.

His rage at the situation was bubbling just below the surface, offering his charge a few soft words before an encouraging push towards the rest of the herd who had scattered as soon as Jared had been on the scene. With her ambling away Jared turned abruptly to look at Nell more critically than he ever had before. He was seething, and for once it showed clearly on his face. His glamour doing nothing but bubble as he attempted to keep it intact lest this ‘Ronald’ guy still be lurking. “Who. The fuck. Is Ronald?” For someone usually so soft spoken, his tone left a lot to be desired. “What the fuck WAS THAT? How do you know him? What was he doing here? What did he mean, go find your own?” The final question was the most damning. He was reeling trying to connect dots, but the only ones he could find he didn’t want to believe.

Nell had been right to be nervous. Jared didn’t even seem to process that she’d asked a question, or perhaps the questions he was asking about now were all he cared about. She didn’t blame him. “He’s- I don’t-” For once she was stumbling over words, having no idea how to handle this situation now that it had bubbled up between them. Ideally they would have had this conversation when someone hadn’t just tried to steal one of Jared’s kids. What the fuck was Ronald doing out here anyway? Jared’s farm creatures weren’t hurting anyone, they should have been left in peace. Part of her wanted to say that they should talk about this later when they were calm, and not having just faced a man trying to steal a bies. But she knew that most likely wouldn’t fly. If she’d been in his position, she would want answers now. She did want answers now. Specifically as to why the fuck a monster catcher was out here in the first place, and how he’d found Jared’s farm. “I...we work for the same...place.” Each word felt like lead falling from her lips, not wanting to draw connections between her and the man that had just hurt the bies.

He stared her down. His emotions were running high, and for the first time in his life he was viewing Nell without the rose coloured glasses his love for her put on him. Her answer wasn’t satisfying enough, her answer didn’t answer all his questions. And Jared’s face betrayed just how lacking he found it. “You work for the same place. And where is that? You work with psychopaths who do what? Go after creatures? Hunt?” Jared gave her a hard look, his voice raising. “Out with it Nell.” She didn’t stutter, she was eloquent, if this had been nothing but a coincidence she’d have been the first to say as much. Her stuttering and silence, and unwillingness to answer his questions was leaving a pit in his stomach. He demanded of her the information he wanted, “What have you done?”

“We- we-” Nell always had an answer, her smart ass mouth rarely failing her. But with Jared looking at her as if she’d been the one to hurt his kids, she was flustered, panicked as she tried to make sense of the situation and how quickly everything had gone South. “No!” she said reflexively as he dropped the word hunt, knowing the connotation that came with it. Psychopaths? Did he think she was-? “I don’t- it’s-” Finally she fisted her hands once more, the pain of the motion as it pulled at her healing skin actually helping to ground her and force her to form coherent sentences. “It’s called the Ring. They have fights and- I fight there. And I bring in things to fight as well.” It felt like rocks had taken up residence in her stomach, weighing and pulling her down as she continued to speak, barely breathing between words. “But not creatures like your’s! He shouldn’t be here!” But it was his last words that stoked a fire in her, the accusatory tone in them impossible to ignore as her brows furrowed. “I haven't done anything!” Whatever shit Ronald was pulling, she was going to get to the bottom of it. Report him to someone or something like that. Just fucking take care of it to make sure he didn’t hurt anything innocent again. 

The world seemed to halt as he finally got his answers, and they did not make anything any better, no matter what Nell thought her explanation was doing. Jared looked at her in silence for a moment, emotion swirling in him before he curled his lip. “You... You bring in things, what things do you bring in Nell.” He felt like he already knew, but he wanted her to say it, he wanted to have his worst suspicions confirmed so he wasn’t just making wild assumptions. “Sounds to me like you’ve been doing a lot of ‘anything’ Penelope.” The venom on his lips tasted bitter, he’d never spoken to her like this in his life. But then again, he’d never imagined she’d be a part of something like this, something she had only half admitted to. “Not creatures like mine. Mine as in the kids on the farm? Or like mine as in not ones you know of?” He felt sick. “What kind of creatures Nell? What KIND? Do you catch them like he just did? With traps that cause pain? DO THEY HAVE A CHOICE?”

Nell couldn’t do this. She couldn’t lose Jared after everything. She couldn’t lose Jared full stop. It wasn’t just the recent tragedies that made this sting, it was the fact that it was happening at all. Nell had always viewed everyone in her life as ticking time bombs, waiting to go off whenever they got tired of her, or learned things about her that were less than savory and decided to be done with it all. But- Jared had been one of her safety nets. One of the ones she’d never begun to think might explode in flames one day. No matter what happened, they always came back to each other, found their way home. It was simply what they did. Explaining herself wasn’t coming easily anymore, most of her brain malfunctioning and focussing solely on the fact that Jared seemed so ready to believe that she- Penelope Vural, the girl who’d watched the calves with him and spent hours learning each other’s hearts in person and on Facetime, would be so ready to hurt simply for the sake of it. Like Ronald? Like Montgomery? It was too much for her mind to handle, and she went blank for a moment, malfunctioning into something that strangely and surprisingly wasn’t anger. She was an empty slate, reverting to a person that wasn’t so much a person as just being there to exist and deflect. “If that’s what you want to think I am and what I do. I can’t stop you.” If this was what he wanted them to be now, she’d learned by now there was no forcing people to hold onto you, no matter how much her heart was begging her to reach out and keep him, to hold close one of the only things she’d loved and gotten love from in return. It hurt less when she didn’t try to scrounge after them. 

She was thinking of them, and all they had become since they’d met, imagining it coming to an end with this realization. Unfortunately all he could focus on was the reality he was being served, cold. She hadn’t said a word in her own favour in Jared’s opinion. She’d admitted to being associated with a man who’d just tried to steal one of his charges. She’d admitted to bringing in ‘things’ to fight but refused to elaborate past ‘not like yours’. How was he supposed to take that. How was he supposed to digest that information and it to be okay? He was terrified that all this time, all the time he’d spent with her, had led to this. To her association with whoever it was being dangerous to his kids. The man could have followed her here, or worse. He didn’t want to believe it, but she wasn’t giving him many options by not even answering half of the things he was asking. He felt empty. “What am I supposed to think? You’re not telling me anything.” he growls in both frustration and despair. “If by things you mean creatures, and if by not like mine you mean not from my farm...just know. I’m tied to more than just my farm animals. I feel a constant ache, CONSTANT because the things I was put here to protect are hunted, and destroyed and apparently brought to fight against their will for amusement. When they hurt I hurt. And if you can live with that, get off my fucking farm. They don’t deserve that. I never expected you to...to ever hurt them like that.” His anger was still bubbling, but it was being surpassed by an overwhelming sense of loss. The trust was failing between them, his best friend. He loved her, but what was he supposed to do? He didn’t know what else he could do.

Everything was moving too fast and Nell felt as if she’d missed the stop she was meant to get off at two stations ago. How had they gotten here? He was right in saying that she hadn’t provided him with anything redeeming at this point, as she’d done her version of short circuiting, wiping clean and building up walls in preparation for whatever was coming next. It was an old self-preservation reflex, and one that wasn’t serving her well in the least at a time like this. But even if she hadn’t given him anything to want to salvage her with, part of her still couldn’t believe that he seemed to be jumping to his conclusions when it came to her and what she might do. That was the part that was scrambling her mind rather neatly, despite herself trying her best to hold it together. “Would you even believe me at this point?” she asked, her voice feeling far away, as if it weren’t a part of her. “Even if I haven’t said anything, how could you- you really think- ?” There were too many words swimming in her head. Nell was trying her best to grasp at the ones she wanted, but couldn’t quite get to them, the thoughts just barely out of her reach.” There was so much information, too much information as he mentioned creatures dying hurting him, and immense guilt began to pool in her. But she’d been doing her best to take in the creatures and people that were causing the most pain, and people that deserved to be made to fight to their deaths— at least, in her mind. That hard to count for...something, right? It was getting harder to distinguish these days after being hunted like an animal by Montgomery. “If you think- if you think I’d willingly hurt you, and creatures that don’t deserve it, all for just- for just- amusement-” He hadn’t told her to leave, but he’d let her know it was on the table, that it wasn’t something out of the question, that he’d be willing to be rid of her. Maybe he meant just for the night, or until they could sort things out, but Nell was too used to this, to being discarded when she did something wrong, and it was impossible to remind herself that perhaps this was temporary. “If you think that’s something I could live with…” Where was all her righteous anger, now? The one she so often wielded like a weapon against people? No doubt it would have served her better than feeling as if she were caving in on herself. Perhaps it refused to surface because of the utter shock this had been to her system. “If you think I’d do that- then what does it matter what I’d actually do? If that’s something you think I could be then- then-” she took a shuddering breath, eyes looking up at him in a way that was almost unseeing, feeling like she was having an out of body experience but knowing she was still here in this moment, no matter how much she wished she wasn’t. “Then maybe it’s best I go.” With that she took a step backwards, a distant gaze still trained on him. But as she felt her bottom lip quiver she tore herself away as she turned her shoulder, not wanting him to see. Even if this was their goodbye, she’d wanted to see him as she left, to try and remember what they’d had if it was coming to an end. 

It seemed somewhat ironic that there was such a big birthday taking place on the day Bea was meant to rise, a celebration of life and coming into this world that somewhat mirrored what Nell, Luce, Winston, and Blanche would be trying to accomplish that evening. For once in her life...Nell had nerves eating away at her stomach like little termites. She wasn’t usually one to get anxious before something like this, but this ritual would be different. There was so much more at risk. And even though she could very well die if anything went wrong, that wasn’t what worried her most. It was the lives of Winston, Luce, and Bea that hung heavy on her mind. Or at least, it had been until Jared came into view, already hilariously dressed in his cheerleader costume. She quickly forced a smile to her lips, trying to act normal for the time being. Nell had gone back and forth with whether or not to tell him of what was happening tonight, what they would be attempting. After all, he deserved to go to the party with little on his mind, to simply have fun and enjoy the moment. But it was the thought of him coming home to an empty house, and a world that no longer had Nell in it that pushed her hand. She would tell him. If she was going to leave, willing or not— she wouldn’t do it without saying some form of goodbye. “I knew you had the legs for it,” she teased gently, her mind elsewhere. Walking up to him, she traced the word that was emblazoned on his chest. “An angel, huh?” As she spoke she looked meaningfully up towards where his horns would have been had his glamour not been up. 

On Jared’s side of the coin he was focused on the party, he had yet to be informed what was going to happen that night apart from a birthday party and as such his spirits reflected that. He appeared around the door leg first, just in the hopes of making Nell laugh. He extended a leg and then followed it with his head before he fully came into view. “All that running around after you.” he joked back, smoothing out the costume top - a cropped top of sorts in baby blue showing his stomach a little. He was definitely built differently than the manufacturer envisioned when producing it. To compensate Jared hiked the skirt a little higher as well as Nell made her way over. He was lost for only a split second when she repeated the word on the front. Then caught her gaze and stuck his tongue out at her. “Are you telling me I’m not an angel? I could be an angel! Angels sometimes have horns….or maybe they do and no one has ever seen one!”

Even though Nell’s emotions were in something of a whirlwind, as always, Jared seemed to ground a portion of them, earning a more genuine smile from her as he spoke. However, the corners of it were still small, unable to truly rid herself of the worries that were plaguing her. “You love it,” she teased vaguely before reaching up to gently swipe at the shoulder of his costume, wiping away imaginary lint as an excuse to keep touching him. This could very well be their last moments together if things went horribly wrong, and she wanted to remember him and the warmth he’d always given her, filling her soul with it ever since they’d met her freshman year at that party. “You tell me.” Her quips weren’t as quick or fast as usual, Nell’s mind being elsewhere in these moments. All this talk of angels though— it only reminded her of what she needed to tell him. “You’ll have fun tonight, right? You deserve to go have some fun.” Especially after dealing with the shit show she’d been bringing home as of late between all the necromancy and squid demons. “Even if-” she hesitated, trying to find the right words. “We’re doing something tonight— with Bea. But I don’t want you to worry about that.” Her tone was unusually somber, a rare moment of seriousness between them.

His mood took a small dive downwards when he started to catch on to her distracted mood. His eyes started to focus on her face with increased intensity, as if he could see her thoughts displayed clearly on her forehead. His good mood hit the floor when she started her thought with ‘even if’, he was usually so dense, so easily missing bits and pieces of conversation for what they were. Never with Nell. Jared tried to catch every little piece of emotion her words presented to him. He was always avidly listening, so that he could drink in her laughs, as well as her sobs whether she showed them outwardly or not. “What are you doing tonight?” he asked, his heart sinking. She looked so tense now that he thought about it. Smiling for him earlier, but was that what she was truly feeling? She was so serious now. He took a hold of her arms, sliding his hands down from her shoulders to take her hands. “Can you tell me? Should I stay home? I can stay home?” he offered with hardly a breath between the questions and the offers. “I can come? If that won’t ruin whatever it is you need to be doing?” The thought of potentially seeing what had become of Bea terrified him, but if she needed him he’d go. All she had to say was she needed him.

Damn it. This was exactly what Nell had been trying to avoid, even if she’d known it was inevitable. She would have done the same in Jared’s position, would have mirrored the expression on his face if something this heavy had been happening with him. “It’s the big one.” She tried her best to put the smile back on her lips. Maybe if she acted like everything was going to be okay, he’d be less worried. There was a reason she hadn’t told him exactly how serious the magic was, how dangerous it would be to play with literal lives. More often than not, the caster paid with their own life when it came to things like this. She couldn’t be the one to tell him that she might leave him again, not after last time— not after his family had been ones to leave him, as well. “We’re gonna try and bring Bea back tonight.” Her head shook reflexively, it’s movements fervent as she gripped his hands in her’s, lacing her fingers through his to give them a little squeeze. “No- no, I want you to go enjoy yourself, like I said.” Plus the idea of having Jared near such volatile magic was...unacceptable, not when he didn’t need to be there, even if she selfishly wanted him there. “I just- I wanted you to know. So you’re not worried if- I’m gone longer than you expect tonight.” If she didn’t return at all. “I’ll message you as soon as it’s done, alright?”

It was hard to process, but the nights that had led up to this moment were starting to make sense in his head. This was it. This was the night they put everything into play. The night they’d attempt to bring back their sister. And Jared had no idea how dangerous this all was, in his mind the risk was the same as it had been every night before this. Just this time they were doing it for real because they’d gathered all they needed. And that was his mistake, a misunderstanding he had no idea he was making. Her smile did a little to ease his mind, this was fine, crazy in the grand scheme of things, but fine. They’d get Bea back, he was confident in them all. They were all excellent and dedicated. Bea would be here by tomorrow. Or at least that’s what he was trying to tell himself. If it didn’t work, he knew none of them would be the same, all that was holding most of them together at the moment was the hope of seeing their sister alive again. “Are you sure I shouldn’t come? What if you need someone to...I don’t know...drive?” he was grasping at straws. He squeezed her fingers. “You’ll text me as soon as it’s done? Tell me what happened?” He was almost tempted to ask her to promise him, but that would be cruel and manipulative of him. And she’d never do it. He wouldn’t want her to. He never wanted it to be like that between them. “As soon as?”

“No- it’s okay, really.” There was that big chunk of Nell that wanted him there simply for comfort, security, but beyond the magic that could potentially lash out and damage him...if things did go badly. He didn’t need to see that, didn’t need just how much havoc magic would wreck on a fragile, human body if it wasn’t properly harnessed or controlled. “Blanche is going to drive.” The clearing wasn’t all that close to a road anyway, and they’d have to walk from the car to the place where they’d be casting. The squeeze of his fingers felt like a little squeeze on her heart, lending it both the strength that she needed, but also plunging it into the pit of her stomach. He’d always had such an effect on her, though not a control. And she knew that he never would have wanted to have a control. That was why he’d always been given all of her, not bits and pieces, nothing to hide away from the man in front of her. Because she knew there was nothing he’d ever want to change, nothing he’d try to pin to the ground and harness like others might try to do. She wished she could make him understand, to let him know just how thankful she was for that— the ability to breathe freely around him and not wonder whether or not she’d be met with judgment or disdain, whether it was silent or not. Her hands left him to trail their way back north, hands going to either side of his face not unlike she’d done the night she’d come to tell him of Bea’s death. How to tell him goodbye when it might not even be needed, and without him realising it? Was it kinder to leave him in the dark when it came to the way her feelings had been trying to rear their head once again ever since she’d been home, since she’d first seen him back on his tractor nearly a month ago, the way her very soul had seemed to leap at the sight of his, eager and wanting to dance with his once more? “I…” But what would be the point in telling him? Either he’d return the sentiment, and he’d be left with a bleeding heart if she didn’t come back right, or he’d feel awkward and deny her, coloring these possible last moments with guilt and uncertainty. No. She wanted them to be as they were. Maybe there was an in between, though. “You know how much I care about you...right, Jared?” 

Jared knew he wasn’t any use to them. He wasn’t a spellcaster, he wasn’t a person who could see spirits. He was just a nymph. A nymph that couldn’t do anything for them apart from try and provide support, a welcome home when she came home from a hard night, a light topic to change to when it was a bad night, a mindless task to distract her and make her smile at him when it was obvious the whole thing was taking a toll. He bent his head down to meet her hands, tilted to the side slightly to weigh heavily into her right hand. He didn’t know that this was more than nerves, that her acting so serious wasn’t just simple anxiety for the work they were about to put in, in the hopes that it would bring Bea back. She had searched for comfort like this before, when she’d told him Bea was gone. He’d extend the same care he had then to her now. Jared caught her eye and looked at her confused by the question. “Not near as much as I care about you,” he said in return with a levity to his words that her’s had lacked. He searched her face for a moment before answering more seriously. “I know Penelope. And I cherish you, you’re the best person I’ve ever met, or had stick with me.” he said it seriously before pulling back and wrapping her in his arms tightly. “It’ll be okay, no matter what happens you can come back here and we can try and work through it okay? I’ll always be here when you’re done doing what you need to be doing. Always. Whatever happens tonight I’ll be home when you get back, and we can figure it out.”

“That’s a lie. Impossible,” Nell replied, following his suit of casualty when it came to tone. Maybe this was how it should be. If they were saying goodbye, it should be how their relationship had always been— ridiculous, loyal, like two magnets that kept being drawn together no matter how far they might go. Nell’s thumb traced a gentle line over his cheek as he matched the severity in her voice, remembering how there’d been that split second the other evening where she’d thought he’d been trying to kiss her. Now as she stood here with his face nestled in her hands, she took a tentative step closer, her heart in the driver’s seat for a moment as she looked up at him. Maybe there was an easier way than telling him- maybe if she simply showed him it wouldn’t hurt as much if she was rejected? And how long had she wanted to lean into him? Sometimes actions could speak where words couldn’t, and she didn’t know how to tell him thank you as the beautiful words fell from him. But maybe she could show him. Her arms moved to loop around the back of his neck, toes standing on end as she ever so briefly let her gaze flicker to his mouth. But then her brain was back in control, reminding her of all the reasons she’d just gone over when it came to not acting on this burning that was in her chest, that had seemed to have been there ever since she’d been in highschool. Nell grounded herself once again, heels connecting with the floor as she instead leaned forward against him, bringing him in for a close hug. “You remember what I said when I first went to travel? After I graduated?” It had been five years ago, but the sentiment still held true. “Nothing’s gonna keep us apart for long. We’re always gonna find a way back.” Even if it wasn’t in a physical sense. “You’re- you’re the best thing that happened to me, Jared. I’m not letting that go, no matter what.”

His heart was in his throat as she looked at him, she was speaking with an awful tone. Her voice was painting a completely different picture than Jared had concluded about what would happen that night in his head. He felt the words she was telling him rather than hearing the, with each syllable spoken into his very being, sending a new little stab of emotion his way. Blue eyes held hers as she drew closer, searching for the answer that he wanted. Too incredibly distracted by what she was saying to be sent reeling by the intensity she’d had in her gaze seconds before wrapping her arms around him in return. “You said that because you were leaving.” It was an obvious thing to point out but Jared’s brain was working overtime to connect the dots from then to now. “Why do you sound like you’re saying goodbye?” His words were barely a whisper, muffled by her hair. He was becoming so lost and confused. He felt like they were having completely different conversations. And in reality it was true, although he didn’t know it. So he made the easiest connection he could, the one that would hurt the least, in the hopes that voicing it would confirm that it was the most that could happen and wasn’t the worst that he could come up with. “If you’re worried about moving out again when it’s over don’t worry about that either, we can talk about it. Just….could you please come back here at least tonight to just tell me how it went?”

When Bea hadn’t shown up at the Summoning, it had simply been another nail in her coffin, another confirmation that Nell’s sister was well and truly gone. At least she had the locket now, the one Blanche had found at the site of death, and handed over to Nell. It was latched safely around her neck, a piece of Bea to keep close. But more than that it was a reminder of Bea’s sacrifice, and the guilt that was settled deep in Nell’s gut. She couldn’t forgot, she needed that fire to make sure she didn’t slip completely into the numbness that seemed to be gripping her body, to make sure that she kept trying and kept looking. There was nothing more than could be done tonight, though. And beyond that, there was still someone who didn’t know. She hadn’t wanted to tell Jared for selfish reasons, hoping that if she didn’t, they might somehow keep trucking along in their little, happy bubble. After tonight though, it was obvious that wasn’t an option, so here she was one Jared’s front step, wasting no time in raising a hand to knock. “Jared?” Her voice was smaller than it’d been in years, even smaller than when she’d called him after her break up when she’d been abroad. “Jared, it’s me- it’s Nell.”

Usually he was on the move, fixing something, observing his herds, prowling the greenhouse. But Jared had gotten an odd text from Nell that had brought him back to the house. It felt odd to just be sitting there on his couch but there he’d stayed until he heard a knock. It felt like something heavy dropped in his stomach when he heard it. Usually she came bustling right in, but their usuals had been thrown away for that night it seemed. He stood and wrenched open the door to look down at her more worriedly than he’d originally been planning. His face was set and he took in her whole demeanor. He’d been considering what was wrong, what she needed to tell him but in that moment he was downright terrified. What could it be? “Hey.” he says quietly, stepping back and making space for her to come in. “What’s…?” He didn’t finish but he did look at her searchingly. 

Something about seeing Jared when Nell was upset had always been a salve, as if his mere presence could help to soothe the ache. Nell has been frightened that this sorrow and numbness would have been too great for there be any sort of similar effect, but she’d still hoped. And she was right to. The hole in her heart  was still gaping in the middle of her chest, but as soon as she saw Jared her shoulders sagged forward, as if her attempts to keep them pulled back and strong had melted away, knowing she didn’t need to do that in front of him. “Hey,” she offered back, not knowing where to start. She could tell that he was wondering, worried about whatever it was that had brought her to his doorstep in this way, but her throat felt tight, and she couldn’t find anything else to say for a moment. She’d been telling people about Bea for what seemed like far too long already, the wound of her death seeming to reopen every time she did- and she’d been doing it for her sister, for the ones her sister had loved and that had loved her. But this one- with Jared- it would be for her- this one could be on her terms. So she simply stepped forward, hands gingerly going to his wrists and resting there with a light grip. “Could I- can I hug you? Please? Just for a second.” Another thing she didn’t often ask, not feeling as if she ever needed to when she knew the answer was most always yes.

He watched her with intense eyes, trying to take in every microexpression on her face. Jared had truly no idea what was wrong, but if her tone of voice hadn’t been giving it away, the words she was saying definitely did. She asked for something so simple but Jared felt weight behind it far beyond that. He didn’t even answer her before he’d taken her into his arms. Wrapping her tight and holding her to him. Stood in the doorway still but Jared didn’t dare try to move them one way or the other. He simply held her. “For a second? ‘Till the cows come home’ isn’t even the limit.” he mumbled idly. Not letting go, hands moving as if to hold her even closer than was physically possible. Jared didn’t want to ask again what was wrong, he didn’t want to rush her if she was in so much distress that she felt the need to ask for things he was already so prone to just giving to her. She had him wrapped around her finger and she knew it, to have her confidence in that shaken even a little had him spooked.

Nell hadn’t really let herself do this since Bea had died, feeling as if she’d been fighting for survival every step of the way, and then trying to be strong for those that had also lost Bea, letting them have their moments to grieve and be comforted. She knew people would have done it for her in return in a heartbeat, and to an extent they certainly had, but this was different. Jared had always been different. And in a simpler sense, it hurt less to look at him than it did with the others. He’d only just returned, and the memories of her past few months in White Crest, since returning to her hometown and living with Bea again were only tinged with him through the means of FaceTime and otherwise. For some reason, that made it easier to be here with him rather than somewhere else, because he was clean- clean of everything that had touched her since coming home. A shuddering sigh left her as he pulled her close, and her own arms wrapped around him as if she’d been simply waiting for this moment, all of her emotions in the last few days building towards it. Her face buried into his shirt as she simply stood there, listening to the sounds of their breath. It was a long moment of silence before she spoke again. She had to tell him. “Bea’s gone. I should have told you sooner- I’m sorry for disappearing it was- there was no time. But she’s gone- she’s- she’s dead, Jared.”

Of all the things his mind had been spinning, trying to figure out what had gotten her to act like this- to be so visibly distraught - what the reality turned out to be was something else entirely. Jared's reaction was slow, even as his mind leapt to it’s conclusions at every word that left her mouth. His heart rate sped up and a jolt ran through his body. Gone had been explained away as if she’d left like Nell had years ago, only to be swiftly followed by the hard truth of the matter. For a moment he almost pulled away, to pull Nell back so that he could look at her face, confirm the story. But in the end he didn’t move her. His grip on her tightened and he drew a sharp breath. Nell wouldn’t lie about something like this. The emotion of this new reality took hold then. Jared and Bea might not have been best of friends, or even really that close. But she’d been Nell's family, and Luce’s family. She’d invited him to dinner, joked around with him waiting for Nell to leave the house. The being that had been the oldest Vural sister was gone. Jared was quiet for a moment, and when he did speak it was slow, quiet, and thought through. “Don’t be sorry Nells.” He refused to ask her how, she didn’t need to be answering questions like that. The how didn’t matter at that moment, the simple fact of her sister being gone was strong enough on its own. He slid a hand up to the back of her neck, as if he could press the reality out of her and ease everything she was feeling. “What do you need? What can I do?”

When he refused her apology, Nell’s next words were barely breathed, more a sigh than anything as she continued to simply stand there in his arms, feeling as if she were melting into him. “It’s my fault.” The tone was resigned, accepting of what had happened, not trying to hide or change when it came to the things that had occurred, and her imparting them to Jared. “And I didn’t want to worry, you. I never want to worry you,” she simply finished in the same, tired tone all her words were colored with. “There was just- so much happening. So much to do. So much stuff still to do. I wanted to see you, though. I just-” She was here because Jared was safe, a place where Nell knew she didn’t need to be anything other than what she was in whatever moment she and he were occupying at any one time. “I just-” What did she need? The hand on the back of her neck seemed like as good an answer as any as she could find to that question. “This- this is...good. What we’re doing now?” It didn’t fix things, it didn’t make the numbness in her soul melt away, but it did ground her, his touch and closeness reminding her that she was still real in these moments, too. That she wasn’t simply a husk of a person walking around. She could be touched, held, hugged. Unbidden, a cold wind from the night air sent a shiver down her spine as she rested against Jared. “Sorry- I’m just- standing here in the doorway. We should- inside is good, right?” Again she pondered the question he’d asked. What did she need? “I just wanted to be with you.”

It was time to pull away slightly, if only to tilt her head up and brush her hair out of her eyes. The blame game was one they both took too seriously. There’d been many instances where they’d argued intensely about who was to blame for something. And Jared was still refusing at that moment to ask for the story. He was sure the story would explain her reasoning but he didn’t care. He just wanted to make it better, and while death was something he couldn’t counteract he could at least not make her talk about it until she was more settled. What she wanted and what she needed were well within Jared's capabilities. He’d been ready to do anything, absolutely anything she wanted of him. But something so simple wouldn’t be overlooked. She shivered and he shuffled around so that he could walk backwards into his house, not letting go of her. “Stay as long as you want. You know you don’t have to knock, you have a key. Stay forever if that’s what you want.” Although he wished it were under different circumstances, he wanted her to have a place to be. A place she could be that wasn’t a house where Bea used to inhabit. Jared was confident Bea had never once come to the farm, even Luce didn’t come on the property, even if she ran the trail alongside the outer fencing. This place was free of memories of the sisters save for only Nell.

Nell was sure she’d tell him before the night was out what had happened, but she was still enjoying these quiet moments, and the closest she’d come to feeling at peace since Bea had died. As he shuffled back into the house, arms still around her, a dry, only vaguely amuse chuckle fell from her. It wasn’t that she’d come to realize something, she’d simply remembered it, been reminded as he stepped back while making sure he did all he could to continue comforting her. And it wasn’t that she’d forgotten how good Jared was to her while she’d been away, it was simply that...it’d been so long since she got to experience it in person, to experience him in person, to remember not only the stupid laughs they had together, but the way they also held each other up when they needed it. “Thank you, Jared. Really just...thank you.” But the two simple words felt lacking when it came to describing how grateful she was to be here in his arms, how grateful she was for him. It was the best she could do right now, though. He was right, though. It had been strange that she’d knocked in the first place, but she’d felt awkward barging into his home when she was bringing sorrow rather than her usual laughter and grins, as if she was used to needing permission from herself to be weak. And he’d granted her that permission simply by being himself. Finally, she slipped from his arms for a moment, letting her hand slide into his as she tried to guide him towards a nearby couch, hoping to simply sit there with him.

“I’m here for whatever you need Nells, you know that.” He’d always be here, until the day she moved on from his friendship, he’d be here waiting. Jared considered himself a little selfish in that, but his usual selfish thoughts were far from his mind in this instance at least. How could he be glad of her holding him when it was the thing comforting her from a terrible truth? He wouldn’t be able to look at himself if he let himself enjoy being needed like this. It was wrong. Nell was his priority always when she was around, the years they’d been apart didn’t change that one bit. Nell slid out of his reach and he let her, his arms lowering slowly. Only to have his hand taken to pull him away from the doorway. He followed her blindly, eyes on her rather than on the destination. He was able to see her face properly now, take in her demeanor past the gripping hug. A few days she’d said. She looked as tired as she’d sounded trying to tell him what had happened. He sat down heavily on the couch looking up at her, holding her hand tightly. He spared a moment before leaning forward to questioningly wrap his arm around her waist. Lifting her into his lap. So that he could encompass her in his arms completely again. “Is this all I can do?” he asked again.

“I know,” Nell said gently. Because she did know. He’d proven it time and time again, even beyond their joking, daily antics. Jared was always there, even when they weren’t next to each other, or even in the same country, he had only been a call away. Perhaps that’s why it had been so jarring to come back to White Crest, to find the town without him. But it didn’t matter now. They were together again, weren’t they? He was putting arms around her, taking her in once again as if he already knew exactly what she needed before she even knew it for herself. There was no hesitation as she let herself be brought in, settling into him as she simply lay against Jared, listening to the sound of his breath as his chest rose and fell beneath her. Bea was gone, and it felt as if that’d never sit right with her. After all, how could it? But at least in these moments she could let herself simply just...be. But his question brought a small frown to her lips, her head lifting to look at him with drawn together brows. “All you can do?” she echoed. He didn’t even realize, did he? Didn’t have the slightest inkling of how much he was doing for her in these moments simply by being here, by letting her rest in his arms. Bea hadn’t known either, had she? Nell had lost out on telling her sister just how much she valued her, needed her. She wouldn’t make the same mistake twice. Her small hands came up to rest on either side of his face, her thumb resting gently on his cheek. “Jared- you- I didn’t tell Bea but- I don’t want to forget to tell someone again. Because- because apparently our days are fucking numbered, and I- if you didn’t know-” She wouldn’t tell him the whole truth, but she’d at least make sure there was no question left in his mind about just how much he meant to her. “You mean- more to me than I can even figure out how to put into words. You know I’m shitty at words. But there’s not a day that goes by that I don’t think how lucky I was for running into you at that party, for everything that’s come after. You- just being here with you- you’re giving me so much just by being here.”

The melancholy tone of her news settled in at that moment, that quiet moment with her just sitting in his lap. Both of them silently taking in the moment and Jared felt his heart ache for what she must have been through the last few days. He had no idea what she’d meant by being busy, but a death was such a serious thing. Even kept busy there’d be moments of silence where it would all crash in. He ached for Nell and Luce, he took the moment to close his eyes for Bea. Comforted by Nell in his arms, safe and present. Jared felt hands on his face and he opened his eyes to look at her. He searched her eyes as she spoke. How he wished for the second time in the night that things were different. That she was so close for something other than a passing wish to be clear where she hadn’t been able to be with her sister. He gave her a sad smile and tipped his head forward and rested his forehead on hers. He’d give her the world. It shouldn’t have been like that, as a nymph he was supposed to despise humans to some extent, and yet growing up as he had it was impossible. Nell had been part of his life for longer than he’d even known he was fae. He’d risk it all in different circumstances. But as it stood he just closed his eyes again and nods lightly against her. “Bea knew Nells. I’m sure she did.”

Nell’s eyes closed as he leaned forward, and their foreheads came together, letting her hands stay where they were, feeling the warmth of him underneath her fingertips. It helped to ground her, to make sure she didn’t get pulled beneath the surface as the undertow of all that had happened, all that was still happening threatened to drown her. But then her head gave a gentle shake, wishing his words were true, but also knowing they weren’t. “She didn’t- she didn’t- I know she didn’t. Things- since I got back- all we did was fight. Butt heads and yell at each other. What if she thinks I hated her? That’s why-” she paused, uncertain how he might react to her new news. “I’ve been looking for her ghost. That’s where I was tonight, trying to summon her with Blanche so I could see her again. To tell her.” He hadn’t said anything after what she’d told him about the way he’d come into her life and demanded every bit of it without even knowing, how he continued to fill corners of her heart she hadn’t even known existed. “But, you too. I just- I just wanted you to know. To- to thank you.”

Jared’s heart ached for her. She spoke with such certainty, she was almost completely convinced that her sister hadn’t known Nell loved her. And that was a hard thing to imagine for Jared. But arguing would get him nowhere, at least not for now. Instead he shifted his arms a little and pulled her tighter. He didn’t believe that Bea wouldn't have known. Families fought, but they’d lived together. His discontent with her conclusions only made way for shock at her admittance. She was already looking for ways to talk to her sister. He raised his forehead from hers and looked at her searchingly. “Trying? No luck?” he asked gently. Jared was integrated with the supernatural side of town and had been for years, but he still had wide gaps in his knowledge. He didn’t have very much under his belt in the way of ghosts. Only that people were usually trying to get rid of them if they appeared, they didn’t usually appear with the best intentions. He was worried about her, would she start running down an even more dangerous road. Make promises with fae and deals with the devil to get her sister back? “You’re being carefu-” His quiet thought was cut off and Jared gave her a soft look. “And you, Nell. Are my favourite person, ever. Thank you for keeping on with me even after everything. We’re in the same boat Nells, I want you to know how much you mean to me too.” He’d hang the stars or tear them down, all she had to say were the words and give him the direction. 

As Jared’s hold tightened, Nell’s shoulders relaxed once again, letting herself sink into him for the umpteenth time that evening. Nell bit her lip, some of her frustration surfacing as she thought about how Bea hadn’t surfaced, how there’d been no sign whatsoever that Bea would ever return. “No luck,” she echoed, jaw set in a firm line. “Not even a ‘boo’,” she tried her best for a joke that fell flat, it being impossible to ignore the way her hopes had been momentarily dashed. But she wouldn’t stop, Nell never knew when to give up, and this was her sister. “I’m not giving up, though. I’m going to find her.” That was a promise she’d made to herself, to Bea. As his tone and face softened, she mirrored him, hands finally slipping from the sides of his face to rest on his shoulders as he spoke. His words managed to break through her numbness for a small moment as she looked at him with a trace of wonder in her eyes, unknowing how she’d managed to earn him in her life. “We’re in the same boat,” she repeated softly, warmth pooling in her chest where she hadn’t felt it for days. 

Her insistence that she would not fail in this goal was a little concerning to him, but he could understand the need for it. Her sister had only just died. God it still didn’t feel real, even if he knew it was true. Bea was such a strong spirit in life, it felt wrong that she was gone. “Be careful will you?” Jared would never stop Nell from doing something she wanted to do, it wasn’t his right to tell her what to do and what not to. But he could at least remind her to care for herself. “You’re important too, okay? Just remember to look out for you too.” And then the way she was looking at him caught him by surprise. He was captured by her eyes, looking at him as if he were something special. As if he could be something more than the farmer best friend she’d known forever. More important than he knew himself to be. It was so captivating a feeling that spread in him he leaned forward, like he could kiss her. It was only at the very last second that he was reminded of the circumstances. No. He couldn’t. Not right now, not ever. He lost his chance back before she left for five years. He was too late. His head listed to the side and he instead pressed the kiss to her cheek and tangled a hand in her hair to pull her face to his shoulder, if only to cover the disappointment on his lips. “We’ve always been in the same boat, just you took control of my half an age ago.” he mumbled incoherently.

Be careful, he’d said. Nell wasn’t sure she could promise him that. There wasn’t much of anything she wouldn’t do to get Bea back, no length she wouldn’t take to see and feel her sister standing in front of her just as whole as the day she’d died. But it was hard. Part of her mind had also told her to take caution at times, to make sure that Bea’s sacrifice wasn’t in vain. After all, what thanks would it be to throw away her life after Bea had spent her’s to save it? “I’ll...try to remember.” It was the best she could offer him, not wanting to give him false hope that she wouldn’t make dumb decisions in her desperation. Her brows drew together, unsure what was happening as he gave her a look she’d never seen on his face before, though it made her heart feel as if it were a little bird thrumming in her chest. Instinct took over, that same heart beginning to race as she inched the smallest bit forwards in return, not pausing to question what was happening, accepting the gift that was being offered without hesitation. Her eyelids were already beginning to flutter closed of their own accord when she watched him pull away, shift so that his lips found a different mark. Pink sprouted on her cheeks- embarrassed that she’d thought that- even for a moment- no, she shouldn’t be wondering that, especially not now. Instead, she simply settled into the space he’d made for her, breathing still shallow as she tried to calm herself. “That’s not fair,” she tried to say as lightly as she could. “I let you have the boat sometimes.”

Nell said she’d try, so Jared promised. “I’ll keep reminding you.” He knew his advice would take a back seat to whatever she was planning on doing for her sister, but he wouldn’t stop trying, reminding, and just insisting that she at least consider herself from time to time. “Oh you didn’t steal it, I fully offered you the sails. I accepted my fate at that party nine years ago.” he hummed softly. The moment had been missed, and he was resigned to the fact he’d never get what he wanted with her. But he wasn’t going to ruin their friendship over some stupid crush he hadn’t been able to shake for five years. That would be ridiculous, they were so close he couldn’t imagine it changing. He didn’t know what he would do if she wasn’t there anymore. Even further out of reach because acting on his feelings was likely to push her to never sek to him as well. He let out a soft sigh and fell quiet, calming himself with thoughts of outside as if he could hear the herd and sense them meandering past the farmhouse, over the gravel path. Right now he was here for Nell. Here for Nell in a time of extreme pain and mourning. He couldn’t betray her and take advantage of her feelings. He’d definitely imagined her closing her eyes and leaning in as well. Wishful thinking.

Alright. So perhaps she shouldn’t have fallen asleep in the middle of the park under a tree, but the sun had been so nice today, and Nell hadn’t gotten much sleep the night before. Plus the park was peaceful. Or rather...it was peaceful until the thudding of a bass permeated it, birds scattering as the sound got closer. Nell woke with a start, not having been in all that deep of a sleep. What the fuck? Was that- Old Town Road blasting over from the street. Neven one to be particularly cheerful when suddenly awakened, she wasted not a single moment in stalking over to the truck in question, already yelling out accusations before she could even see who might be driving it. “Hey! Dumbass! Are you shitting me? This is public property!” No mind that she’d been party to many a loud car driving through the streets of White Crest, not caring in the least when it was she who was having fun by doing so. But was that a fucking tractor? “Hey!” she called out again, the sun blocking whoever was in the driver’s seat. “I’m talking to you! And Old Town Road is old news by now! Some of us are trying to sleep!”

Jared was truly singing his heart out as the songs on his tape -yes tape- played out. He was only listening to the music that loud to be obnoxious, the old boom box also just for added irritation, so when he heard the yelling he smiled a little. As he was squinting down from his seat he squeezed on the brake to stop the slow moving vehicle, taking his sweet time leaning over to turn the music down a notch so that he could actually hear the accusations. “What was that?!” he yelled down to the fuming girl. The top of her head was barely visible so he sat up a little straighter and peered over the side. He blinked. He blinked again. The third time he actually turned the boombox all the way down and rested his elbows on the steering wheel. “Is there...a bag yelling at me about noise?” he hollered down. Already itching with excitement and unable to stop himself pushing open the tractor door and sliding out. “Weird. It is a bag.”

The slower the man moved, the more heated Nell became, little fists balling up at her sides, all too ready to make this guy regret the very day he was born. But instead, the hands loosened in an automatic response to that voice, one she’d heard far more times than she could count over the years. Her expression went slack with shock before his face came into view, and then the effect was instantaneous. “JJ?” she asked, at a loss for words while she was being surprised with one of her best friends that she hadn’t seen in person for some five years. Once the shock wore off, a grin that took up the majority of her face was quick to find her lips, and a laughter of pure joy and surprise tumbled from her. “Jared!” she exclaimed, far too excited to see the man standing in front of her. It only took a fraction of a second for her to throw her arms around him, giving him no choice in the matter as she tried her best to squeeze the life out of him, not so much as pausing in her trajectory before making their collision come to fruition. She couldn’t even pretend to be insulted by the bag comments at the moment, pure eagerness overshadowing anything else— though she’d certainly get to those.

Jared had a wide smile of his own as she came to realize what he already had. He was momentarily glad the anger from before had washed away, as much as he liked a little bit of chaos about things he didn’t really want that to be the set mood for meeting again after so long. Jared was a little more solid than he was five years ago when she’d left, he’d grown a little taller and had a little more hair on his face. But the stumble from a hurtling Nell was so familiar it was impossible to avoid. A few steps back, but he took her with him. Laughing uproariously as she tried to rid the air from his lungs with her hug. “You’re back,” he said as if it hadn’t been years, and more like a few moments, as if she’d stormed out of his house and then remembered something and had come right back in. The years washed away and he laughed again at how absurd that thought was. She was definitely different from five years ago. He squeezed back, not as hard, but with the same feeling. Texting tiktok links back and forward wasn’t quite the same as this.

“You’re back!” Nell exclaimed, feeling like they were picking up exactly where they’d left off, like they’d never been apart in the first place. Now that the initial shock was through, she could really take him in. Her nose and eyes were still scrunched up with their smile, but now she was also squinting a little. Had his face always been that far away? Doing her own little test, she went back into the hug. No, no, this was definitely lower than where her face had landed in years past when hugging him. Leaning back again, she simply exclaimed, “Why did everyone get taller?! This isn’t fair?!” But there was more than just the height that had changed. “Do you have a beard?” Jesus, when had Jared become an actual adult? It was like someone had taken her best friend, and replaced him with a ‘what do they look like now?’ photo. Reaching up, she teasingly but gently plucked at a few of the hairs. “Sorry I didn’t grow one.”

“I think you being back is a bit of a bigger deal,” Jared pointed out letting the hug ease as she pulled backwards to look at him. “I was here most of the time and you weren’t.” he adds, his arms accepting the new hug before hearing the complaint and snorting at her. “Just because you’re a gnome in the making.” Jared knows it’s been a while, maybe they should be more awkward with each other, but it was just so easy to forget the time. His own hand runs over his cheek. “I don’t usually, just got lazy this last week.” he tells her as if that makes the existence of his sort of beard any easier to digest. Jared squints down at her and hums “Are you sure you didn’t?” bobbing his head up and down as if trying to see under her chin. It was all teasing, an easygoing test of how much had actually changed. She certainly had, she looked different than the eighteen year old that had left. “You changed too, beard or no.”

“Well-” Nell shrugged with a little head waggle, faking overconfidence as a joke, falling right back into old habits. “I can’t help it if I’m a big deal.” Of course, she was only teasing. “Still...I’m glad you’re back when I’m back.” They’d tried to see each other over the years, but it had simply never lined up between their messages and memes they’d sent. “A gnome?!” Her eyes went wide, obviously deeply indignant. “I’m not a gnome! And I’m also not a bag! I’m not a Katy Perry song about plastic bags, either!” Her words were each punctuated with authoritative pokes to his chest, as if the action would prove she was right. “I think it looks good,” she said with a bit of a shrug. “Look at you all grown up.” This time the words held a bit of a tease. “Finally went through puberty and all that. And I tried to glue some hairs on, but it just wasn’t the same.” How long had it been since she’d gotten to be such a fool around someone? With everything happening in town, it was as if Jared couldn’t have appeared at a better moment. “Well yeah- changing tends to happen to people. I don’t live in the body or mindset of a prepubescent boy anymore which is great.”

“You chose shit times to visit.” he accused lightly. “I live here and you choose the few times I go away for something, sounds like a pattern to me, sounds like you didn’t want to see me.” Jared turned his nose up. “I’m a delight I’ll have you know.” Each prod almost cracked his facade, until the song was mentioned and he started to warble the words teasingly down at her finishing with an “I don’t know, sounds biographical to me.” Jared rubs his hand over his facial hair once again before looking at Nell outraged. “I’ve been at this for a lot longer than you have, one of us has owned a house even before you left.” he reminds her before blinking. “Five years is a long time though, a lot has happened back at the farm you know Nell. Five years of mostly unnamed bonedoggles have come through.” Safer to just not comment on her body. He had the self preservation of a goldfish that had jumped out of it’s bowl, but he knew a losing battle when he saw one. 

“Or maybe you choose shit times to not be here,” she shot back, though her eyes were still shining with amusement. Always enjoying literally poking fun at him, and having been devoid of it for so long, Nell couldn’t help but also reach up to try and gently pinch his nose, as if in rebuttal to his words and joking, superior attitude. It was rather like a puppy who’d been reunited with their favorite chew toy. “If I’m a bag, you’re a suitcase. And not a nice one.” As he spoke of the farm, a wave of nostalgia hit her all at once, remembering all the memories she’d made there. But his initial tone made her stomach drop. Was everything alright, there? Certainly things had changed but...hopefully for the better, right? A wave of relief washed over her, and a rare giggle was pulled from her, feet pattering in place against the asphalt in anticipation as she shifted quickly from foot to foot, hands going straight into the air with her excitement. “Names! Bonedoggles! Can we go now?” Her eyes were wide, far too ready to commence to the next page of their story. “I can bring the boys!” Wait, he wouldn’t know the boys yet...would he? How strange to think of how different things were, but how exactly the same things felt between them. “Hellhounds! Three of them! And Greg, too!”

Jared wiggled his nose when she got a hold of it, flaring his nostrils and sighing heavily as if it would make her let go. With a pinched off nose his voice came out oddly as he said. “I’m too big to be a suitcase, I couldn’t even fit in a suitcase. And you just said you liked the scruff, so I’m a nicer suitcase than I used to be at least if I have to be one.” Nose released as the excitement took over Jared jerked a thumb over his shoulder “Get in loser, we’re going bo-dog naming.” Then he looked back at her and taunted “Need a boost shortie?” He paused when she mentioned bringing some other people, squinting at her like she’d lost it. His farm got less safe the more people were there to bother the animals, or more people for him to look out for, and she knew that, or he hoped she remembered. And then she clarified and he perked up. “Hellhounds! Genuine Hellhounds?”

Nell couldn’t help but laugh as his altered voice filled the air, and finally released him from her grip. “It’s not my fault you’re oversized. Mmmm, you’re a scruffy suitcase- which can be nice to some, but overall…still scruffy,” she teased. Another exuberant laugh, still high on being reunited and hearing his jokes once more was cut short by the second shoe falling. “I can climb!” she refuted heartily. And if she couldn’t, her tone said she’d die trying. And sure enough, she began to make her attempt at an ascent. “So do I get to drive?” Nell paused to look over her shoulder with half a smirk, wondering if he’d dare to say yes. “I’ve already got tons of name ideas, though. And yeah! I summoned them a while ago, and worked with them enough to get them to like me! It took a while but, definitely worth it. I’m sure they’ll love hanging out with the bonedoggles.”

Even he had to reach far to haul himself into his tractor, so her climbing attempts did little to show her prowess considering she wasn’t anywhere near grabbing the handle, nor reaching the first step. “You don’t get to drive, you get to sit on the boombox and obnoxiously tell me directions to my own house.” Jared said in a tone which suggested he was doing her  a massive favour. As he said this he put his hand under her hanging foot and pushed her upwards, giving her the boost she’d insisted she didn’t need even if now she could grab the handle of the door. “Do you want to go pick them up or want to come see the madness as it is at the moment first?...Where are you even living now you’re back?” So many questions came to mind, it might have felt like no time at all, but enough had happened. Nell had travelled far, they spoke about it a little while she’d been gone, but considering Jared was still where he always had been he’d run out of things to say in comparison quickly. There wasn’t a lot of story time when they’d both been busy. But now felt like the time to catch up. Back in the same place again for the first time in years. It felt good to be reunited with his best friend.

As with most things, Nell would die trying before admitting to needing help to climb the tractor. Already she’d grabbed onto a part she definitely should not have grasped based off of how hot it had been under her hand. “Alright, I’ll drive it home, then,” she said in the same tone as him, as if it were a given. “But I was serious. Old Town Road is old news now. Unless that’s what you were going for.” She made a surprised noise as she felt herself being lifted, but didn’t hesitate to climb the rest of the way up after the boost. “Thanks...I guess,” she said stubbornly, though also with that same air of a joke. “You couldn’t bear to see me perish with the tractor?” As for the hounds. “Oh- no, we can go straight to your’s! I can just Summon them once I’m there.” When they weren’t with Nell, the hellhounds lived their normal lives in their adjacent demon realm, though they sometimes slipped through to pay Nell a visit even without her magicking them there. “I’m living at Bea’s with her and Luce. You know- the house she got with my parents’.” Her tone was decidedly...neutral on the matter, living with your adult sisters not coming without its struggles. “Wait- but you haven’t even seen! Guess what my parents got me as part of me coming back!” She was glowing again, excited to see Jared’s reaction. 

“How else would I irritate people on my way to the store? It’s all by design Nell.” Jared told her with a solemn nod behind her that she couldn’t even see. Once she was inside the cab he made his own way inside, pulling himself up with a grunt of effort and hustling her to sit on the boombox. It was sturdy enough she wouldn’t tip it over easily. “My tractor wouldn’t survive taking a life, it’d be too heartbroken in the end. Can’t have that.” With that Jared turned the keys and the noisy machine rumbled back to life. They had to speak a little louder now, but once the door was closed it wasn’t too unbearable. “All sisters together huh?” He gave her a sideways glance. “That working out alright?” he threw in as casually as he could. He knew living with siblings was no walk  in the park a lot of the time, and he hadn’t done that without a parental mediator present. His eyes were flickering between Nell and the road as they drove up the street back towards his farm on the outskirts. “They got you….a new favourite nymph? I’m upset. Truly cut deep.” he guesses with a hand over his heart dramatically. 

Nell’s head shook in her amusement, glad to find that this part of Jared hadn’t changed in the least. Her own chaotic nature had always reveled in his tricks, taking part in far too many of them, herself. “If you ask me- I wouldn’t have been mad to also see some of those big, inflatable noodle men dancing on the back of the tractor.” The rumble of the tractor underneath her brought another, softer smile to her lips, the sensation of it bringing back a flood of warm memories shared with the man beside her. Just like that it felt like she was eighteen again, no responsibilities to think of. “We can’t have that,” she echoed, suddenly at peace with where she and Jared had found themselves, and the feeling that whatever bad thing that might be waiting for her out in the world couldn’t touch them. “Mhm, all sisters together. It’s been...interesting. I don’t know- you know how Bea and I have always been. And-” With what Luce had witnessed between her and August, the ground was somewhat uncertain there, as well. Even though Luce had supported her. “It’s just different. But I guess we’re managing,” she finished with a lackluster chuckle. She didn’t want to think about that, though. Not when Jared was here, and everything felt like it was shining and good. “Well- yes to the nymph but- that’s not what I was going to say,” she said, grinning at his theatrics before jokingly picking up the hand he’d placed on his chest and putting it back on the tractor. “Two hands on the wheel,” she teased, not actually minding in the least. “But they built me a greenhouse! My own greenhouse!” 

“I’ll think about it, Don’t want anything the animals could potentially destroy and be a waste of money. I need some good durable irritations.” Jared reminded her with a snort. He could just imagine those inflatable men meeting a sticky end on the wrong side of a set of teeth. His eyes flickered over to watch her face as she explained how living with her sisters had been since she got back. “Well, the farm’s a big place still if you want to crash anytime,” Jared offered offhandedly. Not only would it be good for her to have that familiar setting to escape to again, but also he was forced into a kind of solitude with the high gates and the strongest locks in place. He was guarding precious livestock, but that same livestock stopped it being safe for people who were unaware to come visit. None of his beasts had ever phased Nell much however, he was lucky she was just as invested as he was in some creatures just without the otherworldly ties. “Tractor goes so slow it’s hardly a risk, I’m even sober!” he argued, but kept his hands where they were anyway, having been denied a moment more of the drama. “Oh damn, how big? What are your plans? I assume you’ve got plans right? Irrigation system? Is it big enough for an irrigation system? Ack what am I saying any system can be forced small enough where needed.” Jared asked question after question looking at her curious and excited. “Do you need cuttings? My crops aren’t in the best health they’ve ever been but they managed the winter alright, they’ll perk back up now I’m home, you can cut from them as soon as next week!”

“But what if they were detachable,” Nell continued to joke. “Purely for ornamental going into town purposes. And then you could stow them away when you’re not using them. But if you’re after more durable irritants, it’s lucky you found me, isn’t it?” She certainly wasn’t about making some vaguely self-deprecating jokes at times. His offer for the farm brought another warmth to her chest, remembering all the times she’d found herself crashed there before when she hadn’t wanted to deal with her family. “Thanks, J.” To think that even after all this time they were so ready to jump back into this as if nothing had happened. “It’d be fun to do that again.” Even if she hadn’t always been there for the best of reasons, those nights were some of her fondest memories. Nell laughed at his exclamation, simply rolling her eyes in amusement as he carried on with his dramatics. But once it was talk of her sweet, baby plants, she was all pure smiles again. “Yes! So many plans! Right now I’ve sort of just got- a ‘normal’ section and then a supernatural section, but it’s beautiful in there. You should definitely come over to check it out.” It would only make sense. After all, Jared was who had taught her most of what she’d learned when it came to getting things to grow. “And I have something of an irrigation system but- honestly I’d love to see what your thoughts were there, too.” Beyond having her best friend back, it was nice to also have someone who just understood the pure excitement she felt when talking about her plants, and she couldn't help but enjoy the delight on his face, as well. “Really? Next week?” she asked, perking up as her back straightened and she wriggled on her boombox seat in excitement. “You know I’d love to have any cuttings!”

“Humans are far easier to irritate, with far less effort you know. Case and point, I caught a wild Nell in the square and made her furious enough to come and fight me.” Jared pointed out with a small smug grin. “With only a boombox...and now she’s in my tractor, basically kidnapped. A rousing success in my books, with very little effort.” He shrugged a shoulder when she thanked him, in his eyes it would be no different than it was before, plus he lived alone in a large expanse of fields, some company would do him good as well. “Wouldn’t have to stay in the barn anymore, probably wouldn’t be as safe in there anymore considering I’ve got far less cows of the real sort roaming the place since the original livestock passed from when the parents were around.” The excitement over plants maybe wasn’t as strong as it would be for Jared than if they were still talking about her hellhounds, but he was still a farmer, he would always be interested and excited about these things in a greater measure than perhaps another might. “Yeah, your greenhouse is probably in better repair than mine at the moment, but it never takes me long to resurrect anything that was failing. Downfall of being gone for a winter, but last winter we managed around a week. You can have cuttings of anything you want. Though don’t go undercutting me on the market, I have a hundred mouths to feed. Can’t go starving my children now.”

“Well- we all know it’s not that hard to get me going. And I was napping which is like- extra irritability points.” That same smile was tugging at the corners of her lips, though Nell was doing her best to pretend to be serious for a single moment, as if she were truly insulted when that was nowhere near the truth. “Look- I give credit to the boombox. And the tractor. I’m just surprised you didn’t go with ‘She Thinks My Tractor’s Sexy’. And you know it’s not that hard to catch a Nell in the wild,” she teased. “Especially if you have...snacks?” It was her way of asking if there were any stashed in here, as she was always ready to eat. “I mean- it’s not like I didn’t like the barn.” How could she have when they’d spent many a night there? “But I’m honored to be welcome into the actual home. Wait- you meant the house, right?” she asked, realizing she’d assumed. “How was it, though? Your winter? Where exactly did you go?” The concept of a migration was rather fascinating to her, and she felt comfortable enough by now to ask Jared any questions that might come to mind. “I won’t starve the children- I steal the children, and make sure they’re well-fed. Then I can safely steal the market, right?” she teased.

“I think my tractor gets double points, and I think the boombox gets special consideration since you just know it would annoy someone that I was using a tape instead of a bluetooth speaker.” Jared insisted despite the points meaning absolutely nothing. “‘She thinks my tractor's sexy’ was next on the tape, but we wouldn’t be able to talk if we turned it back on. “Okay well it may not be hard to catch you, but it’s still worth points and that’s what counts.” he said nodding his head to the backpack slung over the back of the chair. If she could see around the various treats and lures for his livestock she'd find a bag of chips in there and a few cans of soda. “Yeah I mean the house.” he snorted, giving her a glance as he turned off the road onto a dirt path towards one of the main gates into his land. “Where else would I mean? On the roof? In the shed? You have stayed in the house before...one time… right?” It was then Jared was truly stumped, he could have been sure, but her reaction led him to wonder if he’d -I don’t know- dreamed it or something wild. “So turns out migration into Canada isn’t unheard of. The whole herd walked for miles and miles a day. Their behaviour changed over the border and I didn't even realize that was possible!” He started off, having to stop himself from launching into a tirade about his trip. They’d have time for that, best not bore Nell to sleep right off the bat. “Oh so you’re going to leave me to starve, see how it is. Steal the kids and run huh? Left on an empty farm to starve.” he turns his eyes to her as he halts the tractor, letting his glamour alter slightly to make his eyes bigger and glassy. A puppy dog look if ever you’d seen one. “Would you really do me like that?”

“Where do you even find the tapes?” Nell asked with a chuckle, always finding amusement in Jared’s mayhem. “I’ll grant the double points.” Her expression was carefully thoughtful, as if seriously considering these ‘points’. “The boombox gets a point because I’m sitting on it, so that’s obviously a multiplier.” Utter nonsense spilled from her in the name of joking around with her best friend. It was only a moment later that Nell was foraging into the backpack, pulling out the bag of chips and popping it open. She took one out and offered it to Jared, one again teasing, “Both hands on the wheel,” curious how he would go about this. “Yes I’ve been in the house,” she laughed. “But also like- the roof sounds pretty cool too, to be honest. Probably a nice view up there.” She straightened as Jared talked about the migration, looking more interested the more he spoke. “Really? That’s so cool! What do you mean it changed? Did you like it, though?” Nell had never minded Jared launching into wherever his mind took him, always happy to listen. “But yep- that’s basically the plan. I’ll let you keep this bag of chips, though. I’m takin’ the kids and the dog!” she joked as the tractor came to a stop. Nell looked up from the chips to be met with Jared’s puppy dogs eyes, and nearly instantly- a small smile formed. “Stop that- that’s no fair!”

“I made them! My own mixtapes. Took a bit of fiddling but I got them to go. Bit of extra effort, but once they’re done they’re endless enjoyment.” Jared insisted falling silent to nod solemnly as Nell allotted points to his efforts that day. “Do I get a combo bonus because it added an extra player to my party? Gotta be worth something!” Jared groused cheekily. He snapped his teeth in the air towards her and the offered snack. Eyes firmly on the road he missed the treat by several inches. “C’mon Nell, I’m a growing boy.” This was punctuated with a few more reaching bites in the air. “What’s the phrase? me casa, soup casa? Just make yourself at home, don’t have any locks on the place, if you can make it through the gauntlet of the farmlands then you’re welcome inside.” A beamed grin took over his face when she asked for clarification, trust Nell. “Before the border they travelled in a different order, stuck closer together at night and feeding times while they oved, then they crossed and seemed to lose organisation. Still one member of the herd in the lead but they all walked in a line across the way, like they were minimising the damage to the woodland. It was spectacular.” Jared hummed in delight. Her smile gave her away and soon Jared was pushing his eyes to blow out, his pupils dilated as far as he could go without slipping into a demonic blackout. “You’re taking everything but the dog? Don’t you care for me? Did we mean nothing?” he says heaving a heavy breath and shaking his shoulders as if in a mock sobbing fit. 

“What? DJ Beets isn’t good enough for you, anymore?” Nell teased, referencing the nearly ancient iPod they’d traded back and forth since she was fourteen. “I feel like an original iPod dock with speakers could provide some very chaotic and irritating vibes.” Nevermind that the iPod was currently in her possession. “Now you’re getting greedy with points,” she finished with a bit of a smirk. “You never know when to quit, do you?” Again she laughed as his teeth gnashed at the chip, having far too much fun while darting the chip around, a moving target. But finally she took pity, holding it still before him as she said, “If you grow any more, I’m suing. I already look like a troll next to you. A cute troll. But a troll, nonetheless.” Again her head shook gently in her delight. “That’s not even close to right. I accept the challenge, though.” But the mention of soup reminded her of something. “What have you been eating?” By now she knew that Jared wasn’t exactly Gordon Ramsey in the kitchen. But then she was back to being curious about his herd and migration. “Really? And they did that the whole way until they got back to the border, and crossed over again?”  Nell raised her hands to jokingly cover her eyes as Jared continued to look her way, always ready to be equally dramatic as him. “No!” she exclaimed, though it was mixed with another laugh. “I’m taking the dog, too.” Her fingers parted to reveal a single eye of her’s peeping out at Jared. “You know purple’s my favorite color.” The words were in reference to his true eye color, rather than the blue he usually put on, though she loved both of the shades. “You know that’s not true.”

“My allegiance will always be with DJ Beets. But I didn’t have them did I? Had to make do, the old tape player I had has a better battery life than DJ Beets anyway. It’s why I posted them to you when I left for the winter. No music on a trail would have left me tragically trudging on.” Jared shook his head and huffed a breath. “I don’t know when to quit, but it’s not like you do either.” he stuck his tongue out at that point teasingly before crunching the chip offered to him. “You’re not a troll, a gnome remember? But like a ceramic one, we could get you a pointy hat and a fishing pole if you want? Isn’t that how humans do wild miscalculations about other species?” Jared messed with her, it was far too fun to rile her up, and he’d been in serious withdrawal. “Eating? Who is that? I don’t know her.” He joked to deflect the question. Jared was certainly not a person who was at ease in a kitchen. He hadn’t really stepped foot in his own since he got home. Preferring to light a camping stove in the yard and heat some water for some sort of camping meal, the same as he’d been doing while away. A much easier fix than burning perfectly good food. “They did! It was incredible, they even took a different path on the way back, and seemed to step in different patterns than the way there. Very chaotic, but uniform at the same time.” When Nell covered her eyes Jared rolled his eyes and slid out of the seat, popping the door of the tractor open again and decided to leave it there instead of throwing the gates wide. “Come on then traitor, let's divide our assets and tell the kids the bad news. Nell doesn’t care about me anymore, she is taking everything and I’m going to have to skip town to avoid the heartbreak.” Offering her a hand so she didn’t fall face first out of the cab. Although even as he said this he let his eyes slide back to normal, the real normal. Blue making way for purple as the puppy dog facade faded.

“That’s true, DJ Beets might need a new battery, actually.” Maybe Nell could ask Winston about that, especially with their new magic developing, and possibly even make some nifty upgrades to surprise Jared with. “Everything with you is tragic,” she joked, certainly no stranger to Jared’s dramatics. “And you’re lucky there’s no actual gnomes around to hear you. I think I’d want to be one of those disturbingly sexy gnomes on lawns, though. The ones that make you wonder why something like that was ever made in the first place. Not that I’m that small! I’m not a gnome at all! You’re just...abnormally big!” she finished stubbornly, though the words were...obviously untrue despite her bias and pride. Her eyes narrowed, suddenly serious as she considered the man in front of her. “Your answer does nothing to make me feel better, Jared. I’ll make something while I’m here.” It wasn’t a question so much as a certainty in her eyes. It seemed that the coast was clear as she heard Jared slide to the ground, and she leaned tentatively over the side of the tractor, as if to make sure it was safe for her to look. “Like I could ever break your heart,” she simply said before accepting his hand without qualms this time. Then she was stepping down, carefully, and soon enough she was planted on the ground next to him. “Should I bring the hounds, now? Or wait?”

“I’m sure there’s one somewhere on the internet.” Jared assured her. He wasn’t worried. Their ipod had lasted this long, no reason to think it would give up the ghost now. If it was a new part it needed, it was a new part they’d find. “The gnomes won’t find me, and I’m faster than them.” He tried to gloss over the food thing. He wasn’t worried, so he didn’t want her to be. He’d never been good at cooking and he was doing just fine so far. Even after she left, he managed on take out, pre packaged foods and camping meals. A perfectly respectable diet in Jareds eyes. “Good luck with that, see what you can find.” he was certain she wouldn’t find anything suitable. Maybe a bag of raw pasta. But absolutely nothing to go with it. As was the way of Jared's kitchen at the moment. Once she was on her feet he simply made his way to the fence to climb over. Tall it was, but the charms on it had been broken a day or so ago with his return. “You break it every day.” he shot back teasingly as he threw a leg over the top of the fence waiting for her to climb after him. “Days without a tiktok sent, I was going spare!” he lamented with a wrist laid on his forehead. “I’d wait until the other side of the fence.” He was eager to meet genuine hellhounds, but he also knew they’d need to be on the move so as not to linger in the path of one of his herds that travelled the property. He wasn’t one to try and tame his animals, rather he let them feel he was a safe being and allowed him to live so that they could thrive on his land without issue. Probably not the safest practice, but five years in he was yet to have any serious repercussions. “Can you summon on the move?”

“I have a friend who might be able to help, too,” Nell began. “You remember Winston?” They’d already been friends when she’d met Jared, and long before that. “Well, they’re still a nerd,” she began fondly, “and I was thinking they could maybe help spruce DJ Beets up a little. You know- make sure they had a long, and healthy life. Have plenty of grandchildren. A wrap-around porch. All that jazz.” As for the food and Jared’s lack of proper nutrition, she’d let the conversation die for now, though he certainly wasn’t off the hook in her mind. Nell wasted no time in launching herself over the fence, perhaps even more agile than Jared might remember. She’d been doing gymnastics back in the day, but now she also had five more years of fighting experience beneath her belt. “If I break it, it’s only because you break mine first. So who’s really to blame, here?” As always, she laughed at his theatrics before playfully trying to swipe his dramatic hand away from his forehead. “You just use me for the Tiktoks,” she accused, matching his histrionics, it being her turn to bring a hand to her chest, apparently aghast. “But, yeah!” she said with a bright grin. “See?” The she was pulling up the sleeve of her jacket, revealing a summoning circle tattoo she’d gotten while they’d been apart. All it needed to bring the hellhounds to where she stood was a bit of blood. “So whenever is best for you!” It wasn’t unlike the first tattoo she’d gotten while she was fifteen, having shown that one off to Jared as well when Luce had done it for her. It had also been for summoning, though when activated had only brought forth a single, juvenile cockatrice back in the day.

“Yeah I remember them, if they’re willing to sacrifice some time for DJ Beets I’m all for it.” Jared knew of Nell’s other friends, she spoke about them often and he was always willing to hear the shenanigans. There just hadn’t been an awful big chance for him to interact with them. He’d seen them around, but considering his friendship with Nell had been born of a fluke single moment at a party, it wasn’t unusual that her other friends didn’t interact with him. Considering also the fact he left school shortly after they met and skipped a lot of his last year. Nell seemed to be very certain he held more cards in their friendship than he felt he did, but he didn’t argue any further, they’d be at it all day knowing them. She made quick work of the fence and he lowered down on the other side laughing at her own dramatic flair. “Not only for the tiktoks but they’re such a big bonus, how could I refuse?” Feet hitting the ground he tugs on her wrist gently to get a good look. “And it works like the other one?” he asked as he encouraged her to walk along the path with him. He took a few longer strides to be ahead before turning to walk backwards. “Do it now? Are they as wild as my bonedoggles? Or are they too classy to be vicious? I’ve yet to meet hellhounds for real.” He gushed with excitement. 

Nell’s eyes rolled gently as she grinned, but also knew that she’d been truly lucky to come across Jared today. She had no doubt they would have met, anyway, whether it be planned or not, but sooner was always better than later when it came to seeing him. “A bonus, he says. Is there anything you can’t charm your way out of? Or at least try to charm your way out of?,” she teased. Nell let him examine the tattoo, laid above the lines and lines of scars that ran along her forearms, the places where she took her blood sacrifices from when it came to fueling more serious bits of magic. When she’d left, she’d already had a fair amount, but after all the fighting and spellwork she’d done over the past five years, they were now overlapping over one another. She often glamoured them in public to avoid questions, but she knew she didn’t need to do that when it was only Jared here. “Yay! Exactly the same!” She’d been trying to keep up with him as his strides lengthened, her own, shorter legs carrying her faster before she realized what he was doing. Nell nearly collided with him when he turned around, and came to a quick halt as she laughed. “Generally...yes. They wanted to burn my face off when we first met but- now they’re used to me! And they listen to me! But I’m sure they’ll love you!” she said, alluding to his nymph status, and the creatures he was patron to. “Cheater,” Nell joked, though Jared’s excitement was spilling into her. It only took a moment for her to bite her thumb until it bled before swiping it over the summoning circle, speaking a few summoning words as she did so. In another moment, the trio of hellhounds burst forward, instantly going up to Nell with wagging tails and sitting neatly, as if expecting a treat.

“I’m very charming. Incredibly charming even!” Jared argued in return making a face at her, and just proving the exact opposite. He took in the new tattoo carefully, eyes roaming over the increased level of scarring also, but not saying a word. It was witch business, he knew he’d never understand even if he felt he understood enough to get by on the trust that Nell knew what she was doing. He stopped moving when she almost crashed into him and laughed lightly at the action. “We’ll see if I can make a good impression.” Jared insisted, miming straightening a tie on a non existent collar, and fussing with the cuffs of a dress shirt he wasn’t wearing. He waited eagerly as she drew blood. Watching closely with interest as she went through the summoning process. The appearance of the hounds had Jared clenching his fists to stop himself from making any sudden leaps about their character. They might be lined up for Nell, but he actually didn’t want to make a bad impression or assume too much. “Beauties.” He commented looking at Nell for a moment before digging in his pockets. If you thought the nymph had left the house with empty pockets you were dreadfully mistaken. Sometimes you needed to carry a little dried flesh to bribe with. He almost bows to the hounds, as he rounds to get beside Nell in his excitement, in the end completely giving in to the notion and giving the trio a bow of respect anyway. “Fuck Nell look at them.”

Nell stuck her tongue out at him playfully when he laughed at her abrupt stop. But as soon as Jared started digging in his pockets, Scooby’s ears pricked, knowing that sound from having received far too many treats in his lifetime. Turning his head towards Jared, he broke formation before his tail began to wag in even more earnest. Out of the bunch, he was the one most easily charmed by snacks. Hence- having been named the Scooby of the three hellhounds. “Go ahead,” Nell said with a soft smile on her lips, her voice taking on that gentle quality she saved solely for animals or beasts that weren’t attacking her. Scooby barely even waited for permission before bounding over to Jared, nose trying to shove its way into the man’s pockets for the delicious goodness that was hidden within. “Come on, Scooby!” Nell laughed. “Use your manners!” But she’d known Jared would adore them just as much as she did, and she couldn’t help but love the way he was with them. Meanwhile, Scrappy and Shaggy held back, stood in front of Nell as if making sure this man wasn’t any sort of threat before taking a single, curious step forward. Thankfully, Nell’s hellhounds had been with her long enough to listen to most things she said, though they were still very much wild creatures at times.

Jared didn’t dare do anything but shoot Nell an incredibly longing look. It wasn’t polite to touch without permission, but with a snout in his pocket he was struggling hard to resist. He turned out the pocket that was being broken into carefully slow enough for the hound to catch the treats that would fall out. Once he was at Nells side he pulled the rest of the treats out of his other pocket and offered one in each hand to the other two hounds. He waited with baited breath, marvelling at how Nell had control of the, at how they sat and interacted with her and each other. They were truly fascinating, and he could already feel the usual small lingering tie to them that he usually felt with vicious beasts of all kinds. “Scooby? Like the cartoon?” He asks Nell, not taking his eyes off the trio for even a second. He was ecstatic to have Nell back at his side, but she’d brought something he’d never bargained for. “Hellhounds are just everything I imagined and more.” he breathes, stooping and tilting his head to get a slightly closer look without invading anyone's personal space. “The three of you are wonderful.” he compliments. “Absolutely stunning.” But he’d run out of treats and -as he was desperate to make a good impression- he nudged Nells arm. “Race to the house for more treats?”

Nell knew that look, and trusted her hounds and Jared, but it was always good to proceed with caution when dealing with creatures such as these. “Scooby’s always happy if you give him treats. And yeah, like the show,” she laughed. “And then Shaggy and Scrappy too,” she said, motioning to the other hounds. “Also from the show. The gang’s all here.” Scooby wasted no time in gobbling up as many of the treats he could get, and Nell tried to remind him, “Save some for your brothers!” But he wasn’t having it. As far as the hellhound seemed to be concerned, these were all his treats. “I’m glad I could show you them.” Her voice was perhaps the most sincere it’d been since she’d found him in town on the tractor, for she was truly happy she could give Jared this spark of joy. Shaggy was next to come forward, always the one who was most hungry for any form of affection he could muster up from those Nell trusted. It was only a moment before he was shoving his enormous head under Jared’s hand, demanding the petting he obviously thought he deserved. Scrappy still seemed hesitant, fur raised ever so slightly as he watched the other to dogs. Out of the bunch, he was the smallest, and the most cautious, which also meant he was the one most willing to attack at a moment’s notice. A slow and mischievous grin blossomed on Nell’s lips before she simply took off running towards the house, wind whipping in the air as she called back to Jared. “I’m going to win!” The dogs fell into line behind her, excited to run after her.

Nell was spent. Her emotional and physical reservoirs were drained after what had happened at the lake as she arrived home to Jared’s farmhouse on her bike, dismounting it at the gate so as not to startle the biesy. She simply stood there for a long moment, hands on the seat of her motorbike as she tried to steady herself. The ritual had taken a lot of power, and though all the sacrifices that had been made were made for good...that didn’t always mean they were any easier to swallow. She hadn’t yet noticed Jared waiting for her there, taking her helmet off and shaking her ponytail loose in a disconnected motion, one that spoke of the tiredness she felt in her bones. All she wanted was to sleep. To fall into bed and let the world just melt away, and forget about everything that was waiting for her in these waking moments. The squid was gone, sure. But there was still the resurrection to deal with. How much longer would she be able to shoulder things like this without cracking under their weight?

It was like a never ending game, Nell never left him without letting him know what sort of things she was leaving to do, but the reasons seemed to never stop being things that instilled a little fear in his heart. Jared wasn’t one to control her, and as much as he wanted to keep her safe he knew she was far too strong willed to be kept captive, so he never tried. But still, he watched her not even notice him as she parked up her bike and his heart ached. He slid off the gate he’d been sitting on and his eyes gave her a once over, a little bruised, but not anything too visibly alarming. “Everything...finished with?” He asked carefully, trying not to startle her. Moving forward to take a gentle hold of her shoulders and duck his head with a weary smile. 

The little jump that came from Nell was purely instinctual as Jared came down from the fence despite his care in trying not to startle her. She hadn’t seen him there, and part of her was still in fight mode. The quick movement almost made her exhausted limbs tangle on themselves, tripping her for a moment, but she did her best to recover as quickly as she could. The little smile she gave him was partially reflexive at this point. After years of knowing him and treasuring their bond, it was impossible not to greet him with a smile. But part of it was also manufactured specifically for Jared, not wanting him to worry anymore than he already did. A smile meant she was okay, right? The small bit of blood crusted underneath her nose where she’d tried to wipe it away and missed was still unnoticed by her as she walked towards him, pausing and letting her shoulders relax as he took hold of them. “Everything’s finished. The bastard should be gone now. No eye sun for the kids, anymore.”

The smile did very little to ease his mind, she seemed sluggish and the little trail of blood from her nose drew his eyes quickly although he didn’t comment right away. “The kids will have eternal gratitude, they’ll be ecstatic.” Jared told her softly, wiggling her shoulders a little, in a sneaky way trying to watch for signs of pain. A maybe slightly cruel way to check for injury, but he was soft and he knew Nell far too well. She was too stubborn to admit she was compromised in some way, so better to check than do damage in silence. With no overly negative reaction he smiled back at her weakly. “You did a good job.” he commented before turning around and stooping over, arms behind his back. “Heroes get piggy backs to the house.” he told her with a slightly lilting tone, looking over his shoulder. “And you get to tell me how you got a bloody nose on the way.”

His little squeeze was enough to make the soreness of her muscles creak a little in protest, but Nell wasn’t going to let on when it came to that. Then he’d probably stop hugging her, and right now his hug was more than enough to melt away from the tiredness that had taken up residence in her soul, like a salve on a burn. “I did it only for them. Squidward could have brought his hellscape here and eaten the town whole if he hadn’t been ruining the kids’ lives,” she joked tiredly, though the comfort of Jared’s farm had certainly been a motivating factor, as well. “And now you don’t have to be trapped here all the time, too.” She scrunched her nose a little at the word hero, never having taken easily to that title. Nell wasn’t quite so sure that the things she did in order to achieve her goals were exactly...heroine material. Not when it meant ending lives and potentially scarring blissfully ignorant humans. “Hero might be a stretch but- I never say no to a piggyback ride, though.” She did her best to jump onto his back, a little more unsteady than usual, but clinging on nonetheless. “The bloody nose was just...exertion. Big spells and big costs and all that, you know? It was...a lot to harness all that energy and put it in the right place.” Right into the heart of the Dator Vitae. 

Jared let his smile grow a little. Maybe she was kidding but he’d always been a sucker for how much Nell appreciated his farm just as much as he did. His animals were his life, and she was always right behind him, complementing them and looking out for them. It was comforting to know the person he cherished the most had the same sort of outlook he did. Jared let her go, and then grasped onto her legs when she found herself settled onto his back. He unlatched the gate and went through before securing a heavy lock in place from the other side. And then he started the walk to the house. His pack of boondoggles were nearby, moving back towards their shelter but he didn’t waiver his path. He walked through the pack with authority and a few soft words. “Will there be any other after effects of being the witch in charge of your ritual?” As innocently as he phrased it, Jared was sure Nell could pick him apart in a second. He was worried, he’d always be worried. He had been relieved to see her but now he was thinking of the consequences. Maybe he’d keep her close...for observation reasons obviously. He rolled up the porch steps and just pushed on the door. He never locked the thing even if the girls tended to. But he was the last one out and he’d not bothered. He took a detour into the kitchen and slid Nell onto the countertop before turning around. “Blood off, scratches wiped, a snack and some sleep?”

Nell couldn’t see the smile growing on his lips, but if she had, she would have drudged up the energy from somewhere to return it, even though every inch of her body was screaming for sleep. When she was at the end of her rope, she’d still find the strength to give him a smile. She let herself relax as he gripped onto her, letting her eyes flutter close as her cheek pressed against his back. The rhythm of his walking and sounds of the farm were comforting, along with his warmth and the familiar smell of the shampoo she’d given him. Barely registering the question he asked, it took her a moment to answer it, her mind still scrambled. “Hmm? Oh- probably not.” If she’d been more aware, Nell would have remembered to censor her uncertainty, knowing just how much Jared was prone to worry. But she thought of it too late, and could only hope he wouldn't latch onto it. Still...it was nice to have someone to come back to who knew exactly what she’d been out doing, never needing to keep secrets from Jared. Well- at least not these secrets, the ones that endangered her. Nell knew he’d never try and keep her from her choices, a trait that was invaluable to her. Once she was slid on the countertop, she went slack, her eyes closing again as they seemed to refuse to stay open. It was perhaps world record breaking how quickly she managed to doze off while he was turned away, and she didn’t even hear his question as he did whatever it was he’d moved to do. Next thing she knew, she was coming awake again to the sensation of falling, slipping off the counter and hitting the floor when she’d fallen asleep. “Fuck,” she cursed as she stayed there on the ground, the world swimming for a few, long moments. Maybe she’d overdone it more than she’d realized.

Her hopes were not granted, as soon as Jared heard the word ‘probably’ his plans to set her up in her room vanished from his mind. He was going to be keeping an eye on her for a while, if only until he was certain that she wasn’t showing any negative side effects. Jared hadn’t even made it to the sink to grab a few things from underneath it before he heard a pretty horrific thump. His head whipped around to see Nell on the floor and he swore as he abandoned his task to go and pick her up. He lifted her easily into his arms and looked for any bumps on her head. “Christ Nell really? You couldn’t say you were maybe going to pass out?” he berated her quietly. The nymph adjusted her in his arms and headed straight for his bedroom door. He pushed it open and moved to lay her down on the nearest side. Pulling back the blankets and settling her in. Pausing the next moment to actually run his hands over her head, checking for obvious damage, it was a miracle she’d missed clattering her head on the island counter. Finding nothing he smoothed her hair back into place and knelt down to pull her shoes off and tuck her into his blankets. “You’re always such a handful, always off doing something crazy you know that? I’ve got high blood pressure.” he jokes lamely, his fingers brushing gently over her a scrape on her cheek. “Do you feel faint? Sleepy faint or blurry faint?”

Nell knew better than to think that Jared would let it slide, and though she didn’t want him to worry, she wouldn’t help but feel...cared for when he did. And that was a feeling she rather adored. She squinted up at Jared as he checked over her, trying to make sense of his words. It took a moment longer than it generally would have, but finally she had an answer for him. “I didn’t know,” she pouted, drawing out the last syllable of the words in a bit of a whiny tone. She was rarely like this, reduced to it by sheer exhaustion. If it had been anyone else handling her in this situation, she would have been stubborn and horrified, hating to appear weak, or in need of help. But this was Jared, and the security he offered was able to break past her typically stubborn walls. “Usually it happens sooner if it’s gonna happen,” she continued on in that same tone, not entirely realizing she was incriminating herself once more for revealing that it wasn’t exactly unheard of for her to overexert herself. Her bottom lip jutted out at his words, her pout completed by the motion. “I’m sorry.” Then she groaned. “I wanna make a blood pressure joke, this isn’t fair.” Her mind still felt like it was swimming from her fall, unable to come up with something witty. “Mmmmm,” she hummed as she leaned towards Jared’s touch, her heart doing a funny little flip in her chest. “Sleepy, blurry- but that feels nice.”

He just simply wasn’t phased by the way she was acting, he just carried on on his way to lay her down without a second thought. Although if it had been in another situation he’d have teased her, or even laughed at the whinging, but as it stood then Jared couldn’t quite get past the lingering dread in his stomach knowing she’d dropped like a weight in seconds. “Sooner huh?” he repeats back to her, his face doing it’s best to stay impassive but not doing a very good job at the time. She certainly was incriminating herself and he’d be ready to ask her about it later. When she would hopefully tell him honestly and completely alert. “Can’t even make a blood pressure joke, what has the world come to?” he carries on the lighthearted conversation anyway, even if his tone of voice wasn’t quite right. “Sleepy blurry we can work with, you got no concussion right? I didn’t feel any bumps.” he asks her, giving her a few moments to collect her answer, running his thumb over her cheek some more gently. He wanted to see if he had anything for them, but that could wait. They weren’t deep enough to be a massive concern, they could deal with it later. “We’ll take a nap in a second, you should drink some water and have a snack before we tuck in for the night.” he tells her softly. Pulling away to stand up.

Nell nodded clumsily where she lay, happy to be nestled into Jared’s bed. She liked her own well enough, but in his she felt like she was surrounded by him, and his presence had always been a comforting one, setting her soul to rest in a way that still let her live free. “Yeah like- usually right after.” Maybe it was the energy she’d taken to ride home that had finally done her in, though. Something wasn’t sitting right with his face, the expression not exactly matching the lighter words he was trying to say, but she couldn’t exactly place it with the way her mind was still swimming. “I know,” she continued on, eyes already closing again as her words blurred together. “It’s very sad.” Even beyond being simply physically, and magically tired, her emotions had taken a strange spiral once the ritual had been completed. How much more could their town take before shattering, and people weren’t built for this kind of strain. But she’d help carry it, fixing as many things as she could because...what else was there that she could do? “Nooooo, I didn’t hit- oh wait- I did hit my head.” She’d been thinking of the ritual, not her fall from the counter. “It’s okay, it’s fine.” Her hand reflexively came up to cover his that he’d put on her cheek, as if he were a human security blanket. A barely distinguishable sound of disapproval fell from her as he pulled away, and she tried her best to keep her grip on his hand to pull him back before processing his words. “You better come back,” she demanded in that same, tired voice.