#darkesthourstarters

The draw of the lights had brought his feet to the park that night. Something new to look at the journal with, as if he’d find something new in the pages that’d he read thousands of times before. He’d been in New York for a few months now and he’d still barely went anywhere outside his apartment and the new clinic. He’d lied to himself and said that it was because the clinic was just so busy. First it was the paperwork, then it was getting everything installed, then it was hiring and training the staff. But the clinic was open and running smoothly, and here he was reading the same journal he’d clung to for years, looking for answers that were surrounding him and untouchable.

Nervous teeth gnawed on a worried lip. The line between Bea’s brows grew deeper and deeper as she contemplated the choice before her, a hard one, especially this early in the morning. She clacked the tongs in her hand together in anticipation as she mulled over the options in front of her. There was a sigh from the person beside her, “I’m trying, okay, this is a difficult decision!” The decision in question was a tray of cheese danishes... and another full of plum cheese danishes. “Can you just-- go around me? I need some time.”

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“Okay, I definitely see the appeal in this,” A bright smile broke across Leyla’s lips as she offered the mallet in hand out to the other. After nearly dying during the Valentine’s Day Singles Weekend, the fae was ready to let off some steam and do something fun for a change and what better way to do that than to go to a Rage Room. “You’re up! So, what should we smash next?”

This was so incredibly out of Joseph’s wheelhouse. He had felt complete awe stepping into the mansion and it was a feeling that had never gone away. Not to help how underdressed he felt. Everybody was walking around looking absolutely stunning, and he was pretty sure he had shaving cream on the sleeve of his shirt that he couldn’t get at.

Joseph rolled up his sleeves, hoping to look a bit better than what he had. He’d gotten a drink from the bar and settled into his seat, preparing for the first individual to sit down.

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“And here I thought this hiding spot was fairly hidden,” Devin teased. A soft smiling dancing across her lips at the faint sound of footsteps approaching from behind. The melodic beat of the dance floor filling the air the second the door to the hotel where the masquerade ball her sister and Kenan had put on for her was flung open.

 The birthday girl had only stepped out for a moment. Just enough to catch her breath and soak it all in. Five hundred and twelve years. The once witch had never wanted to or could have possibly dreamed of making it this long and yet, here she was. Her rosy cheeks hidden behind a diamond encrusted mask as she basked in the fresh winter chill of the air. 

Time: Late Night to Early Morning

Location: A Dream (No, Literally.)

Awareness came to Bea with her first breath. She couldn't tell you what her morning was like or even what had happened in the moment before she took that breath, all she knew was that she was existing, now. She blinked, and the movement was slow, as though she were suspended in thick molasses, but as soon as the thought crossed her mind, time sped up to meet her expectations. She shook her head to clear it. Something was off but she couldn't tell quite what. Instinctively she turned to gather her wits, hearing her mother's voice in her ear, be aware of your surroundings, always. Never let your guard down, you never know when someone will want strike you down. Her heart sped up, but as she took in the scene around her, the seemingly blank smokey space started to clear, details began to fill as her heart pounded in her chest. Was it now? Had she been taken, to be tortured as her mother had warned her against?

And then she saw a familiar face in the near distance, and her heart seemed to slow as the details of his face began to solidify. "Kai? What is this? Where are we?" She moved to reach out to him and found herself beside him in an instant, as though she flew right through the mind-bending space. "I don't- something is happening, isn't it?"

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“Sorry,” Reina quickly apologized as she glanced back at her phone for the fifth or sixth time in what now made the past hour. “It’s been blowing up like this all day. Clients who want to book in another emergency therapy sess after, well, everything that went down over Valentine’s Day. But, where were we? I’m all yours. I promise. Distract me?”