#missrivermoore

       Hastalik had one fucking chance at this, and that meant he needed to get it right. Not only was Maya probably going to kill him for even upsetting River, but if he screwed up this date then before Maya ripped his heart from his chest River was going to light him on fire. Girls were definitely scarier in real life than they were in movies, but Has was persistent. If this was his one shot to be more than River’s friend he needed to take it and he needed to do it right.

        Unfortunately they had watched like a million romantic comedies together and anything he could think of had already been done. The ‘look at how much money I have’ date, the ‘oh I’m down to Earth’ date, the ‘showing you care’ date, the ‘this is who I really am’ date, and the all time favourite ‘meet me at this spot at this time’ date. There were so many kinds of dates and repeating any of them was going to just ruin things. So...he decided he would just try and think of River, and then take elements from the movie - obviously he needed to not dress like an idiot, and he needed to bring flowers.

        Eventually he had things together, and probably two or three days after she had said he could take her on one he left her a note on the cash register on a morning she worked that simply read, ‘tonight, 8pm - Has.’ The rest of the day he ducked in and out of Colette’s home, using a back way so he didn’t pass River, he didn’t want to give anything away.

        By the time eight was approaching Hastalik had made his way back to Colette’s home with his facial hair freshly groomed and a bouquet of flowers in his hands, still covered in far too many rings despite the formal outfit he had decided on. The only thing he hadn’t quite worked out was that, since they lived above a store now, was he to knock on the stores door, or just come up. The question answered when he tried to open the door and it was locked, Has taking the chance then to give a gentle knock.

        Asking someone like Bella on a ‘girls night’ that did not include staying at home was probably something that should have been done with caution. River didn’t know better, so when Bellamy pulled up out front of Colette’s home, in her pink Rolls Royce Vision Next 100, it was likely not what she was expecting. Especially when the vehicles door opened to a point where Bellamy was able to stand up directly within it, slender pink dress shown off on her gently curved frame. Girls night was not taking a taxi to a local club in So-Op for Bellamy and that was very clear.

          With a gleeful smile on her face she stepped down, the step the car gave her helping since her dress was so form fitted, and approached River who she’d texted when she’d left her home to wait outside for her. “I have not been out anywhere since Colette and I had our party for her first drink,” she announced, speaking of a time just before River had come to town. Immediately she brought River into a hug, back to her old self her blonde hair grazed River’s cheek and neck. “I hope I can be helpful in distracting from whatever chaos is happening. I actually found out about the coolest place that has sprouted up over night.”

         Tali jumped around River as they all got out of Hastalik’s car that early morning by the beach. The dog was preventing her from helping Hastalik with anything they had brought to the beach and when River woke up she would have realised it was a lot. Has hadn’t just bought himself boardshorts and sand castle stuff he’d bought them towels, and a big umbrella and sunscreen and got an esky and filled it with ice and drinks and some snacks. He’d also found a bunch of beach toys for Tali that he’d shoved into a backpack.

          The dog barked just as Hastalik slammed the boot shut and grabbed all of their things. “Do you think I need sunscreen or my hair will be enough to block it?” he joked of the body hair he presently had on full display. “You’ll definitely need all of it and I’ll make sure it gets very well applied so you don’t have awkward spots,” Hastalik continued, Tali running off and onto the beach ahead of them. Perhaps he should have brought a leash but the dog only seemed to run straight for the water and not completely away from them.

       He had dreamed of her many times, his mother’s touch soft on his face, comforting words upon her lips, guiding him to do what was right, but Hastalik knew it was never actually her, it was him wishing he had her. There were times it was her, but never in those times did he believe it was his mother, whenever it actually was Leyla, he percieved it as Nyx, his goddess of the night speaking to him.

        This was different to both of those times however. Hastalik had fallen asleep with his arms around River, holding her close, and quickly found himself in what felt like the real world, a reality where he could touch and feel everything, but knew it was a dream. Dreaming had never felt so real and yet he consciously knew he was asleep, perhaps because even as his fingers moved over a chair in the space he had found himself he could still feel River’s warmth against his chest and along the insides of his arms.

          “Hastalik,” he heard, eyes darting up from the wood of the chair and seeing her, his mother, clear as day. It didn’t even occur to him that she looked too young, that he was almost thirty and she looked like she was maybe forty, because he knew, in his heart, this was his mother, and immediately he embraced her, large arms around her body, feeling it as he felt River’s at the same time, a strange sort of thing. How was he feeling this? How was this...realer than a dream. “We don’t have much time,” she told him in Turkish even though in his mind it was English he knew she hadn’t said it that way.

           When he woke up it felt like minutes had past and it took some time for the entirety of his interaction to come to his mind. First he focused on where he was, back with River, large arms around her body still. Then the dream came and he knew what he needed to do, though mostly he was still focused on the fact it had been his mother, his real mother. River had been right all along and not merely making leaps of Faith.

            He kissed her neck, three in the morning she was obviously trying to sleep but he didn’t care, he kept kissing her neck and her shoulder until she woke up, determined to have her wake covered in his love so he could inform her she had been right. “River,” he whispered, grazing her skin with his cheek as he kissed her arm.

       In her bed Hastalik drew on her chest, above where her tank top fell, a small section of symbols with the ichor she had supplied him and a paint brush. It probably tickled, especially when he made smaller and softer strokes to make sure the ritualistic symbol he put on her body was just right, so that his mother could use him to channel River.

        “We’ll be connected, but if you need to wake up you won’t be stuck because of me, you should be able to force yourself awake,” Hastalik assured River, not wanting to to feel stuck with whatever overwhelming aspect of his mother she was exposed to. If it was his mother’s magic then the spell coming through him should have made that easier on her, if it was something else...well hopefully she wouldn’t feel too poorly.

          Once he was done he placed the brush beside her bed and started to get in with her, now used to being beneath the mattress. More than that though he was used to holding her and settling so her back was protected by his chest. “And if you wake up I’ll wake up and be here for you.”

        The door to Colette’s home opened and Hastalik stepped through it, holding the photos of his mother and Clara in his hand. Since his date with River he’d been looking at them frequently, contemplating the disappointment his Mother would have seen in him for abandoning someone who needed him in favour of his own selfish interests. It still felt like Clara existed in this box in his head now, where at one time she had consumed his thoughts. He needed to go back for her, he couldn’t keep ignoring it. Not only for his sanity, or for Clara’s safety, but it was unfair to keep River at this awkward distance of giving himself to her but not really doing so. 

        The photos between his fingers and his eyes lingering them as he walked he wasn’t quite aware of River’s presence until he shook his head and shoved them deep into his pocket. Only once his mind was not so stolen by internal thoughts did he hear her music, looking up and seeing he was in the presence of River practicing. 

        She sounded beautiful, and he immediately felt badly he’d missed however the tune had begun. Intent on enjoying the moment he fell into one of the seats in the lounge room where she practiced, looking up at her with a soft soft of smile. River was quite usually beautiful, her lips with that gentle wisdom in them, her long limbs hung down by her side, but this was different, her whole posture strong and her elbows raised, lips in thought. She was positively radiant.

        Hastalik held the door open for River to the animal shelter in The Commons, the area of the city was completely different to So-Op or even the City Center because it was so close to Dillon and most of the elementary schools it was filled with parents out with their kids. It had been strange to walk past them, evidently vampiric couples with their child that was human or witch and looked nothing like them, werewolf families that were trying to control obviously rowdy kids, and, most noticeably to Hastalik, the witch families, the ones with a mother, or two in some cases. He was envious.

        The animal shelter itself was relatively empty, staff in plain uniforms with ‘Opulent Second Homes Shelter’ written on them but it was clean and well maintained, accessories for the animals and food sitting on a shelving near the front counter.

       “Thanks for coming with me,” Has said to River, dressing much nicer than he had when they’d met, his black slacks with a navy black button up held him together. Even his thick hair he had pushed back, and he’d tidied up his facial hair. Granted he still had some steel rings on his hands and two cuban chains around his neck. “I read it’s like...kind of hard to adopt a dog.”

       Bella stepped into Coven’s Cottage with some flyers for the next magical drink Colette was making for the bar that month. Things were going smoothly, each month had been something new and wonderful, the reception from patrons had really been above and beyond what Bella had anticipated. It did generally mean more work for Colette but, as she realised upon walking inside, Colette had a little bit of help.

         The bell rang as the door closed behind Bella and her heels clicked on the hardwood floor. Rather than Colette at the counter she saw a much younger brunette girl who seemed to be doing something inventory or money related, Bella couldn’t quite see from how far away she was. “Hey!” she called out pleasantly, clutching the flyers to her chest as she moved past shelves and in the young witch’s direction - she assumed witch anyway.

         “Do you work here?” she asked, rather directly, a large grin across her face that hopefully showed she was happy and not just being nosey. “I mean, I hope you do, because this would be a really awkward way to meet someone who doesn’t.”