#oxfordmsstarter

Holly leaned on the bar, her back to the customers as she wiped down a few glasses. It was a slow afternoon, and Holly hated slow afternoons. Not only did she know she wasn't making any money it was very boring.

She sighed, her mind wandering to earlier that morning. She was able to sneak into the woods for a few moments. Finding a clearing where no one else was she had sat down, opening her book to the next blank page. Filling it with scribbles or possible spells, pressed flowers or herbs. Looking down to the simple cream linen dress she was wearing there was dirt stains around the hem and even a spot from a crushed berry. She wished she was back there, this was a colossal waste of time. 

"But, Val," Brant called out to the curly headed blonde as she flounced out of the loft and the door slammed behind her. Brant felt his brows drop down and a frown form on his lips. "This shit is getting old," he practically growled before turning and stalking over to the couch and dropping down on it. He leaned forward and placed his elbows on his knees, one hand combed through his hair and the other clenched into a fist. His hair fell right back into it's usual style with one or two little strands falling on his forehead. 

Val was off again to do something stupid and didn't want her vampires to come along. Brant remembered the guy she was going to see. Luke, Lucian. Lucian had seemed more appropriate to Brant because it sounded more villainous. Brant wasn't much for first impressions or going on gut instinct, but that guy really gave him the creeps. And that was saying something considering Brant was older than that guy.

He knew the drill here. Val had put a spell on the place. Even if they tore the door down or took out walls or floors or ceilings, they were still stuck. And with Bash and Jace already out for the night, Brant and Nora were pretty ineffective guardians for the night. Or at least until Val returned.

Brant turned his eyes up to Nora before speaking, "So, what will it be tonight? Twister? Charades?" They'd become so accustomed to this routine now that it seemed like years ago that they really got to go anywhere with Val. "You know, I blame that gypsy for her sudden independence," Brant said, leaning back into the cushion of the couch. But then that shit-eating grin of his touched his face and he chuckled, "Nah, who am I kidding, I can't hold that kid accountable for anything." Brant had an odd obsession with their group's trash bb. And also an odd jealousy of said trash bb and Val being an item.

It had been nearly three months since he'd seen Nora and her extremely odd posse. When the first vision had come to him, he'd sworn to himself he wouldn't be sucked in by it all and that he would stay in Europe and let Val and her band of idiots take care of themselves. It was almost a whole month he succeeded with that goal. Yet here he was, walking down the streets of Oxford, Mississippi. He couldn't help but grin as he though of how unhappy Nora must be to be stuck here.

He couldn't help but wonder what it was that had brought Val here. It seemed an exceedingly useless town. But one ripe with supernatural danger. Kai was smart enough and in tune with his surroundings enough to feel the way that the supernatural peace seemed to be hanging by a thread.

But, as if he couldn't tell that he and Val were both in danger, he trotted up the stairs to the loft he could sense Nora in. With a twist of his fingers towards the lock, the door swung open and he strode inside with a grand gesture of his hands, "Don't worry, darlings, I've returned." He could - of course - tell that Nora was the only one present at the moment, but that didn't keep him from thinking that anyone and everyone in the world was blessed to have his presence.

He grinned as Nora came into view. "Well, if it isn't one of my favorite ladies of the night," he said, his accent so delightfully Welsh. Kai strode towards her and then used magic to pull her close and he wrapped his arms around her, hugging her tightly, grin still on his face from how he knew she must be grimacing. "I missed you so, darling."

"Yeah, I just landed," Zita said into the phone as she walked through the airport, "I don't know, Matt, can you just handle it? Isn't that what I pay you for, I mean...???" Zita brusher her long hair back over her shoulders and let out a breath, "Tell VS that I will fly anywhere they want, whenever they want, but I would just like two weeks for time with my family, I don't think that's a ridiculous request." Shaking her head, she muttered, "Just take care of it, Matt. Goodbye." She then hung up the phone and stuffed it down into the cross-body bag she carried.

Z stopped by the designated area and picked up Leo, smiling happily as her pup came bounding out of his crate and into her arms. "Hey, handsome, I missed you, too!" she let him give her a couple of sloppy kisses before standing, signing the required papers and heading off towards the baggage claim.

As she came up the escalator, Z spotted the crowd of people who were waiting for friends and family and loved ones to come off their flights. But then she caught sight of her name on a sign and paused, turning back to look at it. She'd only told Aria and Henry that she was coming back into town; she hadn't expected either of them to actually show up. So seeing Aria standing there holding a sign with her name on it was... Well... Shocking.

It'd been too damn long since Ella had really seriously had a sit-down chat with Brett. Of course, a lot of it was her own fault with the whole disappearing off to a desert island and the sexy pool boy that lived there. Plus with Brett's whole thing with Toby and the new baby, well... They'd fallen a bit to the wayside. And this was a problem that Ella found herself very determined to fix. 

Not that it would take much to fix, Ella thought to herself as she packed up the tray of brownies she'd just finished frosting along with Brett's favorite kind of pickles and made a headway for her best friend's house. She'd already called to tease Toby about how he'd certainly not be seeing his baby momma tonight as she'd insisted on an old-fashioned girls-only sleepover. (Little Susie was invited, obvi. She was, after all, Ella's second fave Barr.) Even offered up Vic to hang out with, if Toby thought he could stand him for more than two minutes straight.

Rapping gently on the door before opening it up and stepping inside, Ella called out brightly through the house: "Hey! It's me! I'm here!" With a practiced air, she set the food down on the counter and knelt to scratch Lucky behind the ears as he bounded up. "Hi baby! Smell Victor all over me, huh? I know you wish your buddy could come visit, but I left him with his wifey over at Hollis' this time. You'll get him next, I promise."

As Brett waddled into the room, though, Ella let out a small squeal of excitement and went to hug Brett tightly. "Oh my god, you're getting so big!" She laughed loudly. "Susie's gonna be huge at this rate! Has she been kicking? Can I feel? God, she's gonna be the cutest baby ever, this one. I can't wait to pinch her precious little cheeks!" She gently put a hand on her friend's belly, beaming like the midday sun down at the baby inside of her. "I don't know who you've got lined up for godmother, but I'd probably fight them for it. Gladiator-style and everything." Ella winked up at Brett.

"What do you mean you're-" Cal muttered into his phone before his whole face pinched in anger. He paused for a moment and glanced around before muttering, "No, I'm not making the pinched angry face, Claire. I'm not! You shut up! NO YOU." Cal hung up his phone and practically slammed it down on the counter. He and Claire hardly ever fought. Because it had been decided a long time ago (by Cal and Claire) that it was pointless because they were just fighting with themselves. Twins meant you were the same person, they'd deemed, and they were already crazy enough without adding "arguing with ourselves" to it.

He let out a breath through his nose and then picked up his phone to scroll through his contacts. He already knew Candy was busy doing somebody, so both of his other halves were busy - which made him mad. So he was using his contacts to find somebody to lay when he heard the bell to the front door of his sex shop ding. He turned his eyes to the door to see a pretty blonde, but the smell of vampire settled over him before he could get altogether too excited.

His brows knitted together though, as he realized that the scent was familiar. His blue eyes watched the vampire carefully, trying to place it. And suddenly he realized, she smelled like that dick vampire that Claire was hanging out with at this very second and neglecting him and his needs. Cal needed to at least pretend he got to bone his hot twin sisters once a week. That wasn't too much to ask, right?? With this vampire and Dan back in the picture... Cal knew he was about to see a lot less of Claire.

Ivan hadn't realized how quickly real life could settle in. He supposed the past three months had been real life, too... It had just seemed like it's own bubble, like a separate time line from the life that they both had left here in Oxford. Of course, Ivan had only been in Oxford for a little under a month when he decided to take off to New Orleans; Ronnie had been escaping much more than he had.

He honestly hadn't expected any of what had happened to actually happen. The original plan was to go to New Orleans for three weeks. One week was dedicated to a music festival that Ivan and his band had been invited to perform in, and then two weeks to just... Be a tourist. He'd ended up inviting Ronnie because she needed to escape; and because she was his friend. It was just supposed to be an escape for her, a little bit of therapy in the sense that she didn't have to deal with the bullshit going on in her life.

It had turned into so, so much more.

Drinks after performances in dark bars where they were wholly too close to each other had ended up in longing gazes and dirty dancing... And that had led to the clash of mouths and tongues that preceded clothes being (almost literally) torn off. From that point on, things changed. Eyes lingered, smiles became more frequent, hands were held... Ivan felt connected to someone for the first time since Harper. And it was... amazing.

He'd written songs for and about her, he'd serenaded her every night, and they'd spent the last two months of the trip like a lovesick couple on their honeymoon. The problem? This life in New Orleans couldn't last forever. And one day they'd looked at each other and known it was time to go back to real life.

The drive back from New Orleans was long, but it was all too short for the two of them. Ivan clutched her hand for most of the ride home, as if holding on to the last lingering moments of the world that was so easy for them. Because he didn't know how things were going to go once they got back. And after dropping the guys off at the house, he'd pulled out of the driveway and headed back towards where Ronnie lived.

It wasn't until he pulled up in front of the house that he let out a breath he hadn't realized he'd been holding in. His grip on her hand tightened and he turned off the car before looking over to her. Their eyes met, and he knew that she was thinking the same things he was. The silence that hung in the air was so thick and tense that you could cut it with a knife. And so, without much thought, he released her hand and let it come up to hook behind her neck and then slid over to her, pressing his lips against hers.

"Ah, thank you!" Shea said happily to the CVS worker who'd gone and gotten out a bag of sweethearts from the back for her. All they'd put out so far were the boxes, and Shea? Well, Shea needed a whole bag. Sweets kept her afloat, and Sweethearts were the best of all time. She didn't care what anyone said. She plopped down her money for them, tore the bag away and had already popped three in her mouth before getting her change.

She then bounced (because Shea LaCroix didn't know how to just walk) out the door and glanced up at the stars that dotted the night sky. She took in a breath and smiled, "What a pretty night." She turned to head off down the street and stopped dead in mid bounce when she found herself face to face with her older sister, Sonia. Shea's mouth went dry and she nearly dropped her bag of sweethearts. "S-Sonia?" she whispered.

Shea found her hand reaching out to touch her sister - as if thinking her hand would simply pass through her like a ghost. But then her fingers actually found that her body was solid, and this brought a gasp from the younger LaCroix daughter. "Oh my god," she said voice shaking from the sobs that were already overcoming her. She reached out and wrapped her arms around her sister, holding onto her tightly.