⌝ Nose still a little bloody, sweat across her brow, the wolf woman tugged on the elastic of the subtly camo bike shorts she wore, shifting her posture in the platform sneakers she had worn to get some height back on her friend when she was, shocking to most, only five'four. Raf wasn't exactly a giant but he was bigger than her, stronger than her, and he had actually done more fighting than Celine imagined she would ever even see.

⌝ "Shit I need some fucking water though," she noted, breath heavy as she focused on slowing it, on bringing oxygen in at a cautious pace and exhaling out as such. "You need any?" she asked as she stepped towards the edge of the cage where there was the same ridiculously large water bottle she had brought with her on their walk around the town's border. "I'll share," she offered, in case he didn't want to have to step out of the specific cage they were in to get his own.

"What do you mean there's a person limit?" Min-Ji questioned the hostess incredulously, "You mean I can't eat here unless I have another person with me? That's so ridiculous! What if I have a big appetite and can eat the whole portion myself?" The hostess gave the young fae woman a skeptical look before once more asserting their position with a polite but apologetic expression and Min-Ji fed up with it all eventually ended up storming out of the large wooden doors, grumbling beneath her breath, ready to whip her phone out to record a scathing video which she would post to her socials and discourage every single one of her followers from eating there when she noticed a familiar figure across the street. He was just going about his business as Min-Ji stared at him, her phone held loosely in her hands as a thought slowly formulated and clicked into her brain.

         The young vampire sat in a private section of the Cage that her wealth afforded her. She’d been coming for years, since she first came to Opulence, couldn’t count as much money as she had spent there. There were very few things Bella could enjoy when it came to the violence of her species without people thinking she was going to simply turn into some sort of force of violence and aggression that just devoured various beings she considered prey. The Cage offered Bellamy a chance to absorb and relish the violence she knew she could not truly participate in without going down a rabbit hole of desire that she had before.

          With a flick the sheet of paper she held Bella observed the evenings fights, skipping over times she had missed earlier in the evening to ones later in the evening. There were always old names but Bella liked to look for the new, she liked to place wild bets on newcomers simply to see how it would affect the odds but also affect their mental states when they saw large money had been placed on them. Some seemed to grow more confident, while others folded under the pressure.

           Of course, just as she went to pick up a sharpie on the table beside her, glass of blood there and a small container of treats she had brought from home for herself, Bella heard approaching steps and looked up. “I haven’t even placed any bets yet, I can’t be in trouble already, can I, Raffy?”

          Celine lent against her old blue Buick Station wagon, hips against the side of the wooden panelling, while she waited for Raffy to join her, some other members of the pack who had finished their own patrol having stopped to tell her what Celine sort of expected to hear - they’d seen, heard and smelt nothing. Overall this was good, of course, but it did little to settle the unease of what felt like a sporadic act of chaos on a night that was meant to go smoothly.

          Pushing off when his car pulled in Celine adjusted the strap of the harness she had around her ribcage, belly button pierced and encircled in a tattoo just showing between the fabric of her sweatpants and her singlet. Comfort was the purpose of it all, they’d be wandering for a few hours she imagined and Celine was not inclined to spend those hours entirely in her wolf form, though unsure if Rafael was under a different impression.

           Whatever impression he was under however, Celine knew it would be good to have some company and she actually really liked Rafael. Much like Ryden and herself his wolf was peculiar in it’s form, and in a way that made her feel less strange. Beyond that he didn’t seem overly bothered by the fact she wasn’t constantly smiling and trying to look on the bright side of things, he seemed able to be content in her neutrality which only made other emotions feel more natural and less forced.

            “You ready?” Celine asked when the man stepped out of his own vehicle, half gallon black water bottle dangling from one of her fingers that said ‘this might not be water’ on the side of it.

[ TEXT ]: Morning Casanova. [ TEXT ]: Did you and your girl make it out okay?

location: wolf & webb’s

It seemed even after all of the shit that went down, the people of Opulence still wanted their daily coffee. Or at least that was the excuse given to Fionn when he had tried to gently request time off, although it had been quieter than he’d ever known it at Wolf & Webb’s and he was still wondering exactly why he’d even shown up. Only the most regular of regulars seemed to feel up for coming in, and even then they seemed to be in a daze and practically ordering on autopilot. Which was fine - it gave Fionn a chance to lean in to the strange, intensified abilities he’d been experiencing ever since the mist had settled, allowing him to produce drinks before they’d even been ordered, guess the words about to come from the customer’s mouth and preempt the situation. It wasn’t foolproof, he was quickly learning. People changed their minds. Situations had multiple outcomes. Even so, as Rafael entered the shop Fionn was already hopefully sliding a drink across the counter, evidently proud of himself. “Flat white, two sugars, right?”

Celine left the present with one of the men at his work, both objects in the same forest green box, no card on top but rather a note written on the lid of the box once lifted in sharpie. Celine was not one for formalities but she had carefully wrapped the Snowflake Obsidian in leather - for protection and good instincts - making sure the gloves had been made of the same.

To protect your body and to protect your spirit. - Celine (@raffyperez)