champagne problems.

There’s so much he wants to say to her, when he really thinks about it. So much he wants to ask her, questions he doesn’t really want the answer to. He wants to know, rather selfishly, if Annette had lost her shit after he’d left. The last memories he has of her is seeing her sitting borderline catatonic in the front hallway on that stupid little bench that sat beneath where they all hung their keys. Staring at family photos, she’d hardly looked at him when he’d brushed past her, no doubt lost in wondering what the hell went wrong. Or if their dad was still…Well, he could maybe get into that, it was pertinent. “I guess we both aren’t going to wind up with people they approve of.” It’s a gentle jab, one that has Lucian giving a slight shake of his head. Jakob would have been a good match for her, and he had no doubt there’d have been some kind of potential suitor for him had he stuck around. “They didn’t find you another rich boy right away?” It’s a rhetorical question and he’s quick to reel back the sarcastic smirk, now wasn’t the time. “You’re out now though, can date whoever you want. Within reason, I refuse to stand to see you date some touristy fuck in khaki’s.” 

+

“I guess not,” she says, shrugging her shoulders lightly. Violet had tried, she really had, to be the perfect daughter they wanted her to be. Jakob was the closest she could’ve come to making it work — if she couldn’t make herself love him, she knew she could never feel that way about a man. “I’m sure mom would’ve tried, if I had stayed. After I broke things off with Jakob, everything moved... very fast.” Violet had only wanted to get the hell out of there, as far away as she could run to get away from the feeling of being suffocated. As if the idea of living that lie for one more minute was unbearable. Maybe she and Lucian have more in common than she thought. “Pretty sure I’m the tourist here, Lu.” Her Greek is subpar at best, she still doesn’t have a lot of the city memorized yet, and trying to drive on these streets terrify her to the point of riding her bike everywhere. Miri doesn’t seem to mind, though. The thought is a warm cloud in the midst of rain, causing Violet to smile. “Actually, I am kind of seeing someone. A local. Well... two someones.” She throws the information out there nervously, fingers petting Popcan’s soft fur as a distraction.

“No um, just Phoenix I think.” The night was kind of a blur, but the man hadn’t introduced himself. “He just… saved me, and then took off.” Jakob looked around the room again, thankful to have something akin to a home base, and grateful too that he could share this with Violet. She’d always meant the world to him, before they had been boyfriend and girlfriend they were best friends. After everything he was glad that they’d never lose that. “I can’t help but think there must be others like me, you know? And this power… I don’t know, I want to get a handle on it. Really see what I can do. It’s exciting, right?” Maybe it was the new soul talking, but Jakob felt alive for the first time in months.

+

Just a phoenix isn’t a lot to work with, but Violet figures there can’t be too many of them in this city, and she’s done less with more. “What kind of person doesn’t at least give their name?” Hey, here’s your soul back, I noticed you were missing it, okay bye. Like some kind of DC superhero? Still, ultimately the phoenix is of less interest than making sure Jakob is alright, adjusting to whatever this new power of his is. “Yeah, it is,” she nods her head along with a smile, even though inside Violet is less certain. The idea is a scary prospect to her, but she refuses to bring Jakob down with that when he seems to be happy. She supposes she would be glad to have any magic at all, after being without it for so long. “Well, if there are others like you, they probably have the same questions you do. Where would you go to try and find out more about it? They could be doing the same thing.” The library comes to mind, maybe they have a book or something about it. Or the Vidalises. They’re the local coven, they might’ve heard about something like this.

     Lucretia could feel her heart beat in her throat, she could hear her blood pulsate in her veins. The tension in the air could be cut with a knife, and she was so excited that her hands trembled as they wrapped around Violet’s hip. The door fell shut behind them and as if the four walls around them put her into a zone, whatever nervous episode she’d had just seconds ago fell away. Instead Luce moved towards the bed and gave Violet a gentle push so she would fall back onto the bed. The shifter crawled on top of her, a wicked grin now on her lips. “Nice room, but I’m more interested in you,” she whispered, and then she started trailing kisses along the witch’s neck, fingers tugging at her clothes.

    Well, that answered his question — Miri clearly hadn’t told them about Hektor. And now he worried that his sister would be mad at him for dropping the news to Violet. But it was too late to take the words back now, and so he just nodded a little. “I don’t know. I have no idea what he’s doing there, and mom hasn’t explained anything to us either. I don’t live there so I’m not as affected but I think it’s nothing good. It can’t be.” He exhaled a deep breath and shook his head. “I have to do something about it. But I don’t know what.”

“I thought it’d be better to just disappear.” He admits quietly, not bothering to hide his frown as he looks towards the floor. For a while there, he hadn’t even been sure if he was going to survive being out on his own, considering he got higher off the freedom of knowing he didn’t have to pull himself together for anyone after he stepped out that door than he did on any drug. But he thinks he survived on sheer spite alone and then that same spite had him eventually getting his shit together.

Lucian feels it, sitting there the familiar wave of her power and he’s surprised such a thing works now that he’s part of the legion of the undead and yet….His eyes narrow in almost playful suspicion in her direction. “I’m here now. As here as a dead guy can be, I mean. But I’m here and I don’t really plan on going anywhere.” His eyes fall on the cat in her lap again and he takes a deep breath purely for the drama of it. “Friends, people you care about. Jakob showed up at the bar a while ago looking for you. Told me that the whole thing between you was over.” 

+

“Better for you?” Because it certainly wasn’t better for Violet. But she’s not the kind of person to twist the knife deeper, to make an argument with someone she cares about simply for the sake of her pride. That’s just petty and mean, and Lucian isn’t exactly sparring for a fight, anyhow. So she reigns herself back in, attempts to center herself and her emotions by taking a deep breath, her fingers running through Popcan’s soft fur as the kitten purrs on her lap. “I want to be in your life, Lu. I want you in mine. It doesn’t need to be more complicated than that.” She says quietly. It feels almost like a confession, like putting herself out there with the chance of being rejected. But she doesn’t know how to talk to him, not in the way they used to — before all these secrets and distance set in between them. “Yeah, he’s been around. He came to see me.” And maybe to ask her to go back with him, but he hasn’t, and there’s an immense amount of gratitude and relief that sits in Violet’s chest because of that. “We were always better off as friends. It was our parents that wanted us together.” The witch shakes her head lightly, letting out a light scoff. “Just another thing I did wrong in mom’s eyes. Not wanting to marry a man I knew I couldn’t love.” Not in that way. Not in a way that wouldn’t have made her life miserable.  

“Maybe?” Truthfully Jakob didn’t know, maybe it was something with the phoenix’s fire and his own fire element not meshing but that seemed like a stretch. “I don’t know- and truthfully there’s hardly anything on phoenixes or cubi even out there.” He planned to go to the library in the morning and kick over whatever stones he could but Jakob didn’t exactly have his hopes up that it was going to bear any fruit. “But I feel like… I dunno, if anywhere is gonna have an answer to what’s going on with me it’ll be here.”

+

“Maybe you should seek him out. He might have answers that he could give you. Did you catch his name?” Violet could also go sleuthing on her own, on Jakob’s behalf. She wants to know what’s happening with him likely almost as much as he does, if it’s something that puts her best friend in danger. And aside from that, this could potentially affect witches as a whole. She’d like to have as much information as possible, if that’s the case. “We kind of are at the magic epicenter of the world here. There’s gotta be something to explain what this is.” Maybe the library will have something of use, in order to identify whatever this is that’s become of Jakob. 

    Lucretia had done this before, and yet she couldn’t remember ever feeling this nervous. Except maybe the first time. But Violet brought something out in her she hadn’t felt like this before, and it had her skin burning underneath the other’s woman touch, her body craving to be pressed against her. Luce swallowed hard at the mention of a bedroom, but she would certainly not back down now. “Yeah,” she managed to get out, her cheeks heating up as she looked at Violet. Her fingers entwine with the witch’s, and she pushed herself off the couch, pulling Violet with her. “I would love to see your bedroom. Lead the way.”

     “So you’re not interested in them but still know what they’re like? Wow, that must suck.” Delia’s grin was wide – she herself had never spend too much time with men, and she certainly wasn’t intending to change that anytime soon either. Quite the opposite. “I like people who talk a lot. You’re fine.” She winked at the other woman, before taking her hand for a hand shake. “Well, thank you for the opinion. I think I’ll order myself ice cream anyway. Do you want to join? I need the company.”

     “I have no idea what Pisces men are like, I’m not exactly interested in the male species.” Delia tried to stay away from them as far as possible, especially after a male vampire had turned her against her will. But that wasn’t a story to share over coffee and cake. “That’s too bad. I was kind of looking forward to eating my weight in ice cream until I pass our from a sugar shock.” Offering the stranger a smile, she added, “I’m Delia.”

“They’re,” she paused, as they stepped out of the veterinarians office, trying to find the words. “They’re complicated. She’s alright, I think.” Her brows pulled in and Miri coughed into her elbow. “But she’s got a visitor with us and I don’t really like being around him.” She let out a breath. “I’ve got a bag packed,” the witch confessed, “I was really hoping you’d say yes. I don’t really have anywhere else I can go to.” Levi wouldn’t ever turn her away, nor would Dio, but it felt unfair to infringe upon their lives any further. “I’d have to stay in your bed?” Doe eyes widened theatrically, looking over at Violet with a mischievous smile. “God, I hope we don’t get up to anything that would disrupt your roommate, you know. That’d be inconsiderate.”

+

“Oh. I’m sorry.” It’s not an issue she’s created, but Violet empathizes with Miri anyways, reaching a hand out to rub against the other witch’s arm. Being uncomfortable in one’s own home is always awful, but selfishly, she’d be happy to have Miri stay with her. Anything that will give them more time together. “You can come to me, always.” She assures, her smile growing. Violet can think of nothing she’d like better, honestly, aside from all three of them being there. Perhaps they can talk Luce into spending a night or two as well with them both there. “Jakob’s a big boy, he can handle it.” She doesn’t bring up their past history, that would only make matters potentially awkward. The only thing that really matters is the fact that he’s her best friend, and currently her roommate. Anything beyond that would just muddle things. “Besides, technically it was my place first. I think that means I have the run of it.”

     The movie felt like her entire life was passing her by. It was awful how slowly the seconds passed by when Violet was so close and yet Luce wasn’t allowed to touch her in the way the women on screen did. Her cheeks were burning hot and her eyes were dry from focusing on the screen so much. So when finally, finally, credits started to roll over the screen, the shifter exhaled a breath she hadn’t realized she’d been holding in. “Tell me about it,” she chuckled, before eagerly returning the kiss. “So can we go over to the more exciting part of the evening now? I have been waiting forever.”

     “I’m not sure.” Levi wasn’t sure how much Miri had told Violet. Did she know about the original vampire living in the same house as Miri? “Did uh… did Miri tell you that Hektor is staying at our house since she woke up?” And Levi still wanted to do something about that, but he simply did not know what he could do. “Yeah, yeah, I’ll hype you up in front of everyone. But are you officially girlfriends? That’s news to me, I can’t believe Miri didn’t tell me.” It was more an inquiry than anything else, and Levi arched his brows when she asked about Miri’s innocence. Then he broke out into a loud laugh. “I’m very aware that Miri’s innocence is long gone. I just don’t want to see anything you two do behind closed doors.”

“Thanks Vee.” Jakob smiled, he didn’t really know what he was going to do yet but he was glad at least that he could make the space his own a bit. The small flex of magic was minor, but there’s something to it, a sort of drag he wasn’t used to. It made him tired, but not in the same way that his magic used to exhaust him. Jakob didn’t know what that meant, but all this was new to him and it worried him that there was something wrong. At the same time, it was kind of exciting - like the limits had changed. Jakob didn’t know what he was capable of anymore. “Ever since Phoenix healed my soul.” Jakob said, “I don’t know my magic came back but it’s just… Different now. I think I can still do transmutation, but my element changed. It isn’t fire anymore, but shadows?”

+

Violet wishes she had an answer to give him, but this is just as foreign to her as it is to Jakob. This kind of magic is something she’s never seen before, and she likes to think herself decently well versed in the kind of magic that pertains to witches. “Jake, I’ve never heard of anything like that before.” Being able to control shadows? That shouldn’t be something they can do, not really. “Why would your magic change?” His soul is back, that should mean that his magic is back to normal, shouldn’t it? “Do you think it’s something the Phoenix did to you?” That’s also something Violet has never heard of them being capable of before, but there is no other reason coming to mind for how this could have happened to him.

“Haha.” Giovanni said simply at the light tease before he laid eyes on a piece of work that he’d once inspired over three centuries previously and aptly cleared his throat. “I donated this one, actually.” Giovanni said as they stood stopped in front of one classic that had been birthed in his age, Greek in inspiration, romantic painters had taken a great deal of inspiration from mythology for their works. They just loved decorating canvases with dicks and tits alike. “It was from my family’s collection,” Giovanni said simply as he scratched at his chin, “I don’t think I ever met the artist.” He glanced at the placard and saw that the painter had died before Gio was even born. Oddly comforting.

+

Violet had been teasing, she hadn’t actually expected the answer to be yes. Her eyes widen just slightly in appreciation, turning to stare at the piece of art which Giovanni was referring to. “I can’t imagine,” she says honestly. The concept of forever has always felt more like fantasy than real, even though the witch is aware of the fact that it actually exists. Her romanticism of vampires has mostly existed as an infatuation bore from a school girl’s fixation, not in consideration of what it would actually entail. “You must have a lot of stuff like that, huh? Things from different centuries, different periods of time.” Medieval, Renaissance, Victorian. Things Violet can only read about, in history books. Or ask. “Why’d you give it up?”

@corinthbaystarters​

     “Do you believe in horoscopes?” Delia was used to talking to strangers. In the years she had been searching for her sister, and the years as a vampire, she hadn’t really made many friends. Instead she had been constantly moving, always trying to get information out of strangers, and it was why she had grown careless about what others might think when she spoke to them. “I’m just asking because this one says I will die an awful death within the next 24 hours, and if that’s the case, I will overdose on ice cream first.”