We're Victims of Fate

       emery’s face almost immediately scrunched at the question, like all his annoyance and frustrations were bubbling under the surface, but he wasn’t about to unleash all of that on him. no matter what he wanted to say, he had no idea who was listening. “when people numb themselves and turn a blind eye, they all act surprised when the same shit keeps happening. and then its too late when it’s something they care about. i’m not the type.” maybe he was a little cynical, but one incident after another, and people just pretended nothing happened. they think if they look away it’ll be fine. it hadn’t been fine for too many years. it wasn’t his business what either group did, but when violence and death come into play? he’s not just going to sit around and act like charmings a magical place to live. or that it couldn’t be any one of them next.

business always came first no matter what. that was the whole reason he had told natalia to meet him at rendezvous when she asked to see him. he had just needed to speak with fran. that talk ended up taking longer than he had anticipated. it wasn’t a surprise to see how out of place natalia seemed to be. already he knew she preferred not to come to the night club. he was slidign up beside her and smirking a bit,” i am,” he told her with a shrug,” and i’d rather you didn’t because i’m really not in the mood to break up a fight.” he was going to pull out some cash to slap it on the bar to pay for her drink,” come on, i’ll get you out of here before you do something that i get in trouble for.” 

    sighing, emery crossed his arms out of habit and probably made a face of defeat. “do you have someone in your life who says to do something, and you just…do?” He asked, thinking back to the phone call about how his mom couldn’t go, so he should see if anything new was happening. he hated this stuff. being involved. he didn’t like that his mom was either, considering everything that happened. if she cared less about the town, she’d be safer that way, but she was stubborn. and of course if she told him to do something, he would. he didn’t have to, but he didn’t like listening to her disappointed voice. “anyway, that’s what happened, but i’m two seconds from leaving.” he couldn’t hold the disdain in his voice back. the way that they gathered the townspeople together so carelessly, even after everything that happened. it was all completely ridiculous to him. 

      “didn’t really want to come in the first place.” emery muttered, too in his head to care who he was talking to, trying to breathe in the fresh air. nine out of ten times, he wouldn’t go to an event like this. it was asking for trouble, even if it was supposed to bring the townspeople together. considering he skipped all the high school events he possibly could, this whole masquerade deal wasn’t his style. but his mom had insisted, and when she insisted, there was nothing he could. slightly frustrated, he pulled off his mask as well, trying to feel less suffocated from just being in a building full of people…pretending..hiding. did anyone think it was a good idea? sometimes he felt like this town was trying cause problems when they didn’t need any more. 

he had to admit, he did blink twice just to check he was seeing who he thought he was. “jesus, man. you shit the bed or something?” he offered a smile and a not. “sure. okay as can be.” though it did feel strange to him, continuing his usual routine, his job, knowing that there was a murderer on the loose. “no. smooth sailing, so to speak.” he scoffed as he said it because really, it was about all he could do not to laugh. obviously nothing was funny about the situation surrounding them but you know what they say, if you don’t laugh… “what about you? you good? weird seeing you out in daylight. i had a whole conspiracy that you were a vampire or some man-made science experiment allergic to the sun.” he smirks, pointing to the door. “you want something ordering?”

          The whole town was on edge these days, which meant there wasn’t a lot of business for Eden at Curly Bops. People weren’t exactly thinking about getting their hair or nails done, when there had been two murders in town  —  Something she could understand in the grand scheme of things, but got on her nerves as a business owner. Heading to Hale’s for lunch, after sitting around the salon waiting for people to call and book appointments, seemed like an unfair trade. When hearing someone call out after her, she turned and rolled her eyes when spotting Abraham in his car, although a small smile played on her lips and threatened to give away that she wasn’t as annoyed as she tried to show, “What?” Her face twisted into confusion, “Half pint? Really? That was a particularly uninspired greeting. It was the equivalent of me calling you stretch… Or Andre the Giant. Who, by the way, you show a lot of resemblance to” She said with a chuckle as he came closer and when he mentioned lunch, her stomach growled, “Okay, but only because I’m hungry. I don’t usually fraternize with giants” Turning away from Abraham, Eden chuckled to herself again. As they entered the diner, she sat down in a booth and begun perusing a menu, all without speaking a word to Abraham. 

Tilting his head to the side, Jasper stared down at Abraham, unable to help the way his upper lip curled into a snarl. He huffed out a humorless laugh, “Running is as good an admission of guilt as any,” he pointed out, lifting a brow at the other man. If the Wolves had disappeared the moment Martin had turned up dead, there’d be no room for doubt in anyone’s mind. By staying, it was the perfect way to breed enough uncertainty in the room and hide in plain sight. “Sticking around is the smart play, honestly.” And he had little trouble imagining that a few of them were actually sadistic enough to stick around and watch the fallout– especially Abraham.

“And I’m supposed to just take your word on that one, right?” He quipped back with a sneer. Jasper had always been slow to warm, but when it came to extending trust to those around him, he moved at a glacial pace. The biker knocked his head in a quick shake, “Despite what you may think, I don’t want it to be your crew.” There was too much to be gained from peace between the two groups. And it kept the town out of the crosshairs. Peace was profitable– but then, so was war. “But paint me a scenario that makes more sense.”

out of all the devils jasper was probably abraham’s favorite to mess with. usually it was because it didn’t seem to be all that hard. he was shaking his head in disbelief and clearing his throat,” any other tidbits you want to share with me jasper? because guilt is something i don’t have because i haven’t done anything.” sure he wasn’t afraid to get his hands dirty if he needed to. however he was extremely careful. plus the way that martin had been murdered honestly wasn’t his style in the least. he understood that it was likely none of the devils would understand that or believe him but he didn’t actually care. 

With: Leonardo Cortez

@leocortez​

With: Riley Braxton

@rileybraxton​

With: Eden Abbott

@eden-abbott​

“You trying to butter me up for something, Abraham?” Fran asked, though she was obviously pleased with the compliment. She hadn’t gone out of her way to wear couture for people to not compliment her, after all. “Some of them do clean up nice, I’ll give them that much, but just look at them,” she said, a smirk forming on her lips as she saw the president himself. “They’re so uncomfortable both in their suits and in affairs like this that it’s a wonder they even came. For people who talk so much smack, they sure don’t know how to deal with lavishness even if it hit them in the face,” Fran said, just in time to hear the entire commotion, only to wrap her hand around Abraham’s arm as they checked out what was going on, her mind already whirring as to how this would look bad for them. “Whatever you do, do your job and placate them,” Fran murmured, gesturing towards the bikers. “I’d like to believe this isn’t one of ours but we need to keep the peace… for now.” It wasn’t like her to be concerned, especially about other people but it was mostly to do with her outfit and how she didn’t want to spill anybody’s blood on it. 

Jasper felt like he’d just taken an anvil to the gut. How had this happened? How had it happened to Martin? A man who’d always been a pillar in the club, a man who’d been there when Jasper had first patched in all those years ago– how? Why? Jasper had known the man for what felt like forever and within the blink of an eye, he was gone. His head was spinning almost as though he’d been caught cold in a fight and taken a heavy hand to the chin– only this was far worse and it cut so much deeper. Who had done this, and why?

After trudging back into the Town Hall, numb to everything but the anger he could feel curdling low in his chest, Jasper looked on as the hall split into halves– Devils and Wolves. Was it just the way the cards had fallen or was it some sort of twisted admission of guilt? His lips twisted into a snarl as he eyed the other side of the room. He didn’t want to believe that they’d had a hand in Martin’s death, but it fit the narrative, didn’t it? Everyone knew how shaky the truce between the two groups was, and everyone knew how badly some people wanted to see it break. What better way to break it than with murder?

Abandoning his mask, Jasper swallowed down a mouthful of whiskey and slammed his glass down on a nearby table before sauntering across the invisible line separating the two groups. If there was a Wolf in the Town Hall with answers, he wasn’t going to stop pushing until he heard them. Spotting Abraham off to the side, Jasper marched up to him and reached out for his shoulder, “Was this you?” He asked, ducking his head a bit to level his gaze with the other man’s. “I don’t have time for games, Abraham. Just tell me the truth.”

everyone was on edge due to the events that had transpired. he had no idea if one of the wolves was stupid enough to do such a thing. especially if it wasn’t cleared by fran. he knew that either way things were not going to be that well. he was certain that the idiot devils were going to jump to conclusions like they always seemed to do. it was incredibly short sighted but it was how most of them seemed to operate. that was just one of the many keen observations that he had formed since he had returned from charming. 

he was trying to figure out how in the hell he was going to spin it. mostly because it had been ages since he had to deal with such a major problem. the truce between the two had always been on thin ice. it was likely that it could be broken but until that was okayed by fran, he wouldn’t allow it. even if it meant trying to be polite to the cavemen that he couldn’t stand. he had to stop himself from scoffing the moment he felt a hand clapping down on his shoulder. already he had the feeling he knew who it was. 

Eris recognized the taller man immediately, by years of seeing the exact same silhouette in this exact position. Glad she wasn’t the sole one thinking this all was ridiculous, she chuckled and went to lean against one of the pillars, annoyed that she’d chosen white of all colors for tonight. “Something like that.” Nodding her head just a bit because he wasn’t wrong. “Rubbing shoulders with everyone pretending like we’re one big happy town isn’t exactly my forte, pretty sure I’ve already pissed off one of the minions working for the mayor.”

honestly it baffled abraham that they would host an event at town hall. it was as if they assumed they could erase the memories from the last gathering. one could only hope that it didn’t result in blood shed like the last. granted it would certainly make things interesting. he probably shouldn’t have been thinking along those lines but that didn’t matter. at least not unless he mumbled it out loud which he didn’t intend on doing. he was just relieved that he had managed to avoid any painfully awkward conversations. sure he was good at them but that didn’t mean he felt like rubbing elbows with the devils or any of the civilians. 

he was not at all shocked when he realized that it was eris. he had to do a bit of a double take due to the choice of color for her dress. it seemed that everyone was full of surprises that night. he was nodding as she basically told him that he was right,” right,” he paused, chuckling,” i’m sure you did but who cares? they’ll probably get too drunk to remember a thing.” he was going to offer the cigarette to her and let out a breath,” this night will be over before you know it and you can go back to what you are used to doing.” he was curious to know if any of their dealers were actually working,” is tonight purely social or are we selling?” 

it had to be his at least his fourth smoke in only two hours. stepping out every time he felt too enclosed or even just too crowded. how many polite chit chats could a man fake smile through before even the alcohol wasn’t enough to withstand it? spotting abraham a few feet away, he was almost relieved as he made his way over, pulling his mask off as he approached. “you know it, bro.” riley gave a little chuckle as he moved to sit on the ground next to him and spark up a cig of his own. “the fuck we doin’ here, man?” riley shook his head, the smile still evident on his face. “wolves. pretty sure i feel more like a lamb to the slaughter right now. do you know i’ve had three… older women already come up and suggest some unspeakable shit in my ear? what the fuck they puttin’ in that champagne. got everyone turning into a freak.” 

With: Open

@charmingstarter​