problematic fave

“Okay,” Mari said, a little relieved to hear that nothing else had happened but still totally horrified at the situation overall. Protective and having a lot of feelings were definitely things that applied to Alek, and they weren’t necessarily bad things, but - laid out like this it sure did feel that way. She looked at the clothes in front of them, but was having a hard time really focusing on shopping. For as much fun as the prospect had seemed a few minutes ago, staying in the shop for much longer really did feel like a terrible idea now. She had just agreed to stick around for a while though… now what? She’d never been the best liar, so making up an excuse for why she had to leave was probably out.

“Um,” Mari stalled. “Control… really isn’t her strong suit, when it comes to her powers,” she admitted after a moment. Admitting that didn’t make her a bad girlfriend, right? It was true, and Yona apparently had the scorch marks on her clothes to prove it. “She’s always careful around me, though!” she added quickly. “I know she’d never hurt me.” …Did she know that, though? For the first time, a little doubt crept in. It was true that Alek was always careful around her, and she’d thought that maybe meant that being around her had made her better in some way, but… if Alek was out here singeing Yona’s clothes on accident and threatening to do even more than that on purpose, maybe that meant that Mari wasn’t having as positive of an impact on her girlfriend as she’d hoped. Either way, she was definitely starting to get the sense that she didn’t know Alek as well as she thought she did. She bit her lip, considering. “Alek didn’t… do anything else, did she?” it sounded like Yona had summed up the entire encounter already, but at this point Mari felt like she needed to make absolutely sure. 

“Oh. If you’re sure she’d never hurt you... I- I bet that you’re probably right.” Yona ran a hand through her hair, conflicted about what had happened and this conversation. They had a lot of shopping to do, but it was difficult to stay focused. "No, nothing else! Just the threats to set me on fire, singeing my shirt, and the being super protective of your honor. She’s... just very protective of you and clearly has a lot of feelings.” Yona was not here to wreck Mari’s relationship. She wanted her friend to be happy, and it sounded like Alek did make her happy! Still, Yona had gently threatened Alek into not hurting Mari, and the defensive reaction had been a little scary. She couldn’t quite say that she believed Alek. For now, she would be honest about what happened, and try to keep an eye out for trouble in the future.

LUNA could tell by yona’s tone of voice that she was the last person she wanted to be talking to , especially since yona knew exactly how many mothers luna had, so it hadn’t been a serious question . “ okaaaaaay, so you hate me too, cool . ” she muttered with a roll of her eyes . “ welcome to the club, i guess . ” she spoke once more , slightly more amused this time . at this point , she was used to people hating her for what she’d done to jasmine .  she listened as yona went on about her father and when she asked if her mother was even evil , luna just returned the comment with a shrug . “ depends who you ask . ”

Yona raised her eyebrows at the first response she got. Why bother saying something out loud if you weren’t up for a reaction? “No, hate’s a strong word. But you’ve been a total dick. I’m glad you’ve picked up that I’m pissed at you after messing with lies and hearts.” Maybe other people could have been more tactful in the situation, but Yona was Jasmine’s friend first and foremost, and the one that had her allegiance. It was something of a ride-or-die situation- if someone won Yona’s close friendship, she was aggressively loyal, and would almost always take her interpretation of their side. “Pretty sure all of the gods have done some evil shit at this point, so why your mom specifically? Doesn’t make a whole lot of sense not to think everyone with a goddess mom drank evil juice from the tit. Getting into a war because some princeling doesn’t think you’re the fairest of them all. Making the world go hungry because you were pissed some weirdo took your daughter.”

“Of course I care, I just can’t – take time to investigate a murder by a god when my focus is on the traffickers and the kidnappings that happen. The murder – that’s on the local cops here to figure out.” She shrugged. “Honestly, I’ll admire the cops here if they can figure out how to persecute or punish a god for a murder.” Aurora chuckled shaking her head. Aurora slowly nodded her head as Yona spoke rather curious about this girl. She was – interesting to say the least. “Maybe so.” She chuckled. “I could guess better the closer we became as friends, but until then.” She shrugged, lifting one shoulder. “No, no talking to ghosts or animals. My mother is Nike. So I’m able to give or take away success. But that’s about it. At least that I know of.” Aurora wouldn’t be surprised if there was more to her abilities but only having found out about her other half a couple years ago….. she was behind.

Romeo huffed at her statement, finding absurd her words. ❛ Fine, you can prepare yourself, but it won’t be necessary. ❜ He drank the juice finished it in a single long sip. He and Georgie was normal, in his opinion, like any roommates. He rested his hand on his forehead on what she’s being up to. Seriously! Charon! He didn’t want to babysit a sibling. He hardly can take care of himself. ❛ Everything. ‘Cuz all the problem you got, I have to be ready to bail you out. ❜

“Well if more people had manners then they wouldn’t be creeping around you because that’s definitely not polite,” Marci added, a slight frown at seeing Yona sigh. “That makes sense, but i’m sorry that happened to you, dear. I’m sure it was frustrating,” Marci’s lips began to tilt upward in a small smile when Yona spoke about living on the island forever, “I almost forget the same thing myself. We’ve been here forever and new people still confuse me,” she added with a slight laugh. “How about some ice cream or something to cheer you up? My treat!”

“Eh, politeness can feel rude if you do it wrong, though. Marce, do you think that I have manners?” Yona asked seriously. “It’s always like, ‘Oh, there’s more of you?’ when new people show up. I don’t really know what I was expecting- I guess our parents really are just out there having a good time when they’re not trying to make more of us. I’m hoping my dad gets around much less than most of the others so there aren’t any other surprises. When you get a new sibling, how do you usually feel?” To Yona’s recollection, there were a fair amount of Demeter’s kids that just showed up. She at least knew it was more likely than for Charon. “Uhm, yes? You’ll get me ice cream? As long as creepy guy isn’t there, I think that should help.” No, she would not turn down free ice cream with a friend?? Why would Yona ever turn that down? Mild lactose intolerance be damned.

Snorting a laugh Jasmine smiled at Yona, “I could never get sick of you. If that was possible it would have happened when we were much younger. You’re stuck with me for better or worse now.” Jasmine’s hair turned a light shade of pink, a small sign of both happiness and maybe a little bit of embarrassment. “You’d vote for me if i ran for some sort of office? I don’t think I’d be the best. Who knows what my policies would be beyond ‘things need more color and you all need to talk more’” She chuckled. “NO. I do not want you to make this worse, worse could mean ending up at the hospital and I would really rather not do that.”

“She didn’t,” Mari answered with a small frown, setting down the shorts she’d been looking at. She was effectively distracted from her clothes search - an impressive feat, but what Yona had to say about Alek was definitely more concerning to her than what she was going to wear this summer. Her eyes widened as Yona kept talking, mind going a million miles an hour. Alek had what? No, she wouldn’t threaten to set someone on fire, would she? Mari bit her lip. She guessed she could imagine Alek doing that, but not without being severely provoked. Not to someone like Yona, who was clearly harmless. And actually singing Yona’s shirt… that was terrifying, but she knew her friend wouldn’t lie about something like that. And she’d described Alek as Edward Cullen… Mari hadn’t read  or seen Twilight herself, but she got the reference, and it wasn’t as flattering as Yona seemed to think it was. And she’d said Alek was in love with her, too - this was a lot to take in all at once. “Um, are you okay? I’m sorry that happened. Did it seem like she singed your shirt by accident, or… on purpose?”

“Oh?” Yona hesitated for longer than usual in her responses. As she fumbled over the shorts, she considered how to proceed with this conversation and not make anyone else too pissed at one another. Tact was not her strong suit, unfortunately. There were some significant benefits and downsides to the idea of dating a woman that could set things on fire that had similar behaviors to a polarizing fictional vampire. Yona thought she got why Mari was apologizing on behalf of Alek. If she had a girlfriend like that, Yona would absolutely do what she could to make things right. The thing was, an apology on behalf of someone else that seemed like they would never say sorry in the first place did nothing. She didn’t need an apology, and definitely did not expect Alek to ever intend to give one. It was fine. Exhaling, Yona ignored the clothes altogether for a moment, and responded. “Yeah, I’m okay. I honestly don’t think she meant to mess up my shirt. And she didn’t hurt me. But... do you know how Alek’s control is with her powers? She’s careful around you, right?” Yona was completely torn between vicariously enjoying the idea of having a dangerous and broody girlfriend, and wanting to make sure that Mari was safe. 

“My what?” Mari asked. She didn’t think of Alek as intimidating at all, but - she thought on it and decided that yes, she could definitely see where someone else might get that impression. Still, Yona’s next comment caught her by surprise - there was a big difference between being intimidated and scared for one’s life. She had to be exaggerating, right? Mari tried to push the thought aside. “I think we’re okay without pictures for now,” she agreed. “Great, let’s do this then!” Mari started to look through the clothes in front of them in search of some shorts closer to her size, then paused to look back over at Yona. “What did you mean, when you said you were almost scared for your life?”

“Cool!” While Yona picked out shorts were a better size than what Yona had first selected, she tried to remember which tops she was planning on giving away. She also was trying to figure out just how to phrase what happened. Well, Mari was her friend, so she was going to have to be honest. “Your... really intense girlfriend? She didn’t mention this? I ran into Alek at Pinball Lizard.” Looking over at Mari with a conflicted expression, Yona did her best to piece together this in a way that made sense. Unfortunately, Yona’s logical reasoning could be a little unusual to follow sometimes. “She’s basically Edward Cullen levels of in love with you. It’s really romantic how protective she is of you. But she singed one my shirts, and threatened to set me on fire, and has like literally no interest in meeting any of your other friends so... it’s just like if Edward Cullen was in love with you,” Yona said, grimacing a little. Sure, she was glad for Mari that she had someone so dangerously enamored with her, but it had been a little tense for a while there. Now that she was on the right side of alive, Yona had to wonder just how much danger she was in if she encountered Alek again.

He scoffed. ❛ My roommate is an angel. I mean, she doesn’t seem bothered with my presence at all. Georgie is like a SAINT. I don’t think you’ll need to defending my honor to her. ❜ So far… Romeo unconsciously, play with the edge of his mustache, looking at his pouty sister. ❛ To juice! ❜ He clinked his can to her and took a huge sip on it. ❛ Tell me, what’re up to these days, huh? ❜

“Okay!” Mari agreed brightly. “Maybe we can look for a skirt or two, too? Or sundresses? I don’t wear those as much, but maybe there’s something cute.” She mostly was out of the habit of wearing skirts and dresses because of the way they moved around in the water if she didn’t control the water to make them… not do that, but they were fine for when she wasn’t planning on going into the water. “Really? That’d be great! Which tops? Maybe we should consider that as an option even if I can find stuff - you’ve got some really cute stuff!” She was of the opinion that clothes were meant to be shared whenever possible, so borrowing some of Yona’s clothes and rehoming any her friend no longer wanted sounded like a great idea. “Um, I think I’m pretty ready? Let’s try to get through everything today! Unless we’re here so long that the store closes before we’re done. Do you have anywhere you need to be?”

“I’m sure we’ll find plenty of cute things. Ooo, do you want to find anything to impress your super intimidating girlfriend? I was almost scared for my life a little when I met her and she definitely hates me, but daaaamn. What does she like you in?” Yona hadn’t mentioned to Mari beforehand that she had bumped into Alek at the arcade, but it seemed natural to bring it up now. “I don’t have any pictures or anything. Should I go back home and take pictures? No, that’s a bad idea.” Winging it seemed like a safe idea. Or at least better than taking a bad risk and not getting Mari good things to wear. “Nah, I did work in the morning, so you’re my plans for the afternoon. Let’s get everything that makes sense to do today.” As long as she did not end up getting banned from the thrift shop, she could spend all day at this place. She was really just glad that she had a friend who liked doing most of the same things she did at this kind of store.

That, or bread pudding perhaps? Allie signed back, cocking her head to the side as she thought about any other ideas that the heel of the bead could be used for. Seeing Yona signing against however, the blonde came back to the conversation and she let out a short silent laugh. I mean, I need some bread too, if you’re asking me to come with? We could get some fresh bread from the bakery.

“I guess bread pudding would work, but then I either have to collect a whole bunch of heels or use up perfectly good bread to make the bread pudding. I don’t even like bread pudding. It’s just better than eating stale bread,” Yona said, signing her own loose translation as she spoke. She knew that Allie could hear her, but it was cool to be on the same level. Plus the more she practiced her ASL, the better chance she stood of understanding if it happened in a memory orwith someone else in real life. “Yeah, let’s go get bread. Fresh bread sounds like the dream right now.”

“Oh it’s the worst, isn’t it? As a journalist, I have to overthink everything I write, in case I upset someone, because that’s the last thing I want to do!” Ness replied, speaking frankly to the woman in front of her. As the feather was held in front of her, the woman took a moment to close her eyes and made a wish, before blowing the feather away. “I always was taught that keeping it to yourself was the way to go, or else it might not come true. Same with birthday wishes when you blow out your candles.”

“Are you sure that you never ever want to upset someone? What if they’re objectively extra evil and your reporting is the one thing that will get them to stop?” Posing wacky what-if questions was not meant as an attack. Yona just liked to know the answers to how people thought through things. “That’s how I learned it tool I wonder why we keep passing that one along. Come to think of it, I can’t remember any of my wishes ever coming true. Have any of yours?” She watched the feather go, and strongly considered trying to catch it.

“I like it! You’re the best, Yona!” Jack replied with an enthusiastic nod, moving over to his laptop that was always plugged into the work desk to the left of his garage, turning to her with a bright smile on his face. “Where can I find this playlist because I think we need to get out jam on, don’t you?” He spoke, softening his smile ever so slightly when she explained that the second playlist was for him to play around the twins. “Hey, they’re only about five months old, and they’re already listened to the classics - Bon Jovi, Nirvana, Ozzy Osbourne, your playlist is probably better than mine is.”

“I did them up on Spotify if that’s cool? Oh. I just remembered- If you want, I can try to go home and remember how to burn CDs.” She hadn’t done it in a while, but there was an ancient computer sitting somewhere in her closet that was basically begging for her to use up the stack of unused CDs that would never see any other use. Shoot, maybe she should have done that instead of this cassette tape paper thing. “Well I’m glad they’re getting well-educated. There’s no better or worse playlist as long as you don’t mix it up with something busted and too far off-genre. I wonder if baby psychologists have studied more than just if the little things get something out of more than just Mozart.”

“See, this is why I love you - you get me.” Florence replied with a bright grin on her lips, and she leaned back against the wall behind her, crossing her arms over her chest. “Men like that have no place in our company. No-one does, actually. We are beautiful, no matter make up or not.” She beamed. “Oh, whatever you want to do to him, do it babe. Anything.”

Yona was not sure if she ‘got’ Florence as much as thought she the woman was hot and incredibly cool. But she wasn’t going to complain! Definitely not. “I mean, we can still let the occasional qualified person into our company, right?” Right...? She had enough trouble finding a girlfriend as it was. “Wow, my mom would love to hear us talking about this right now. She tried to hold an eyeliner intervention for me when I was seventeen.” Laughing to herself as she came up with some truly ridiculous ideas, Yona added, “I’ll be sure to let you know what I do. Are you sure there are no limits? Besides, like, violence.”

The sudden questions made Aurora slowly tilt her head, she had heard about parts of this, how could she not, but – the whole murder. “Murder –” she sucked in her bottom lip and frowned and let out a long sigh. “Zeus murdered someone. – Not my jurisdiction,” she muttered to herself more than anyone. “Ah – yes, I did know about the kidnappings, I had been investigating them for some time before my case files changed and I was looking for traffickers,” she explained. Though it was evident in the way her nose scrunched that she hated not knowing how and if things had been resolved. Assuming someone had died…. she figured something had happened. “As for Nyx… I know very little about her. I have no opinions on the Goddess.” Aurora said lifting her shoulder in a shrug. “I think of the consequences of a lot of things. Maybe not everything but…” She trailed off and chuckled as she swayed on her feet. “I can’t tell you what you’re going to do next unless I knew you better, I don’t have a broad understanding of your actions other than that you’re a demi-god and human which means – anything I say will change how you react.” It was the most level answer she could give the other. “So you don’t… actually talk to them.” She noted nodding her head. “Good to know.”

“Okay, but even if it’s not your jurisdiction, don’t you care or anything?” Trafficking was not a happy topic, to Yona’s recollection, so her expression fell a little. She did not really know anything about that in relation to Icaria, though. If it was different than the resolved kidnappings... Maybe she did not want to ask too many questions from this particular authority figure. If she got in trouble out of this somehow, she did not want it to be for asking suspicious questions. Aurora seemed to have some strange priorities and opinions that were either really guarded or remarkably ambivalent. Yona thought that was both very cool and very weird. “Aw, man. Would have been cool if you did know. But nah, my dad doesn’t have any secret animal-talking powers that I know about. I can’t even talk to ghosts, though. Which is a good thing. You can’t talk to ghosts or animals, I’m guessing?” In the short time that Yona had known her brother, she had decided that nothing good could come from being able to interact with ghosts. They sounded super intrusive. Her friend Bel seemed to have a better handle on ghost-talk, though.

“Oh right!” Beatrice replied, nodding along as she tried to take it all in. Honestly, there were too many gods and goddesses that she barely had an idea on half of them. “They do sound rather similar, I didn’t even know that there was a god called Charon. I’m still learning, all of this.” She waved her hand in the air aimlessly. “What is he the god of, if he has a thing?”