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[indent][indent][color=757670]Emma Laurent bites down on her lip -- [i]hard[/i]. And she bleeds.

Pallid teeth tucked around her pout and twisted flesh into a glower, a befitting scowl adorned in twinkling silver and glittered in starlight with ebony chain woven taut around skin and laced through bone. Damien's touch scalds and soothes her all in one, reassuring in clasp and yet shrouded within reprimand; calm, it says, [i]stop it[/i] goes unsaid. She had, briefly, felt through his intentions and that smile branded across his veneer that was cajoling and tinged in a quip -- she wonders if he even notices that he is now staring too. Black nails press to a quivering palm and ruby smiles mock against her pale skin till she pries them apart, glances down, and then hides those scarlet simpers with her sleeves. They're conversing now, introductions with expressive eyes and something about this woman twists her shadow abroad. It's inkling across the ground, wriggling tendrils that coil through the grass and trees, knotting the blades and branches tight. Her gaze is interchanging and Emma cants her head, opposite, lashes unmoving and her stare eternal, the colours she reads as emotes to her current fluxation of the soul, and here she looks at Damien. Does he see it too? Such a kaleidoscope was hardly different from the shimmering eclipse of the barrier that was seen here as well, briefly rippling across the settling sky and touching to the water's edges that she -- Azura she introduced -- had collected from. 

Emma almost responds acutely: yes, go. Leave.  
[i][s]Fuck off.[/s][/i]

	[color=9b948d]"It's fine,"[/color] she breathes, stepping forward in small approaches, as if unsure of herself and this woman. No. It's there in her features, a bidden innocense, a small trickle of youthfulness that rests beneath her unmarred skin and seems to shine from neath a layer of self-discovery. Emma's rejoining smile is all razor sharp and bright with a blanket of shadow pooling across the shining starlight of her eyes as her lashes pan low in a flutter, she feels something tugging beneath her skin, something laced to her shadow as the night graces her with both beauty and sudden serenity.

	[color=9b948d]"I'm Emma,"[/color] her voice is soft just as the wave of hair tickling at her nape. She glances upon the vials she had shown earlier, curiosity niggling upon her thoughts until she rejoins: [color=9b948d]"And this is my brother, Damien. You weren't disturbing us... Not really."[/color] 

Though her shadow trembles, the twirling whips snaked across the Earth alerting her to the arrival of others, set further around the lake's lapping edge. She glances to Damien, for neither of them are fond of crowds, but the Hestia proper had been abundant in rumour and whispers for those preparing for the party to be thrown and now those well known in those affairs were coming down from the forest's browse. She recognizes a cooler and the woman hoisting it down to the water, her shadow lazily twirling, it senses the unease of their troupe, the unknown that people abhor and deny in the face of light.

	[color=9b948d]"Oh... I don't think we were invited."[/color] Emma almost laughs and -- she has yet to wipe the bite of blood from her lips.[/color][/indent][/indent][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/NxqLtFh.png[/img][/center]

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[indent][indent][color=745449]Avem Vogel is not a man to complete tasks without incentive [usually], however he had taken Kelsey's belongings -- duffel and another carrier or two -- upon her dismissal and left them upon her side of the apartment without so much as a conflicting order. He left it to the influence that Dustyn and Kelsey were unlike most women he had associated with in the past few years since he discovered the delights his [i]associates[/i] had to offer -- he has never loved them, and they have never claimed to care. Each was proffered with an exchange in hand or mind; show me yours indeed. It's a means to an end, to snuff out a void.

Most of his belonging had already been deposited and sorted, Avem was not a creature of clutter and irrelevant belongings, his means cycled upon his whims and his mother's upon the seasons and years, his personalization miniscule almost. He had exchanged his attire swiftly, trading royal blue for black and twisted most of his hair into a golden tail to keep from his nape, golden hoops still adorned to his tresses and the brass still clasped upon his wrists. He was familiar with these partying affairs but had never attended one of Dallas' well-infamed gatherings, the stories were endless and the results [i]varying.[/i]

Avem left the apartment with his mobile in hand, reminded himself to find a way to ask for Kelsey's information and Dustyn's in consequence as the two -- he imagined -- would never be far apart from another. He surmised the two were judging and prompting him on similar standards and he was not without trying to gain their favour, each prompted and baited his responses equally. Easiest to make this year simplistic and smooth compared to the previous semesters, he imagined Lyra's grace within his mind and Avem paused, scrolled through his contacts idly and thumbed her number, breath whistling into a sigh. And waited.

He didn't expect an answer.

He suspected she'd be at the lake tonight, with Ariana -- he shuddered, smoothed his hair and allowed his phone to drop in his back pocket -- and on that notion he exited the Hestia building with the lake's direction in mind. Kelsey had already left, muttering something about supplies and gear, which Avem had lifted a brow at but didn't inquire after. There were only so many scathing retorts he could withstand to his intelligence and masculinity. He navigated to the lake easily, having traveled this way many times where fond memories remained with nymphs cluttering his vision, the recall of caresses twisted a charming smile upon his face as he came upon a worn trail and began his trek.

The surrounding forest was blanketed in night and shadow, his marbled gaze peering endlessly upon the gloom that seemed to bank upon the trees and grass before twirling among the leaves. It was almost unnatural in such choreography but hypnotizing none the less, however, Avem made no movement to join the reflecting dance and hastened his step all the more. The air was heavy, thick, and sprinkled with touches of silver now the closer he came to the water, he paused, voice upon the breeze and suddenly a screech on the wind that made his eyes travel skyward. 

Dustyn was here.

...And so was the girl from before, the one he had felt and seen drenched thick in aphotic dread and laced from crown to foot in so many threads, Avem could hardly tell where her heart ended and these strings began. 

	[color=e0d8b0]"Huh,"[/color] Avem breathed, hands hidden within his pockets, posture lax. [color=e0d8b0]"This is one way to start a party."[/color] He found the girls easily enough, Kelsey with booze in hand and each of them warily regarding the trio farther around the lake and rightly so. Damien and Emma sported reputations it would seem that rivaled against any and all. Avem's spine bunched only slight till his eyes fell upon the cooler temporarily being used by its owner -- he assumed -- none the less. 

	[color=e0d8b0]"Oh, hell. If this is a bring your own, I'm going to have to make a stop."[/color]

There was more than [i]just[/i] student files with Helena's office after all.[/color][/indent][/indent]
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