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"So, what have we been eating all along then, sugar?" asked girl who had already been imbibing in Dairy Queen's lies.

[color=darkcyan]"Yeah, pretty much!"[/color] said Vashti over top of the other girls soylent reference, not realizing that [I]she[/I] was the sugar in the question. She elaborated as she followed the other girl up to the counter.[color=darkcyan] "There's not enough milk fat for it to be considered ice cream according to the FDA. But who cares what they say?"[/color]

According to what she read, the FDA was also suppressing the cure for cancer so they couldn't be trusted. She decided to keep that part to herself as she stood alongside her fellow jacketeer, stepping up to pay for the girl when it was time. [color=darkcyan]"It's actually my first time,"[/color] she said in response to the other girl reminiscing about the good old days of DQ trips. Vashti hungrily eyed the girl’s blizzard despite having one of her own.  [color=darkcyan]"My parents never really took us to chain restaurants."[/color]

Names were properly traded as they returned to the table. Vashti happily dug into her blizzard again, seemingly forgetting the pain of the previous bite. She shot a hand up to her temple but it quickly came down and lightly hit Taylor on the shoulder.

 [color=darkcyan]“Hottie alert,"[/color] she said with a wink, nodding her head over to the door at the heartthrob viking in red board shorts. Vashti’s eyes widened as she realized he was making his way over to their table, and they widened even more when she realized how obvious her staring had been. She shielded her face in embarrassment. Of course the nine feet tall, zero percent body fat, beautiful bronze Florida God wouldn’t tarnish the holy temple that was his six pack abs with the empty calories of a neon colored fake ice cream snack. She wiped her lips and stealthily nudged her blizzard away from herself. 

"Hello, new friends.” She swooned. “My name's Herik Cletis.” The name of a swamp angel. “Are you the new members of the Coven?” If it got them closer, a thousand times yes.

Time froze. There was a quiet voice in the back of Vashti’s head reminding her that the Coven was almost exclusively women. The last time she had agreed to meet with someone from the Internet expecting a woman and got a man had ended with her being cursed and him being devoured. Perhaps, the quiet, logical part of her brain told her, she should exercise some caution here, and fully think before joining up with the Coven. What if it was some kind of strange cult, for example? Cults always used attractive people to lure new members in. What if he wasn’t with the Coven, but with the feds? She was certain it was the fuzz that had been leaving the casino when the Leviathan striked. What if she stopped listening to her stupid brain and followed her gut which said he was hot and she should trust him? 

And she did.

[color=darkcyan]“Guilty! I’m Vashti Nour. Nice to meet you. Come, come, you should have a seat,”[/color] said Vashti, gesturing to a chair and begrudging the fact that the open one was next to Ashley. [color=darkcyan]“I take it you’re with them, then?”[/color] Awesome. [color=darkcyan]“Are you the leader?”[/color] She paused and cocked her head. [color=darkcyan]“Wait, Kimberly said Agatha was the...sorry, I’m rambling. I’m really excited. You’re really big.”[/color] Her hand hit her forehead with a ringing slap at what should’ve been inner monologue.  [color=darkcyan]“And I’m really embarrassed so I’m really gonna stop...talking...now…”[/color]

Vashti blocked her face with her hand so that Herik couldn’t see the mortified look she had shot the other two girls. She was sinking deep. Someone needed to step in and pull her out of the quicksand. She couldn’t decide between mouthing “help” or “kill me”, so she went with both.