[color=silver][indent][indent][right][sub][b]TIMESTAMP[/b] — Monday July 19, 2021 — After [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/topics/185140-edenridge/ic?page=13#post-5399874]Meeting the Stargirl[/url]
Ft. [color=dc143c]Mordechai Boaz[/color] & [color=e62020]Jade Taylor[/color][/sub][/right]
[center][url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/users/aces-away][img]https://i.imgur.com/1EUVpvL.png[/img][/url]   [img]https://i.imgur.com/sBk71Q1.png[/img]   [url=https://www.roleplayerguild.com/users/metanoia][img]https://i.imgur.com/H04veaG.png[/img][/url]
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[img]https://i.imgur.com/YyfYOVp.png[/img]
[img]https://i.imgur.com/5U0btyh.png[/img]

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After a small smile and a congratulatory pat on his cheek, Poppy had expressed interest in further exploring Aponi and the artwork throughout it. While the taller two of the group watched their friend as she began to wander, the smaller was already halfway down the nearest wall, gazing up at the bits of culture and history that made up most of the longhouse’s fixtures. Feeling comfortable enough with the fact that they could still see her- and after ReyRey’s threat he really didn’t want her going too far- Mordechai turned his gaze to Jade and tilted his head.

[color=DC143C]“Sorry for disappearin’ but I had ta have a chat with R2. We gotta stay away from him ‘til we leave, by the way.”[/color]

Jade sighed in acknowledgement. This was the last place she’d ever expect Rey Rey to be, but perhaps that was her own fault for not being as close to the Kingsnake as some others were - like Key. [color=e62020]“Gotta say, Key, I had a lot of things on my bingo board. Rocking babes at a reservation wasn't one but I liked that surprise, but R2?”[/color] Another sigh as she looked at Key. The Blonde Angel Princess didn’t want to focus on R2, but he [i]did[/i] cast quite the large shadow that had literally loomed over the four of them. [color=e62020]“So we stay away from him. It’s not that hard. Big place this reservation. I’m sure he’s here for his own reasons and we got ours.”[/color] 

Jade immediately flashed back to [i]that[/i] night nearly six years ago. When she was outside as she heard Charlie’s screams as R2 wailed on him. The memory alone was enough to make the blonde’s entire body go cold, chills running from the top of her spine to her lean shins. [color=e62020]“What about [i]her[/i]?”[/color] Jade asked as she leaned closer to Key, her voice as low as she could make it while he could still hear her clearly. [color=e62020]“Is it safe for us to find his sister with R2 hovering someplace?”[/color] She asked, the change in Jade’s demeanor clear as her hair among a crowd of dark-haired residents. 

[color=DC143C]"It's fine,"[/color] Mordechai reassured, leaning closer in order to make the conversation a bit more private. [color=DC143C]"He doesn't want anythin' ta do with it. I dunno, the way he was talkin' he doesn't give a shit what we do so long as we don't get in his way here."[/color]

The man that Mordechai had expected to talk to and the one he'd got had been drastically different. While he was expecting the same unhinged rage he remembered from over a month ago, instead ReyRey looked almost tired. Even his rageful threat seemed to be covering up for an exhaustion the man would only be willing to release once Mordechai turned his back. He wasn't sure what his leader had been up to since their last encounter, but it seemed like his ghosts were weighing him down slowly, just as Mordechai's had until recently. Just like everyone's had until they started truly confronting them.

[color=DC143C]"I don't…I don't think he wants ta be a snake here, I don't think he wants Edenridge here."[/color]

[color=e62020]“I can’t say I blame him,”[/color] Jade admitted, finding herself agreeing. If everyone else wished they could forget about pain, forget about what forever tied them to Edenridge (for better or worse), what must R2 think and feel? Jade wasn’t especially close to him. She couldn’t go to R2 and ask him anything or have nightly talks about lost dreams and hopes for the future - not that R2 ever seemed like the wanderlust type. She was forever grateful to him for giving her a job when her Uncle Charlie was sent to prison and she wanted to do something outside of the club. 

As she looked around. Even at face value, this seemed like a place untouched by Edenridge’s curse and how it can bring down even the most brightest of souls. [color=e62020]“I won’t lie, Key. This place feels different. I can’t explain it, but it’s like it can heal you and make you see a lot more clearly than you normally would.”[/color] She smiled thoughtfully, giving Key her full attention. [color=e62020]“I don’t know R2 like you do, but maybe that’s why.”[/color] She shrugged. Clearly Jade wasn’t entirely confident in her theory. For her, she knew ever since coming here and, especially after her cathartic conversation with Natalia, something about her has felt different.

[color=DC143C]“There always was somethin’ about bein’ outside of Edenridge,”[/color] Mordechai admitted to his old friend. [color=DC143C]“I dunno, maybe it’s because I came here as a kid that I feel safer here, but bein’ in Brownsville was weird because no one knew me. There’s somethin’ about not being in the center of the shitstorm that really helps with the clarity.”[/color]

[color=e62020]“Yeah, that’s true. Wish I knew what it was like.”[/color] Jade frowned thinking about how she’s never been outside of Edenridge -- at least not for a prolonged amount of time. Only briefly when she’d visit her uncle in Boston at the prison, but never like how Key or, really, anyone she could think of. [color=e62020]“Well, I guess the Angels clubhouse is kind of like that for me. They’re family, so i always feel safe there. But I guess it’s not the same, huh?”[/color] The blonde laughed, looking around for a second and then back to Key. [color=e62020]“What was it like here for you? I mean, when you were younger? Or were you too young to remember that far back?”[/color]

[color=DC143C]“Nah, I didn’t meet Auntie Adora until I joined the serpents, so the first time I met her I was ten,”[/color] Mordechai frowned, eyebrows drawing together as he tried to recall the exact timing. [color=DC143C]“It was…some overlap between a national holiday and Blue Hill’s fall harvest, I think. I just remember the Kraeters and Britesons tossin’ me ‘n’ Danny in the back’a their car with Creed ‘n’ Jokes grinnin’ all stupid,”[/color] He lovingly rolled his eyes at the faded memory, not much more than everyone’s smiles still visible on his trip down memory lane. Of the eight people cramped into that station wagon on the Boaz brothers’ first trip to Blue Hill, only four of them were still alive today. The Briteson and Kraeters lost fifty percent of their family in one tragic day, and years later in the cafeteria of Edenridge High, Mordechai truly learned what that had felt like. [color=DC143C]“Adora’s only seven years older than me, but she looked at me and Danny that day and just took us in. It was the same feelin’ as when, uh…well, did I ever tell ya ‘bout the night Sonny and I first joined the serpents?”[/color]

Jade shook her head. [color=e62020]“No but now I [i]have[/i] to know.”[/color] All of Jade’s attention was Key’s now. For as long as she had known Key and, really, the rest of his crew, she couldn’t recall how most of them came to join. 

[color=DC143C]“It didn’t start out great,”[/color] Mordechai warned, shrugging his shoulders and feeling the fabric of his shirt catching slightly on his scar. Vaguely, he waved his right hand over his left chest and collarbone. [color=DC143C]“It was the night I got this, another fun evenin’ with bored parents. I’d been tryin’a stop my coked out dad from beatin’ Danny, but it just turned them both on me. They made Danny watch the beatin’ ‘til he passed out then they locked him in our room and went at me with the cigs. They threw me outta the house and locked the doors once they were done, and Sunshine’s parents had a good go at him and kicked him out too. He picked me up and dragged me ta the corner where R2 welcomed us in and said he’d make it official the next day. He tried ta have us bunk for the night but we had ta stay back for Danny,”[/color] Mordechai laughed dryly, scratching the back of his neck as he looked his friend in the eye, well aware he never truly spoke of the things his parents did to him and Danny. They all knew where his scars had come from, whether he ever told them or not, so he just never brought it up and neither did they.

[color=DC143C]“So we go ta head back ta my house, and we’re gonna be sleepin’ under me and Danny’s window, right? Thunder and Slick, Jokes’ parents, give us their beanies and basically tell us they know what we’re gonna be doin’ and ta try and stay warm. We pass out as expected but when we wake up it’s all warm and soft. They’d picked us up after we passed out and took us ta their house on Olive. Kam stoked the fire and they’d built a nest on the floor for us ta sleep in. Jokes and Creed were asleep on the outsides, me and Sonny boxed in by ‘em, and in between us was Danny. Slick and Intel had broken into our room from the window and grabbed him when they grabbed us,”[/color] He was actually grinning at the memory now, remembering the warm feeling of safety for the first time ever as a child. At the time, aside from Rhonda Decker and the James parents, Mordechai didn’t even have any adults that he felt were trustworthy, so to have four of them suddenly around and with knowledge of their needs was weird to say the least. [color=DC143C]“Y’know when ya feel warm, but you’re still worried it’s all fake? Creed and Jokes’ family is so good at bein’ kind that it left my head spinnin’.”[/color]

Listening to everything that Key was saying, she couldn’t help but feel…something warm inside her. Was it Blue Hill? Was it their bond standing the test of time that she can still feel like she’s getting to know him more and more even after all these years? The blonde Harlot didn’t know. It was so clear that Key had lived such an awful life. She had known snippets, but never the full story. Both of them came from broken homes and found themselves into better situations. She had deadbeat parents and was taken in by her uncle and Key found himself in others’ care. They were more than just two gearhead-leaning kindred spirits - they were broken souls from broken homes who made it out.

Jade didn’t want his willingness to let her in go unappreciated. That’s when the blonde brought Key into a tight hug. No words. No warning. She just hugged him. It was awkward because she trapped his arms in hers and she squeezed as tight as she could. [color=e62020]“I love you, Key. Don’t you ever forget that.”[/color] She lingered in that embrace until a few moments passed, but her hands were on his shoulders, gently yet firmly pressing on each one. [color=e62020]“I mean it. I know..I have a lot to make up for. I wasn’t a good friend to you or Pops or anyone. I didn’t let anyone know what was going through my head, but that’s all changing. I promise, you are my family: you, Pops, Tov, Ran, Chase -- all of you are my heart.”[/color] God, why did her face feel so hot? Why did it feel like her heart was about to explode? And why did it feel cool all of a sudden. Her eyes felt watery and it dawned on her that she was crying.

[color=DC143C]“Hey hey,”[/color] Mordechai attempted to soothe, much more surprised by the tears than the hug he got from his childhood friend. He didn’t mean to cause a breakdown in his friend, and he felt kind of bad that her dark makeup was now streaking down her face like a grim clown. [color=DC143C]“We’ve all got our lives to live, Harley Head, I already told ya that I got no ill will towards ya. And hey, I love ya too,”[/color] he initiated the hug this time now that his arms were free, holding the platinum blonde tight and rocking lightly in place like he did when he comforted his kids. [color=DC143C]“I know it’s a lotta shit ta hear, and sorry for unloadin’ it on ya all at once, but it was really just for background so I could lead up ta how Blue Hill felt when I was younger. I couldn’t really answer your question outright since I couldn’t really describe the feelin’, y’know?”[/color]

 He took the moment of pause as she cried to look around them and see where Poppy had gotten off to. He clocked her exactly where she said she would be, looking at the artwork, but he was surprised to see her immersed in a conversation with a tall man Mordechai vaguely remembered as Chief Coldwind. He was a good man that Mordechai had met a few times in his adolescence, and the snake hoped the two of them had good words for each other. Poppy needed more positive interactions, especially in a place with so many possible stressors. When he was sure she was fine, he continued his explanation to Jade. 

[color=DC143C]“Blue Hill back then was about me bein’ taught that strangers can be kind and chosen family can be just as strong as blood, if not stronger. The BK fam bringin’ me an’ Danny here was them showin’ us we didn’t have ta have our muscles coiled and ready for somethin’ bad ta happen. I get relaxed here now because back then Adora and everyone was just tryin’a convince me that our safety at the time was real and not some sick game. Bein’ here helps unfuck my head, but it’s also hard ‘cause what I remember is actin’ like a caged animal the first few times we were here,”[/color] Feral couldn’t even begin to describe the way he acted every time a stranger on the res smiled and him or Danny, or tried to get close to converse with Adora or Tama and the rest of the family while they were out walking around. With Danny, Adora and the BK family unit, he had been a ball of misplaced protection instinct and learned aggressive responses against any outside source. Much like Tov and his family worked with TNT on his triggers when he and Conan were first adopted, the whole family and even some of the residents of Blue Hill had done the same with both Mordechai and Danny. Which leads his thoughts to, [color=DC143C]“It’s also weird… to only have Danny here in spirit. Aside from serpent runs with no hangin’ around, I’ve never been here without him.”[/color]

She just wanted to hug him again, but not just for him. She wanted to hug him for her, as well. Jade knew that she and Key had always come from the same cloth. They had broken families and were saved, but to the point that they both had that belief of a false sense of security within themselves. She had obviously felt that way for some time. Not long after her uncle had taken her out of the disaster that was her bio’s house and into a new home, she lost her Aunt Zippo. A woman that Jade looked up to when she was younger.

[color=e62020]“I know it can’t be easy. There are days where I think about my Aunt Zippo. Taken from us way too soon. Like Danny was. I sometimes go to the clubhouse -- Fallen Angels Clubhouse, I mean -- to be closer to her. My Uncle Charlie told me a few stories about how it was just him, Zippo, and Uncle Demo, they used to piss off my grandpa so much by sneaking into his office and just blasting as much Nirvana as they could as loud as they could.”[/color] She laughed too hard at that thought. [color=e62020]“It’s a tradition I do to this day. It makes me feel closer to her. It’s painful, but I think a little pain isn’t a bad thing if it gives you a temporary center.”[/color] As she looked at Key, in the back of her mind, she could understand how none of this really made any sense. [color=e62020]“What I’m getting at is, maybe before we leave, if there is a place at this Reservation that you and Danny enjoyed going to, that could maybe help. And if you want to, perhaps you, me and Pops could all go together if she’s okay to.”[/color]If it was a long shot, Jade understood why. No matter how many gains she’s had within herself and with Key, she knew she had a lot of explaining to do to Pops and had a long road to recovery with her soul sister.

[color=DC143C]“Zippo was good people,”[/color] Mordechai offered with a sad smile, now thinking of yet another good adult that was taken away from the kids they loved while his parents were still back at their shitty little house, perfectly happy with the lack of children they now had. He’d only been a serpent for about three months at the time, and he remembers Jade not coming around for at least two weeks when Fiona Dawson died, the only time anyone saw her during that was at the funeral and even then she quickly disappeared after the casket was lowered. He had been the only one to find her at the time, up in one of the large trees far away from the condolences that broke more than it healed for people like them. It hadn’t been the first time he and Jade smoked a blunt together, but it was the first time that Decky personally offered her something harder. He always has been a bad influence.

[color=DC143C]“We spent a lot of time wherever Auntie Adora was, honestly, but she did show us this one field of native grassland and wildflowers. No matter the weather, me ‘n’ Danny would spend a whole day out there watchin’ the sky move. Even when it was rainin’ or snowin’, it was just so damn beautiful and like nothin’ we ever got ta see in Eden,”[/color] He looked up to the lights of the longhouse as though he could see the sky right through the roof and smiled tightly at the thought of going there without Danny but…for him. And for himself. For the sake of moving on the tiniest fucking bit after two years of emotional stagnation and self sabotage. [color=DC143C]“I wouldn’t mind goin’ there but… would ya mind comin’ with me ta his grave when we get back? Haven’t been there since the day after Carlisle, and I was blasted out of my mind so I don’t remember much.”[/color] He talked to Charlie, he remembers that much. Maybe he’ll have the balls now to do it sober.

The blonde softly smiled at Key. [color=e62020]“I’d love that, Key. Very much.”[/color] Had she actually visited Little Danny’s grave since he passed? Maybe a few times, but never for prolonged amounts of time. Either she told herself that she was too busy or it was too painful or just excuse after excuse. The truth was, maybe like Key hadn’t because it was clearly too painful, she never allowed herself to do it. But they were both in better places. She was starting to find her purpose again and Key had gotten sober. The time felt right. [color=e62020]“I don’t think I’ve been to his grave since the service,”[/color] Jade admitted, frowning at the admission alone. [color=e62020]“Always had some excuse. Work, my uncle’s trial, but when it comes right down to it, I was just too afraid to go there alone.” [/color] 

Mordechai tried to hold it in, but the self deprecating laugh made its way passed his lip before he could stop it. [color=DC143C]“Jade, I skipped outta town before the service even happened, didn’t even give it a full day ta be there for him. So…thanks, for being there when I couldn’t,”[/color] He looked into Jade’s eyes and the cloud forming over his head dispersed as he laughed quietly before grabbing a napkin off the bar and gently wiping at her cheeks and under her eyes. [color=DC143C]“Sorry for makin’ ya mess up your makeup, lemme fix it a bit.” [/color]

For the next minute or so, Mordechai was getting the smear marks off of his friend’s face before holding his hand out blindly for the blonde to drop her makeup bag into. He grabbed a wipe out of the pack and began to clear her face in earnest. They’d done coke in enough bathrooms together, and he’d held her hair back while she puked far too many times when they were teens, this was practically ritual for the two of them despite the two years lost between them. Over the course of the next five or so minutes, he blended out the foundation and powder on her face before pulling out her eye products, throwing on a dark shadow before giving her a thick but sharp wing on both sides. He finished her off with her mascara before handing her back the bag and smiling proudly. The whole time, he’d been taking in the silence to process his own words. 

Not even a whole day…

[color=DC143C]“Did they get him buried in time?”[/color] He finally asked, forcing himself to keep eye contact. [color=DC143C]“Phil said he was takin’ care of it when I was gettin’ my motorcycle ta leave but it had already been like twelve hours by then…”[/color]

It was something so small, but the memories came flooding back. Those times of doing a line or two in-between periods and having to cover it up with some emergency patching, what Key was doing to wipe away the makeup that became a black mess on her face brought a smile to her face. But there was no blow for them to fill the gaps, no numbing agent of the pain that came with remembering Lil Danny Boaz, yet Jade, for the first time in a long time, felt like she didn’t need it. She had it in her bag back at Adora’s home, but she didn’t have this obsessive desire to run back to it and get it before Natalia came back.

[color=e62020]“It was close,”[/color] she admitted with a small smile. [color=e62020]“Phil and Shale worked overtime to make sure everything was in order. Everyone was. Serpents, Angels, the Phillips-Shomer family, but one of the main people who I can remember being a constant presence was that idiot Mika.”[/color] While Jade wasn’t especially close to Mika, she knew Key was. He was one of those people you couldn’t judge by looking at him. He looked like a dick and sometimes he proved that he was, but Jade remembered how much he kept it together during it, was a rock for those who needed a pillar to lean on. Was he close to Danny too? Jade had to assume so. With all of the support he provided, Jade knew that it hit him pretty hard. 

[color=DC143C]“That’s…I’m really glad ta hear that,”[/color] Mordechai admitted, doing his best to just be happy that Danny had so many people there for him instead of thinking about how he as the one who should have been there most, [i]wasn’t[/i]. [color=DC143C]“Badger steppin’ up tracks too, I’m surprised he didn’t ream me out for leavin’ him with the family work when he found me and Legs in New York.”[/color]

She fell silent for a couple of moments. All this time she had given him shit for being too cocky for his own good, only ever giving him the benefit of the doubt out of respect for Key,. For him to be the one who went out of his way to find Key in NYC, even she had to admit that put him in a new light. [color=e62020]“Well, [i]that[/i] I didn’t know.”[/color] She laughed, more so because she had a similar experience with him. [color=e62020]“Did I ever tell you that he reached out to me?”[/color] 

[color=DC143C]“What, really? Badger showed you his soft side?”[/color] Mordechai laughed with her. Mika left a lot out when he came to visit in New York, it seemed. He was proud of his friend and brother for all the stepping up to the plate that he never took credit for. He would need to sit him down private soon so they can have a genuine conversation about Mika’s role in working on the aftermath of Danny’s death. He needed to thank him, but more importantly he needed to know if Mika had any grievances about the time that he never got to air while he was busy being a pillar of support. [color=DC143C]“That’s a rare fuckin’ gem, Harls.”[/color]

She nodded, laughing some more. [color=e62020]“We should totally throw him a party sometime. Make a theme of it. We can call it ‘How the Honey Badger became a Honey Bear!”[/color] The image of Mika’s irate face during this hypothetical had actually made Jade burst into laughter even harder to the point where it felt like she was going to explode. [color=e62020]“I bet Ley would just love it too. She always did enjoy getting a rise out of him!”[/color] God, now this made her want to make this hypothetical into a reality. 

[color=dc143c]“Oh, we can absolutely get Legs in on this,”[/color] Mordechai schemed, taking every moment that she laughed to burn that bright smile of hers into his memory. It had been a rare sight when they were kids but it was even rarer now, and he was worried he’d forget what she looked like when she was so happy. [color=dc143c]“And she can make him go anywhere. I’m honestly fuckin’ terrfied for her and Ley ta meet, because that is way too much bad bitch energy in one room,”[/color] He shivered dramatically before laughing again. [color=dc143c]“But if we have the kids too, he won’t do shit. I mean, he may go after me and toss me around a bit to get his frustration out, but he’ll sit at that fuckin’ party all day if we put Viva or Chai on his lap.”[/color]

[color=e62020]“You serious? The great Honey Badger of the Southside has a soft spot for kids?”[/color] As if Jade had any room to speak. She practically melted when she held Chai this morning. Little kid would break any and all hearts and Jade would help him acquire the tools to do so - respectfully, of course. And the thought of Ley and Legs? How could Jade not get turned on by that thought. Both were hot as fuck and Jade knew that would make any fantasy any pig could come up with pale in comparison. [color=e62020]“Okay, we are [i]so[/i] doing this. I’m sure the Angels wouldn’t mind if we hosted it at the clubhouse.”[/color] As that thought remained for a few more moments, Jade somewhat-absentmindedly looked around. Not that she was in any rush, but she hadn’t seen half of their quartet for a while. She hoped everything was okay.

[color=dc143c]“A soft spot a mile wide, even, so much that he’s Viva and Chai’s Godfather”[/color] Mordechai confided. [color=dc143c]“Me and Legs had ta look up what the fuck that really meant becuase Jews don’t have those but we surprised him with it when Chai was born, just a little before I fell back into bad habits again. Shit, I had been sober most of Leg’s pregnancy but…”[/color] But it was rough at the end, with Mordechai’s mood taking a turn with Chai being born on Danny’s birthday and then the shooting’s anniversary came around. Taking a note from his serpent days, Mordechai had ruthlessly pushed his grief down to take care of Allegra and the kids while she recuperated and they navigated being co-parents, making it through the next three weeks on their friendship and determination alone. But then the damn finally broke and he was back on a bender, coming back to his small family whenever he was clean enough to. As he opened his mouth to continue, something caught his eye. [color=dc143c]“It’s whatever, just makes me realize we got a shitton more ta catch up on and no time ta do it.”[/color]

The door to the bathrooms had opened and out came Natalia with none other than Mitena following closer behind. Mordechai leaned back from Jade so Poppy could see him from where she was and he waved her down to return to them.

[color=dc143c]“Now that we decided ta be stupid and emotionally vulnerable right before meetin’ Hard Times’ sister,”[/color] He spoke up, watching the other three people converge on the two of them. [color=dc143c]“Ya ready for this shit Harley Head?”[/color]

For the first time during this trip, the Angel Princess really did feel like she was. [color=e62020]“As ready as I’ll ever be, Key.”[/color] Famous last words if she ever heard ‘em.[/indent][/indent][/color]