[center][img]https://txt.1001fonts.net/img/txt/b3RmLjEwNi43NjY3NjcuVTJ4dllXNWxJRVpoY21sei4w/bachelorette.regular.webp[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/r7scdkh.png[/img][/center]
 [right][b]Interactions:[/b] Drake[@Punished GN], Luca[@Fernstone], Simone[@QueenBea], & Kali [@Damycles]
[code]Dairy Queen[/code][/right][hr]


[color=silver]“This is really where you want to go? It’s barely fifty degrees outside…”[/color]

It was his turn, but she never should’ve let Drake pick. Jade, Drake, and Sloane (occasionally joined by whatever future disappointment Sloane was dating at the time) had made a semi-regular commitment to get dinner together once a month. They would trade off who picked where to eat. Sloane naturally had the tendency to pick stodgy upscale restaurants with small portions and no prices listed on the menu, while the Blackmores had always taken her to cool, trendy local eateries where every item could be made gluten free and they brewed their own beer. Jade wouldn’t always let her, but Sloane would always be the first to pay for the bill: [i]I owe you my life, the least I can do is pay for dinner.[/i]  It was only when they turned into the Dairy Queen parking lot that Sloane realized that Jade must’ve been the one picking the places to eat before. She should’ve known Drake wasn’t joking when he said he wanted ice cream.

Sloane stepped out of the car and scanned the exterior of the building. All her life she had thought of Dairy Queen as a thing that no longer existed, a mythical relic of the past like video rental stores and affordable housing. She didn’t really get the appeal of ice cream. Perhaps if it was hot outside she could understand why someone would want to have some, although she much preferred just sucking on a cube of ice instead of poisoning her body with artificial flavors and added sugar. If she was really feeling particularly decadent and unable to resist the urge for something sweet she would cut up a fresh fruit and use it to top a cup of plain greek yogurt. A low hum of disapproval leaked out from Sloane’s tightening jaw as she looked at a poster advertising a Summer Berry Cheesecake Blizzard made with “real” berries, worrisome considering it was now October. 

At the very least the Dairy Queen had checked one of Luca’s fair requests: it had a patio that was largely unoccupied. She followed Drake inside, her arms wrapped tight around her chest as her eyes narrowed upon the menu: signature stackburgers, two for five chili dogs, they offered salads? Nope. No way. They got to the front of the line and Sloane told the cashier that she got the next four people and stepped to the side so that Drake and the others could order, refusing to even utter the words, “I’d like the Peanut Buster.” After Luca, Simone, and Kali had placed their orders she pulled out her card and handed it to the cashier.

“For you, ma’am?” asked the employee. 

[color=silver]“Could I do a bottle of water?”[/color] asked Sloane.

“C’mon, are you really sure that’s what you want sweetie?” said the employee playfully. 

Sloane raised her eyebrows and swallowed the instinctual urge to scoff at being questioned. The cashier was a middle aged woman, old enough to be Sloane’s mother. Sloane imagined working fast food hadn’t been the woman’s ideal career choice, but it was respectable that she did the work with a smile and tried to move the product. Plus, Sloane could sense the annoying ribbing she’d get if she joined the others on the patio with only a water. She glanced back at the poster for the Summer Berry Cheesecake Blizzard, gave a defeated sigh, and pointed at it, [color=silver]“I guess I’ll take that.”[/color]

“Oh, sorry, we only have that in the summer.” 

Why leave up the poster then? She couldn’t have been the first customer to walk in and order the thing they had on the window since August. Literally all they had to do was walk over to the window and pull it down, maybe scrap off some tape, and polish the glass. Sloane felt her teeth grind together. The employee must’ve sensed her annoyance, as she started to list off other options. Sloane stopped them with a look that was colder than any of the treats Dairy Queen sold as she pushed her credit card forward.

[color=silver]“Just a bottle of water. Thank you.”[/color] 

Sloane joined the others on the patio, the bottle clenched tightly in her hand. She glanced at Drake’s parfait with a slight feeling of envy. She set her water bottle down on the table unopened and checked her watch. She was glad Luca had made them sit outside. The cool, fresh air was easing her migraine that had flared back up. 

There were plenty of things she wanted to discuss, with Kali being one of them—was he actually a fed, should they work with him, were they responsible for monitoring his mental health, should they have him committed. Simone bringing Kali along with her for dinner prompted another idea, an idea that Simone was already in bed with the feds. It probably wasn’t the case. Surely she was smart enough to see how everyone bristled when Kali flashed his badge. If she was also on the take she probably would’ve voted against him to try to maintain her own cover. She was probably just reasonably worried about his mental state given the entire fiasco with Everleigh and his gun. Considering that, perhaps it was best if Sloane didn’t put Kali under a microscope.

[color=silver]“Kali, I believe I owe you an explanation for abstaining earlier. I did not participate in the vote because I have not yet agreed to rejoin the Coven. I had no right to decide your fate. In all honesty, nobody did. Almost nobody, anyway. I’ll get to that in a moment. That said, I am willing to cooperate with you fully,”[/color] said Sloane.

She stood up, pulled out a business card, and slid one to Kali.  The card was eggshell white with simple black text reading Faris Imports, the name of her high-end antique store, an address, a business number, and her cell. She much rather give it out herself then have them go through Auri. She slid a card to Simone and Luca as well. Drake already had her number. She didn’t ask for anybody’s number in return. She tucked the cards back into her coat and pulled it tightly around her. She stayed standing.

[color=silver]“As I had said, almost nobody has the right to vote anybody out of the Coven because the current Coven has no legitimacy. Auri is the only one who decided to reform, unless any of you made a backroom deal then Auri is currently the only member of it, and despite her claims of it not being a dictatorship Auri is the only one who will have any authority in it. Already she made decisions without consulting the group, decisions that would leave us to deal with the consequences if we decided to join her Coven. While I am willing to work with her until Father Wolf is handled, I currently cannot see myself being part of her Coven, her [i]family.[/i]”[/color]

Drake used to joke that the old Sycamore Tree Coven was a cult. Well, being part of an organization that referred to itself as a family was typically a pretty good sign that it was actually a cult. Sloane stared at the bottle of water and thought about the cashier. The cashier probably looked at the poster for the Summer Berry Cheesecake Blizzard everyday and also thought that it should be taken down. She probably had approached her manager several times about it, the manager saying that they’d get to it when they could and never following through with it. She was probably tired of people like Sloane asking about it and went to remove it one day but got shouted at by the same manager for messing with the store’s display. The manager probably called him team a family, too. The point is that bad leadership made good employees seem incompetent. 

[color=silver]“While I believe that reforming the Coven to continue protecting St. Portwell like we should’ve been doing the entire time is a good idea, the harsh truth is that I simply have zero confidence in Auri as a leader. I have zero confidence with anybody serving as a singular leader. There’s a reason why traditional covens are typically run by a group of three. They keep each other in continual check,”[/color] said Sloane. 

[color=silver]“Maybe I’m out of line. Maybe I'm missing something obvious. I’m curious what you all think. Do any of you even have a desire to actually rejoin a Coven, let alone a Coven exclusively controlled by Auri? Are you interested in protecting this city?[/color] She looked at Kali. [color=silver]“Are you just here for revenge?”[/color] She made direct eye contact with Drake, before glancing at Luca and Simone. [color=silver]“Or are you just trying to save yourself?”[/color]