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Mention: Sully[@Atrophy], Luna[@Estylwen]

[color=DE198A]Location: Home[/color]

Tayla's life continued on as usual after the Halloween Festival. She had dinner with her family and put her son to bed at night. She got up before dawn to help her father fish, took her son to daycare, then got ready to go to work. She came out of the bathroom with a text notification on her phone. Her heart jumped a little in her chest. There's only three people that would contact her that came to mind: her father, the woman that ran the daycare, and her boss. She hoped it wasn't the daycare. Turns out it was none of the options that first popped into her head. It was Sully. How the hell he got her number, he explained in his text along with near incoherent ramblings that were hard to keep up with. She had to read it three times to understand what he was on about. He got her number from Auri, figures, and he got the shit beat out of him by Dean last night. He's looking for her and Sully's his only lead from a fight at the strip club a week or so ago. She was confused and pissed. 

The Dollhouse said they'd keep Dean off her ass, specifically having Shayton's word to make it happen, so why the hell is Dean assaulting Coven members for her information? She didn't know anything that went on at the strip club, but now she has questions. 

She sent Sully a text back asking what the fuck happened at the club nights ago. She hoped he kept it short, if he answered her at all.

~~~~
[color=DE198A]Location: Kari's House[/color]

The end of the week came and she was ready to enjoy her weekend once her shift was over at the museum. Unfortunately, she got a text from Auri about meeting up at Kari's house with the address attached. Fuck me. She's not seen any of them in over a week and she'd like to keep it that way, but she had to go. Father Wolf was still out there and she made a deal with the Dollhouse. 

She texted her appa that she would need him to pick up Siwon from daycare and to head on home without her. She wasn't sure how long it would take, but given it's Friday, she could stay out a little longer. Plus, she wanted to know if any of them had answers about what the fuck those odd dreams she's been having are about. The first one was long and lasted most of the night. The next one was shorter starring the same person, Raven Jones. This was all a headache.

She got off early evening and took a bus over to the side of town Kari lived in. It was quiet with big houses she could never hope to afford, all spread out so neighbors were never too close. It matched the fall like those neighborhoods in kid Halloween movies.

She got off the bus and had to walk a block, her long, baggy gray wash jeans dragging on the leaves covered sidewalk. She had That Melody around her neck, cord tucked into the pocket she had her cell phone in to give the illusion that it was plugged into her phone. She had the hood of her white hoodie over her head. The front of it had a spread painted black butterfly and the back said 'Butterfly Effect.' She got it from a thrift store some years ago and it's served her well in the chilly weather.

She got to the house with most of the crew already there. She kept her distance, especially from Linqian. She didn't miss her talking about the deal she made with Greyson. Tayla's done a lot of stupid shit, mostly under the influence of oxy, alcohol, and her abusive ex. She can't say she's made many stupid decisions sober. Considering what little she knew about Linqian, she wasn't a drunkard nor a drug addict, so whatever he offered her couldn't have been worth it. She's made her deal with the devil before. It's never worth it. 

She let everyone's conversations wash over her. She didn't care to jump in. She's had enough of all of them in the few hours she's been around. Most of all of them. Sully couldn't be that bad if he was nice enough to give her a head's up about Dean. If she got information out of all of them tonight, then she could rely what she learned to the Dollhouse and ask about what they're doing about Dean.

Auri announced why they were there very soon after she arrived. It's been maybe less than five minutes. Good. She wanted to get to the point. She wasn't expecting a report on talking to dead Coven members. Well shit. If they could've done that the whole time, they could've had something done on the first day or the second. She wasn't surprised when another person was announced dead. It seemed they were losing members by the day. She couldn't remember enough about Lyss to care.

She saw Sully, staring at him for a good few seconds, not sure how to approach him about the text message without drawing attention to herself. She didn't want anyone else knowing about her relationship with Dean. She wouldn't put it passed these chuckle-fucks to either be invasive, want to use her as bait, or judge her. It's bad enough Greyson knows too much. She wouldn't put it passed him to start running his mouth about her, before she can put a bullet between his eyes. He wasn't here yet. She'll hate when he does show up. 

[h3]BANG![/h3]

The sound scared the shit out of her. Her heart raced and sweat pricked on her forehead. She'd been a second away from booking it. Sloane had blown open the door to Kari's house, and the dogpile on her started. She sighed. At the end of the day, Kari's dead. Her soul moved on to another dimension apparently. This house is a thing that no longer matters to anyone living. All she wanted was to do the thing she made a deal to do and let that be the end of it. All she had to decide was who she would follow. Most of them weren't bearable enough to be around for more than two minutes.

She just about made her decision when a child started talking. The hairs on the back of her neck stood up. She recognized him as the kid in the KKK costume at the festival. He came right up to Shayton to talk to him like it was nothing. What would a kid need with a man like Shayton if not for spooky reasons like searching a dead woman's house. She'll ask Shayton about him in her message to the Dollhouse later. For now, she's steering clear of him, and the rest of the ones getting on Sloane's case. She couldn't imagine being in any of their heads for a few seconds if they think the way they talk.

She overheard Stormy mention something about that kid being shot and being in the church when it burned down. She didn't know any Lux that could keep someone alive during something that intense, but there's thousands of abstractions that could do it for you. She put That Melody on, pretending like she wanted to drown them out with music and let the group's thoughts hit her all at once. It was a lot, especially from Kenshiro? She didn't remember him. She hardly remembered anyone from a decade ago. Kenshiro's thoughts were particularly loud in his grief. She just barely managed to catch a stray thought from someone within her telepathic range. She looked up at the trees, but couldn't spot anything with her eyes. She could 'see' them in a way, since she narrowed in on their thoughts and had a better idea of their general direction. They, no, she was thinking about them in detail like she had something to report to someone later.  

Since she got That Melody, she practiced using it after work before she picked up her son. She'd gotten good at concentrating on one person's thoughts and tuning everyone else out as long as there wasn't anything to distract her. Distractions being loud thoughts or large groups of people. She hadn't learned how to concentrated harder to get around that. She pulled off her headphones. She couldn't get caught up in Kenshiro's grief spiral. That would fuck her up if her feelings about James resurfaced. 

Kenshiro called for everyone to have a drink. She's good. There were other important things to worry about. Like the stranger in the trees.

[color=DE198A]"I'm almost positive we're being watched from those trees by someone. Just a feeling."[/color] She pointed to where the stranger was hanging out. She couldn't be more specific or she'll out herself for having an Aberration. She doubted they'd take her seriously, but she warned them. When it comes back to bite them in the ass, she'll say 'I told you so.' She didn't care that she interrupted Kenshiro wanting to have one out for all their dead members. They're being spied on; that's a lot more important.