[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/FaCzAxe.png[/img]     [img]https://i.imgur.com/1Hvat1r.png[/img][/center]
[right][b]Interactions[/b]:  Sloane Most Aggresively [@Atrophy], Amara [@Blizz], Tayla [@silvermist1116], Anyone Drinking
[code]Kari's House[/code][/right][hr]
Linqian rolled her eyes as Amara came up, talking some crap about how it was going to be a long day and just being a pretentious ass. She hadn’t even fucking turned up until now! It wasn’t like Linqian had even said that much shit to Sloane. When it came to how she normally talked to Sloane, she’d been pretty fucking polite. Held herself back, even. 

[color=CD5C5C]”I hardly said shit, [i]Amara[/i], so fuck off with your. Whatever.”[/color] Linqian held up her hands, rolling her eyes at Amara again and stepping back. She could hear Layla say something to her in the background, but ignored it, since it didn’t add anything… Plus, she was still butchering Chinese when speaking to her. Fucking hell, this was one of the reasons she didn’t want Henri meeting anyone here.

[quote=Britney]”Three, didn't you get shot?”[/quote]
[color=CD5C5C]”Huh, he was the kid that got shot?”[/color] Linqian looked between Britney and the kid. She hadn’t been in a position to get a good look at that kid’s face, and honestly stopping herself bleeding to death from two bullet wounds had been a more pressing concern. But he [i]did[/i] look a little familiar. She squinted at him, before shrugging. Not her problem. He said he wasn’t living on the streets, he wasn’t her kid, she didn’t have the time or energy to worry anymore about it. Enough of her own shit to handle. 

She moved out of the house and back onto the patio. It was difficult to keep up with everything Kenshiro was saying, with his ability to jump around so many topics, but she did hear him suggesting a drink in the memory of everyone they’d lost. 

[color=CD5C5C]A drink for Jinhai.[/color]

She’d had so many of those, alone. A nice bottle of wine meant to celebrate his new job, drank the day after he died along with three more until she passed out on the couch. A shot or two stolen at the end of almost every shift. 

A drink with others, for the victims, would be nicer.

[color=CD5C5C]”I’ll join that drink,”[/color] Linqian said, almost smiling, and moving towards Sully. It was good to see him again, without the whole toga party situation. Ken too. [color=CD5C5C]”For Jinhai and everyone else.”[/color]

But when Aislin got out a bong and started lighting it up, Linqian blanched. Fucking seriously? Here, in front of a house they'd just broken into? When talking about their dead? She was getting fucking high?

Linqian shot her a heated glare, lips twisting down into a scowl. 

[quote=Tayla]"I'm almost positive we're being watched from those trees by someone. Just a feeling." [/quote]
Linqian hadn’t even realised Tayla was there till she spoke up at being watched. She really wanted to talk to her again and make it clear she wasn’t alright with half the shit Edict had said in the bar that night, and that if he came after Tayla and her son Linqian would be the first to kick his ass, but right now didn’t seem the time. Not when everyone was around. 

And at the end of the day, she’d make the same decision. Edict was the one paying her enough to keep her housed, and her brother fed. She was even able to start paying off the interest on her debts for the first time. That couldn’t fucking compare to a little bit of solidarity.

But maybe she should try talk to her, check things were cool since she’d basically been the sort of neutral party. It wasn’t like Tayla knew she was working for Edict… At least, as far as Linqian was aware.

[color=CD5C5C]”Hey, Tayla, how-”[/color]

Suddenly, she [i]remembered[/i].

[hr]
[color=CD5C5C]”The [i]fuck[/i] was that?”[/color] Linqian grimaced as soon as she came out of the recollection. She quickly glanced around - no Edict, so he wasn’t fucking messing with them. Wasn’t there a word for something like this? Some mind fucky memory shit that happened a few times around the Stygian Snake… Man, the fuck was it called? Whatever. Who fucking cared.

The contents of the vision were what was important. She furrowed her brow as she tried to think about it. She wasn’t good at this shit. It was the kind of stuff Jinhai would always take charge of. He was the one good at figuring things out and deciding what to do. Linqian could make decisions, but they very rarely worked out well without him. Fuck. Just think about what it focused on…

Emily… 8th Street… 8th Street… Linqian narrowed her eyes, something niggling at the back of her mind. She narrowed her eyes, ignoring the kid's question about Emily in favour of a harsh finger pointed at Sloane. 

[color=CD5C5C]”You know, Sloane, Vashti said the funniest fucking thing at the Halloween Festival,”[/color] Linqian said, stepped back towards Sloane. [color=CD5C5C]”She said to tell you to drop round their manor [i]again[/i] to talk to Emily. Want to tell us what the fuck you and your worse half,”[/color] her finger swapped to Anya, then back to Sloane with a sneer, [color=CD5C5C]”are planning with 8th? Behind our fucking backs?”[/color] 

[hr][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/QIUSezo.png[/img]     [img]https://i.imgur.com/ycOCuCr.png[/img][/center]
 [right][b]Interactions:[/b] Ken [@AtomicEmperor], Sully  [@Atrophy], Clancy [@Zombiedude101], Everyone
[code]Kari’s House, Patio[/code][/right][hr]
[h3][b]BANG![/b][/h3]

Luca nearly jumped out of his skin, spinning around to the source of the loud bang on high alert. After yet another few unpeaceful days thanks to a [i]certain[/i] skeleton, he was a little on edge when it came to things like this… even though he felt otherwise pretty chill. Chill enough to handle Britney’s presence, at least! Sloane didn’t appear to have done too much damage, either… At least it was less than he would’ve done just stepping near it.

And people were unnecessarily going at each other again. But there was nothing he could do about it, and there was nothing he could help with in the house. He was just as likely to destroy any clues as he was to find them. He was most useful out here, keeping watch just in case. 

[quote=Sully]”The bar is officially open.”[/quote]
[color=6B8E23]”Heyyy, Sully!”[/color] Luca waved to Sully with a grin, finally getting an opportunity to actually talk to him. He got a bit closer, but made sure to keep at least an arms length between him and anyone else. It had been ages since they’d talked, since he hadn’t really had the opportunity the last few meetings. It was great to see Sully again in seemingly good form! [color=6B8E23]”You don’t happen to still have a water gun you could use to shoot me over some of that elixir? I bet your aim’s still as good. We had the technique absolutely down back in the day.”[/color] 

Stormy asked about the kid, and Luca frowned trying to remember. [color=6B8E23]”Yeah, he was there. Said something about being Ashley’s cousin. Strange kid, we didn’t hear much before we were teargassed.”[/color] 

[color=c6e100][i]Strange kid indeed.[/i][/color]

Luca’s expression wavered for a moment, but he ignored the rot’s voice in his mind. It was often the best way to deal with it. As he ignored it, he caught Ken’s words, then saw the tears running down his face. Shit. He wanted to say something to comfort his friend, but he didn’t have the words. And Ken didn’t dwell on it, so Luca wouldn’t either. Best to just move on and remain positive about things! As others moved in towards Sully, Luca stepped back to avoid catching anyone in his rotting aura.

[color=6B8E23]”No alcohol for me,”[/color] Luca held up his hands and waved them. Beyond the logistical problem of actually getting a shot to him, he really couldn’t risk drinking. Especially not when he’d just barely recovered from the last two days of rot caused illness. He knew Ken would understand… Ken knew more about his state than anyone else here. It was difficult to completely hide from someone who visited randomly and semi-frequently. He didn’t know just how bad it was, at least. [color=6B8E23]”If I’m going to watch everyone’s backs - because a basement is the worst place for me - I gotta be sober! I’ll take a pretend shot.”[/color]

He smiled at Ken, raising his empty hand as if raising a glass.

Until Aislin got out a bong. Luca coughed as the smell, and the light smoke, hit him, turning around and bending over as rasping coughs wracked his still recovering body. [color=6B8E23]”Hey, Aislin, do you mind doing that elsewhere-”[/color] 

Suddenly, he was pulled into the recollection.

[hr]

Luca was still reeling when he came out of it, a gloved hand reaching up to press against his forehead. He could feel the start of a pounding headache, the sort that started as a pressure underneath his skin and built until it was a sledgehammer against his skull. Maybe it was just all of the noise. 

[color=6B8E23]”Yeah, we saw it,”[/color] he said as Clancy asked, glancing down at the dent in the wall that he could just about make out from over here. Had he done that? Well… it should be a surprise. Luca touched a wall and it was destroyed just as easily. No wonder the rot seemed to sense something off about the kid.

He shook his head as he tried to think through the recollection. Tried to place it. Before Kari and Elsa were murdered, obviously. After he’d left 8th Street. Relatively recently? How long ago had he left? He couldn’t remember exactly… But that didn’t matter. Emily had wanted Kari to join. That made sense, she knew a lot. But why now? 8th Street had been together for ten years. As far as he was aware, they hadn’t reached out to Kari when he was part of it. 

And there was a hint of guilt bubbling in his chest. She’d mentioned Lisa and Ella… Luca remembered them well, even after such a short friendship. He’d liked them both too, yet he’d joined Emily’s coven. He hadn’t known them as long as Kari, but still… 

He shook his head, snapping out of it and looking back over to Clancy when he asked about Emily. Shit. He glanced at Britney, then back at Clancy. 

[color=6B8E23]”I’ll explain,”[/color] Luca raised his voice, stepping towards Clancy before anyone else could start talking about Emily - whether it was shitting on her, or shitting on Britney for what she did to her. [color=6B8E23]”I’m Luca, by the way, anyway… Emily was a part of the old coven. And yeah, she is an asshole. She was an asshole then too. But someone here forcefully adjoined her to an apparition, so you could say there’s more bad blood because of that.”[/color]

Luca decided not to mention Britney by name, because that seemed to be like unnecessarily airing dirty laundry. He couldn’t stop anyone else from doing it- but they certainly couldn’t have a problem with him [i]not[/i] because he was the only person here actively dealing with the aftermath of that shit. 

[color=6B8E23]”She started her own coven, the one mentioned in the, uh, vision - 8th Street. At first they were trying to learn about magic and get rid of the abstractions that some of us- them had been given against their will. Then a few years back they started doing other shit… Anyway, she’s part of this because Father Wolf will also be after her, and at least four other 8th Street members who used to be part of our coven.”[/color]

He winced, hearing Linqian in the background going in at Sloane for contacting 8th Street. While he didn’t explicitly state it, it would be fairly obvious he knew more about 8th than the casual observer would. 

Honestly, aside from Jasper, Lila, Lynn and Ken, 8th Street (Emily and Vashti aside) still felt like more of his coven than Sycamore did. 

[color=6B8E23]”They do have a book that can basically tell you anything, so they might know something about Father Wolf. I don’t think Emily is him-”[/color] because she would’ve killed Britney first, and years ago, [color=6B8E23]“- but they might know something.”[/color]