[indent][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/AhVmyFc.png[/img] [img]https://i.imgur.com/zCtOt85.png[/img]
[hider=Mood Music][youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2TJ89C3Uu40[/youtube][/hider][/center][right][h1][color=0D6793]Elay[/color] & [color=15A663]Moriah[/color]
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[right][code]5th Ward: Bridge District, Northside - Elay’s Apartment[/code][/right]
Elay had already slept… The day prior had been his cold moment, allowing Garf the run of his body to utilize in whatever way he saw fit. Predation, mostly. An Adept here, a mundane Blind there; nobody could really stop Garf from climbing into their minds for a quick meal. And yet, after such vigorous physical effort, Elay couldn't help feeling his eyes grow heavy. Garf sat perched upon the bureau in which Elay kept all his basic clothing. His massive tail swished back and forth, form shifting vaguely as Elay drifted in and out of rest.

But his phone echoed across the room in a mind-shattering ringtone that made him jump out of his skin. 

[color=FF8604]“She's calling again, Elay. This time, you should answer it.”[/color] Garf intoned, mental link buffering the noise to calm Elay's heart rate. 

The ringtone was indicative, after all: That ringtone which Elay was most prone to avoiding should one ever call it to begin with. 
[i]“~Maybe you're weeeeeeeak. Maybe you're staaaaarviiiiing~”[/i]

[color=0D6793]“Fuck, fuck, fuck! No, go the fuck away!”[/color]

[i]“~and we're all hung-a-ry for iiiit~”[/i]

Elay tossed what little covering he had off, letting the bulk of it land across Nessa and causing a gentle turn-over. Elay stared at his bed for a moment, thinking about the girl within. Garf had been pumping him full of good vibes all night, which only felt worse… Like everything that was happening around him was all so intentional. That he had no other reason to [i]not[/i] answer this phone call…

So he stepped across the room, Garf's eyes never leaving his right hand until it was holding the phone. A single button press answered it, and Lazarus held the phone up to his ear without speaking.

On the other end, a sleepless Momo Motta was white knuckle gripped to her drink. She'd been trying to get through all day, making the fact that he answered at [i]this hour[/i] so much more frustrating. She wanted to snap at him and berate her only brother, picking him apart for his behavior without giving him so much as a second chance to think…

But she knew she couldn't. It was a phone; he'd just fucking hang up like always.

[color=15A663]“Laz…”[/color] Momo's voice hesitantly spoke into the phone.

[color=0D6793]“What…?”[/color] Was the only answer Elay could muster.

[color=15A663]“I'm sorry… Bryn came here, and I-”[/color] Momo started, but found herself quickly cut off.

[color=0D6793]“Whatever. Need something, or hang up. I'm not getting hooked into your usual bullshit, Mo.”[/color] Elay sternly spoke, wiping the sleep out of his eyes in sheer frustration.

[color=15A663]“Elay? Please don't fucking do this right now.”[/color] The Matriarch pleaded to her younger brother, hoping to God that he didn't turn this into another temper tantrum over nothing big.

[color=0D6793]“I'm asking you what you want that you're calling for. If it's my bills, you already know what the deal is. I've spoken to Tatiana and Roman. If it's the current [i]incidents[/i] that are bothering you, then just know Bryn and I already spoke about it.”[/color] Elay hoped to square away all the bases at once.

[color=15A663]“You spoke to her before me?”[/color] Was a simple reply from Momo.

On Elay's end, there was only enough tonal shift to guess at Momo's level of displeasure. The truth was, the only person who could bring her feelings of misery and frustration capable of trumping her joy was Elay… In her eyes, the boy had been given every opportunity to seek and produce success. 

Yet, no matter the situation, he seemed to be a missile on a downward trajectory at all times. Hopeless, and to shame the Motta name by [i]severing one's Lux and becoming Adjoined to an Apparition!?[/i] 
But Cadenza had truly loved him… Spoiled him as far as boys went in their organization. Not to mention the [i]skirt he spent his childhood crawled inside of.[/i] 

[color=0D6793]“Yeah, I did. She's my Coven Matron.”[/color] came Elay's curt, matter of fact reply.

[color=15A663]“I'm your [i]fucking Matriarch.[/i]-”[/color] was the hushed but clearly frustrated reply.
[color=15A663]“-I have a stake in [i]everything[/i] you do. The tithe is six months backlogged, your case volume is at an all-time low, and your secretary [i]God bless her[/i] had the balls to cover for you regardless! You don't even pay her fucking salary! I do!”[/color]

And that was it. As if compelled by some unknown force to browbeat and belittle, Moriah began to unleash every little problem onto her brother by force. Money missing? Had to cover the Agency. Meal prepping massive banquets for him to take home, siphoning product from the business. Untimely stops at the clinic, more money she felt he [i]owed her.[/i] 

[color=15A663]“Your life is a fucking debt. Every single fucking step, Lazarus Alonso, is a step paid for by someone else's hard work. You don't know what it takes to feed you, you don't know what it takes to keep you drowned in booze, or what the cost of the roof over your head is, or-”[/color]

[color=0D6793]“Shut up, shut up! Moriah!? Come here now. Come here and fucking fight me, I swear to God and the Deer above, I will fucking devour you. Did you call to complain, or did you call because you're worried about your precious fucking juice bar babies?”[/color]

Elay was trying his best not to yell, telling Moriah everything she needed to know about his status. That biting perceptiveness was a true family trait, after all…

[color=15A663]“Oh, no… Elay? Is one of your victims there? Don't wanna wake her up from shouting? You fucking pussy… Go ahead! Scream at me like you want to, go on!”[/color] Moriah's scowl turned upward into a mocking grin.

[color=0D6793]“Either make this conversation worth it, or I'm hanging the fuck up.”[/color] he replied through gritted teeth.

[color=15A663]“It's so worth it, little brother… Shitty little brother…”[/color]

The dead air on the other end made Momo cackle in her seat, and the laughter only increased when she looked down at the phone and saw there was no call. On the other end, Elay had crushed the flimsy piece of glass and metal in his hand… Yet his rage only had a moment to metastasize before a dresser drawer started vibrating.

It was only more infuriating that she had the numbers for [i]every single spare line he kept.[/i] After all, he just supplied the money. Her accounting department handled billing… She had access to [i]everything[/i]. Full of anger, Elay ripped a drawer open to get the new ringing cell phone. It didn't have his preferred tones, so the basic buzzer just grated around in his ear.

[color=FF8604]“You need to do something to make this right. If she's wo-”[/color] Garf said only so much before he was cut off by Elay answering the new phone.

[color=0D6793]“Moriah, I don't care how you feel about the bullshit. Alright? I just don't. Either you called because you want my help, or you called to drag my bare asshole through a coal bed again. Which is it?”[/color] Elay asked with an incredibly stern tone that even Moriah wasn't expecting on pickup.

It caused the Matriarch to take a second in consideration of what to say next.

[color=15A663]“Both. You get both. But if you do what we need, you get bailed out [i]again.[/i] On agreement, operating costs are covered until the case is closed.”[/color] She replied in a far more business-like mindset.

[color=0D6793]“You already have a pending case.”[/color] Was Elay's simple reply. 

Over that, there was more silence. Yes, of course: the case that lingered on both of their minds. The Case of the Missing Matriarch. Their genetic progenitor, who had disappeared into the city to save her beloved consort never to return again… Yes. It was the case that their entire opening agreement was based on: That Elay would find Cadenza Motta, and hopefully in turn discover what happened to his own beloved mother.

But as days dragged to months, Moriah got tired of the lack of answers. An audit revealed that Lazarus had simply fucked off the case, and in spite of his protests, Moriah dropped the financial hammer at that point. Ever since, he'd been under the gun to pay his Sister, trying to keep everything afloat so she didn't take what few resources he had away.

After all, he couldn't rely on the Grove. Not for financial support to do his hunting. After he left Raven's Rest, the town's connection to Motta money dried up… The place he once lived in like a white trash prince had since reverted to that dead-quiet coal town it'd been before… The Woods’, his second set of siblings, didn't need him anyway. He hated the idea of facing them soon, still holding the shame of an unsolved case in his hands.

[color=15A663]“Pending case my entire cock, Elay. My legacy is the priority now. You've had your chance to look around, and you've given me nothing about it. Either accept the terms of the new case, or tomorrow I'm sending people over there to repossess the apartment and the office. You'll be out on the street faster than that fat freak can meow.”[/color] Momo asserted, tossing a dig at Garf in kind.

Elay grit his teeth.

[color=0D6793]“Brief me then… Bryn said they're… Face Snatchers? Or are they doppelgangers?”[/color]

[color=15A663]“I don't know, Elay… They were practically clay. They could be constructs of something else for all we know. When I checked them for organic signatures, the magical signature they gave off was chaotic.”[/color] Momo explained calmly.

Elay knew well what that meant. It, or perhaps they, we're connected to some kind of Apparitional force. Lux was always organized, well mannered, and funneled into a single path. Even if that path bisector a trillion times, light always had an origin and a ray to follow.
But Apparitions followed no such rules. It was as if they were existing in a specific set of pixels in the television static… No order, no commonality. Only random placements and oddball rules that one may never expect.

[color=15A663]“And supposedly there’s more coming? Over the mountains, from the West, something is coming in a wave. Or, waves… Bryn mentioned it.”[/color]

Elay nodded as Moriah continued.

[color=0D6793]“She told me the same. What do you want, then?”[/color]

[color=15A663]“Ranger shit, please… Anything to get an idea about what's coming…”[/color] Momo's voice sounded desperate, like she was on a shoestring waiting for him to say yes.

[color=0D6793]“That's not detective work. That's dangerous, especially in the surrounding area. I need equipment.”[/color] He chided, trying to take from the scenario.

[color=15A663]“Whatever, Elay! Whatever you need to do it, just [i]fucking do it.[/i]”[/color] she snapped in turn.

[color=0D6793]“Alright, fine Moriah. But don't complain when you get the bill from Toki.”[/color]

Moriah sighed, throwing her head back.

[color=15A663]“Are you coming to Thanksgiving?”[/color]

[color=0D6793]“Maybe. We'll see.”[/color]

Then, like he'd never been on the phone, Elay clasped the machine shut and shook his head. Still staring at him, Garf could only grin.

[color=FF8604]“So… We're covered to get more food from the Trattoria?”[/color]