Aces Away

Edenridge

_{@Aces Away & @LovelyComplex
Timestamp: First Friday after the events at serpent house, two days after Mama Always Said}

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Between his hangout session with Danny and Marco on Sunday and his lunch with his mom on Wednesday, as well as spending plenty of time with JP at MSM Rye was beginning to feel settled at home once more. He’d talked to Niles through text but still hadn’t had a chance to reach out to his friend any further. Regardless, with the news he got from Danny and his list of loved ones including others affected by it, his next stop was Elisa D’Amiano. After a quick text exchange the day prior Rye waltzed up to the home of one of Danny’s older sisters on Friday afternoon, nearly a week after he’d returned home. He had bought a beautiful bouquet of Irises and asked Vannessa at Hummingbird Creations to wrap it in purple tissue paper. The door was left open, so Rye pulled open the screen door and slid inside, making sure to greet Nyx as the black and white feline twisted between his legs. He made his way to the kitchen and greeted Elisa enthusiastically.

“Elisa, sis! You have no idea how refreshing it is to see such a beautiful face,” He complimented as he pulled her into a tight hug. “I’m surrounded by them of course, but none compare to you.”

“You’re energetic,” Elisa gave an affectionate and sympathetic smile toward her brother’s best friend, holding him in a way where it felt tight, yet tender. Only moments ago she had kissed her husband who soon after took off to enjoy himself at the bar. She got time to herself and him as well. There was nothing but trust in their relationship and both enjoyed their time apart just as much as they enjoyed their time together. Before Gavriel had entered her Victorian house her husband so graciously worked on to make it into her preferred aesthetic, she had visited her two boys sleeping soundlessly.

Nothing compared to a mother’s love and Elisabetta knew she would die for these two. Come rain, come shine, they were her world. It’s funny when she thinks about it. Growing up, she wasn’t that great with kids. Or well, she was a kid herself. The last time she babysat was when she was twelve and she almost got two kids arrested. In her defense, the kids were simply a grade below her so… the age difference was a poor judgment call on the parents. She remembered they were feuding with this dumb girl across the street so she thought it was only fair to egg her house. Things escalated where the father brought a bat out and they ran away, then she made a lie to cover their tails. Unfortunately lying and saying they were walking the dog was not a bulletproof plan, seeing how they prank called the house thirty seven times in the past hour.

After that, she swore to never babysit again.

This incident was only three years after her and her family moved to Edenridge and not only was her father not happy with her but she gained a reputation as an anarchist. It also didn’t help that she was the token goth chick of all Northside. An outcast who acted like she didn’t care what anyone said about her. A rebel without a cause. A scary bitch in black. Thinking about that and how now she was a mother who would bring out the worst of herself all to protect her two little boys… it was funny really. How life worked in mysterious ways. How life made her so maternal, so aware, so paranoid for their futures. Releasing Rye, having absentmindedly ran her hand in his hair, thinking of the day Damon would grow to be someone with similar fluffy hair, Elisa grabbed the flowers away from him and took a leisurely sniff, “They’re very pretty. Thank you.” With a serene gaze of acceptance and acknowledgement, Elisa began maneuvering around her kitchen to find a vase. As she did so, she firmly asked, “Hungry? I’ve made lasagna. Thirsty? We have plenty of juice and teas.” Placing the flowers in a china vase, she glanced back at Rye and insisted, “Please, get comfy. It’s been awhile, Gavriel.”

“I will never say no to your lasagna,” Rye answered with a grin as he hopped onto the maroon velvet barstool to lean his elbows onto the black marble countertop. “Do you have grape juice? We ran out last night and I would kill for a glass.” He began tapping his fingers on the marble before he realized what he was doing and pulled his hands into his lap. “How have you been? It was hard finding time to video chat these past couple months, I’ve missed our little chats.”

Instead of answering whether or not she had grape juice, Elisa grabbed it from the fridge and poured him a glass. If there was one thing she always stocked up on it was an assortment of juices, from store bought to fruit/vegetables she juiced and put in glass storage containers. “I’ve been okay. I don’t get much of a break since I’ve been assigned to teach summer classes.” Whether kids didn’t want to stay back or they were attending class for college prep reasons, it was her job to push them to their greatness. To see that they succeed. Placing his glass in front of him, she smiled, “I missed our chats too, but I’m glad you focused on family. Family comes first.” With that, she went on to move around her kitchen and get Rye a plate of lasagna.

"Yeah, it does, but you guys are part of my family too, you know?" He responded, hands immediately wrapping around the cool glass and fingers running lines through the condensation. It was a sentiment he had shared with her many times, even before their shared experience in the cafeteria, having created a large found family on his own instead of sticking with the small one he'd grown up with, and even larger than the blended one he'd ended up in. "Especially you and Danny, you've done so much for me. I'm sorry that I didn't check in on you sooner after finding out about Momma B, but I didn't know how to approach it and I wanted to make sure you had enough free time to really talk if you needed to. Have you…been talking to anyone about it? Or do you want to?"

They've talked about many things, including -albeit shortly- their shared trauma, but Rye was well aware this was a newer territory for them both and he was never good at tip-toeing around issues. If she wanted him to drop the topic he would, but at least now she was aware that he was in on the secret and that she could lean on his shoulder if she needed.

Stopping for a moment as she placed a piece of lasagna on a plate, Elisa whispered, “So you know.” With her back facing Rye, the third Belmonte daughter frowned. If Rye knew, it was only a matter of time the whole town would know and that was something her father didn’t want. He didn’t want them to remember the image of Silvia with her cancer. He didn’t want people to see how the heart of the family was failing. He didn’t want the people of Edenridge to see a lot of things. Clearing her throat, she went back to making Rye’s plate. Once she was done, she placed the knife down and brought it to her company. “I have my husband, silly. Of course I have someone to talk to.” As soon as he was given food, she walked to the other side of the island and leaned on it. “It isn’t your job to check on me, Gavriel. You need to focus on yourself, hun’.”

“You’re starting to sound like my ma,” Gavriel laughed, turning the fork over in his hands. “I had three months to focus on myself while I was helping my savta, she’s super laid back and independent so she refused to take up a lot of my time. Gave me plenty of time to think about myself and those I love and how I want to show them. That includes you and the rest of your family, but it was always mostly you, Danny, and Momma B.” He leaned across the counter as an upbeat hip hop song played out from his dangling earbuds between them. He dropped a hand onto her wrist and gave it a gentle squeeze and a small smile. “First rule of Emergency Medics Anonymous: ‘We’re here for each other no matter what’, right?”

“Right,” Elisabetta answered before following up with a correction, “You,” She placed her free hand on top of his and began, “are like me. We wouldn’t have connected as well as we did if we weren’t kindred spirits. You’re playful and witty when you feel safe. That's a side of me my husband hasn’t seen in a while, but it’s there. Once you make up your mind on someone, you close off. Though, you might be a bit nicer than me. You have the best dry humor which only the cleverest of people have.” Removing her hand from Rye, Elisa gave a smug look, missing the days in highschool where she was a goth bitch who joked too much. “Trust me when I say you’re more like me than you realize.”

Mrs. D’Amiano clasped her hands together redirecting the focus on herself, trying to answer his question from earlier, “Well! How am I? A million dollar question right there.” She wryly laughed before darkly adding, “You know the only people without problems are those in cemeteries? I’d love for someone to say that at my funeral.”

Gavriel took the on the spot character assessment well, knowing Elisa had a very good read on him just as he had on her. Leaning back once she'd released his hands, he listened intently to her closing statement and immediately fell back into dark humor while he really processed what she said. "I mean I can start taking notes for the eulogy now if you want," he stated facetiously, miming writing something on a notepad as though his fork was the pencil. "'Elisa would like you all to know you can go screw yourselves, as she is somehow managing to have worries beyond the grave as well. That's life…and death I guess.' Does something like that sound like what you were goin' for?" He casually flipped the fork around his finger one more time before grasping it and taking a bite of his lasagna. He almost groaned at how good it tasted but restrained himself due to the intensity that the conversation held beneath the quips.

“Ooooh. I love that. You should make that a profession,” Elisa chuckled, honestly not really caring about what goes on her stone. She didn’t even care if she was buried, turned to ash, or her body went missing. Why would she care? She’d be dead. The only thing she would care about is her family doing what they need to do to come to terms with her death and keep pushing on. Absentmindedly, she started biting her nails. A nasty habit of hers she was, to this day, trying to break.

"For real though, this is a lot to be dealing with and I understand if you don't want to go any further into detail, I just want you to remember that you have more than one person in life to lean on for a reason. I'm more than willing to lend you what's left of my listening ability." Because Elisa and Gavriel went through hell together and not only survived, but teamed up to keep others alive as well. Elisa would check on Rye in the hallways during senior year on the days that he even made it into school, and once Rye graduated and had begun to settle again, they had started to meet up on the regular and talk through their shared trauma together. Rye had once deprecatingly called them Emergency Medics Anonymous during a coffee date and the little nickname had stuck between the two. Rye would do anything for Elisa to make her feel better, and he would never regret it.

Withdrawing her finger tips from her mouth, Elisa quietly observed Rye with those harsh and strikingly vibrant hazel eyes. While the colors were the softest brown infused with green, like the forest during springtime, they still held wisdom and strength beyond her years. “I never did tell you…” She straightened her posture, no longer leaning on the table, and went to get a piece of tissue from one of her counters. “Prior to that day,” She returned to the island this time beside her brother’s best friend, “I was diagnosed with postpartum depression.”

As she brought up something most of her siblings didn’t know, aside from Cat, she subconsciously started ripping the tissue into small pieces, letting it fall where it fell. “Only a month or so from that day I had given birth to my sweet, little Vince. I almost lost him.” Her gaze grew distant as she continued to tear into the paper. "Honestly, that day, I prayed I’d be the one shot dead by Decker. The emotions I was feeling were worse than death to be honest.” Dread and guilt emitted off of her, as if she was still leaving through the worst years of her life.

“Seeing little Danny Boaz…” She paused as her mind drifted in and out of a memory and Rye froze at the boy's name. Once she was able to muster the words to express her deeply rooted emotions, she explained, “I buried my grief and focused on the lives that didn’t deserve this tragic ending.” Stopping her actions, she brought her attention to Rye, finally dropping the strength. Her demeanor was small and her expression was that of sadness like raindrops on a grave. “My mom? She doesn’t deserve a slow death. She’s such an amazing human being,” Elisa admitted with a shattered heart. “I guess God thinks she’s too good for this world, but why put her through so much pain? I hate seeing my family falling apart but what I hate more is the fact that such a good woman is dying like this.”

Rye rolled his shoulders as he worked his way through his own emotions brought up by the conversation, eyes following the turn of Elisa's lips and the scrunching of her eyebrows. His own heart broke for the woman that he'd come to see as an older sister figure over the years and he pushed his plate to the side in order to lean onto the counter while facing Elisa fully so she could read him. His shoulder ached as he stretched it but he didn’t acknowledge it with anything more than a twitch of his lips. He had asked for her honest feelings and she trusted him with them. He hadn’t known anything about her depression, or the reason behind the empty look in her eyes that day they collaborated on the cafeteria floor; he couldn’t even see clearly at the time through the haze of shock and adrenaline. And to know that she had almost lost little Vince as well? All the new information lately was having him wonder how he’d missed so much with the people he deemed family.

He wasn’t the most religious, the Belmonte family already knew this, he doesn’t even go to Gardenview anymore because of the ghost of one Boaz and the shadow cast by the other. He doesn’t pretend to know much about what catholics believed either, but in times like these he wished he had accompanied the Belmontes to their church every now and then as a teen so he could speak from a place of better knowledge.

“I don’t think your God is trying to make Momma B. suffer, Lis’. She’s amazing, and incredibly strong. It’s a legend of a woman that can raise that many kids, and she put her foot down a lot. I don’t know anyone that could really tell her what to do, do you think even God could tell her when it’s her time to go,” he joked gently. “Because I’ve never met anyone that would dare rush her.” He searched Elisabetta’s face for any sign that she was understanding what he was saying or if it just seemed like a ramble. “She’s going to hold on for as long as she can to make sure her family is okay, even if it hurts her while she’s doing it. Love hurts. A lot. Maybe to her every bit of pain is worth it for the last moments she gets with all of you. To me, that means she's just as strong now as she ever was.”

He looked away then, fidgeting at his fingers and feeling as though he may have overstepped, spoken on something he shouldn’t have when he was just trying to find a small light in the darkest part of his loved ones’ lives.

“Keep that image of her forever in your heart,” Elisabetta gave Rye a weak smile, picturing her mother in the current state that she was in. On top of her mother’s demeanor changing, Silvia was tired, so very exhausted. Brushing the tissue pieces into her hand, the ones she ripped, Elisa stood up and went to the garbage. As she walked to her destination, she asked a rhetorical question, “Wouldn’t that make us the selfish ones? Too afraid to let her go?” Once the tissues were in the garbage, she shuffled to her counter against the wall and leaned her bottom against it, so that she was standing but still facing Rye. Staring off into the distance, she explained with her modulated voice, her thoughts going on in the moment, “All things fade. Flesh, stone, the stars in the sky, the past and our memories. Everything surrenders to time, including our spirits. I worry for my family but I also want my mom to rest. I want everyone to give their goodbyes while they still can. I want them to tell her it’s okay. We’re going to be okay. And thank you. Thank you for everything you’ve done for us. That, however, might be too much to ask for.”

He shifted in his seat, following Elisa’s words while forcing his own tears back. He was here to be there for her, he couldn’t start bawling now just because her words tugged at his heartstrings. For a math teacher, Elisa always did have a way with words.

“My ma always says that it’s the parent’s burden to know what your children can’t or won’t say when it comes down to it. I can’t really speak on that since I don’t have any kids of my own, but after-” He cleared his throat, leg jiggling up and down on the stool. “When I was in the hospital, I wasn’t doing well. I got angry before the rest of the emotions hit. I yelled at her a lot, tried pushing her and everyone else that visited away. I broke down crying once everything really hit and I realized what happened and what I was doing. Ma just smiled and said she already knew I didn’t mean it, that I needed to get it out and that that’s what she was there for. ‘Parents take the blows and roll with them because we’re there to be the wall. Whether you’re screaming at us or crying against us, we stay strong because we know it’s all coming from a place of love, whether you know it or not’,” he quoted her, tapping the countertop. “You can’t make your siblings do anything they aren’t ready to do. If they can’t get past themselves to say goodbye then that’s on them and it’s something that they’re going to have to carry. I’m not saying that what you want is too much to ask for as you think, I’m just saying that maybe Momma B. already knows what you all feel like you can’t say. Most people don’t give moms enough credit, as I’m sure you know by this point.”

He ended it on a bit of a joke, as he felt himself getting choked up and needed to fix that immediately before his words lost meaning. He wanted Elisa to know what his mother always made sure he knew: good mothers can know you better than you know yourself, and you may never be the wiser.

“Beautifully said, Gavriel,” Elisa complimented before approaching him and bringing him into a tender, warm, and heartfelt embrace, “You’re such a good son and I know for a fact your mother loves you with all her heart. Our love for our children is like nothing else in the world. I fell in love with my boys before I even met them.” She released her medical partner-in-crime, reminiscing of the days she cherished, the days that kept her going like fuel. She gracefully and humbly smiled, “No matter how exhausted I am, no matter how hard my day gets, my love for them keeps me going. There is no law, no pity, and no map to parenting. All that I am and I hope to be, I owe it all to my mother. Deep down, like you said, I know that’s what I am to my kids. I’m just mom. And they’ll love me for it. No matter the stages of life they live through. No matter the disagreements and fights that will inevitably happen because they’re simply growing up. I’m just mom. Being a mother is something fierce.”

As the boy stared at her with adoration, Elisa playfully pinched his cheek, “Your lasagna is getting cold.” This was enough emotion to last her a lifetime, but she was glad Rye visited her. She didn’t have many people check on her so it meant a lot to be noticed, to be seen. Elisabetta D’Amiano was a high functioning woman who never came across bothered or unwell. Though her medical records would argue otherwise. She was good at masking that all up and focusing on her family instead of herself. Moments like these truly helped her see she was only human and that from time to time she needed someone to talk to feel whole again.

She’d successfully brought the conversation to a close and even initiated their hug, so he had simply hugged her back fiercely until she pulled back and pinched his cheek, a move that reminded him so much of his mother that it left him feeling warm inside. He hoped that meant she got everything she needed from their interaction and he truly helped ease her mind a bit. Rye turned back to his food, not wanting to be rude and let it get cold as Elisa had said. In this moment, he felt like he had done enough. As he took a bite of the lasagna he hummed appreciatively, swallowing his mouthful before smiling at Elisa.

“Delicious as always,” He complimented before going back to his meal and letting the comfortable silence be taken over by the music still playing from his dangling earbuds.

Edenridge

^{Featuring Gavriel and Avigail Phillips-Shomer}
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^{Timestamp: The First Wednesday After The Events At Serpent House}

“You’ve been anxious lately,” Avigail commented to her son as they sat on the bench outside Main Street Sound. She had made a mini picnic to share on her lunch break with her two sons but JP had gotten unexpectedly busy inside the store and told them to go ahead without him, so they had left a sandwich behind for him and gotten out of the way before settling down in their current seats. “Are you doing alright?”

“As alright as I can be,” Rye answered honestly as he took a bite out of his sandwich, pulling his earbuds out and taking his time to chew slowly and swallow his food before continuing. “I mean, the letters? It’s messed up, but I was gone for most of it. I read them, and I’m definitely not going to be genuinely good for a while as you’ve already seen from my nightmare last night. But I have my family to lean on. Momma Belmonte? What am I supposed to do with that but accept it, you know? It’s completely out of my control and I was gone for most of that too. All I can do is be here now for everyone that needs me, to help where I can and take control where I’m able. If I can crack jokes and make someone smile and maybe forget how hellish their life is for a moment, I’m gonna.”

Avigail watched as her son picked at the crust of his sandwich, tossing the crumbled bits to the ground for the pigeons to pick up. She was rarely conflicted about having moved to Edenridge as a whole, but everything that has happened to her son has had her revisiting that choice more than she’d like to admit. She’d watched her son blossom, wither, and start to grow again in this community and she would be lying if she said it didn’t warm and break her heart in equal measure. Luckily, with the weekly therapy and the time away from the town, Rye had been slowly getting healthier again, recovering right along with his savta whether he knew it or not. These recent road bumps will simply be another small setback that will further his growth once dealt with. She was sure of it. She had to be.

That doesn’t mean she doesn’t need to worry about him while the setbacks occur.

“You being gone wasn’t your fault, that was out of your control and no one expected this to happen. I seem to remember you telling Danny exactly that when he came back from camp,” She pointed out, reaching out to still her son's fidgeting hands and lead the sandwich to his mouth where it belongs. Rye allowed the direction with an accepting eye roll, used to his mother bulldozing through his anxious habits to make sure he ate properly. "Remember to take time for yourself, Bubbe, I’d never tell you not to help someone but you can't be there for those you love if you wear yourself too thin."

"I know I know, I promise to be true to my own health and stay aware of my own energy levels and all that. But seriously Ma, there are a lot of people hurting right now that are going to need support and I'm actually in a place to give it again, I think," Rye leaned against his mother's side as he wiped the crumbs off his hand and onto the ground, knowing she was only worrying for his well being and loving her all the more for it. “I’m not the best listener, but I can be there for people, you know? I’m not going to develop some savior complex and burn myself out, I’m just trying to help those I love see things a little clearer. You raised me right and you raised me well, now I'm going to spread that good energy.”

They sat there in mutual silence for a moment as his mother processed his words and finished her own sandwich. She studied her son, so proud of the beautiful and strong-willed man he had become while silently lamenting what pushed him to such a point in the first place. You never really knew what you were going to get with him sometimes now. She was ashamed to admit it- even to herself- but without Robyn, JP, and the rest of their little family Avigail doesn’t know if she would have been able to bring her son back from the depths. She was amazing, but she was still just one woman, and the trauma this town creates cannot be healed by a single person. Sometimes even the physical wounds take more than just her own two steady hands.

“You’ve grown so much. And I am so proud of you and everything you’ve done,” Avigail said seriously, putting her arms around her son and dropping her cheek to the top of his head as she squeezed him tight. She then started loudly kissing his head while rocking him back and forth playfully. “My baby is a grown man now! What am I going to do once you don’t need me anymore!” she bemoaned dramatically while her son laughed and flailed along with the routine.

“You’ll still have Winnie and Mallory to harass if you really think I’ve aged out!” He laughed out as he untangled himself from his mother’s grasp. “Winnie’s not even a full eighteen yet and Mal’s only sixteen.” he scoffed.

“Don’t say that like you’re so much older,” Avigail scolded teasingly with an exaggerated eye roll. Her mission was accomplished, though, as her son was grinning again. “You can still see a pediatrician at your age, so I still get to fuss over you as much as humanly possible.”

“I don’t think that’s a real rule, but I’m gonna let it slide,” Gavriel joked as he stood up from the bench after checking his phone, turning around to reach his hand out to her. “Only because your lunch break is over and I’d hate to send you off after you just lost an argument.”

“Oof, the cheek on you, I don’t know where you get it,” Avigail accepted her son’s offered hand and rose from the bench as well with his help.

“Yeah, because how on earth could we pinpoint the biggest parental influence in my life,” Rye deadpanned. “It really must be Momma, right? She’s a well of dry humor and sarcasm.”

“Oy vey,” His mother rolled her eyes good naturedly, showing exactly where he got that move from. “Okay you brat. I’m going to leave before you decide to take back my win too. I can feel the mischief pouring off of you right now,” Avigail laughed. “Remember to take care of yourself, and I’ll see you and JP at home tonight for family game night.” She gave him a kiss before picking up her little cooler- a gift from Gavriel of course- and heading back the way she had come. “Love you!”

“Love you too, don’t accept any drugs from strangers! Only people you know!” Rye called after his mother, who raised her hand in a peace sign but otherwise did not turn around. “By god I love that woman.” He looked into the window of MSM and saw that the chaos from earlier had completely disappeared while he and his mother had their lunch, so he happily bounded back into the shop and hopped onto the counter to further harass his favorite person.

Edenridge

Creed Briteson

Name

Maliq Briteson

Nicknames

Creed, Liq, Mal

Age

21 (Feb.14)

Gender

Male

Sexuality

Bisexual, Polyamorous

Relationship Status

As single as he gets

Appearance Details

• Hair: Black | Short, curly | Typically worn short with a slight fade, more often than not under a beanie.
• Eyes: Dark Brown
• Height: 6'2
• Body Type: Athletic Fighter's build with plenty of flexibility hidden by the solid muscle.
• Clothing Style: Casual, Relaxed | Typically seen with a plain V-neck T, his Serpent Jacket, and a beanie. Pants tend to shift between stretchy jeans or cargo, typically all in neutral colors.
• Scars, Tattoos and/or Piercings: Plenty of scars all over his body from his fights, most notable are a couple from when he was doing collections and targets got a little handsy with whatever blade was around them at the time. He has full arm sleeves filled with whatever he felt like getting at the time, but there is quite obviously the Serpent's snake winding up his left forearm, and a laughing smiley face directly over his heart for Jokes. His neck up is really the only places he doesn't have tattoos. His ears are pierced and he has black studs in them at all times.

Personality Traits

Observant, Honest, Loyal, Sarcastic, Nurturing, Caring ■□ Violent, Deadly, Predatory, Uninhibited, Aloof.

Biography

Pre-Serpents

Maliq Briteson was born on a chilly Valentine’s day morning a week late according to the doctors but just on time according to his parents, who were more than happy that their child was born on the same day as the child of their best friends and life partners. Jonie Kraeter and Maliq came into the world mere hours apart, and they have been inseparable ever since. There’s something innately grounding about having someone that knows every aspect of your life just as well as you know theirs, it helps you feel as though you can handle anything coming at you. He grew up living between two households, spending just as much time next door with the Kraeters as they all spent in his home.

Growing up with parents in a polycule meant there was always enough love and support to go around, and communication of intent was important. Being more emotionally and socially aware didn’t mean that he didn’t like violence and fighting every now and then, and just like many Southies that were legacies or became Serpents young, Maliq spent a good amount of time under the school bleachers or in the principal’s office while Jonie cracked joke after joke in a poor attempt to get them out of trouble.

Maliq and Jonie’s parents had taught the two all they needed to know growing up: How to fight, how to tell if a drug has been laced or mixed, how to hide what you needed to in case the cops came by. Anything that could keep a Serpent alive and kickin’, they learned it young. The expectation was always that they would be training to take positions similar to their parents, at a lower rank of course, but still continuing the legacies. At the time it was fine that they were just training because the desperate and broken needed spots amongst the snakes, much more than two kids that already lived in a den of them, so they were content to stay back and learn. They found out the same night that it happened that Boaz and Cernis from a grade below them had joined up, already bloody before the jump-in, and they knew that the boys would do well, even a little too well, in the Life. Hell, Jonie had been the first to recommend it to the boys in the schoolyard once over a year before, but Maliq had made sure to back up the thought by mentioning it as well whenever he saw the battered boys.

Serpents to Juvie

Maliq knew he and Jonie were going to end up with the Serpents very early on in his life; his grandfather had lived and died as a serpent just as Jonie’s grandparents had. His father and both of Jonie’s parents were serpents and his mother had worked the same pole at the Edge of Sin since before he’d been born. It was in his blood as much as it was in any other Legacy’s. They weren’t expecting to join too young, perfectly fine with their rate of growth. Unfortunately for them, there were two runs back to back that went very wrong when Maliq and Jonie were halfway through their twelfth year of life. A lot of older Serpents were lost, including Maliq’s father and Jonie’s parents. After the funeral, and Maliq’s mother Kamilla completely breaking down at the thought of taking care of Maliq on her own- it had been a four person job less than a week ago, after all- Maliq and Jonie joined the Serpents officially and moved into one of the Serpent Dorms at the Edge. The Dorm across the hall from them, while not officially claimed yet, was constantly in use by Sonny Cernis and the Boaz brothers, who’s bruises had reduced only slightly, but still noticeably. Across the hall to the left was where Prof Booker lived and always had his girlfriend Findley, affectionately dubbed Fin, over. There were plenty of jokes thrown around about the Dorms being a halfway house for troubled youth. It only got worse when Callum Branson and Oliver Tomlinson started hanging around in everyone’s rooms despite having their own homes and families to return to, and Prof’s cousins joined up as well. The younger members of the crew steadily grew.

The nicknames came first, courtesy of the two youngest and most obnoxious snakes in the crew. Decky Boaz was Boa, Sonny went by Sunshine despite being anything but, Callum became Ransom the collector, Oliver’s affinity for fire and liquor got him dubbed Molotov within six hours of meeting. Molotov's adoptive brother Chase became known as TNT for his explosive temper. Ducaleon and Dolce Booker became Duke and Dutchess. Jonie’s horrible sense of humor had him dubbed as Jokes, while Maliq’s propensity for fighting and enforcement had the boys slapping him with Creed. After that it was all they were known as, and the crew quickly became their own dysfunctional family with interwoven dynamics and relationships.

Creed continued to do his duty as diligently as always, and aside from some close calls the next few years were steady. He continued to check in on his mom with Jokes and eventually she was able to find her way out of her depressive rut. Any time he wasn’t spending directly with his crew went into helping his mother rebuild the way he and Jokes had been able to help each other when their support network disappeared. Kamilla got back to work at the Edge, bartending now that she struggled to find passion but happy with her ability to get back to work all the same. She started being the one to cook again and invite them and the rest of the crew over for a meal every now and then. Creed was starting to feel great, his best friend was still always at his side, his mother had a spark back in her soul, and his crew was a well-found family. Everything was good.

Until the Fear Gorta started puffing out their chests and stepping onto Serpent territory. He was fourteen and a half when they hit his corner and his world exploded into chaos. He and Jokes protected each other’s backs but they couldn’t get to the others, and by the time they were being shoved into the back of a paddy wagon Prof was being lifted into an ambulance with his wrist cuffed to the gurney. Prof’s cousins Duke and Dutchess had just disappeared in the distance when Ransom got tossed in, grinning bloody at the officer that did the tossing, his hand in a temporary brace. According to him, one of the Gorta had been aiming a bat at Dutchess’ head and he intercepted it just in time and then worked with Duke to get Dutchess away safe when they heard the sirens. When prodded for more information, the boy went tight-lipped and curled over his injured hand for the rest of the ride while realization dawned on the crew and they made light of the situation by teasing Ransom for being whipped.

Sonny and Boaz becoming sexually active had been one of the worst things in the dorm boy’s lives, what with how close everyones quarters were, and Creed was almost relieved when his and Jonie’s cell was all the way at the other end of the corridor. Poor Prof got crammed into the cell with Decky and Sonny, so it was either a blessing or a curse that the two younger boys usually shared a bed anyways. After the initial retaliation at the beginning of their stint, most of their time was spent keeping their heads down and going to visitation. After Boaz got stabbed, every one of them was spending more time crammed together into one cell, and just like in the dorms there was plenty of good mood upheld between them. Juvie wouldn’t break the likes of them.

Freedom to Present

When they got out, after Boa’s anticlimactic reunion with Hard Times at the party, things went back to normal for Creed as he fell back into fighting at The Pit, running the drugs, being the muscle, and ignoring his P.O.’s warnings about skipping school. That poor lady was too overworked to actually even check on him most times. He made extra money on the side winning fights to pay for Jokes’ ridiculous concert obsession that the other boy dragged him along to every time.

It was September of his Senior year and he was dealing at a Northie party when one Natalia Belmonte- Junior, athletic, Northie, flexible- caught his eye. He didn’t make too much that night, and he definitely paid for it later, but it was the start of an amazing relationship between not just the two of them, but eventually Jokes as well. Boa and Hard Times were jumped out- for very different reasons- around the same time that Creed started seeing Natalia, and Creed is ashamed to admit he let the black sheep slip out of his mind once he was no longer a Serpent. He was always more of Boa’s friend, his vouch, never really finding his place among his Serpent brothers. Natalia and Jokes took up much of his time during the school year, and Creed even had the odd experience of meeting Mr. Belmonte and gaining his approval. Despite having ended the relationship for Nat’s safety nine months in when the streets started to get a little too hot, Creed and Jokes still love the Belmonte girl and will run to her if needed. Those nine months were some of the happiest both of them had been since their family had been whole.

He was working the corner when word about the shooting reached them, and all the Serpents around made their way into the den to watch the news as the victims- both injured and worse- poured across the screen. He watched Sunshine willingly go Northside for the first time ever in order to rush to the hospital to watch over Boa while Creed and the rest of the Haze/Carlisle crew made their way to Phil’s just over the tracks, knowing the man would be the one to make the arrangements for young Danny Boaz.

Creed spent a lot of time after Boaz left town picking Sunshine up from wherever he had passed out and getting him to bed in his new Lost Souls apartment, once again across the hall from Creed and Jokes but now much emptier. Creed watched with Prof, Fin, and Jokes as their younger crewmates fell apart, calmly collecting them and putting them back together until they stopped breaking so often. Even once out of the Serpents, the Boaz brothers had been an integral part of their family and lives. When everyone else had been put back together, Creed and Jokes would hold each other in the quiet and dark and finally allow themselves to break too.

He’s spent the last year as the reigning Serpent Champion at The Pit and enforcing for Ransom while he does his collections. The letters and Boa’s return, Natalia coming back into their lives, all the fallout from that…it was unfortunate but true that it was just another day in Edenridge to him. He was there to clean up the messes that come after. His most recent job however has been to keep an extra eye on a certain Serpent royal and her son, and to protect them however he needs to. After having worked to settle his crew’s chaos once more, he was more than willing to put his focus into something new.

Family

Jonie "Jokes" Kraeter- Soul Brother - Age 21 - FC: Booboo Stewart
Tama "Thunder" Kraeter nee Namasket - Second Mother - Forever 32 (would've been 41) - FC: Q'orianka Kilcher
Kamilla "Caramel" Briteson nee Grayson - Biological Mother - Age 40 - FC: Lisa Bonet
Quintel "Intel" Briteson - Biological Father - Forever 33 (would've been 42) - FC: Lakieth Stanfield
Zeti "Slick" Kraeter - Second Father - Forever 32 (would've been 41) - FC: Ludi Lin

Misc.

Jordan Calloway | 104E09
Theme Song is That's Love by Oddisee

• Creed is an exceptional fighter, and helped teach most of the current Serpents below him how to fight with actual form.
• Creed and Jokes have always been in a relationship without actually being in one. Many times this has become an issue with someone else Creed would see, and he still doesn't quite understand the jealousy.
• Despite being the fighter, Creed's a nurturer at heart and will always check up on his Serpent brothers and sisters.
• The second most levelheaded of the Crew after Prof.
• Always down for a little fun despite being one of the mature ones.

Edenridge

@Venus Yeah we just followin da rulez 😤

Edenridge

@BrutalBx@Venus

Creed Briteson

Name

Maliq Briteson

Nicknames

Creed, Liq, Mal

Age

21 (Feb.14)

Gender

Male

Sexuality

Bisexual, Polyamorous

Relationship Status

As single as he gets

Appearance Details

• Hair: Black | Short, curly | Typically worn short with a slight fade, more often than not under a beanie.
• Eyes: Dark Brown
• Height: 6'2
• Body Type: Athletic Fighter's build with plenty of flexibility hidden by the solid muscle.
• Clothing Style: Casual, Relaxed | Typically seen with a plain V-neck T, his Serpent Jacket, and a beanie. Pants tend to shift between stretchy jeans or cargo, typically all in neutral colors.
• Scars, Tattoos and/or Piercings: Plenty of scars all over his body from his fights, most notable are a couple from when he was doing collections and targets got a little handsy with whatever blade was around them at the time. He has full arm sleeves filled with whatever he felt like getting at the time, but there is quite obviously the Serpent's snake winding up his left forearm, and a laughing smiley face directly over his heart for Jokes. His neck up is really the only places he doesn't have tattoos. His ears are pierced and he has black studs in them at all times.

Personality Traits

Observant, Honest, Loyal, Sarcastic, Nurturing, Caring ■□ Violent, Deadly, Predatory, Uninhibited, Aloof.

Biography

Pre-Serpents

Maliq Briteson was born on a chilly Valentine’s day morning a week late according to the doctors but just on time according to his parents, who were more than happy that their child was born on the same day as the child of their best friends and life partners. Jonie Kraeter and Maliq came into the world mere hours apart, and they have been inseparable ever since. There’s something innately grounding about having someone that knows every aspect of your life just as well as you know theirs, it helps you feel as though you can handle anything coming at you. He grew up living between two households, spending just as much time next door with the Kraeters as they all spent in his home.

Growing up with parents in a polycule meant there was always enough love and support to go around, and communication of intent was important. Being more emotionally and socially aware didn’t mean that he didn’t like violence and fighting every now and then, and just like many Southies that were legacies or became Serpents young, Maliq spent a good amount of time under the school bleachers or in the principal’s office while Jonie cracked joke after joke in a poor attempt to get them out of trouble.

Maliq and Jonie’s parents had taught the two all they needed to know growing up: How to fight, how to tell if a drug has been laced or mixed, how to hide what you needed to in case the cops came by. Anything that could keep a Serpent alive and kickin’, they learned it young. The expectation was always that they would be training to take positions similar to their parents, at a lower rank of course, but still continuing the legacies. At the time it was fine that they were just training because the desperate and broken needed spots amongst the snakes, much more than two kids that already lived in a den of them, so they were content to stay back and learn. They found out the same night that it happened that Boaz and Cernis from a grade below them had joined up, already bloody before the jump-in, and they knew that the boys would do well, even a little too well, in the Life. Hell, Jonie had been the first to recommend it to the boys in the schoolyard once over a year before, but Maliq had made sure to back up the thought by mentioning it as well whenever he saw the battered boys.

Serpents to Juvie

Maliq knew he and Jonie were going to end up with the Serpents very early on in his life; his grandfather had lived and died as a serpent just as Jonie’s grandparents had. His father and both of Jonie’s parents were serpents and his mother had worked the same pole at the Edge of Sin since before he’d been born. It was in his blood as much as it was in any other Legacy’s. They weren’t expecting to join too young, perfectly fine with their rate of growth. Unfortunately for them, there were two runs back to back that went very wrong when Maliq and Jonie were halfway through their twelfth year of life. A lot of older Serpents were lost, including Maliq’s father and Jonie’s parents. After the funeral, and Maliq’s mother Kamilla completely breaking down at the thought of taking care of Maliq on her own- it had been a four person job less than a week ago, after all- Maliq and Jonie joined the Serpents officially and moved into one of the Serpent Dorms at the Edge. The Dorm across the hall from them, while not officially claimed yet, was constantly in use by Sonny Cernis and the Boaz brothers, who’s bruises had reduced only slightly, but still noticeably. Across the hall to the left was where Prof Booker lived and always had his girlfriend Findley, affectionately dubbed Fin, over. There were plenty of jokes thrown around about the Dorms being a halfway house for troubled youth. It only got worse when Callum Branson and Oliver Tomlinson started hanging around in everyone’s rooms despite having their own homes and families to return to, and Prof’s cousins joined up as well. The younger members of the crew steadily grew.

The nicknames came first, courtesy of the two youngest and most obnoxious snakes in the crew. Decky Boaz was Boa, Sonny went by Sunshine despite being anything but, Callum became Ransom the collector, Oliver’s affinity for fire and liquor got him dubbed Molotov within six hours of meeting. Molotov's adoptive brother Chase became known as TNT for his explosive temper. Ducaleon and Dolce Booker became Duke and Dutchess. Jonie’s horrible sense of humor had him dubbed as Jokes, while Maliq’s propensity for fighting and enforcement had the boys slapping him with Creed. After that it was all they were known as, and the crew quickly became their own dysfunctional family with interwoven dynamics and relationships.

Creed continued to do his duty as diligently as always, and aside from some close calls the next few years were steady. He continued to check in on his mom with Jokes and eventually she was able to find her way out of her depressive rut. Any time he wasn’t spending directly with his crew went into helping his mother rebuild the way he and Jokes had been able to help each other when their support network disappeared. Kamilla got back to work at the Edge, bartending now that she struggled to find passion but happy with her ability to get back to work all the same. She started being the one to cook again and invite them and the rest of the crew over for a meal every now and then. Creed was starting to feel great, his best friend was still always at his side, his mother had a spark back in her soul, and his crew was a well-found family. Everything was good.

Until the Fear Gorta started puffing out their chests and stepping onto Serpent territory. He was fourteen and a half when they hit his corner and his world exploded into chaos. He and Jokes protected each other’s backs but they couldn’t get to the others, and by the time they were being shoved into the back of a paddy wagon Prof was being lifted into an ambulance with his wrist cuffed to the gurney. Prof’s cousins Duke and Dutchess had just disappeared in the distance when Ransom got tossed in, grinning bloody at the officer that did the tossing, his hand in a temporary brace. According to him, one of the Gorta had been aiming a bat at Dutchess’ head and he intercepted it just in time and then worked with Duke to get Dutchess away safe when they heard the sirens. When prodded for more information, the boy went tight-lipped and curled over his injured hand for the rest of the ride while realization dawned on the crew and they made light of the situation by teasing Ransom for being whipped.

Sonny and Boaz becoming sexually active had been one of the worst things in the dorm boy’s lives, what with how close everyones quarters were, and Creed was almost relieved when his and Jonie’s cell was all the way at the other end of the corridor. Poor Prof got crammed into the cell with Decky and Sonny, so it was either a blessing or a curse that the two younger boys usually shared a bed anyways. After the initial retaliation at the beginning of their stint, most of their time was spent keeping their heads down and going to visitation. After Boaz got stabbed, every one of them was spending more time crammed together into one cell, and just like in the dorms there was plenty of good mood upheld between them. Juvie wouldn’t break the likes of them.

Freedom to Present

When they got out, after Boa’s anticlimactic reunion with Hard Times at the party, things went back to normal for Creed as he fell back into fighting at The Pit, running the drugs, being the muscle, and ignoring his P.O.’s warnings about skipping school. That poor lady was too overworked to actually even check on him most times. He made extra money on the side winning fights to pay for Jokes’ ridiculous concert obsession that the other boy dragged him along to every time.

It was September of his Senior year and he was dealing at a Northie party when one Natalia Belmonte- Junior, athletic, Northie, flexible- caught his eye. He didn’t make too much that night, and he definitely paid for it later, but it was the start of an amazing relationship between not just the two of them, but eventually Jokes as well. Boa and Hard Times were jumped out- for very different reasons- around the same time that Creed started seeing Natalia, and Creed is ashamed to admit he let the black sheep slip out of his mind once he was no longer a Serpent. He was always more of Boa’s friend, his vouch, never really finding his place among his Serpent brothers. Natalia and Jokes took up much of his time during the school year, and Creed even had the odd experience of meeting Mr. Belmonte and gaining his approval. Despite having ended the relationship for Nat’s safety nine months in when the streets started to get a little too hot, Creed and Jokes still love the Belmonte girl and will run to her if needed. Those nine months were some of the happiest both of them had been since their family had been whole.

He was working the corner when word about the shooting reached them, and all the Serpents around made their way into the den to watch the news as the victims- both injured and worse- poured across the screen. He watched Sunshine willingly go Northside for the first time ever in order to rush to the hospital to watch over Boa while Creed and the rest of the Haze/Carlisle crew made their way to Phil’s just over the tracks, knowing the man would be the one to make the arrangements for young Danny Boaz.

Creed spent a lot of time after Boaz left town picking Sunshine up from wherever he had passed out and getting him to bed in his new Lost Souls apartment, once again across the hall from Creed and Jokes but now much emptier. Creed watched with Prof, Fin, and Jokes as their younger crewmates fell apart, calmly collecting them and putting them back together until they stopped breaking so often. Even once out of the Serpents, the Boaz brothers had been an integral part of their family and lives. When everyone else had been put back together, Creed and Jokes would hold each other in the quiet and dark and finally allow themselves to break too.

He’s spent the last year as the reigning Serpent Champion at The Pit and enforcing for Ransom while he does his collections. The letters and Boa’s return, Natalia coming back into their lives, all the fallout from that…it was unfortunate but true that it was just another day in Edenridge to him. He was there to clean up the messes that come after. His most recent job however has been to keep an extra eye on a certain Serpent royal and her son, and to protect them however he needs to. After having worked to settle his crew’s chaos once more, he was more than willing to put his focus into something new.

Family

Jonie "Jokes" Kraeter- Soul Brother - Age 21 - FC: Booboo Stewart
Tama "Thunder" Kraeter nee Namasket - Second Mother - Forever 32 (would've been 41) - FC: Q'orianka Kilcher
Kamilla "Caramel" Briteson nee Grayson - Biological Mother - Age 40 - FC: Lisa Bonet
Quintel "Intel" Briteson - Biological Father - Forever 33 (would've been 42) - FC: Lakieth Stanfield
Zeti "Slick" Kraeter - Second Father - Forever 32 (would've been 41) - FC: Ludi Lin

Misc.

Jordan Calloway | 104E09
Theme Song is That's Love by Oddisee

• Creed is an exceptional fighter, and helped teach most of the current Serpents below him how to fight with actual form.
• Creed and Jokes have always been in a relationship without actually being in one. Many times this has become an issue with someone else Creed would see, and he still doesn't quite understand the jealousy.
• Despite being the fighter, Creed's a nurturer at heart and will always check up on his Serpent brothers and sisters.
• The second most levelheaded of the Crew after Prof.
• Always down for a little fun despite being one of the mature ones.

Edenridge

<sup>@metanoia@LovelyComplex@Aces Away
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▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄▀▄</sup>

Rye looked at the pot in front of him on the stove, already half filled with ingredients and steaming. He should have had the thought that just crossed his mind about an hour ago when he started the process of making the soup, but he had been preoccupied with seeing his family again and spending time in their presence. It was getting pretty late, and Rye swayed back and forth to the music playing from the kitchen speaker as he tried to figure out what to do, but one hand was in the middle of pulling chicken from the bone and his other was soon to join it.

He absolutely hated phone calls. He knew it was a necessary part of life but reading text was just so much easier. His comprehension over a phone call was shit and he always had to ask people to repeat themselves. But alas, his hands were going to be busy and he needed to ask Danny this question before he proceeded.

He used his free hand to scroll through his phone and pick Danny’s contact, tapping the call option. He continued humming to the music as he waited for Danny to pick up but frowned when the call was answered, Danny's heavy breathing on the other side. Huh.

“Yo, everything ok there bro? You're sounding like an asthmatic.”

More often than not Rye called when it was something important so the likelihood of Danny not picking up was unlikely because he knew how his best friend got with his anxiety. He was planning on calling him when he got back home but he didn’t expect things to get so heated. After kissing Marco’s neck and the back of his head, running his right hand through his lover’s hair, Danny listened to his phone go off. Subconsciously, the Italian boy reached for the phone and answered it, making sure to slip his right hand in front of Marco’s mouth, “Just… in bed, man. Just… sweating. I’m okay.”

The curly haired man tried not to pout, knowing it would do no good with the video option turned off. Danny was a horrible liar. The way he spoke changed, the way he texted changed, the way he moved changed if you were actually looking at him. Danny was telling the truth right now, but he was keeping enough unsaid that his voice had dropped into liar territory.

"Just…sweating," he repeated slowly, crinkling his nose. "My man, you sweat like daily on your runs. You have headlocked me into your sweaty armpit before," he continued his task while trying not to think about how weird this behavior was for Danny, dropping the chicken pieces into the pot before going back to repeat the task once more. But, this was his best friend. Whatever Danny's reason, Rye would fall back and give the other man the benefit of the doubt. "Tell the truth, you're all gross and pale from being sick and you're embarrassed to show your face, even to lil' ol' me. I get it, I've seen you without your beauty sleep before and frankly it gave me nightmares. So I guess you're really protecting both of us here, you're always so thoughtful," he rambled, hands keeping busy with the soup as words fell from his lips at a rapid pace. "Anyways, I realized I didn't know how many of you guys were sick and I'm making soup, I'm using the twelve quart pot but I can bump it up to the twenty quart if needed. I should've asked before I started but you know me. At least I always get extra ingredients too."

There was a light chuckle on the end, not coming from Danny, causing the Italian boy to pull away from his phone and hush something (someone). Going back to the phone, hoping Rye’s hearing disability would be in his favor, Danny gave a fake cough and breathed, “Just me, right now.” Yes, Danny was lying and part of him knew Rye was aware but telling his best friend at this moment that his family was falling apart and he went to give closure to his ex, which led to him being on top of him now was a handful to say. At the time he said he couldn’t pick Rye up, he had just left the house with Natalia and was heading over to the Castillo-Brady house. “I will eat all the soup though.” Danny reassured, his breathing was no longer heavy, which meant he was slowing down to focus on Rye.

Rye's stirring slowed down after the muffled noise that came before Danny's response, the suspicions he'd been trying to push away all but confirmed. He had no idea who Danny was with, but he was definitely not sweating because he was sick. Shaking his head, Rye covered the pot as if cutting off his own bubbling thoughts.

"Okay, I'll hold you to that. I'm coming over tomorrow morning bright and early. We can chat, catch up on everything I missed, I can kick your ass in a game of Mario Kart," Rye took in a breath before continuing, "and of course you can tell me about this little friend of yours." Because he couldn't, he couldn't let Danny off entirely scott free, not without a little barb to remind the other man that he isn't stupid and that he is only letting the incident slide in the present moment. "'Til then, get some rest. Good night. And goodnight to you're mysterious friend too."

The other side was silent. It was clear that Rye had stunned his best friend. Stuttering, Danny eventually spoke, “Y-yeah, okay.. See you t-then.” And then the line went dead.

---

The following morning, Sunday morning, Danny feigned sickness so he could skip out of Sunday mass. His family didn’t care either way since each of them were heated/upset for obvious reasons. Plus, they all went to Italian mass for the babies’ baptism yesterday. He did his weekend duty. First, he visited his mother, Danny came out distraught but brought his head back in the game. Rye was coming over! While Marco was in his bedroom setting up Mario Kart because that was of the things Rye demanded, Danny was downstairs preparing a charcuterie board. He was no chef but he could at least cut fruit, meat, cheese, as well as place nuts, chocolate, crackers, and dips on a board. Nina taught him how to make it look aesthetically pleasing and absolutely to die for.

After the phone call, Danny panicked. He dragged Marco out of the house and they went grocery shopping at Walmart, since that was still open late at night. He needed to give Rye the proper welcome back party for three. On top of snack foods, he decorated his bedroom with lavender, pink, and white streamers, lavender, silver, and gold balloons, and a glittery gold sign that said ‘welcome home’. The marble cake might’ve been overkill but he got cake too.

As swift as a cheetah, he rushed upstairs to put the charcuterie board on the small fold up table (with a lavender table cloth on it, of course) he placed by his window. He even went out of his way to adjust his whole room so there was more floor space. Danny’s bedroom was a combination of a sports maniac (focused on basketball mostly), a Jordans fanatic, with a burst of geekdom, which happened around junior year. Marco basically opened the gates for Danilo to get into Marvel and funko pops.Hearing the doorbell, Danny pulled Marco up from setting Mario Kart, pulling him in a deep kiss before rushing downstairs. In front of the entrance, straightening his posture, inhaling in, and then out, he opened the door. With a wide, childish grin, he greeted his best friend, “RYE! Hey, man!!!”

Rye grinned at Danny, forearms supporting a large Tupperware container with enough soup for several servings. His earbuds were hung around his neck and there was a fast paced funk beat pouring from them now that they were out of his ears.

"Danny! I missed you so much dude, there was no one to tell me random sports facts that I'll never remember or remind me to take a breath during my rambling. Savta Miriam is great and all but she doesn't give off jock best friend vibes, y'know?" Rye greeted as he stumbled through the doorway after his friend, already feeling his shoulders relaxing in his presence.

“Yeah, it’s really good to see you. You have no idea how much I missed you.” It’s true even if Danny bailed on Rye the night prior. “Sorry about last night. I’ll explain… but first, let me take the soup from you. I’ll get some bowls ready. You can head upstairs. How’s that sound?” Without waiting for a response, Danny tugged the tupperware out of Rye’s hands, taking initiative so his dear friend could see the surprise he prepared in his bedroom as soon as possible. The air started smelling like smoke and soon after the oven started going off crazy. Danny came to realize he burnt the goddamn cookies. “Yeah, go upstairs. I’ll be there soon!”

Rye laughed at Danny's plight as the larger man rushed away to the kitchen, following his orders and heading upstairs to his bedroom with a parting shot of, "This is why we can't have nice things, Belmonte!"

He was shaking his head fondly as he threw the door open, only to catch his breath at the setup in Danny's room. The other man had decked the place out in his favorite color, even going as far as to get a banner and his favorite cake as well, by the looks of it. He had no idea how early the Italian man had to wake up to get this all ready, but he felt a bit of vindictive pleasure at the thought of him scrambling madly to set this up.

"Okay, I see you Belmonte, you sentimental, cheesy son of a bitch. You're forgiven." He said to himself in a tight voice, eyes going a bit misty at his friend's efforts. He let his eyes wander across the rest of the decorations before his eyes landed on Danny's bed. Or rather, the person on Danny's bed.

"Oh, uh, hey man! M…Marco. It's, uh, been a long time," Rye fumbled, suddenly off balance by the other presence. "Did you help with this? It's pretty dope dude."

When Danny ran off after giving him the best kiss since…the last time he kissed him like that, Marco had taken it upon himself to make sure everything was perfect. Mobility was limited for him and especially since he had been exhausted since last night, he made sure Mario Kart was set up on the Switch, the three controllers set up perfectly in front of the desk the TV rested on. As the upbeat sounds of the title screen played in the background and Marco heard footsteps come towards the room, he moved as fast as a crippled lion, and took a spot on the bed, sitting there as still as he could. When the door swung open with a reasonable amount of force, he smiled as Rye greeted him.

“Hola!” Marco said, flashing his pearly whites at Rye. He couldn’t remember the last time he had seen him. It’s definitely been a hot minute. “Yeah, I helped with what I could. Danny, he, uh..asked if I could help him with the decorations. Oh and made sure I had Mario Kart all set up.” Marco gestured to the gaming area as the Mario Kart title screen lingered. “How’ve ya been?”

The fact that Marco was here, that he knew about the Mario Kart comment and was beaming in a way Rye hadn’t seen since highschool, finally clicked in Rye’s brain as he let out a surprised laugh. Looks like whatever happened with Danny last night really was going to be a good story. Marco was one of the last people Rye expected to be in Danny’s bedroom, but he couldn’t say he was exactly stressed over it either. Marco leveled Danny out back in highschool, Rye wasn’t blind to that no matter how much he pretended to be. When your best friend’s whole body language changes as he talks about his other friend and he suddenly starts acting more human than jock stereotype, a guy tends to take notice. But Danny had fears and those were valid no matter how much he had wished to drag his best friend out of the closet, so Rye always acted like he had no idea who Danny would sneak off to see back then.

It looks like the days of turning a blind eye were about to be over.

“So it was you,” Rye grinned, a teasing glint in his eye as he moved in a little closer. “It was about fucking time I mean holy shit. I’m never gonna stop roasting him. Over two fucking years,” He shook his head. “It’s good to see you around, buddy, you better prepare to get your ass beat in Mario Kart. Who do you main, Yoshi?”

“I’m not sure…” Marco was making an attempt to deny it, but seeing Rye’s face, hearing what he said, it became obvious to the sometimes oblivious son of a detective that there was no point to try and save face. It was out of the closet. “I’m not so sure about that. I’ve put in a lot of hours into it. And aren’t you rusty?” Marco teased back. Since the weight was off his shoulders, he could actually relax for a change. “Also Bowser. He has a castle, my ma’s maiden name means castle. So I rock the King of the Turtles with the castle.” Something that Rye probably didn’t know (only Danny) was he always went with Bowser because he had a castle and Lanie’s nickname for him was Castle.

Rye laughed, dropping down beside Marco and giving him his full attention. “Believe it or not, in between episodes of Judge Judy my Savta Miriam is a killer Princess Peach mainer. I’m a DK Jr. kind of guy but I’ve been known to dabble with Koopa Troopa. You should always be wary when someone can just switch it up. But I guess if I went Koopa that would technically make you my boss.”

“Guess I should say bow to the--”

Entering the room, with a tray holding three bowls of soup and a plate of burnt cookies, Danny’s smile was wide but full of anxiety. He was quick to place the tray on the side table. Once he was done, he made his way beside Marco and pulled him to his side, looking at Rye and then looking at his feet, “Gavriel, this is my… boyfriend.” It was clear Danny struggled saying this, but if he wanted to be the best man he could be for his boyfriend, he had to get used to it. “And don’t judge me, but I main Peach.”

Rye grinned at Danny and Marco, happy to be there in the moment and to be trusted. “Of course he is you fucking dope, and I always knew you and savta got along too well when you talked on the face chats, now I know it’s because you were both Peach stans.” There was no judgment, nothing but acceptance and warmth in his eyes as he stared at his friend and his boyfriend. “Welcome out of the closet bro, how’s the fresh air?”

“Not fresh yet.” Danny rested his hand on his neck, his nervous tick, before taking a seat and grabbing a controller, “This is going to be a long full disclosure, but come on. I’ll kick both of your asses and tell you how my life is.”

“Yeah, you wish. I think you were just planning on poisoning me with those cookies if I didn’t take things well,” Rye replied, turning to grab a controller himself. “Let’s start off on Rainbow Road if you wanna talk so much shit, Belmonte.”

“You’d be surprised,” Danny chuckled, as he leaned in to kiss Marco on the cheek, “I’ve practiced.”

“Oh, gag me, you two are gonna be all gross and cute.”

Sarcastically, Danny scoffed, “Says you! I’ve seen you go tongue deep in JP. I think it’s my time to show some PDA in front of you.”

“Oh so it’s revenge? Getting petty on me? It’s not a good color on you,” Rye goaded as the countdown began on the screen. “You should have been taking notes all those times, because the things that JP can do with his tongue I mean-”

“Has he gagged you yet? You know, since you said ‘gag me’.” Danny clapped back.

“Oh yeah, things that man can do with rope is just amazing, I’m sure he’d be willing to give you some pointers.” Rye shot back with a wink, almost missing the que to take off. He concentrated on the game for a quick moment before returning to their banter. “If you have any questions make sure to come to us, it’s important to practice proper bdsm etiquette. For instance, you two should pick a safe word.”

Marco felt extremely out of place and was feeling borderline uncomfortable. He never saw this side of Danny before and surely didn’t know Rye well enough to know if this was normal behavior or not. “Uh…Danny is actually very…mindful. We..uh..haven’t needed a safe word..” Heat rushed all around his body and centered to his face as he felt his cheeks get hot.

“Oh shit, dude,” Rye laughed, double taking at Marco’s flustered look. “We’re totally joking around, yanking each other’s chains, don’t stress!”

Danny gave his best friend a quick glare that read ‘too fast', earning an apologetic quirk of the lips from the energetic man, and immediately afterwards brought his attention to Marco, “Sorry, Puppy. We’ll chill.” Bringing his gaze back to the screen, he went on racing with Princess Peach. He needed to focus if he was going to beat these two, “Anyways, long story short Rye, Charlie Decker’s diary is getting sent out to everybody in town, that’s kind of what brought me and Marco back together. My family is fucked. Vivia is sleeping with Reyrey. Tiff slept with Father Joe. Cat is drowning her issues with alcohol. Mom’s dying with cancer and that’s causing all my family to go crazy. But on the brightside! This has brought me and Natalia back together, sorta? And also I was able to tell Marco I loved him. So not all bad, right?”

Rye had stayed pretty steady against Danny’s stream of information, but the mention of momma Belmonte dying had his fingers stumbling, the lack of attention sending his Koopa right off the side of the bridge. Silvia was like a third mother to him, and it wasn’t at all easy to hear that her time in this world was far more limited than it had any right to be. As his character was set back down on the track, Rye took some deep breaths and registered the rest of what Danny had told him.

“Jesus, I leave town for one minute and shit starts falling apart at the seams,” He joked weakly, hitting Peach with a green shell and tearing into second place behind Bowser. “I’m glad you and Natalia are getting closer, I know she never liked me but I always hoped you guys would talk things through. And of course finally getting your head out of your ass with Marco is definitely a bonus.” He winked at said man just as he bumped into his cart on screen. “I finally have someone to actually compete with, for one.”

As Marco maintained first place (though Rye was hot on his ass, especially with him bumping the back of his cart), he glanced over at Rye for a quick second, once again getting flushed when he winked. “Says the guy currently in second place.” There was always a part of Marco that regretted maining Bowser because he wasn’t the fastest, but he was a battering ram. “Now if only you’d stop trying to fuck the poor king’s ass.” Uh oh, Mac Attack was coming out, which meant bad news for Rye.

“Yeah, only I can do that.” Danny muttered, as he was in last place. See the thing he learned about this game, it wasn’t about keeping first place. He would know. Danny tried so hard to be like Mike in high school, trying to stand high on a pedestal, to fly so he could touch the net. This feeling where he didn’t care if he won or lost, simply enjoying himself, was a feeling he lived for. Better than any game he won in the past. He was in a room with his boyfriend and best friend, finally, as himself. In the court, sure, he was good, but here, he was at his best. As if lady luck was on his side, Danny got a blue shell. Staying quiet, as the two boys he loved bickered with one another, he tossed it and went on overdrive, pushing his competition off until he was right on both of their tails.

“A proper servant is a man of many talents,” Rye retorted, sticking his tongue out to concentrate on getting Koopa around Marco only to cry out when both him and the light haired man spun out from the blue shell. “You heathen! It’s fucking on now, asshole, just you watch.”

“Noooo! Not the blue shell!” Marco cried out dramatically. Rainbow Road was a bitch and so was that blue shell. Marco loved it when he used it but hated it when it was used on him. “I’m coming for that peach. Boyfriend or not, you’ll understand why he’s called BOWser.” When the King of the Shell-People reappeared on screen, Marco was like a shark out for blood.

Unbeknownst to the boys, the family was returning from church. Most of Danny’s siblings had their own houses (or did things after church) so the only people that returned were his father and little sister. The boys were deep in their race when the door abruptly opened, “DANILO BELMONTE WHAT IS GOING--” Taz had slammed the door open causing the jock to jump up, drop his controller, and stand at ease.

When the man of the house noticed his son was having a hangout with his friends and noticed Rye back, especially taking note of all the atrocious colored decor, Taz apologized, “Oh, sorry. Sorry. Didn’t know my son was having people over.” Taz had already forgotten of Danny’s white lie of being sick to get out of church. “Good to see you two. It’s been awhile! Welcome, welcome.” The Italian man went from pleasant to stern in a heartbeat, “Danny keep it down, your mother is sleeping. We don’t need a repeat of last night, you hear?”

“Yes, father.”

“Make sure you clean this up when they leave. Gavriel, welcome home, say hi to your mothers, and Marco, let us know when your family is hosting the next event.” And with that, Taz closed the door behind him. All three boys lost the game. Danny fell back on his bed covering his face with his arm from the stress.

“Jesus, bit of a close one there. I didn’t even hear the front door,” Rye puffed out, falling backwards next to Danny. “Your dad just gave me a heart attack and whiplash in less than ten seconds,” the controller that had flown out of Rye’s hand upon Taz’s entrance was left abandoned on the floor as he stared up at the ceiling. “How ‘bout you, Marco, all good?”

Because he wasn’t an asshole, and if Taz had sent his heart jack-rabbiting like his own father used to when he yelled then he was damn well going to check on the person sensitive enough to help Danny develop his current personality.

Marco was no stranger to suddenly loud voices. His parents were…passionate in how they spoke sometimes and when they thought he couldn’t hear them they went ham, but he did. Even still, what literally just happened was somehow different. He had completely froze in place. And when Taz left, the third controller joined the floor and all Marco could think about, all of whatever energy he could spare, was fixated on his boyfriend. He laid opposite of him, hands caressing Danny’s shoulder in an almost soothing, comforting way. “I’ll be fine…” He said in response to Rye, though clearly his main priority right now was trying to help his boyfriend feel better in whatever way he could.

“Babe, it’s okay he’s gone…” Marco whispered to his love.

Danny couldn’t respond right now. All he knew was he still needed a lot of courage to build up before he came clean to his entire family, especially his father. Instead of responding, he adjusted his position so his arms were wrapped around both his boyfriend and best friend. Turning his head first to Marco, he smiled and tenderly kissed his lover’s lips, assuring him he’d be fine. His heart was still racing and not out of love but out of fear. He needed to face the beast one day and he hoped with these two at his side, he could.

When he pulled away from Marco, he looked into his eyes and whispered back, “I love you,” in hopes to show that he wasn’t going to back down from this fight. He would fight for Marco because that’s what Marco deserved. After they continued to look at one another with fondness, warmth, and devotion in their eyes, Danny turned to Rye and kissed his best friend on the forehead, “Welcome home, Rye. I really did miss you.”

“Of course you did, I shine so bright it leaves a black hole in your life when I’m gone. It’s the consequence of loving real star material,” Rye snarked quietly, knocking his head against Danny’s shoulder as he curled into his side. “But I’m really happy to be back, too.”

Edenridge

^{Collab between @metanoia & @Aces Away || Featuring Honey Badger & Boa + special guests}

The following Collab takes place between the hours of 4:00PM and 5:30PM on Saturday

____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Whenever Honey Badger had a lot on his mind and it weighed heavily on it and his shoulders, he needed a drink. Because he was technically underaged, he could always get a solid beer at the family-owned club and bar, Edge of Sin. He seldom came for the strippers, though some of the southside’s best lookers were here, but their best one, a certain blonde, seemed to be off tonight. No, he was here strictly for the cheap beer. He knew he would be able to stay for as long as he wanted or needed. He was essentially royalty. His brother was the leader of the serpents and his father the owner.

But Mika being here had more to do with his other brother returning to town and Big Rey changing family dinner from Sunday to Saturday. Yeah, that was on his mind alright. Hyde’s surprise return and demanding breakfast. It was all proving to be too much for Mika, especially considering how he spent yesterday. He didn’t know nor really care what became of the letters. The most he knew was some of his old graduating class went to their old stomping grounds, but he opted to follow his ex.

He smiled, though because he enjoyed doing that but because…well, he really didn’t know why he was smiling. Seeing her face again in person was nice, but that hardly justified any of all that he said.

Raising his nearly empty bottle of some serpent brand of beer, whoever was on bartender duty right now saw Mika and knew exactly what he wanted. As the sound of the cap being popped off was heard, Mika held a new bottle in his hand. When he was in the middle of the first sip, his phone buzzed on the countertop. He debated on letting it go to voicemail. He wasn’t in the mood to talk, but his natural curiosity won this battle and he saw who was calling him.

As he answered, he said in an excited tone, “Well if it isn’t my favorite sister-not-sister-in-law!” Mika took in another sip of his beer. “How’s our favorite boy doing? He’s not giving you any trouble is he? Need a surprise visit from Uncle Badger again--”

“Shut the hell up and tell me what the fuck you’re brother’s on, Badger, and I’m not talking about Mordechai.” Allegra cut in, tone just above a simmering rage.

“I’m sorry?” Mika blinked, his excitement dying down into confusion. “What are you talking about?” He asked, setting his beer down on the countertop.

“I’m talkin’ ‘bout whatever the hell’s goin’ on in your hometown. Some fuckin’ letters and the world’s worst treasure hunt? I know you’re back home, you tellin’ me none of this is ringin’ any bells?” She replied with a thinly held patience. “Sounds like Mordechai and some others ended up in the Serpent’s backyard?”

The minute he heard Allegra mention Boa, alarms went off in Mika’s head. “Just hold on a minute..” Overlooking the fact that she knew about the letters, which in itself was sending off so many red flags in his head, Mika had to fixate on the bigger little tidbit she just dropped on him. “What the fuck are you even on about with Boa? Since when was he back here?” Mika asked, a deep dread building in his stomach, almost like he wasn’t going to like what answer she gave to him.

Allegra took the phone from her ear and covered the receiver with her palm, leaning back as she took a deep breath before releasing it in a closed-mouth scream as she came back up. Closing her eyes, she spoke quietly, voice tight. “Of course he didn’t tell you he was comin’ home, I almost forgot how you boys were. Silly. Me.” She pinched the bridge of her nose as Chai giggled from his spot next to his mother. She took her hand from her face absentmindedly and rattled her bangles in front of the boy, who laughed more and grasped after the shiny bracelets. “Mordechai got in some time yesterday, early from the sounds of it. Got wrapped up in whatever is goin’ on there almost immediately. Surprise surprise.”

Having supplied that bit of information, Allegra let it sit with Mike before adding in, “Apparently, you can ask ReyRey how the rest of the night went, because between greetin’ Mordechai back and their interaction last night, it seems he had a change of heart about our favorite dumbass,” She sniffed sharply, irritated. “Pretty much erased all’a your hard work of having convinced him he wasn’t some prized dog.”

Somewhere in the middle of all of what Allegra told him, Mika had already paid for the one and a half beers he drank and was walking outside towards his truck, processing everything. “_{Goddamn it, Rey Rey…}” He cursed in a low town under his breath, leaning against his Toyota Tacoma. He didn’t know how to react to it. He was processing the shitstorm that must have been last night. While he was making moves to introduce himself back into Cece’s life, the business of the letters seemed to have ended in a bad way. To make matters worse, Boa didn’t even bother to let him know he was back in town.

“Fuck me!” Mika angrily kicked his foot back into his tire, which hurt him more than it did his beat of a machine, and he grunted. “Son of a snake’s tit! So what do we do now then? I got family dinner in a couple of hours, but I need to know everything.” Taking in a few breaths, HB got into his truck but didn’t start it up. This added to everything else, it might’ve been the last thing Mika needed on his plate, but whenever Boa was involved, he pushed everything to the side. “I’m guessing you and Boa talked recently about it. Do you remember where he might be? Did he say where he was? Do you remember anything about the background? Was he alone?” The panic in Mika’s voice was obvious and him spamming questions was just part of his process.

“Jesus, Mika, let me answer a fuckin’ question,” Allegra snapped, grip tightening on the phone. “They were on a bench at some park, but I don’t think either of them were plannin’ on stayin’ that long with how much emotional turmoil was spilling outta them. His friend Poppy was with him but you an’ I both know that when Mordechai gets like this he drifts off away from everyone an’ gets sobbin’ drunk.” She pulled her phone from her ear as it buzzed and checked the screen, doing a double take at the message before sending off a quick reply and getting back to her conversation. “That was him, apparently the kids an’ I’ll be stayin’ at Poppy’s house when I get in there.”

Park…Bench..

There was only one place Mika could think of that both Poppy and Boa would go. The town wasn’t big enough to have more than one regular park hangout.

“Lyon’s park. That must have been where they were.” In that small deduction he made, Mika almost overlooked one key detail that she dropped at the end and there was a smile on his face. For the first time in a while, a genuine smile. “You have no idea how excited I am that you’re gonna come to Edenridge. I don’t know what’s going on yet, but if it’s bad enough that our favorite snake decided to disappear on us, then I know he’s going to need you by his side and double goes for Viva and Chai.”

As he leaned his head back against the headrest, Mika thought about everything terrible that’s been happening and how he had even more of a feeling of dread for family dinner, but he couldn’t think about that right now. “Poppy’s good people. You will be safe there. That much I’m certain. As for Boa…” Mika kicked up his truck, the sound echoing into the call. “I’ll try to find our Boa. There’s a few places I know he goes to when he needs to be ‘away’.” HB was glad that it wasn’t a video call they were on because the worried expression on his face wouldn’t make anyone feel any better if they saw him.

“I trust you, Badger. Set his head straight in that emotionally constipated way that always seems to work for you two,” She took a deep breath, reading the flight confirmations and mentally packing everything they’d need while putting aside what she could get the diner girls to ship later. “I know I don’t get serious that often, but they both looked like shit, Mika. Wherever he is…you’re gonna have ta prove yourself again. I got plenty’a choice words about your big brother, and even more I wanna say right to ‘is stupid face. Almost two years of reassurances fuckin’ wasted ‘cause he thought it would be ‘propriate ta call Mordechai a tool in front’a everyone.”

What were you thinking, ReyRey? What was the point of that? Mika didn’t know the whole story, but his brother’s temper was always a problem. As much as he could sit around and think about how stupid his brother could be, Mika didn’t have time to spare. He didn’t know how bad Boa was. He wished he could check up on Poppy too, but hopefully she was going to be okay. For now, he had about three places in mind where Boa might be and less than two hours to do it.

“Don’t worry. You can leave him to me. I’ll get him straightened up by the time you and kids get here. And when you do, I’ll treat you all to the best sandwiches Edenridge has to offer.”

“I’ll hold you to that. And Badger? Keep any hard shit away from his veins for me, would ya?”

---

As Mika drove down Carlisle Ave, the only thing he could think about was Boa and how he didn’t tell him that he was back in town. Maybe that’s what was bothering him the most. After all they went through and how close they became in all of the time that Mika has been in Edenridge, all the laughs they had, all the friendly scraps they indulged in because that was just the southside way (for the guys, at least), and hell the times they even found comfort in each other’s arms some nights, he couldn’t at least shoot a text his way to say “hey Badger, I’m back in town”. Even that would have gone a long way.

But now? Now their first time speaking in almost three months wasn’t going to be over a couple of in-house-made beer or over some crappy nachos made at Edge. Or even dropping by Godmother’s for a couple of sandwiches. No it was on a scavenger hunt that only Mika knew of the thinly-stated clues, but it was difficult playing when you didn’t know everything that was in the game. The only place that he could think of that Boa might’ve gone was a known safe haven for lost souls and it wasn’t the apartment building he lived in. No, there was another place that he suspected Boa might go to.

“Gardenview Temple,” he said as he pulled up to the known safe place for anyone who needed shelter, or really just to get away from anyone and anything. Even Mika had stayed here a few times.

Parking across the street from it, Mika walked through the front doors. He always liked coming here. The serenity he was always consumed by whenever he heard the low hummings of whatever music or sounds Spiritual Leader Shale had playing. It just made him feel relaxed.

Well, it always did except for now. Right now, Mika was not only on a mission. Luckily for his mission, he found the person he was looking for in the front. “Spiritual Leader Shale, there you are!” Mika rushed to the front almost in a panic-like run. “I’m sorry if this is rude. I promise you I wouldn’t run into your temple if it wasn’t important, but you haven’t seen Mordechai around, have you?”

“You’re alway welcome Honey, at least you didn’t have dirty boots. And not for almost two years, no,” Shale answered, turning to Mika with a raised eyebrow as they assessed the state of the man in front of them. “He’s back in town? Duke and Dolce haven’t said anythin’ to me…” they eyed Mika. “I’m guessin’ it wasn’t an easy homecomin', huh? You comin’ here to check for him certainly never boded well before.”

Shale always was able to see through Mika. It was especially easy given the state of him. As he took a moment to catch his breath, he was looking in all directions he could, the sense of panic clear in how quickly he turned his head. “I just found out he’s in town and, well, someone very close to him and I told me he might not be doing too good. I know he comes here when he needs a place to lay low away from everything, but it seems like he’s not.” Mika could deduce that from how surprised Shale seemed when he asked about Boa, which only deepened the fear he was experiencing for his brother’s safety.

“Well, I guess that explains why you came here,” Shale spoke up, not moving their eyes from Mika’s barely contained franticness. “But Honey he came to me for shelter and a quick patch up, it was never the adults he came to for the emotional stuff, he never trusted us for that sort of thing.” Shale stated it as a matter of fact, no offense in their tone as they thought of one of the temple’s frequent flyers before the tragedy of 2019. “If I remember correctly, him and little Danny were extremely codependent on each other for those deep emotional chats. He’d only come to me for guidance if Danny pushed him to, or if Danny needed help himself. For someone who really needs other people, that boy has always had a stubborn loner streak.”

As Mika stood there, listening to every word that Spiritual Leader Shale had to say, they were absolutely right about Boa and Danny. Thinking back, they always were near each other right before that terrible day. Right before everything for this town went to shit. And Mika couldn’t recall a moment when they weren’t by each other’s side, at least whenever he saw them together. But he couldn’t help but let out a small chuckle about what Shale said in regards to Boa’s nature. “You’re absolutely right. Even about his stubbornness.”

But that didn’t answer his question…or maybe it did? “You’re so right about him and Danny, but Danny’s not here anymore. He isn’t--” For a moment, pondering for close to a minute in silence, a lightbulb lit up in his head. Danny wasn’t here, but something of him was. “Of course! I know where he is!” In a typical impulsive Bager action, Mika gave Shale a hug, shocking a laugh from the temple owner. It was quick, but he owed everything to them. “I can’t explain it right now, but later on, I’ll come by and tell you everything! Thank you again, Shale!”

“I’m always here for a little guidance. And Honey,” Shale smiled at the young man in front of them and he stopped before he was about to walk out. “Give hugs more often, you’re actually pretty good at them.”

Mika walked out of the Temple and hopped into his truck and sped off as fast as he could. He U-turned and went as far east as he could. He wasn’t absolutely positive that Boa would be there, but with all of the clues that Shale gave him and everything they said, there was only one place his brother could be and only one place that he would go to be alone. Mika knew Boa more than anyone in his life and if there was one place he might be, it was the fucking cemetery.

When he pulled up to it, Mika didn’t care about where he would park. If he got it towed away, then he’d cross that bridge. It was still light out, so the cemetery didn’t seem as gloomy as it typically did in the nighttime (not that Mika would know anything about that because he didn’t come here in the dead of night that often). But even if it was pitch black, Mika knew exactly where to go. He was there when they buried Danny. So of course, he knew where in the cemetery his gravestone was. Dead center in the entire landscape.

And sure enough, sitting directly in front of it with what looked like a bottle of some kind of liquor, Mika found him at last. “You son of a bitch!” Mika announced himself, standing about five feet away from a seated Boa. “You seriously couldn’t at least tell me you were back in town.”

Mordechai didn’t even have it in him to flinch as he looked blearily up at the figure before him. The sun glowed behind his form, eclipsing Mika’s frame and making Mordechai squint even more than he already had. His hand went up to block out the light, and as the bottle was still gripped tight it came with as well, allowing Mordechai to see that there were only a couple sips left in the whole bottle.

“S-s’rry,” He mumbled out, looking away from the painful light. He could have sworn he’d only put his head down for a minute, but if Mika was here he must have lowkey passed out for at least half an hour. “D’you wanna sip?”

Like you wouldn’t believe.

But no, Mika made a promise. He never turned down free alcohol, but he made that promise to Allegra. People could say whatever they wanted, but HB always kept his word to those who truly mattered to him. “No thanks. I gotta drive, so I’m not trying to get buzzed up.” And yet he had one and a half beers in the last thirty minutes. Then again, cheap beers were nothing compared to cheap, hard liquor. “But I will take that seat next to you.”

As Mika sat next to his brother, he stared at Danny’s gravestone. He didn’t know what to really say, so he just remained quiet for a few minutes, looking at the headstone, thinking about the kid and how they first met. About how many stories he read to Danny and how much he learned from someone who was half his size almost. He thought about the day Charlie took him from this world. He thought of all the times that he made trips up to New York just to see Boa any chance he could get and then here they were. He was thinking about what was going through Boa’s mind. What demons was he entertaining in that head of his?

But more importantly, Mika was thinking about how relieved he was to find him. Period. That relief had faded when he saw the state of him. “So Allegra and the kids are coming to Eden, huh?” Mika asked, leaning forward a few inches, looking at Boa.

The other man huffed quietly, the sound barely a laugh. “Y’know Legs,” He slurred, dropping his arms across his knees and his forehead onto his arms. “She gets a thought ‘n’ follows through on it…no stoppin’ ‘er.” Mordechai tried to smile despite his state; face marked with tear tracks, eyes bloodshot and bleary, and hair completely disheveled, he was certainly a sight. “I never know what ta do when she gets goin’.”

Badger let out a chuckle as he kept his eyes on Boa. “That’s easy, Boa! You get the hell out of her way and let her cause whatever mayhem women like her do.” Again, he laughed, never moving his gaze away from Boa. “You’re lucky that she’ll do it in your honor. I’d hate to be the person who is on her badside.”

“My honor,” the next noise that passed his lips was twisted and disconnected, the self-deprecation heavy in the exhale. “What honor, Badger, I’ve failed anyone I ever set out ta support. I’m workin’ past plastered in a graveyard in the only other pair’a clothes I own. I was a tool for thinkin’ I was anythin’ but one.” the last part was grumbled as he pulled his head up to stared straight forward.

“Because I love you, I’m giving you a warning.” That was all Badger said before a crisp, open-palm slap from his left found its way across the back of Boa’s head. From his drunken stupor, Boa flew forward with the momentum and Mika stood up. He looked at his brother. He didn’t know if this was what he needed, but it was the only thing that he could think of that would knock some literal sense into Boa. “You seriously too drunk to fight back?” Mika taunted Boa for a few moments before grabbing him by the tanktop. With his higher stance and even greater strength, Badger pulled the snake out of the grass, making sure he was looking at the Badger who, contrary to popular belief, was giving so many fucks that what he was about to say hurt him more than Mordechai could ever know. “Maybe you’re right. Maybe you are a tool just to be used by whoever has the greater willpower. Maybe all of those times I went out of my fucking way to drive for FOUR FUCKING HOURS to see you, to get to know your family, and to think of Viva and Chai as my own flesh and blood was for nothing. And maybe you being here in front of his grave, being in a worse state than when we first met is exactly what you deserve. I mean, you said it yourself, right? You’re a tool because you thought you weren’t.”

It hurt him, but Mika’s way wasn’t the way of a scalpel. He wasn’t some tactful wordsmith and he wasn’t raised to be one. Mary-Anne O’Hara-Zima was more tactful than he was, but she raised him to be someone who knew when to be understanding to how others were feeling and when you needed to get through to someone who more or less closed themselves off.

And that’s exactly what he was doing right now. When he was truly afraid not only for himself, but for someone he cared about more than his own damn life, he was often cruel for their sake. Whether it was Cece or Boa, he gave them the hard truth because it’s what they needed to hear. For Cece, of course, it was to protect her, but for his brother -- for the person he’d literally give his all for, Mika had to make sure he saw it in his eyes, saw the rarity that was his heart, that Boa was full of shit. “Look at me, Boa!” Mika wasn’t the type to show tears, but his eyes were watery. Mordechai flinched, turning his gaze back to the other man from where he’d tried to look away. “I don’t care what happened yesterday or what happened last week or why you didn’t tell me you were back. None of that matters. What matters is right now! I said it once and I’ll say it fucking again! You are not some tool or dog or whatever fucking object people have you believing. You are Mordechai Boaz! And you know what? He’s someone who doesn’t take crap from anyone!”

Mordechai’s legs were jelly, Mika was basically holding him up with sheer muscle and rage, and he was pretty sure his tanktop wasn’t surviving this encounter with Badger’s paws. The way he had the fabric bunched and twisted in his grip, it would probably be stretched beyond acceptability once released. The dark haired snake stared shakily into Mika’s deep blue eyes, stormy as the dangerous ocean they mimicked, and found himself getting swept up in the waves. The bottle tumbled from his limp fingers as he reached his hands up to grasp around Badger’s own and keep himself in place. Mika had found him again, he realized, the other man had tracked him down just to assault him and bash some logic into his skull.

Echoes of a happier time rang through his mind, the memory slowly building as it pushed away the negative thoughts that had clouded his mind so completely. He latched onto the memory as strongly as he was gripping Mika’s fists. He thought of absentmindedly crafting with his daughter, of Mika showing up and bulldozing through his bullshit, he thought of candles lighting up the faces of the people he loved.

“H-how the fuck do ya d-do that, Badger,” Mordechai sobbed roughly, begging for breath as he threw his arms around Mika’s shoulders, temporarily trapping the other man's arms between them as he dropped his forehead to the other man’s jacketed shoulder. “E’ry fuckin’ time. How?”

For the first time in what felt like an eternity, Mika didn’t know what to say. In the back of his mind, he wasn’t expecting Boa to embrace him in this way. He didn’t know what to expect, but as he shifter to hold his brother close to him, supporting Mordechai with all of what he had to give, he thought about the last time they were here. Not in the cemetery, but using fists and then words to get to the root of it all and Mika still didn’t know how he always got this result with him. He just knew that when those he loved more than anything in this world were in a bad way, he had to do anything that he could think of to help. Boa just responded better to his no-bullshit approach.

After a few moments of letting him get it all out, Mika brought his brother’s gaze up to his, just smiling at him in a rare, gentle way that so few people ever got to see. “I don’t know, Boa. I’m not sure if there’s anything I can say that explains how or why this keeps happening, but know that I’ll keep doing it. As long as I am able and for as long as you’ll let me, I will keep pulling you out of the darkness again and again. You are my family. You. Are. My. Brother.”

Mordechai returned his face to Mika's shoulder and kept them locked in that position until his sobs had died down, as if hiding his face hid the full body breakdown he was having in the open cemetery. Slowly, as his chest stopped heaving and his breathing had leveled out, Mordechai let go of Mika and stumbled back to lean back against Danny’s headstone. He attempted to run a hand through his disheveled locks and push his hair from his face, but his fumbling fingers got tangled in knots and he gave up halfway through. He looked back up at Mika again, too embarrassed at the moment to meet his eye.

“'M sorry you’re always dealin’ with me an’ my dumb shit,” he mumbled, squinting against the light surrounding his brother once more. If Mika was willing, they’d go right back to pretending Mordechai hadn’t been incredibly vulnerable out in the open. It was always a subtle dance between the two men, allowing vulnerability without necessarily acknowledging it, or at least not dwelling on it after it’s been showed. “‘M sorry Legs probably attacked ya too…”

He chuckled. “I’ve accepted long ago that we are meant to deal with each other when we’re out of whack. But don’t worry your pretty little head about it, Boa. Besides…” Badger looked at Boa for a solid few seconds, smiling like he was earlier. “She was really worried. And I promised her I’d bring you back to us.” For that moment, Mika let the vulnerable state of him and Mordechai linger. “I’m just glad that both of us won’t have to face that potential wrath of hers if I broke my promise. She can be scarier than my own momma when she’s tired of my shit.” And Mika wasn’t talking about Momma G, either.

“That woman’ll put the fear’a god in ta an atheist,” Mordechai laughed “She’s act’lly gonna fit in real well ‘round ‘ere, scary as it is ta think.” He looked at his Serpent jacket that had fallen off his lap and to the ground when Mika had first smacked him, and he bent down to pick up the symbol that connected him to his crew and his brothers.

Only to fall face first into it instead, arms folded under him uselessly. “fuck,” Mordechai hissed, pushing himself over until he was laying on his back. He tasted copper on his tongue and reached a shaky had up to his lip. “I busted my lip…er…re-busted? I-it was already like tha’, but I jus’ bit it open again,” he rambled, running his tongue over the wound as his unfocused eyes searched for Mika. “Ya didn't do it this time, tho most'a my busted lips have come from ya in one way or the other…ReyRey was always that close second, though…"

As much as Mika tried to resist the urge, as soon as he saw Boa try to walk and fall right on his face against the moist grass. And, of course, Honey Badger couldn’t hold in a few moments of cackling that came from a very immature place. “Someone call life alert, because this old man fell and he can’t up!” That’s how you knew things were back to how they should be. Something happens to one of them and the first response is to poke fun at their unfortunate circumstances. Mika’s been in his position and Boa always laughed when he fell down a few times, so it was only fair that Mika did the same. Besides, that’s what family was for!

“Oh yeah, you’re right. I do always end giving your mouth a nice shiner, don’t I?” Honey Badger kept chuckling as he approached his fallen brother. “What can I say, eh? Us Gonzalez men know how to throw down!” Mika snickered as walked over to Boa’s side, draping his arm over his shoulder. With a series of grunts, he showed off his superior strength once again as HB lifted up the fallen snake up to his feet. He made sure to keep a constant hold on his wrist with his own so Boa could walk somewhat. “Now what do you say we get out of here?” Mika asked, showing one last bit of his soft side to his brother as his smile reflected that.

“Yeah, in a minute…firs’,” Mordechai looked his brother deep in the eyes before his gaze flittered off to the side again, his mind falling back to another brother as Mika began to drag him towards the gates. “…first’ d’ya know where Hard Times’ grave is? Danny’d be pissed if I didn’t visit ‘im too.”

Mika would admit that he and Charlie never did bond in ways that it seemed he and Boa did, but that didn’t mean he didn’t know where it was located.

“Yeah, I’m pretty sure it’s on the way out. About five or so rows this way--” Mika guided Boa into a steady rhythm and they walked seven rows of gravestones away and there it was. Given what Charlie did and everything, Mika was honestly shocked that it wasn’t too messed up. “Here we are,” Mika said, being gentle with Mordechai as he set him down in front of it.

The drunken man slowly dropped to his knees as the other set him down, gaze on the grass as he tried to gather the stones to look this other slab of stone dead on. He hobbled forward on his knees before reaching his hands out to grip the top of the headstone, fingers tensing and relaxing against it repeatedly. He dropped his feverish forehead to the cool stone and closed his eyes as his world spun.

“...Hey, Charlie,” He whispered, not daring to open his eyes as he got used to saying the name again. “Guess ‘m a bit of a hypocrite, I was so mad for ya not visitin’ me in juvie, but look at me now….” He scrunched his brow as he kept his eyes clenched. “Anyway…’m sorry for everythin’. I miss ya…”

Mika took a knee beside his brother, his hand on his back. HB didn’t say anything. He just made sure that Boa knew he wasn’t going anywhere until he was ready.

---

When they left the cemetery, in his mind Mika had a lot to think about. He got the full story about what happened last night, but that wasn’t why he had been uncharacteristically quiet (especially for him who always had something to say). It balanced out because Boa didn’t speak much, either. It was a quiet, thoughtful ride, but there was definitely something on Mika’s mind.

He knew Boa needed to sober up and needed a place where he could lay low until Allegra and the kids arrived in Eden, but there wasn’t a lot of places that certain people wouldn’t come knocking for him. Mika thought about driving him to the temple. Shale seemed to be worried in their own way about him, but that was too public. And with the state that he was in, Mika didn’t feel comfortable enough leaving him there (no disrespect to Shale).

There’s no other way.

Mika knew there was only one place in the entire southside that he felt the most comfortable leaving Mordechai for a few hours until he was done handling what he needed to do in the next hour.

As it was decided, Mika took a sharp left, though he tried not to make too sudden so he didn’t rock Boa too much. His fragile state and all was taken into great consideration about how Mika drove. It wouldn’t be long until they were outside the Lost Soul’s apartment complex. “Alright, we’re here, Boa.” He wasn’t sure if he was asleep or not, but he had to get him out of whatever daze he was in.

Mordechai had been zoned out most of the trip, head against the passenger side window as he watched the street signs change, his head feeling heavy and his thoughts distant and muted. He had mumbled his way through last night’s full story, telling Mika everything he knew before going tiredly silent. The turn the Badger took would have jammed his head to the glass if he had been driving in his usual manner, but as it was the force of the turn simply pushed him more fully against the smooth surface. He glanced at the building through the windshield and lolled his head lazily to the side.

"Los'souls He inquired, running his fingertips along his jacket's zipper in nervous habit. "We havin' a sleepover?"

With a laugh, Mika opened his door. “Very funny. But no. I told you I’d let you sober up with someone I trust more than anyone in this world and I meant it.” As he hopped out, Mika rounded to the passenger’s side, he aided and guided Boa out. He made sure to support him with his arm draped over his shoulder and using his free hand to prop him upward.

And then they were off, walking slowly through the center of the complex, giving the Angels’ who stood guard a nod. About five minutes walking, they were inside the main building that was dead center in the back. The elevator was a straight walk through the front doors. Unlike most times whenever someone used the elevator, they would only be able to go up three floors. The “mystery” floor was only accessible by those who had clearance to use it. Typically it was often reserved for high ranking members of the associated gangs (angels, Serpents, etc), but Mika had the knowledge of the secret passcode for a very important reason that Boa was about to find out.

As he entered the five numbers in a very specific order, the elevator went up one, two, three, four--

DING

“Fourth floor.” An uneasy tension built in Mika’s stomach and soon rose to his throat and it was hard for him to keep it under wraps. It wasn’t that he had a reason for being nervous, but something momentous was about to happen in under two minutes. Okay, maybe he was just a little more nervous than he cared to admit.

Alright, you got this, Mikhail! Third door on the left side.

Mika stepped out of the elevator with Boa and they walked past the first and second doors on the left. When they came to the third, it was just like every other door on the outside. “Hope you’re ready, Boa.” He might’ve said that to Boa, but it was more him projecting his own nerves about the person on the other end of the door onto Boa.

KNOCK! KNOCK! KNOCK!

How long has it been since he’s made a personal visit? A week? Maybe a month? “Yeah, it’s been close to a month…” He muttered, biting his lip as the door opened.

“Hello--” A woman who bore a striking resemblance to Mika answered the door. She was wearing an oversized, red coat, her dark locks falling in front of her face as she greeted the two young men with a wide smile (albeit one laced with a delighted shock). “--Oh! Mickey! And…sorry, I don’t think I’ve met you before.” She exchanged a long glance between the both of them. “Please, come in. I don’t think we should talk outside, anyway.” She closed the door behind them. “You boys thirsty? I have water and kool-aid. I always keep a special vase of cherry flavor because I know how much Mickey here loves his cherry-flavored drinks!” She laughed, also in a similar manner that Mika did.

Mordechai blinked slowly as he shifted his gaze between the woman in front of him and the man supporting all his weight. He once again experienced the unsure feeling of wondering if his stomach was rolling from emotions or alcohol, because he may be drunk but he wasn't stupid, and he'd heard plenty of stories and seen almost every picture that Mika had of the woman standing in front of them.

"I'ssa, uh, pleasure ta meet'cha ma'am," Mordechai slurred unsteadily, mentally cursing Mika for choosing now to introduce him to his mother. A mother who Mordechai had no idea lived at the Lost Souls complex in the first place. "'M sorry for intrudin', m' name's Mord'chai Boaz." He used the hand across his brother's shoulder to pinch Mika not-so-subtly, trying to express his displeasure to the other man for the situation. One of the few people he'd ever thought of trying to make a good first impression for, and Mika tosses his stumbling ass right under the nearest bus.

He'd never live this down.

Cursing at Boa’s pinching action, Mika glared at him for a few seconds and set his ungrateful ass on the couch as gently as he just pinched him.

“It’s no trouble at all, Mordechai! Mickey has told me so much about you!” She took a seat opposite of the two of them in a recliner that sat across a coffee table in the middle of the living space in the apartment. “And you’re not intruding at all! I rarely get any visitors, especially from friends of my son’s!” She flashed a smile to the two of them.

Mika tried to keep as straight of a face as he could. The guilt of not visiting his mother as often as he would’ve liked to was consuming a large part of his ability to even speak, but when she looked at him, in that same way she always did, that smile that broke through him every time, there was a certain reset button that went off in his head. “My boy here needs a place to rest up away from prying eyes. You know, just so he can not worry about anyone needing him for something, ya know?”

Mary nodded. “I understand.” That was all Mika needed to hear to not worry about Boa. “Well, you’re in luck, Mordechai! I just made some of my famous corn beef hash and fried potatoes. If you think you’re up to eat something. You look like you haven’t had a decent meal in some time.” Ah, good ole Mary-Anne not able to filter her observation of the state of people.

She was right, however, as Mordechai hadn't done much more than push around Big Mama's breakfast at Beau's house this morning, the only thing he really had in his stomach right now was rum and butterflies. He'd sunken harshly into the couch where Mika dropped him, however, his eyelids already dropping as his chin tried to meet his chest. The warmth of the apartment, as well as the comfort he was feeling being back around Mika again was allowing for him to relax and once more give way to the liquor in his system.

"Sounds like a dream…" he mumbled, eyes closing completely. "I'll be…righ' there…'' The last part came out in barely an exhale, his chin dropping completely and body listing to the side, head hitting the arm rest with a teeth rattling thud that couldn't even startle him back awake.

“Amazing. He gave me hell and once his head hit the couch, he’s out like a light.” Mika shook his head and chuckled, smiling as he took a few moments to look at his sleeping brother before looking at his mother. “Thanks for doing this, mama. I know I don’t always say it, but I have missed you. I’m sorry I don’t visit enough. It’s just--”

Mary held her hand up, shaking her head. “You don’t have to say it.”

They always were in sync. Whenever Mika needed to confide in her or needed her advice, he knew his mother was here for him and he knew she was safe here. He didn’t know how long this would be their arrangements, but at the very least, he could find peace in that. After all, she was his rock.

Brushing off all the strong emotions he was feeling, Mika stood up. “I’ll check back with you in a few hours. If he wakes up, just stuff some food down his throat. I’m sure he’ll have quite the appetite.”

As he gave his mother a big, tight hug, wanting it to last longer than it did, he really did have to leave or Big Rey would have his head for being late for family dinner.

Edenridge

The following Collab takes place between the hours of 4:00PM and 4:45PM on Saturday

---

"Hey, boychik, I'm sorry I haven't come by," Mordechai spoke to the well kept headstone, eyes slowly tracing every line into his memory.

Daniel Amos Boaz
2004-2019
“I must admit I miss you terribly. The world is too quiet without you nearby.”
_{-Lemony Snicket}

Who chose that quote, he wondered idly, and should I update my tattoo to incorporate it? He had gotten it on a whim once, faded off his ass and unwilling to forget. The gravestone tattoo with his brother’s name took up most of his left forearm, and he felt a steady growing shame at the track marks that started just above the tattoo’s end. Guess the last thing I need right now is more needles, huh?

The silence of the cemetery seemed to mock him as he read the quote again, and he pretended that the burning in his eyes was from his latest sip of rum-Phil would forgive him for swiping the bottle. Maybe.- and not how hard the quote had struck him. While Edenridge isn't quiet by any stretch of the word, Mordechai himself has felt muted ever since he lost his little brother. It didn't matter where he was: Edenridge, New York, everywhere he wandered after, it was all the same. He would find himself looking over his shoulder to say something to what was now only his shadow and his throat would close up as everything got muffled. His vision always tunneled like it did when he was about to pass out but he'd just find himself hyperventilating instead, stumbling to put his back to the nearest vertical surface. It got him left behind at several rest stops when he was on the road, and led to a tense dinner one night with Mika in New York. The other man had struggled to help his brother, leading to Allegra shoving Viva into the man’s arms as she turned to deal with Mordechai, already used to his little bouts. It always came back to Danny and the gaping hole left in his life because of him, all his ingrained reactions being one-sided. Charlie had well and truly crippled Mordechai that day in more ways than one.

He took another long sip, swallowing the burning liquid against the cries threatening to fall out and smothering them in the process.

"I'm sorry for a lotta things, really. I only ever wanted what was best for ya but…I gotcha killed instead. I neglected…” He looked at the liter in his hand and huffed out a dark laugh, dropping his head low before Danny’s grave. “No, I abused one brother an' in the end that cost me him and you. I should’a been a better brother ta both’a you, I should’a paid more attention,” he walked up to the headstone before turning his back to it and dropping down, leaning back to rest against the cold stone as he pulled his knees to his chest. “I shoulda known I was just a tool, no one important…” Another brother flashed through his mind, and he had to choke back fresh tears as he remembered the look on ReyRey’s face last night. Mordechai was feeling pulled in far too many directions to be comfortable.

“Should I be mad at ReyRey?” he asked, rolling the neck of the bottle between his hands. “I feel like it would make sense, but all I can think of is that I did as he said. An’ not even in the you don’t say no to ‘im sense, but blindly. And my times with the Serpents are still some’a the happiest in my life, I’m already feelin’ lost again without ‘em. Allegra’s comin’ ta town just ta help me and I just- I feel fuckin’ pathetic…” his throat threatens to close again, so he raises the drink to his lips once more before throwing his head back against the stone to stare at the sky. “Allegra’s got her opinion, I could see it written all over her face, Poppy’s got ‘er own…I didn’t even give Prof or Sunshine a chance ta say theirs, and you?” he sighed. “You were always smarter than me, I wouldn’t even be able ta pretend I know what you’d say. You always saw more than you should’a, always had a comment ta whisper ta me or an opinion ya wanted me ta hear.”

”You never did like the way I treated Hard Times when he was a Serpent, and god you didn’t even know the half of it. After what Poppy said…about how he was gonna take her too…is that why he took you? Did he think he was gonna put you outta some misery? Did he think I was gonna make you miserable, did he see something I didn't? Or was he just so fuckin’ cracked that he didn’t care who he took out, even…if it was you? ‘M probably talkin’ in circles…” his speech was already slipping, and a glance at the bottle showed him he’d gone through most of it a lot faster than he’d thought he would, but that didn’t stop him from taking another burning sip. He sat forward for a moment to shrug off his Serpent jacket and throw it over his knees before leaning back against the cold stone. It cooled his hot skin through his tanktop while the coarse texture scraping his skin kept him grounded. He ran a hand through his hair and took another fortifying sip.

“I know ya can’t answer, but I just wish I could’a asked ya earlier; do ya blame Har-” The name froze on the tip of his tongue. “Charlie…do ya blame ‘im for that day? If ya knew e’erythin’, would ya blame me? W-would ya forgive m…us?” The gravestone behind him was as silent as he’d expected, but Mordechai couldn’t be sure if the dropping feeling in his stomach was from the disappointment or the liquor.

“Yeah,” he choked out a wet laugh, his gaze as blank as the sky he spoke into. “I guess I don’t really deserve an answer.” No closure, it seemed a fitting torture for the purgatory he’d been in for nearly two years.

Edenridge

^{A @Aces Away & @LovelyComplex Collaboration}




____________________________________________________________________________________________________

The following Collab takes place between the hours of 3:00PM and 3:30PM on Saturday

On top of yesterday being a nightmare, Penelope spent her morning eating breakfast thinking of her actual nightmares. Last night was so fucked that she thought ghosts of Edenridge’s past was coming back from the dead and haunting those that still lived. Seeing Charlie in her dreams wasn’t a blessing. No, it just made her come to terms that he was dead and he will always be dead.. It hurt.

Why couldn’t she give him the benefit of the doubt? Why couldn’t she pretend that everything he did didn’t hurt her? Her dream was so… vivid too. And how it ended, they had to sacrifice her because in her blood was the man that started it all. Was that true or was that her mind playing tricks on her? On top of that, she had therapy with Shannon Ramsey and lord knows she hated therapy.

Once her session was over, she walked to Lyon park and sat on a bench, no longer at Beau’s house. Penelope and Mordechai waited for the receiver to pick up the video call. She was… nervous? Anxious? Well, she was always nervous and anxious, but this time was different. This was her meeting with one of her best friend’s families. His lover? The mother of his children? And his children.

How they got to this point was beyond her. She got ready, she ate Big mama’s breakfast, and they headed out. Jade went her separate way because she had her own business to take care of. Whatever that was and their morning went on. Now here Poppy was, waiting to see the faces of all the people Decky cared about.

With Decky’s sweatshirt on, and Charlie’s jacket, Poppy sat there, face mask on and everything, waiting to see a face on the other side. Did she look okay? Clean? Dirty? How bad were the bags under her eyes? Why was she so worried? Decky had always been in her life until he disappeared.

Resting her right hand on her chest, Poppy glanced at her friend’s face as he stared at his phone screen. This was weird. Now that Poppy was finally processing this moment she realized she didn’t expect him to return like this. She didn’t expect him to return at all. He was here with her and together they were calling his family. Weird.

Mordechai tried to keep his own insecurities from showing on his face as the call tone rang out. He’d taken the time that Poppy was gone to stop by Phil’s and grab the duffel bag he had dropped off there when he’d first arrived. After borrowing Phil’s shower and changing into his fresh pair of clothes, Serpent jacket included- and he couldn’t believe it still fit like a glove, still felt like home after last night- Mordechai had headed to Lyon park and waited for Poppy to arrive. Time passed slowly as he sat on the bench, completely lost in his darkening thoughts. He barely registered Marco and Roddy across the park from him, deep in their own conversation as they were, but he did lift his gaze as they got up and walked away. Just in time too since Poppy had arrived, her warm presence against his side pushing the worst of his mood and thoughts away.

The ringing cut off silently as the screen revealed a woman with a pixie cut in a spaghetti strap and cardigan that had fallen off one shoulder, a victim of the grasp of the child who was also visible on screen.

“Well hey there Ken, ya look like you’ve been emotionally curb stomped a few times,” Allegra greeted, her picture shaking as she set the phone against something to regain full use of her hands. She situated Viva on her lap before picking Chai up to settle him on her other thigh. When her gaze returned to the phone, she tilted her head and smiled. The eyes looked familiar, but she wasn't quite sure if she was correct in who she thought was sitting next to him. “Who’ve ya got with ya there?”

Mordechai smiled dryly in response to her opening comment before squeezing Poppy into his side a bit more. He knew he looked like shit, what with his lip still being busted from ReyRey’s welcome back, and his heart and lungs still stuck in a vice from ReyRey’s last words to him. He knew she was worried for him, but she knew that freaking out over it would just push him away. Her being able to make light of any situation is one of the things that made their dynamic work so well.

“This ‘s Poppy, one’a the few people that have a piece’a my heart,” he introduced. “Pops, that's Allegra- we had a corner routine t’gether back in New York- and our kids, Viva and Chai. Chai…” He’s mine, my blood, he looks like Danny, he’s a second chance, Mordechai didn’t know what else to say, how he should finish that sentence, so he simply let it hang in the air as his baby boy babbled happily through the phone screen.

“Poppy, huh,” Allegra cut in, eyes shifting across the screen as she started getting a real read for Mordechai’s current state of being instead of a quick glance. Her expression warmed as she turned her attention to the woman. “Mordechai talked about ya all the time, Southside’s Street Angel- his Street Angel. If he hasn’t mentioned it, he really loves ya and feels guilty for leavin' ya behind.” She gave out casually, willing to be much more open about what needed to be said and often wasn’t. And given the way both of the people on the park bench were looking, things needed to be said right now before things got worse.

"Bambi…" Mordechai groans, rolling his eyes heavenward in both embarrassment and exasperation. He'd been plenty emotional last night, thank you very much, but a single look from Allegra had him going silent once more.

"It's an absolute pleasure ta meet someone that means so much to ‘im, Mika's been the only one ta ever find him I guess," she shrugged, an easygoing smile on her face. ”But we've seen the pictures of y'all that he had on his phone, heard plenty'a stories."

Refreshed at the presence of Allegra, something about her spirit was calming, warm, and protective, Penelope understood why Decky adored this woman so much. Poppy could see her charm a mile away. On top of her alluring personality, she was absolutely gorgeous.

Allegra, huh? What a pretty name.

Her soft green gaze observed the children sitting on the other woman’s lap. Poppy could feel a sinking sadness inside of her, of a life she would never have. That life was a distant dream with a house, a husband, and kids and the only person she saw that dream with was Charlie and Charlie was long gone. Never to come back. Yet, the light and smile on their faces overpowered any negative thoughts she had. Any sadness deep in her chest, left as quick as it came. They were so young and so sweet. They were children.

Chai… that’s his name? He looks just like Danny. My Danny.

Taking a deep breath in, a hard swallow following afterwards, Poppy gingerly brought the face mask down so she could project her voice. Her lips were chapped, her eyes were puffy from all the crying she did the previous night, and her make up had been sloppily reapplied after her much needed shower. Still, even with all that being said, she looked angelic under the sunlight, her gaze sparking with intrigue and cleverness, and her posture showing a lot more confidence than she thought she had anymore. “I’m just glad he had someone to help him out. You’re beautiful, by the way.” Poppy admitted, never one to hold back the truths she saw. Giving a compliment in return, Allegra's smile widened in response to the other woman as Viva was still trying to drag her cardigan down and Chai stared at Poppy through the screen in wide-eyed wonder.

Fiddling with her hands, she looked away from the screen. With an absent mind, Poppy’s leg anxiously moved up and down as she thought of her next words carefully, “Yesterday was definitely an eye opener. And, um, I can’t say any of us will be okay. There’s just a lot that happened…” her voice trailed off and in a light whisper, she said, “...that hurt.”

Mordechai looked away from the camera as well, missing Allegra's frown. Poppy had made it clear that she still loved him, but his own anxieties and guilt wouldn't stop him from wondering how much she blamed him for his actions against Charlie, how weak she must think he was to follow ReyRey the way he did. To betray Charlie the way that he did.

"...Okay," Allegra began, looking back and forth between the two. She had no real information to go off of and it looked like it might be a game of twenty questions to get answers out of the husks occupying the bench. "What are we dealin' with here? Mordechai, I haven't heard from ya since last week, all I knew was you were headed back ta your hometown."

"Well I got here," he replied dryly, eyes shifting quickly to the screen and then back to his boots. "I met up with Phil and dropped my stuff off, and found a bunch'a letters bein' sent ta my name. They had copies’a shit from Hard Times' journals," Allegra's eyes narrowed at that, beginning to piece together how things went south so quickly. “I headed over ta see the boys after that, m-met up with ReyRey and got welcomed back-” the bloody backroom scene flickered through his vision before he ruthlessly squashed it. That hadn't been a problem. He'd still been fine then. Well, as fine as he ever was. “-and then spent time with Sunshine until goin’ ta the meet up location on the last letter.”

“Because following the creepy letter to a random building isn’t the beginning of several horror movies,” She said lightheartedly, expertly dodging her almost-one-year-old’s grasping fingers as he aimed to wrap them around her hoop earrings. “But I take it ya went armed at least.”

“‘Course I did,” Mordechai replied, a bit of offense in his tone. “Who’d’ya take me for? Pops jumped in and set my head a lil’ straighter, and I settled down with her ‘n’ Jade for a minute…” he fidgeted with his free hand, trying to smile at his son’s actions through the screen but feeling heavier the longer he looked. “Went on a nice old style Scooby-Doo mystery hunt. We didn’t find whoever was makin’ the letters but…we ended up at a Serpent house and ran in ta ReyRey…”

“What did you think this was Decky?...at the end of the day you’re a tool just like the rest of them.”

His voice died out as he glared at the ground at his feet, refusing to sniff or try and wipe away any tears lest he bring attention to them in the first place. Allegra’s burning gaze followed his every movement as his silence spoke for him, until she turned her head to the woman next to him.

“Poppy?” She asked steadily, knowing that Mordechai’s current reaction to the mention of ReyRey Gonzales was not the one of adoration or respect he usually spoke with. She tried to calm her sleeping dragon, knowing she missed plenty in her friend’s first day home, and knowing she needed to be the steady one here. “What did Mika’s brother say?”

“Unc’a Badgew!” Viva piped up with a giggle, crawling off her mother’s lap and looking to the door as if the man himself would come through the door. Allegra let out a quick eye roll before getting up to bring the little girl back.

“Uncle Badger is in papa’s hometown, he visited last month bubbe,” she placated the girl as she pouted before turning back to the screen. Mordechai dimly registered that he hadn’t even bothered to tell Mika he was coming into town, and that he was owed a belated ass kicking from the man for leaving New York without telling him too. He knew the man still visited Allegra and the kids despite the fact that Mordechai himself had dipped out and fallen far off the wagon again, and he suddenly felt a sense of dread over his and Allegra’s communication levels. “Sorry about that, she really loves his visits so you can’t even say his name without her getting excited. Back to the topic at hand, though, what did ReyRey do?”

“The story is complicated.” Penelope sighed, knowing what she would say next might truly show how cursed their hometown was. “We found out the story behind a well loved girl in our town, who OD’d when we were freshmen. Charlie got blamed for it but there’s so much more to it then his mistake, if it even was his mistake. So much misunderstanding and miscommunication and hurt.”

Penelope’s eyes once again grew distant, but her attention was still focused straight forward at the screen. Her voice was rigid and clear, as she recounted the night with her class. “Regardless of who was right or wrong, Reyrey beat the shit out of him. A child.” She explained before pausing, realizing she swore in front of the children, “Sorry. Didn’t mean to do that.” Poppy apologized, her eyes resting on Chai, knowing she would need to get better with her vocabulary.

“That night…” Penelope continued, “Changed everything. How we were as friends, how we saw our futures, how… little we had to look forward to. De- Mordechai. He blames himself and it didn’t help that ReyRey…”

The Street Angel hesitated, wondering if it was worth saying the next set of words, but she knew that if anyone could help her friend out, it was the mother of his children. Hooking herself on her friend’s arm, holding him close to her, she deeply stared into the camera and said R2’s words verbatim, “...He said, and I quote, you’re good at what you do, Boaz, but at the end of the day you’re a tool just like the rest of them. Unquote.”

Mordechai’s form was tense as he leaned harder against Poppy as her grip tightened on him. She’d pulled the words straight from his thoughts and handed them to Allegra when he couldn’t, keeping him grounded at the same time. Allegra had her head cocked to the side, eyes narrowed and sharp as she processed what she had just been told, her gaze jumping between the two. She decided to tackle things one at a time, taking a deep breath before speaking slowly, trying to keep her voice level.

“Firstly, don’t worry ‘bout swearin’ in front of the kiddos, they hear worse from me on the daily,” She smiled at Poppy reassuringly, doing her best to reign in her temper. “Second, I might already know based on context clues, but just ta be sure, Charlie is…?”

“Was,” Mordechai spoke up shakily. “Hard Times.”

“Ah, I thought so,” she replied, looking between the two and settling back on Poppy. “I’ve never heard his name, he’s only ever been Hard Times in Mordechai’s stories. I can’t say I hadn’t thought about askin’, but it always seemed hard enough for ‘im ta just say that. Didn’t wanna push,” she looked at her son and then his father, trying to find the innocence in his features and imagine what Mordechai would have looked like if he too were so happy and content. It was a hard thing to imagine, having not seen him feel so safe in the entire time she’d known him. Only in the dark of night when his muscles relaxed in sleep could she ever imagine him being young and hopeful with the same fire in his eyes that came out when Mika was around.

He’d mentioned once that Chai looked like his little brother, and that it’s soothing to see some of him still exists in the world somehow. Looking at her son, she wished that she couldn’t imagine how someone could harm such a face, but she’s known since her first child that there are people out there who could harm anything if pushed too far, only having a chance to regret it later if they survived the ordeal.

“Hard Times didn’t deserve most of what he got, Mordechai an’ I’ve had that conversation a few times. There's never an excuse ta be usin’ your position over others ta beat ‘em, I've got personal experience with that one," she glanced off to the side as she remembered her ex-pimp, Viva birth father. "Especially ‘cause if I’m rememberin’ it right then ReyRey’s got a few years on all'a you. Sounds to me like the lot of you Serpent boys need ta sit down together for a long awaited therapy session. Shit ain’t ever as black and white as it appears ta be,” she focused on Mordechai. “We went through this when Mika first showed up, you’re not some tool or some dog and if I have ta call him up and make him say it to you again I will.”

“It came right from ReyRey’s mouth, Legs,” Mordechai protested weakly, not wanting her to send Mika after him just to make a point. “it wasn't just me makin' things worse in my head this time."

“Because you’ve never said somethin’ ya didn’t mean before,” Allegra scoffed back, eyes going warm when she turned back to Poppy as she let that sink in with Mordechai. “Poppy, how are you feelin’? None’a this could’ve been easy for you either. If I were there, I'd be draggin' ya to a spa day and then a day in with some hard liquor and shitty movies."

Listening to Allegra talk and process everything she knew thus far, hearing her not blame Charlie for most of the things he went through, listening to her soothing words towards Decky… all this only hit Penelope like a brick. She faded out more so than she had previously, completely blacking out and missing everything after the words ‘therapy session’.

The feeling revisited her, the feeling from yesterday when she was in the gym, after all this time. Going completely catatonic, no longer in the present, no longer hearing Decky’s voice, or Allegra’s, or seeing the sweet, innocent children in front of her, she replayed the moments when she was waking up that morning before the shooting to a text telling her to meet her at the gym. That morning when her world would no longer be the same because her World decided to bring hell on Earth and burn in the flames with his victims.

Poppy couldn’t even feel Decky change their position where he was tightly holding her in his arms, her head against his collar. After three minutes of staring at her lap, her dead gaze unwavering, she heaved for air. Heavily breathing, repeating the mantra in her head— breathe, just breathe, breathe, just breathe — body shaking in Decky’s arms, tears started running down Poppy’s eyes.

She realized something she wished she didn’t.

Hyperventilating, she tried to muster her thoughts in words, “He- he-” She brought her hands to her face and let her tears fall even harder, “He was going to… take me with him.”

Mordechai stared blankly at Allegra where he had set the phone down on Poppy's other side when he'd realized she had faded out of the present. The mother of his child looked just as confused as he did, obviously startled by Poppy's sudden state as she worked through what the other woman could have meant. Unfortunately, she was working on limited information, only having what Mordechai himself had told her. Suddenly however, it dawned on him instead as a cold rage settled over his body.

"You mean in the gym," he clarified, one hand going to the back of Poppy's head and gripping the back of her neck to ground her, just as she'd grasped his arm earlier. "After he made his way through the school, Hard Times was gonna- he was gonna kill you too." He didn't know what to say to that revelation, so he just did what he did know and held Poppy tight as she cried. Thinking that he might have lost her too that day…he couldn't even imagine losing one more person, let alone Poppy of all people. He never would have imagined Charlie was capable of it.

I never thought he would hurt Danny either, or me for that matter…

Movement on his phone screen had him looking over Poppy's head and to the device once more with the realization that several moments had passed. Allegra had taken her phone off of whatever she had propped it up against and had the phone close to her face as her eyes dashed across the screen. There was a deadly calm to her features as she did so that had Mordechai shivering in anticipation.

"Legs? What're ya doin'?" He asked warily, refusing to let go of Poppy even if he was sacrificing a better look at what was happening on his phone screen.

"I'm booking the soonest tickets to Boston that I can find, and when I hang up with you I'm gonna give a certain Badger a call to find you because you both are not okay and I'm too far away ta do anythin'. But fuck this, I'm coming." It was said with a finality to it and gave way for no argument. "I think ya need all you're family in one place, Ken, and it's high time you see us all in person again. Not ta blow my own horn, but I'd say we were pretty good for ya."

"...Thanks Barbie," he finally said, not bothering to try and stop the bulldozer that was Allegra Cardenas on a mission.

"Of course. Now if you'll excuse me I have to go cuss Mika out over the way his brother thinks he can speak ta you."

"No, wait-" it was too late, the screen went black and the whirlwind of information suddenly halted, his mind rebooting before zeroing back in on Poppy. "You still with me, Angel?"

“Sorry, I… I still don’t have a good handle on that. I…” Poppy looked up at Decky, the tears trailing down her cheeks, “Not… not even me, I couldn’t save him. He was already gone by junior year. He already made… made his decision. I couldn’t protect him, Mordechai. I… couldn’t show him it’ll be okay. Lean on me, my family, your mom is going to be okay. You’re going to be okay. We’re going to be okay. I-I maybe he was right. W-what good have I ever done? I’m not meant for the southies, I’m not meant for the northies. I-I will never belong.”

Penelope couldn’t stop herself, she just kept word vomiting, all the things that had been compartmentalized for so long, “Maybe being dead is better for me. Maybe I should’ve gone with him. Maybe being put out of my misery is the answer. Maybe…” Fuck. This hurt so much. Why didn’t he just take her instead of everyone else?

Decky might’ve been trying to get her back to her senses but Poppy had completely lost it. “Why does it hurt so much? If it was just him and me, if it was just us, everyone else could still be here. I did- didn’t protect you. Jade. You say you fucked up? Imagine being the one that knew his heart better than anyone else. Imagine being the one who taught him how to shoot a gun…”

"Hey!" Mordechai cut in, halfway to shaking her to her senses before he thought better of it. Getting physical with her when she's already in the state she is would probably make things worse, but she was making it really hard to get a word in and stop her dark ramblings. He took a shaky breath, wanting to gasp for it but trying to hold himself together for her sake. "You taught him ta shoot? I'm not even surprised since you're the best shot outta all of us, but he would'a learned one way or another. We all learned eventually, yeah?" He leaned back, forcing her to look him in the eyes. "There ain't a damn world out there that would be better without you in it, Poppy James, an' for all the times you didn't let me go down that road I sure as hell ain't gonna let you go down it now. This is…this is all on me. No one else pushed him the way I did, you never saw how bad it got between us in the Serpents. If he had taken you, that would'a been another body at my feet that I couldn't stand ta bury. You matter, you belong. To me, and to Jade. And you said it yourself: he'd already made his decision."

And I pushed him straight into it. It went unsaid, but the guilt was heavy in Mordechai's eyes and heart.

"All you ever did was love him, you understood him more than anyone in this life did. He would…he would'a snapped a lot earlier without you in his life. Without me he may've never snapped at all. Don't you ever doubt your impact."

With wide eyes, looking right at him, her eyes heavy, she brought her hand to his cheek and let it rest there. The last words she could muster to him, as she pushed a strand of hair behind his ear, was in a whisper, “We’re so broken.”

Sadly, it was true. They were incredibly broken. But together, they could stand. Together, they could and would live on. Life goes on. If not for themselves then for the people they loved.

Broken but not destroyed.

And there they embraced, letting time pass them by until Penelope offered her home for Mordechai’s family and they said their goodbyes.

Edenridge

Gavriel Phillips-Shomer

Name:
Gavriel Levi Phillips-Shomer
Nickname:
Gavi, Gav, Rye
Age:
19 3/4 (Nov.18)
Gender:
Male
Sexuality:
Bisexual
Relationship Status:
Single

Appearance Details

Height:
5'5
Hair:
Brown, curly, and well maintained
Eyes:
Dark Brown
Body Type:
Rye has a very average body, no excess of muscle or fat, he's not overly lanky nor stocky. He has a healthy figure that he's happy to be back at after losing so much weight from the aftermath of the shooting.
Clothing Style:
Is it comfortable? Is it warm? Rye will wear it. He likes to layer- a light and soft hoodie or crew neck under a durable jacket and a pair of well-worn jeans is his most common choice of clothing- and most of the hoodies you'll catch him in have been acquired over the years from his friends' closets, or right off their person. He finds a certain level of comfort in wearing something that was originally in the possession of someone he cares about. Likewise, he likes to give his own jackets or sweaters to those he cares for, so it's a good thing he tends to wear clothes that are a bit on the larger side, otherwise those little exchanges would be much more one-sided. The downsides of being smaller than most.
Scars, Tattoos and/or Piercings
Rye has a bullet scar on his left shoulder from when Charlie tore through the high school, but aside from that and some small scars from childhood injuries, he has mostly blank skin. He never got any piercings or tattoos, not because he couldn't but more because he just never felt the need to, always having expressed himself in other ways.


Personality Traits:
Rye was much more outgoing in highschool, always there with a snappy one-liner or delivering a joke with a tone so dry you'd feel dehydrated. He's more reserved in public nowadays but around those he's comfortable with, his real personality shows. He can still be playful and witty when he knows where he stands with someone, but if he's on rocky terms with them or doesn't know them at all he'll draw in on himself and become a bit of a wallflower.

Trigger Warnings for Homophobia, mentions of an overdose, violence, brief description of a school shooting and mentions of blood, character death

History

Before Eden

Born and raised in Downtown Cleveland, Gavriel had a relatively normal life and nothing to complain about. His mother, Avigail, was strong, funny, and understanding while not being a pushover. His father, Yosef, was tall, silly, and left most of the punishments to his wife when it came to it, but he loved coming home with little tchotchkes whenever he had to go out of town on a trip. His mom taught him first aid from a young age and his father and him had been working on fixing up an old muscle car together since he was four and could figure out what tools his dad was asking for. He got love, affection, and support. His mother recognized his early signs of anxiety and helped with tools to cope if the panic takes over. His father showed him how to tie a tie and a bowtie in the same day, and took him shopping for ones he’d want to wear at shul- the very occasional times they would go for the holidays, that is- because according to him, even if you only use it a few times, a man needs a good suit and tie. He wasn’t going to argue, he enjoyed dressing up every now and then.

The first sign something was wrong was when his dad came home early from a trip to see a ten year old Gavriel and his mother doing each other’s make up in the brightest colors possible. Their giggling had cut off quickly when his father had grabbed a rag, wet it, and began roughly scrubbing the makeup from his face. His mother had started yelling at him, pushing him and the rough fabric away and grabbing a few makeup wipes, handing them gently to Gavriel and sending him to another room. Their house wasn’t big, and it wasn’t anywhere near soundproofed, so Gavriel sat on the living room couch and took the makeup off in gentle strokes, wiping away the tears as well as he heard his parents arguing.

Suddenly, his dad was trying to sign him up for sports, and he was making Gavriel work on the car with him instead of them just doing it as a fun hobby. His dad was focused on showing Gavriel how to be a ‘real man’ as much as possible, while his mother would glare at him before taking Gavriel out for a mother-son day of fun. It all came to a head after the start of his eighth grade year, where Gavriel nervously sat his parents down and told them he was bisexual. His dad had stayed quiet, face unchanged as his mother leaned forward to hug him, telling him that she was happy he shared this and that there was nothing wrong with having love in your heart, no matter who it’s for. His father, however, reached his breaking point and began yelling and cussing, startling both he and his mother as he began ranting that Avigail had turned their child queer with all the makeup and coddling. Avigail stopped him with four simple words.

“We are getting divorced.”

Integrating

Halfway through his eighth grade year, his mother’s application to Sinclair Health had been accepted, so she packed him into their car and they drove towards their new life in Edenridge, Massachusetts. They got a nice two bedroom apartment with plenty of natural light and open space within easy walking distance to the school, and quickly fell back into the routine of working and learning. Gavriel and Niles Sinclair were introduced to each other, striking up a reserved friendship by proximity alone. Niles was the only person he would even consider a friend at the time. Gavriel would never admit it to his ma, but he felt incredibly out of place in this new community; he had issues connecting with the Northside kids, and most of the Southside kids seemed to glare or scoff away any outsiders.

Gardenview Temple helped, and both mother and son found themselves going more often than they had ever gone to an actual synagogue back home. They met the Phillips family a little over a month and a half into their patronage there, and while Avigail and Robyn hit it off as single mothers of queer kids- and having exes that they don’t speak of- Gavriel and JP had hit it off as well. If there was a dark corner or hallway in Gardenview, the boys found it and explored together, stealing kisses and letting hands wander. Still, Gardenview seemed like it’s own little pocket, untouched by the actuality of Edenridge. Making friends outside of it was still an issue for the boy.

He wasn’t one to quit though, just readjust, so he would go to parties and crack jokes, share a good time with people whose names he never asked for and faces he'd quickly forget, and then he'd go back home and bunk down with a book like he hadn't just been in the limelight for 5 hours. His public personality was overcompensating for his lack of genuine social connection, but he was starting to get used to the new him. It continued like this through the end of 8th grade and then, miraculously, it ended with a single person.

Danilo Belmonte was an otherworldly, beautiful, oblivious dork that he was lowkey flirting with just to watch blush from their very first study session freshman year. He suffered through listening to him talk about sports, and in response Gavriel would wax poetic about the dumbest shit just to see if the jock was actually paying attention. Miraculously, he almost always was. Meeting Danny gave him hope.

The first time he felt relief was in the second half of Freshman year, when he heard someone cussing someone else out with a heavy mix of Yiddish tossed in. His head had whipped around to the boy in the Serpent jacket as he slammed his phone shut, and when they locked eyes Gavriel merely tilted his head and gave a smile that helped create his nickname, no reservations about talking to the gang member despite his audience quickly shifting away.

"Got some tsuris over the phone?" He'd asked, making the other laugh in surprise before studying him closer.

"Tsuris there, mishegas here. 'S always somethin' with Goyim, yeah?" He'd replied, getting a laugh back, and that seemed to be a natural cue to move somewhere more quiet.

"Thank fuck, I though me and my ma were the only Jews in the whole town when we moved here, dude, you have no idea."

"I got no idea? I've lived 'ere my whole fuckin' life. Been havin' ta translate my everyday speech since the firs' day'a school."

"Oy vey."

"Fuckin' right."

Gavriel Shomer and Mordechai Boaz made an odd friendship, but it was there nonetheless. It turned out the Boaz brothers also frequented Gardenview, leading to more chances towards genuine friendship. Less than a week into their interactions, Decky had designated the other boy Rye; a joke on Jewish Rye bread and the boy's wry sense of humor. Despite enjoying his humor, Decky seemed to take a particular pleasure out of cutting Rye off mid-rant by shoving him to the nearest flat surface and stealing his breath. Neither of them ever complained about the arrangement.

In just over a year of moving to Edenridge, Rye finally found his friends in both Northies and Southies. Unfortunately, those friends still didn't mix no matter how many times Rye tried to make it a thing. Time continued on and Rye continued to be his shameless self in public while isolating himself in his private time. Smoking with Decky and hanging out with him and his little brother, going to Gardenview Temple, and spending time with Danny kept his life level and steady despite the growing chaos around them.

Belonging

Death in Edenridge seemed to hit differently than it did back home, but he supposed a small town would feel everything more strongly, more personally. Small towns always see death as a curse against them instead of the flow and chaos of life. Gavriel had learned better before moving to Edenridge, and so his life continued to move on through all the events that cast wounds and scars into his friends' bodies and souls. He could be there for them, sympathize with them, but empathy was far away.

He hadn’t been at the party when Allison Davies OD’d, but he’d seen the aftermath. It hadn’t stopped him from befriending and hanging out with Decky, and by extension the rest of his Southside crew, including Charlie Decker on occasion. He didn’t know how to act when Maxine died, everyone calling it a suicide except for Poppy and those who believed her. He’d rather believe someone that Decky had trusted than all the others, but it wasn’t his place to take on serious conversations in public; he was just the sarcastic outsider who didn’t know how to stay on the ‘right’ side of the track. Hell, their friendship was still pretty fresh by the time it had happened, he was well aware that anything he might have to say would not be well met in the first place.

Towards the end of Freshman year, Danny seemed to be getting more antsy and aggro by the day. While Rye was all for going out and getting in a bit of trouble, it didn’t seem to soothe any part of what was hurting in Danny. Nothing was grand enough, distracting enough, to bring real light and attention back to Danny’s gaze. Whatever it was definitely had the larger boy stressed out, and what better way to help a highschool jock stereotype de-stress than a little (un)healthy competition? Nothing wrong with a little game of Conquests, right? At the very least, maybe it’ll kick Danny out of his stagnant state and into forward motion.

The summer before his Sophomore year brought about many quick flings, but it also had Rye and JP graduating from dark corners to genuinely hooking up- which wasn’t too hard considering their mothers had bonded and were often over each other’s homes, dragging their willing children along. At least, that’s what it seemed like to the two teens. Turns out that Avi and Robyn had begun dating, and this was made clear when they officially announced it to their families a bit later into the summer. With a few side-eyes and more than a few shrugged shoulders, Gavriel and JP continued as if the announcement had no effect on their current standing. And it didn’t, not really; they continued to hang, on occasion bang, and overall grow closer. They wouldn’t have to have too serious of a conversation until their moms decide to tie the knot less than a year later. Even then, as Rye would so kindly put it to JP one night: "We didn't grow up together, didn't have formative years together, but we’ve definitely had good times together. Why should that stop?"

The Game picked up during Sophomore year, but now Rye was also juggling the integration of a new family dynamic. Luckily, thanks to Gardenview and having been brought along to each other’s homes, it wasn’t a rough transition, just a weird one. There were extra toothbrushes in their bathroom drawer in case any of the Phillips’ stayed over, Robyn got a drawer in his mom’s room and his mother likewise got one in Robyn’s. By the end of Sophomore year, he lived in a household of Seven instead of an apartment of Two. He was a sibling and a new son and he was adjusting as well as he could. By the time his and Danny’s game had ended- earlier than intended and with worse consequences than expected- Rye had finally settled into a real life in Edenridge. In his own opinion, it was about damn time too.

In the summer before Senior year, Danny had gone off to camp and Rye had spent plenty of time with the Boaz brothers, who were now living Northside. Rye didn’t mind, Danny had to do his own thing, and the Boaz’s were practically family by that point anyways. But that also led to them trusting him, led to Decky leaving Danny with him. He would never stop wondering if his presence in the cafeteria that day caused little Danny Boaz’s death.

Shooting and Aftermath

He’d been sitting in the cafeteria already, so when Decky walked in he’d had little Danny sit with him while he left to talk to the auto shop teacher. Rye had to be told much of what happened next, but he remembered that he heard the gunshot and pulled little Danny for cover. He took note of Charlie just before Decky came back through the doors. His distraction let Danny go before Rye could catch him, but he ran after the boy.

The same bullet that hit Danny hit Rye, and they went to the ground together. He had Danny’s blood on him and was bleeding himself, but Danny Belmonte’s sister Elisa helped him. Then together they took charge of first aid until the ambulances arrived. They did everything they could together until Rye passed out.

According to his very tearful mother when he next woke in a hospital bed, he had collapsed into unconsciousness almost as soon as the ambulance sirens were heard. She spent the next half hour alternating between scolding him for causing himself more harm, and praising him for doing everything he could to help. He asked her about Decky, about Niles, about anyone and everyone he could think of in the school that he’d cared for. There was so much death, and Gavriel realized that- unlike the previous deaths in Edenridge- he was heavily affected this time. By the time he was out of his hospital bed and dreading apologizing to Decky, the other boy had already left. And not just the hospital, but Edenridge as a whole. Gavriel would never know just how much Decky hated him, or if he blamed him, and that would cycle in his head for years to come.

After everything that happened, Rye all but destroyed his public persona. He stopped going to parties- not that there were many to be had- and he holed himself up in his room more often than not. He woke up screaming in the middle of the night, waking up most of the Phillips-Shomer household at least once a week. He began weekly therapy- both physical and mental- but even talking through everything and getting a second opinion didn’t stop him from blaming himself for the loss of Danny Boaz. He skipped school constantly and relied heavily on Niles and Danny, who had both stayed by him at the hospital, for the little social interaction he still craved. He found himself having a silent bond with Elisa when he saw her in between classes, but he couldn’t bear to actually speak about what they did together. He couldn’t bear trying to just think of the lives saved instead of those lost. He didn’t go to prom, he hadn’t even tried to so much as ask anyone if they were going. He just barely scraped by to get to graduation, a far cry from his previous B+ average. There was nothing left of the boy that arrived four and a half years previous. One of his only shining moments was finally getting almost full range of motion back to his shoulder, and that wasn’t exactly something you throw a party to.

Most of Rye’s time now is spent between Sinclair Health for his mom, Palermo for Danny, and Main Street Music for JP and great-uncle Eddie. He’d see Niles whenever the other man came in from Chicago, but most of their time interacting has been through phone calls. Gardenview though…Gardenview was lost to him, no matter how much his family tried to convince him back. There were just too many memories with the Boaz’s there. Shale understands, though, and has no problem meeting him at Lyon park every now and then for a spiritual chat. The fresh air does him good, anyway.

For this last summer he had been back in Cleveland, taking care of his maternal grandma after a surgery. Now that she was back on her feet, however, Rye was on his way back to Edenridge, having just barely avoided the events in Chapter 1.

Extra:
Rye has Tinnitus and often has music or some other noise going on in the background to drown most of it out.
Rye enjoys dancing and listening to most music with a nice beat, but he's partial to Rap and Hip Hop
Theme Song- Wedding Speech by the Flatliners.
Font- Inclitodo
FC- Joshua Basett- #28e0af
Family:
Avigail Phillips-Shomer(50)| Birth Mom | FC- Gabrielle Anwar- #2ed969
Played by @LovelyComplex
Robyn Ellie Phillips-Shomer(54)| Stepmom | FC- Nicole Kidman- #e7b87d
Sable Xylia Phillips-Shomer(23)| Oldest Stepsister | FC- Taylor Cameron Upsahl- #e1795b
Jericho Xavier Phillips-Shomer "JP"(21)| Stepbrother | FC- Tyler Young- #a8d16a
Winnie Cooper Phillips-Shomer(18)| Younger Stepsister | FC- Hunter Schafer- #e1c75c
Mallory Skye Phillips-Shomer(16)| Youngest Stepsister | FC- Jo Ellen Pellman- #e48585