FernStone

How Dogs Are [FernStone & AtomicEmperor]

Unfortunately, things didn’t go as well as Leon suggested they might. As it moved to evening and then the night, they still hadn’t found a compound that worked. One had alleviated the pain a little for a while, but there wasn’t anything closer to a success.

Cass was surprised they had so much to try. But after hours of pain, it was getting harder to believe that anything would actually work. She was exhausted. Without her magic, she couldn’t cope with her lack of sleep like she did before. But she couldn’t sleep either, because she was in too much pain. And the heated bed didn’t help enough! Then it was so fucking hard to change her position, because she had to do all the movement with her arms, which were weak and achy too.

She really wasn’t having a good time. The ability to keep chatting like she had been when the girls were there was gone. She just wanted it to all be over.

She’d managed to get a bit more propped up with pillows under her back and head at least, letting her put her phone on another pillow on her legs so she could half watch mindless comedies. But her phone was low on charge… the fucking cable wasn’t long enough to get it to the bed and sit comfortably with it. Because why would anything be easy?

”Leon… Can you plug my phone in?” It was the first time she’d spoken for a while beyond grunts of acknowledgement or one word answers. She didn’t really look at him, eyes closing with a frustrated frown.
”And maybe… get me a glass of water?”

Having such a long bend of silence had brought Leon a similar sense of malaise. He could sleep, but felt absolutely terrible doing so in front of someone who couldn’t. And without his own control over Lelou’s abilities, he wasn’t the same kind of free where he could adjust his circadian necessities. So, he was beat tired, and had his own phone plugged into the most convenient slot. If she was taking the plug, it meant he’d probably need to conserve his battery, as he’d started an old school RPG to pass the time.

And if he had nothing to do, he’d probably fall asleep. Fuck.

Getting up wordlessly, he locked his phone screen and carelessly flung it off to the windowsill next to him. Hitting hard on the flat back, it made a loud smacking noise, leaving room to wonder how thrilled he was about this. Still, he reached out for her phone.

”You want me to just leave it locked and plugged in? Or you trying to tilt your head and watch it propped up on the chord?”
At least his voice didn’t sound angry or annoyed.

”Locked. It’ll charge faster.”

Nodding, Leon left it to her preference and shuffled off into the dark office beyond. The lights had long been turned out, and tinctures had been left for Leon to keep feeding her throughout the night. He grabbed one, figuring the time would be up soon, then made way for the clean glass cups they kept for the private rooms.
Water, and even a little ice from the under-counter freezer nearby. Maybe it took too long, but he was exhausted. When he got back, he absentmindedly placed the heavy glass on the tray next to her bed and started to shuffle back to his seat without much thought.

By the time Leon came back, Cass’ thirst had really intensified. It was her fault for ignoring it longer than she should’ve, but she just couldn’t be bothered going through the stress of getting help to drink until she had to. She’d have to get some easy to use plastic bottle sometime…

Not that Leon offered to help. Sure, fine, she should be able to lift the glass by herself. She’d just about managed before. But it was getting worse! No, it was fine. She could do this.

It was annoyingly agonizing to lift her upper body off the bed enough that she could reach the glass with both hands. The tray was close enough to one to pick up smaller things, but she wasn’t risking anything heavier than a phone without both. Her abdominal muscles screamed in protest as she kept herself up, both hands wrapping around the glass.

When she finally managed to get a proper grip on it, she tried to pick it up. Her arms shook with what really shouldn’t be much effort! It was a fucking glass! She could pick up cars normally! But no, right now she had literally no strength. But she could do-

With a crash, the glass slipped out of her fingers and spilled onto the tray. It didn’t break because it hadn’t been that far up in the first place, and was strong enough to survive a fall. But the water was everywhere and spilling on the floor, ice sadly floating across the tray.

”Fuck! Fuck!” Cass’ back hit the bed again with a frustrated grunt. Her hands clenched and unclenched.
”Why… You didn’t look for a straw or some other shit like that?”

Leon was already shuffling back around the bed frantically, pushing the tray far away from bed and accidentally catching it on one of the monitors causing it to tumble over.

”Fuuuuuck God, damn it I don’t fuckin’-” he paused, looking at the glass that had simply not been allowed to live now shattered across the cool tile floor.
”-I’m… Actually tired. For once, I… I wanna sleep! How’m I supposed to sleep with you like this!? Nothing’s working!” he snapped back, half explaining his lack of awareness and half bitching on her behalf at nobody.

”I fuckin’ figured you’d, y’know, not want the baby treatment! You said you’re not a cripple!” he said, finally turning the tray upright on its wheels before moving off to go get a fresh glass with water and a straw.

Cass’ hands clenched into as close to fists as she could, letting out a sharp exhale of breath. Did he think she wanted this?! She didn’t want the baby treatment. But she didn’t have any fucking choice!

”I felt that way when I could still pick up a fucking glass! Y’think I just dropped it for fun?!” She bit out, finding it impossible to keep any kinds of emotions under control. She was the one in bed in agony. Was he looking for sympathy from her?! She’d been on the edge anyway… Frustrated, exhausted, pissed off at the circumstances.

”You can’t sleep? Oh, sorry, should’ve said and I woulda stopped being in fucking agony to let you get some rest! I know nothing’s working, Leon. That’s why I can’t pick up the fucking glass! I want to sleep too! Or, I dunno, have someone who actually thinks about whether I can pick something up or not around?!”

Leon wasn’t used to this… He had to instantly tell himself that she was just in pa-
”Sure, I’ll give Trisha a fucking call! I’m sure she’ll give you head too! Sorry, by the way, for fucking trying anything else. I mean, come on, if you’re fucking tired then look at the glass and say there’s no straw! Don’t just try and pick it up like you’re a fuckin’ superhero! It's pain and fatigue, it doesn’t instantly make you stupid!”

The glass was perfect again. Cold, wet, refreshing, and strawed up… He placed it on the table, then slid it close to her head before adjusting the height on it.

”There! Minimal movement for my newly minted pillow princess. God, I’m fuckin’ sorry for saying literally anything. I’ll bite my tongue and fuck myself next time I have anything to express.” he continued, not quite able to let it just go.

Cass almost didn’t drink out of spite. But she was so fucking thirsty… She leaned her head forward to long gulp. But not too long, because she couldn’t let it go either after he said all of that.

”You think I wanna be like this, Leon?! I’d rather be anything else- I thought I could pick it up! I fucking- Yeah, maybe don’t complain that you can’t sleep because of how much pain I’m in next time!” As she leaned back onto the pillows, she was able to look up at him.

She knew she was taking it out on the wrong person. Fuck, she knew he didn’t deserve this… But she just couldn’t deal with any of it! She could hardly deal with talking at all, nevermind this. There was no other way she could take out her frustration either. She was stuck. Fuck.

”I ain’t asking for anything unreasonable- Fuck! I don’t want this! I want to be able to walk into the fucking office and get my own fucking glass of water. I want to be able to sleep! I want the pain to fucking stop!” It was like a dam broke, and suddenly she was sobbing. She was still so pissed off too, and it was all bursting out.

”This is going to be the rest of my fucking life! I can’t even pick up a fucking glass, when normally I can punch through fucking walls! I’m fucking- I’m fucking stuck! It isn’t fair… it’s not fucking fair…”

Leon started by grabbing the bridge of his nose as she yelled. Yeah, obviously she didn’t want this far more than he didn’t. Hell, he’d chosen to stay! But, he’d also figured that ultimately there was a morphine drip or something that’d put her out for a few hours. She was a Green Adept for fuck’s sake, what was an overdose? She could take as much crap as she wanted, as long as she got better before that killed her, she’d have a fantastic ride back to normal life.

But her blood had to be clean for the machine to start tomorrow. Andy couldn’t give her any mundane medication. Even when it was on the table, she seemed pretty against it. He imagined she’d probably seen the effects of stuff like that after the war, but didn’t push.

However, when she started sobbing, he was quick to slip down next to the bed and gently moved the table with the glass to a slightly more convenient and less hostile spot. Half kneeling in the water and definitely digging into a glass shard, Leon quickly took Cass’ hand and let her wrap it in his hair. Whatever got her to stop yelling. Submission. She probably didn’t want that either, but it was always his last line of defense when there was a woman in distress in front of him.

Perfectly trained.

”No… No it’s not, Baby… We’ll figure this shit out! So what, we can’t keep you in a River… I can’t fuck your pain away either. But it’s not gonna be forever! We’ll come out of this period, and you’re gonna feel fucking great again! And when you do, we’re gonna do something fucking awesome! But we’re also gonna figure out how to make this better next time! It will be better next time!” he spoke through gritted teeth hoping she’d rip a chunk of hair out of his head just to feel her strength come back right then.

Cass couldn’t do anything but weakly grasp at his hair. It wasn’t the ‘submission’ that had her swapping from yelling to just full on crying, but the closeness. She couldn’t keep shouting at him like this. She was frustrated at herself for yelling in the first place…

”But what if nothing works? What if even the dialysis doesn’t?” She sucked in a harsh breath, pain rippling across her chest. She tilted her bed closer to him as she did.

It would work, Andy had been confident about that. But she felt like she’d been in pain so long that this was her life now. That it’d never go away.

”It wouldn’t be so bad if I could do something! If it was just the pain, or just the weakness. I still can’t move my legs at all… But if I wasn’t in pain I could sleep! And if I could move, I could punch it out! It’s just so hard when I’m stuck here like this.”

She closed her eyes, head turning fully to rub her face in the pillow. Trying to wipe away the tears. Her next words came out much more muffled.
”I’m sorry, you don’t fucking deserve to deal with this…”

She couldn’t even promise - him or herself - that it wouldn’t happen again, either.

”You assumed I’d be at home! How could I ever let you deal with this alone if we both know it’s this bad?! You… Better fucking get used to me being here. I swear, I didn’t mean to complain. I meant it to explain, and the wrong tone came out. If we’re going pound for pound, I know you’re getting crushed right now like it's Pixon vs Ashton at the Palace of Power. But, who the fuck won that fight!?” he looked up at her with tears of his own.

”Pixton did, even though no one thought he would.” She replied in a small voice, still muffled by the pillow. But she slowly turned her face back to look at Leon. The pillow rub hadn’t helped- it had just gotten the tears and snot everywhere. And she was still crying anyway.

”I ain’t tryna win a fight… You could’ve said it in any tone and I would’ve snapped. I might again!” She was a bit calmer now, but the frustration hadn’t reduce much- and until she wasn’t in pain, she had a feeling her emotions would keep peaking like this. Leon being there did help, even if he was also what had triggered her anger.
”You remember what Andy asked on Saturday? She did ask if I was having any mood swings… I wasn’t then, but I definitely am now. It’s like… My mood is just as fucking sensitive as my body right now! The pain is so draining… It ain’t how I thought I’d react. Well, I knew I was gonna be frustrated, but I didn’t think I’d snap! And I hate that!”

”Skeleton’s on fire. Makes you cranky, sure, but lack of sleep does that to everyone.”
Andy was in the doorway like a phantom in the dark, and scared the everloving shit out of Leon who proceeded to push up on his wet foot and slip out from under himself in the same move.

She had a mop in her hand, as well as a broom and pan for the glass.
”Heyyyyyy!!!! The fucking glass is harder to get out of you than it is the floor, dude!” she groaned, looking over at Cass and instantly reading the state like she was a medical case in a book.

”You want him sedated? I can put him to sleep for a fucking week, he won’t bother you.” she joked, pushing into the room with a terribly nonchalant demeanour.

”No thank you, then I’ll shout at you or someone else next.” Cass grimaced. It was hard to tell if she was joking, since she didn’t really have the energy or emotion to show it. Probably… Maybe… She didn’t entirely know herself. She didn’t want to get upset at Leon either, but at least they were able to talk about it.

”You should… maybe try and get some sleep, Leon? A couple hours, or something. Then maybe one of us won’t be running extra tired and cranky?” She managed a bit of concern through the tiredness as she looked at him. Both for his fall and the lack of sleep…

”Cass, Hon… You’ll realize eventually what you signed up for with a Richoux boy.”
As she got closer, she started jabbing Leon in the side with the mop handle.
”Go eat. Go. Get fucking food; Leonard is awake. He’s cooking up a fucking storm. He’s absolutely decimated Andrade’s secret spice stash.”

Leon’s eyes widened like he’d found bars of gold. He looked up at Cass, then at Andy.

”Shhhhiiiiit… Do you think-”

”Maybe that’s something I can talk to Cass about alone. God knows, you’re a bloody fucking lawyer otherwise. Go to the fucking cafeteria, mangemutt! GOOOOOOOOO!” she groaned, causing Leon to scramble up and bend down to kiss Cass on the head.

”I’ll feel better when I come back Babe! I’m sorry, I should’ve done this hours ago, I’ll- I’ll be fine! I’ll be back! Like, half an hour!” he called before practically scraping himself out the door and off into the dark hallway beyond.

Andy still stood, stark expression on her face. She looked down at Cass, a small frown forming.
”Shame about the bloody Shame. I’ve been asked to explore the condition through all potentially viable lenses… That means leaving the realm of medicinal herbs for more extreme treatments. However, lucky for you, we’re in a time where fear has transformed into sheer nerve. With someone twisting my arm to be a good doctor for the first time in my life since I was in Med School, I’m feeling a lot more excited about my life. Happy. Makes me want to do things, like waste resources looking for esoteric ingredients for new compounds that do dumb things to Lux.”

And then she smiled, and started to mop up the excess water still remaining. Just to get close enough so she could hold the water directly to Cass’ lips.

”Just got back from the Congo. Saw your new admirer abroad. I tell ‘ya, those people? That village? You’ll need to go when you feel better. It’s an incredible fucking experience for a Green Adept. So much joy, so much love. God… Maybe I’ll go there instead, fuck the money, fuck the-” she stopped herself, finally laughing.
”-Sorry. You’re hurting, you don’t want to hear about my good time. Fuck me. But, also,-”

She reached behind her pulling out a little leather bag that looked fat with stuffings. From it, she pulled a small black nodule.

”-stuff this in your mouth and chew like you’ve never chewed. It’s gonna turn gummy, then dry, then it’ll get real hot. But don’t spit it out.”

It was a lot for Cass to take in. The topic didn’t jump round much, but it was enough her head felt like it was spinning. Only because she was getting to the point of exhaustion where nothing made sense. Sure, sure, a bit strange to suddenly actually follow that oath they made doctors take and feel happy like she couldn’t do that the whole time… Well maybe not, Temple doctor and all…

The stuff about the Congo sounded nice. If irritating, when she was stuck here in pain. Must be nice to be able to travel.

She stared at the black nodule. It looked… weird. Sounded weird. But what did that matter now! She just wanted something to work.

”When do I swallow it? Do I swallow it?” She asked, taking the nodule and putting it in her mouth. She started chewing. Thankfully her jaw muscles were pretty alright, so she was able to give it a pretty good go. It didn’t taste awful. The gummy feeling wasn’t bad. Quite nice actually- but the dryness made her grimace. The hotness made her grimace more, eyes watering a bit as she look at Andy questioningly.

”Ohhhh… You’ll never get the chance.”

If she continued on, Cass would find that she was almost certainly no longer chewing on anything. Like, one second it was there, the next it completely dissolved like a cloud of cotton candy, complete with a sweet little goodbye as the heat dissipated instantly. And yet, nothing changed.

”The story… Is that King N’gouba would go to the great Leech for relief. That the pain was all powerful, and that the King would die each time, to be reborn and refreshed. It broke the heart of his wife, Queen N’dena.who would pluck her hairs in anxiety whenever he died. But, when he resurrected again and again, she would bury the hair in the ground. Eventually, plants with these little beans sprouted. One day, before meeting the Leech, the King stopped to eat of the beans, not knowing they were born of his wife’s grief. While he ate, she wept silently, for she knew he would die again soon. But, when next they arrived at the Leech, and the Leech drank of the king in order to kill him, and his pain with it, he was dissatisfied. For he said that the Light within the King’s body was consumed by Grief, and that it was all wasted.”

She knew that Cass was tired. Exhausted even, and probably confused even more since the little thing wasn’t doing anything. But, with the context that magic was a real thing, it was hard to not take old legends seriously… Sure, maybe the leech wasn’t a leech. It was probably another Green Adept taking advantage of the king’s toxic blood. Pissed that whatever this new miracle drug was did what it did…

”Because of that, the Leech refused to drain the king ever again, for the blood was not as sweet, nor as plentiful.”

She rattled the bag of beans about in her hand.

”Naomi called them Crying Beans. They don’t cry, but what they can do is isolate and trap Lux. Use enough of it, you can shut someone’s Emotional Field down by overloading it. Dried, powdered, or better yet as a gel compound you force feed someone. However… For people like you, it’s sort of like giving Adderall to a person with ADHD. It treats a symptom that most people don’t have to experience.” she explained finally, though not exactly nor fully.

Cass normally loved a good, wild myth but right now? She didn’t understand what Andy was trying to tell her- and the only thing that stopped her from getting really cranky again was that she assumed there was a point to it. But it was hard to see the point! That the… King had less Lux in his blood, or something?

Lelou had mentioned Beans that would help… And these were beans. Or called them, at least. Isolating and trapping Lux sounded… Helpful? For the future? To help it not get so backed up? But it didn’t seem to be doing anything for her right now.

”What symptom is that?” She asked as evenly as she could. Sure, she could guess from what was said… But she was too tired to trust that. She wanted it spelled out, for once.

”You got toxic Lux in your blood, Girl! You got Light Blood! Shit’s got a Gamma-Four compound in it that is a natural prism shape. Eat it, it dissolves in your mouth and hits the bloodstream immediately. Any cell that absorbs one will have a spot where the poisoning goes and gets trapped. Then, when it's heavy enough, it descends from the cell it's trapped in and floats out. Now, instead of being in all your blood cells at once and infecting your whole body, it gets neatly trapped in places like your Kidneys and Liver.” she finally blurted out, slowing into an explanation before resting the bag on the table next to her water.

”Everything about that story tells you what you should expect. But, I’m an asshole. I talk, and talk. Just… Long day, right? God… Anyway. King goes to a leech and dies every time the curse gets bad? Suddenly the leech won’t suck him ‘cuz his blood’s different after he eats one of these buggers? Cass… The fucking dialysis! It’s… I don’t know… Maybe it’ll help it! Maybe it’ll get everything out!” she exclaimed happily.

”I know it’s doing jack shit right now, but… Honestly, fuck the tinctures. Unless you want me to cook something up with these beans; I bet eating them is gonna suck in the long term.” Andy added haphazardly.

”I… So…” Cass trailed off, furrowing her brow. She had immediate reactions that she quickly put to bed. That it sounded like a cure! But obviously it wasn’t entirely, because Andy was still mentioning the dialysis. She pursed her lips, silent for a moment as she really processed it. Normally, she’d get it all immediately. But she was working with much less brain power than normal…

”I’ll still need the dialysis, but it should make it easier? And I won’t… It won’t be this bad in the future?! With the pain?” She asked after the silence, hope flaring back into life and giving her a little boost.
”I’m still gonna have… Whatsit… Luxal fatigue, ain’t I? Cause I gotta use up my Lux, even though it also poisons me, so it doesn’t fucking flood shit and make me into a crystal- Uh, but the beans and dialysis would make it… manageable? Maybe? Hopefully?”

She tilted her head, adding an afterthought.
”Eating or drinking’s all the same to me… it ain’t like it took that long to eat.”

Andy took a long pause, thinking about the long term implications of the treatment.

”Ahhh… So, basically, if it’s all getting stuck in certain places and clogging there, we can expect pretty consistent cycles of pain and whatnot. We can also probably simplify the blood treatment overall, since we’ll be filtering clean blood mostly. It’s not like you have some sort of virus and we need to capture it all; the prism filter will bind with the natural gamma prisms, and the blood should flow clean. One pass every day for the first few days of your treatment… Think of it like a real bad period every quarter or so.”

Cass pulled a face.
”That’s… still pretty shit. But I guess it is manageable. If I’m gonna be in pain and need my blood filtered, I’d rather know when it’s gonna happen and have it happen as fast as possible.”

She was silently thoughtful for another moment. Her head wasn’t exactly clear, but it was a bit clearer knowing there might be some way they could manage it. And that they could guarantee getting it out.

”So… Intense pain and blood filtering quarterly- fuck, that makes it sound like business shit. Uh- then… I’m guessing off my normal Lux usage and the last few days of pushing it, I'll probably burn out my Lux every few weeks to monthly. I think. I’ma try track it. But if it ain’t so painful cause my blood ain’t getting all toxic so quickly… I think I can deal with it. How- How long will the dialysis take this time?”

”This time, it’ll be pretty crummy. But, once your blood’s nice and full of gamma prisms, you can expect typical hemodialysis. Three days a week for as long as the flareup lasts, around four hours. But, at least we don’t have to kill you. As far as the pain? It’s still toxified when it passes from your bones. That shit sucks, because your bones are covered in nerve endings that basically die a shameful death on contact. It’s why you can’t move. The place your muscles hurt ends up being the fucking roots. Tendons, ligaments, places where the tissue is stretched directly over the bone. Breathing’s always gonna hurt. You’re always gonna have headaches, because the bone is directly exposed to the nerves in the brain cavity. It’s… Never going to be good, honey. Not unless we find you a big fucking tree or something.” she intoned solemnly.

”Leon mentioned Naomi’s boat… but I can’t deal with being trapped like that. I’d rather deal with the pain and inability to move every few months for just a few days than be stuck in one place. That’d kill me.” Cass replied, expression dropping a little bit. But it wasn’t as bad as it had been. She wasn’t about to start sobbing again.

It fucking sucked. Maybe she’d get used to it eventually. She was used to pain, but not such consistent pain. Hopefully she’d figure out how to sleep through it at least…

”I guess I just gotta learn to deal with it, don’t I? It’s a lot! I thought I was prepared, but I really wasn’t… ugh… No point dwelling on shit I can’t change. I’ll just get used to feel like I’m being slammed into a wall.” She managed something of a self deprecating grin.
”Can we start the first dialysis soon? I know it’s gotta be set up at the Cannery, but… if it’s four hours at a time, the first can be done here, right? If I’m gonna be in so much pain no matter what, I wanna be getting something that’ll actually help eventually.”

”Mmmmmmmno. Everything’s already set up. You’re going home. But, when you get home, I’m putting you to sleep. Because I have an early appointment, and so’s the dickhead who knows Nephrology better than I do. You don’t want me setting up your tubes: He’s going to send one of his nurses over to your place for when you wake up. And, unfortunately, Leon needs to do his job today. Important business with Sycamore I hear. So, it’ll be better for all of us if I can just clobber you.” Andy grinned, lazily sweeping up the last of the broken glass not trapped in the mop head.

”Ain’t gonna hear any complaints from me… Normally I hate shit like that, but I feel awful enough I’d let you knock me out with a baseball bat. Anything to fucking sleep. Do I… get to sleep after they set up all the shit, or do I have to make sure I got entertainment I can reach?” Cass squinted at Andy- mostly because keeping her eyes fully open was so fucking hard. Not that she was sleeping naturally.

Of course it sucked Leon had to be out. Kinda sucked more if it ended up being some exciting shit she could’ve watched from a distance… But it was fine. He’d fill her in later. She’d have to get used to being stuck inside no matter what else was going on, anyway.

”What do you want? I’ve got the bat; that lasts about twenty minutes… Or, the rest of your life depending on how far we push the envelope. I’ve got the craziest opiate you’ve ever experienced synthesized from the most degenerate fucking thing I’ve ever dealt with, I call it ‘Milk of the Infinite Red’, and you’ll probably be out until the nurse wakes you up. You’ll have to deal with the whole treatment anyway, we may as well slap the extra filter in and just dredge the shit out of you. So, it’s that… Or, we can play the long game, and I can give you some shocksalt, which will put you into a sixteen hour torpor where you’ll have the wildest dreams you can possibly ask for.” Andy explained bluntly, giving the maximum amount of time either option would last.

As much as sixteen hours out sounded pretty great, Cass wasn’t sure if she could deal with wild dreams right now. Normally she’d be so down, but when she was emotionally flip flopping? She wasn’t sure if that’d be the best idea…

”I’ll take the opiate. I don’t wanna dream wild shit right now I just wanna be out as peacefully as possible for as long as possible. Honestly I’d love it right fucking now! But I should probably wait for Leon to come back or he might freak out or some shit…”

”Oh sweetheart… It’s a cult, remember? He’s not making it back. He doesn’t even know he’s got a meeting yet. Someone’ll catch him while he’s eating in a slightly better mood, and he’ll be directed out before the sun comes up. Now, close your eyes, a-”
She’d already put the syringe into Cass’ iv on her hand.

The world almost instantly faded away into darkness, and there was nothing except for the cold, distant melody of a little girl humming a tune.

---

The mornings were just getting colder and colder. First, the raid on Elysium goes belly up in the water. They lose people in the deal, don’t find what they need. It’s a shit show. Then, the other group needs rescuing? Okay, fine. Leon could handle that part with his eyes closed. With Cass, it’d really been no big deal. They got the goods, got out, wait for information begins. Now, as he emerged from the portal back out into their new meeting place for the day, he couldn’t help but think of all that they’d learned at this point.

Kari’s notes revealed some sinister shit. A plan to take over by a group obscured and hidden in the shadows until now… Or, at least they had been for most people. Those who really knew St. Portwell could’ve seen Luis Cox coming from miles off. Property bought up through his legitimate ties, certain drugs showing up that’d never been around before. But, Lynette hadn’t bothered trying to stop him. Rather, it seemed like she found some reason to cede ground to the foreign interests of The Dollhouse.

In return, some were parishioners. He was told to steer clear of their properties on his infrequent evening sprawl brawls. That whatever happened on one of their properties was none of his concern. Fine, sure. But, he’d never expected that this “Father Wolf” was more than a single entity. Experiments of the wretched Heinrich Thormer and his equally terrible abstraction, the Undesired are entities that Kari Wilson had been looking into in a very intimate fashion. A type of doppelganger, these Undesired are born utilizing a small piece of an individual’s DNA.
Once born, the Undesired’s first stage of life is spent on the hunt for its donor, with its first real goal being to assimilate the donor in order to take on all of their characteristics.

From there, the evolved Undesired is allowed to slip back into it’s Donor’s life, acting as a sleeper agent until a specified command is given. This command, coming from Heinrich Thormer himself, can be anything which he can himself consider, allowing him to use this network of Undesired to silently and undetectably commit murders in multiple places at multiple levels of society. No matter who or what, apparently, things simply weren’t safe.
It was only by virtue of the remaining Sycamite’s continued skepticism in one another that they’d managed to avoid these Undesired. Each one had, it seemed, made the correct choice in clustering up without becoming a homogenous group.

If they’d stayed separate, there’d have been time for the imposters to slip into the cracks. If they’d all gathered and stayed stuck together, they’d have allowed for a situation where small behaviors would be lost in a sea of people. But, there was a clear reason they were all still alive, while people like Kali and Auri were dead.
And now Leon got to hash it out with Linqian. She’d become Edict’s de facto representative since Britney was getting sick. Real sick. They weren’t sure what was wrong apparently, but Edict wasn’t doing so hot either from what their go-between was saying. Meaning it was just her to talk with, supposedly.

”Y’know, it really does explain it all-” Leon grumbled half-caught beneath his breath.
”-why they went after who they did. People who couldn’t fuckin’ tell! They saw a friend, maybe in need or maybe not, and just went after them! I mean, to think of one of those monsters… I’m… I’m really sorry, Linqian.” Leon intoned, a flood of fond memories spent watching Jinhai come further and further into the light of Manhood during that fateful summer.

”Of course, anyone without developed super-sensory bullshit would miss it! It sounds like they’re the perfect fuckin’ assassins! It wouldn’t even surprise me if I couldn’t smell them. Like, they’ve already infiltrated our little group! Am I paranoid!?”

”Yeah, but that's why you're still alive.” Linqian intoned. She pulled out a packet of cigarettes from her coat pocket, putting one straight in her mouth. One finger glowed white as it lit the end. She offered the packet towards Leon at the same time, though she was pretty sure he didn't smoke.

She was trying to cut down on it herself, but shit like this just pushed her right back towards it.

Of course they got Jinhai but not her. She was saved purely by virtue of working her ass off. There wasn't any time to make friends, and she was only ever alone with someone when sleeping with some relative stranger. But Jinhai had so many friends. People liked him. Of course he'd let a friend into their home without question… Fuck. Why hadn't she quit her job earlier?

”Fuck… Greyson's gonna use this to excuse his fucking murder wall. Fucking bastard.” She suddenly stopped, and squatted, taking a long drag of her cigarette.
”He’s actually waiting in the car, if you wanna talk to the actual brains. But wait here with me a moment, I need some fucking peace.”

Between two sick people, her overly energetic brother, and her overly energetic best friend… it was a fucking lot. Then add all this one top? She'd been doing so well at pushing down the grief because she had no time to think about it. But then she'd had the time… It sucked. A constant energy drain, doubled by trying to hide it and just go on like normal.

She just smoked for a moment before speaking again.
”At least we can narrow down who might be one. Sloane and Anya aren't- no way it could copy being that much of a bitch. The Adjoined too… Can't exactly get their magic from fucking stealing DNA, can it?” Right now she was certainly more… even than normal. It was the grief after the revelation. For the moment it sapped all of the fight out of her. It wasn't one single murderer… who the fuck was she getting revenge on?

Maybe it was surprising she was actually thinking about it, but she'd always been smart in a more practical sense. It was just always overshadowed by others, or her own anger.

”It could've been anyone. Jinhai knew so many fucking people. Maybe they weren't even that close! He didn't hold onto the paranoia the same way I did after the Snake… Well, fuck, it wasn't like he was hit by the shitty mind fucking so much.” She never thought she'd find herself wishing her brother had been on the front lines more. But that didn't really matter, because she would've let a friend in their apartment too. She just hadn't had the free time to ever have anyone over. She pressed a hand to her face.
”Who the fuck would suspect a friend like that?”

”Well… You, right? No chance you're actually chilled the fuck out if I know you. You're probably more pissed than I am, that it could be any one of those assholes. Hell, maybe that's why Drake and Ken are still gone? Maybe they were never here… Maybe Drake and Jade never got separated to begin with.” Leon shrugged, taking the cigarette and pulling out a cheap lighter from his coat pocket.

His theory wasn't true. That old toad Ken traveled with was the one responsible for that abode: He'd know deceit and duplicity surely. Fucking Toad God, right? So at least Ken was real. Drake too, probably. Just unfortunate.

”You're not planning on doing anything drastic, are you? I'd… rather be there with you, and have a chance to help rather than not know and wind up losing you. For what it's worth, you grew up strong. It's infinitely impressive.” Leon offered the compliment like he was disabling a landmine, unsure of whether his words would have the desired effect, or the opposite.

Linqian let out a short laugh, tilting her head up towards Leon.
”Didn’t have much of a fucking choice there. Try supporting a family of three as a highschool dropout. Anyone’d group up strong. But no, I’m not planning to fucking hunt down this Heinrich bastard myself. Wouldn’t get far, anyway! Can’t fucking leave the house without someone noticing. Fucking Green and Pink adepts…”

She couldn’t lie and say she hadn’t thought about it. She’d had an outburst meetings ago about going to do everything herself. Sometimes it was even harder than normal to control herself. Because she truly did wish it had been her. Sometimes even Henri wasn’t enough for her to want to keep going anymore. But she did anyway, because she had to.

”I can’t leave my brother to have fucking Greyson as the main adult figure in his life either. Can you imagine? He’ll turn him full fucking sleezy Mafioso… So no. I’ll keep following the shitty ass group.”

”I highly doubt your brother has the same capacity for hateful actions as our bobble headed friend. If anything, there's a world where Greyson yields to his golden retriever whimsy.” Leon grinned and shrugged.

She probably missed it, but now that he was out of the magical closet, sweet Henri hadn't just been playing nursemaid. He'd visited the Temple Grounds a few times now, with Andre and his son. No services: Just a bright smile and enthusiastic questions about the way things work.

Greyson, however… Casey had been clear. Handle with care.

”You ever track Greyson? Keep tabs on him a whole day? Not, like, the days where he stays at home like a sybian in the corner. I mean, y'know, when he's out playing Gangster. Or, even maybe on a night with him… He ever been to a place called Feel Good Inc. down on Folsom? Or, maybe Christiansands? In La Para?” he asked simply, not trying to draw her too close to his information.

Linqian’s eyes narrowed at Leon. What the fuck was he fishing for? Mafia dealings? She wasn’t exactly a stalker. Greyson did dodgy shit, whatever. So long as Henri didn’t get involved in it, she didn’t give much of a fuck. But… Then, did he just want to know about fucking nightclubs? She couldn’t make sense of it.

Didn’t try to for much longer either.
”We’ve been to Christiansands. Then we got kicked outta Christiansands. Can’t fucking remember why, cause I was piss drunk. Why? What’re you trying to find out?”

”I'm trying to figure out if you know what I know. Either you do, and you know how serious it is, or you don't and all I can do as his friend is give him the chance to explain himself… What'd you mean about a murder wall?” Leon questioned through a drag of his smoke with narrowed eyes.

This was certainly fishing, but again, he wasn't going to be the one to cause Linqian to fly off the handle. All Leon could do here was hope that if she didn't know, maybe all this evidence would force Greyson's hand. He didn't smell any lotus blossoms, so the chances that Edict was remotely piloting Linqian was out of the question at least.

”He’s got a creepy ass board with pictures of us. Kinda shit you see a murderer have-” Linqian shrugged one shoulder. She was fairly certain he’d planned to at least manipulate the fuck out of them all at one point. He’d said he’d approached Henri with bad intentions, after all. Maybe worse… There was that back tattoo. But by the time she’d seen the wall, she wasn’t so worried. Some part of her trusted him now. As much as she could someone who’d proven themselves to be untrustable.

”What- No. I don’t think I know whatever the fuck it is you know.” Her lips pulled down into a heavy frown. Was it… Greyson had said some shit about a leap of faith in the future? Some hand wavey bullshit.
”Cause far as I’m aware, that club was just one he knew the boss of- some kinda typical mafia shit. What, there’s fucking more?”

Leon nearly swallowed his cigarette on inhale. Knew the boss.

Half-choked, Leon's olfactory senses purged the tainted acrid remains of smoke from his palette as he opened himself up to where that fucker was. That bold fucker…

”Where's your fucking car… I can't believe this.” he half-laughed, the other half raging inside.

The gutting part was that he had to deal with the mess. The cleanup. Cass had been the only good thing about this debacle, and even then he had to go through Trisha just to get to this point… But here this asshole was, murder in his heart and a plan to hurt people he supposedly loved open very clearly for this dumbass to see? She doesn't bother asking any hard questions?

But he was walking toward it without her prompting, long strides half-stunted by wrathful tension hopefully being masked.

Linqian had to half run to catch up with him, burning the rest of the almost done cigarette to a cinder between her fingers. Couldn’t believe what? What the fuck wasn’t Greyson telling her?

The car wasn’t that far. Far enough away that they wouldn’t be easily found by other Coven members who left by the same exit, or anyone else hanging around… But not a long walk. Especially when one person had extra long legs, and the other hurrying to keep up.

She was already a bit preemptively pissed. She wasn’t focused enough to pick up the full extent of Leon’s reaction, but she could at least tell he was agitated. So what the fuck was it?

It wasn’t helped by getting there and seeing Henri in the back fussing over Greyson, instead of in the front like he was supposed to be so they could drive away quickly if they needed to. Sure, it wasn’t needed, but fuck!

”Huanyi, out.” She didn’t bother with greetings as she ripped open the back door at her brother's side.

He turned around with an immediately awkward grin.
”But I’m not-”

”I don’t care! Get out!”

”No, no… Henri, fuckin’ stay…”
Leon didn't give much of a greeting, having gone round the other side to grab ahold of the other goober in the car.

Only, Leon wasn't feeling very cute toward his friend. And as massive hands wrapped around Greyson's collar, he could only contemplatively yelp in turn. He'd hardly started to recover from the incident during the rescue, having sundered another Adept's mind using only his own skull as the Channeler. It left lasting complications with rapid movement, pupil dilation, migraines and even hallucination…

So, Leon ripping him out of the car and out into the light, then the feeling of the World Champion's right hook nearly caving his jaw in, both contributed to his now near-delusional state.
He was half leaned back against the roof of the car, with Leon assuming one punch was enough to get the dinner bell ringing.

He got incredibly close, pulling Greyson's ear right up to his own lips.
”It's Dollhouse, Greyson… Kari's notes mentioned all the players. I wonder who the Capo Dio guy that kept coming up was! Linqian?”

Greyson, still panting, threw his hands up before Leon decided to hit him in the head again.

”Leon! Fff-d-don't!”
”I risked my life for you!”

”What the fuck?!” Henri scrambled forward into the empty spot where Greyson had been. Light started to spark off his skin.

”Do not fucking heal him, Han Huanyi! Keep your ass in the fucking car.” Linqian slammed the door in front of her shut, quickly coming round to the other side.

She still didn’t know why Leon was pissed. What the fuck it was that Greyson was hiding. Maybe she should trust him over Leon… but she’d never seen Leon get this pissed over something that wasn’t reasonable. Even in all the times they’d clashed.

She didn’t get as close as Leon did- couldn’t because he was blocking the way. Instead she just stood there, blocking Henri from getting out, and her eyes narrowed at Greyson.
”Explain, Greyson. What the fuck aren’t you telling me? Why the fuck is Leon so pissed off?!”

”M-Maybe we can all calm down first?” Henri tried to suggest, trapped in the car and panicking too much to think about getting out the other way.

”Hen-ri… D-don't! We've talked… about this!” Greyson intoned as he started to choke, a bit of blood rolling down his throat and into his lungs as Leon let him go.

He sunk down slightly, a migraine gripping him now.

Henri’s eyes widened, and his head jerked between Greyson and Linqian. Shit. Shit… This wasn’t going to be good. He’d struggled with it, and he wasn’t… Like she was…

”Spill the fucking beans, Greyson!”

Greyson looked up with a great deal of pain.

”I ain't given them anything in weeks! Nothing really, I-... swear to you… I fucking swear, I'm not-”

Leon wasn't looking for excuses or explanations that didn't involve admissions. So he hit him again, this time on the other cheek.

”Talk or I kick your fucking head in, Greyson! People are dead because of you!”

People were… Fuck. That fucking bastard. Linqian’s already pissed off expression only got worse, and the temperature in the area started to slowly rise. He was fucking involved.

Greyson's newly bruised face was covered in tears now.
”I… Told you. You'd need to leap, Linqian. That I was wrapped up in some bad shit!” he admitted, though not fully.

”Don't act like you ain't guilty, Leon… Your folks seem to like their money… I'm the fucking Capo Dio, Linqian! The notebooks? Come on… We got them out safe together. You think I didn't know this was coming next!? Do your fucking worst… Kill me, I won’t need to deal with how much of a piece of shit I am then!” he finally snapped, finding some dignity and gall.

”You- You killed my fucking brother!” There was bad shit, and there was this. There was taking a leap, and him being directly involved in Jinhai’s murder. He’d helped them find the targets.

Linqian shot forward and pushed past Leon to grab Greyson roughly. She wasn’t hot enough to burn through clothes yet, but the heat radiating off her skin was painful and oppressive. She shoved her hands into his shirt to grab his shoulders.

”Save the fucking pity part shit! Was it fun?! Ruining my fucking life then pretending to help put it back together?! You sick fuck- What, so you started feeling fucking guilty?! Stopped seeing me as a fucking dumb bitch to manipulate, and as a fucking pitiful charity case to help you feel fucking better?!” All her thoughts were jumbled up, and there was only anger left- anger and grief. She couldn’t see it as anything but a sick fucking game.

”Why the fuck should I take any fucking leap for you?!”

Now he was being burned… No magic to stop the pain now. Couldn't even bring himself to try a wildcast. The point was to feel it. Anything, one last time.

”B-cuss-” he started up, voice contracted entirely as he tried with all his might to not scream in bloody murder.
”-To-old yo-o-ou… I… Did… S-said I'd look like a l-l-liar t-too…”

The migraine, the face surrounding it, the two fried handprints in his shoulders.

”I d-dont want to die the b-b-ad guy… Henri…” he said to Linqian, his eyes weakly darting down to try and catch a glimpse of his pal… Maybe the last one he'd ever get.

”What about us, Greyson!? All that time, all those evenings? I knew you wanted us dead… But I never thought you'd reduce yourself to playing someone else's eyeballs just to be able to watch it happen…”

He couldn't deny his revenge fantasy. And it certainly wasn't his fault that Linqian had ignored such a terrible red flag… But he'd fostered this. Greyson knew his own level of culpability, and didn't want to hide anymore. Not when he didn't have to.

”How was… I supposed to fucking know!? That I was going to change my fucking mind!?” he finally gave in, cringing and shouting as the pain became too much.

It’d be easier for Linqian if he hadn’t changed his mind. Then she could just kill him and be done with it. But now she was feeling fucking conflicted. Because her brother liked him! He was actually fucking helping Henri! And- And she fucking liked him too!

It only made her feel more disgusted.
”You do look like a fucking liar. A fucking selfish prick. So you changed your fucking mind- but you stayed in our fucking lives?! You kept fucking pretending?! I really fucking-” She cut herself off, fingers digging deeper into his shoulders. Her temperature continued to creep up.

Henri was genuinely worried that Linqian was going to kill Greyson. He didn’t want him dead. He didn’t want her killing someone!
”Jie, he really regrets it! Really regrets it!”

”So fucking what?! How the fuck can you defend him?!”

”Because I felt it! All of his guilt and remorse- he’s been working against them! He’s really on our side, Jiejie! He regrets all of it! And- And Ge’s gone! Please don’t kill one of the only other people in our lives!”

Linqian didn’t let go of Greyson, but her temperature stagnated. Still burning hot, but not to the point she could so easily kill him. Tears slipped from the corners of her eyes, only to immediately evaporate.
”You should’ve had them kill me, Greyson. Then there wouldn’t be anything to fucking regret. You’d still be fucking happily murdering us, because there’d be no fucking little brother to help you change.”

”It was always going to be fucking hollow Linqian!!!” he finally screamed, his writhing and twisting face pressing up against hers.

”I was never going to make it… I knew. Revenge never tastes as sweet as the fantasy, Linqian! Its always bitter, leaves you with a taste like you want to kill yourself. It's a scam! It's what people feed themselves when they're hurt, because they can't stomach the fucking grief! Please, either kill me or let me fucking go!”

Leon was listening… Revenge. He'd have had a lot less sympathy for the devil if he hadn't felt that himself. What good was beating a monster when it didn't flinch? There were a million different things that could taint that perfect fantasy taste he spoke of, and so many factors contributing to the dish. He'd finally expelled Kane and Abel from his home, nearly. Had managed to actually hurt the bloody thing, no longer caring about the information it guarded.

He had to ask himself if it felt good. If it had been anything else but a letdown.

”Every time we give you the chance to talk, you seem to wriggle away. Make him writhe, Linqian. Test his theory about revenge.”

Linqian tilted her head back slightly and let out a bitter laugh.
”It doesn’t fucking matter! You think I don’t already want to kill myself?! That getting revenge is going to make the fucking worse?! That it’s really what keeps me fucking going?! Don’t talk to me about fucking grief, Greyson- I’ve been fucking crushed by it! Every fucking day! So what’s it fucking matter if I torture you for him?”

A burning hot knee came up and shoved right into his crotch, pressing in hard.

”I’d started to finally think it wasn’t all fucking hopeless! But that was just a fucking lie, wasn’t it?! I was a fucking fool to ever fucking think there’d be anything else in my fucking life. But you know why I’m still fucking alive, even though I can hardly bear it?! Why I’m not going to fucking kill you?! Because Yi-er doesn’t deserve to lose anyone else.”

She knew her own revenge would be hollow. Because killing the one who killed Jinhai- and everyone involved- wouldn’t bring him back. Nothing could bring him back. He was dead. Killing others wouldn’t change that.

She finally let go, foot dropping back to the ground. But she didn’t move away, staying right in his space with heat radiating off him.
”You’re just going to have to live with me fucking hating you.”

Greyson didn’t say anything… Just tried to lean forward to kiss her like he always did after a fight like this.

Linqian recoiled away from him, a hot hand coming up to slap him across the face.
”Are you fucking with me?! You think that’ll fucking work this time?!”

Leon managed to laugh aloud, seeing the little moment as nothing more than another of Greyson’s insecure little ticks. Probably a test of her willpower; to see if she’d acquiesce to carnality rather than stand on her principles. He was happy she’d stuck to the latter. Greyson himself didn’t speak. Just hung his head in shame.

”You’d do well with coughing up a list of Undesired in the city.” he directed sternly once Linqian had moved far enough away that he was on his own to pay attention again.

The whole situation sucked. He wasn’t a good enough spy to have gotten all his targets killed, and he definitely wasn’t a close enough goon to be privy to the knowledge. He really didn’t have much at this point; especially after the last meeting with Luis.

”Th’guy’s Cuban… Miami Cuban. Luis Cox, I mean. The Dollhouse guy?”

”That doesn’t help.” Leon coldly spoke.

”He’s got a brother, Leon. A twin. You didn’t know that, huh? Did you ever ask? No. Too busy stuffing ourselves with dollar bills, weren’t we? Two gluttons in the same pocket on different sides of the country!?” Greyson couldn’t help himself. Maybe it was penance… Maybe Leon hadn’t punched him enough.

Rightfully, Leon had no clue what the fuck Greyson’s point was now. It wasn’t clear, and it definitely wasn’t sensicle.

”Spill. Your. Guts. Or I swear I will, and I don’t think Linqian’s gonna try to stop me today either.” Leon growled.

”I’m trying to tell you Andrade’d know a lot more about the status of Undesired in the city than I would!” he shouted, smacking his fist into the door of the car behind him.

Leon’s hair stood on end. The world turned dark, and darker still. No he wouldn’t. No he wasn’t. Andrade had been with Maxwell since he was a teenager… He said that when his Father died, he went off the rails. That Maxwell had been his saving grace. That everything he’d done was for the man and woman who’d given him every opportunity…

”You’re lying.”

Greyson didn’t know what Kari’s notes said… But if his codename came up, then surely-

”Hermano! Fucking Hermano Dos!”

The name had come up in the ledger only once…
Ten new subjects implanted with Merrigon Core. Hermano Dos to distribute subjects through legitimate interests.

”Only mentioned once! Barely worth noting! You’re fucking bluffing to throw me off!” Leon barked back, taking a step forward.

”Did she figure out what a Merrigon Core was!? What about why they were stalking Alizee!? Why do you think she was suddenly a fucking Saint in your little church when before nobody would touch her with a hundred yard pole!?”

Nobody liked Alizee.

The thought crashed again through his head. Nobody but Andrade. He’d always thought he was just keeping the Void Heart close, in case he needed taking care of. But, it was starting to make a little more sense. Leon’s face and entire body softened. Anger was replaced with regret and sorrow, for having been misled in his own time. For not reading all the signs, and just doing what he’d been told.
The recent prosperity of the Temple, the financial accruing, the sudden leap in progress for the Eden team…

”Say it out loud, Leon! Don’t make me the only guilty one here…”

Leon grimaced, head slowly turning to Linqian. Tears filled his eyes, but his voice didn’t crack.

”You… Were right all along. You were right, and I was too dumb and biased to imagine you may be right. The… Temple. We’ve been using Greyson as a go-between, to trade Supernatural goods and materials with Dollhouse. Only, I figured if it was just us, and that nobody cut out the middle men, we’d be able to keep it above board as we could. Never knowing they had an inside man the entire time…”

Linqian didn’t even have the energy to punch him like she had Greyson. It was like all the heat was drained out of her, switching to a harsh coldness. Her glare was bitterly cold.

”You really thought something like that would work? Fuck, you’re stupider than I am. So your fucking cult was supplying our murderers. They- you- helped just as much. Ignorance isn’t a fucking excuse!” Her voice was icy. There wasn’t even a raging fire anymore. Like she was just… Done with him.

Both of them. Greyson wasn’t excluded from her cold glare, even as she asked him a neutral question.
”Anything they sold that helped with these Undesired or other shit?”

”It’s Apparitional. The Undesired, I mean. Every instance is just a little part of the whole. So, unless Andrade’s been cooking-”

”No. I know that much. Andrade and Luis both have the same mindset: Apparitions and the Adjoined who use them are only as useful as their loyalty. Their Father was killed by one, and it ran their lives in his skin for the better part of their childhood. Neither are interested in Herman being any more powerful than he is… Now, I hate to be that guy? But I need to either kill myself now, or find a very deep hole to crawl into. Because, uh… I know both of you have a pretty foggy memory of what happened that night, but I’m still holding the Sycamore Tree.”

Fuck… The actual overarching plan, to siphon the essence of the Stygian Snake from its resting place and harness it. How they planned to do it made a bit more sense, at least… Treat it like any other meal, it seemed.

Leon gripped the bridge of his nose. He could feel Linqian’s chill, but he didn’t want to deal with Greyson anymore than she did. So, he still deferred to her instead.

”Well… What the fuck? Do we call everyone back together right now? Stuff this asshole into Jack’s tatami house until we find a better jail cell?” he asked.

Why the fuck was the decision falling onto her? When the fuck should any decision ever fall on her? She didn’t know! She’d quite gladly leave him for dead… But she couldn’t let anyone get their fucking hands on the Snake. Not after how much devastation it caused then! If she was lucky, she and Henri would both die in whatever followed…

”I- I don’t fucking know! We’re not fucking calling everyone. Sloane will have a fucking field day! God fucking damnit.” Linqian’s hands clenched into fists at her side. Maybe she should just kill him. Put them all out of their collective misery…

She glanced at Henri, who was silently watching with wide eyes. She couldn’t…

”Jack’s the best fucking option, isn’t he? Unless they can follow you to that Void place…”

”They can… It’s the fucking… Pit, or bust!”

The pain in his head was coming back so much worse as his body reactively attempted to cleanse the mind of synaptic stress through the use of magic. It only made his entire brain press tightly against the membrane inside the skull. He rolled against the car, tucked, and brought both hands around his ears as he started to scream.

”Fuck, Greyson…-”
With what senses he had on tap, he gave a sniff as he got close to the man.
”-You’ve… Got Lux Poisoning! What the-”

”-The night you and your girl came and -RRRRRRRGGGGGAAAA-” he seized, pain gripping him. In the interim, he panted until he could speak again.
”-came and saved us. I fucking killed… No channeler.”

Leon had seen Greyson try to wild cast a billion times, then and now. Before and after Edict. He was obsessed with it, almost. Thought he’d be able to master it through hook or crook one day, just like he did everything else. It was easy for a Pink Adept to think that. They could trick themselves into anything, typically. Love was one Hell of a drug.

”You didn’t trust Cass enough to get you home!?”

”B-brit’s… Pregnant! I wasn’t gonna leave it up to fucking ch-aaaAAAAAAAAAAGH!”

The hits just kept coming today.

”Oh. That fucking explains a lot.” Linqian intoned. Her reaction made it seem like she didn’t care at all.

She shouldn’t, really. She certainly wasn’t going to be fucking happy about it while her main feelings towards him were still murderous. Not caring was- should be- the other option. Not whatever fucking strange gut clench she felt was.

”Wait- Britney’s pregnant?! Holy shit!” Henri shouted, entirely shocked. He wasn’t sure whether it was right to be excited right now.

Linqian’s still cold gaze moved back to Leon.
”It was fucking stupid. I’d just killed the guy right next to the one he brain blasted. If anything, he would’ve shot me. Then, I would’ve killed him myself.”

Leon looked at Linqian with shock and confusion in his eyes, then back to Greyson.

”You… I…”

At first, he stepped back just a little. This wasn’t what he’d been training himself to smell all of yesterday was. It wasn’t the same astringent and ammonia smell at the back of Cass’ breath that gave away the toxicity level of her blood. This was iron. This was mercury mixed with tar on a hot day. This was dead braincells, synapses firing off into nothing. Friction between the brain and the skull.

”Do you… Do you know what I… Do… F-f…”

Leon buckled, listing forward and bending his knees until his ass hit the pavement. Both feet stayed planted firmly as he curled into himself a moment. He thought of Britney. Of her smiling face in the old times. About how they’d come to the silent understanding, and how he’d ruined it by pushing the envelope for a group of people who weren’t even going to be around anymore. He felt a great deal of sorrow and regret… But could only express fury.

”Fuck you, Greyson… You’re… You’re gonna fucking die anyway, you stupid bastard. D’you know!? Do you know what you’ve fucking done to us!? There’s a timer on everything now! And I have to go live my life and act like a normal fucking person!? Because of you!? Because you made a foolish moronic mistake and threw your life away!?” he screamed up at him.

”No! No… No, no, your… Luis has a cure! For this! I know he has, Lee, I see’n him do it! I fuckin’ swear, he’s got a little pill, it-”

”Your brain. Is. Dying! What, are you actually stupid now? You don’t fucking use it? I know it’s still working, Greyson, you better get with the fucking program! Nothing is going to stop the necrosis when your grey matter can’t get blood to flow through it! Never mind how badly it's swelling! Fuck, I can practically hear it scraping against your skull! Just… Go! Go, go fucking die, somewhere far away from us so that when St. Portwell gets swallowed by the Stygian Snake, you don’t get the privilege of being buried here!!” Leon bellowed, tears starting to stream from his eyes.

Looks like it was time to break up with Cass…

”Are you… seriously…” Linqian didn’t even know how to begin feeling. Happy, since she didn’t have to do it herself? Not really. Sad? She probably should. She didn’t really feel much at all, though.

”W-W-Wait, what?! No, no way, he’s- your-?” Henri finally scrambled out from the car, dropping his feet onto the ground and making for Greyson. His hands glowed as he healed the damage Leon and Linqian had inflicted, his brow furrowing. Linqian didn’t bother stopping him this time.

”It’s… It’s really… Greyson! You’re- You’re-” Nothing could stop the waterworks, and Henri started absolutely sobbing.

”No! No, no no Henri, see… Leon just doesn’t know everything! He doesn’t, but see you remember everything I saw don’t you! This is exactly how it always went! Tell everyone everything because you’re from the family with all the magic! Oh, I’m Mister Know-It-All! Fuck that!”

With all the strength he could muster, he pulled Henri up into one arm at the shoulders and ripped the car door open with the other.
”Get back in the car, slide the fuck in! Linqian, please get us the fuck home? For now!? I’m fucking begging you at this point, the both of you!”

For once in his life, he desperately wanted Greyson to be right. Because if he wasn’t, there was no hope left. St. Portwell was dead, and who knew what could be next.

”Wait! Wait…-”
Leon practically launched himself up and forward, grabbing Greyson’s coat sleeve.
”-Keep your fucking phone close. There’s a chance Andrade doesn’t know what we does… If you’re serious about this drug? Whatever the shit is? We’ll make it ourselves. You’re a Bishop, for fuck’s sake: Lynette’s made an oath to you. Whatever she can-”

Greyson did the only thing that Greyson knew how to do to shut people up… And in doing so, maybe gave away both of their hands just a little more than Leon would’ve liked in front of Linqian. His lips pressed into Leon’s tightly, free hand gripping at one side of Leon’s face before pulling away slowly.

”Don’t let it go, Asshole… Just help her. She’s all that really ever mattered.”

Leon’s bottom lip quivered.
”Keep. Your. Phone. Close.”

Linqian stared at them both before her lips pulled up into a cold smile. All of it only made her feel worse. It was like the deep void of grief for Jinhai was now swallowing entirely as it was added to. Bitter hopelessness… Annoyance she’d ever let herself hope for anything from anyone but Henri in the first place. Of course, she knew how Greyson felt. It only confirmed her feelings from earlier. And the two of them… She would’ve had more of a reaction before, but now… She just felt so empty.

”Yi-er, you still have the keys?”

”Y-Yeah, do you-”

”No.” Linqian turned to stare at Greyson.
”Henri will drive you home. Then he’s going to pack all of his things, and get ready to go back to Madison- you hear that, Yi-er?”

”Wait, but, Jie, I don’t-”

”Find someone to stay with. I’ll sort the rest.”

”Henri… Do what she says. Don’t ask questions. Get in the front seat, start the car. I’ll call someone; we’ll get your stuff packed.”

Leon turned away then. Greyson was, and would always be his own worst enemy… And Leon was a natural enabler. He’d let that man walk right into a moving train if he thought that’s where he was sending himself.

”I guess you’re walkin’, Linqian? Or can I offer you a last ride?” he asked, not turning back around to watch Greyson play uncle-brother to someone he barely knew.

”O-Okay.” With both Linqian and Greyson telling him to, Henri could only hang his head and do as he was told. As he shuffled into the front seat, Linqian considered what she actually wanted. This part of town was a long way from her house. A walk could clear her head, but she was just as likely to break down on the way.

”I won’t say no if you’re offering.” She intoned eventually, not bothering to look away from Greyson. It was still so cold.
”Go, enjoy your last however long with Britney. Say goodbye to Yi-er. Get them to pack my stuff too.”

”I’m not doing that until we’ve talked! He’s leaving because its safer! You leaving just because you feel some type of way about something I said out of pocket is fucking typical. I’m not fucking running away, you don’t get to either. What I fucking said stands. You’re all that’s ever mattered.”

He slammed the car door shut, not giving Linqian the chance to come back at him with anything he couldn’t easily ignore through the glass. There were a thousand reasons for her not to believe him… But if there were any left, that had to equal a hung jury. Leon could only start to laugh.

”I did not ask him to fucking do that, by the way!” Leon scoffed as he started to make way down the road, not turning to see if Linqian was making her way up to keep pace with him.

”What?” Linqian was left stunned, staring at him through the car window. The switch from getting pissed again- because she wasn’t fucking running away, she was telling him to fuck off out of her life- to pure confusion would be obvious. But she didn’t get a chance to force open the door and pry more answers out of him, because Henri was a bit too efficient in driving away.

Great.

There was a momentary consideration for just walking, before she jogged to catch up with Leon.

”Yeah… I got that.” Linqian intoned, shaking her head. She was definitely feeling too much all at once, emotions directly clashing inside of her. The negative side that didn’t believe him, the hopeful side that wanted to… But why the fuck would that be the case? It made no sense.

”What the fuck.”

”What the fuck… What? C’mon. Now ain’t the time to be vulnerable and precious with our feelings, is it? We could die tonight!” he tried to grin, though his eyes were still full of tears.

The stupid fucker. Stupid, stupid bastard of a child. He always knew Greyson had some hidden vengeance fetish. Hell, allowed him to explore it in their darkest hours. What else did two old friends do when both of their lives had become so base; so carnal by desire? But, that was because, in spite of it all? Greyson Devola could be so charming. So funny, and witty. Maybe Leon appreciated his darker side a little bit too… Who couldn’t, all that intellect winding up in the body of a criminal?

So what was he making such stupid decisions for? Had it really been how Linqian had said it was? Now he’d have to ask Cass, and she wasn’t-

She wasn’t his girlfriend anymore… She had to get the fuck out of St. Portwell! His skin grew a little more clammy.

”Like, here, I’ll start! I’ve gotta go home now, and break up with this really great chick I just met. Because, if I run, I’m a coward! But if I let her stay, she dies in the ashes with the rest of us! I don’t really think that’s fair. And, here we are, because of that guy! That fucking dude! Fuck. Him. Right? Linqian?” Leon finally turned and started to walk backward to see her expression.

They spent the last month waiting to be stabbed by some fucking doppelganger assassin, how was now any more the time to open up? Just because it was inevitable? It had always been fucking inevitable, really. At least that’s how Linqian had felt. Since she lost Jinhai…

Her face still looked incredibly blank. Not emotionless blank, but shocked blank.
”Fucking him was exactly how I ended up in this mess. Just… Just be a fucking coward, Leon. If you have something to live for, run and fucking live for it. Who’s going to be left alive to judge you?”

Then she pressed a hand to her face, expression slowly dipping from blank to dour. Maybe he was right. If they were both going to die, it didn’t matter what she said.
”I fucking like him, Leon. Barely fucking admitted it to myself when we got together! And I like Britney too, so I was fine with the whole fucking thing we had going on. But he helped kill Jinhai! And he had Brit, so he could’ve just left me the fuck alone! Because what do I matter, anyway? Feels like a sick fucking joke.”

”He has a tattoo of a half-chopped down Sycamore tree on his fucking back, Linqian! You’re like a red flag seeking missile! You don’t think a guy who wanted to chop our fucking heads off, yet still met me every six months for the past four years to fuck and exchange goods, wasn’t going to have some kind of fucked up mental image of what love is!? He’s a Pink Lux Adept, dude… He was forced to kill people as a little child! What fucking chance did he ever have?”

Why was he defending him automatically? Because he was pathetic. Because even someone like Greyson Devola needed a cheerleader every now and again. Because, in spite of it all, maybe she’d seen the side he’d seen too. But they were at Leon’s car, and he pulled the passenger seat open for her, then closed the door behind her. It left a moment for introspection before he came back, opening his side and silently climbing into the car. He started it with the same wordless actions.

Linqian’s more vitriolic response was cut off by reaching the car, giving her a moment to process the things she really already knew.

”I know, Leon. I know he’s the biggest fucking red flag around. It was just supposed to be sex! I wasn’t supposed to develop any feelings. Wasn’t supposed to be bothered by any of this shit either, cause I knew what I was getting into! But here I am… Fuck.”

She knew Greyson had a fucked up image of love. She didn’t know what her own image of it was, either. Loving just led to being hurt… Yet again.

”I don’t even give a fuck about being the second choice. Hell, I’m obviously fucking polyamorous myself! I’d just assumed there was some actual care by now, fucked up love or not.” There was, if she believed what he’d said before leaving. But it was hard to believe.
”It’s so fucking hard to tell.”

”You were the first choice, I think. If it makes any kind of difference. If I remember correctly, from way back… He mentioned something like, uh… Well, y’know, Jinhai never would’ve let it happen. I don’t think he was ever satisfied with that outcome. Probably explains why he’s been so weird about the both of you lately.”

Leon thought about all that time ago. About how it never really made sense for Greyson to latch onto Britney in a purely lustful sense. Sure, maybe Britney was partly his type, but who didn’t think Linqian was drop dead gorgeous? It only made a little more sense when he’d come to realize that Greyson loved the head games as much as he loved the physicality. He needed things to be a joust, or he just… Couldn’t get it up. There had to be tension, or anger, or some overarching thing that made him utterly poisonous. Toxic to the core.

But it didn’t make him less of a human. He still wanted all the other things, even if he never deserved them. Love, and tender care. A family. To be needed and wanted, and to be respected.

”He put aside his wants when he decided to be with Britney. I think it was the only time. And when she left him, I guess it all came crumbling down. Only recently, talking about what he wanted to happen to his money if he died… Which I’m in control of, mind you. The Temple. Our lawyers, our money… His. He expects it paid out equally to you and Britney. You get the property in Louisiana. She gets the property here. It’s already set up, and the Will’s drawn.”

Leon waited for a moment before explaining.

”We always talked about she. Or her. The amorphous desire of the one: A partner to continue the legacy. When we were teenagers, anyway. So, when he came. He said what he said just then… She’s all that ever mattered. I’d forgotten… But he hadn’t. He didn’t forget a single fucking thing, all those years.”

Coming to a stop light, he looked over at Linqian.
”You think he didn’t forget because he was angry? He didn’t forget because he still loved us. Every single one of us. And that’s how you get when you think all the people you love turned on you. You want them all to die, like you feel they killed you. It’s selfish of him, but we know who he is. What isn’t selfish is the underlying emotion… It’s fucking love.”

Linqian was visibly conflicted, staring at Leon in resurfaced shock.
”Of course it’s fucking love… Fucking- He’s so full of it. It’s why I fucking fell! I didn’t fucking believe it at first, but then it was impossible to ignore how he felt.”

It made some things make more sense. What had seemed fast for her- his sudden feelings, their dating, him saying he loved her from the get go- wasn’t fast at all for him. Ten years of held onto feelings. She’d liked him then, flirted with him then, but certainly not loved him. She wasn’t even sure if she’d loved Bianca in that way.

”But even if ‘she’s all that mattered’ meant me then- which is still fucking hard for me to get my head round- surely it means Britney now. She’s the one who was going to be his wife. The one pregnant with his child! That fucking desired partner to continue the legacy.”

It shouldn’t matter if he loved them all- if he loved her. If he was splitting all of his money between them both. But it mattered to her far more than it should. That occasional ugly jealousy she had- it had gone both ways once or twice, because she liked Brit too, but it was mostly him. The intense fucking toxic human love bomb.

But she was singular. It could only mean one of them, even if he was splitting his material wealth like that.
”It doesn’t make sense…”

”It’s both of you, you absolutely dense woman! She is amorphous, it refers to a concept! She! Like you’d ingender a boat, or a fucking vessel, like the firmament that he’s built for himself is She. Y’know, like, ‘Steady as She goes?’ Even if he wasn’t magic, that guy could never be faithful to a single person, c’mon!” Leon chided, realizing finally that he had to really spell it out.

”A boat is a singular thing- two people isn't.” Linqian narrowed her eyes, feeling that she wasn't all that stupid for completely misreading it the whole fucking time. Who'd hear she and assume it was two women?! She completely skipped the last sentence to defend the small amount of brains she felt she had.
”You… have a plural pronoun in English? They? Don't they teach you that over here?”

”I’m absolutely not about to go into the intricate ways in which language syntax is broken by people every day. You’re fishing for an argument to avoid feeling silly, and that’s fine. But, my point stands. It’s not one or the other. He’s got what he wants and likes from one, and the same from the other. There’s plenty in there for him to want to give. But it’s aaaaaaall over. Because he’s a totally unabashed moron.” Leon couldn’t help but let a vague smile crack.

Really, it was because of Linqian. How she was, simply. She could never help it.

Linqian held back her retort about how English was her third language, so of course she took things literally- and instead just rolled her eyes.

”Fine, so it’s both of us. Fucking hell… God fucking damnit, I want to punch that smug bastards face again. Bet he was sooo fucking excited to have a third pair of helping hands. I’m the only one who’s looked after a baby before, y’know, fuck!” It wasn’t exactly a reasonable reaction to having a confirmation that it really was both of them for Greyson from someone she vaguely trusted- or at least, couldn’t think of a reason why he’d lie about this. She was feeling a lot. There was still the fucking helping kill Jinhai thing… But how much did that matter now? Greyson was going to fucking die. They all-

”Why the fuck was I so caught up on that?! You’re right, it’s all over, because we’re all going to fucking die. None of it even fucking matters anymore! Fuck- Can you take me to Oakwood Cemetery? May as well spend what might be my last day with the people I’ll have ‘left’ in the city.” At least when Henri was gone.

Leon frowned again, witnessing the realization hit Linqian all at once.

”Well… Farbeit for me to be the guy I always used to be, but… I’d spend the time maybe, like… With the people with the people who I won’t have left? I’ll get plenty of time to sit with the dead and buried here too. We all will. But, your brother… You’re both right to send him away. If I had it my way, I’d convince you and Britney to both get out. Otherwise, all that money goes to waste. You hate that, don’t you?” he asked rather sincerely, knowing how she’d always been about finances.

”And maybe… He may’ve been too far away to have been the one spying on Jinhai, and who got him killed. Maybe he never knew. Who knows? Just… Just saying.”

In spite of what he said, he was still going to do what she wanted him to. Oakwood it was, even if it was only for a little bit. It wasn’t exactly like he wanted to go home and do what he had to do next. Felt he had to do next. He was thinking more and more, he’d ask her. It would be stupid not to. She was a grown woman, and he didn’t think the little boy inside him could handle the thought of dying alone. It made him want to weep. Hell, she’d probably be for it. Why let the end of days be anything but fun when you knew your life was going to be spent in pain forever?

She’d use it, or lose it. They’d be okay…

But fucking Andrade!

Maybe Greyson hadn’t known. Even if he had… What was worse? Leaving things in this state between them before he died- they all died- or at least making things clear cut? As much as she was still upset, she wanted to at least say goodbye to Britney too.

She assumed Henri was smart enough to go from the place Greyson had them all in to their family home. That was where she originally planned to go after the cemetery.

”I need to talk to Jinhai before I decide anything. Well- the grave. It’s close enough to my house, so you’re not leaving me stranded if you gotta get back. I think you and Cass should leave. Hell, take your whole family! But you won’t for the same reason I won’t, will you? Cause we fucking defended the city ten years ago, and would die tryna do it again, right?”

She shrugged. It wasn’t that she was particularly noble… But this was her home more than any of the other places she’d lived in. Even though she’d lived here for less time than she’d left it. Six years… But they were the best six years of her life. Her parents and Jinhai rested here too.

”As for the money… My will says everything I have goes to my little brother, assuming Jinhai is dead- which he is. Technically Jinhai’s friend is still in charge of it, so as long as your Temple lawyers are efficient and we get a couple of days between Greyson dying and me… It won’t go to waste.”

She had to talk to Jinhai… The idea. The concept. He got it very well. Too bad he couldn’t go visit Dad at this point. Too much potential for an Andrade encounter, which he wasn’t thrilled to get into. He needed the Cannery first. Needed to see Cass.

”You wanna hear something fucked up?” he asked, not really caring whether or not she wanted to hear.
”Cass can’t even leave if she wanted to. Y’know how Andre, y’know Tournesol Andre? His son? Got that fucking Shame shit? That Lux curse? I fuck you not: Cass got a diagnosis not two weeks ago. Doc caught it just before a flare-up. She’s in so much pain right now, I almost think she’d let the building collapse over her to make it stop.”

”She has the Shame? And she’s- fucking pure Green, right?” Linqian’s eyebrows shot up. She knew about it. Very well, in fact. In the short period that she’d had with her Mother between kindling and her subsequent death, it had been drilled into her and Jinhai how lucky they were. Because while her Mother was from the line many, many generations ago, it had gone down a different branch entirely.

But it ran in Andre’s family. He didn’t have it, but there was a fair chance his children would. So they’d have to help out when they kindled. In the end, Linqian hadn’t been there when Lucian or Louis kindled. They hadn’t needed their help either.

”Lucian’s is mild and he complains enough about it- Fucking hell, that is fucked up. You’re not seriously gonna go break up with the poor woman while she feels like she’s dying- and probably won’t be able to do anything to escape anyway!”

Leon started smiling, shaking his head.

”No way… I’m… Just gonna ask her how she feels about it. If I were her? I’d wanna die here while it’s good, with the dude who I wanted to sleep with since I was a teenager. Fucked up, probably. But I know I catastrophize things. That’s my anxiety to deal with, and I do I think. Just takes me a few extra seconds to work through it. I… Promise… Unlike some people? I’ve actually tried fixing the things that made me an asshole at nineteen.” he giggled.

”Ha ha, some of us didn’t have the time to reflect and fix shit.” Of course, Linqian assumed he was poking at her- or maybe a large number of the Sycamites. But she didn’t jump up to anger like she normally would. By now, she was exhausted. Didn’t have the emotional capacity to get that pissed. Not after everything else…

”All of my personal development or whatever went towards learning to be a teen Mom to a fucking eight year old. That shit just makes your temper even shorter, the fact I’m no worse than ten years ago is a miracle.” She said with just a hint of sarcasm, waving a hand.
”But I can tell, cause I haven’t wanted to punch your fucking face as often as I did then. If you told sixteen year old me I would be sitting here having a reasonable fucking conversation with you, she would’ve laughed you outta the room! And you would be breaking up with her without even asking, cause you were fucking full of yourself then.”

”You also… Would be an ass for assuming I’m talking about you… Your growth is clear, because I wouldn’t be having a reasonable conversation with sixteen year old Linqian. I was talking about Jughead. He’s probably sobbing in the car right now with that other blubber head brother of yours. He really is the baby… You and Jinhai? No tears. Never. Saw Jinhai scream his head off until he went orange once, but never a single fucking tear. Me? I wear ‘em. But I’m there. Those two? What’s with the waterworks?” Leon couldn’t help but joke, having made his position and opinion clear.

It was nice, at least, to have something like this. A relationship with an old acquaintance who could maybe end as a friend. He needed friends now too. Maybe more than ever before…

”Even if I did cry, you wouldn’t see it. Tears fucking evaporate before anyone does.” Linqian managed to laugh slightly. She did cry, but not in front of people where she could. All of the grieving over Jinhai had been in private. It would be the same for Greyson, assuming he died before the rest of them.

”It’s cause they think the waterworks’ll make people sympathetic! I dunno for sure with Greyson- But Yi-er had us wrapped round his little finger. There was this one fucking time when he was… eleven I think? Old enough to know better- but he wanted this fucking handheld game console. A… Boy something… I dunno… But we couldn’t fucking afford it. We told him no… Then I went to work. Came back, Jinhai was on his fucking side- ‘oh Linqian, we can squeeze and get it for him’. Fucking lil bastard turned on the waterworks as soon as I was gone. Then, he did the fucking same to me when Jinhai was out! Just fucking… He was so fucking cute then… His face fucking balled up and he starts sobbing and saying how it’s all he wants. So- So I bought him the fucking boy game thing. And barely ate for a month.”

”I think if anyone needed the facade, it’d be Greyson. Sounds to me like you-... You don’t care what it sounds like to me! You’d have fuckin’ asked!”
He started laughing, leaning in slightly.

”Just… Don’t tease him, alright? It’s not a top or bottom situation between us. We’ve always pulled equal duty.” he started laughing openly, hoping the joke would lighten Linqian’s mood a little more as they approached the final stretch

Linqian shook her head slightly, unable to stop a proper laugh from escaping.
”Already assuming I’m gonna fucking talk to him again- Somehow I doubt it was completely equal effort. He’s such a little bitch about some things!” She waved a hand.
”I already have plenty of sex shit to tease him with, anyway! I don’t need any from outside sources, c’mon.”

The drive down the long narrow stretch toward the graveyard was at least mostly defused of the tension surrounding it. They’d be able to talk, and maybe even accept what one another had to say for the moment… Just the moment, maybe, but it was better than nothing. Eventually they reached the gates, with the old throughway still being wide enough for carts and hearses. Leon drove right in, and continued down the main lane.

”I’d let you walk, but I know where I’m going. And I’d hate to see something happen to you now of all times… So I’ll get as close as I can, I think. But, I’ll stay in here at least.” he admitted calmly.

”Sure. I appreciate it… Thanks, Leon. You won’t be able to understand shit anyway, unless you’ve learned Chinese.”

Linqian didn’t wait after they pulled to a stop, getting out immediately. She paused just before Jinhai’s grave, a few away. Their parents… They hadn’t been able to get him next to them, but it was close enough. Only three people between them… She lingered there for a moment, saying a few words before she moved on.

In front of Jinhai’s grave, she crouched down. She didn’t speak immediately, lighting an incense stick she’d left there a couple of days before. Then she pulled a small flask out of her pocket, which she promptly downed half of, the rest poured into the dirt. After that was done, she finally spoke.

While Leon wouldn’t be able to understand anything she said, the emotion- raw despair and sadness- couldn’t be hidden. It wasn’t that long. Maybe ten minutes, little curls of steam evaporating off her cheeks and mingling with the incense smoke. Her eyes were still a little wet as she went back to Leon’s car, but there was no other evidence of tears.

”Just… Fucking… Take me to Greyson’s place… Please.”

Recollections: Primal Sinister

Sunrise Art Collective

_{And special guest Mobsters.}

Tuesday Morning Market, Underwood Street. Cloverfield Lower District.

---

With Domi gone to try and trade art for other wares, Nico and Ash were actually left to watch their stall.

Not that there was much watching to be done. At this early hour, visitors were normally looking to get food for their family or other essentials rather than art. Not that many in this side of town were looking to buy art anyway. They mostly ended up trading for food themselves. They didn’t even have to worry about anything being stolen thanks to the Hollow members on the prowl.

”So…” Ash folded their arms, looking at Nico as he whittled away. ”Now that she’s gone, tell me the truth. You snuck out again, didn’t you?”

”You make it sound like I’m a prisoner in my own home!” Nico looked up with a light laugh. ”Sneaking implies doing something wrong. It’s not my fault Julian was so lost in his art he wouldn’t notice if the building exploded! I didn’t want to disturb him, so I just left a note.”

”Nico, really? He’s gonna be so pissed.”

Nico just shrugged one shoulder. It never lasted, since Julian’s agitation always came from worry for him. He was too protective sometimes, like Nico was a porcelain doll that’d shatter if the wind got a little too strong. His chronic illness was bad, but not that bad. He loved his fiance enough to deal with it, but that meant taking these small moments too.

”So long as I ain’t caught in the blast radius. I’m gonna say I told you to go home over and over again.”

Nico’s lips pulled up into a teasing smile. ”If we’re lucky, he’ll be so excited about finishing another piece we won’t even have to worry about it.”

“We begged you to go home, pleaded with you even,” Alice joked as she hit her vape pen. She held the smoke in for just a moment to release a cloud of vapor above her. It smelled skunky and strong. Alice was wearing her typical outfit, jeans and a biker jacket, with a simple black shirt underneath. Her jacket had various pins that, in actuality, did not mean much or do much to identify who she was. Still, the pin of a hooded figure hanging did much to tell what she was about.

“He means well,” Johnny added as he draped his arm around the shoulders of Alice. Like Alice, he arrived wearing jeans and a leather jacket adorned with pins and patches, but unlike Alice, he did not have a shirt on underneath. His heavily tattooed and muscular chest was on full display. As was a guitar pick that was strung around his neck like a necklace. His beard was longer than normal, as was his hair, and it was more evident as he had it slicked back. “How we doing today?”

”Great, if you keep the smoke away from me,” Nico laughed, wrinkling his nose even though none of it had gotten near him. He smiled brightly at the two- as good a sign as any that today was a good day for him. ”I know he means well… I mean, I love him, don’t I?! Just gotta keep him on his toes sometimes!”

”Gross.” Ash intoned with a deadpan expression. ”Y’know what else is gross, and really ruined my day? Domi going off to hook up with some gang member.”

”She was going to trade…”

”Yeah, but I got a feeling that ain’t what she’s doing.”

“Let her live a little,” Art responded as she walked up as well, “some of the guards around here are cute. Especially that Marco….” One could almost see the corner of Art’s mouth curl upward in a smile, yet look as they might, they would never be able to confirm it. Their expression was deadpan, and their delivery was dry. Indeed, the most expressive part of her was, as it always was, her purple hair. The short, black dress that she wore and the platform boots that went halfway up her calves were almost identical to every other fit they wore.

“Pleeease tell me where she went, if she’s not back in ten minutes, I am pulling her out of that mistake. Or pulling the mistake out of her,” Tessa added with a sigh. They were sporting brand-new earrings that they had bought that morning, and they had two bags filled with other goodies acquired during their hunt.

“Oh don’t you dare,” Alice paused as she pointed her vape pen towards Tessa, who quickly grabbed it and took a hit, “we all have to learn that mistake.”

“Did you,” Art asked with narry a trace of emotion as their eyes slowly shifted towards Johnny.

“I’m hurt,” Johnny responded as he placed a hand over his heart, “I like to think I am a gorgeous life lesson personally.”

”I’m with Tessa on that one. Last thing we need is trouble with the Hollow!” Ash shook their head, waving a hand dismissively to Johnny. ”We don’t have a good track record of learning from mistakes.”

Pointedly, they looked at Alice, then at Nico.

”Whoa. Julian’s a gorgeous life lesson too! One I don’t regret one bit.” Nico laughed, shaving a little more wood off the small charm he was making. Delicate work, but it was second nature to him now. ”But I’m not worried about anything happening. She’s a sensible flirt. And the Hollow isn’t going to cause trouble for a group of Artists. From what I’ve heard so far, contributing Southerners like us are the kind Gideon Cross likes.”

“He likes those who do well by the locals, that much I learned from my dealings,” Alice paused as she grabbed the vape back and put it back in her pocket, “round here.”

“It is much different than St. Portwell,” Art added with a sigh.

“I’m hurt, again,” Johnny added as he feigned a faint. “I’m the love of her life.”

“See? Either we learn that we have met the love of our life, or we learn what to not do again. Win, win.”

”So true,” Nico laughed, before waving a hand at Ash, Art and Tessa. ”You three will understand when you meet the love of your lives.”

”Eh, no thank you. I’m not in the market for that.” Ash rolled their eyes. ”I’ll just keep laughing at everyone’s mistakes.”

The group would suddenly feel a commanding presence coming towards them. Through the shifting crowd they would see a older man walking towards them. He was very well dressed and had more salt than pepper in his hair and beard. Gideon Cross was inspecting the event. At his side was Marco, also well dressed with a silky button up shirt that was unbuttoned a button too many, and expensive dress pants. He walked with his hands in his pockets, yet his eyes scanned the crowd with an inquisitive look.

“Speak of the devil,” Art spoke softly.

“And he appears,” Johnny said as he pulled his posture together, “play this cool, yeah?”

Ash hit Johnny with a deadpan stare. ”Who isn’t gonna play it cool? You’re the biggest risk, Dude.”

Nico smiled slightly, glancing over at the most important man in this side of the city. There was an itchy feeling underneath his skin as he did- a sign of nerves, perhaps. But there was nothing to be nervous about… Just the old flare up. Nico rubbed the back of his neck. ”Now I’m quite thankful Julian isn’t here. Just in case…”

His fiance had quite the temper. But Nico assumed Gideon was unlikely to stop at their little stall anyway, just making sure to smile politely as he got close.

Gideon and Marco made their way through the crowd. Gideon shook hands as he went, exchanged small talks with individuals, and had a big smile as he examined the wares as he went. As he was passing by, he cast a glance towards the assembled artists and their wares and raised an eyebrow. He smirked and nodded his head as the quality of their work was evident even from a distance. He looked away, and the group felt a sigh of relief as he began to walk past. That was before he raised a finger in the air, pivoted in his spot, and turned to face the group. The finger slowly fell until it pointed towards Alice.

“Shit.”

“Oh don’t say that. There’s children here,” Gideon said with a bellowing voice, followed soon by a chuckle. He crossed the distance until he was well within their bubble. “I like to know everyone who sells at these events, and,” Gideon paused as he placed his hand on this chin and pondered for a moment, “I don’t seem to know you all,” Gideon paused as he looked back to Alice, “I do know what you have been up to down here,” Gideon said as he crossed his arms, “did you think you could deal on my turf without me knowing,” Gideon said as a sly grin crossed his face.

“It was a-.”

“Ah ah ah,” Gideon said as he raised up his whole hand to shush. “I am talking right now, ain’t that right, Marco?”

“That you are, sir.”

“And I am talking to a girl who has come down to the Lower District and is selling weed on our block without talkin’ to us first, ain’t that right. Legal weed is just across the bridge up North, and you're just be sellin’ down here at such a discount.”

“It is so expensive across that bridge, ain’t it?”

“And all the taxes they charge, go and fund their side of the city, and we ain’t see a dime of that restoration fund.”

“No, we don’t.”

“What is our cut when someone is dealing weed down in the lower district,” Gideon paused as he flashed a smile towards the rest of the group. Johnny’s hand remained at his side, though he had thoughts about grabbing his pick off his neck.

“An introduction, that’s all.” Marco paused as he crossed his arms and approached the group, “Listen, you’re doing the people down here a service, those rich fucks reap all the benefit but keep the product out of these hard working hands down here. But you can’t just walk into someone’s home uninvited like that. You’re not in any trouble, this time, but going forward, we expect you to stop by The Hollow. You scratch our back, and we will return the favor. We understood?”
“Understood,” Alice said as she uncleched everything and sighed.

“Whatcha making there,” Gideon asked as he pointed towards the charm Nico was working at. He looked over the charms that were already made and pointed towards them, “How much you charge for one of those?” He paused as his eyes looked over the various canvases and whistled at what he saw. “Marco, how is the art at the Hollow,” Gideon asked.

“We have art at the Hollow.” Marco raised an eyebrow as he turned towards Gideon. He could not remember a single painting in the bar portion of the Hollow.

“Fix that,” Gideon said firmly, he then turned towards the artists and nodded, “A pleasure to meet you all,” Gideon finished as he turned back to the crowd and began to shake hands and make pleasant talk with people once more.

“Hi Marco,” Art spoke softly and batted her eyes.

Marco raised an eyebrow and looked at Art, before he looked away quickly.

”Oh my God,” Ash groaned under their breath, hand finally pulling out from their pocket and holding the switchblade within. They stepped back, absolutely not wanting to be the one doing the talking. They were an artist, sure, but not a talker.

Nico smiled, shifting off his little stool to actually stand right behind the table. Not that standing gave him that much more height… The itching under his skin finally ceased, and it was easier for him to speak.

”This is just a small selection of the art from our Collective. Literally. We’d only bring out the small pieces to something like this- easily affordable. Everyone deserves access to art.” He explained, gesturing to the canvas. Another finger pointed at a wooden charm. ”If your boss really wants one of these, they’re cheap… But I’m gonna have to upsell you. It’s only fair the people with the money pay more, right?”

His tone was joking, and he grinned. ”We have many larger pieces, if you’re interested in having a look at those sometime. They’re more likely to fit in a place like the Hollow. Things this size are more for small homes, or offices.”

“It’s only fair when the rich pay their fair share.” Marco smirked as he grabbed a band of money from his pocket. He grabbed a singular one hundred dollar bill and held it out for Nico. “That should cover a couple charms,” Marco paused as he smiled, “and I would love to take a look at your larger pieces sometime. Let me get your number,” Marco paused as he looked at Nico, before his eyes shifted towards Alice, “and I’ll take yours as well..”

“She’s spoken for, suit.”

“There will be occasional sweeps of this district by the cops. I would like to give a heads up when that is happening.”

“Babe, its okay,” Alice said as she opened her phone and passed it to Marco.

Marco grabbed it softly and quickly sent a text to his phone. He passed it back without any further action. His eyes slowly shifted back to Nico.

Nico raised his eyebrows at the bill. Before taking it he bent under the table to get a small paper bag, gesturing to the charms. ”Whatever you want, and I’ll bag it up. You don’t happen to have smaller notes, do you? I’m sure you know better than me how few places will take that here.”

His hand shoved into his thick dark pants’ pocket, pulling out his battered flip phone. He held it out to Marco with a slight smile. ”Here. We’re just settling in, but it will be easy enough to have you round to our studio. As long as there’s a day or so notice, everyone can bring their work in.”

Marco crossed his arms, before raising one up to be level with his head. His eyes remained fixed on the flip phone for a brief moment, wondering how something like that still worked. He rested his weight on his back leg as he looked up towards Nico. Starving artists indeed. He grabbed the phone gently, and began to enter his number when a commanding voice caught his attention.

“Whose this, Julian asked loudly as he appeared through the crowd. Marco did not move a muscle except for a glance with his eyes.

Johnny quickly moved in front of Julian and placed both hands on his shoulders and pushed back. Even as strong as he was, Julian was still stronger and the sound of rubber squealing filled the air and Julian pushed through the hold and pushed Johnny back. “Easy, boss, he’s Hollow,” Johnny whispered, “he’s buying some charms, for a very fair price right now, and wants to swing by the studio for some of our art.”

Julian sized up Marco and let his eyes linger for a brief moment longer before they shifted back to Nico, softened, and a smile spread across his face. “How are you feeling today, my love, Julian asked as he tapped Johnny on the shoulders, prompting the man to release his grip and step aside. Julian quickly covered the distance and walked next to Nico, planting a soft kiss on his forehead.

”Would I be out if I was feeling anything other than good?” Nico replied with a lightly teasing tone, smiling softly up at Julian. ”I see you got my note… One moment, just let me finish this, alright?”

He turned back to Marco, reaching out to take his phone back. ”What charms would you like? I can’t take your money until you choose… We’re very honest artists.”

Marco grabbed two fifty-dollar bills and passed them to Nico, letting him keep the bill he had given him previously. He looked over the charms and thought about what Gideon and his wife would like. He settled on a pair of stained glass-infused earrings and a small canvas of a sunset over a broken town. He grabbed the bag from Nico, placed the earnings in the bag, and carried the canvas in his free hand. He nodded to the group and turned around. “Until next time.”

”It was a pleasure doing business with you.” Nico smiled at Marco’s back, handing the bills off to Ash, who was today’s money holder. They took it and slipped it into a belt they had hidden under their baggy hoodie. ”I think that’s the first time we’ve made money here, instead of trading…”

He laughed, shifting his body to properly face Julian. His eyes creased gently. ”Did you finish the piece you were working on, my love?”

“I did, yes, last night was just the inspiration I needed to finish it, Julian said as he grabbed Nico by the waist and pulled him into a kiss. “What brought the muscle over to talk to us, Julian asked as he watched the money go into the belt, a smile at the sight filled his face.

“They knew I was dealing,” Alice said with a sigh as she walked over to Johnny and placed a hand on his shoulder.

“We handled it as well as we could.”

“It was a fun first meeting. Gideon is commanding.”

”Fun is a word that could be used to describe it.”

Nico looked at everyone else a little helplessly, leaning his full weight- which wasn’t much- onto Julian. ”They wanted an introduction, and for Alice to stop by the Hollow. Which she won’t be doing alone, of course… But it wasn’t a problem so long as we stay on their good side.”

”Easier said than done.” Ash let out a short laugh.

”As long as no one else starts selling drugs without their permission, we’ll be fine.”

“No, she won't. Johnny, you and I will go. We’ll keep you safe, and if they try anything, they end up in the book,” Julian paused as he looked over the group, “good work though, all of you. You did well.

“Thanks boss,” Art paused as they thought back to Marco and in their mind, they smiled, but their face remained unchanged.

“Goes without saying I am going with you, I can’t let those gangsters stare at you unchallenged.”

“Such the romantic,” Alice said as she pressed her face close.

”Let’s try avoid beating any of them up, alright? If possible?” Nico said with a soft firmness, glancing at Johnny, and then up at Julian. It was always better to stay on the good side of those they didn’t have to get rid of. ”At least, let them buy some of our bigger pieces first.”

”If we bring in all our good pieces, I bet we could get enough to pay a couple months rent for everyone.”

“Agreed. Let’s get some money first, besides,” Julian paused with a smile, “I have plans for us elsewhere, so we’ll be civil. Copy?”

“Yes sir.”

“You know it.

”Do you know how hot it is when you give out orders?” Nico teased lightly, before stretching up to kiss Julian's jaw.

”Please, I can't handle so much fucking sappy shit.” Ash groaned, moving things around on the table to cover the gaps.

Nico laughed, still looking up at Julian. ”Well… We don't need everyone here, I don't think. There's hardly room for us all behind the table! So… Should we go take a look around?”

“That’s a lovely idea,” Julian said as he offered Nico his hand, “shall we?”

”Yes, lets,” Nico grinned, taking Julian’s hand. He turned to look at everyone else as they moved around to the front of the table. ”Don’t do anything we wouldn’t do, alright?”

“No promises.”

Nico laughed, and shook his head. He took one last look over the stall to make sure it looked alright, before leading Julian off into the crowd. Of course, he was only able to get anywhere because Julian’s height made people naturally part… Whereas Nico himself would be shoving his way through. He looked up at Julian with a wry smile.

”You’re taking me leaving this morning well. I expected at least a couple of words of lecturing.”

“Oh, we are going to talk about that later. For now,” Julian paused as he winked, “I think you deserve a morning to enjoy some art.”

”I spend most of my time enjoying art,” Nico grinned, eyebrows raising a couple of times, before he glanced around the stalls. The mix was surprising… From people like them, trying to make money of their craft, to people from just outside the city selling home grown food, to people just selling shit they didn’t want anymore. While arguments broke out over haggling, it was mostly peaceful thanks to the Hollow presence. Gave a true feeling of what this side of the city was like- could be like, if they didn’t live under such oppressive circumstances.

”It’s a shame we can’t afford to buy much. I’m hoping to find some kind of embroidery thread- or any coloured thread- rather than art. I’m running out, and can’t exactly afford a restock from the Northern craft stores…”

“We’ll I think thanks to a certain someones sales ability we can afford a few extra things of thread today,” Julian said with a wink.

Nico laughed. ”Yeah, my amazing talent of appealing to their sympathy to the poor. I think handing him my phone really sealed the deal. He properly froze up- and not just because you came in looking like wanted to punch him.”

“I did want to punch him, but he looked sturdy. He would’ve been fine,” Julian grinned, “you never know what someone is up to lately.”

”Babe… He certainly wasn't up to anything with me. I could smell his straightness a mile off, I'm surprised you couldn't.” Nico shook his head, smiling back. Not that it would've been the end of the world if Julian had actually punched him… it was easy to explain away in this situation. Most people would freak out if their fiance was handing their phone over to another handsome man…

“Bitch, you’re so cute you make straight men quesiton themselves,” Julian chuckled, “I am not taking that risk.”

Nico's smile only turned cuter, his eyes crinkling softly. ”Aw, you know just how to flatter me… Like I'd ever look anywhere else when I've got you at home. Well… he did look like he had more money- kidding, kidding, I love you more than anything else in this world.”

He shook his head, voice lowering a bit. ”Y’know nobody else has any kinda chance…”

“I know that all too well. But I will still protect you even if it weren’t,” Julian smiled as he led the way through the crowd.

”And I'd never expect you to stop.” Nico nodded. Especially after everything they'd been through. As they weaved through the people, he spotted exactly what he was looking for- a stall where someone was selling both clothing they'd sewn, upcycled, and other sewing supplies. They had a small selection of embroidery threads… Some clearly just bulk bought, but some looked handmade.

Nico squeezed Julian's hand and subtly tugged him towards the stall. ”C’mon, let's look over here… I need to restock a bunch! Especially since some people don't take care of their clothes like they should then come crawling to me to sew up any damage.”

“Let’s get enough to last for a few weeks at least. I have a feeling we’ll need it.”

”Ugh, you’re probably right… It’s scary how accurate your feelings are.” Nico laughed lightly, approaching the stall. He began to pick through the more plain coloured, practical threads first. One hand was full after picking up a few, making it harder to look… So he just handed the small spools off to Julian. Then, the embroidery thread. ”Warm or cool coloured? I’m thinking about brightening up a couple’ve my more boring pants with some embroidery.”

“We might want to do both, considering our plans for the next few nights. Better to have enough in case we need them, yeah?”

”How much of my clothes are you planning to rip?!” Nico mock gasped, laughing as he picked up a nice selection of both colours. Julian was right… and with an art sale on the horizon, they could afford it.

“As much as I can.” Julian pulled Nico closer as a wide smile crossed his face.

”Heyyy, not in public! Save that for home." Nico laughed, even as he hooked his arms around Julian's neck to pull him down for a quick kiss. Then he pulled away, turning to pay for the embroidery thread he'd picked up along with some less colourful thread.

He put them in his pockets, and reached out to take Julian's hand again. ”Let’s have a proper browse… Maybe we can find a few things for home? We're still missing a lot of shit."

Jasper caught sight of Domi, and a woman stepping aggressively towards her. “Shit. We need to backup Domi.”

”Where?" Nico was immediately alert, though he couldn't see through the crowd to where their friend was. But he did hear.

”No, I don't fuckin' want it.”

”Whoa, no need to get so pissed!”

Still holding Julian's hand, Nico dragged him through the people the short distance to where the fight was brewing. Domi was stepping back, hands in the air and developing photo in one. She wore a shit eating grin like she wasn't about to be beaten up. The person stepping towards her was a few inches taller, shoulder length hair pulled back into a messy ponytail, and baggy clothes hanging off their deceptively muscular frame.

”Domi- where have you been?" Nico called out, hoping the sight of his over six foot fiance would be enough to scare off whoever this was.

It wasn't, of course. Vin was close enough to grab Domi, but their hands were still clenched into fists at their side. ”Give me the fuckin' camera. I ain't lettin' some creep take pics of people that ain't consentin'.”

“Bro, what are you going to do,” Julian responded bluntly as he moved in front of Domi.

Vin's head tilted back to look Julian in the eye, their own narrowing. Their scowl broke for a sharp toothed grin, a dangerous glint in their dark eyes. ”Fuckin’ get outta the way, unless you want me to break you before I smash the fuckin' camera. Y'think your height’s gonna save you? Or you wanna fight? Go on, bro, give it your best shot.”

Julian simply leaned forward towards the troubled girl and smirked. “Nah.”

”Then get outta my fuckin' way.” It was taking a lot for Vin to not start the fight. They could… Sure, Gideon would probably beat them to shit afterwards for hitting civilians who hadn't started shit again, but it'd be totally worth it to wipe the smile off this smug bastard's face.

”Look, if she promises not to take any more pictures of you, is that enough?" Nico asked from the side, glancing at Julian. He wasn't worried, but he also didn't particularly want his fiance getting into a fight right now.

”No way! I'm not stifling my art, especially not when she looks so fucking hot when angry!” Domi piped up from behind Julian, absolutely not helping the situation at all.

Vin's eyes narrowed, staring up at Julian. One hand shot up to grab him by the collar. ”Get outta the way before I make you. Or you gonna get your ass beaten over some fuckin' perv?!”

A bit behind them, a beanpole of a man was pulling out his phone, nervously searching for a number and calling it.

“Oh you’re gonna beat my ass? Calm down before you embarrass yourself you fucking twig and back the fuck off,” Julian said as he effortlessly pulled his head back up and his collar with it.

That was it. Vin absolutely couldn't stand to hear anymore. This guy was fucking asking for it. Calling them a fucking twig- they'd show him.

They didn't say anything. Green Lux subtly enhanced already strong muscles- enough to take on plenty of people, maybe not just as fucking jacked as this guy-, roughly matching the man in front of them. They didn't want an unfair fight, after all. Where would be the fun in that? But the punch they delivered- right to his face- was more than strong enough that it would leave most reeling.

Julian’s head shot over at the force of the punch was much stronger than he had anticipated. A streak of red was visible on his cheek as a stream of blood was called forth by the hit. His eyes shot over and locked onto the small woman and squinted, as the corners of his lips curled to the heavens above. Oh what fun. Julian launched a sudden, and strong, punch towards the gut of Vin.

Vin didn't even bother dodging- which they could do- taking it right to the gut. It knocked the wind out of them, but they didn't need to breath naturally to keep going. Not with Green Lux. It was a good fucking punch, enough to knock them back a few paces. Hurt like hell- perfect. A good fucking fight. Just how they liked it.

With a grin to match their opponents, Vin quickly recovered. One hand shot out to grab Julian's shirt, keeping a much tighter grip on it as their knee shot up hard right towards his crotch. They weren't going to play fair, after all. Fighting dirty was how it was done on the streets.

Julian’s right arm shot downwards and his fist connected with the rising kick. The impact hit harder than most other strikes he’s faced. His eyes scanned the small frame of the woman, and realized a quick truth. She was powered. Julian used his left hand and grabbed the upper chest of Vin , his hand went from one shoulder to the other with ease, and, as he stepped into the move, threw her backwards.

Vin let him throw them- but it was relatively easy for them to spin into the air and land onto their feet rather than back. One of the places where their small size worked to their advantage. They dropped into a crouch, forcing their nails to stay at a normal length. No fucking claws today. Their hand curled into a fist and they shot up, aiming for Julian's face again.

Julian did not wait for their blow to land and launched a strike of his own. As the two fists hurled towards each other, they were suddenly stopped by two hands that belonged to Marco who quickly moved in the middle. Julian found himself off balance as his punch was redirected, and Vin would be once again pushed to the side.

“What the fuck, V?”. Marco had gotten a frantic call from a Hollow member about Vin starting shit, and had rushed over as quickly as possible.

”God fuckin- Riley, you called him?!” Vin's head twisted back to glare at their fellow Hollow member- technically below them, but whatever. The tall guy tried to hide behind his slightly shorter patrol partner.

They were mostly pissed that they'd been stopped from having an actually fun fight. Scowling, they pulled their first back. ”I ain't just punching random people, fucking hell. This asshole's fuckin' friend is going around snapping creepy ass pictures of people! I tried to fuckin' talk it out but he-”

CLICK!

”Damn, this one's even better!” Domi had leaned around Julian, using the opportunity to snap a photo of both Vin and Marco. She carefully took the film and started waving it around to let it develop.

Marco sighed as he rubbed his temple. These fucking idiots. “V let it go,”. Marco paused as he turned and squared up his body with Julian. “They’re done though. If I hear that they’ve taken another photo without someone’s consent we’re going to have a problem,” Marco paused as he turned his face towards Domi, “we don’t want to have a problem, right?”

”I’ve got a fucking problem.” Vin muttered under their breath, though their magic drained away from their muscles. They folded their arms and turned away slightly. Because if Marco knew, that meant the Boss would know, and if they kept fucking pushing they'd have to sit through a lecture at minimum.

”Oh yeah course not, my bad! I'm used to hotties wanting their pictures taken, sorry!” Domi sounded completely unbothered, smiling at both Marco and Vin. She held out the rather nicely shot photo of them. ”Here, at least take this as an apology.”

Nico stepped forward silently, putting a hand on Julian's arm in the hope it'd stop him from doing anything stupid.

Julian felt Nico’s touch and instantly calmed down. His eyes instantly lost their intensity, and his posture pulled itself back into his normal relaxed composure. “We good?.” Julian looked towards Marco as he asked.

“Yeah,” he replied as he grabbed the photo.

“Nice punch.” Julian said as he turned around, leading Nico and Domi away. He was very curious about what the photos revealed.

Vin just flipped a middle finger at Julian's back.

Once they were far enough away to not be overheard by any enhanced ears listening, Domi threw up a peace sign and grinned. ”And that, boys, is how you get access to the Hollow.”

Nico let out a sigh. ”Next time, maybe don't photograph the most aggressive looking one? You're lucky we were in the area.”

”I knew tall, dark and handsome would come save me.”

“You’ve got that big dick energy,” Julian grinned as he tapped their shoulder with that first, “good fucking work.”

Domi laughed, a hint of evil in it. ”Thanks, Boss. They were real fucking cute too, so I got something out of it.”

Nico glanced between the two of them, shaking his head with a smile. ”C’mon… Let’s get back to the stall, make sure the others haven't found trouble while we were away.”

How Dogs Are [FernStone & AtomicEmperor]

As luck would have it, Andrea Nedia was off duty. Which, of course, meant an even quicker response than if she’d been actively working. Nothing to push aside, save for the golf highlights she was already half-ignoring for a journal about the latest in Blind Hemostatics, Andy received Leon’s call like a hungry animal who finally got the lid off the trash can. The hardest part for her was actually getting to the Cannery, considering its location half-buried in St. Portwell’s historic Old Town. For those who lived there, navigating the maze of one-way streets via car became natural enough. But for the occasional visitor, it was a senseless Hell.

So senseless that, rather than be held back too long, Andy opted to park a quarter mile off in the area’s main visiting garage. At the top of its eight-story mass, few buildings nearby had enough clearance to watch as the woman shifted her body at will. Medical bag still in hand, bare feet against the concrete, Andy took a few running steps, then leapt off the side of the garage. In the instant, not only did she make a full transition into a massive harpy eagle, but her clothes followed suit by melding into her and becoming the feathers necessary for her flight. All organic material, after all, came under the purview of the Deer’s joy, and simply begged for her to put it to better use. The bag, however, was something she had to carry as a massive bird, given it was full of metallic implements.

Unsure of how she’d be arriving, Leon was half-comforting and half waiting for someone to tell him that she was there. He’d given her the apartment number, so there was always a chance she’d just show up in their-

WRAP, WRAP WRAP WRAP!

Laying in the bed, Leon’s head shot up immediately to face the window that was being banged on. They were in the middle of the build-

Looking out at the giant eagle perched on the masonry outside Cass’ bedroom, he realized it was sitting on a leather bag, and had a terribly expectant look on its face.

”Damn, Babe… Eagle Express is here with your checkup. Watch this shit.-”
He sauntered over to the window, popping it open and sticking his head half-out.
”-Uhhhhh… What’s the password?” he asked the bird, who was already trying to shuffle its massive body inside the apartment.

”The password is-” a smooth and velveteen tone escaped the bird’s beak, followed by the most ear piercing eagle screech that bounced around the apartment and wouldn’t let up until the noise of growing bones and sloughing flesh overtook it. The single most grotesque part of watching the change was watching the eagle body bloat to five times its size in what was practically an eye’s blink.

At least whatever viscera was produced seemed to evaporate at roughly the same speed, leaving the entire room smelling vaguely of rotting meat.
”-Emergency. Good morning, you great lummox.”

In place of the eagle now stood a short, dark haired woman of indeterminate age with olive skin and brown eyes. Her glasses clung to her nose and ears loosely, practically threatening to fall off if she tilted her head forward another few inches. Her attire looked relaxed; green scrub bottoms and non-stick slip-on shoes, and a band t-shirt from an obscure Italian punk band forty years ago.

”Morning, Doc. Thanks for coming. This is Cass, my girlfriend. Cass, this is Doctor Nedia: Another Green maestro, and the Temple’s de facto secretary of Paranormal Treatments.” he explained, talking Andy up enough that she actually smiled.

”Don’t butter me up. C’mon, you said there was a serious attack? You?-” she asked, pointing directly at Cass.
”-Tell me what happened, what’s wrong, what am I-”

She didn’t bother waiting for Cass’ answer alone, however. Cass would be able to feel a massive swelling of Green Lux saturate her Emotional Field in a familiar magical sensation. Moving on her own, she moved toward Cass and began to examine the shoulder that had been torn apart while she expected Cass to actually explain the circumstance.

Cass did her best to lower her Emotional field, though her magic reactively pushed back against the Green Lux ‘intrusion’. The whole transformation had been equal parts grotesque and cool… but the grotesqueness didn't really bother Cass! She had agreed to having her stomach torn apart, after all…

She'd swung her legs around to sit on the edge of her bed but hadn't been able to stand before the Doctor descended on her shoulder.
"Hello! Uh, Wampus tried to eat me then got pissed when it couldn't! So it tore through my whole shoulder… which I healed, but I ain't ever healed myself before so I might've fucked it up! It also tore a bunch’ve flesh in my stomach but Leon had to go in there anyway, so I'm pretty sure the goop probably properly healed all've that… So mostly checking my shoulder isn't completely fucked!"

”Ohhhhh, you had an extraction, and so the bastard wasn’t the one completing the extraction. Understood. Lay back a bit more, extend your arms above your head. Which shoulder? Never mind, this shoulder-”

As Cass allowed her Emotional Field to fall, there was an immediate flooding of endorphins involved in feeling of joy. Green Lux’s intrinsic connection to it was a natural pain reliever, and thus all pain slowly washed away as Andy got to work.

”Fiiiirst time, eh? The patch job is good. But, it’s all for not if you keep doing it without a Channeler. You’re lucky I’m here to flush it, otherwise you’d be dealing with a glandular problem until you learned how to fix it yourself. Wildcasting has all sorts of unintended side effects from silly little hallucinations to full blown loss of Luxal control. Letting the magic run you is no way to live.” she explained aloud in a dreadfully doctor-like tone. The same tone that a parent uses to scold a child for not eating their veggies.

”Now, what about your memory? I’m no Pink Adept, but it doesn’t look like any part of your brain was fever-fried or anything. Have you-”

”We’ve been sitting and talking. She’s coherent, doesn’t seem like she’s missing anything.” Leon added firmly, secure that Cass was still perfectly Cass.

”Good, good. Then; my sweet treat should’ve taken care of the gut wound. I don’t detect any intramuscular ripping or tearing that’s notable…”
She then paused, taking a deep breath with a furrowed brow upon her face. Her eyes closed tightly, and she reached for Cass’ hand.

”That… Being said… Sweetheart, have you noticed uh… Any kind of increased fatigue lately? Mood swings, chronic pain, any major behavior changing within, like, the last six weeks?” she finally asked, a look of sincerity crossing her face widely.

"Uhhh…" Cass felt a bit like she was getting whiplash. From good healing to scolding she didn't take particularly well, to more good news, to… whatever this was. Was she really dying?! Were those all symptoms of the cancer that Lelou had smelled on her breath?! Was it-

"Well my reactive thoughts are a bit more extreme, if that counts? I ain't normally the panicking type, heh- Uh, but I don't think so? I only get fatigue when it makes sense to! Like after an insane magical orgy last week where I used a lotta magic! I pretty much passed out the whole journey home, but that's cause of all the magic use even if it ain't really normal- and sure there was a bit of lingering pain, and my body always kinda aches a bit recently, but mostly cause've too much magic use. At least it's always worse after using a bunch. That seems pretty expected, right? I wouldn't call it chronic. I certainly ain't noticed any mood swings."

Saying that, she looked at Leon for confirmation. He had been with her pretty consistently for the last few weeks, after all.

He gave a confirming shrug in response, trying to remember a time where, as she implied, it hadn’t made sense for her to be tired. If she’d been dealing with all the psychological issues, Leon presumed internally that anytime would be a time that she’d be tired. It was more amazing that she wasn’t.

”I had a feeling that was the case. Listen, it’s a little early to tell; well, it’s not. But I need to see a full blown flareup before I can diagnose you officially. I’m obviously not your physician, so feel free not to answer this question, but are you aware of your family’s ethnic background?” she asked very plainly.

A diagnosis? For what? It couldn't be anything great if it required a flare-up for diagnosis… but that was fine, because that probably meant Cass didn't have whatever it was!

"Oh, I don't have a physician anyway- and it ain't really sensitive information! My mum's side is all English. Dad's dad's too, and my Nan's family moved over from the Caribbean… don't remember where exactly! I do remember Nan saying that way way back they got brought over there from Africa, but I don't think she ever said exactly where. Maybe she didn't know! Maybe there was a big mix! Why? Is it like a white person only disease- or the opposite?!"

”It’s magical. Ethnic origin just gives me an idea of where to throw a dart to find your symptoms. Funny enough, essentially you still have a glandular problem. Seems to me that your natural channels are constantly flooded, and buildup of excess Lux in your system can lead to some pretty serious issues. We’re talking something like a buildup of plaque on the heart: your whole body can seize up, cease to function. Chances are, it’s a very old bloodline curse, which means it probably has something to do with your Afro-caribbean ancestry.” Andy informed, her tone never leaving “mild interest”.

”Are you… Are you saying she’s got The Shame?” Leon asked coldly, his skin turning clammy.

Andy only nodded.

Stepping forward now, to sit next to Cass on the bed, Leon could only frown in grief. It made a lot of things make sense in context: Her constant energy, the ability to keep up with Adepts far beyond her own study, the insatiable hunger for life’s pleasures. He only knew a couple people afflicted with the Shame of Clan N’gouba, and remembering as well as he could, they were mild cases. He’d rarely met the Mother, who it supposedly affected the heaviest. Only when she was feeling okay…

Leon’s face turned to Cass.
”You remember when we were driving home from San Fran? And I told you we were gonna talk about magical sickness, but you were tired and fell asleep?”

Cass stared back at Leon with wide eyes. That all sounded very bad! Excess Lux? Whole body seizing up?! The Shame?! What the fuck! She wished she could turn around and say no way, but the Green Lux came from her Nan's side… the Afro-Caribbean side.

And her Nan had only been sixty when she died. Cass didn't have many memories of her being not sick. She'd always assumed it was just an old person thing… But she hadn't actually been all that old, had she?!

"Uh, yeah, course I remember! I was pretty excited to hear about it but I literally couldn't keep my eyes open, which fucking sucked!" Cass diverted her attention to answering Leon, trying not to think about the possible deadly disease. It probably was just a mistake, right? It wasn't like she really felt sick or anything! Sure maybe it'd explain the lack of control but so would her being a Wild Witch with little training!

"Where you gonna talk about this one that I may or may not have?"
She was doing her best to appear like she wasn't panicking about the whole thing. But of course, there were tells… Like the wolf ears that popped out from the top of her head without her wanting them to.

”It is one of the ones we actually have represented in the Temple here in St. Portwell… We actually know about it. So, yeah.” Leon admitted solemnly.

Andy winced at the lack of control as Cass’ body forced a bit of that clogged Lux up and into a form it was familiar with.
”Eh, stupido fessa!” she blurted in a thick Italian droll.
Cass would be able to feel the immediate suppression pinning the magical ears down and melding them back into her scalp.
”You’re gonna fuckin’ tank if you don’t pay attention! I said a flareup, not a full blown crashout. If it was your first time healing yourself, I presume you’re relatively new to this?”

Cass grimaced, her excess of Lux not particularly happy with the suppression, leading to a tingling feeling across her skin. More than that, there was frustration about the circumstances. How was she supposed to pay attention to something she struggled to sense entirely?! From the day she had it, her magic had felt so natural to her. It felt just like moving her limbs, or breathing, a lot of the time.

"It's not on purpose- I really don't know how to control it! I'm trying!" A bit of that frustrating bubbled up externally, before she took a deep breath and pushed it back down. It all felt a bit unfair… but if it was something they knew about, it couldn't be that bad, right?

"Yeah… I kindled, uh…" She furrowed her brow as she tried to remember exactly when.
"Just over two years ago! A few months before I turned 23… But there wasn't much of it at the start. Magic, that is, I'd do small things then that'd be it. Only been the past few months its been like this. Well, really over the last year it went from pretty weak to stronger and all!"

”Baby, uh… Fucking… Jesus Christ-”

This was a certifiable nightmare of a day. Midnight to now, nothing but pain and sorrow. Blow after blow. Lynette could die today, and Leon found that he may not have enough fortitude to be shocked. He just put his arm around her completely, pulling her close.

”-Don’t be so dramatic, Leon. People live with Parkinsons, AIDS, fuckin’... ALS. Like, c’mon. She’s not a cripple.”

Which, amazingly, was the kind of encouragement Leon needed. Andy was someone that Lelou liked in spite of their personally contentious relationship, and it showed in the way she acted around him. As if she was the boss…

”If it is a positive diagnosis, there’s essentially no treatment besides constant and consistent usage of your Lux. You’ll need to find things to use excess energy on, and be prepared for periods in your life where you’ll simply be out. Constant usage like that, especially at the levels you may have to extend yourself to, guarantees bouts with Luxal fatigue ranging from an impaired range movement to outright exhaustion and inability to self-locomote. Temporary paralysis, even. But, it’s better than the alternative.” she added the little bit at the end to titulate.

"What's the alternative? That I don't use my Lux and die?!" Cass wasn't as easily calmed as Leon. After all, it was her body. Sure… she wasn't a cripple. She didn't have any of those things. But periods of being unable to move sounded awful! Literally one of her worst nightmares! And that was the better option?!

She was trying not to react too badly. It wasn't like her life was over. Sure, it'd be really badly affected if she really had this… But she hadn't really experienced any of that yet! Well, moving had been a bit difficult after the orgy, but that was to be expected.

"But I ain't necessarily gonna be a positive diagnosis, right? I gotta have one of those flareups first! So it could just be, like, my magic going extra wild in response to the cats and not actually some kinda chronic magic illness?! I could be totally fine?"

”How about you spit for me?”

Andy put her hand up immediately like a catcher’s mitt.

"Into your hand?!" Cass stared at Andy for a moment, before shrugging. She'd done weirder things! Not for a doctor, but it wasn't like she saw doctors that often anyway…

She leaned forward, easily gathering enough saliva to spit it into the waiting hand.

The projectile saliva hit her hand before turning bright green and rising back up into the air just over her palm. There, it began to do an incredibly tight dance of twists and curls that ultimately separated the strands of Cass’ DNA from the rest of the material. It was just like a prep school biology experiment, only when Andy was left with a gloopy little puddle of DNA, she could do cooler things with it than anyone in a teen’s science lab could.

Like isolating a single strand, or better yet, enlarging it to roughly the size of a book. Granted, seeing a giant DNA strand maybe wasn’t cool, it certainly was useful in highlighting some things. Like, how certain chromosomes had branches, or otherwise presented some level of mutation suggesting disorder: What would’ve been disorder, were these not all the markers for Lux receptors. Visual queues, like little antennae that allowed the very fibre of Cass’ being to tap into the external force of Light… Little wifi receivers. And then she pointed out one in particular, whose health could easily be questioned in comparison to the others. It looked dainty, flaccid, and hardly connected to anything at all.

”You see that weeny ass receptor? That’s your Maker’s Tongue; one of the receptor forms that every Adept has regardless of color. It’s responsible for, if you can believe it, the regulation of Lux through the Adept’s system. It also determines the rate at which you metabolize excess Lux… Ergo, you uncontrollably cast spells utilizing way-too-little energy, and your body rewards you by slowly killing you by toxifying your Luxal receptors, instead of outright searing them to a crisp like meat on a grill.”

Putting the rapidly shrinking Jacob’s Ladder-structure onto the floor, Andy took a deep breath.

”That’s your alternative, by the way. Run yourself into the ground and occasionally deal with being immobile until eventually you can’t do it anymore, or don’t, and eventually melt. The Lux will toxify in your channels so badly, it’ll catalyze and harden just like the pearl that Wampus Cats make. Except, instead of a little drop of pain, we’ll have a Cass-shaped Lux Crystal we’ll get to carve out of your body and grind up for a rare material we call ‘Dust of Atonement.’”

Moving to her bag, she pulled out a small instrument and took Cass’ hand in order to stuff the tip of it under her fingernail.
”And as far as the diagnosis: Waiting for the first flare up is just a formality. A little experiment, frankly, to see just how serious your case is. There’s a low chance that it’s a mild case, and that your recent usage of Lux is just irritating your channels because they’re used to being used more sparingly. But, I say low: Lower than the chance that you and Leon are relatives.” she finished, clearing her throat as she took the instrument and deposited the scraping into a little glass vial.

Cass' expression got worse and worse, because as far as she was aware there was practically zero chance that she and Leon were related. Which meant… that it probably wasn't a mild case…

So what was she meant to do? Both options sounded shit. Dealing with frequent immobility would destroy her mentally. But she didn't want to have hardened Lux inside that had to be ripped out. Sure, she'd survived the Wampus crystal removal, but she wasn't exactly gunning to go through it again. Also if it was Cass shaped- well she assumed she'd be so much crystal that she'd be dead by that point!

"So I've got it cause you can see it in my DNA… and it's at least moderate? What're the chances that it's, like, severe?" Cass asked in a much more flat tone than she'd been talking with up until this point. On one hand, she didn't really want to know… on the other, it was better to. Hopefully the answer was low too. But she couldn't really deny the whole thing now. Not when she'd seen the sickly looking receptor.

She pointed to the glass vial.
"What're you checking with that? And is that really all that can be done?! There's not- well, Lelou mentioned some kind of bean?"

”You suffered a near-complete removal of the right shoulder from the socket outward. You were almost an amputee. Not only did you naturally improve your own healing factor without direct usage of a Channeler to cast a spell, you did so accurately and with a level of understanding so robust that you actually improved the overall functionality of the joint. The Shame of N’gouba, you see, is that they were the Deer’s chosen. So, when they tried to take more, the Deer gave them their fill. And when they took more still, the deer packed them tight to the lungs, and they choked on their own magic. Mild cases of the shame are the rare instances. In your case, I’d say your condition is archetype A… Which, I mean, congratulations? It guarantees that you come from an ancient and royal lineage.”

It was the nature of a doctor of Andy’s caliber to take little to no personal emotion into the delivery of a diagnosis. It was above and beyond important for the patient to be informed before they be comforted.

”As far as… Fucking beans… Yes, there are pills that we synthesize which can offset your problem. But they’re rare, so you’d need to be satisfied with only using them occasionally. Otherwise, I can prescribe you something we call Glass. It’s a combat stimulant, but just like using Adderall for ADHD, if we give you a little magical speed on the days that you can’t move, chances are you’ll get a little pep back in your step.”

So, there weren't really many options… Cass wasn't so sure about the whole magical speed thing. Was it the same as Adderall for ADHD? That was because stimulants affect people with ADHD differently- but she'd just be getting high to push a bit through a shit situation!

And the other pill clearly wasn't an option. Not when everyone was so sure the Temple would collapse soon enough, she didn't want to become even slightly dependent on something that she wouldn't have access to in not too long.

"I'm… I'll have to think about it. It's a lot to take in! I don't know how I'll react when that happens!" She was pretty confident she wasn't going to react well, but maybe she'd surprise herself.
"Maybe I'll really want magical speed, or maybe I'll be fine to suffer through… I don't know. It all sounds really shit right now! Coming from a royal lineage doesn't exactly help, it ain't like I suddenly getta ton of money from it!"

Cass' hands scrunched into fists in her lap, taking a deep breath. More than anything, she was doing her best to not let her magic flare out reactively. She could feel it buzzing under her skin, making all of her senses more sensitive. And she had no idea what to channel it towards!

"Sorry… It's a lot to take in. I thought my magic was just a little wilder. I didn't realise the injury earlier was that bad! Sure, it hurt like hell, and healing hurt like hell, but I didn't even really think about it. It just… happened… fuck… I really do have shitty too much lux disease, don't I? I guess, at least I still have my arm…"

”Absolutely; that’s really the silver lining here. Uh, Leon? Introduce her to Andre and his family, please?’

Leon was holding Cass tight, taking deep breaths with her as she came to terms with the situation. It wasn’t his, at least, but… Well, if it was hers, then of course it was his.

”I had already planned on introducing her to Naomi… Wow. This is crazy. Well, Babe, you’re definitely gonna get in touch with your roots now. This is an even bigger reason we need to get you working with her.”

”Naomi’s the best, Cass. She’ll be able to teach you, rather than just telling you what you need to do. She’s dealt with the same issue her whole life practically.” Andy asserted, leaning forward finally to take Cass’ hand in her own. Finally, it seemed tender rather than scrutinizing.

”And listen to me… This situation isn’t the end of the world. We live in blessed times, where we can operate with understanding, and attempt to treat the condition as best as we’re able in our modern age. Believe it or not, but Blind medicine has been just as pivotal in advancements in Paranormal medicine as its own. Technology moves, so too does our understanding of DNA as a biomechanical structure. The slow march to progress, as they say.”

She patted Cass’ hand again before pulling back and standing up.

”I am going to have a script for Sunderbean tablets made up for you. What I want you to do this week, is go crazy with your magic. Do shit you didn’t think you could do. Burn yourself out until you can’t move, then have Leon drag you into my office. We’ll do another stress test there after you’ve had a dose to see how you react. Can you commit to that?”

Cass didn't really want to get to the point where she couldn't move at all. She looked pretty deflated, leaning against Leon with a glum frown. Sure, it wasn't the end of the world, it wouldn't kill her if she made sure to use her magic, there was someone else dealing with it who could help… But it still felt pretty devastating to her. It would require pretty major changes to her life. She wasn't the kind of person who could easily dealt with being physically restricted. Trapped. Being stuck in a bed because her body wouldn't let her do anything was basically as bad as being locked in a room.

But she was going to end up burning herself out magically at some point. At least if she did it purposefully this time, they could do whatever tests they needed to so it could be managed as best as possible.

"Yeah, I can. It'd be harder for me not to use magic than go crazy with it… I don't wanna not be able to move, but I'll do it for that stress test! Anything to help managing it…" She furrowed her brow, thinking of something else. It was genetic. She had some knowledge of genetic illnesses, and she assumed that Paranormal ones were the same- not everyone got it. At least, that's what she hoped.

"How likely is it that any of my brothers have this too? I don't think any of em have the same kinda control problems as I do, but one only kindled a year ago."

Andy looked thoughtful for a moment while she considered the markers and the overall advancement of the condition.
”Unlikely? If you’re this bad, the chance is that you’re simply the carrier for your current line. It’s a shit job, but someone’s gotta do it.” she explained with an odd humor.

Cass let out a heavy sigh of relief. Sure, it sucked ass for her… but she'd rather it was her than any of them. Jack, for one, already dealt with enough medical shit from taking a bullet to the spine! And she'd never wish anything like that on her younger brothers, as much as they needed a good beating every now and then.

"Oh, thank God. I was a little worried we were gonna end up lined up on beds in a care home together in a couple've years…" Cass laughed drily. It didn't exactly make her feel better about having it, but at least she didn't have to worry about anyone else beyond herself.

"There ain't enough money in the world to pay someone to look after all've us… Thank fuck Leon's already pretty good at carrying me around the place…" Not that she particularly enjoyed being carried. Climbing him like a tree and sitting on his shoulders like he was a noble steed was one thing, the lack of control with being cradled and carried around another…

The lack of control for all of it! Even her own fucking body! She felt an intense frustration over it all that she couldn't just get over.

”I’m sure we’d find a way to make it work. At that point, your care’s more of a communal benefit than it is, like, some kind of burden.” Leon explained.

”Very true! Situations like this, there’s no possible way to prevent or reverse the effects. It’s our moral imperative as a community to, y’know, take care of people with shit like that in their lives! It makes us stronger as a family, as a coven, all around.” Andy spoke of the concept fondly, and had nothing but good memories of her own missions abroad to help people.

”But, it’s just you… So, we’re gonna do everything we can to keep you up and about just how you want to be. Like, we can start by talking to Casey! I’m sure he’d be able to make you some clothes that basically do all the walking and stuff for you.”

As Leon started to explain, his expression brightened. Instinctively, he was reaching out to provide Cass with as much comfort as he could. Meanwhile, Andy’s solemn smile warmed to something more tender, and she slowly began to put her few tools away. She then produced a business card with her name and number.

”In the off chance that Leon winds up out of town when you crash, this is my number. Please call as soon as you get confirmation, okay? And, otherwise, if you don’t have a physician? I’ll take you in for now. We’ll do your physical later, get you fully tested for anything else wrong. There are other issues typically linked to The Shame, blah blah, I’ll stop yapping for now… Feel worse, okay? So we can get you better quicker.” she smiled.

Cass nodded, reaching out to take the card. She didn't have anywhere to put it on her right now, so she just set it on the bedside table before replying.
"Alright. I ain't really looking forward to the feeling worse bit! But I get it. And it ain't like I ain't gotta physician by choice… the system's so odd over here, and I ain't ever been that sick. Till now, I guess."

Rambling a bit she let out a sigh, leaning into Leon and turning her head to look up at him.
"Thanks for your support, Babe… but I don't wanna talk to Casey about it yet. I gotta figure out how I'm gonna tell Trisha first. Cause she'll freak at him if he already knows… It ain't like we know it's gonna be so bad I can't walk anyway!"

”That’s… Fair…” Leon admitted, nodding his head solemnly.

Andy only chuckled and waved her hand.
”Well, Cass… As far as what you guys called me here for? You’re clear. Leon’s extraction was expertly done, as usual, and any damage you sustained from the subsequent mauling seems to have been patched back together nicely. You have my number: Call or text, I respond to both twenty-four seven if you have any questions or concerns. Now, I’m off… Literally, it was my day off technically. But, I love house calls. Especially for The DOOOOOOOOOG!” She exclaimed, emoting by pointing both fingers at Leon before she began to make the dreadful transition back into eagle.

Out the same window she came in, Doctor Nedia flew off into the St. Portwell chill to leave the two in relative silence. Leon grimaced for a moment, then let his gaze turn to Cass. Looking at her, he couldn’t help but smile.

”Well… You get to pick breakfast, I think. Only fair.”

Cass just nodded at first. For once, everything else was so overwhelming that it was difficult to think about food. What did she want for dinner? She wasn't sure. Probably…

"Some kinda junk food. I dunno." When it was just the two of them again, the feelings of frustration bubbled right back up. She knew it was healthy to process it. She was probably going to go through a lot of emotions! But it was just so fucking… frustrating…

Her hands came up to rub her face, before covering it. She felt like crying. She hated crying… Did it so rarely. But it really felt like she'd been pushed into a deep hole. Sure, the world wasn't ending. It could be worse! But it was still pretty fucking bad, especially for someone like her. She remembered all the times she'd been sick, how much she'd hated being unable to do anything. Unable to be active like she wanted. And at least then, her mind had been foggy from the sickness.

Even when she broke her leg during the Blitz… it only took a few days for her to figure out how to properly get around in crutches.

"Fuck." Cass let her hands drop, only to curl forward into Leon. Until she was a tight, slightly trembling ball half hiding against him.

"Fuck. Fuck! What the fuck?! This is so fucking… ugh… Unfair! Fuck! Couldn't even be something treatable?! Fuck… What the fuck am I supposed to do… This fucking sucks!"

Leon pulled Cass backwards onto the bed properly, letting her tuck up next to him for a long while. What the Hell could he say, after all? What words were there to encompass the irony and the pain therein? That he loved her, and that he’d be there forever? Sounded like Casey. He could probably tell her he’d be there for her with confidence, sure. But in ten years? What if it did so much to her, took so much in the end, that she wasn’t who she was today?

What if he wasn’t who he was today? Neither of them should be, after all… His therapist had said that progress was a river. Sometimes lazy, sometimes raging. Some people’s floods made the land fertile. Others’ destroy entire cities. Who you are, what you do, how you handle it, are both determined by and determinate of one’s entire life. There could be no separation between what feeds one’s perception, and what one’s perceptions feed in turn. Thus, he’d long begun to feel like it was the people he surrounded himself with which were his real choices.

So he had to do for her, because she chose to be around him now. No more worrying about feeling bad there’s not more that can be done. Especially if this was a long friendship. If it was ever going to be anything more than a great time in their lives. He wasn’t going to worry about not being able to take care of things. He’d just do what he thought was right, and the implication of that behavior would lead to those around him understanding that he was, in fact, able and ready to be there.

It took him long enough to get to the conclusion that the sun was fully out now, beaming through the windows surrounding Cass’ bed.
”I know what we should do.”

It had all been a lot for Cass to process, resulting in a rare state- silent and relatively still, cuddling into Leon without wriggling or chatting away. It felt… incredibly unfair. But that was what these things were, weren't they? No one deserved a genetic illness. And she still had magic. Even if it was what was causing it… It wasn't going to kill her. She wouldn't let it, at least.

She just didn't know how she was gonna deal with it. All those feelings of pity she'd had for Jack when he came back, thinking about how awful it'd be for her to experience the same… it wasn't quite the same. But there might be times when it basically was. Unable to move her legs, unable to move anything, maybe. It was the unknown. She wouldn't know until it happened… She could just project. But there was no point feeling frustrated about it before it even happened!

Maybe she'd find she could deal with it. Maybe she couldn't at all. She didn't want to spiral thinking about it… Leon speaking came at the right time as she started to unfurl, pulling her head back a bit to look up at him.
"Huh? What?!"

”Probably not coop ourselves up in here. I don’t think that’s how you wanna spend your free time, is it? What would you rather first; breakfast, gym, or… Carnal pleasures, which replaces the gym…”

He stood, still holding onto her and sliding her to the edge of the bed while bent over.

”Not that I’m forcing you… But, the Cass I know doesn’t mope. We’ll get your mind off it fast as Hell, and doing that will help me get my mind off what I had to do last night.” he smiled down at her, planting a kiss on her cheek.

As if hearing the suggestion of breakfast, and protesting being ignored for so long, Cass' stomach let out a loud growl. She dropped her head down to stare at it, before laughing.
"Fucking hell, well that answers the question, don't it? Breakfast first, obviously! I gotta refuel… specially since I got a whole bunch more magic to burn."

She grinned back, managing to put the whole thing to the back of her mind for the moment. Like Leon said, she wasn't a moper! She'd take things as they hit her, even if it was incredibly shit. Especially right now when she was feeling pretty alright!

"But why can't we go to the gym then fuck?! You worried you ain't gonna have the energy, huh? Or are you worried about me?! I got it all back cause of that brown sludge shit!" She stretched out her arms to sling them over Leon's shoulders, using him to swing herself off the bed and onto her feet.

"Also, if you got any crazy fetishes I can fulfill with Green Lux I ain't managed yet, now's the time to ask… Since I gotta go crazy on the Doc's orders."

Leon took a long look at Cass, then pressed both hands against her face to plant a big kiss on her lips.

”It was a test, and you passed. Never change, Babe.” he said, playfully ruffling her hair.
”I’ll think about it on the way.” his eyebrows waggled, playfully leaning against the door before sliding out to find some proper clothing.

---

Wednesday Nov 22nd

The rest of that day was spent enjoying each other’s company, and forgetting about all of the shit that had happened. By the later evening they both felt good enough to start looking for somewhere to put the cats that wasn’t an apartment block filled with people.

Over the next few days, Cass discovered that her magical limits really were her imagination. At least when it came to manipulating and enhancing her own body. Going crazy with it really meant not worrying and just trying out whatever the fuck seemed fun. Loads of new animal parts- getting better at shifting whole parts of her body without the others. There were a lot of accidents too- at least, accidentally used Lux. At least she made sure to keep her channeler on her at all times.

Part of the crazy magic use was basically not sleeping. Sure, she got naps here and there. But she was someone who could survive days of very little sleep normally, nevermind when fueling herself with magic.

After four days, she was still going strong, somehow. Strong enough to be sparring with Leon outside… It was way less risky than the gym when it came to her magic use! Not that she’d accidentally broken one of the machines the day before or anything…

Her legs had changed to imitate those of a large cat, giving her some extra height where she had to lengthen them to get a proper balance on digitigrade legs. Somehow she was even bouncier like this, the enhanced strength and different shape giving her extra power to jump or kick- not that she was kicking much, trying to avoid clawing through Leon’s stomach again. Her curled up fists had been coated in a layer of shiny keratin, like one big lizard scale with hairline cracks here and there to allow her to still move her fingers.

The hard outer shell was extended across her whole body more subtly, with normal strength enhancement giving her skin an almost green glow. She was getting better at using all of the magic she had at her disposal, channeling it properly rather than letting it pop out. She was strong enough that she could at least go toe to toe with Leon now in his base state.

It was pretty fucking awesome. She’d been practicing and learning before, sure, but now she knew just how much Lux she had- too much. So for her, learning to tap into it was what she’d had to concentrate on over traditionally learning spells.

”If- If I punch your face too much, it ain’t gonna heal all funny, is it?!” Cass asked through light pants, aiming a punch at Leon’s chest. At the same time her other fist came up to try knock at his chin.
”How’s it so fucking perfect when you get it battered so often?!”

Cass had probably put a little bit too much into the last swing, or maybe like usual he was just messing around too much. Either way, he felt teeth clench right through the base of his tongue, snipping it off and causing his eyes to roll backward into his head. His usual reaction to this kind of thing happening was to roll left and drive the fuck out of whoever was in front of him, but he also wasn’t usually fighting with so much of himself unleashed.
He’d scheduled time for Casey to unlock him at a steady thirty percent for two hours a day, designated as training time both for himself, and for Mia. She’d always been a better fit, without being able to ask their mother of course.

So she’d be doing it for the time being. Just until they didn’t need anything so optimized. Until St. Portwell was safe, which meant everyone needed to get used to doing these sorts of things.. That was also perfect cover for high intensity training. Though, it was something to behold that she just kept going. He may’ve tried to keep up with her when he was solely in charge of the seals, but days without sleep would’ve weakened him enough for Lelou to come through on her own.
She could just march on it seemed, and did day after day. He started to realize that, as she utilized the processes of her magic more and more, that concept was brought to reality rather than formulae that could be found in other Adept’s books.

She was truly a natural. It was all thanks to that curse, it seemed… Since the diagnosis, he’d done as much research as he could without visiting the source. Naomi was set to be arriving with the Temple delegation from Africa, but that was still a week off meaning he couldn’t actually ask anyone with the same level of the condition. Not like how Doctor Andy made it sound.

Rather than drop a nuclear bomb from his fist and cave Cass’ side in, his elongated hand, pale and pallid, gripped at Cass’ next strike with a full hand, holding her there with tremendous power as the other arm tried its best to wave a time out.
As he backed up, he opened his mouth and spat the copperish blood out onto the ground before letting the stump of his tongue stick out in the air. Within a few moments, a new tongue replaced the old one, and he waggled it around for a moment before nodding.

”I can do shit like that. I couldn’t before, so I’d go to someone like you to do it for me.” he blew her a kiss, his transformed figure somewhat angelic in its strangeness. Long limbs, digitigrade buckling his knees slightly with feet half-splayed and cocked up to support the strange stance.

He was somewhere so far between man, dog, bat, kangaroo and nightmare that it was hard to imagine either he, nor Lelou, would ever take such a form willingly. Truly, it was just an efficient middlepoint where Leon found thirty percent overall power sat comfortably. It was an odd place to sit, and therefore it was an odd thing to be.

”That was my bad… I was lookin’ at your ass.-”
He let her fist go, stepping back and waiting a moment before putting his hands back up into a stance.
”-Throw that again. But, always remember the rule of three. If you can get some kind of third limb in, they’re essentially locked out of natural options.” he said, bracing himself.

"Make sure to keep your eyes up here, not down there!" Cass shot back with a grin, waving her fists and then wiggling her ass. She shifted back to a proper stance rather than comedically pushing against Leon's hand like they were in a looney toons film. There’d been some worry when he bit his tongue off, but it grew back just as easily… And he was telling her to do it again! She couldn’t exactly not, could she?!

Another limb was easy. She didn't make one immediately, though. One thing she realised she was very good at was making things like that on the fly, or swapping shit out. The extra magic it burned was nothing to her.

She twisted her whole body to throw the punch at his chest, before switching her momentum upwards with one going for his chin again. At the same time, a skin coloured tendril shot out from her shoulder. It aimed for his left cheek, trying to predict how he'd move to avoid the punch and catch him.

Except it was a pretty pathetic slap. The point where the tendril had come out of hurt, and the pain radiated up her neck and down her left arm. Her head jerked to the side slightly. She could feel her magic fluctuating, pushing towards too much as the scales on her body hardened and became more obvious, before sputtering out with a momentary loss of strength. Odd, like there was a clog up that it then burst its way through- but there shouldn't be!

"I still don't wanna hit your face hard! I gotta have something hot there to stop me from staring at your ass and gettin' distracted!" She shouted out an excuse, already ready to go again.

This far along a transformation, Leon could tell where Cass was starting to struggle. At baseline, she seemed to be able to maintain the level that she'd been outputting for the last hour. However, that last burst seemed to throw her equilibrium off entirely. Like a ceiling fan missing a blade, or an unbalanced engine, her Lux seemed to only connect eighty percent of the time now.

The spells keeping her afloat were starting to collapse. Either she was getting tired, or it was coming… But he wasn't going to worry her. No, she'd get herself naturally. It was mostly about what he felt comfortable exposing her to, now that she had such a margin for error. All it would take was a swipe while her defenses were down, and he'd cave her whole body in.

Blocking her weakened shots as best he could without making it seem like things were bad, he grinned at her.

”You know the rules! Hundred percent effort until you collapse! No weak shit: Show me how mad you're gonna be getting stuck in bed before you can't.” he goaded her, letting his fingers waggle to usher her toward him.

”Don’t fucking remind me! Fine- but you asked for it!” Cass shot back, bouncing from foot to foot. The tendril wriggled around a bit before she fully got it under control. It was annoying her how she could feel her Lux sputtering in and out. It had been fine until now… She’d begun to hope the whole curse thing was a mistake.

Maybe if she just pushed through, it’d be fine!

The scales on her hands hardened further, arms growing stronger as the veins underneath her skin grew visibly green. Giving it a hundred percent… No, more than a hundred percent!

The third limb wrapped around Leon’s wrist to force one of his hands to the side, one hand catching and batting his other away to give her a clear blow with the final fist. Right for the face, with enough power that it would cave in a normal head.

As her fist connected with explosive power, the keratin hardening it shattered. It travelled down her arm in a visible explosion of Green Lux, scales shattering off and leaving raw skin underneath.

”Fuck!” With a loud, painful crack Cass’ legs forcefully shifted back to normal, before buckling underneath her. She managed to catch herself with her hands before she face planted the ground, pushing to fall onto her side rather than her stomach.
”Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!”

She could still move her arms, but they felt incredibly weak. Like all of her muscles had been torn out… But she could barely feel her legs. All she could feel was the intense pain that came from an uncontrolled de-transformation. She couldn’t move them. She could barely move anything! What little Lux was left pulled the third limb back into her skin, before completely sputtering out.

”Ugh- I better have gotten your face good! This- This so ain’t worth it!”

Leon gave zero hesitation in action. He’d prepared all week for this very moment, presuming that they’d be in the middle of something like this. It was, scarily enough, perfect. The moment he had faculties post-head trauma, he was both signalling the Leashholder to seal the connection and fumbling around in his neatly sidebarred clothing for his phone. Inhuman fingers had a hard time gripping the thin piece of glass, but their rapid changing meant he had a handle on it within a few seconds. Doctor Andy’s number was near the top of his speed dial, and he put it on speaker while he moved to Cass’ side.

”It was a great one, Babe. Would’ve knocked anyone’s head clean off! What a sight too, the way the Lux just kinda-”
He made the motion of everything on her arm exploding off.
”-was really fucking cool… I’m sorry, I’m sorry, does it hurt? Is it like she said, can you stand?”

Cass’ face scrunched up like she was exerting a lot of effort, but there was very little to show for it. She was trying her best to move her legs… In the end she just about managed to roll onto her back.

”No! I can’t feel my legs- apart from the pain, it really fucking hurts! And my arms feel like noodles… Like I could hold a phone but not much else… Ugh, this sucks!” Cass huffed, giving up on trying to prop herself up in favour of weakly waving her hands in front of her. Her head turned to look at Leon, eyes lighting up just a little bit.

”Was it really that cool?! Hell yeah! At least if this shit happens in the field I’ll blow someone’s head of first, heh.”

”Ciao bella! Sing to me, big Fella.” Andy’s voice filled the phone as Leon was moving to his pack for some Temple combat rations. He wasn’t sure if anything would work to counteract her symptoms, so he’d been carrying around a full compendium of magically enhanced puddings, custards and fillings.

”Andy!? Yeah, it just happened. She’s conscious, but she’s in a lot of pain. Are any of the tincture-treats qualified to-”

[color=CAFFB0][i]”-Oh, don’t give her anything, Leon. No, no. Where are you?”[/color] she asked, shuffling noises brushing up against the microphone telling them that she was in motion of some kind.

”Close! Close, we’re outside the walls across the street! Maybe a quarter mile back?” Leon intoned, referring to the gate being the entrance to Temple grounds. They were within the property line still, but they’d not been granted the city ordinance to cut the main road off or redirect it off the property…

”Alright… Cass? Honey? Would you rather have your big strapping man carry you back to us? Or should I send for you?” she asked courteously, her voice growing soft and sweet toward Cass.

”Leon carrying me is fine- I don’t wanna cause more hassle, y’know! Assuming he ain’t gotta problem with it.” Cass assumed not, at least. He’d been pretty good about things so far… And she had a feeling he’d carry her around a lot more if she wasn’t so insistent about getting around the place on her own legs.

”I think it’s getting better- fuck, nevermind-!” For a moment the pain in her legs seemed to alleviate, before coming back in full force. Her left leg clenched up and spasmed, and she tilted her head to glare at it.
”Oh now you want to move, huh?!”

Leon wanted to protest, not for the fact he had to carry her almost a half a mile, but because there was a half a mile between them and potential alleviation. There was no guarantee that there’d be anything actually able to help on the other side, but-

”Is Clarissa in!?” Leon asked sharply, praying for any Purple Adept at this point.

”She’s not working like that anymore, Leon. Remember, Casey’s-”

”Then any Pur-”

”-You get Brandon and Leah, or… Maybe Mazie?”

Leon didn’t wait another second in dipping down and scooping Cass up. He’d already slung his backpack and put most of his clothes back on.

”Nah. We’ll be there soon.”

”That’s what I thought, Mr. Knight in shining armor…”

He hung up the phone without a second thought, having rested it on Cass’ belly when he started picking her up and having to use his nose to do so. He curled her slightly to get his face closer, but it worked. Then, his gaze trailed up to her strained face. He wanted to be worried, and to be frantic about it. But why? Calm action, just like in the ring, prevented most mistakes and time spent compensating for them in turn.
Smoothly, his hands shifted across her body to get her small frame as stable as possible. In doing so, he brought her face up and kissed her on the forehead for a long moment. Affection, tender care, probably only fleeting comforts for the pain that was now rolling through her. He couldn’t expect a return at the moment… But the return was her health.

And then, he was off like a racehorse. They’d come pretty far into this piece of undeveloped land, a quarter-mile of raw and uncut woodland stretching between them and the road. It was easy to get in on your own two feet, even if the fallen leaves were sometimes knee-deep. Step carefully, you don’t roll your ankle on a protruding root. But Leon wasn’t stepping carefully. He was taking long, striding sprints like he was wading through the ocean at the beach.
Bringing each foot up as high as possible was easy when his natural strength allowed him to bound out like a fucking deer. The hangtime was actually calculable, and all the more impressive when one realized he wasn’t calculating his momentum moment to moment.

Rather, he was following the scent trail he’d left behind earlier, each little marker a mental tick telling him where he took a step previously. A deep-seated hunter’s sense with open access thanks to Lelou’s obsessive tendencies and her inability to prevent hyperfixation on… Tracking. Scent, footprint, whatever she could follow, she wanted to.
The only thing he couldn’t actively do, thanks to the significant forward momentum he was building, was adjust mid-air. Every miscalculation that sent him hurtling into a tree could be potentially dangerous for Cass, as her inability to bolster her physicality meant a thirty-mile an hour collision could do actual damage.

”I can’t go… much… faster, Cass! You o-kay!?” Leon grunted between moments where his legs had to shove back up off the ground.

”Oh yeah, absolutely sound, what’s not to love ‘bout being carried in a hunk’s arms in the woods?” For all of her pain, she still had the energy to joke. It helped a little… sort of. Sure, she’d never been in pain this bad in her life. Not even when she broke her leg during the Blitz. It was like agony clutched every limb… Like her veins were seizing up. And each time she reactively tried to cast, it fizzled into prickling pain.

Her skin was cold and clammy, obvious where it touched his. She was dressed, but not in much - a sports bra and sports skirt being her favoured transformation workout gear now. Enough to cover her up a bit while not really hindering her shifting. It wasn’t because she was a prude, just that they knew this was coming… And being carried naked, or Leon having to dress her, would be way more embarrassing!

Her hands clenched in her skirt, what little strength she had used to bundle up the fabric in an attempt to alleviate the pain. The helplessness frustrated her more. That she couldn’t move herself, couldn’t just fight through it like she normally would.

”Fuck, I really hope it ain’t this bad everytime. Or that the Doc has real good painkillers!”

”It just can’t be anything that uses Lux!-” Leon explained, narrowly avoiding a fallen tree taking him out.

If the greatest of humanity could push thirty miles an hour in a dead sprint, Leon was confident to hold near twenty as he kicked and shoved his body ever-forward. Blood rushed to his ears, and as he kept pace, he started to get into the runner’s zone.

”-I’m pretty sure, it’ll fuck you up if you introduce Lux from the outside. Uhh… There may be some traditional treatments? Your condition has been around thousands of years: I’m sure someone came up with something!”

”Or they just threw them to the wolves.” Cass intoned drily, attempting a wry grin that came off much more as pained.
”I ain’t letting anyone put needles in my body if that kinda acupuncture shit is one of em- I’d rather fucking suffer!”

Her head tilted slightly, slightly pain addled brain processing what he’d said a little bit more. She was still surprisingly lucid… Which almost made things worse. At least if her brain was addled she’d be able to ignore the suffering.

”So no magical healing right now either? I suppose I ain’t gonna- ugh, fuck-” She winced as her leg seized again, eyes narrowing into pained slits.
”Fuck! -Ain’t gonna be getting outta bed!”

Leon winced with her. He could feel every little spasm, every twitch of pain and instinctive reaction thereto. Pain was universal, at least. One could always expect the same reaction beneath the skin. Undesired spasming, and some shaking that came from the rest of the musculature tensing up. Often, pain caused a looping feeling where the body felt, then reacted, only exacerbating the problem overall.

At least He could move fast enough that the distance wasn’t far. A minute, maybe two… He’d already blown past the densest part of the forest, and was now headed for the road. A couple bounding leaps, he’d be at the gate. That was the only thing on his mind now, as he could see the tarmac ahead.
Just get her back.

But he was absent of that second brain. The one always attuned to his extrasensory capacity. The dog within, who could smell and hear everything going on, but more importantly could parse that information out independently. With the leash active, he had to observe his own senses in a very manual, on-call way.
Which was terrible when the only thing on his mind was Cass’ safety, and he was about to run out into a road that formed something of a hairpin just before it opened up in front of the temple property…

He didn’t hear it. Just the brakes. The squealing tires. Everything managed to slow down, at least enough that he had the wherewithal to tuck Cass’ body off to the left in order to take the brunt of the impact on his shoulder. They weren’t going incredibly fast because of the turn; a virtue in a sense. But, forty miles an hour was still forty. At hip level, he felt the grill shatter his right thigh bone with little effort. Because of the angle, and him still being partially mid-air on impact, the rest of the crash went as smooth as one could hope.

As much as he could, he allowed the momentum to bleed off. The whole shattered thigh thing was going to make this much more difficult unless Mimi was actually attending the leash. If she was, he didn’t envy the psychic backlash from him taking damage like this if she wasn’t ready. She’d need a minute to adjust, to return, and to instinctively unlock the seals necessary to repair the damage. Thankfully, smashing off the pavement behind the car was the least painful part. Still half-stunned, Leon knew he’d probably squeezed Cass way too tightly to keep her from flying out of his arms. But he could feel her still, and knew she had probably been spared the worst from the actual impact.

He did have Keylime in his pack… As he found his breath vaguely, he started to speak.
”Ca-a-ss…? B-bab-be?” he half-grunted. Trying to roll slightly revealed that he’d broken more than the leg. Is shoulder felt absolutely dead from hitting the ground, and his vision was incredibly blurry.

”Fuck!” Even though her head had been well protected by Leon, Cass was still initially dazed too- curses spilling from her lips over anything coherent. She couldn’t entirely tell what had happened, or what was new pain or old. After all, she’d already been in so much pain and struggling to feel anything… If anything, this was better! She could barely feel her lower legs!

It probably wasn’t a good thing she could barely feel her lower legs…

”Holy fuck, Leon- Oh fuck.” As she sucked in a deep breath, it felt like something was stabbing her in the chest. Her breathing had been fine up until then… She couldn’t even feel her body properly to figure it out.

But a quick look down showed bruising already blooming across her right side, and a right arm that looked far limper than it should. Broken ribs and arm, maybe? She couldn’t move the arm anymore, just her shoulder.

At least she was left handed…
”You- you ok? I can’t- fuck- there ain’t anything I can do, is there?” Keeping her voice low and her breathing shallow, she was at least able to get around the more intense chest pain. No less lucid than she was before. Just already intense pain made even more intense…

”Lemme- Just put me down… Call someone… Maybe an ambulance. Totally should call an ambulance.”
Or maybe a bit less lucid. The pain was making it hard to think logically, at least when it came to solutions.

”B-bag! P-i-e!”

It was odd. He had plenty of time to perceive the situation, and even react. He could tune in enough to hear the couple inside the SUV arguing about whether or not they should get out or drive off. Which, after both came to the conclusion that this place was that cult’s property, decided to cut their losses and speed off into the afternoon with a massive dent in the front of their vehicle.

Leon was already shifting to try and reach his bag with the arm that wasn’t fucked up. But, he didn’t have a lot of time before he could feel the Water seal unfurling within him. Bolstering healing flooded into his body in a torrent as he realized that Mia had, in fact, still been attending. It’d only been a few minutes since he put in the stoppage order through their connection, and even less time for her to recover than he’d expected.
Maybe it wasn’t so bad? But Daisy used to complain up and down…

”O-ohhhhh! Oh, fuck, nevermind…” he grunted before letting out a prolonged moan of agony.

Simultaneously, his thigh bone was both reforming itself, while rejecting all the splintered pieces of the old model through direct pathways opening in his flesh. Now, he had time to feel like an idiot. But, was it better to prostrate himself now, or-

”Fuck… Fuck! Cass, I’m such a fucking moron… God, can… Is anything super numb!? Anything you can’t feel!?” he snapped back to reality, not wanting to fuck her spine over any more if she’d broken it.

"My lower legs! My right arm’s broken too but… it ain't my neck or spine, I don't think!" Cass responded after just a momentary delay. She was trying to figure out if anything else was more numb than before. Her legs had already been hard to feel aside from the pain… but she still felt agony above the knees. Maybe something was disconnected there. She couldn't tell. Didn't really want to look!

"Hard to tell. Everythin' fucking hurts!"

He was still growling in his own fit of pain as his shoulder came back together in a slightly more intricate way. Lots more moving parts than a femur. But, since his leg finished up first, he was already pushing back up. He could hear his cellphone ringing in his bag, and knew there'd be more issues if he didn't answer it…

”Fuck, fuck fuck! Answer that, please, if you think you can, its probably fucking Mia, or its someone in security worried about me. Fuck! Fuck, Babe, this is gonna hurt a little more, I'm so fucking sorry!”

But they definitely couldn't waste time now. At least she'd be able to eat the goo and fix most of the major injuries…

”Get… the green packet too. Eat it. It won't help with your condition, but it will tell us whether or not your spine got hurt.” he told her, forcing his pack to the front where she'd be able to rifle through it as he carried her.

Which he wasted no time on, scooping her and causing presumable pain in the process.

Cass gritted her teeth, but wasn’t able to stop the pain groan as Leon moved her. She didn’t want him feeling worse, after all… But it was so much it was hard not to react.

”I’m working with one hand- fuck-” She grimaced, managed to open the bag and flip his phone over.
”Who the fuck is Chucklenuts- Whatever!”

She hit the answer button then speaker just before the call went to voicemail, lifting it from the bag onto her stomach with a pained grunt. That allowed her to reach further in to pull out the green packet, shoving it right into her mouth and slurping on it.

”Ih ih-int gonna may ih woh?” She asked around the nozzle in her mouth, making her words practically indecipherable to Leon - nevermind whoever was on the other end of the line. It trailed off into an agonised groan as her broken bones started to heal, and feeling flared back into her lower legs- pure agony, that was.

”No, it won’t make it worse, there’s no Lux in it! Hello!?” Leon instantly translated her mouth full of food, a talent earned at the dinner table beside the likes of Maxwell and Lynette Richoux. Neither had table manners, after all…

”It has- What!? Leon!?” Ed asked through the phone, expression somewhat peeved.

”What!? Oh, n-nothing! Nothing, we’re okay!” he replied, breaking out into a hobbling sprint that quickly fixed itself and allowed him to start making pace like he had before.

”We? Tell me why Mia screamed like death!”

The tone wasn’t peeved. For Ed, this was boiling. He heard her incredibly protective growl, and all the fury that came with it.
”I got hit by a fucking car, Ed! I was rushing across the street, I got hit by a fucking car. They sped off.”

”Where did you get hit by a fucking car at, the highway!?

”The bend! The fucking bend, across the street from the-”

”On the undeveloped side!? So, what, you didn’t think to look both ways?”

”Listen, Cass is hurt bad! I’m trying to get to Nedia, please let me call you back!?”

A lie, of course. But he really didn’t have time to sit and think about the backlash that Mia had suffered because of it. She’d never die, no matter how badly it may’ve hurt all at once. He’d seen Daisy tank his hits and still remain combat effective, after all… It was a matter of adjustment.

”What, did she get hit by the-”

”-Yes, Ettienette! Can you please hang up now? It’s not actually a question, hang up the fucking phone!”

”We’re coming over there right fucking now!”

Leon gritted his teeth, shaking his head as he maintained speed. The next car that he saw was at least driving down toward the exit, and while they stopped to try and start a conversation, Leon’s condition was rather clear. Ed had hung up, thankfully, so they were at least alone for a while. A short while, at least long enough for the key lime pie to have taken effect.

”The gels and shit are made with Ghosts… Just like the special food. They’re processed differently, they’re made to minimize Oblivium so they can be used frequently… But Apparitions don’t have Lux. You should be fine.” he finally replied, looking down at her with a morbidly fearful look on his face.

Cass had only been able to half pay attention to Leon and Ed talking, the pain of the Key Lime healing pushing her over the edge of being able to think about anything else. The strain was clear on her face, her good hand clutching Leon's bag as hard as she could. Nowhere near as hard as normal, even when she wasn't using magic…

But finally the agonising process finished, and the pain she was in dropped just a little. Enough that she could respond, at least.

"That's… good. I'd rather eat ghost than be stuck in bed with a broken arm!" She grunted.
"Fuck, I can feel my feet again- they feel real bad! Kinda preferred the numbness!"

She grimaced, head curling down towards her chest as another spasm of pain hit her. The newly fixed arm, ribs and lower legs were all more tender now. It felt worse… especially her legs, like any repaired nerves were extra fresh. But she could think through it. Just about. Everything was definitely heightened along with the pain.

"Wait. Wait! If that was Ed, and Ed's coming over- how the fuck am I supposed to keep it from Casey to stop Trisha exploding at him?! I ain't figured out how to tell her yet!"

”Dude… Have you been able to talk to Trisha without hearing something about Thanksgiving recently? I definitely haven’t been able to talk to Casey about anything other than that. They’ll miss it! Trust me!”

Leon was fairly confident in that. Enough that he’d make a bet, anyway. Casey… Knew everything. As close to omniscient as he was, the family rarely kept secrets. If Leon could tell when the girls were using again, Casey probably knew who they were buying from. It hadn’t been that way before, but he was less and less scared to whip it out every day. It was only good because he was also completely and utterly transparent to those whom he trusted.

Oddly enough, Leon was there. What Casey knew, at least about what was relevant to him, Leon also knew. Nedia charging to a house call was something Ed knew, but Casey knew who it was to. If an expense report went out, he had to approve. Leon would never admit this to Cass, this strange pipeline that essentially stripped them of all private movement. Because eventually, they’d all be out from under it. On their own again, and he’d no longer feel as though he needed to use his immense talent for such minute hovering. They’d all be safe and sound.

And then it’d be okay. But, until then, he had to live with the fact that Casey knew. The saving grace was how wretchedly frail Trisha seemed. At least in his mind. Casey always talked about her being so tough, and how impressive it was that she’d gotten through life practically on her own. But he really didn’t see it. He didn’t see it when she was a teenager, though as he thought more about her these days, he realized how unfair that was. To think about her in terms of those days…

But he’d seen her kill! She was a tiny bitchy hornet girl. And he felt general contempt toward her for far longer than was necessary. It was because of Casey’s insistence that he was reconsidering these days. But, ultimately, she still seemed frail. Like some kind of doll made of wool. Sturdy enough you could throw it on the ground, but get anything sharp near it and that was pretty much the end.
He had Cass to consider now. He hadn’t realized how much more that would focus his life around this other woman. But he knew Casey knew, which meant that they were both on the same page. It hadn’t even been a long discussion. A quick agreement to make both of their lives as easy as possible. It wasn’t by chance that they’d already done research. Already talked to Andy and to Naomi by scrying in order to keep it off the phone records.

There were already clothes waiting for her. A whole set Casey had spent an entire night hand enchanting. Knowing that there were good solutions and there were hard solutions, and that she’d struggle with all of them. But, the clothes could help in all the good ways. Detection of the toxic buildup, and immediate reaction with heat and pressure. There was a copper layer at the joints that kept them tight, and Leon knew she wasn’t going to feel great about how restrictive it all was… But, thaumaturgically, it was the most likely candidate for ease of pain.
And if she felt alright enough to move, it’d help her. Support her, just like one of Casey’s own battle uniforms. The same spell that allowed him to carry three times the amount of gear a normal soldier could would be her muscles when hers were so weak.

Casey loved Trisha. Ergo, he loved Cass. Leon couldn’t help but wonder if…

”We’re almost there… God, I’m… That fuckin’ hurt! Is that your first time getting hit by a car!?” he grinned, trying to joke and finally breaking himself out of the mental torpor he found himself in.

”Lemme think…” Cass managed to move her lips away from a pained grimace enough to look jokingly thoughtful. It was a good distraction for it all. When she was left to think, that’s all there was. Concentrating on the feeling… but jokes were good. Talking was good.

”Yup! Got hit by a bike as a kid, it’s basically an upgraded bike, ain’t it? And I’ma upgrade Cass now too.” Her smile was pained, but she still managed to grin up at him. She was pretty sure she’d broken an arm when the bike hit her too… Funny, that. How old had she been? Eleven? Not that it really mattered…

”How bout you? Get hit by cars often? I s’pose they get distracted by your- ugh, fuck- hotness and slam right into you?”

”Last time was a couple months ago. When I manifest my powers, Blinds kind of have a hard time seeing me. Only, it… Wasn’t a Blind who hit me. Remember that chick you rescued from the warehouse a few weeks ago? Her. I think she just wasn’t paying attention, nor was I. Kinda like what just happened. I’m not very attentive when-” someone’s life is on the line…
He cleared his throat, trying to think of a better way to phrase this.
”-there’s a goal in front of me. I’m pretty focused, like how I get in the ring, right!?” he practically nodded to himself in confirmation, a grin forming on his face.

”I get it- I’d get hit by a car too if shit was reversed!” Cass said, before starting to giggle. It wasn’t good for her, the movements it caused in her upper body making more muscles seize that had been more calm. Compared to her lower body, at least, which seemed to be taking the biggest hit.
It all hurt… Just, she could move her arms and torso.

But it was just too funny of an image! Her carrying Leon and running like that… Probably possible with her magic! But incredibly unwieldy with how big he was. It’d look ridiculous. Fuck, she had to stop thinking about it, her chest hurt-
”I’m- I’m surprised she didn’t try kill you. Seemed pretty fiery- not that I blamed her with how bobblehead prick was acting!” She managed to get the image of her princess carrying Leon out of her head trying to focus on something else, just about.

”She did! She was venomous! I had to get her a new car and the Bobblehead got her one too! She needed two cars before her vengeance was satisfied!” he laughed again, hoping she’d see he was being sarcastic.

They were coming into the cul-de-sac now, and the trees opened up around them in the cold November morning. There was a group of people hanging around the front of the dorms, who gave Leon various greetings between enthusiasm and sarcasm. But he made it pretty clear he didn’t have time, and bounded across the lawn further toward the rear basement entrance. For the first time, Cass was being brought into the Inner Sanctum: The network of underground tunnels that ran throughout the property and sprawled out like a spiderweb to every edge and beyond.

He couldn’t move as fast down here, hence they didn’t end up at the tunnel entrance nearer to their location. He may have if she’d been able to walk… It would’ve prevented getting hit by a car, which is what that specific tunnel was for…
No sense in hanging on that. This entrance was much closer to the infirmary anyway. Two of Andy’s nurses were already waiting with a gurney, which Leon was quick to get Cass onto.

”Alright! Holy shit, we made it!”

The bed was already enchanted similarly to the clothes. Another orange adept outside the family had a chance to study Casey’s spell, and recreated it to the best of his abilities. The mattress beneath her started to push up against the spots that it presumed hurt the most. It wasn’t warm, but hot. The massive copper plate beneath the surface conveyed the heat and remained malleable enough but firm enough to massage into her skin.
Leon also felt it start to work immediately, and was rather surprised.

”Woah! How’s that feel, Babe?”

”What the fuck- Please warn me next time a bed’s gonna just move?!” Cass’ initial reaction was shock. She was getting better at adjusting to magic being such a big part of her life- better than Trisha, at least- but there were still a lot of times it shocked her. Namely when furniture started moving when she didn’t expect it to!

But the feeling didn’t live that long, especially when the heat was helping. Enough that she wasn’t so gripped with agony. It was alleviated a little, and she relaxed into it- not that she had much choice, with how little strength she had right now.

”Good! I don’t feel a step away from death now!” She turned her head to look up at Leon, wry grin a bit less creased by pain now. Her whole face was. She was grateful for it, but it still felt like shit. Great, but she was still unable to move much. Everything still hurt, just less…

No, no, gotta stay positive! At least something was helping! Even if it didn’t just get rid of it!
”There ain’t gonna be any big, magical needles are there, Leon? I ain’t gotta problem with normal needles, but I ain’t a fan as they get longer. More not a fan of shit intruding on my body, really…”

”No needles, Sweetiepie!” Doctor Andy’s voice rang out from down the hall.

The nurses had already started rolling Cass toward her by the time she’d popped out of the doorframe. Enthusiastically, she was waving them in. She had a big smile on.
”We’ve got some little guys we’ve gotta poke you with to test you for allergies, but once we know what we can and can’t give you, we’ll be all set. Uh, Casey’s instituted a pretty broad policy in regards to treating outsiders, so we’ll need your permission before we can pull the records from your last doctor? It’ll make things easier, but we’re doing our best to… Well, obviously not intrude.” she said pretty bluntly, despite her big grin.

Cass weakly raised one hand into what was an entertainingly shoddy thumbs up. Respecting medical privacy was a good thing, after all! It was pretty stringent back home, which was why she’d never bothered getting a doctor here. Absolute pain in the ass getting stuff transferred… One told her she had to bring her own physical medical records! Far too much hassle for someone who rarely got sick.

”Oh, sure, you can do that- assuming you can get ‘em from a doctor in England? I ain’t really been to one here apart from like, one A&E trip- which cost an arm and leg- and they ain’t got much on me. Either way, all good! I can even sign for permission if I gotta! Well, maybe not right now…” She clenched her fist to demonstrate, not quite able to close it fully before it hurt.

But with the heat taking the edge off, she was back to rambling coherently at least. There was a certain level of pain she was already used to thanks to childhood injuries and Green Lux use. Just not the consistency of it…
”Uh, I gotta ask, is it gonna be this bad every time?”

”Well, in line with transparency policies-” she started, shooting a sharp look up at Leon who could only grin in response.
”-we’d need to wait a while to get it all through legitimate means. Supernatural methods would give us the information now. Either way, I’ll get it for you so that you have it here in the states, but only one option helps us figure out an answer to that much scarier question.”

Cass was rolled into a rather comfortable room with cool colored tiles that made it feel like the floor was made of ocean. The walls were warm wood, with slats in between each board where light leaked out to provide indirect but ultimately room filling illumination. It was clearly designed to keep a patient comforted in their surroundings.

”Which… Scale of one to ten? Certainly not looking at a six, right?” she asked as they rolled Cass into place and began setting up monitors.

”Uhhh… for pain?” Cass furrowed her brow, trying to think of all the other pain she’d felt. Better or worse? Breaking her leg had certainly hurt more at the time, but that was brief. But it really could always get worse, couldn’t it? It had been worse when they were hit by the car.

If she’d been hit by the car it would’ve been way worse. She’d probably be dead, to be fair…

”Eight? Consistently eight! Sometimes it’s going up and down… The heat’s making it more like a seven or seven point five I think… Sometimes it goes up to a nine. It wasn’t quite a ten but almost earlier when-” She cut herself off, glancing up at Leon with a deer caught in the headlights look. Oops.

”When my legs were properly seizing! And when it first happened, cause all my magic exploded… But mostly an eight. It’s bad. I ain’t enjoying it.”

Leon wasn’t going to let her defend him like that.
”Check her fucking arm, please. Her whole right side; I got hit by a fucking car crossing the road and-”

Andy held her hand up to stop him from going on about it, rather bumping him playfully out of the way.
”And that is why I’ll be sad to see all this go. Here, we’ve got the resources to help people. You got hit by a car? He probably fed you some of the Formula Two. Fucking incredible product. Stupid easy to synthesize once you know the methodology behind it.” she intoned to Cass, coming along her right side and running a stethoscope along the affected area.

”It does its job nearly every time. I’d say ninety five percent success rate. And we’ve only reduced the overall severity of the negatives since we started making it… Now, it's shit we can go and correct manually later rather than random horrifying mutations. Comforting, ain’t it?” she joked with Cass. She’d clocked who she was the last time they met, and was coming at the situation with a whole new attitude.

She got real close.
”Damn boys… Never look both ways before anything.” she grinned.

”It’s alright, cause that’s how I crashed into his life!” Cass let out a little cackle, which turned into a cough and pained grimace. The muscles along her side tightened in protest to her ‘movement’. It was frustrating as much as it was painful. But she assumed it’d get more manageable, or alleviated. She wouldn’t be stuck like this for days or anything…

”The Ghost juice worked pretty well, I think. Wouldn’t have needed it if I had my magic… I wouldn’t have been so hurt either! Y’know, he only still has a head cause’ve his magic, I would’ve punched it off earlier… Then my magic went out… God, I didn’t realise how reliant I’ve gotten with it till now!”

”You’re gonna notice a lot of things feeling out of sorts. It’s natural, your body is literally its own channeler. Sure, you’ve got one, you can direct it. But, apparently, along the lines of my research, your entire bone structure has been enchanted with a real old curse. Which, eventually allows the buildup to become possible since there’s natural residue that resides in the cavities. Casting with a channeler is usually all the body needs to excrete stuff like that, but because of how your setup is, you retain it no matter what.”

She always sounded so knowledgeable. She never made it sound like she didn’t at least have control. If she didn’t know, she still maintained the air, and was confident about one thing: She’d find out.

”So, why’s it only happening now?” Leon asked with concern in his voice.

”Well, think about a bone. It’s porous. The residue seeps out of the bones like a channeler usually bleeds off Lux. First, it’s gotta fill up the cavities. After that, it’s got to work its way into the muscles and blood. We know of methods of flushing it out from there, but we can’t get it out of the bones without serious consistent surgeries. I’m talking once every few months, you come in here and we basically open you up and scrape all your bones. It’ll technically treat you: It’s the best option we have of keeping this condition out of your life. But it's not practical for you, or me, or anyone. Not right now, maybe not ever. Hence, we need to know what you’re allergic to from our world so we can figure out what you may be allergic to from other worlds. So we can start treating what we can, and I can tell you with some certainty that no, it won’t always be just like this.” she finally explained as one of the nurses came in with a clipboard and an ink pad.

”Your fingerprint is a signature. You ever try changing your fingerprints? When you feel better, try it. See how far you get.” she giggled to herself, holding the ink pad up to Cass to get her permission on paper.

”You telling me my plan to be a master criminal ain’t gonna work?” Cass managed to joke as she reached out to press a fingertip into the inkpad, wriggling it before the clipboard was brought close enough she could press it onto the paper.
”I ain’t got any allergies I’m aware of, but there might be some funky shit I’ve never touched that I’m allergic to.”

It was relieving to hear it wouldn’t always be like this. Because if it was always this bad, even she’d really struggle to keep going. Then, the eventual clogging up seemed like the better option. But she could manage it not being so bad. Even if it was sometimes. Just not always.

”It being in the bones sounds real bad but I suppose… it ain’t getting outta there now. I ain’t down for near monthly surgeries! I assume I can’t scrape it out with my own magic either, cause then nobody’d be dealing with this shit?” She dropped her hand back onto her stomach, not really caring about smearing ink onto her skin. It’d wash off.

”If… My skeleton’s a channeler, does using my external one help at all? Or is it basically useless?”

Doctor Andy laughed at the last question specifically, her head tilting as she looked for the computer pad she could steal Cass’ old medical records from. Junior’s strings were immensely helpful in these situations; he had set them up in pretty much every hospital he could find in Western Europe after the war. Whatever records were left had to have been consolidated therein.

”Well… Yes and no. It does what it’s supposed to, and does bleed off Lux residue. But, Lux follows the path of least resistance. More like a liquid than a particle; it flows. And, given how these sorts of things work, bigger means better. Like uh… A heat sync. More surface area means the heat bleeds off better, right?” she asked playfully.

”Right…” Cass nodded, understanding easily. She knew more than enough Biology and other science to follow along, but the comparison just made it easier. Bigger meant better, huh. Of course her puny little guitar pick was nothing on her whole body.

”So… if I got a real big rock and managed to get emotionally attached to it, the Lux may flow through that instead of me?”

”Never as easily as it will through your skeleton. It’s proximity and surface area. You get the double whammy: Whoever the guy was that caused your ancestors to get cursed like this in the first place was a real piece of work.” she laughed again.

”Sure seems like it! This fucker knew every play!” Leon interjected, clearly frustrated on Cass’ behalf.

”We’re lucky we got the only kind Blue Lux user in the entire plane.” Andy laughed in return.

By then she’d already pulled up old allergy records. They were incomplete, but that was better than nothing. She knew that there were a few things they could get started on right now, and a few others that still needed testing, all within a few seconds of looking at the chart.

”Okay… So, the record isn’t as full as I’d like it to be, but it’s pretty much how you remember. Problem is, you were… Sixteen? So, you could have developed something since then. We’re gonna give you a couple little jabs; maybe six? You’ll not feel them compared to your… Whole situation. And, then… Well, do you want the fun treatment first? I’ve got three in mind. One sucks, one’s boring, and one’s fun.” she offered, standing up from her rolling stool.

”Can I hear what they are before I decide? I ain’t sure I trust a doctor’s idea of fun- no offence!” Cass replied, trying to figure out what a fun treatment could even be. Oh, maybe it was something that gave her a magical high. Or like treatment shrooms that’d make her hallucinate fun shit.

She did look a bit awkward about the whole not having any records since she was sixteen thing. It wasn’t entirely her fault.
”Also, uh, there’s maybe a couple more back home I can get my brother to send? They didn’t have the systems during the war, y’know- shit kept going down. If you were lucky they’d write it down and give it to you, but only when shit wasn’t crazy. Otherwise, there just weren’t any records. Or doctors, really.”

”Ah, you ain’t partied with me sister. How do you prefer your shrooms? We’ve got a world class chef begging to use dumb ingredients.” Andy grinned, leaning slightly and squeezing Cass’ arm.

She could tell from the way the bed was moving that the buildup was particularly strong in that area. It was actually feelable beneath the skin, how it was pushing out and leaking into everything. It wasn’t going to kill her… That was kind of the point of the curse. It was sick, in a way. But, privately, rather beautiful in her eyes. A medical marvel of Green and Blue Lux coming together in perfect harmony.

Andy blushed in that moment, but cleared her throat and spoke through the tender thoughts running through her head about a certain Chef.

”F-fun option is… Right, psychoactive mushrooms. The most potent version we have is harvested from- You don’t care. Fun is you get to do drugs and trip. But it’ll also be the longest test and if it doesn’t work, you’re probably gonna have a bad twenty-four hours ahead of you. Boring would be; we go through a rapid cycling of various compounds of herbs that we’ve researched and usually use to treat Lux toxin in the blood of people who accidentally wildcast.”

She cleared her throat. The last one was never fun.

”Third, we run a kind of dialysis system for you. Essentially drain and filter all your blood. For a few days. You’re… You’re gonna be stuck doing things here. We’ll have Leon head home once you’re settled, and get what you think you might want if you start feeling better. But you’re gonna need to be here. We can’t necessarily-”

”-Yes you can. You can absolutely get all of this stuff back to the Cannery.” Leon said with an incredibly sudden conviction in his voice.

It was jarring enough to stop Andy in her tracks.

”Aaahh… Uhhhmm…-”
She stopped for a few more moments, clearing her throat and looking down at Cass for her opinion.

Cass hadn’t really expected there to be options in the first place, so she had to really think about it. It was a balance, wasn’t it? They had to find something that worked, and worked consistently. God, the shrooms sounded great, but could she really risk it not working and making everything worse? Fuck! Tripping would be awesome right now, but coming down off it and having just as bad pain? She’d probably go crazy.

”Can we try all of ‘em? Well not at once, obviously! But, like… Boring one first, cause if it works that kinda sounds like the best option- much as I like tripping, it’s more fun when it ain’t a medical necessity. Then… I dunno. The dialysis shit seems like the most guaranteed solution? But I definitely ain’t comfy being trapped here. Be bad enough in my apartment- or Leon’s! But I’ve been psyching myself up for that… So only if it can be done in the Cannery. Well. I guess if the others don’t work, I ain’t really gotta choice.”

She grimaced.
”Man, shrooms seem real- fuck-” Her eyes squeezed shut, biting down on her lip as a fresh wave of agony seized her hips and abdomen. The bed adjusted to it, but it didn’t stop the cramp like feeling immediately.
”- Real fucking great right now! But I don’t wanna end up stuck for a whole day in agony if it doesn’t do shit! I dunno, it and the dialysis are hard to pick between!”

Leon was staring at Andy now with a little more intensity than she wanted to deal with. But, she was still an elder. Had been slated for Crone, even, had the prodigal daughter not returned just in time.

”It… Makes the most sense to do the suite treatment here overnight and see how they pan out. Updates can be made when your allergen results are in, and we can take our time getting the machine set up at your place. And, succeed or fail, we can all dose some high potency shrooms and go on a trip in our favorite rocket ship at the end. Where you’re comfortable… Because magic makes miracles. The literal definition of Thaumaturgy.” she proudly stated, gaining confidence by the end and finding her smile again to shine back down at Cass.

One Green Adept to another. The smile was joyous, warm, and redirected toward treating and not worrying about pushing the logistics of a dying empire. After all… Lynette hurt her too. Passed her up again and again. Why should she care when it all falls out? There were warm prospects in warmer climates.

”Let’s… do that then.” Cass said after a moment of thought, heaving out a sigh before smiling back at Andy. It made sense to do things here for the first treatment, as much as she didn’t really want to be stuck in the Temple for any length of time. So long as she could do it from home afterwards… And forevermore…

”If it works out, is the machine the kinda thing I can work myself? Or I guess someone close to me like Leon- or Mia or Casey if it needs Orange! Just, y’know… For the future and all.” She tilted her head away from Andy towards Leon, one hand vaguely reaching out towards him.

”You ain’t gonna miss me too much, are you? It’s only one night… I can suffer through one night for the science of finding the right treatment. And shrooms at the end.” At least, she assumed he wouldn’t be staying if she got treatment here overnight. Didn’t exactly seem comfortable when he had a very nice, massive bed back in a very nice apartment.

There was a long stare between Leon and Andy that stretched out to an uncomfortable length before finally breaking with Leon’s voice.

”The farthest I’ll be from you tonight is a couple of rooms over. Doctor Andy and I have a lot to talk about, I think. Logistics. Plans. Getting things to the Cannery.”

The tension was clear the moment the stare had sucked the joy away from Andy’s face again. It left her wholly uncanny before him, and while she’d felt threatened by Lady Lelou before, she’d never felt threatened by Leon. But, his behavior wasn’t normal. This… Was Leon in a new way. There was only one man who had treated her like this over someone and gotten away with it before.

”Leon Hunter… I have known you since you were a little boy…-”
She cleared her throat. The change back to customer face was instant now, and very sharp.
”-Cass, honey, I’m gonna leave you with Chenzo, my head nurse. He’s gonna give you the allergy test, and he’s gonna start with the first compound. It’ll take about a half an hour to run through your system. Please, try to relax as much as possible, and… And be thankful you have such a sincere person in your corner. Leon’s in rare form.” she said with confidence and one last smile.

Before the lights turned out. Leon felt a cold beam of fear pass across him. There was a red dot shimmering on his pantleg beneath the bed where Cass couldn’t see. Andy’s face was cold and dead, staring at him with an unflinching rage as a tiny smirk curled up at one end of her mouth.

”Step into my office? Please?”

She almost whispered it. Her voice was strained, like there was a dam blocking an ocean and struggling to fulfill the task. Leon was at a great disadvantage, but it was probably good to have time to cool off. Maybe he was acting with a bit too much deference, that truly zealous part of himself surfacing again. Like it had when he’d ‘protected’ Layla from the other Sycamites. A bit too much like he used to be.

So he cleared his own throat and looked down at Cass.
”Maybe, like, an hour? Girls should be here by then. Ed may not come down, uh… Her and Andy ain’t exactly friends.”

”A terrible fact. All three?” she asked crassly, interrupting him.

”I don’t know. Two guaranteed, Ed and Mia.” Leon spoke in a much softer tone now.

”Right… You heard that Chenzo?”

“Yep!” came from the other room, and Leon saw the beam disappear. He leaned down to kiss Cass again, squeezing her hand gently.

”An hour… Don’t miss me too much.”

”No promises… I’ma miss your ass at least, real good distraction.” Cass managed a smile, though she could still feel the tension under the surface. Not so extreme… They probably weren’t going to kill each other.

She turned her head back to look at the ceiling, before half closing her eyes. She wasn’t sure how much she’d be relaxing, but she was too drained from all the pain to worry about whatever was going on there too much.

”See you in an hour.”

After the allergy tests, which Cass really didn’t feel through all the other pain, she was given some strange drink- tonic, or whatever- to ingest. She was really hoping the first compound would just work. That would be ideal.

Not that it was going to work right away. The first twenty minutes were spent in hopeful pain. When she asked, Chenzo got her phone from Leon’s bag… And she was at least able to prop it up on her chest and watch something stupid with no sound and subtitles. When that got uncomfortable, which it did very quickly, she moved it to beside her and turned her head to look.

It offered a tiny distraction, but very little when the pain flared up or something seized.

As it got to almost thirty minutes since she’d taken this one, the hope began to fade away. Sure, it’d take that long to get into her system, but surely she’d feel it by now! Fuck… It was going to be a long night, wasn’t it? She turned her head away from her phone with a pained grimace, hands shifting to rest on her stomach. It was, unfortunately, the most comfortable position. On her back, perfectly straight…

The whole thing just fucking sucked!

”Chenzo!? Is she awake?”

The door to the main nursing area outside her room was open, so she’d be able to hear and talk to Chenzo easily. But, it made hearing friendly voices a lot easier too.

“Yeah! Number two, go ahead. Actually, I’ve gotta-”

There was a little bit of shuffling outside, but Ed was the first to appear around the corner. She looked a little like death, but when she saw that Cass wasn’t covered in bandages, she was thrilled.

”Shit, dude, what the fuck happened!?” she asked bluntly, making an immediate headway for the rolling stool so she could get real close to Cass.

”Leon said something about a fucking car!?”

”Heyyyy Ed, Mia.” Cass’ almost closed eyes fully opened, and she tilted her head to look at them both with a sort of smile. Right, the car crash. They thought it was just being hit by a car… She’d have to explain the disease thing at some point, cause they had shit to fix car damage. She had magic to fix it!

But the car did need explanation, cause that was why the girls even knew. It had hurt Mia, after all.
”Hit by a car, yeah… Really not fun. Don’t recommend… Well, actually, it wasn’t the car! Leon was holding me real tight, squeezed and broke a bunch of bones and shit! He took most’ve the hit… Actually went flying, like a baseball! Maybe not as far as a baseball… Either way, yup, we got hit by a car.”

”Oh, my fucking God!” Mia said, coming in after Ed had already sat down.
”Well… Like… They got you to eat something in time, right? So, you should be okay?” she asked, grave worry in her voice.

Ed wasn’t sure whether or not Mia would be ready for any answer regarding why Cass was still laid up. If it was just a few broken bones.

“Excuse me, Ed… Gotta give our African Princess her medicine.” Chenzo joked, moving to Ed’s side and gently bumping her to roll the chair out of the way.

”Medicine!?” Ed perked up.

”Uhhh…” Cass had been hoping to have a moment to lighten the mood up. Throw out some jokes. Help Mia calm down a little. Pretend she totally wasn’t lying on the bed unable to move most of her body, in agony, and was totally just a little tired. Then break the news slowly.

”This is really… Shameful…” She said, before moving a hand to cover her face.
”That was a bad one, even for me! I, uh, ain’t really here cause’ve the car. Well, if the green shit worked had to be checked, but… I’m… Sick. Not like, dying sick! Just, chronically!”

”Whaaaaat!? What, did something happen when, like, you went to get healed or something?”

But Ed held her hand up, furrowing her brow.
”Uhhh… No… Babe, I think… What’s that, that thing that Andre’s son has?” she asked, snapping her fingers.

It took a second for her to recall it, but then she snapped her fingers too.

”Fuck the, uh… Shame of… Something with an N? Something African sounding, I think, I mean obvi-”

“The Shame of Clan N’gouba, girls. Cass has Lux-Blood Toxicity, in medical terms. Painful stuff, supposed to be like a million little aches all at once.” Chenzo explained from a medical standpoint.

”Yo, fuuuuuuuck… His kid ain’t got it that bad, even! I hear his case is like, pretty mild!” Ed exclaimed, shocked by the moment.

“Cass has an acute reaction. Tell ‘em about it after you drink.” he said holding the straw in the tincture up to her lips
“As quick as you can, I made this one taste like eating a pineapple on a hot summer day specifically.”

”Why?” Cass stared at Chenzo… Pineapples were nice and all, but wouldn’t it burn? She pursed her lips before taking the straw, sucking it all in with a couple of gulps. It… really did taste exactly like eating a pineapple on a hot summer day. What the fuck.

”Shit, it’s even got the burning aftertaste- not bad!” She scrunched up her nose a bit, before turning her head back to look at the girls. She tried her best not to look too disheartened by the whole thing.

She’d been through a lot of thinking about it over the last few days, as they pushed her Lux to the limits. A mix of thrill and joy over how much she could do, to fear and sadness in the quiet moments when it was just her. But the pain overwhelmed all of that now, along with her frustration. She really was stuck with this.

”It’s… Well, all my Lux goes through my body instead of my Channeler. Eventually it gets into my blood and muscles and shit like… Right now. My first flareup! Cause my blood is full of it and I’ve run outta actual Lux to use… Luxal fatigue, that’s what it’s called!” She explained as best as she could.

”I ain’t got any magic right now. That’s why Leon had to properly protect me when we got hit by the car… But I gotta use it all like this, otherwise it’ll clog up. Either way, it still seeps into my blood from my bones!”

Mia looked absolutely mortified. Unable to fathom the depth of frustration that she felt hearing something like that. She’d only heard it described vaguely by a person who hadn’t seemed particularly bothered by it. But, knowing what it was going to do to her? To Cass?

”B-but… You’re… Cass, the Mobile Ass! We’ve discussed this!” she tried to make a joke come out, but it came out with tears as she moved and slid up next to Ed and the bedside.
Her head came to rest on Cass’ thigh, and she could feel the warmth of the bed. Her senses automatically reached across it, feeling the influence of her family’s magic within. It was only slightly more comforting that she was apparently being held up by the fundamental pattern they called the Lumond Lattice.

”I’ma just have to be Cass, the Immobile Ass every now and then.” Cass managed another smile, hand reaching out towards Mia but not quite being able to reach her. She could sit up if she really strained herself, but she knew causing herself more pain wouldn’t make anyone happy.

”I dunno how regular it’ll be yet… But normally I’ll be fine! Better than fine! Magic’s super natural to me… Leon said I’ve been doing stuff that some people struggle with even after a decade of practice. It’s just got some really shitty side effects. But that’s why I’m here! To see if we can find something to help… The Doc’s convinced it won’t be this bad every time, at least.” She tried her best to comfort Mia - but she was trying to convince and comfort herself too.

Because she did love the feeling of using her magic. Of the Lux flowing through her veins… But was it worth the pain? She wouldn’t give up her magic… But she did wish she was a normal adept.
”I ain’t gonna lie and say it doesn’t suck. It’s fucking shit… Honestly, can’t even move that leg you're lying on… But I’ma learn to manage and live with it, y’know. Ain’t gotta choice, anyway.”

One of Ed’s hands moved to rub Mia’s head while the other stretched out to hold Cass’ hand.

”Well… Bad Bitch? We’re here for you. Anything you can think of, you just ask. We love you like our own, right Mimi?”

Mia had just about forgotten all her own sorrow, everything pouring out from her incredible empathetic capacity into a sensation of shame of her own. The Richoux family curse, maybe. Maybe just their generation. The feeling that she’d been such a moron having even worried about how she’d felt. It was all temporary anyway. The guilt would last much longer. She didn’t agree verbally, as her face was buried in her arm, but she did nod wildly against Cass’ leg.

”Right… She… That don’t hurt, Cass? Does it? Should I move her?”

"Nah, it don't. The pressure's kinda nice. Honestly, you'd have to start punching me for shit to hurt more, I think!" She very pathetically waved her free hand, grimacing as she let it drop back to her stomach.

It really wasn't that kind of pain… Hard to push about it, especially when it spiked. Leon breaking a bunch of bones had, but otherwise…

"But I really appreciate it. I ain't sure what I'll need yet… company's good! Especially when Leon's… occupied. It won't be so bad when I'm home, or can do more… but right now I ain't sure I can even use my phone much. I've been watching shit but the pain keeps- Oh!" She interrupted herself, looking down at Mia.
"You okay, Mia?! The blast back from Leon's hit must've been real bad!"

Mia wasn’t sure that she heard Cass correctly. If she had, she couldn’t answer. How could she? The panic was pretty open on her face, and the lack of an answer prompted Ed to turn in her seat to check what the holdup was. It was Mia’s eyes welling up with tears. She reached into the bag she was clutching, hand gripping onto the only thing it could’ve been before pulling it out.

The first time Cass would’ve seen this artifact; an ancient rope of half-cracked leather as black as night. At the end, was a collar of the same material, whose buckle held a tag in place at the front. It was small, gold, and whatever writing was on it would be illegible from that distance without magic.

”D-do… you really have to ask? Lets fo-focus on you. An-and mmmmaking you feel better…” she did her absolute best not to make it too obvious that her clutch on the artifact may be having some kind of effect.

In truth, she was relaying with the spirit herself. She had the line to Lelou now, though in a strikingly detached fashion. Rather than asking for advice, Mia had quickly realized she too could simply take. Four hands and two minds focused on keeping the being suppressed meant that they had the advantage in the situation. A carrier, or handler, made everything easier without regarding the actual being known as Lelou Faim with any more concern than one would give to a useful machine. Handle with care, but use as necessary.

There was a quick shift that was impossible to not notice. While Leon pulled from all the physicality of Lelou’s supernatural abilities, Mia easily pulled from the new source of brazen confidence and animalistic passion. It was a new drug, and she’d been using lately.

”I mean… Unless you really would rather hear about me dealing with this thing? It’s a blessing and a fuckin’ curse if I’m being honest.-” she spoke with a slight growl in her voice.
”-I mean yeah, great. I get some wisps of what being a Queen must be like. But, your boy got creamed by a fucking crossover! Like, fuck, I know you felt it, and I get that what you’re feeling right now is anything but-”

She had done it without even thinking, and smacked the damnable artifact back into her bag now that she was sure she wouldn’t break out into tears.

”-Leon gets limbs lopped off. Holes punched clean through him. You realize that he can fuckin’ take it, right? But that I’m on the other side? Like, shit, Lelou likes you. When you feel better next, ask him why he can’t let her train with you instead, because you fucking hurt!”

Rather than an equally frustrated flourish of leaving or shouting, Mia confidently bent down and planted her lips on Cass’ forehead, her hand moving down to hold Cass’ tenderly. When she pulled away, her eyes looked down with love and concern at her new friend.

”I’m sorry. You asked. I’m scared. Real scared of what I may have to deal with in the near future. And, if I’ve got the fucking thing? I’m a bigger target than I ever have been. And nowhere’s really safe except home, since Casey’s there.” she cleared her throat, not even considering the idea of Leon being a protector.

He wasn’t one if she’d be tanking the hits too.

Cass wasn't blind, or stupid. Even taken out by pain like she was, she could still see Mia clutching the artifact and growing noticeably more confident. At least, the tears stopped. But Cass didn't say anything. Maybe it was something she'd bring up with Leon later, but it wasn't her place. Especially not right now.

"It's alright, I did ask! I ain't upset or anything. I understand being scared. There’s a lotta uncertainty in the future too! But that insecurity ain’t gonna be forever… and Leon ain’t gonna be fighting alone in the future. I’ll do what I can to make sure he ain’t getting limbs cut off." She said with as much certainty as she could muster. It wasn’t guaranteed.

And it was true Leon could take it, but that was just because he was used to the pain. Not that she thought Mia should have to get used to it…

”And we ain’t gonna be training like that for a while now. It was mostly to… Push my magic. Cause I had to use it as much as possible to burn out. That’s why I was going so strong! I’ll try hold back more- or, y’know, see if he’ll take off the collar before I punch so hard!” She managed to smile at Mia, before it turned into a pained grimace. Her hand clenched into a fist to fight through the wave of renewed pain. But her other held Mia’s a little tighter and squeezed it gently.

”He got hit by the car cause he was tryna get me here. He ain’t gonna be that inattentive most’ve the time, I promise.”

Mia nodded her head, expression mostly neutral until a little smile crossed her lips.

”You sure you ain’t lookin’ for three girlfriends and a daughter?”

Ed immediately laughed, reaching up and snagging Mia to pull her down on her lap.

”Geeze! This girl, she gets all teary, then she wants to be an animal.”

Mia was laughing too now, hand still half holding onto Cass’. Ed slid the chair just a little closer so they could all be close together.

”Only half joking.” Mia giggled, planting a kiss on Ed’s cheek.

”Riiiiight… Listen, we’ll be alright, Cass. You’re gonna… Have to live with this forever, right? It ain’t somethin’ they cure, like a cold. You said your fuckin’ bones cast magic? That’s actually crazy, Andre’s kid ain’t said anything about that.” Ed said with a measure of conspiracy in her voice.

”Sorry, Cutie, but I ain’t available.” Cass laughed along, though it was more muted, smiling at Mia. Then she turned to Ed’s question.
”Yeah, unfortunately it ain’t going anywhere.”

She hadn’t met this other person who also had it… But Ed had said something about it being mild, right? And mild were the rarer cases. And then…
”Well, the Doc mentioned something about research… so maybe it ain’t something they knew before? There’s also different types… I dunno, it ain’t really the kinda thing you just talk about, is it? Or maybe it is when everyone has magic! It was news to me today.”

Her brow furrowed further, thoughtfulness adding to pain.
”You said his was mild, right? Maybe it ain’t so much of a problem for him and he can use his channeler to deal with it? But for me unless I literally eat a rock I’m really attached to, my Lux ain’t going through anything else! It’s fucking wild, right? I didn’t know till now… But I ain’t ever felt that pain I was told I should from wildcasting. I did it a lot. Like… with the fucking Cat last week! It ripped my shoulder out, but it looked great when you saw me, didn’t it, Mia? I cast that with no Channeler… First healing spell too!”

”Which is pretty intense. Andy was incredibly impressed; you definitely earned her respect and-”
Mia bristled. There was a sensation at the back of her neck, but no time for her to react to it before it was too late.

”Chenziiiiii… My meds?”

”Of course! Here, Ma’am. Go with Grace.”

”Ahhhh, is that my lovely daughter? And my… Niece daughter? Daughter Niece? Eddy?”

”Yes Momma… Hi.”

In stepped the goth of the century in a rather immodest set of workout clothing. They were designer brand, all black, and almost certainly a size too small. She had her mass of raven black hair tied up in a long tail draped down around one side of her head, and was absolutely covered in bruises.

”Hey Auntie Lyn…”

Lynette stared with deep blue eyes toward Cass, smiling only after she felt satisfied.

”You the Wild Witch I heard about? Never even thought to watch for you. Not that I’m complainin’.”
She stepped forward, getting closer to the two girls and wrapping one hand around each of their shoulders.

”Sounds like everyone likes you. Shame about the Shame, but there’s worse curses in the world. I’d say God tests us, but what the fuck do I know… Is there anything I can get you, Cass?” she finally asked.

It was Cass’ first time seeing Lynette Richoux in the flesh, and not exactly how she’d expected it to go. She certainly hadn’t expected to be bed bound, and it to be post violent workout for Lynette. She looked like the pictures Cass had seen. Very gothic and attractive… No wonder Leon was plagued by Mommy issues.

”Nope! I got everything I need here, thanks for letting me get treatment in the, uh, sacred grounds?” It was relatively easy for Cass to put aside her growing personal issues with the woman and be chirpy in response. At least as chirpy as someone lying in agony could be…

”I’m guessing you’re Lynette… Well it ain’t really a guess, cause’ve what the girls called you- and I can see the resemblance! For all of ‘em.” She moved a limp hand up and vaguely towards Lynette, offering a vague handshake. She couldn’t really do much else right now.

”These ain’t the circumstances I expected to meet my boyfriend’s mum under! Like you said, Shame about the Shame… but hey, at least I only turn into a crystal if I don’t use up all my magic all the time. So it ain’t gonna kill me! Either way, nice to meetcha.”

Lynette smiled warmly, and freely gave a hand back to shake gently. She knew the girl was in obvious pain, and didn’t want to prolong it. Shame about the Shame.

”Well, better than a worse time, right? You ain’t gotta worry about me much, anyway. Uhhh… I hope you make it through the near future, and into the far future. But, I’ve literally got nothing on you. With everything you’ve probably heard, maybe that’s a relief. You’re in good hands.”

Solemnly, she patted Ed and Mia again, then wordlessly turned to exit from the same place she entered. The two waited for far longer than probably seemed necessary before speaking again.

”Jeeeeeesus… What fuckin’ drug is she on!?” Ed exclaimed with great confusion.

”Fuck if I know, but Chenzo ain’t gonna tell. Uh… Sorry, Cass.” Mia intoned, half frustrated and half elated that it’d only been that bad.

”It’s alright, it wasn’t that bad! I’m guessing that was her in pretty good form?” Cass asked, looking at Ed and Mia with a half smile. She really wasn’t bothered at all. Maybe in a couple of years she’d care about Leon’s mom’s approval- not that she seemed to disapprove- but that was never going to be, if things worked how they were looking too.

And she’d done plenty of work to get over her own Mum issues that she was quite chill when it came to anyone else’s. Or anyone, really- she didn’t let external people get to her like that, as much as she could!

”I ain’t gonna get upset over any kinda meeting. She could call me all kinds of shit and I might just tell her to fuck off, but I wouldn’t get too upset. Either way, ain’t a problem… As ominous as I hope you make it sounds. I ain’t worried!”

”That was… Honestly how she treats most people. I kind of assumed that she’d have anything to say at all.” Mia intoned conspiratorially.

”Whatever it is, Babe, let’s just be thankful. It’s way better than-”
”-Oh, don’t get me wrong. Way better. I guess it means she was telling the truth, which is more than the people who are immediately in her life are privy to.”

The two nodded in agreement, a clear sign of relaxation washing across them.

”Oh yeah, I’ve heard a lil from Trisha- not that she tells me much! I’m more than happy for her to just not give a fuck about me! Way easier. And I got the approval of the family that matters most, don’t I?” Cass managed to grin at them both.

It was how she felt, at least, especially with Lynette’s limited time. Even if it wasn’t… If Lynette didn’t want to know her, then Cass would never push it. Not that she and Leon were really at the meet the parents stage… Things just moved differently when all your family lived nearby and was part of a massive cult! She sure wasn’t planning to introduce him to hers for a long while.

Or ever. She wasn’t too fond of her parents being in her life much.

”If she didn’t see me in any of those visions or shit, I guess that means I’m a real sexy surprise, huh?” Her eyebrows waggled a bit.
”I suppose the fates just assumed the other Wolf in his head would always cockblock him emotionally, huh?”

The two of them gave one another a happy glance as Cass mentioned the family that matters. It felt good to have that kind of feeling behind them, and from such an awesome person in her own right.
”I’m not sure. You’re… Uhhhh…”

And then the realization hit. Mia pressed her hand to her forehead.
”I think that really seals the deal for poor Trisha…”

Ed scrunched her nose up slightly, then cleared her throat.
”Yeah, Cass, I’m… Thinking it’s just the fact that Trisha’s such a big figure. We’ll figure it out. Probably has to do with all that Stygian Snake stuff.” the quick deflection came easily, especially when it was still partly true overall.

Cass nodded, though the movement was quite small. That was the one thing that made her wish she had more of Lynette’s attention. To take some of it away from Trisha so she could rest… While Trisha didn’t really talk to Cass about things, she could tell she’d been extra stressed the past couple of days just from her texts and refusal to actually see her. It would be nice if she could take a bit of that burden away.

She had Casey now, at least.

”Yeah, it makes sense she’d be more important in all’ve the shit! But you’re right, we’ll figure it out… Cause she’ll have all of us behind her, right? I certainly ain’t gonna let anyone hurt her… and I can really pack a punch. Leon said I would’ve punched his head clean off earlier if it wasn’t him- Uh, sorry for that Mia, probably hurt like hell for you!” Her constant positivity didn’t seem dampened even with the situation she was in right now.

It wasn’t getting any better, she was just getting a little better at ignoring it. Or distraction via having the two of them there.
”I gotta say, I’m so happy you guys can see through that prickly exterior and like her. I know it ain’t easy… Lee still ain’t there yet. But she needs people around her more than I do… Not that she’s great at accepting the help!”

”Well, thankfully she doesn’t punch as hard as you do.” Mia shook her head and smiled.
”It does hurt. Apparently there’s something I can do to mitigate it but I’ve yet to figure that shit out.”

Ed laughed again, rubbing Mia’s shoulder.
”Trust me, whenever she’s off duty, she gets plenty of tender love and care. Today, tomorrow, whenever she wants because she’s such a good, responsible little sister.” she tickled Mia, causing her to laugh in kind as Leon’s figure slipped into view.

”Alright, it’s all set up… Hey girls! Heyyyy…”
He slipped down, holding both of them tightly together.
”They keeping you safe?” he looked down at Cass, a tender smile crossing his face.

”Oh yeah, so safe. From myself, mostly- I probably woulda tried to roll outta the bed if they arrived any later!” She smiled back at him. Her face wasn’t much less lined with pain than when he’d left, but the heat underneath her was at least keeping it under control even if the tonics hadn’t yet.

Her gaze couldn’t help but slip down from his face to his chest, letting out a slight sigh.
”Fuck, I missed this view… Nothing quite so distracting, Babe… Not that these two ain’t great company. Just need the eye candy to go along with it, y’know. Helps me prepare for what’s probably gonna be a long night.” She was half joking, of course- it was Leon himself being there that helped, not specifically his sexiest parts…

As if being cursed for thirsting over him from her sick bed, there was another round of more painful muscles spasms which she gritted her teeth through. But it didn’t stop her mind from shifting elsewhere, even if her voice was more strained.
”Oh! I met Lynette.”

Without any bit of tact, Leon grinned at Cass and immediately pulled his tanktop off completely, moving around to the other side of the bed she was in and slipping into the open chair at her side.

”Augh, the straight male’s pride. Great.” Mia scoffed.

”Hardly for you… Let Cass get what she wants.” Leon chided back, causing Ed to giggle.

”I think that’s fair.”

Mia didn’t protest further. It was all cute anyway. Leon smiled and cleared his throat.

”I… was told. Mum stopped Andy and I. Said she needed the good doctor for something, I wasn’t interested in pressing.” he explained.
”Funny she was training just like we were. I wonder if she thinks she’s getting out of this.” Leon grinned a sickly grin.

”Well she certainly didn’t sound like a woman who thought she was gonna live long… Said a bunch of stuff about not being a problem and hoping I’d survive! She ain’t seeing me in any of those funky visions, so I suppose that’s a good thing?” Cass responded rather bluntly. She was having a hard time keeping her eyes anywhere but Leon’s chest. It was just right there. Perfect eye level with him sitting down. So fucking hot. Too hot.

”Ugh, Babe, as much as I hate to say this, you gotta put your shirt back on! This is literal torture when I’m stuck in bed! Any longer and I’ma self combust. Like, sure, great view, I am really enjoying it but it’s also making me want way more- sorry girls, I won’t say anymore!”

”Well, actually, Andy said-”

”-Orgasms have pain relieving properties? Absolutely. Should we leave?” Ed cackled immediately after finishing, not even stopping to notice Mia’s absolute embarrassment.

”Eddyyyyyyyyy!!!!!” she groaned, turning in Ed’s lap and playfully thumping at her chest.

Leon laughed as well, grinning mostly at Cass.

”I’m sure you two have heard it. If she’s right, she’s right. That lady’s a medical professional. So, I’m on duty if you wanna try, Babe.” Leon winked.

”Now, as for tomorrow? All the stuff will be set up in a different apartment. But, it’ll be private just like yours. It’ll just be easier to move it all into a fresh room than try to get it all into yours. That make sense?” he asked Cass gently.

"Huh?- Oh, yeah, of course!" Cass had been thinking quite seriously about his offer. It sounded pretty fucking awesome if that actually helped with pain relief… but then she got caught up in the logistics. She could barely move right now! That'd make things pretty boring… she liked moving a lot… Then the whole medication every thirty minutes thing, the risk of the pain being too overwhelming in the first place-

Fuck, she'd think about it more later!

"So long as it's a private apartment rather than… this, y'know? A medical room under the Temple… I ain't bothered even if Andy or whoever else makes sense has a key, to make things easier! For safety and all that, in case shit happens. I just ain't coming here every time. And I imagine it'll be pretty frequent…"

She smiled up at him, eyebrows raising a couple of times. Eyes going right back to his chest… she really couldn't help herself now that stuff was back on the table, even if she really wasn't sure if it was something she'd be into when so immobile.
"Hopefully by tomorrow I won't be so crippled that I ain't feeling down for much of anything… then we can baptise another flat! Anyway- it'll be easier for visitors too… Really, I'm fine with that. Doesn't have to be my place. My place'll probably be an absolute pain for me to move round anyway- if I can walk- cause I got so much shit. I bet I'll trip over a cable and end up stuck on the ground or some shit."

”Hell yeah… It’s one of the studios, so it’s not much to christen. Practically a hospital room with space for a couch. Or, in this case, a bunch of machines and a fancy filter.” Leon smiled, shrugging his shoulders.

”Though, I’ll admit: She was being stubborn because she feels like that’s actually the least likely treatment.”

”Yeah, uh… Sorry, I was listening. Fucking dialasys? I’m sorry, but she’s honestly right. If Lucien and Naomi aren’t using it as treatment-” Mia piped up, clearing her throat in admission, only for Ed to smack her arm half-agitated.

”Mia!!!” she snapped, clearly annoyed that she’d been listening to someone’s private conversations.

”You fucking try when you can hear him from three different angles in your head! I’m sorry!” Mia whined back, balling her hands up in vague frustration.

”If you were listening at all, you should be well aware of how much different Cass’ situation is. Ahhh… Naomi’s not exactly a fair case.” Leon scratched his head, stupidly grinning at Cass.

”Turns out, the big rule can work. We need to get you attached to a river, or some rapidly flowing body of water. But, it’s also still pretty dumb? Naomi’s got no problem living on a boat for a month at a time with no pain. I don’t imagine you being cool cooped up anywhere, right?” he asked genuinely, moving his hand to reach for hers.

"Absolutely not!" Cass' replied immediately. Her hand wriggled over towards Leon's, weakly grasping at it. It was pretty comforting to have him there- to have them all there. At least she wasn't dealing with this shit alone. Like fuck, if she hadn't visited Trisha and hooked up with Leon then… she didn't know what she'd do! It wasn't like she had any kinda magical community before. Maybe Reyna would help figure it out, but then what?

No point thinking about those negative hypotheticals, though.

"It's bad enough being trapped in bed for a bit, but a whole month on a boat? No way… I get sea sick! Well maybe not anymore cause magic, but y'know!" Cass declared, head shifting from side to side to be able to look at them all.
"If it's gotta be dialysis, it's gotta be dialysis. Maybe I won't need it every time? I sure hope so- hopefully it ain't gonna be so bad every time. But if there's, like, months or I dunno a year worth of Lux in my blood… That's a lot, right?!"

She let out a little groan of frustration. Just the thought of a few days stuck as some machine cycled through her blood… but it was better than it never getting better. And at least…
"I can put up some of my best posters where I can see ‘em from the bed! I wouldn't be able to do that on a boat…"

”Not sure how clear Leon’s made it, but you’re surrounded by some of the most learned and educated wizards in the current century. We may not be able to cleanse some hundred thousand year old curse, but we can sure as shit make a boat.” she grinned widely.

Leon smirked.
”She’s not wrong. You see that fuckin’ greenhouse they built Trisha?”

Ed raised her free hand.
”And in six months?”

The playful lipbite of a reply was all Ed needed to know he wasn’t actually being serious. Though, with both her and Mia giving him an annoyed side-eye, he couldn’t help but break up.
”Alriiiiight, it’s bad enough we’ve gotta find her a fucking doctor to do the procedure somewhere. Andy says she’ll do her best to find one before shit gets too crazy, but she’s not sticking around either. I’m… Buying the equipment. That way we don’t lose that. The only problem there will be the filter. But, if we stick together as a family after this, then hopefully the person we need most can get it done.” he sighed, hating to resign things over to his technically inclined middle brother.

At least Casey’d be noble about it. Probably. He seemed like that kind of guy lately.

Mia frowned slightly.
”You don’t think that’s asking a lot out of him?”

”Not if it’s not for Cass.” he tilted his head to one side in consideration, a sly grin passing to Cass.

Cass let out a quiet laugh, shooting a playful smile back.
"Hey now, that's pretty evil. But you're right… Trisha'll be pretty upset over it all. It's why I haven't managed to tell her yet! She'll probably get upset she can't do more about it… I ain't so fond of using stuff like that, but it ain't like we're doing anything! Only way to stop it is not telling her ever."

She tilted her head to the side, shoulder coming up a tiny amount in an attempted shrug motion.
"I feel a bit bad about it but… Andy said my cares a community thing. It ain't like we're asking without giving back. Trisha- and Casey- could ask me to do almost anything and I'd do it! I'd take a literal bullet for ‘em! Sure, I'd almost definitely survive it, but it's still a big gesture, right?"

The only downside was it might mean Trisha seeing her when she was in this much pain. She knew her friend was strong thanks to fighting the Stygian Snake, but she'd also seen her freak out when Diyah fainted once in their apartment. But… necessary evil…

She tilted her head towards Mia with a smile.
"Just cause there ain't gonna be the big organisation by the end don't mean there won't be some kinda community… Even if it's just you siblings and whoever's attached to you. And that kinda group helps each other!"

Mia shifted uncomfortably, looking a little pensive.
”That’s not something we’ve talked much about yet…”

”You shouldn’t be worried about it. The three of you will always have a place with me.” Leon asserted calmly.
”And you do what you can. You don’t have to jump or anything. It ain’t gonna be a coven, or a cult; we’re just gonna be siblings living together. And it’ll be good.”

Mia closed her eyes and sighed.

”C’mon, Meem… It’ll be good! It’ll be like last time, but way better. Genuine!” Ed prodded, poking Mia and making her reactively giggle with a tickle.

”I guess we’ll have to be here. Maybe… Maybe I can… Go into nursing? Like I imagined as a little kid. Just, y’know, so you maybe don’t need a doctor the whole time, right?” she asked, eyes turning warmly back to Cass.

”Hell yeah! I think you’d make an awesome nurse, Mimi. I’d certainly feel like I was in safe hands!” Cass’ smile in return was radiant. Strong, unrestrained joy even though the pain.
”Leon may have to worry, though… Y’know she asked me earlier if I wanted three girlfriends and a daughter?! A hard offer to resist, ya know!”

She laughed, eyebrows moving up and down teasingly.
”But seriously, he’s right. Do what you can, and what you wanna. Pursue the dreams you ain’t got a chance to before! I’ll support you just as much as he does! Freedom means just that, don’t it?”

Not that she knew what she wanted to do, even now. She’d moved to St Portwell, she was spending most of her time with Leon, it was all good but she didn’t really have any goals. Did she get another job? She’d have to eventually, at least until her littlest brother was out of uni and settled. Or to replenish the savings she was using to help him. Then there was this fucking illness… What workplace would accept that?!

She wasn’t able to hide her frustration, but the pained wince that went with it probably made it seem like it was just the physical shit she was dealing with. Hopefully.
”Whatever happens, you’re all stuck with my ass anyway- mobile or not!”

”Yoooo, the Immobile Ass!” Ed threw her fist out, probably knocking Cass’ way too hard. She winced.
”Ooooh, shit… Sorry bro.”

Mia tucked her face into her open hand, embarrassed.

”It means a lot Cass. Believe me, we’ll make it up to you just like you’ll do for us. Cyclical love and effort!” she shook her head and finally smiled at Cass directly.

For the first time in a long time, Leon wasn’t worried. This was nice.
”See? We’ll work it all out, Babe. I can’t wait to see how everything goes. Who knows, maybe you’ll take some fuckin’ magic shrooms and go to sleep, then wake up a few days from now like you blinked. Maybe the time’ll pass, but you won’t remember sittin’ around!” he poked at her verbally, grinning while his thumb gently rubbed against her hand.

Iron and Honey: A Love Story [FernStone & AtomicEmperor]

Later on - Beppo Park, North-West St. Portwell

It wasn’t just Trisha and Ed making their way to Beppo Park in Ed’s suped up coup. Rather, a van had pulled into the parking lot of the Cannery, driven by none other than Norm himself. Though, once everyone was good and ready, Ed promptly took over the duty of driving. Thus, the three rows of the van were filled out as such:

Ed and Norm at the front, both cracking pervy jokes whenever possible. Behind them, Theo, Trisha and surprisingly Cass. While Casey hadn’t been sure she was coming, it turned out she was, and had been surprised that she wasn’t expected by anyone.

There was another row still, and it was inhabited by pickups from an earlier spot. As Ed and Theo generally ran in the same circles, there was plenty of overlapping friends to include in the mix. However, there were “outsiders” to consider. Thus, the guests were specially picked. Friendly faces who weren’t always included in the religious practices of the day.

”Bro, do not tell me you just farted in this stuffy ass-” Ed groaned out from between the rocking rhythm playing through the van speakers.

”Oh God, windows down, people.” Felicia’s crispy voice broke from the back seat behind Trisha.

Tittering came from the front passenger where Norm was sat, especially as Ed and Felicia both found instant revulsion in his bachelor behavior.

”Augh, you fuckhead, Norman…” chided Walt in equally frustrated protest.

Two of the Aberrations that Trisha had met that night, they were the ones who had initially met them in the parking lot upon Trisha’s arrival. There’d been some static, but the two greeted Trisha with warm smiles and plenty of personal space.

”Huff it up, Baby. That gas is preem.” Ginara giggled, the third body filling out the all-the-way back row of the van.

It was Aberration-central at this point, the only proper Adepts being Norm and Cass. Even quiet Theo, face buried in his scarf, was an Aberration… Maybe it’d feel good to be around people in a similar scenario… Especially when they all seemed so care free despite the looming air of danger about the times they lived in.

They all seemed comfortable, at least… Nobody was overdressed; it was all soft warm turtlenecks and scarves under jackets. Cute hats and boots, even toned down aesthetics from the two consummate goths in the rear.

”If you want real ‘preem’ gas I can give it to ya- Ain’t anythin’ like the Green Lux type.” Cass cackled, completely unbothered by the smell- even though her sense of smell was always a little enhanced now. She had grown up with four brother’s after all… You just had to get used to that kind of shit.

She’d dressed up a little bit- at least discarded the normally heavy punk aesthetic in favour of a dark red button down tucked into black jeans. Compared to the others she looked underdressed for the weather- no scarf, thin jacket… But the weather really wasn’t that bad right now. She’d even pulled back the front section of curls into multiple tiny braids, tied off at the back of her head to make it look like she had little ponytails. Matching Trisha, she declared.

“Please don’t.” Trisha groaned. Like Cass, she had more brothers than she could count, but unlike Cass, she had some class. A soft floral scent leaked into the van to overpower any grosser smells.

”God, Trisha, you’re such’a party pooper!” Cass joked, nudging her friend with an elbow.
”So, like, I gotta ask cause I didn’t get the chance to quiz Leon… The fuck is the difference between Thanksgiving and the Harvest Festival? I ain’t American, but far as I’m aware Thanksgiving is just… Turkey and ‘yay America’?”

”Ayyo, Trisha’s got that real gas…” Gin snorted to herself, laughing and finally slapping her knee before trying to answer.
”It’s really pedantic, honestly.”

”There’s a reason to make the separation. Thanksgiving is the traditional national holiday, Cass. The Temple calls it a Harvest Festival to remove itself from traditional Protestant imagery. They don’t want to be linked to Christianity, essentially… Despite, y’know, being a secular Christian denomination.” Theo piped up, waving his hand in front of his nose until he finally had to roll his window down to get air.

”Have I told you how smart you are lately?” Walt asked, throwing his hand forward to rub into Theo’s hair with a snake-bite filled smile. All his piercings seemed to shine extra bright today.

In turn, Theo grabbed Walt’s hand and held it in place.
”You can keep telling me.”

”Get a room, get a room, get a rooooooom~”
”Get a room, get a room, get a rooooooom~”

Gin and Felicia echoed one another as if on queue, causing Ed to laugh aloud from the front.

Cass dramatically clutched her chest.
”Have pity on us poor singles-”
“You’re not single.”

”- have pity on those of us who are painfully separated from our partners! Oh how I miss him! I cannot believe I’m being forced to witness this while I’m tragically alone!” Cass continued dramatically, turning to look out the window with pretend mournfulness. A single tear fell from the corner of her eye.
”I’ve never suffered so much in my life…”

Trisha rolled her eyes at Cass, but didn’t actually say anything to ruin her over the top performance. Though… She did actually miss Casey a little bit. Well, she always missed Casey…

”Oh, God… Please! For anyone but Leon Richoux. Blech!” Felicia groaned, sticking her tongue out.

Walt cleared his throat, rubbing his thumb into Theo’s temple for another moment before pulling it away. He didn’t have anything to say about Leon Richoux. Didn’t want to, especially in the presence of his newest fling. May as well at least let the magic last for more than a few seconds. But, many had no faith in Leon. Not as a friend, nor a leader.

To them, he was a wishy-washy playboy who was more interested in leading a sex cult than he was actually following through with beneficial outreach. Of course, others idolized him, but they were younger still than the group in this car. Or, at least similarly aged but further from the center of power. Separate from it.

”Oh, you’d be surprised my angry little Electron.-” Ed spoke up, hoping to interject on her dear older brother figure’s behalf.
”-Leon’s been giving her the best treatment. Shit’s been pretty cash, honestly, seein’ you guys getting to know one another in real time has been pretty cool…” she explained.

”Oh yeah! It’s been pretty great- Normally I gotta worry about someone keeping up with me, but there ain’t an issue here. And hey, I’m glad you’re enjoying the show, Ed.” Cass grinned at her with a light laugh. Her shoulders pushed up into a shrug, twisting in her seat to look at Felicia.

”I just gotta nudge- well shove- him in the right direction sometimes. But ain’t that how it always is with men?” Cass tilted her head towards Trisha, looking for her agreement.

“No… Leon’s a special type of stupid. The kind of stupid only you can put up with.” Trisha said bluntly, though there was a hint of a smile. Leon had been more tolerable since he and Cass got together… Perhaps it was the extra buffer, or maybe he really was trying.

”Whoa!” Cass dramatically clutched her chest again.
”Now I’m even more heartbroken!”

The van filled with laughter in turn, with the entire group already more than thrilled about Cass’ inclusion.

”You are a funny chick, Dude. No sticky feelings on you, seriously. You’re like teflon!” Felicia nodded, throwing up a quick and gentle devil horns with her fingers in excitement.

”Getting Trisha, then getting Cass, has been the best couple of months I’ve had in a real long time. Better than when we got the Xiaphon generator running, even.” Gin happily admitted, sliding up on the seat and leaning forward to hug Cass.
”Now, every hug I can’t give to Trisha, goes directly to Cass!”

They’d only met a couple of times physically, but the computer was a much easier venue for Gin to make a first impression.

It was subtle, but Ed stuck her hand back through the crack between the console and her seat. Her hand landed on Trisha’s shin, and she playfully pinched Trisha’s shin while she looked back in the mirror. It was a gesture of affection, attention, and inclusion. Ed was always going to be reading a room, and felt that there could be a feeling of overshadowing if Trisha didn’t feel some sort of connection in the moment. So, her eyes met Trisha’s in the rear view mirror, along with a smile and a nod of acknowledgement.

”Leon’s a solid dude… He’ll be a much better man once he’s not beholden to anyone encouraging his bad behaviors. Simple fact is, Lynette spoils him. And we know that shit’s on purpose.” Theo’s whispy voice intoned, quieting the cab almost instantly.

”Wooooa-well, hey… Who knows, huh?” Walt tensed slightly, wondering whether or not the topic at hand was one safe for the company in the van.

He knew that Norm was always going to side with the Aberrations, even if his reasonings weren’t kosher… He was at least some kind of ally. But, one new face blabbing to someone else-

”It’s fine, Hon. You suspect anyone?” Theo asked gently, head turning slightly.

Walt only shrugged, unsure of how to reply.

”And that is why I’ll never understand how secrets work with you people.” Serenity’s voice chided as she faded into view laid across the feet of the people in the back row.

The collective jumpscare caused the van’s rear to hop without prompting.

"Holy fuck!" Cass shouted, jumping in her seat too. One hand came up and slapped the roof.
"It's like a fucking horror movie- not that you're scary, Ren, just the fucking… appearing outta nowhere!"

Trisha didn't react much to the jumpscare. She was used to a voice appearing out of nowhere in her own head, nevermind when she'd dealt with actually deadly jumpscares… But she did smile back at Ed through the rearview mirror. It was a genuine one, if small. She appreciated the gesture. It helped with that little nagging feeling that was always there that everyone was going to want to replace her with someone better. Gin, Ed… but that wasn't going to be the case. Gin was happy about both of them being there, and Ed was already making sure Trisha felt included.

It wasn't so bad when it was Cass. At least it wasn't an active fear as much as just her own constant anxieties. There was always that balance- she didn't like being the centre of attention like that, but she also didn't like completely fading away into the background. At least Cass was normally good at maintaining that balance for her. She didn't mind if Cass took most of the attention and did most of the talking, as long as it came back to her sometimes.

"She's right about the secrets- is it cause of me?" Cass continued bluntly once she's gotten over her jumpscare, twisting in her chair to look at Walt. It wasn't a judgemental gaze at all…
"Cause I'm an adept? Dudddeeeee… I didn't grow up in a magical superiority cult! Or- it ain't cause of Trisha, since she's dating the… Spear? Whatever?"

“The Blade." Trisha corrected with a half laugh. She knew that Cass was more than smart enough to remember… so if she didn't, she quite frankly didn't care to. Trisha assumed it was because of the Temple nonsense rather than Casey.

“Casey would agree if I told him, anyway."

"Yeah, yeah, and I ain't gonna go telling Leon! ‘Specially when I agree… I mean the mummy issues on that guy, seriously! I'd have to be blind to not notice them." Cass said, still pretty blunt. Perhaps it was surprise the majority of people in the car, who hadn't really spent time with her… since the first impression was always her loud energy, and people tended to think she was an airhead.

"I ain't met Lynette yet, but from everything I've heard… It's pretty obvious it's on purpose, ain't it? It's all about control… it's pretty hard to start working with a guy on his shit when he's gotta person telling him all the bad shit’s alright, and has done for years. So it never improves, and he remains under her thumb. Most people ain't got the patience to stick around for that! Course, I see the baby steps towards getting outta it… he's actually pretty good at listening when I tell him some shit ain't right."

Perhaps it was a bit too open… but it wasn't like Cass was sharing any intimate details. Far as she was concerned, their relationship was fairly… open? She wasn't spreading anything he'd told her in confidence. Just her own observations.

"Lemme be clear… I ain't a Lynette or Temple fan. Specially not with what she's been doing to my girl here." Cass hooked an arm around Trisha's shoulders. Trisha grumbled quietly, but didn't actually pull away.

”I think we're all in agreement that a world without Lynette Richoux is a better one.” Felicia admitted with confidence in her voice.

”Yes and no. Nothing fixes all the holes she'd be leaving behind. Five grown kids, still technically our friends? Not sure if we've forgotten that in all this.” Theo did his best to defend the situation, knowing full well that there was one person in the vehicle who just couldn't protect themselves from Lynette's charm…

”Mimi's one thing. Maybe you could make an argument for Casey? But, I'm sorry Cass Babe; your boyfriend's not much better than his dear ol’ Mommy.” Felicia spoke very bluntly. There was an instant tension as people were unaware of how Cass or Trisha would react to someone saying something like that.

Gin cleared her throat with a great discomfort, head turning to look at Felicia with Walt in between them. Noting it, Felicia scowled back in response.

It was Trisha who got tense, rather than Cass. Maybe Casey? The Casey who'd been brought up neglected to the point he threw himself into a war hoping to die, only to come back kindled? The Casey who'd avoided coming home anyway? Who, really, was only deeper into the Temple because of her… Because he was an Adept? Born into that ‘privilege’ even though he barely got any of it. What, did they expect him to just tear down the walls immediately?!

Cass felt Trisha tense, around her shoulders squeezing tighter. She comfortingly rubbed against her upper arm… not that it helped much. Trisha wasn't looking at anyone now, instead scowling down at her legs.

“Fuck off, keep Casey out of this." She whispered, incredibly quietly.

Cass squeezed Trisha a bit tighter, twisting around to look at Felicia evenly. She didn't look upset. Perhaps a little that it had set Trisha off… but her expression was calm.
"How so?"

”Well, we already know the Richoux family tree looks more like a shrub anyway…-” Felicia came off the bat with some serious accusations.

Accusations that weren't entirely unfounded either. Ed kept her mouth shut for the moment, but suddenly Trisha and Cass weren't the only ones with targets.

”And Leon, obviously, is the ultimate Momma's Boy.-”

”Alright Felicia… Real issues are cool, but you're attacking character when you don't need to.” Norm popped in finally, his voice unfamiliar in the din and stopping the speculation in its tracks.

”And if the agreement is already ‘I'm your Mom but I'm you Pimp’, then whoever is involved after that deserves to be scrutinized entirely forever. If not, outright killed.” Raspy both with an empathic insistence.

"What the fuck?" Cass blurted out. Trisha didn't say anything, but she did twist around to stare at Felicia with wide eyes.

”Go on, Ed! You know where the money is! How much alternative media did Zero Gravity Entertainment sell this month? What's the profit margin on illegally filmed magical pornography?” Raspy continued on the attack, clearly uninterested in stopping now.

"And… That's Leon's fault, how?" Cass shot back. She didn't seem… upset or angry necessarily. Not yet, at least.
"When did that start? Lemme guess… When he was eighteen? How does that do anything except prove the whole manipulation shit? You can't be blind to the power dynamics going on there. What, y'think cause Leon's big and strong and horny anyway that it's all on him for going along with it?"

”He’s the only consenting party! Men, women, whoever gets dragged into that fucking velveteen room, get recorded without their consent and the footage gets peddled through hidden websites online. Adepts pay a mint, Lynette gets negatives that she can slap her cat to forever, and Leon gets all the attention he wants. Come on, don’t play dumb like he can’t tell Lynette no! He’s doing it right now by being just as complicit in her death as we are. You don’t see him scrambling the troops to prop up the system, do you?” Felicia snapped.

”What’s your fucking problem today Felicia!?” Norm snapped, spinning back in his seat.

”Fuck off, security Adept. Go find a priest to give head.” Felicia snapped in return.

”Yo, how the fuck did we get here, Gang?” Ed asked with desperation in her voice.

”’Cuz your girl here’s way too good to be climbing around on that slimeball! She deserves to know!” was Felicia’s impassioned answer.

Cass didn't see his ‘consent’ in the same way. Was it fucked up if all those other people didn't know? Absolutely. Did that piss her off? Was it something she'd want to discuss at some point? Of course. Did she think he was able to entirely give consent… No. Sure, he was an adult now. Had been for a long time. But you didn't end up in a fucked up situation where your own mother pimped you out without some kind of fucking grooming going on.

"I mean… You barely know me? For all y'know, I could be a ‘slimeball’ too." She didn't think she was, but nor did she think Leon was in that way.
"It ain't really up to you to decide who I'm too good for. I really ain't someone who takes shit… so if you're really right? That somehow there's absolutely no fucked up dynamics there? Then yeah, that's fucked up shit. But I ain't gonna just take it and… what? Dump him?"

Trisha was very tense now, even though none of this was about her or Casey. She hugged her knees to her chest, doing her best to just… Ignore it. Stay calm, pretend everything was fine. That it didn't feel like shit was suddenly spiralling on a day she already hated and was dreading. Like it wasn't like all those harsh arguments at the dinner table with her family, sexual contents aside.

She didn't like Leon. She really didn't. Quite frankly, she could see Felicia being right… but she did care about Cass. She didn't want her to be hurt, either by Leon or… people trying to sow discord. But then again, Cass was stronger than her in the first place.

Cass tilted her head slightly, eyes narrowing a bit towards Felicia as one hand continued to rub comfortingly against Trisha's upper arm.
"Actually… What d'you want me to do, now that I know?"

Felicia threw up one hand with an attitude.
”Whatever you want, Sis. Can’t say I didn’t warn you when some magical pervert is sliding himself in and out of a clone of you he made after studying the footage for a hundred hours. Voodoo dolls ain’t just movie shit, y’know.”

Gin cleared her throat again, breathing in before speaking.
”You’re a shitbag, Felicia. You’re never happy about anything, you never contextualize anything about life… Everything is either on your side, or it’s actively trying to kill you. Your world is small, your introspective scope is narrow, and honestly I’m tired of appeasing your attitude constantly. I’m always being told I’m rude when I point out the truth, but there it is. You suffer from the same fucking problem every other Aberration in the Temple suffers from… Abandoned Child Syndrome. You’re just another person who was never destined for magic, never Kindled, and rather than being thankful that there was something waiting for you on the other end besides abject mundanity in a world where you know there’s magic, you spit in the face of the people who brought you there to begin with.”

That… Was Gin’s voice, but the diatribe within was hardly anything Trisha had seen of the typically easy-going young woman. Sometimes it was hard to get the scope of Gin’s age; at times she acted like a teen. Others, she had the insight and wisdom of someone who’d lived thousands of years. Whatever was stored in that head of hers, it had to take up a tremendous amount of room for her to act like she did otherwise and still whip out something like that as a retort.

Felicia was gobsmacked… But she wasn’t alone. Walt’s mouth hung wide open like a broken cabinet. Theo was practically kneeling on his seat as he’d spun to look at her.

”I’m not some fucking supremacist… But we were all raised by Supernatural parents in a world where magic really exists... And rather than being happy that there’s a way to participate, and be thankful about it, we just bitch and bitch!” Gin continued, hands gripping together until they were pale white on deep red.

Felicia stared daggers back. There were things she wanted to say, but feared she’d never be able to take them back… And they were friends… Even with what she’d said, they were still friends.

The vehicle was silent now… There was only the quiet contemplation of Gin’s personal mindset.

After Trisha's shock at what Gin said came discomfort, further tension in her already tightly balled frame.

She really didn't want to be there. If the car wasn't moving, she would've opened the door and just gotten out. She didn't agree with what Gin said… but maybe that was because she was an abandoned child too. Just in a different way. She was never destined to be the intelligent scholar her Mom had wanted, so she was abandoned and held onto it. But it wasn’t like she was given a better alternative? There was no half measure. Or was where she ended up the same… Should she just be thankful for what little she got? That she'd even gotten some attention in the first place?

Everything Gin said felt like it was directed at her too.

Her lips pressed together, eyes turned to stare out of the window like she was trying to ignore the conversation all together. She had opinions, but if she opened her mouth she might find herself hated by everyone in the car. It often ended up that way…

"I mean… I don't think that's quite right, Gin." Cass was the first one to speak up.
"I ain't from the same upbringing or anything of course… But that kinda assumes that the magical life is the better one, don't it? That somes better than none? I ain't saying you can't believe that… but like, I get being resentful if you've been thrown aside for something you can't control. But like… Life ain't just about magic. The cult you're in makes it seem like it is, but it ain't."

Cass waved a hand in front of her face.
"Maybe y'think what I say ain't worth shit cause I'm an Adept but… outside of this place? That don't really mean much. I certainly don't think my life was worse before I kindled a couple of years ago."

Her free hand moved from gesturing as she talked to scratching her cheek. Where exactly was she going with this?
"You're right that it really ain't black and white. It ain't us or them- cause you're all human y'know. But it also ain't ‘be grateful for what you got.’ I ain't denying there's a system of oppression here but… You're all kinda bound by the same mentality even if you don't think you are. Magic being superior... But it really ain't."

”From what I know, you’re a good person. I don’t think we are. We’re a bunch of fucked up freaks, and we’re mad that other freaks are using us for fucked up shit. Some of us don’t get used because we naturally aim to please… Because, yeah. To me, a world with magic is better than one without. And I’ve thought about that a lot, because I know that it can be taken from me if they want. So I work hard to keep it. Even if Jekyll is hard to deal with, even if-”

”Gin… Enough, Love. Save it for later.” Walt turned his head to face Gin, a frown turning into a small smile. It was gentle, comforting, like he wanted her to feel just a little better.

”We are all fucking friends here. And we’re working toward the same fucking goal. Even you, Norman, I know. You’ve always been our Ally.” he spoke emphatically.

Felicia scoffed, but Walt smacked her thigh with the back of his hand. She immediately raised her hands in frustration, taking a deep breath.

”I am very sorry for saying hurtful things without thinking first. Cass, Trisha, Norman, Gin… If you know me, you-”

Felicia’s apology was interrupted by Gin, reaching her hand out.

”I meant what I said. I know you did too… Let’s work on it.”

If nothing else, these Temple-raised young adults were well enough adjusted to at least return to a united front… Either they really did all care for one another, or they were fantastic at clamming up on outsiders after a display like that.

”It’s stressful shit. I expect tensions to be high, but… Come on. What’s wrong is wrong.” Norm imparted, a little harshness in his voice.

Felicia nodded, then grabbed at the bridge of her nose.
”It was… This morning, then the car thing, then getting over here. Knowing Leon’s- Whatever… I can’t fucking take that back! I can’t, there’s no memory drug, there’s no fucking spell… Yeah. Life’s pretty shit with or without magic for some of us. Thanksgiving… Yadda yadda. Sorry I brought him into this, I shouldn’t’a, and Casey don’t deserve that either. Ed, I’m sorry for dragging the family-”

”Felicia, I… Love you. You don’t get to just hurl insults then hang your head and bow out. Ren’s nervous now, I can feel everyone’s heart rate, we’re fucking five minutes away from Beppo… Cass, Trisha, I’ll let you guys go; it’s only fair… But we really all need to chill out and get some fake ass smiles on before we get out of this van.” Ed interrupted, just wanting the moment to end without any more strain on anyone…

Oh right, because Cass and Trisha didn't need time to chill out either… then again, Trisha wasn't going to be able to chill out around other people like this. It had to be alone or Casey. So now she was faced with going out to deal with an event she'd not particularly wanted to attend, and people she either hardly knew or actively disliked. Sure, Cass would be there… but it didn't make her feel much better about it. She wished she was at home. That she'd told Casey that she really couldn't handle it and would rather be alone. It was just proving that all of her anxieties about fucking thanksgiving had been right!

Because they weren't even there yet, and she already felt one step away from a panic attack. It didn't even matter that most of it hadn’t been targeted at her… She always caught the strays.

“So long as no one ruins the actual event." Trisha muttered.

Cass didn't say anything in response to Trisha's muttering, though she did sling her arms around her again. In between smothering Trisha in the hope it would mean everyone would ignore her comment, Cass smiled at everyone else.

"You're right, Ed. We all gotta take a chill pill… put shit to rest for now. But-" she turned her head towards Felicity.
"There ain't any hard feelings here! I'm always gonna call out bad behaviour, y'know, whoever it comes from… but I aint gonna be holding onto anything after this. I get it. So let's put it behind us for now, yeah?"

She unwrapped one arm from around Trisha to stick a hand out towards Felicity.

Felicity pointed and nodded, then stuck her hand out to shake Cass’.
”Maybe I don’t know you, but that behavior is exactly the vibe you give off… So, thanks. I’m glad something like that ain’t gonna scare you away. It’s behind us, and I really do wish you the best of luck. I grew up with them too, y’know. Those feelings get complex.”

”But you can’t-”
”Baaaaa-Ba-ba! Baaaaaaad Eddy. Dooooown Eddy.”

Ed’s failed pounce reflected off Norm’s deepest desire to end this without further brainshed.

”Thank you Nooooorm…” Felicity grumbled.

As the Van was pulling into the parking lot at Beppo, it seemed there were a lot of people waiting around. Probably for the event space to actually be opened. Since they were all considered Priority on their ticket stubs, the entire group would be able to get past initial security without issues. A couple were there to help, but when the van stopped, Ed didn’t move to turn it off. Didn’t move at all, really.

Instead, she was gripping the wheel, taking massive deep breaths.
”Everyone innnnnn- Everyone ooooooout.” she breathed and spoke aloud.

Trisha wasn't too happy to see the amount of people already there. It meant the moment she got out of this van she had to… switch on. Put the mask on completely and suppress any feelings. The fact she couldn't entirely do it around the group here was already… scary to her. When had she gotten so bad at hiding things?

Her lips pressed together, head turning away from the window towards Ed with a confused look. What… What was she doing? Trying to confuse them all about whether they should go out or stay in?

"C'mon dude, if anyone should be following that it's you," Cass nudged Trisha, diverting her confused look from Ed to Cass.
"Oh my god- Babe, breathing exercises! Breath innn, breath ouuuuttt. I know you know how to do it."

“I don't normally need to." Trisha muttered out a lie, head turning away from looking at anyone again. But she did slowly try to even out her breathing again… deeper breaths to shove down the panic she knew was going to be below the surface all day.

It became apparent that the whole van was suddenly breathing in unison. Big, deep breaths in and slow, measure breaths out. After a few reps, Ed slowly turned the key to cut the car’s power. Then there was nothing but breathing… Then silence…

Ed held it just long enough to pull her smile back out of where she dropped it.
”’Kay… This is gonna be fine. Let’s do this Gang.”

The Van group very quickly dispersed, with the entire back row cleared out for duties. Norm and Theo were both part of security. Thus had jobs of their own to get to… Once again, it was Ed, Trisha and Cass, along with a non-visible Serenity to avoid spooking any of the Third-Eyes hanging around. It was actually a quick walk from the staff spaces to the venue itself, with the two massive wooden platforms both tucked neatly into the slight hills of Beppo Park.

On their massive sprawl, twenty-five hundred people could sit and dine at once beneath the same canopies. Beneath the dirt, the gargantuan crustaceans responsible for functioning as the locomotion system of these enormous “automated” platforms sucked up pooling water that seeped in around them from the low water table. Within their bodies, that water superheated, and redirected through blowholes to which pipes were connected. These radiator pipes, tucked under layers of safe materials, were capable of heating the entire area to a balmy temperature.

Andrade’s staff could be clearly seen as they worked to bring together the massive buffet style self-serving area that actually wound up being six separate operations. It was a nightmare logistically, and the only person among the trio who could’ve render a guess at the cost with accuracy was Ed…

And only because she’d seen some of the raw figures. Pointing at the setup as they passed through the rope and into the fairgrounds, Ed swung her hand forward.

”It’s not usually this big, but… Well, all in for Casey and Trisha. Budgeting department nearly flipped their lid, but we snagged all the extra we could. Lynette allowed a lot of it to get pushed through: I uh… I think she’s saying goodbye to all her extended contacts, if I had to guess. One last event.” she offered the morbid idea up easily.

Trisha let out a quiet laugh. While it probably shouldn’t be funny… She knew that Ed was exactly on the mark. After all, it had been one of the things Lynette had mentioned while going on a self-sympathy tirade after trying to further ruin shit for Trisha. About leaving her last Harvest to her son… Like it was her big goodbye.

“She basically said as much when we were planning.” She shrugged.
“I wish it wasn’t so big. That definitely wasn’t our want.”

She was having a very rich girl reaction to the sheer scale of things- in that she wasn’t reacting very much at all. Of course events of this scale weren’t common, but she’d been to a few. Things her dad had hosted, and later massive Galas put on by Tansy…

Cass, on the other hand, was freaking the fuck out. She stared at everything, mouth basically open from the moment they’d stepped into the venue.
”Man, if I got this kinda party as a send off I’d die so fucking happy!”

”Oh, you’ll almost certainly meet her tonight, Cass. Drunk, no doubt. My Auntie Lynn ain’t exactly one for avoiding indulgences where she can get them. An entire place full of people doing what she says? I guess you roll the dice on if she’s Cunty, or Boss Bitch.” Ed shook her head laughing.

As they got closer to the platforms, it became very clear that things were already well underway as far as some celebrations went. Staff members raising mugs of beer in toast, with Andrade standing tall on one of the bench tables.

”-And that’s the question you should all be asking! It’s the same damn question every time! Would I complain if I got served this? I implicitly trust you all to make the right call… So, team leads, stand by your teams. Teams, stand by your team leaders. We’re serving until the last song cuts, so… Long night. Ready? By Charm, and by Grace!”

He raised his stein, and glasses clinked all around before the massive huddle took a collective chug. Then the huge huddle broke, leaving Andrade talking to a few specific people. Others were dealing with placings, different ornaments on the tables, leaving gift bags at certain seats…

But as Andrade saw them approaching, he pointed at Trisha and started clapping.
”You! You absolute legend, hola! Mi amore, how are you ladies? Ed, Trisha… Ehhhh… Cass? If I don’t remember, you’ll have to forgive me, I was so Goddamn busy that entire night! Helloooooo!”

Andrade was always friendly, but he never seemed terribly peppy around Trisha… Except for when food was involved… Which was clear, as in one of his hands was a jar of Trisha’s honey… He hopped down from the table, wrapping an arm around each lady in turn.

”Why you so early, eh? Bored at home?” he asked playfully, very clearly holding up the honey jar with great excitement.

Trisha’s confusion at Andrade’s clapping and otherwise incredible enthusiasm was cleared up a bit by the sight of her honey. But… wasn’t it just the normal honey?

“Hello, Andrade… something like. Doesn’t it make sense one of the hosts would be early, anyway? And Casey’s caught up in the ceremony…” She shrugged one shoulder, smiling at him. She wasn’t much more relaxed than she had been in the van, but at least that calm mask had fallen back in place enough for her to be friendly.

”I just followed ‘em! Cass is right… Ooo, is this the famous honey?!” Cass hopped in closer, bending forward slightly to stare right at the jar.

“You’ve… seen it before.” Trisha pointed out with a quiet laugh.
“We literally lived together. We had jars in the kitchen. You ate it all the time.”

”But it wasn’t famous then, was it? I bet it's gotten even better- I mean he just called you an absolute legend! This must be some special shit!” Cass looked up at Andrade expectantly, while Trisha looked away with an awkward blush.

Andrade was immediately caught up in explaining the honey.
”Oh, Trisha, you’re always so humble about it! So coy too, Dios Mio… Cass, do me a favor and stick your tongue out.”

As she did so, Andrade popped the lid and produced a wooden spoon to scoop a glob of honey into Cass’ mouth.

”Trisha’s been kind enough to keep a vague record of her moods in order to correlate the differences in the honey. Because the bees are so keyed into her, we’ve started to find that they actually produce certain enzymes as they harvest and store nectar. And these enzymes impart some pretty unique flavors. For instance:-”

As Cass was eating the honey, her newly enhanced senses would be able to pick out certain distinct flavors of other things that one may not normally find in honey.
”Cinnamon flavoring? That vague mouth-burn? Actually comes from days Trisha marked as good ones. So, either they were particularly good, which gives it some spice, or just the average baseline that they make is just like this. Sad days have a more fruity, berry-like taste. Frustration leans deeper into a nutty flavor-”

He’d already produced a second jar from his pocket, popping the lid and having a new scoop ready for Cass.

”Go ahead with this one, see if you can guess the flavoring. Trisha, don’t tell her!” he said, clearly noting the batch label on the lid…

Trisha couldn’t tell Cass, because she didn’t know. She wasn’t the one keeping the record… It was Casey. The two of them had already argued about it after Andrade mentioned the tracking in one of their catchup meetings. It wasn’t something Trisha was happy about, then or now. But she’d ended up ‘allowing’ him to keep doing it, so long as she didn’t have to hear about it.

So hearing about it again… Didn’t exactly make her happy. She hated that her moods were being recorded like that, even if it was vague. She’d hardly gotten to the point where she was happy with Casey knowing her moods, especially when they were bad!

”Ooo.” Cass had been quick to take the second glob of honey, holding it in her mouth and letting the flavour sink into her enhanced taste buds. It was fucking good… Heavier than the first one.

”Is this from a day when you had to game with Sal?! Cause it sure tastes like it!”

“It doesn’t get that specific…” Trisha side eyed Cass.

”Well it’s pretty… Nutty, heh. Clearly you were some kinda frustrated for this one. Am I right? I better be, or this Green lux shit really ain’t worth it!”

”Eventually, we’ll be able to place the entire emotional spectrum out in honey form. My only worry after that is whether or not we’ll be able to identify the enzymes and reproduce the effect in other bees. That way we don’t need to bother Trisha for anything besides the artisan casks. The fake stuff hits mass production then grocer shelves, and the choice stuff winds up going to stuff like this!” he pointed over to one of the prizes of the night’s raffle.

Protected by what was probably an upside-down fish tank, a large stack of Trisha’s jars sat in a harvest themed cornucopia.

”It’s going to kill. We’ve been handing out samples in the crowd, getting reviews. The raffle for it is definitely going to sell out. At a twenty-spot a ticket, we sell out at five hundred. That’s ten grand for… What? How many pounds, Trisha?” he asked her gently, trying to steer back to the product itself rather than how she affected it.

“About… thirty-two pounds. The bees have been working really hard… They produce all that, and more since I was still supplying you- in a couple of weeks.” While Trisha wasn’t comfortable with praise towards herself- feeling she didn’t really deserve it- it was different when it came to the bees. She had a soft, proud smile as she talked about them. Though there were none on her today to respond like they usually would to the gentle pheromones wafting in the air.

”Holy fuck! Trisha, you’re gonna be rich!” Cass exclaimed, shocked by both the price and sheer quantity of honey.
”Fuccckkkk… You ain’t gonna be charging me for those two spoonfuls I had, are you?! Cause I really can’t afford that right now!”

Trisha shook her head with a light laugh. She relaxed again now the conversation was back to something she was more comfortable with.
“No. I’m pretty sure that counts as a sample… And if I was charging people close to me, Casey would owe me a lot.”

”Dawww, it’s so cute he likes your honey too.” Cass grinned, squishing her own cheeks and shooting Trisha and adorable look.
”Seriously, thought, thirty two pounds? Your girls have really been working their little bee butts off, haven’t they!”

“They have.” Trisha smiled, looking from Cass back to Andrade.
“You really think it’ll sell out?”

”Everyone attending is going to eat their fill of it as it is, but our math guy was telling me that something like eight-six percent asked so far said they’d pay in. So far, we’ve surveyed something like eight hundred people. There’s only five hundred tickets, so… If we sell out, that’s roughly like… Three-hundred and fifteen dollars a pound? Each jar is an eight ounce? So, that’s… A… Hundred-fifty eight dollars a jar? Pretty good asking people for twenty bucks a pop, and the person who wins gets quite the product.”

Andrade bit his lip, leaning into the three of them with a huge smile on his face.

”I’m telling you Trisha: Twenty a jar. We’re on the West Coast, it’s marketable, it's absolutely organic… It hits every single talking point we could ask for in the current market climate. People are fucking screaming for natural wholesome sweeteners. And getting crazy flavors into the honey? It only elevates our brand. It’s gonna be magical.” he raised his eyebrows a few times.

When it was put in pure number terms, there wasn’t really any way for Trisha to deny it. If they really sold that much- which it seemed like they could- her honey would be worth a lot. Even if they didn’t sell the full amount, the dollar value to pound of honey was far higher than what she’d get for normally selling a jar.

It was hard for her to contextualise, though, when she was someone who’d never worried about money. Cass’ reaction helped…

”Magical, heh, it sure is that- and twenty would be an absolute steal!” Cass nodded in agreement. Though she had no idea about the market shit, she did have a few friends who were into the whole natural food fad… And hey, she’d pay twenty for a jar of that honey, and she wasn’t exactly the richest person around! Really, she could be quite tight fisted when it came to food… That scarcity worry and all.

”That shits sooo good, I could just sit and eat a jar. Maybe a couple. Especially that second one… Fuck, I’d buy it right now!”

Trisha held up a hand, waving it and getting a bit embarrassed again.
“Okay, alright, we can try twenty a jar if you really think it’ll work. If even Cass would pay that much… But I don’t really think now’s the time to decide something like that?”

”Aw, you’re just getting embarrassed cause’ve all the praise.” Cass cackled, slinging an arm around Trisha’s shoulders.

“I just think it’s the kind of thing you talk about at a business meeting, not a festival…” Trisha mumbled, even though Cass was completely right.

The stocky hispanic man gave the trio a knowing smile and a slight bow.
”Well, how about we talk when the five-hundredth ticket sells? At that point, I’m sure all you’ll have to say is I do, right?”

He was still smiling when he stuck his hand out, shaking Trisha’s almost by force.

”Ed, Trisha, Cass! I’ll see you all again throughout the night. Adieu!”

Shaking the other two, he practically scuttled off like a Honey demon toward the next poor soul he could torture with a lecture about enzymes.

Ed could only laugh, having gotten not a single word in edgewise.
”Christ, don’t tell me all the working Adepts are on Glass tonight…”

Ed shook her head at the stench of hypocrisy in the air.
”Girls… Do you think you mind just chilling somewhere for a few? I need to get to the bottom of something real quick…”

”Oh of course, no worries!” Cass was quick to answer. While she didn’t know what Glass was, she could guess.
”How bout we go find somewhere to sit for a while, Trish?”

Trisha looked at Ed for a moment, before nodding.
“Don’t get caught up in anything… Too stressful.”

Ed laughed aloud.
”Oh, come on… You’re not curious why the guy trained to kill Apparitions with his bare hands is jazzed up on magical coke? I wanna see who else is ready for action around here… Something may be up.”

But before Trisha had the chance to say much else, Ed was gone into the steamy warmth of the crab tents. The shape wasn’t so obvious as they were locked claw to claw, but a helicopter or drone from above would easily discern the shape of them in the hills before the rocky coast. People loved it. Called it festive... Nothing to say of their murderous tendencies…

Trisha looked towards where Ed had disappeared with a frown. She was curious… But what Ed said also made her nervous. Why would they be ready for action? Did they expect something to happen tonight?

She really hoped it didn’t. Not when they were the ones hosting…

”C’mon, let’s find somewhere quiet to sit.”

Cass grabbed Trisha and dragged her towards one of the bench tables. Since the venue wasn’t properly open yet, it meant that finding somewhere quiet wasn’t actually that difficult. Cass sat down first, tugging Trisha to sit right next to her.

”Here, we can chill! Loosen up those shoulders! Nothing’s gonna go wrong!”

“If we’re chilling, can you keep quiet?” Trisha intoned, without any bite to it. She already felt exhausted and the event hadn't even started. After this she'd have to handle both her family and Casey's. At least he'd be there with her… And that moment should help improve her mood. Make it easier to get through everything.

She missed him.

”Ehh… No, sorry!” Cass laughed, before spreading out her arms.
”But you can come getta nice, comforting hug from your best friend!”

Trisha’s lips twitched up. She pushed Cass’ arms down, before tilting her body towards her friend to just lean against her shoulder.
“I’ll pass.”

She just wanted to exist for a moment. While it was just them, before she had to put the mask back on. Thankfully, contrary to what she said, Cass just let Trisha silently lean against her.

So long as Trisha existed in the space of the Temple of Charming and Graceful Individuals, there would be no real peace. Not but a few moments after the two began to grow comfortable in the relative silence, there was raucous interruption. Laughter, in the form of a human circle. A sewing circle of such sinister sensibilities that serenity gave way to stress…

However, the approach wasn’t as such. One voice was close. Terribly so… However, its familiarity was dubious at best. More familiar voices came from further behind, yet this one was the one reaching out?

”Trisha? I won’t keep you long, just needed to ask something Ed didn’t know when she texted me.” Mazie’s energetic voice buzzed through the air like the echo of a hundred bees.

A brief wince was hidden against Cass' shoulder before Trisha slowly pulled away from her. She straightened her body, turning to face Mazie with a polite smile forming on her face. Of course, this group of insane shippers had already seen her literally shouting in Leon's face… but that didn't mean she wasn't going to try maintain the mask again. She was annoyed by the energetic eruption that shattered her brief moment of quiet, but not surprised. There was never any peace around here- not when there were people around. Only in the little bubble that was her home, and the safety that was Casey's arms.

But she'd spent years without any safety or much peace at all. It was easy to make sure the annoyance was completely hidden.
“Sure, what do you need to know?"

Of course, Cass wasn't one to stay completely silent. She’d managed to to give Trisha the incredibly short break, but now that it was interrupted? Well, she couldn't be rude…
"Hey! You must be Mazie? I'm Cass! Nice to meetcha!"

Mazie was willing to match Cass’ energy.
”And honestly, I’d love to hear about it! Hi! Ohmigod, like, everyone’s been asking who the mystery girl is. Leon is so protective over you, so I’m real happy to see you around!”

Rather than answering Trisha’s question to her own, Mazie was overly excited just to be the first of the Sisterhood to get the scoop on this Cass girl…
”Not sure if you heard, but we’re big Leon fans. So, obviously now we’re your fans by proxy. Is it true you’re a British Boxer who he had to fight to date him?” she asked with a great deal of excitement.

Taking the opening, the circle seemed to be inching closer and closer as if to hone in on this outsider…

”Wait, wait, hold that thought! Trisha! Ohmigod, I’m so sorry, I’m such a fucking scatterbrain. I need to know where I’m bringing you, and how I’m supposed to know when to do it. Because, uh… Well, I can do it no problems, I just need to know when. It’s making me a lil nervous not knowing what I’m looking for.” she explained.

At the same time that she turned, she was already losing impetus on her question as another body wound up arriving in time to pick up the slack. Two, actually.

”So sorry, terrible at overhearing things! Cass!? I’m Irina Estevez!”
The slightly delicate voice matched an equally delicate looking girl. She was tiny, frail, like a piece of pottery. Her slender, olive colored hand reached out to shake.

Beside her, a nearly pure white woman of equal dainty build and structure. She was dressed in a short dress with a long denim coat over it. Of course, introductions weren’t needed in this regard. Leon had certain obligations he couldn’t escape even in his position. One was the shadowing of Layla Hyacinthus, and the more recent necessity of her to be in their life. She wasn’t a partner, no… It was a little sister role. Most of the time, she spent with the Polycule on the other side of the apartment. But any time she was going out, Leon needed to be on hand.

Giving a little nod, Layla let her fingers pull together into a set of devil horns at her side. Reactionary, from spending time with her new Sisters in the Dolly Apartment complex.
”Hi Cass.” she spoke with the usual timid voice.

Cass could easily see the chain of Alizee wrapped around the woman’s bicep, the imprint of it stuffed beneath her jacket sleeve.

”Heyyyy Layla! Irina, nice to meetcha too.” Cass reactively hopped up, moving round to stand behind Trisha as she shook Irina’s hand. It always stopped Trisha from being more surrounded… At least, Cass was flanking her now.

“Hello Layla, Irina…” Trisha said pointedly, not standing but instead just tilting her head up towards the three that had fully invaded their peace. She was a bit put out by not being greeted at all by Layla. Did she want any of this attention right now? Not particularly, so the conversation once again focusing on Cass was fine…

But she was still right there.

”But fuck, y’know about the fight? Huh, hard to keep quiet I guess… I’ll tell you guys all about it after Trish ‘n you sort out what you gotta.” Cass continued with a grin, one arm slinging around Trisha’s shoulder.

Of course there’d been no fight for Leon to date her… Unless you counted in the bedroom, heh. But why not make up a grand story about it?! Keep the attention on something exciting and not real.

“Uh, right…” Trisha smiled slightly, looking back at Mazie. The answer of two where was easy, the when was harder. She knew the overall schedule but, again, not when Casey wanted to propose, or when he’d be fine with leaving. It could vary so… A signal? But what would even work…

“It’d be to the Cannery Building- just the parking lot would be easiest. As for when…” Trisha tilted her head, one hand moving from her lap and holding out to Mazie.
“I can send a bee to let you know, if you don’t mind me ‘marking’ you temporarily.”

”Oh, no date? No drinks?” Mazie responded, her tongue poking playfully out of her mouth.
”No sweat. Whatever works, as long as I’m informed. Are you… Putting like a little light on it? Or will I just be accosted by a random bee in the middle of the night?”

“On the bee? Uh… Probably not, I don’t have any little lights. I can instruct her to land somewhere specific on you, if that works? Otherwise… Yes, a bee will just appear…” The more she talked about it, the more it didn’t seem like the right idea. But what else did she have? She wasn’t making up some hand signal she could use… Then Mazie would have to watch her for the whole night too.

It would be fine… Hiding her doubts, Trisha shifted forward on her chair to be a little closer to Mazie. She reached out, somewhat uncomfortably, for Mazie’s hand. A gentle floral scent lifted off her skin into the area. It was a bit awkward for her to purposefully channel the pheromones towards Mazie, crossing the bridge where their hands touched. Normally she didn’t do it on purpose… So it took some concentration to choose a specific pheromonal scent, leaving a mark that only the bees would smell.

“There. The bee won’t see you as a threat because of it, unless you try to squash her.”

Mazie nodded with a grin, tapping the tip of her nose.
”Aim for the face, I guess… I don’t drink, so you don’t need to worry about me missing some fuzzy lumpkin smash into my head. Uh… I think that’s all though?”

Her head turned to the other two, nodding. In turn, they both gave an apologetic look.
”You were talking… We just didn’t want to interrupt. Hi Trisha!”

There was a gentle abutment against Trisha’s Emotional Field. Familiar, yet distant. The gentle prodding of someone who had been somewhat closer… Alizee’s face shimmered in the space between Trisha and Layla. The entire group of Apparitions, in fact, were ones whose lives were spent mostly free to express themselves. Boudica, The Playful Thing, now Alizee Vul. Their faintest images coalesced in the space about them. Her voice was faint, but present.

”I carry a chain of ours now… Thanks to… Someone whom you wouldn’t approve of having given it to us. But I do remember what you did.” the chained whyte stared without a mask, a single red hot line dragged through her face where a tear could’ve been.

”Thank you. For everything in those days.”

Trisha was never comfortable with things touching her Emotional Field or mind like that. She’d grown a bit more used to it with Casey, but she still wasn’t entirely comfortable with it. Nevermind other people… Ghosts. A ghost who had threatened to separate her bones from her body at least twice the last time they met.

She seemed to have calmed down a bit. Time around others in the Temple, maybe. She couldn’t figure out who Alizee meant by ‘someone you wouldn’t approve of.’ Leon? Lynette?

Did it matter? The chain was there whether Trisha wanted it to be or not…

“I didn’t do much.” Her first reaction was always to downplay her involvement… Years of reflecting on her participation in the war against the Stygian Snake and believing it wasn’t as much as some other. A feeling that conflicted with her irritation whenever Leon was called a hero- because weren’t they all? There was also the denial over its lasting effects on her… Her trauma really wasn’t that bad, was it?

She certainly didn’t remember doing much for Alizee.

“But you’re welcome, I guess. We all did our best to keep each other alive.” It was a neutral enough response, said with a seemingly calm smile.
“I’m glad you’re both doing… Well.”

”We’ve been spending time at the Cannery with Mister- Uh… With Leon. And Cass! Not a lot, mostly I hang out in the spare bedroom in Mimi’s apartment. With the Cats.”

Which was probably a good indicator of why those bastards hadn’t been groping upstairs lately. Plenty to eat down there.

”It’s best he and Cass get some spare time. Especially with Aunty Lynn having him closer to me lately. I… Was having a hard time adjusting. But, I’m not now! And I’m happy to be here. And with the girls.”

She turned her head to look at Irina, who smiled in turn. With nothing to dispute, she simply nodded.
”And it’s been great! We were in the city earlier today as her assigned detail. Lynette’s worried about remnants of the House of Cards… Which, thank you Cass! That was an incredibly Aberration-weighted situation. So, to any Adept willing to help ease our burdens in these trying times, I can only be thankful.” Irina nodded, facing Cass with admiration in her eyes.

”Oh it ain’t something I need thanked for. I mean… I ain’t a Temple Adept, y’know? If I can help, I help, I ain’t any better just cause I gotta magical lineage.” Cass waved Irina’s admiration away with an easy smile. She was trying not to outright just say she wasn’t prejudiced like so many Adepts were… Because it wasn’t all of them. And she knew there was the risk that’d set Trisha, with her Adeptal boyfriend, off.

Honestly, Cass couldn’t even begin to fathom where the whole superiority thing came from in the first place…

“You… helped with getting rid of the House of Cards?” Trisha’s eyes slowly moved to staring up at Cass. She hadn’t heard about this. She didn’t know much about the group, but she knew enough to know they were dangerous. And hadn’t Leon and Casey promised they’d try keep Cass out of Temple business?

”It was more’ve a Sycamore rescue mission. A couple of em were kidnapped by those rich people and thrown in this massive warehouse. Leon gotta call to rescue ‘em, so of course I tagged along!” Cass explained it easily, not sensing the brewing danger towards both of their boyfriends.

After all, it’d been her choice to go along- and hardly Temple business in her mind.

“Rescuing who?” Like the answer would make her any less upset about it… Not that it would be visible to anyone. She was doing well at maintaining that calm mask. There was no Casey around to easily break it.

”Who was it… Uh… Oh! Greyson, Linqian and Henri. Oh, I think he’s her lil brother.”

Greyson? Great. Definitely someone who deserved even a moment of Cass’ time… Nevermind her putting herself in danger! Trisha did her best to push that irritation back down into the boiling pool of issues in her mind. For another time. Not tonight. She didn’t want to ruin tonight…

“Oh, you met Greyson and Linqian? What did you think?”

”Oh he’s an asshole! She ain’t so bad… Oh shit-” Cass paused, wide eyes turning to look at Layla and the two members of the Sycamore fanclub.
”I ain’t gonna get thrown out for calling a Sycamore guy an asshole, am I? I know you’re fans of more than just Leon…”

Irina laughed.
”Oh, not around us you won’t. Greyson’s an acquired taste anyway!” she said with her glance turning hard to her right.

Mazie bit her lip, and was about to speak when Irina’s hand snapped up and clasped her mouth closed.
”Nobody was curious… Before you get crazy.” her voice growled slightly. The thin frame didn’t match the assertive willpower leaking from Irina.

Mazie shook her head, throwing her hands up. Irina pulled her hand away, still staring at her.
”Like, I was just going to agree! My gosh, we’re touchy.”

Trisha tilted her head, but didn’t say anything. She’d rather interact as little as possible so that they could be left alone again… Though, this was a Temple event. They left and others would join.

But of course, Cass couldn’t just stand by and watch shit she had a problem with.
”Hey, let’s not go silencing anyone! If whatever you say ends up crazy shit? We’ll say… but it ain’t nice to shut someone down like that, dude.”

Irina’s eyes widened, brows raised, and for a second she took in a gread whiff of air before trading a glance with Mazie. Mazie smiled back widely, nodding.
”Wasn’t expecting that! You like that toward everyone? Want, like, a job? Or ten?” she asked with deep surprise in her voice.

”Course I am, y’think I discriminate? Or like, only towards people that look like a breeze could blow ‘em over? Nah… I’ve given Leon shit before too, and nothing’s blowing him over…” Cass almost lost the point, before retracing back to the second.
”What kinda job? I ain’t so sure about ten- I ain’t dealing with the sad dog I’d end up with in that situation!”

Of course, she was assuming there wasn’t a real job. Nor was she seriously considering it.

At least Trisha hoped it was the latter. The Silent Sisterhood were… People Trisha was uncomfortable with. The thought of Cass spending more time with them made her even more uncomfortable. Because… Of Cass’ safety, right. Not the worry she’d lose one of her few friends, or that painful spike of jealousy she hated feeling.

“Cass doesn’t tolerate shit from anyone.” Trisha confirmed smoothly, smiling up towards her friend as if there was no discomfort at all.

”We’ve got charities that could use people, there’s sports leagues with other friendly covens with pots we can win. There’s a bunch of niches we’re trying to fill, and we’re doing our best to find Adepts that we can trust to help bridge gaps between our communities as well!” Mazie was instant in rattling off all sorts of ideas.

”And we have funding enough to hire odd jobs here and there. We’ve been looking for freelance artists to make commissions, and we’ve been trying to work with computer technology oriented people for, uh… Like, cheap hosting? And then actually setting up a website. Ginara runs our blog forum, and a lot of our personal writing as a community gets stored there. But, we’re looking to, well-”

”-We want the Sisterhood to become a Publishing House! Produce our own original stories, and use the profits to live and to contribute to pro-Aberration causes in the Supernatural world!” Layla said with a strong, confident voice for once. Clearly they’d been discussing things more on their end…

”Oh, well, I do code here and there. I ain’t sure about making something for a publishing house like… Well, the coding bit’s easy. Setting up a website’s gotta bunch of design shit if you wanna actually market it. I ain’t so good at that part.” Cass nodded as she considered it.
”But I certainly ain’t the person to be bridging any gaps… Magic’s still pretty new for me, I ain’t sure I got any sway with either community! But coding… That shit I can do, easy.”

Trisha’s brow furrowed a little. Trying not to get upset that Cass was considering it… Because of course she was when coding a whole website was being dangled in front of her. But there was the whole ‘bridging the gap’ and ‘pro-Aberration causes’ thing too.

There were probably more covens or cults like the Temple out there. Ones that discriminated. There were Aberrations with problems caused by the Apparitions too. But from her perspective, the former wasn’t a widespread problem. She’d never experience discrimination from any of the Adepts she’d met. Sycamore had been a shit thrown together coven, but they’d never discriminated like that.

“Most normal magical communities don’t need bridging like that, because the gaps don’t exist in the first place. And what kind of pro-Aberration causes do you mean? I didn’t know there were Aberration specific… charity groups?”

”If our community leaders perceive an action as beneficial to our community and our way of life, it’s a pro-Aberration cause.” Irina nodded with confidence.

”Anything that allows us more freedoms and choice! As it stands, our commune here in St. Portwell consists of a small apartment complex housing almost three hundred tenants. And that doesn’t include their families if they have them.” Mazie explained, head tilting slightly.
”And those tenants are all, generally speaking, bound by the same oaths and word to the Temple! Meaning that their families lives could be in jeopardy if that person doesn’t fulfill their end of whatever hairbrained oath they end up taking.”

”It’s a social contract veiling a very real potential threat to people’s lives and the wellbeing of at least a thousand innocent people. An oath is only a bunch of words until someone’s willing to back the supposed consequences up. And we know that things get followed through with in our neck of the woods… So we can only fight to end that system, and present a unified group consistently willing to speak against injustice.” Irina’s voice was so confident that one could almost imagine it was… Practiced…

Trisha’s lips twitched, threatening to move from fake, polite smile to frown. Of course she was against everything that was happening there… It was part of what had set her off during the meeting she went to. But then she and Casey had fought, and… It wasn’t like Adepts weren’t held to their insane oaths either. It was Adepts that Casey had killed that same night…

And the system was going to end soon anyway.

“The system is unlikely to last long enough for your future publishing house’s funds to be of use.” Trisha couldn’t hold back the blunt honesty. She wasn’t too worried about mentioning it either… It seemed like everyone knew. Even Lynette. So what was there to fear?

Because the way they talked just seemed too… Not fake. Almost like they were reading from a script rather than making their own points.
“Everyone deserves the same freedom. The oaths you took are bullshit… But it’s not really different pro-Aberration causes if it’s just going back to yourselves?”

”Hey, that doesn’t really matter, does it?” Cass piped up, trying to make sure things didn’t get more combative. She was used to dealing with Trisha when she wasn’t in a great mood… All her little conflicting issues and triggers.

”We all want the same thing, right? Freedom and equality and all that… Change for good is all good, whatever you call the cause. I’ve already spoken up about that shit… Ain’t really something I understand either. But I ain’t really from a magical background in the same way you guys are… It’s all just cool magic to me! Like… Trisha and her bees don’t seem any more or less magic than my shit.” Cass hooked an arm around Trisha, pulling her into a half hug.

”Hey, I ain’t sure what you’re community leaders are wanting, but me and Trish are supporting in our own ways. Ain’t we?”

Trisha averted her gaze. She wasn’t like Cass. She wasn’t some good, selfless person. She didn’t like the oppression because of the fear it’d hurt her. The suppressant needles because they might take away her bees… and the Temple because it restricted her and Casey’s freedom. She saw the injustices, but she wasn’t running to fix them. Not if they didn’t affect her. But Cass would…

“Yeah, I’m doing what Ed asked me to at the meeting. Giving my support.”

”Those oaths aren’t bullshit…” Layla muttered, seemingly retracting from the conversation despite her previous enthusiasm…

Apparently, Trisha’s comment was enough to turn the three of them off, because there seemed to be a collective clamming from both Layla and Irina. Mazie knew she had a job to do later, for a fellow Adjoined, so her only response was silence.

”I mean, sure… You’re both doing what you can. Once that bandage gets ripped off, s’not like we’re welded together, right? Help now becomes wasted effort later. Some of us uh… Show up at things and bring negative energy. Others actually jump into action, preventing others from being endangered in turn. Sometimes those concepts coexist.”

Layla looked at Irina, who returned the exchange.

”Well, it’s nice talking. Sorry to bother again. C’mon girls.”

Layla didn’t say bye. Mazie stuffed both of her hands in her pockets, looked at the back of Irina’s head, then turned to smile at Cass and Trisha.
”So, Bee in my face? Like, can do. For sure. Just make sure you’re not carryin’ anything big. No boxes, no trophies, no big stacks of anything. If you can’t lay it parallel to your silhouette, it’ll get lopped off in transit. Playful Thing needs toys occasionally.”

She winked, then proceeded to follow her Silent Sisterhood as they made way for their own spot to sit far away.

The smile fell from Trisha’s face as they disappeared, replaced by a frown.

With their leaving, the anxiety creeped in. She didn’t like them. So she shouldn’t care what they thought of her. But what Irina said felt pointed. Some of us show up at things and bring negative energy. Was that directed at her? It had to be, didn’t it.

It wasn’t like she’d asked to end up in this position. She was doing her best to help where she could… But what could she do? She was an outsider. Outside of Casey, no one in power really liked her. And it was all going to come crumbling down sooner or later…

Because of her, according to Mia’s dream. Wasn’t that enough?

”Well that was… odd.” Cass watched them go before shrugging and sitting back down beside Trisha. She got that maybe they were touchy about all of these things… Well, it wasn’t something she was going to worry about.

Not when her close friend was making such a cute grumpy face.

”Heyyy, looks like we can chill again! No more interruptions. So…” Cass shuffled closer to Trisha with a grin, lowering her voice to a whisper.
”Tell me more about the first proposal.”

“I already told you…” Much as Trisha trusted Cass, she wasn’t going to go into details of their argument. It was caused by feelings she tried to keep buried deep down. That Casey had managed to dig them up was something she was still struggling to accept.

”Yeah, but I want the deets! How did he do it?! Like, did he get down on one knee while you were fighting?”

“No, obviously not.” Trisha couldn’t help but laugh just a little at that image. Even immediately after had felt ridiculous.
“He… said he wanted me to be his everything. When we’d calmed down a bit, I joked that it sounded a bit like a proposal. Then he got down on one knee.”

”Holy shit!” Cass exclaimed, grinning widely. It took everything to not push into Trisha’s personal space and hug her again. But right now, she needed to take things slow. Keep Trisha’s mind off the other things… Just chill together. Or, as chill as Cass could be.
”That’s so fucking cute! Seriously- God, if I could have half of what you guys have, I’d die happy.”

Trisha blushed slightly as her head tilted.
“You don’t think you’ll have that with Leon?”

”Well… probably! I can see a pretty good future, but hoh boy is there a lotta shit to work on first. And I don’t see it being so sickeningly sweet! Like, you guys are on another level!” Maybe it could be. But Cass struggled to imagine it from her end, rather than Leon’s. She had a lot of love to give, but she wasn’t particularly… sappy? At least not verbally.
”I dunno if I wanna settle down like that yet anyway.”

“Like, marriage?”

”Yeah, yeah. It ain’t a worry for the near future with use anyway, but… I ain’t sure if it’s something I want anyway.” Cass admitted easily. There were a lot of things she wasn’t sure if she wanted yet…

It wasn’t really something Trisha understood. She’d always wanted that person. Her person. Who she’d love and marry, and have children with. It seemed like such a basic want, but it had been so hard to find. Until now, with Casey. He made the waiting worth it.

“I guess you don’t need to know yet? We’re still young.” Trisha tried to awkwardly comfort Cass, who just laughed. She didn’t need comforting after all.

”Yeah, it ain’t gonna be a problem unless Leon decides to act insane and pop the question in a couple of months. Not that I think it happening after that period is a problem for the right people! That just ain’t me. But…” Cass grinned, unable to resist the urge to actually hug Trisha. She pulled her in tight.
”I really am so fucking happy for you. I can see how happy Casey makes you.”

“I am happy.” Trisha smiled, relaxing slightly. There was still tension in her body- and it would remain there until she was home. But at least she wasn’t quite so one edge. She’d taken a few steps back from the precipice.
“I miss him whenever he’s not here.”

”Aw, you’re so fucking sappy. I ain’t enough for you, huh? How rude!” Cass teased, shaking Trisha before letting go of her.
”I get it… I’m sure you don’t have to wait long, anyway. Then you’ll have me and Casey around.”

“Mm, I hope so.” Even if Casey arriving meant Lynette would too… And all of the rest of his family too. Then, hers as normal guests. More stress… But at least she’d be with Casey. She could get through anything with him.

They had a few more minutes to chat to themselves about the situation before Ed finally managed to work her way back around to them. By then, she looked a shade paler than the usual French Nobility’s pallid bloodline was typically.

”Aaaalright girls! Here, let me take you to your actual seats. Unless you’d rather be standing for when the congregation arrives, Leon and Casey will end up right next to the two of you.” she smiled, pointing back.
”Just got word they were coming in pretty quickly, so I figured you guys deserved the option!” she smiled.

Trisha definitely didn’t want to be standing when they arrived. She stood up, looking at Ed with a hint of concern for a moment. It was difficult not to when she’d come back looking so pale… But she didn’t want to ask. Couldn’t, because she knew it was the kind of question she’d avoid if asked.

“I’d like to be in our seats. The last thing I want is to be swept up in some kind of crazy festival crowd…” Trisha managed to smile back.
“As long as Casey ends up next to me, I’m happy. I assume going to the assigned seats is the fastest way to make that happen.”

”Well I’m easy, whatever Trisha wants- so take us to our seats!” Cass laughed, hopping up and slinging one arm around Trisha’s shoulders and the other around Ed’s. She leaned in towards the latter.
”Did you go into some kinda reverse tanning booth while you were gone?”

Ed tensed up, unable to find a good way of answering that question. The thought ’At least I’m not high.’ came to mind, but ultimately, there was only so much her personal problems could act as a silver lining in this moment.

”It’s pretty cold outside the tented areas. A trick Ren and I have down is her being able to relax my body. It sinks my blood vessels under the skin further, keeps me warm. It’s a uh… Funny side effect of heroin use. I can get her to simulate pretty much every part of it from the start to the bitter end. But, separate from one another. A weird little benefit without the actual, y’know, habit forming shit.”

Overexplaining. They were going to think she’s high now… Ed could accept that. Casey and Leon just had to get here. Casey, Leon, Grandpa and Grandma, the dozens and dozens of other powerful Adepts that would… Hopefully keep them safe. They’d be safe!

”Huh…” Cass looked thoughtful for a moment, before grinning.
”That’s pretty cool! Well, y’know, not condoning the heroin use- but I ain’t here to give a lecture either, heh… What was I saying? Oh, yeah! It’s neat that you can separate out all the shit to your benefit like that. Lil good things from something bad, yeah? Even if it makes you look as pale as Ren herself! Like daughter like Mama, I guess.”

Trisha didn’t say anything one way or another. But her expression was neutral and didn’t seem particularly judgmental. She assumed Ed hadn’t gone and gotten high… Mostly because she was still functioning, and there wasn’t that horrendous plastic smell in the air. The strange magical traces similar to her pheromones.

“Let’s just get to our seats. How quickly do you think they’ll get here?”

”Like, anytime now.” she expressed with a little bit of hope in her voice; like she was praying that she was telling the truth.

Her head tilted, physically guiding them off toward the table that had been set up to be higher than all the other tables. The one that you actually needed to climb a small set of stairs to get to. Getting up on that little platform made it much clearer that this wasn’t just a single group ordeal. Three tables were crammed in fairly close proximity, each one ready to accommodate twenty four guests a piece.

Whether it was for better or worse, Trisha was sat in the queen’s seat at the stair-side head of the table. The very first table, in the very first seat. An easy escape route during dinner, but when everyone was filing up, she’d be a sitting duck. Cass wasn’t in a much better position, being tucked as the second chair in the inner row of the same table, essentially sandwiched between Leon, and whoever the hell was going to be sat next to her.

As Ed got them both seated, she took a deep breath.

”I am… Not going to be sitting with Mia and Hari. I’ll be at the next table over, as part of the cousins. Trisha, I saw the seating plan obviously: Your sister and your brother are at the helm table here. So’s Lynette… But, she’s at the opposite end of the table from you. Grandma and Grandpa both sit with us at the next table… Am I… Babbling? I’m nervous, I know you’re anxious, I can read it. I can’t alleviate it, but I can at least prepare you for the next hard part.”

Her eyes screamed love and care, like all she wanted to do in that moment was protect Trisha. It was sincere.

Trisha tried her best to give Ed a weak smile in return as she took her seat. Without anyone else there yet, it felt exposed. That meant everyone would be going past, or near, her on the way to their own seats. She could end up trapped in all sorts of conversations she didn't want… Hopefully Casey would be one of the first ones up, so she'd at least have him by her side.

She wanted to lie and say she wasn’t anxious, but she just couldn’t bring herself to in the face of Ed’s sincerity. Like she really cared… It was impossible to deny in that moment, even if Trisha struggled to believe it was real.

And she’d know that there was a high chance she’d end up at a table with Lynette and her siblings. No, expected it. If Lynette got a say in the seating arrangements? Of course it was bound to happen.

”Man, they crammed as many people up here as possible, didn’t they?” Cass complained under her breath, standing behind her chair rather than sitting on it. She foresaw an inability to move as soon as the table was filled up, so she wanted to stretch her legs for as long as possible. It was going to be an absolute nightmare to go get food too… Especially with the amount she’d need.

Trisha glanced at her friend with a slight smile, before looking back at Ed.
“Thank you. I’ll be… anxious until I’m home, I think. But I appreciate it.” She managed to admit genuinely. Trying her best to be a little honest, like Casey would want.
“Who else is sitting at this table? Me, Cass, Casey, Leon, Lynette, Tansy, Ezra… Hari, Mia and Elise I assume. That’s only ten people…”

”Oh yeah, who’s gonna be next to me? That ain’t Leon, of course.”

Ed could only close her eyes in shame.
”Casey, Leon, you, Junior.”

Her voice sounded like eighteen tons of metal traveling down a cliff. Such angst hadn’t been summoned since Ed was a little goth.
”I’d have sat you across if- y’know, never mind! I didn’t have a say in this. Both my girls are aaaaaaaall the way up there.” she pointed at the opposite corner from Cass.
”And you guys are stuck here. With Trisha’s siblings, and Maxwell fucking Junior. The third, really. And our Grandfather is going to be right behind you, so expect Maxwell the Eldest to be in your ear at some point, Cass.”

She really did look exasperated. Like she didn’t have much in the tank after the ride there, then actually dealing with whatever she was. If only she could tell them… But they didn’t need to know, because once all the powerful people arrived, there’d be no problems. The night would be fine.

”And, as for June… Just, try your best to deflect whatever negative bullshit he has to say. Leon won’t let him talk to you squarely. And Junior actually respects Leon, unfortunately. He’s about the only one nowadays.”

”I’ll just punch him if he acts up!” Cass’ punched upwards in front of herself.

“Please don’t punch anyone at the table.” Trisha frowned at Cass. She didn’t think she really would, but there was no knowing with her. She really could be unpredictable at times. Still frowning slightly, she looked up at Ed.
“Punching aside, if anyone can deflect his negative bullshit, it’s Cass. She’s basically got a positivity bubble.”

”So true! I got all sortsa techniques. Acting stupid, positivity bombing back… Or just letting Leon handle it!” Cass shrugged. She was much more chill than Trisha about everything, aside from feeling a bit trapped in. But she was sure Leon and Casey would forgive her if she had to clamber over them for a bit of space.
”I can handle the older Maxwell too, no worries. He can’t be any worse than my own Granda!”

Trisha let out a very quiet, not quite happy laugh. If anyone was as loud as Maxwell, it’d be someone related to Cass. But it meant they really were surrounded on all sides. She should’ve expected it… It was a small blessing, maybe, that her siblings were so separated from Lynette. Mia, Hari and Ed too for different reasons. There was the fear that Tansy would work her disgusting magic and somehow make people love her, like she was so good at doing.

Easily influenced people who didn’t see through her bullshit. People who thought she genuinely cared for Trisha. She didn’t want to risk her influence spreading too far… Even if it meant dealing with her herself. And Ezra, but he was less of an issue. Boring, but not someone who wanted to intrude on her life.

“Also, I know you didn’t have a say in all this, Ed. I expected it to be like this.” Trisha shrugged one shoulder, managing a pained smile.
“We’ll be able to handle it. At least my siblings are problems I know how to deal with.”

How Dogs Are [FernStone & AtomicEmperor]

As the morning crept on, their joint peace was broken when Leon was dragged away for something Temple related. Which left Cass to just chill for the rest of the day.

Not that chilling was a word in her vocabulary. She jumped between drumming and coding, never quite getting enough into either for it to really hold her attention. Not after what her and Jack had talked about… the thoughts kept wriggling into her mind.

How easily she’d killed people. How easily she could do it again, even though there’d been a bit of guilt afterwards. Was it even really guilt? She’d felt bad that she didn’t feel bad. She still didn’t really feel bad… The scariest people were the ones who could just kill without thought, weren’t they? Like her.

As it turned to late evening, she wasn’t able to keep herself distracted anymore. The plan was to stay up until Leon got back, but what was the point in spending the whole night moping around waiting? She may as well try get in a bit of a nap. But crawling into her empty bed wasn’t exactly appealing either…

Fuck, she missed him.

The thought surprised Cass a bit. She wasn’t really the clingy type. She didn’t really tired socially, so she could spend day on day with someone interesting enough… But she didn’t really spend the time apart desperate to see them again. It was a bit odd. Not necessarily bad, but odd.

The feeling led her downstairs to Leon’s apartment, with a book and record in hand. Enhanced senses told her the whole place was empty… Which was fine. She located his record player- which she was fairly certain now was just for show- and threw on the chill rock record she’d brought down. The plan was just to read in his bed until she fell asleep, or he came home…

But it didn’t quite feel enough. Led by her nose, Cass gathered a large bundle of clothing that smelt the most like Leon. She pulled on a t-shirt of his that practically swamped her, before bundling the rest around her along with the blankets and pillows to form a comforting nest. The more her senses changed, the more stuff like that mattered to her. Smell, touch…

Being surrounded by Leon’s scent, even if he wasn’t there, did a surprising amount to calm the clamouring in her mind. So much so that she only got a couple of chapters into her book before drifting off to sleep.

But Green Lux could only pick up so much. Shadows inside themselves twisted into the shape of two massive cats which jittered and vibrated until they came together in a single entity. A paw slipped from the corner, corporal and violently clawed, the beast behind was the size of a grown man now.

Its body hunched, shoulders pressing up and out as it sauntered from the dark corner like a satisfied burglar, it stalked the edge of the bed to take in her scent. Impossible eyes peered at her, examining the curves of her body and cursing its own form in kind. Power be dawned, the pleasures of the flesh had escaped Kable for thousands of years. But the old drive could never be satisfied so long as the hunger was there…

Weightless, those massive paws crept up onto the bed, hoisting the tiger-like beast within six legs up segment by segment until it was curled next to Cass’ face. Then, then mouth opened wide into a Cheshire grin, eyes beaming into her closed lids with a stare that began to luminesce.
In the darkness of sleep, Cass would be able to feel her consciousness slip away like a body down a waterslide. There was no friction.

Manchester was perfect. Down to the way the smell from the sea wafted up and across the city like a salty breeze, there was no longer indication that it was a dream. The same noises that had been outside Cass’ childhood bedroom window were perfectly reanimated like denizens of a dead world.

And her alarm was going off for school…

”Fuccckkk- Just another five minutes-” Cass groaned, hand lashing out to snooze her alarm. Except the digital clock she kept beside her bed wasn’t there for her to slam her hand into. The alarm just blared and blared and blared until she was forced to roll out of bed and locate it.

On the floor… She must’ve kicked it in her sleep. Ugh. The time was blurry, so she probably had time for breakfast before getting ready. Rubbing her sleepy eyes she headed towards her bedroom door. If she was lucky, her parents would already be out and she’d be left in the relative ‘peace’ of just her brothers.

With that hope in her mind she pushed open the door. Only for a small pail of water to tumble down and splash across Cass’ frame. It was cold; so cold that it had to be fresh, which meant only one thing…

Someone was catching hands.

”Oh you piece of shit!” Cass shook her head vigorously, water droplets spraying around her. She shot out into the corridor, worn carpet scratching her feet. Whoever had done this couldn’t be far… They always made sure to watch too.

Enhanced hearing- huh?- picked up snickering a couple of doors down. A curly head popped out, before disappearing again.

”Robert, you’re in for a real beating- oh, you fucker!” She ran down the hall before her younger brother had a chance to try to escape- most likely by running downstairs to the safety of mummy and daddy. But she wasn’t going to let him get away with this.

Her hand shot out to stop the door slammed towards her face. All five-five of her filled the frame, glowering into his bedroom. Robert backed away, hands held up in an attempt to ward her off.

“I didn’t mean nothing by it, Cass! I’m sorry!” But he was still laughing, a wide grin cutting through his face. Sorry her ass. Sorry he was about to get beaten.

”Ohhh, if you didn’t mean nothing, you wouldn’t’ve done it!”
Cass jumped onto the taller man, one arm hooking around his neck as she used her whole weight to pull him to the ground. A tussle on the floor made it much easier for her to properly teach him a lesson… Cause she didn’t have to worry about the height difference!

But it wasn’t actually serious. Just enough to stop him playing any pranks for the next week… Some wrestling, some punches here and there-

Sharp claws sliced through Robert’s chest, blood instantly spilling from the deep gouge. Red stained a ripped white shirt. It was sticky on her fingers. The smell of iron was overwhelming.

Cass’ wide, shocked eyes met Robert’s. Dark, initial shock turning to fear. Her heart started thudding in her chest, loud enough she almost couldn’t hear his pained whimper.

“C-Cass, what- Why?!”

Why? It had been an accident. She didn’t start with claws. She hadn’t meant to use them! Not on her little brother! No, shit, shit- she had to stop the bleeding. Still clawed hands desperately pressed his t-shirt fabric into the wound, hoping to staunch the constant flow.

“Ow- You’re hurting me more! Stop it!”

Her claws were digging into his flesh even as she tried to help. Shit. She hadn’t meant to. But she’d done it. She’d hurt him. And he looked so scared of her all of a sudden.

”Shit- Da, Ma!- Rowan, Jack?!” She shouted desperately, panic clutching her. She looked back down at Robert’s pallid face. Her hands, covered in his blood. She- she- she-
”Someone, please!”

Outside the dream, the weaver tasted the first fruits of its latest labour. Passage to Manchester wasn’t easy, but the dreams there were vivid and full of exactly what the city had gone through. He needed the context, unfortunately, as this tart was anything but wracked with nerves. Stalwart, intelligent, moralistic and centered: These kinds of people were juicy coconuts to the Wampus of Shimmer. The effort to drill into the skull, testing concocted dreams like potions in the alchemy lab, getting the formula just right to extract the essence of pain from the subject…

He allowed the shocked family to gather around, and to pass their judgement in sorrow upon her before the entire world faded around her. There was rumbling, coughing, men and women praying. The sound of a thousand thousand boots stomped overhead.

“Private Wallace? Private! Ahead! They’re down there!”

Her uniform was heavy, soaked with water. The sewers under Manchester. Spy Games in the days before the Blitz, saboteurs and German secret agents, supposedly attempting to blow up the parade route of the proud Royal Army.

Cass didn’t respond, focused on her goal- on treading on as silently as possible. Difficult, but made easier by the constant Green lux dampening the sounds of her body. She couldn’t smell them over the thick scent of sewage, but as she got closer, she could hear. How many… Three, four- no, at least ten. More, maybe.

More than expected, she somehow knew.

There was a dull ache in her chest, like an emptiness. She didn’t know where it had come from. But killing would help dampen it.

She had a gun, but she didn’t need it. Was better without it. It was easy to take the Germans by surprise when you slipped in like a shadow, immediately slitting the throat of the man standing guard.

There was no hesitation, and no mercy in her slaughter. Bullets hurt, but she was too fast for them to ever hit anywhere that would kill her. Skin like stone blocked most from going through, and those that did were shoved out and the wound healed over. There was nothing stopping her from ripping out throats until her teeth and claws were dripping with blood.

It was so easy. Too easy. These people… She had to kill them. But each man was murdered in a more brutal way as it filled her with a sense of sick thrill. It was so fun. But it shouldn’t be fun. She shouldn’t be enjoying it, should she?! Nausea roiled in her gut even though the taste of blood in her mouth was still so sweet.

But they were all dead, and the emptiness was back. She reached up a hand to an earpiece that probably shouldn’t be there.
“All dealt with, Sir.”

A career, and a life spent. The sensation of heroism, and a good war spent killing for the sake of “protecting” the innocents. But, it was a lie… Because when feet were planted on the soil of the Fatherland, they waded in blood. Kable’s intention echoed through her, filling her with pride and not much else besides a joy for what was done. And now the war was over…

Intrinsic knowledge: The last elder Wallace. The only one to return and claim the young boy from the shelter. Only one left. He was hers to protect now… But, the world was cruel. Berlin had been wretched, and coming home now to the slowly-repairing rubble pile of her home city after the war brought little hope. Little joy. Return to the parents. Return to the crippled older brother. But the holes exist. The holes she made. No Robert. No Rowan.

What was life? Mounting pressure. A mother whose expectations still loomed, despite everything that had happened. Protecting her daughter only meant finding a place for her to be safe. A place where what had been couldn’t follow her. An argument about leaving. About what was and wasn’t meant to be…

An argument that pushed things to a boiling point.

She wasn’t going to get married to some ‘decent enough’ fella down the road. She had a boyfriend. An American she met during the war… it didn’t matter that there was that distance. Cass couldn’t live that normal life. She barely could then, but now? It was impossible. Everything was so boring. So empty. She didn’t want to become some fucking wife who kept the house and looked after the kids. She wanted to be on the battlefield again…

But her mother just wouldn’t listen.

And Cass really couldn’t take it anymore.

”Shut up!” The rage boiled over, and there was an emptiness demanding to be filled. Even after years of fighting, her control over her magic was still so shaky. With the anger came Green Lux writhing under her skin until she became a living weapon.

It was all she could ever be. Something dangerous. Magic honed in battle, just waiting to be released, and a mind that now craved the taste of blood. She hated it. She terrified herself. But she couldn’t resist it.

”I ain’t taking any of this shit anymore!”

It was like everything turned to slow motion as she got up in her mother’s face, the woman’s blue eyes widening in fear. Cass’ hands wrapped round her throat, claws digging into the soft flesh there. She just needed to keep her quiet. She just needed a moment of fucking silence.

But it was impossible to hold back. Not when she had the hands of a killer, and they did what they’d always done best. As she watched the life sputter out of her mother’s eyes, it was like a dagger stabbed right into her own chest.

No, no, no, no- stop! STOP!
But it was too late. Blood dripped onto the kitchen floor, her mother’s body following with a flood. Cass’ breaths came out in short gasps, like she was choking on glass. No. She’d killed her. She’d killed her own mother. For what? Some demands she could ignore. Why…

Why did she not regret it? Why didn’t she feel satiated?

“Cassandra? Cass- the fuck you done to your Ma?!”

Cass silently begged for her Father to not come closer. He may be much taller and bulkier than her, but he’d die all the same. Just run. Please.

But he didn’t. Instead he came at her with a raised hand.

It was all she needed. He was clumsy, the years having gotten to him. She ducked underneath his blow, hand shooting up to slice through his throat. Clean. But not quite deep enough to kill immediately, leaving him to choke on his own blood.

It felt good. She felt empty. This was what she was, wasn’t she? A murderer? Someone to fear, someone to hate? She should stop… But she couldn’t. She couldn’t stop her own nature.

Her feet took her to her younger brother’s room. Anthony… Not even an adult yet. He wasn’t so small anymore. What was left for him, with dead parents? With Jack wheelchair bound? With her like this? Nothing. Just suffering. It was a mercy, was it not?

No. She couldn’t justify it like that. It wasn’t a mercy. It was just what she wanted. She wanted to kill. Needed to. But why him? Couldn’t she spare him? Not him-

It was like a part of her mind detached from her body as she approached Anthony sleeping peacefully in his bed. The part of her that still had those strong morals. Deep sorrow entwined with horror, but she couldn’t stop it. Even as the tears streamed down her cheeks. Just make it quick.

The guilt went away as quickly as Anthony’s life. Neater than her parents, because he’d never hurt her like them.

And it wasn’t as satisfying. She regretted holding back and making it quick. Where was the fun in that? There was no struggle. No thrill to fill the emptiness. It was just so easy to kill…

Then, she was outside Jack’s door. It creaked open, revealing the other soldier in the family. But he hadn’t lasted as long. And here he was, stuck in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. He looked up at her with a deep sadness, then at the fresh blood coating her hands.

"Don’t do this, Cassi. Please. This ain’t you."

But it was. It was her, and it was her over and over again. No conditioning necessary, she simply ached for the carnal pleasures. Like any other beast. Lust and blood were never far bedmates, and fear projects the exact same human chemicals as arousal. Joy was the ultimate payoff for the Green Lux adept, and it was a sensation that Kable rarely utilized. Because this wasn’t about a meal now. Though, her immediate abject horror at her own actions within the subconscious steeped his tongue like condensed milk, the time spent now was only the planting of the tree of pain.

A trigger to the avalanche that would sweep a delectably aged vintage port of agony into his waking maw. Anticipation got the better of it, forelimbs pressing Cass’ shoulders tightly to the bed as she squirmed beneath the weight. Middle limbs curled in, wrapping under her lower back to hoist her slightly. Slightly toward the slowly opening slit in the belly of the beast. Kable’s torso and chest peeled open, and within, a roiling mass of primal energy circulated, pulsing in wait of a fully developed meal.

Wetness dripped from it onto the surrounding clothing, and ultimately onto her as she continued to struggle without consciousness. The dream within was powerful. The mentioned boyfriend: A man with Leon’s face happily greeting her at the airport on her arrival. Her bloodstained hands, invisible to his perception, took his own as he guided her back to his own people. To sisters and brothers of his own whom greeted her like a welcome hero.

“We’re so happy to meet you!”
“Lee’s told us so much!”
”That’s my girl…”

It should have filled her with Joy to suddenly be surrounded by so much love. People who wanted her and accepted her.

But they didn’t, did they? They didn’t know. She’d covered it up so well. The tragic slaughter of an entire family. Her family at her own hands. Hands stained red that she hid behind her back as if anyone could see it…

But she could start afresh over here, couldn’t she? With him, with them. It didn’t matter that Jack’s face flashed across theirs sometimes. She did miss him. But more than that, she missed the feeling of killing him.

And it couldn’t last. She didn’t want it to last. Because she knew what she was now… And she’d tried her best to always embrace herself. She had to, no matter how much it hurt, or how much the tiny part she’d trapped inside screamed and wailed. There was no Joy in just living.

It would’ve been easy to kill him in his sleep first. But she didn’t. There was a craving for more than just the easy killings of her family now. Someone who would fight before she got her blood. A final boss, maybe.

Don’t, don’t, don’t, don’t-

It all came in flashes. Jumping from kill to kill as Cass picked off Leon’s people- her people- one by one. There was no accident. It was a choice to kill this time. She heard their screams echoing in her ears, their whimpers as they begged her not to do this. Just like Jack had. But she did it all the same. There was such great Joy in the feeling of their blood staining her hands and teeth. It was agonising how much she enjoyed it.

She hated herself, and how she couldn’t stop it. In the brief flickers of dream where she wasn’t killing, there was just agony and sorrow over all she’d done. The lack of control- no, the purposeful slaughter.

Hari, Ed, Mia, Casey, Trisha.

Everyone she loved, dead at her hands. All but one. One more before the dam burst and all that guilt and despair crushed her.

”This is me.” She was in the same room as Leon now. Had he asked or begged? No, she’d gotten so used to it. She explained before he even asked. Before he said a word.

She smiled, eyes filled with joy that only came after watching life leave another’s. Blood dripped from her fingers. It was visible now. It was all visible. Her whole horrible, twisted, ugly self. Murderer.

Monster.

The night had been long. So long. Remnants of the change lingered in his body and tugged hard at his muscles. The tension of holding it all together by a thread was only punctuated by the victory at last. The returning of the Leash at the last possible second. The PRA had withheld it, testing just like they always did. They were just lucky that a common enemy had broken their plans and made the exchange necessary. But, ultimately, this was big. It meant that what was coming next didn’t have to be so fearful.

And it meant he had another part of his life back. He couldn’t ask Cass to carry it, of course, but for the interim, he could trust Elise to do so, or even Casey himself. Someone from their immediate family, whose blood linked to the Clan of the Bones and ruled over the mountain and forest from beneath. A seeress, preferably. Though, the most able would wind up being Mia…

He couldn’t ask her either. It was simply too much.

So wrapped up in thought, no longer burdened by the undesired input of another, Leon could once again lose himself like he always had. Maybe it was ignorant to think that his time with Lelou operating so freely wasn’t a boon. After all, she never would’ve missed the gentle hissing of the Bitter Foe’s wretched powers. She never would’ve let Leon walk down the stairs and open the apartment door without telling him that there was something happening.

But she was gone, and he was alone in his thoughts. The burden of extrasensory abilities no longer beating him in the face, he stuck the key in the lock only to find it already undone. But he smelled Cass. He trusted his sense in the moment, and assumed what had happened with relative accuracy: That she’d missed him and come down to sleep, or wait.
The thought only turned him on. The possibility that she was waiting naked in bed was titillating. So much so that he was apt to reverse the trick. Not worrying about the open door, he simply tiptoed down the hall as slick as he could, on toes as light as a giant could make, until he came around the corner.

The body of the Wampus had distended greatly, like a tick on a wound. All six paws dug massive claws into her body, gripping by the sides and limbs as it forced its torso upward into a horrific mockery of some medical technology. A giant, fleshy and furry MRI machine whose slit open belly had opened into a putrid, rancid eye socket. Its occupant, the iris of which produced a sickening yellow light while its pupil gaped open into its own gullet complete with greedy teeth.

Teeth which had slowly gnawed through the shirt and the base layer of muscle layered over Cass’ stomach. Her body writhed and rocked unconsciously as the dream reached a frothy climax, and in all the bitter pleasure of a freshly earned meal, Kable was either unaware or unwilling to cease his devouring…
So, the only possible solution was left. The moment Leon urged his powers through the collar associated with the Leash, its temporary holder returned the command code without hesitation. At the same time, said holder broke from what he was doing in a panic to make it back to his own place.

Not that he’d get there in time. All at once, Lelou’s tortured scream returned to Leon’s mind as the power flooded through the leash and into the five seals spread across his body. Baseline and Unity hadn’t been so smooth in months, and within a matter of an instant, Leon’s massive wereform was gripped atop the distended, ticklike rear gut of Kable. Teeth sunk in and ripped at the soft flesh, releasing a torrent of screams and shouts as nightmares of Manchester still fresh from his hunting expedition spewed forth.

Wretched air filled the room, sickening Leon and driving Kable to maddening shrieks. The beast ceased its chewing, and altogether ceased its ability to keep Cass in the dream… But it did not cease its clawed grip digging into her body. Now, instead, it seemed that either the pain response or an intentional sabotage was doing its best to rip Cass’ Green Lux-bolstered form in half… While conscious.

Cass woke up screaming. The physical agony entwined with all the mental anguish she'd felt trapped in the dream. But she'd always been reactive and she was waking up in fight mode. She could practically taste the blood on her lips already.

Clawed feet kicked out desperately with no care for what they kicked, and she fully strained against the beast’s grip. Her skin tore at her waist as it tried to rip her in two, only to immediately heal in a constant agonising process. The pain and subsequent healing was secondary to getting whatever it was off her, magic funnelling into enhancing her strength as much as possible. A monkey tail wriggled out from underneath her, curling round one of Kable's limbs and squeezing as hard as she could.

Her neck strained painfully, sharp teeth biting down on whatever she could reach with enough power to break through bones.

Leon’s voice wasn’t his own as the chanting started up again. Just like the last time, smoke began to curl up and around the beast as sharp claws dug holes into Kable’s immortal body. Reactively, between Cass’ assault and the decoupling ritual kickstarting on its back, the beast withdrew its inner eye and finally released the woman from its clutches.

Only to rear back fully in order to swipe a massive paw toward Cass. It hit the bed, shredding the first foot of cloth and metal springs to nothingness in its quest for Cass’ head.

Cass didn't have the capacity to really think. No longer pinned, she could- should- roll away. But it was, in her bleary mind, a fight for survival now. Her legs continued to kick, striking both Kable and Leon. She twisted around to avoid a blow to her head. But there was an overwhelming pain as her shoulder was caught and torn to shreds.

It didn't matter. It would heal- it hurt- she was alive. The claws on her feet and hands lengthened. Her knees were brought up to her stomach to protect it, before fully kicking upwards to try and tear at the beast's stomach before it could swiped again.

There was a loud, wet shredding noise as flesh rent and sundered under the stress.

”V’then ad’aad! Ib urralis oren IMMULMALKUS DEVO CAD NA’D MOORI MEH!”

He felt the shredding too. His own guts, totally ripped to hamburger as Cass made the ultimate struggle move. A whole clawed paw, straight through the unnatural flesh of the Wampus’ spinal column and into his own stomach cavity. It was all he could do to shout the binding without breaking his concentration. All at once, the struggling ceased. The massive cat shrunk within the blink of an eye, momentum carrying it up toward the ceiling until it smacked off with a loud hollow thud only to crash through Leon’s office door.

Leaving Leon and Cass alone to deal with their collective injuries. He could feel her moving, hear her breathing and her rapid heart beat. His furry body curled up, turning and spilling a large pool of blood onto his destroyed mattress as he shifted to see her.

”Cass!? Cassi, Baby, please… It’s Leon! S-stay with me! Stay w-”

"S-stay back!" Cass managed to hiss out through the pain. Her blurry vision couldn't recognise him, but she smelled that it was him. A little strange, a little more like how he'd smelt during that raid. But she could smell his blood too. Even as her mind slowly processed things, she knew it hadn't been the cat. It had been tearing at her flesh, so-

It was her.

She scrambled to the head of the bed, knees tight to her chest. A pained moan escaped her lips as the torn flesh on her shoulder and stomach started to rebuild. It was more agonising than the initial injuries, a red hot pain searing through her. Her breathing came in harsh, short bursts. Her own claws dug into her bare thighs, causing shallow wounds that sluggishly leaked even more blood. The enhanced strength sapped out of her frame to stitch her wounds back together, but all of the changed features remained.

"Don't come near me, please." She practically begged him. She knew she wasn't in the dream anymore. But she had hurt him. She could hurt him even more if he came close! She couldn't risk it, not while she was still transformed. Not until the sharp teeth and claws were gone.

His senses were in overdrive, and a little more pain didn’t matter. A hard signal blasted back to Casey’s end requesting a flooded Water Seal, which he clumsily fumbled to achieve while driving at a hundred miles an hour. But Leon got his wish. While he could smell every freshly birthed cell burning off calories on the wisps of Green Lux, he knew she needed him. Wanted to believe she needed him, and that whatever the Cat had done to her was temporary. That she was still Cass… That he hadn’t been responsible for irreparably fucking the poor woman up.

Leon’s body practically turned to steam as the water seal’s energy flooded into his red hot veins. At the same time his stomach stitched itself back together like watching a computer screen saver, the wolfish appearance melted away to reveal the man beneath. The same concerned, fear-filled face.
But he didn’t stay away. Bite, claw, scratch… She’d not kill him here. Not like this.

”N-no! No, p-please, Cass, it’s okay! I’m not gonna hurt you, it’s not a d-re-am…” he slowly, confidently, stumbled onto the edge of the bed, arm reaching out in quiet desperation.

Cass shook her head, body leaning away from him. She tucked her feet- paws- underneath herself, clawed hands tucked in between her thighs and calves. Trying to declaw herself while she couldn't get rid of them… The pain of her wounds slowly repairing themselves was second to the fear clutching her mind. It echoed the fear on his face- just like the Leon in her dream. All those other people.

She couldn't control it, could she?

She wasn't scared of him, she was scared of herself.
"P-please, don't…"

Her body trembled from exertion and emotion, sharp teeth digging into her lips. She wanted him close, she wanted the comfort, but she couldn't let him. She was scared that the her from the dream still lingered, somehow.
"I don't want to hurt you, Leon. I can't control it. I can't…”

”I-it’s okay! It’s okay, it’s fine. Look! Look, look-”

He moved his arms to show his stomach, the gaping hole still completely gone. Sure, the organs inside were still gelatinized for the moment, but they’d be back soon… He was fine! And he’d be fine, so long as everything stayed intact. His fingers tugged at the leather collar around his neck to show it off to Cass.

”-Lelou’s Collar! See! You could hit me with a tank shell, Babe, I wouldn’t die. Just giggle as I get sucked back together, it’s incredible! I’m back! I’m back… Nothing’s going to hurt you now, I’m so sorry Cassi… Please, don’t be afraid…”

He slid off the bed again, letting himself get low to meet her level while keeping his arms outstretched.

”Come here! Come on, we’ll get you back upstairs, we’ve got at least an hour. Casey’s gonna be here soon, we’re gonna have to make up a story!” he half-whispered to her, gently urging her toward his waiting arms.

Cass sucked in a deep breath, just staring at his stomach for a moment. It really did look healed. She wasn't entirely convinced, but if she touched it to make sure she might just rip the flesh out again. Did it matter that it wouldn't kill him? It'd still hurt him!

But she was herself again. At least mentally. Not stuck in a dream killing everyone she cared about. It had started with an accident… But no matter how realistic it was, or how much it came from her fears, she didn't want to hurt him right now. That was the difference between the cold blood killer she'd been in the dream…

Even if it was a future possibility.

"It's an actual fucking collar… that's pretty kinky…" She weakly laughed, trying her best to push through the fear that has gripped her. It was something she was going to have to sit down and properly process. She couldn't just leave the thought to fester until it was more likely to become a reality. But now wasn't the time. In a couple of hours, maybe.

She shuffled forward on her ass into his arms, still a carefully curled up ball to keep all the sharp bits covered by her own soft flesh. Her stomach was fully healed now, the sinew across her shoulder and back beginning to properly bind back together. The process was so painful, and she could feel it draining her energy… and forming a pit in her stomach that would need to be filled with food soon enough.

"What kinda story are you expecting to make up to fool him? Ain't he got the lie detection magic- what, we say shit got real outta hand in the bedroom? He ain't gonna buy that…" She didn't entirely understand why Casey would be there- but figuring out the practical shit helped suppress the horror she felt for now.

"Fuck, I needa shower… and you needa whole new wardrobe, sorry." All the clothing of his that she'd gathered around her- and the shirt she'd stolen to wear- were torn beyond repair. Whether it was during her struggle in the dream or what had just happened she wasn't sure.

As she crawled into his arms, there was already other voices echoing through the halls. The echoes of feet smashing against the stone floor of the lobby, the laboured breath of half a dozen humans rushing down a flight of stairs until a voice finally called out in the hall outside. Leon’s room was close to the side entrance, after all; easily shout-into-able.

”Praise be, to be!?”

Before Leon could say anything else to Cass, he had to respond.

”God, to thee! To thee! To thee!”
And he turned his head back down immediately to speak to Cass again.

”Cassi, don’t you ever apologize for that. Please… I’ve got everything to apologize for Baby, oh my fucking God…”

Theo practically missed the door, flinging himself off his feet for his Apparition to catch and right him mid air. There was the barrel of a massive anti-material rifle shoved through the doorway, which swept across Leon and Cass defensively before noting the half-destroyed casing leading into Leon’s office. The Archangel’s sights locked in, and the barrel gently maneuvered to hold point on the doorway.

”Leon! Leon, Miss Cass!?”

”Get the fucking Cats! Call Ed, get her down here now!” Leon practically howled, instructions followed instantly and without question.

Norm, and a few other security members responsible for the Cannery, rushed past Leon and Cass and into the room beyond. There was tremendous noise and clamour as the half-conscious Wampus struggled against the binding of a Yellow Adept’s shackles. Theo had already scrambled, and was headed for the security team phone to get a priority call out to the finance office. She’d only be fifteen minutes at most, which Leon was desperately hoping was enough time to get things rolling.

He didn’t need the Wampus being put down, after all… It still had information for him. He needed Kable. But he needed Cass right now. With his focus back on her, he scooped her up and immediately pushed his way out of the door and across the kitchen to the Girls’ side of the place. A few more steps, and he was out their door and into the elevator with Cass in tow. His fist almost caved in the button to her floor, but now they were alone… It was quiet for a moment.

Leon’s back hit the wall, and he slid down to sit with her in his lap… And immediately broke down into tears, clinging so tightly to Cass it felt like he may actually break her this time… And it didn’t stop. Not even as the door dinged open and closed itself back up again.

Thankfully, Cass' shoulder was pretty much healed now, creeping of skin to cover the exposed muscle only slightly slowed by the way he held her tightly. With the healing almost finished her magic was naturally withdrawing, leaving only exhaustion and heavy limbs in its wake. Sharp claws and teeth slowly and painfully started to full back inwards.

She curled in towards him, feeling the wetness of his tears hitting her scalp as she tucked her head under his chin- and not caring to move to avoid it. Her breathing was still harsh even as she tried to even it out, taking deep breaths in to fill her sensitive nose with Leon's scent. It was somewhat comforting… and she just let him cling to her for a moment. She didn't have the mental capacity to comfort him in any other way. Not with so much still going on in her head, that anguish the dream had forced on her dragging itself back up now her Green Lux was slipping away.

"You're…" Her voice was slightly hoarse when she spoke again.
"You're gonna have to stay with me for a bit, ain't you?"

As if in response, he threw his head back and let it smash against the wall behind him. It didn’t do a damn thing to the stone that was his cranium cap, however. It wasn’t even like he seemed entirely conscious of what was being said to him. His eyes were closed, mouth open without any sound coming out, just leaking tears like a statue in mourning. There was so much to deal with, yet no words to do so with this time. The Farm had already been painful enough, only for him to come home and find that…

Leon took a long, snorting breath through his nose.
”I-if you-you-you’ll ha-ave meeeeeee-”
Trying to respond only threw him back into the pit. So what if he had his collar? So what if they were going to work out a permanent solution to the problem soon? He couldn’t protect Alizee, couldn’t protect the other Sycamites… And now he couldn’t protect Cass. Only “save”, for whatever that was worth in the end.

”-I-m so-o-o sorry Cassiiiiiiiii!” he tucked her closer still, as close as he could possibly get her until his face was buried in her stomach. His arms held her like the most precious doll in the world. Like she’d break if he breathed wrong, but somehow his squeezing would just keep her safe…

"Can- can you please not call me that right now?" She asked as gently as possible. Not wanting him to think she was upset at him… it was just the flashes of her brothers from the dream. Their voices- begging her to not hurt them. Jack, not even fighting back after trying to talk her down. Just letting her kill him…

"It's alright, it's alright- I'm alright, ain't I?" At least she was physically now. Mentally… It was there. Something to work through. But it was a fear that had already been blossoming before the cats took a hold of it and supercharged its growth. She curled around to press her face into the top of his head before continuing.

"C'mon, Leon, let's get to my place… It's comfier. I'll feel better there."

Golem-like in instruction, Leon could only stand and surge forth with Cass in his arms. After all, what else was he going to do? She’d asked him not to call her something he’d been refraining from calling her for weeks now. He just liked it better, found it cute, vaguely bubblegum, and oddly comforting. But they’d both had awful nights, and he couldn’t really explain why he was having this reaction without calming down first. There was only one thing to do in that regard, since Ed arriving would extend Kable’s span of unconsciousness long beyond what he’d managed to eek out through his understanding of primal somatics.

But he wouldn’t let her walk, even as she started to wriggle. He just kept adjusting her again and again, letting her open the door and walk in as his laboured breathing turned into something calmer and quieter.
A face without emotion: A walking ball of pain who stooped down to the bed the first chance he could and deposited Cass onto it like the most precious treasure in the world. His knees bent forward, arms stretching and hands clasping onto hers.

”I wasn’t able to protect you… Because I was gone doing something awful to people who didn’t deserve it… I’ve failed you.” he spoke with great sincerity, tears welling in his eyes in spite of his voice remaining steady.

Her hands were caught by Leon's before she could do what she immediately wanted to- tear off the shirt sticky with Wampus saliva and blood. It was all over her too. Most of all she wanted to wash Leon's blood off her foot… but that meant leaving him to go to the shower, which she couldn't do right now.

So she pushed the gross feeling down and held on tight to his hands, fear of hurting him dampened now the claws were gone.

"Leon, Baby, it ain't like that…" She didn't feel that he'd failed her… whatever he was doing, was he supposed to be there every night to keep the cats away? Wasn't she the one who'd fallen asleep so unguarded? It had just lined up so well for them to get in…

And in her mind, she wasn't someone who needed protection. Not like that… Maybe this time, because she was so stuck in the dream. But not generally. As much as she wanted to say that, she knew this wasn't the time. They were both trying to calm down, starting a possible fight wasn't the way to do that. She didn't even want to think about arguing with him right now…

"It ain't your fault. They just… got lucky. Most nights I'm like an impenetrable fortress! Y'know, they ain't got in like that before… But I'll be alright. You didn't fail me or any shit like that… at least, I don't believe that…"

It was only after a few more moments that his senses took hold. The stench of blasted body and biological hazards, the worst slowly soaking into Cass’ bed… Once his mind caught up with his actions, he practically ripped her up off the bed and looked down at the big, thick moist spot where she’d been.

”Awwwww, for fuck’s-”
And then his mind was empty. Totally, except for him and his frustration that he’d somehow forgotten that she was slicked with disgusting fluids. But, that was just it… He’d forgotten, and now he had nobody in his head directly shoving the worst parts of his psyche back into his mind. It’d been eight months of pure, unbridled madness in his head…

And now, now that the problem had immediately passed, he found himself able to process out all the negative until it was just her. And he stared at her face, and he accepted what she said slowly but surely within his own heart.

”-uh… Shower. Right. Bath. Clothes. Lets…”

Slowly, half awkward in his action, Leon let Cass finally slide down to stand on her own two feet.

”Better?” he asked quietly, arm wiping the snot that was still falling from his nose away.

Cass' legs felt like jelly. As her feet hit the ground, they refused to stabilise like she'd expected. She grabbed onto Leon to keep herself upright, grimacing with pain and frustration.

"Uhhh, sorta… All'a that healing must've really taken it outta me." She had used a lot of magic. Strengthening herself, growing various extras, then all the energy spent on regenerating the stomach muscles and a shoulder torn to shreds. It was an awful lot of Lux use. A lot of energy and calories drained. No wonder her body wasn't functioning great. Especially since…

"I ain't ever healed like that before- lucky I'm so good at spell casting on the fly, right? But my body ain't enjoying it." She was able to stand properly now, at least, but she wasn't so sure about walking. Annoying, but bearable. A little bit of weakness was an alright price to pay for an injury that would have her bedridden for months at best, or dead at worst, without magic.

"You're gonna have to help me to the bathroom…" She admitted reluctantly, pulling off the torn shirt that absolutely swamped her and tossing it into the corner of the room. There being nothing underneath made it easier… less gross layers to peel off. They'd have to change the sheets too, but after getting cleaned… Hopefully with better working limbs.

"I'll run a bath, though I don't wanna be in there longer than I gotta to get all of this shit off. Ain't even like you can join me, cause I don't think that bath'd fit one Leon, nevermind us both."

At least the place was small enough she'd be able to hear him wherever he ended up. It'd stop her from dwelling on the dream while it was still too fresh to properly, healthily process.

Leon didn’t hesitate to let her lean fully against him as he led her to the bathroom and held her until she was able to settle into the tub.
”Do you want some recovery help? Something to wipe the fatigue away?” he asked, knowing full well there was an assortment of concoctions meant to help with this kind of rapid Lux depletion.

The water was hot, just like it was in his apartment. The heating system for the building, like most things, was magically enhanced thanks to Max IV’s years of tinkering. Water pressure didn’t stop when multiple people used it, and there were never any issues with running out of water at temp.

”And, do you want the shower head on? Get you clean faster? You sure you don’t want to relax in the water? We can find a bigger tub for you, maybe we should get you a jacuzzi?”

He was doting. Too much, maybe, but he felt like death. There was a need to fix what he’d done wrong, even if she already told him there wasn’t. He couldn’t have stopped this. But the guilt was running rampant in his freshly cleaned mind. Plenty of empty space to romp in…

"Where the fuck are you gonna fit a jacuzzi, dude?!" Cass laughed at the suggestion. It would take up half the apartment! Shit, that was the kinda luxury she really didn't need. The bath wasn't even that small… sure, she couldn't fully lie down in it if she wanted to, but that was alright.

The water was already getting gross with blood and other fluids. She reached up above her head to the little basket holding all of her showering essentials. It was full of hair products… Thankfully her hair had avoided getting hit by anything, cause she really couldn't be bothered going through cleaning it! She grabbed a sponge and soap, putting them beside her as she thought about how best to get clean quickly.

Yeah, the shower suggestion…

"Yeah, yeah, turn on the shower- one minute!" She reached up again and grabbed her shower cap to pull over her head and protect her not completely frizzy curls. It was a little ridiculous looking- brown and white with ears, styled after Gizmo from the Gremlins movie.
"Alright, shower away!"

Normally she'd be a bit bothered by how clingily doting he was being, but right now she didn't mind. She wanted him close too, after all… and was still mentally recovering from the whole thing.

"I dunno about recovery help? Like some kinda magical shit? I probably just gotta sleep or some shit and it'll be fine…" She waved a hand, before holding out the sponge and soap to him.
"You mind helping with my back and legs? Normally it ain't a problem but yknow… kinda feels like I got hit by a truck."

Pulling the drain to let the first batch of brown-red water gurgle into the sewer, Leon flicked the switch for the shower head and let the water come rushing down from a second place. Now the bathroom was getting so steamy, Leon had to open the door fully to make sure he could see. Granted, it was a bit awkward trying to get to where she needed him. The back was easy, and he happily included a nice, thorough back rubbing while staying away from the extra tender freshly stitched shoulder socket.

”We’re going to go to my Doctor. Not now, but… Later. To make sure you healed everything right, and that there won’t be any lasting issues. Usually, the first big wound a Green Lux Adept heals, they don’t get it right, so the bone grows at a funky angle from then on or something, and it doesn’t get corrected until they do it themselves years down the line.” he explained, hearing horror stories about bad healing jobs before.

”Some don’t make it. Stomach acid leaks from a shitty patch, a vein bursts on accident, there’s a clot of rotten material that gives you an embolism… I’m incredibly impressed, and extremely proud of you for pulling this off: I don’t want you to think I’m not. But, you’re too precious to not double check. Agreed?” he asked, thumbs sliding out from her spine, the right one sweeping to rub some dead skin away from the shoulder wound.

"Yeah, better to be safe than sorry!" Cass nodded. She'd gone extra limp, flopping her torso forward to rest on her knees while Leon rubbed her back. She stifled a little groan, because it felt pretty fucking good on her aching muscles. Not like she'd been doing anything strenuous with her back just… The stress of all the magic in them.

"I'm curious to see how well I did it, honestly! Cause I wasn't really actively casting again it just kinda… happened. Magical survival mechanism, I suppose! But there wasn't any thought put into it or that kinda shit, so maybe it was all done wrong and I'd never know till my whole arm falls off. Which would suck! I like having both of my arms!"

While her mind was quickly going back to its normal energetic place, she could still feel the heavy exhaustion in her limbs even after soaking them in hot water. Maybe she should take that recovery help… she'd see!

"So long as the doctor don't get all excited and start dissecting me for just being too good at self healing!" she joked.

”Doc Nedia learned how to practice Green Lux before she ever bothered learning how to practice practical medicine. If there’s something special about you, she’ll probably figure it out way before you need to get dissected. She’s pretty incredible: She comes from this village in Italy where all the women are healers, so it’s pretty much her life. Hopefully, she’ll even have pointers for you.”

He continued to rub and scrub at her back until it sparkled, then shifted to the more awkward position of trying to wash her legs without crawling into the tub. But, the small pause gave him enough time to worry about what’d happened all over again. About what it was that the Cats had finally managed to get into her head about… And so intensely? He remembered his own experience with being a true meal.

The nightmare about being abandoned. About being forgotten, and frozen in time while life passed him by. It seemed so distant now, and so silly… But it was a piece of himself he had truly killed. The anxiety of “not being enough”. It wasn’t hard to get rid of in his case, as he’d turned out to be more than proficient as an Adept during his time. But, just like he’d rescued her, he remembered waking up in pain as his father struggled and wrestled Kable to the floor. A man pinning a monster. Lynette’s shaky grasp of the verbal component to the binding spell making Maxwell’s struggle worse.

He remembered waking up for a moment and seeing the eyeball eating his own stomach… Trying to pry the pearl out…

”Fuck! The Pearl!”

Leon’s eyes went wide and he stared at Cass.

”It needs to come out… Uh… The Pearl. Catalyzed horror built up in your gut… It’s what, uh… He eats it. It’s what he was trying to pull out. I fucking forgot…”

"Huh?!" Cass froze, leg midair as she tried to move it into a better position for Leon to get to without hurting herself. A pearl of catalyzed horror… that sounds pretty fucking nasty! And it was inside of her?!

"Where?! How do I get it out?! Do I gotta cut my own stomach open? Or cough it up like a fucking furball- I'll do it! It just won't be fucking pleasant, uh… or is there a less nasty way?!"

Leon’s face was dire. He only remembered now thanks to the searing pain flooding back to him. He’d passed out as a child, so…
”It doesn’t form naturally, so it doesn’t pass naturally. My only question is if you want me to do it, or an Adept with healing magic.” his voice didn’t waver, but he really didn’t look happy about it.

Cass frowned a little bit, staring up at him. The suggestion of healing magic meant it must be pretty bad, but…
"What does it actually entail? How fast do we need to get it out? Cause I can't make that decision when I dunno what the fuck you'd be doing!"

Leon only frowned in response, shaking his head.
”I really don’t know how long it can just sit there before it gets toxic, but the only way it comes out is by blade or tooth. Lelou’s magic is the same kind as the Cat’s, so I can touch it without getting infected, but that still means I’m going in through the point of least resistance to pull it out.”

His hand gently pressed against her gut. Sure enough, there was a hard lump, like a tumor, sitting deep in the gut between the muscles and the wall of the stomach.

”Doctor Nedia could get it out the same way, just with less pain.” he explained.
”She’d have you lower your emotional field, and she’d part your stomach cell by cell until the cavity was open to pluck it out.”

Cass winced slightly, feeling the pressure on her gut even with how gentle he was being. She really didn't want a toxic ball of cat nightmares in her stomach for any longer than it had to be there! How long would it even take the doctor to get there?! Then the whole emotional field lowering and stomach parting… well it was about as bad as Leon just tearing in there. Either way, it was pretty bad but… she had been willing to slice her own stomach to rip it out when he brought it up.

"I don't wanna wait till it starts poisoning me, no way! Just do it- uh, actually, can you get some of that green goop shit first?! I dunno if I got enough juice left to heal it back up myself."

”Alright… I’ll be right back.”
He pushed forward on his knees, kissing her passionately before getting up fully and taking off to the exit.

Cass’ head tilted back to lean against the bathroom wall, closing her eyes for a moment. Mentally preparing herself for what was bound to be a shit ton of pain… But she could get through it. She'd already had a creature trying to tear her in half and gouging out her shoulder. She was tough. And she really wanted the toxic ball out of her fucking stomach.

Leon’s voice, along with others, broke the silence as he pushed back into the apartment.
”-o and take care of the damage downstairs.”

”Okay, but what about this!?”

”I’ve got this. Just tell Casey to wait until later, and have Ed and Serenity keep that fucking stupid bastard asleep. I need to move him tonight, but this needs to get handled first.”
And then Leon stepped into the bathroom, looking down at Cass.

”You okay, Baby? Mia’s here too, she’s not gonna stay unless you want her here… But I’ve got the stuff. You’re gonna be okay. Empty the tub, cut the water…”

As he knelt down, Cass could get a clear shot of Mia staring into the bathroom with tears filling her eyes. She covered her mouth instinctively, then turned her head in panic before turning it back and mouthing “I’m so sorry” without using her voice.

Cass raised a hand to wave off Mia's apology, offering her a genuine, comforting smile. It wasn't like she was in any pain yet… And she was a natural protector. She didn't want to burden those she didn't think could handle it with her problems.

"I'm okay!" She reached up to turn off the shower with a soft grunt of pain, before pulling out the plug. There was still some dried blood clinging to her legs and feet… but she'd need to wash again after this anyway.

"Uh, probably best if you don't stick around to watch, Mia! It ain't gonna be pretty… but like Lee said, I'll be alright. But before you go… you mind grabbing a clean towel or t-shirt or something from my closet? Y'know where shit is, you helped me put it in there… I'ma need something to bite down on."

She wasn't sure how her magic would react, and she really didn't want to risk biting clean through her tongue, even if the green goop would heal it afterwards.

A hand held out to get the little packet from Leon so she could have it on hand to stuff into her mouth as soon as he was done… Assuming she didn't pass out. She shouldn't! And she smiled at him, though she didn't let it hide the jittery nerves she felt about the whole thing. He was, after all, ripping a hole in her stomach.

"I know I'll be okay cause I trust you." She said quietly.

Leon nodded to her as Mia bolted for a cloth.
”This isn’t my first rodeo either. Don’t worry, it’s big: No chance I’ll be fishing around for it.”

From his back pocket, he produced an entirely different packet along with the green stuff. It was chocolate brown, and looked like a disgusting mess in its package.
”Y’like pudding? It’s for recovery; it’ll help you get back on your feet. I’d hate for you to lose your day, y’know?” he said, putting it down and ripping open the Key Lime.

Handing her the open pouch, he furrowed his brow.
”Fuck, he’s here… Shit. Fuck. Fine… Casey? Come upstairs to Cass’ apartment, God please don’t tell Trisha.”

He was talking to nothing, but he knew his Brother was already listening. He could feel the presence of White Lux like a person standing next to him, and he knew intrinsically that it wasn’t Mia. In fact, as she came back, she stepped into the exact same spot that the projection was in, muffling Casey’s feed of the situation for a moment.

”Fuck, Cass, I… We… We spent last night at a friend’s, but I knew, I knew! I knew I had a bad feeling, and I told myself I shouldn’t go but I didn’t follow it, I didn’t even take a nap to try and figure out what it was, I just…-”

She had taken a mostly-used roll of paper towels from the day before and stuffed the tube with a cloth to hand to Cass.

”-it’s gonna be over so quick, I promise. We’ve all had to go through this, all five of us siblings: You’re gonna be okay, and we’re gonna get rid of that fucking bastard once and for all…”

"Hey, don't worry ‘bout it, it ain't your fault! They were gonna try sometime, they just got real lucky. And hey, I get to see if it hurts more than when my brother had to snap my broken leg back into position and hand splint it cause've the bombings. Was pretty impressive, considering he really wasn't adjusted to the wheelchair then-" Cass rambled a bit, taking the cloth stuffed roll in one hand, carefully holding the green goop to the side in the other. She had no idea where Casey was spying for Leon to know and be talking to him but…

"Also, I second the not telling Trisha thing! I know none of us want her properly freaking out, right?" Of course no response, and she wasn't waiting for one.

Then she nodded to Leon.
"Do it, I'm ready as I'll ever be." The roll was shoved into her mouth and she tilted her head back, now free hand gripping the side of the tub in preparation.

”Oh, no you’re not… Eat the goo. It’s not going to be as bad for me to work through as it would be if I accidentally left something behind in there. Let’s wait for Casey to get up here…” Leon instructed, turning to Mia.

”Go, honey. You’re okay, go downstairs and cover Ed in case the Cat gets up.”

”Yeah, come on Mia, you already get queasy at stuff like this.”
Casey’s voice echoed through the apartment as his thick boots clunked against the floor. He was absolutely laden with military gear and equipment, the chest piece hanging half open from a massive slash in it.

”Cass? Sorry to see you like this Dude, uh… I mean, I’m gonna keep my eyes closed, but I’m used to human anatomy. If you want me to wait out here I will.”

His eyes were closed tight, though it didn’t exactly matter since he was using his own extrasensory perception to see anyway. He could just actively censor his vision with one, not the other.

”Just wait out there. Juice me for air, earth and water.”

”Right… Come on, Mia.”
Casey’s hand stretched out blindly, smacking against a wall before Mia moved toward him and out of the bathroom. Then, without ceremony, he closed the door to leave them alone.

Cass was absolutely slurping down the goo, drinking the whole packet and discarding it on the floor without much care. There was a little fizzling feeling across her skin, even though there was nothing to heal yet.

"Heh, he probably saved himself from a buncha stings to the eyes by keeping em closed." Cass half joked, though she imagined Trisha would be far more upset by the whole ripping something out of Cass' body thing than if Casey had seen her naked. Cass wasn't exactly someone bothered by that shit anyway…

"Alright, uh… Just try not to get my blood all over the walls, alright, Babe?" She reached up to rub his shoulder, before moving back into a position where she could properly brace herself in the bath while giving him easy access to her stomach.

As she braced herself, something beautiful was happening in front of her. The way Leon’s hair slowly, purposefully began to lift itself into the air and dance as all of the darkness in it faded away into pure white. Then, his face began to shift, the bones beneath the skin slowly rolling and tugging at his face until it was no longer Leon. Softer, fuller lips. Bigger eye sockets. Cheek bones tugging upward and back. Musculature in his body began to fade, until finally he was pale haired and…

”En’et enii deynu. Ib al hathra’aba n’dyet d’sedsena. N’nat… N’nat argbaga’draduida, N’nat ar alfhatim ib al assiit senasa! An e’centena, nur rimasthrasa bene ne et eget!”

Leon’s arm lifted, and there was a little grin that split the foreign lips.

”I’m happy to return the favor of getting into your guts.”

Unceremoniously the hand plunged into Cass’ stomach like the most dull knife on the planet. Every single bit of it hurt, and it was a downright miracle that nothing ruptured as flesh split open. A spurt of blood surged forth, splattering against the opposite side of the tub before oozing down the pure white wall. Every little movement that Leon’s fingers made, twisting through the tissue until there was a wet thock.

Then, the most painful part. Leon’s whole hand grabbed around it, and Cass would be able to feel the flesh from which the pearl developed being ripped and torn at the same time it was trying to form more muscle over the pearl. Having to use a second hand to stop from eviscerating Cass, Leon took a great breath in order to force the claws on his hands to develop into a set sharp enough to cut. After what seemed like an agonizing eternity, however, he managed to snip it loose and rip it out of Cass’ stomach.

What he held was fist sized itself, roughly shaped like a tear drop and colored like a bismuth crystal with every color of the rainbow to be found within. Meanwhile, the goo was working overtime as it closed up the cavity without much trouble. Granted, it still hurt like a motherfucker, but at least the worst was over.
Though, now there was time to realize that… Maybe this wasn’t Leon. Not with the way it was staring at the pearl, rather than paying any kind of attention to Cass…

The whole process had been excrutiating. It was a shame it hurt so much, cause the initial hand plunge was kinda hot.

Cass gripped onto the sides of the tub so hard that her knuckles turned white. Thank fuck she had no magic left, otherwise she might have broken it. The roll beneath her teeth saved her tongue from being as torn apart as her stomach. Her vision sputtered in and out at the worst point as the pearl was being torn out. Never quite fully blacking out, but getting close.

White hot, searing pain… Everything healing afterwards felt like a scratch in comparison. The roll dropped from her mouth and Cass curled forward with a groan as her stomach stitched itself back together. At least it was out. She'd be fine, and-

Whoa! Curled forward as she was, Cass turned to get a face full of breasts. Holy shit. He had tits! Wait, he had tits?!

The lack of immediate concern for her probably should've been the first tell, but in the moment her mind was still recovering from the agonising process. But now everything was becoming much clearer and… she was pretty certain she wasn't looking at Leon anymore. Didn't he have the collar or whatever?! Wasn't Casey in control- did this normally happen when he got juiced up by someone else? It was… probably fine, right?

Cass' hand slid forward for the shit coloured packet, tearing it open and quickly gulping it down as the pain slowly subsided. Her magic flooding back felt painful too, like sharp shocks across her body. But it helped with the exhaustion and the heaviness in her limbs, at least.

"Damn, that would've been pretty hot if it hadn't felt like I was dying." She broke the silence with a slight laugh, eyebrows raising up and down. Her somewhat hoarse voice raised to be a bit louder so that any magical listeners could hear as she stared pointedly at his- her- chest.

"Holy shit, when the fuck in the process did you grow tits?!"

”Thousands of years ago, silly girl…”
The not Leon surged forward, locking lips with Cass for a long moment before pulling away.
”Your fortitude has impressed upon me. You are graced by a facsimile of the Queen of Wolves, in spite of all reluctance. Yet, your nightmare is mine to devour. Not that stuffed housecat. As payment…”

Ooh, great… Presumably Lelou was fully in control right now. Sure, the kiss was pretty hot and left Cass a bit red faced and panting, and she wasn't trying to kill her… But was she going to give Leon back?! Cass really couldn't have her boyfriend turning into a girlfriend and running off into the woods right now!

"Oh, well, I'm very glad you're impressed… My Queen? Your Majesty? Anyway! You're very beautiful, very sexy, perfectly ripped that nightmare outta my stomach, the whole thing but, uh-" Cass tilted her head from side to side as she tried not to just be fucking blunt like normal in case she ended up as a wolf meal. Which, sure, would probably be pretty hot to start with before it got really gorey…

"What'll happen to Leon when you eat it?"

There was a facial expression that Leon never really made. A single eyebrow raised up on Lelou’s face, practically climbing up her forehead and into the hairline above.

”Odd thing to ask… You would presume there were side effects at all? When the precious control has come back to his life? My manifestation is hardly my choice, you see. Thus, all that goes with it, goes with me into the dark when it’s over.”

Lelou stared at Cass for a long moment, the sensation of being seen as a meal waxing and waning in that short time.

”The body isn’t mine. Not like you would imagine it should be. Not like you, living in your head. I have my own space, thus anything I do is isolated until I’m forced to manifest again. And, unlike me, with this wretched-”

Oddly like the head was not attached to the rest of the body, she pointed with her chin at the collar around her neck.

”-leather binding, Leon gets a nice cushy space to wait for his seat. And the Bastard Man pulling on it makes me wish I could hoist my leg and piss all over the place.”
She certainly didn’t seem like she was pleased, but at least it also seemed like she wasn’t able to do what she actually wanted to. It was interesting to say the least.

”Too bad, you don’t get anymore ghost shows. I can no longer project any part of my psyche past my prison without express permission. Thus, no dancing in the steam around Leon as he cools off… No more whispers in your ear at night. Nothing of me… Tell me you’ll miss me, Cass…” she pouted.

It was pretty difficult for Cass to suppress a giggle at the literal Wolf Queen poutily asking something like that. It was strangely cute, similar to the feeling she had whenever Leon acted more clingy- things that contrasted appearance, at least. She did feel pretty bad for her, even though she knew it being this way was the best for Leon and everyone else around them. Safer…

It was just shitty there wasn’t a solution where everyone could be happy.

”Course I’ll miss you!” Cass couldn’t resist darting forward to kiss Lelou’s pouting lips, fully prepared to heal if she decided to bite something off in retaliation. No pain no gain!

It was probably pretty bad that her mind was going wild from the possibility that they could totally, actually, safely fuck. A little awkward cause Casey had to be involved, but still possible! And not really where her mind should be after everything that had happened and then just been said… But-

”Wait, does that mean if we fucked, Leon wouldn’t be able to watch?! That’s kinda sad- not that it’d be much less hot- unless pissing was involved cause this place is real nice and new and I don’t wanna deal with cleaning that up- not that it’s even a possibility right now-” And there it was, the raw thoughts spilling out, skipping past any of the more serious ones she’d had.

Which wasn’t anything Lelou wasn’t used to at this point. As equally as Leon was conditioned to deal with her thoughts uninhibited, so too was she with his. It was a painful exchange of a modern man’s anxieties and an ancient woman’s proclivities. Not the same, not similar, and in her mind, certainly not equal. But, not equal meant that lesser issues rolled off her back like water off of a duck.

”No. But the Brother would. Or, whoever holds the leash.”

Lelou leaned forward, practically sticking her nose into Cass’ mouth and sniffing before pulling back.

”You’re sick. There are beans that would help you, but I don’t know where to find them. The Doctor will know… Now-”

Her hand pulled the bismuth colored stone up into the light again. In doing so, one would be able to see Cass’ dream surrounded by the dreams of all the people it took to put Manchester together…
Including dreams of her entire family, which bubbled up to the surface as Lelou stared into it again. Of loss, and mourning, and of ill-gotten goods and things that had to be done. The war never truly left any of them.

”-cheers, Immulmalkus. I win this round.”

Lelou let her entire jaw unhook from its seating, then swung her cranium backward to open her mouth as wide as possible. Like a pelican swallowing its catch, all the musculature clamped down on a massive wall of emotional energy. Its invisible sides held the little stone in midair, and Lelou slowly but surely massaged this mass of invisible material down her gullet and into her waiting stomach.

There was hardly a moment of time before she belched, releasing a sauna’s worth of steam that carried the screams and cries of Cass’ victims in its tendrils. Lelou rolled back on her knees, letting her ass hit the floor and her torso tilt back as she digested the memories in absolute ecstasy.

”Ohhhhhhhh… You’re so worried about something impossible. Clearly, your immediate revulsion at the implied loss of your morality should tell you all you need to know about yourself, Little Wolf. You are a righteous one: We would’ve called you Packguard. You would’ve protected the pups and the old dogs. Brought peace to the clans. Instead, you live in a time where you’re forced into the bubble of girl. And yet, you continue to worry about others.”

Her body listed forward again, once more staring directly at Cass through the crying smog.

”You’re doing the right thing. Find your beans. Shape your clan as you see fit. Kill those who deserve it, and only those.”

Cass tensed again at the escaping screams, fingers reactively curling into her palm and squeezing. Sure, what Lelou said made sense. She didn’t want to become something like that. It horrified her. But how could she guarantee it wouldn’t happen when she killed so easily, even if it was those that deserved it?

She wasn’t entirely sure she could trust moral advice from a Queen of Slaughter…

And what did Lelou mean about her being sick?! Was she coming down with a cold? Was it something worse? Shit, was this like how dogs sniffed out cancer. Did she have cancer?! But what kind of fucking bean helped with cancer?! Unwittingly she thought about baked beans, and her stomach grumbled in response. The Green Lux demanded being fed…

”Well… I’ll try my best to only kill those who deserve it! And I do like the sound of ‘Packguard’. Not that there’s any kids or elderly around me to protect- anyway. Thanks! Ain’t many who put it so bluntly, heh. That I’m doing shit right…” Her balled hands unclenched, reaching up to scratch the back of her neck.

Did she ask if she was dying? No, no, she didn’t have to, if there were some strange beans that helped. Strange, deadly disease curing beans… Or it was just a cold, and Lelou really meant baked beans, which were the cure for everything… Fuck, she was hungry.

”Right now I could kill for a fucking burger. All this talk bout beans and watching you eat that very inedible looking crystal nightmare’s got me fucking ravenous…” Cass half mumbled. There was so much to do before she ate. Namely, cleaning all the new blood off of her.

She leaned her head a bit forward, properly meeting Lelou’s gaze. She hadn’t been purposefully avoiding it, just her mind flying to a million different places.
”I know it wasn’t your choice and all, but thank you, really, for digging that shit out.”

”A Queen does for her consorts what she would do for herself. Occasionally, a Wampus Cat slips in: This is a fact of life.”

She twisted her body in an incredibly inhuman way, and the sound of bones snapping meant only one thing… Her time was limited now.

”Damn this collar! Get him to take it off when you fuck! Please! If you miss me, if you’re grateful, you’ll let me g-eKLAAGGGRRRRRRR-”

There was a terrible moment where the body hung in the limbo of death as the prisoner was shuffled away. In that span, the most painful parts of the subtle transformation rescinded. The facial bones constricted, tightening and becoming angular like the grill of a luxury British car. Before her very eyes, Leon was reformed bone by bone until all the eumelanin flooded his hair with darkness once again.

”-RAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA FUCK!” Leon shouted, arms flailing around despite his torso seeming to be stuck in a half-broken position.
”NO, NO, FUCKING BITCH, GODDA-”

Leon pulled himself up to one knee, both arms wrapping around him like a straight jacket. Then, with a single hard jerk, he used all the control of his body he could muster to fully reset his spine. The pop was deadly in the echoey little bathroom, and he gasped like his lungs were an old leather bag. But, he was breathing, and his torso seemed fully animated now as he rotated his shoulder cuffs and finally looked up at Cass.

”Holy… Fuck… He can’t run that fucking thing. Casey!? We need to find a replacement, like, yesterday.”
He looked in disbelief, and shook his head frustratedly as he looked at Cass.
”He nearly just killed me, Babe; that was not how that was supposed to work, holy fuck…”

”Awww, that did look pretty fucking painful!”

”No! Like… That was way too far toward the she’s getting out side of the spectrum. Like, I didn’t mean… I would’ve told you to expect her if I thought for even a second that was going to happen… I’m so sorry…”

”Oh, it’s alright, I managed to stop her from pissing all over my apartment!” Cass waved a hand at him over the tub, which she was still sitting in. Naked, still, aside from the shower cap. Stomach covered in blood. But certainly no worse for wear overall.

”Sure, I was pretty worried for a moment that she was like properly in control, but it was fine! She didn’t do anything. Actually she started pouting and asking if I was gonna miss her after complaining about the collar and threatening to piss all over everything…” The whole thing hadn’t really bothered her, and she didn’t want Leon worrying about apologising to her… Especially not if it could’ve actually killed him. Or presumably let Lelou out.

If anything, it had been kind of useful. At least the whole Cass being sick thing… Though she didn’t really feel it. Really, she felt perfectly fine thanks to the various magical goops she’d drank, which was pretty amazing considering all her body had been through.

”It’s all okay, Babe. I ain’t gotta toxic ball in my stomach, you ain’t trapped in a cushy mind prison, nobody’s dying unless the cold Lelou smelled on my breath is actually cancer but there’s no way that’s the case-”

Leon immediately rushed forward, doing much the same as Lelou had previously. His nose stuffed into her mouth, he sniffed around for a moment before pulling back and narrowing his eyes: His skeptical face. Perfect, and clearly back in full control.

”I… Don’t smell anything weird, but Dumbo opened the air seal wide so she was probably running close to full power. She can practically smell genetic deformities, it’s so accurate… So, I guess we’ll mention that to the Doc today. Yeah?” he asked, reaching toward the tub faucet to turn it on.

”Yeah, guess it’s best to get checked out… But I bet it ain’t much, cause I feel great! Aside from all the blood still sticking to me. And I gotta real craving for baked beans after Lelou talked about some beans that’d help.” Cass let out a quiet pained groan. She wasn’t particularly worried about the sickness thing right now because, as she said, she hadn’t really felt anything. She really was sure it was just some small thing, and the Doc would agree. Certainly not a genetic deformity!

”Actually, I gotta craving for a lotta food. We gotta order something after I’m actually clean… Uh, is Casey gonna be hanging around for a while? I assume he’s gotta do some security head questioning shit?”

”I mean, I’ve got a good idea of what happened… I think we’re all square so long as nobody tells the Queen in the High House, right? Like, just, y’know none of us need the trouble. Leon, I’m gonna fix the apartment, and you, me and Mia are gonna have a conversation about this whole leash thing.” Casey spoke clearly from right outside the door.

”Alright. I’m taking her to Andrade’s.” is all Leon replied with, doing his absolute best to hold back any reaction as he could feel his brother’s stare. It was just like their Mom; that same feeling of two eyes in the darkness. A predator being watched by something ethereal…

”After the night we had, you deserve a break. I’ll call some of the girls, have them take Layla for the day.”

”Thanks…”

There were a lot of things neither of them were going to be able to talk about for a while. Too much pain. But Leon wasn’t going to let it reach Cass; not like that. And especially not after what had just happened… There was no way he was going to let her feel anything but joy for quite some time. She didn’t deserve anything else.

”Cass? If Trisha asks, like oh, I don’t know… ‘Did anyone tell you the building was on lockdown?’ Just say you were sleeping, please? Or, whatever she’ll believe: You know best. And feel better, you really handled this like a champ. All of us know what this is like: The whole process… I think they’ll all tell you I had it the worst.”

Leon nodded.

”No Emotional Field. We all learned where the pearl formed because we all had to get it out of Casey at one point or another.”

”Just… Don’t worry about that. Get a big meal, and go see Doctor Andy. She’ll be thrilled to meet you.” Mia’s voice broke from the other side.
”We’ll be here when you get back. And the Cats won’t be!” she sounded cheerful at least… Hopeful.

”They better not be, or I’ll beat their furry asses!” Cass declared with far too much confidence for someone who’d almost been eaten by them. She was relatively confident she wouldn’t let them get to her like that again… At least, not if they couldn’t try for the next few days. She’d need time to process it, remember all those techniques her therapist recommended, then she’d get through it.

Not something to think about right now. Or today at all. For once she really wanted to push it down for just a little while.

The bath was properly filling up again, hot water relaxing her still aching muscles and soaking off the fresh blood. It felt nice.

”But thanks, Mia, I’ll enjoy the meal and suffer the doctor’s trip- And don’t worry, Casey, I’ll make sure to give Trisha the most convincing lie ever. It ain’t gonna be good for anyone, her included.” She nodded, sinking further into the water with a soft sigh.
”And it’s all fine now. Leon can confirm I’m in one very sexy piece.”

Casey’s laugh was audible through the door, as was his vocalization of shuffling Mia out. The only thing left was the two of them, and a second bath… Plus, Leon’s arm up to his mid-forearm was coated in Cass’ blood… He took a long, deep breath, then stuck his hand into the water. There was a long silence as Leon tried to drum up a way to talk about how tired he was… But it all seemed dumb. Why mention it? There was no time. It wasn’t worth it.

He dipped his arm into the hot water to gently rub Cass’ thigh. It moved upward to her stomach, thumb pressing to scrub away lingering scabs.
”I don’t think I’m ever going to find out about Dad at this rate… Not that I made much progress to begin with. I can’t believe I let this shit perpetuate… Oh, what am I saying? Of course I did this. Of course. I didn’t do it when Casey brought Trisha home, but now that you’re hurt I can’t-”

He shook his head turning his face away from her but leaning in to put his head on her shoulder. He really couldn’t excuse himself. He’d ignored someone else’s problem, and now couldn’t stand for it when the problem came back home. Trisha was just lucky her pain was exquisite. This, Leon was sure, was petty revenge on Kable’s part. Simply to show her that he could get her.
But he’d heard the cat describe Trisha as a tree, rather than something like a tuber. The implication, he always came to at least, was that she was a long game. Someone worth cultivating.

At least she’d never been hurt for real. Not like Cass.

”-Fuck it… Your shower cap is really cute, Babe… Let’s watch that later, after we get home. All six of them.” he said with a pouty intonation, similar to Lelou.

Cass turned her head to nuzzle into Leon’s hair. She considered for a moment whether she was going to say that yeah, it was pretty fucked up he’d kept the Wampus around to torture everyone for some information, and was only thinking about getting rid of it now that she’d been hurt. But he was clearly already pretty torn up about it… And her lack of any comforting denial was basically an agreement.

”Babe… I don’t have a TV yet! We ain’t watching shit unless your place is fixed enough. Which, I guess it might be, cause magic?” Her head tilted from sided to side in thought.

He wordlessly nodded in agreement.

”Oh, right, well then… sure, we can watch all of em! You don’t have to pout like I’m aboutta spit in your face and say no or some shit.” She let out a little snorting laugh, head moving around to try and force her face into his. It was a bit of an awkward angle… Her arms swished in the water, unable to really keep still even in a hot, ‘relaxing’ bath now that her magic and thus energy was back.

”You should apologise to Trisha and Casey and Mia and Ed and Hari and anyone else the Cats’ve tormented, though, cause yeah keeping ‘em around when they’ve been doing that shit is pretty fucked up! I mean I assume they ain’t gone so far with Trisha, but she clearly got all tense and touchy when they were brought up before… ‘Specially if you grew up with ‘em! Like yeah, I can’t really say it was alright even knowing why.”

The plan to not talk about it went out the window, even though she’d only meant to say the first bit…

Leon knew not to protest at this point. Frankly, he barely had the will to. Besides, this was frankly something he could take being yelled at over. The other stuff was going to be his burden to live with. His scar to heal. He felt the welling of a question, but let it fade just as quickly. Only nodded once again, taking a deep breath.

”I will. I am… It’ll be fine. Trisha won’t forgive me, I won’t expect it. Don’t deserve it. Again.”

With a glum expression, Leon lifted his arm out of the water unceremoniously and stood.

”Finish up whenever you want. I’ll be right here.”
His large body turned and stuck itself in the doorway, slowly swinging it closed behind him.

Cass tilted her head with a hint of confusion, but didn’t stop him from leaving. If he wanted a bit of space, that was alright!

Not that she was… actually going to give him much alone time…

She’d never been a big fan of the whole lying still in a bath thing, especially not one turning red with her blood. But she had to make sure everything was properly clean. The worst thing would be to find a patch of blood somewhere and get it on more clothes and have to wash again.

It was only after scrubbing the foot that had kicked through his gut for a solid five minutes that she realised maybe, just maybe, pushing all the shit down wasn’t working. At least, not when she was alone.

Sure, Lelou said it was impossible, but it was honestly really hard to believe a moral judgement made by a murderous ghost. And there was truth in it. She really fucking struggled to control her magic! She’d kicked through Leon’s gut! Sure, he could take it, but could the other people she cared about?!

”Fucking Wild Witch bullshit.” She muttered under her breath, finally stepping out of the bath. She grabbed the towel she’d had hanging up, beginning to vigorously dry herself. There was still a dull ache in her joints, but it was pretty easy to ignore. Like she’d done too much strenuous exercise… She’d be right as rain tomorrow. Drying herself didn’t take long thanks to not having to deal with her hair. Both the towel and shower cap were discarded onto the floor to deal with later.

Cass popped her head round the door to locate Leon first before shuffling out, heading straight for him rather than bothering with going for clothes. She’d get to that in a moment… And she was still pretty warm from the bath, skin flushed from the heat.

”You, uh, doing alright, Leon? You ain’t been in here spiralling or something while I was finishing up? Took longer than expected, really needed to scrub that foot raw to get all’ve your blood off’a it.” She laughed with a hint of discomfort behind it.

Then she somewhat dramatically stretched her arms out, leaning her body to perfectly fall against him with her arms wriggling right under his.
”God, I need some comforting cause my perfect plan of lying sexily in wait in your bed got fucking cockblocked!”

She sure did need comforting… His problem, however, was who was going to comfort him? It almost seemed worth taking the collar off just to hear her say he was being foolish and emotional. That it wasn’t behavior becoming of her vessel, and that he should prostrate himself upon a bed of coals as punishment.

How healthy could that be?

He had deposited himself on the floor outside the bathroom, head and torso tucked in between both of his long legs and arms wrapped tight like a human sushi. But as Cass emerged, he tightened up. Muscles tensed him into a standing position, one hand grabbing hers and pulling her close into a tight hug.

She needed comfort? Fine. But he didn't have words to go with the action. Words would've turned into regret far too quickly as he once again sought this woman's approval. He wanted comfort too, and validation enough to get over the feeling of failure… But she had confirmed his feelings by way of her moral instruction, and there were just some things you didn't get to crawl away from.

Apologize? He'd apologized over and over. Was he really sorry? At this point, even that was debatable. Incident after incident proved, at least, that there was some level of disconnect between his emotions and his actions.

”We'll just hang out as long as you want… You probably don't want to go anywhere after that whole debacle, do you?” he asked with a real streak of sincerity as he rubbed his hands up and down her bare back.

Cass rubbed her face into his chest for a moment before tilting it back to look up at him.
"Yeah, I ain't really feeling up to going out and pretending to be human… But if you'd rather go to Andrade's cause the food’s better than takeaway, I can deal! And we should probably still go see that Doctor just to make sure I ain't actively dying from bad shoulder job or disease."

As she stared up at him, her arms wriggled up until her hands were holding his face. It was pretty obvious he wasn't so alright, from the tension and the general dour look. If anything he was taking it all worse than her. This was one of the few times something was really lingering for her, showing all the signs of what could be a real long term problem. An internalised fear that had spiked when she was left alone in the bathroom. But she wasn't going to become what she feared right there and then.

Her thumbs rubbed against Leon's face, before a finger tapped against the side of his head.
"What's going on in that big noggin of yours? I can tell that it's real noisy in there, and it's, like, all across your face. Maybe it's just what happened, but…" She trailed off, staring at him with a mixture of encouragement and expectation. He could brush it off if he wanted to. But she also didn't want him stewing if she could help it.

Or god forbid thinking he had to keep shit in cause of everything she'd just been through.

He was awful at hiding his expression in a resting position. Unable to avoid the explanation, he tried to think of ways to minimize without making it sound like he was trying too hard.

”It’s been a lot of months since it was just me. With the collar on, I can close the door. I don’t hear all the whispering, and all the yelling. So, I… Forgot that when it’s just me, I get stuck on things. Hung up. I feel like a failure right now, and all I can do is make it up to the people who need to be made up to. I just… Don’t do failure well. I wasn’t raised to do well with it, I don’t fail often-” in my own eyes. “-and it’s just… Something I need to struggle to get over. Last night was an awful thing, and to come home and find this happening?”

As he held her, he brought one arm down to scoop her up, bringing her into her room and sliding her down onto her bed before moving to the dresser. He could get all the things outside brought in, including Nedia who was always willing to get out of the office for an emergency. He just didn’t want to be there. Not where Trisha could come down at any minute and ruin his entire fucking life.
So he started rummaging through her drawers for nice comfortable home clothes. Simple panties, pajama pants, a tank-top.

”It felt like the Cat knew. Like, someone told it that I wasn’t going to be here, or it found out somehow. My brain keeps coming back to it being my fault, which is only making things worse because its true on multiple different fronts. And, you’re being real cool about it. Real cool. Like you didn’t just go through something that you never should’ve had to. Like you’re not pissed. Which, again, is just… Making me more crazy! Because, y’know, how’s she not mad? Right? Like how’s she not just packin’ her shit up, like you fucked up dude! You lose this one, because you continue to-”

He turned, handing her clothes off to her before flopping down face first behind her.

”-Aw fuck it. I’ll just keep going in circles. We’ll fuckin’... I’ll call Nedia in a few minutes, she’ll probably scream all the way over here. And I’ll call the restaurant, request a meal delivered. I don’t even fuckin’ care, I’m eating what I want today, fuck the g-” he trailed off, stuffing his face into the bed and continuing to babble incoherently.

In spite of this, his hand still reached out and pressed up against Cass’ back, fingers gently rubbing up and down. She needed comfort. Fuck!

"Whoa, we ain't just jumping past that one to calling people and shit!" Cass wriggled into the clothes he'd pulled out for her as quickly as possible without actually having to get up. It was a lot to take in, but she kinda got where it was coming from… A bit. She remembered one argument, ish, she had with Trisha a long while ago… when her friend fucked something up, and Cass was super chill about it after. Trisha actually got upset that she wasn't angry. She thought it meant Cass didn't care… Course, Cass wasn't sure if it was the same for Leon…

But the two did have a surprisingly similar reaction to things. Probably why they struggled so much to get on.

She reached around to capture the hand on her back, flopping down onto her stomach beside him. She pulled his arm around her and wriggled close until her face was right next to is, staring at him trying to practically suffocate himself in the sheets.

"I ain't gonna leave over something that… Well, sure, you brought the cats into the building. But they're some kinda ancient monster who I bet'd get what they want however they could. They just happened to have something to dangle over your head. So yeah, that was a fuck up. But it ain't a fuck up of leaving proportions."

She flipped herself onto her side, just about managing to shove one arm under him so she could hug him from the side.

"Would you… rather I was pissed? Do you think I ain't feeling anything over it cause I ain't?"

He took a long, deep breath.

”No. I know you feel over it. I feel shamed by your good nature; that I don’t deserve your evenness. Your temperate nature inadvertently reminds me that I’ll never be that good. And so, selfishly, I wish you were worse. Vindictive, or withholding some kind of motive, so that I could re-justify my own poor choices. I feel like a fucking psychopath, especially when I’m not even…-” telling you the whole truth. “-I’m not even sure how to bring up the context for what the fuck I had to do last night. I really just… Want to comfort you. So, maybe I can just stop talking? And listen to you?” he finally looked up from the bed sheets back into her eyes.

Cass stared back, trying to make sure if that was actually what he wanted or if he was just brushing off the problem. But she couldn't really tell.

"Sure, if that's what you want… but comforting can go both ways! And… I really don't think you're a psychopath, or anywhere near it." She responded genuinely, leaning forward to rub her nose against his.

It wasn't like she was perfect. Sure, she tried to be a good person. She'd done a lot to work on real anger issues she'd had as a kid, along with getting them shouted out of her by her parents. But when something did manage to piss her off… It was bad. Really bad. He just hadn't seen it yet. Hopefully wouldn't have to!

"They really were super lucky. The cats, that is. I was feeling off all day yesterday! Cause've the call with Jack. Both the whole Mum thing and, y'know, the whole ‘people who can just kill people without thinking are the scariest’ thing. Really got me thinking. My mind was real fucking crowded, even programming and drumming didn't help." She shrugged one shoulder.

She was trying to figure out how much she wanted to get into it. The dream. She could kind of tell what Leon would say… he'd think it was impossible just like Lelou did, probably. But it was one of those things where external validation wouldn't really help. She had to believe it internally.

"Couldn't sleep either! Which is why I was down in your place… It, uh, helped being somewhere that smelt like you- Well I missed you!- but anyway! They really wouldn't have got in if it wasn't for me already kinda dwelling on that stuff. The… Killing stuff…"

Having zero recollection of the nightmares which his physical form had only just consumed, he’d only had a cursory idea of what the nightmare could’ve actually been. He’d first assumed that it was more like what Mia had gone through, and that there may be some kind of hidden sexual trauma that needed to be gone over. He was selfishly pleased that wasn’t the case, finding that her dwelling on the fact that she’d been blooded was far easier to deal with.

Not simple, of course. Just more familiar. He hadn’t known how to comfort Mia then, and he still didn’t now. But killing? Granted, there was little comfort for it. What, ‘You’ll be okay’? She may never be. The screams may haunt her forever. Good. She’d never become what she was afraid of at that rate, and maybe one day she’d wind up desensitized entirely to it. Like him. He didn’t lust for blood, he didn’t crave fatal action. He liked to sleep around, eat lots of food, and strut around like a peacock in the ring. Occasionally, the urge to commit violence came as naturally as any other wave of testosterone, but he was tempered.

He’d been taught how to live with violence. How to be violent without being evil. You couldn’t be evil in the boxing ring, or shit like biting someone’s ear off tended to happen. You punched harder than you needed to. He couldn’t afford that as who he was. Especially when he had to take the collar off in the ring. The sedatives were just enough to make it so he had to put effort into killing someone, but he still felt it in every single swing of his arms. The force never really left.

”It’s hitting you hard. There’s nothing wrong with that. The action isn’t supposed to be natural for us; we’ve evolved out of that instinctual comfort with killing that we had as apes. But, think about the world we live in… Whatever media we intake, daily thoughts and emotions unexpressed; it’s a shitshow. Practically sets your mind up to see the act as another part of entertainment. I wouldn’t doubt, at least, that the lack of hesitation is just that sensation manifest. And then, all this is just your brain reminding you that it was actually wrong…”

He slid his head forward slightly, pressing it against hers.

”I don’t know who you’ll be in a year. I don’t really know how much the last few weeks will affect the rest of your life. But I promise I’ll always give you exactly what you give me. Love, kindness, tenderness and fairness. That’s uh… Who I see you as. Someone who is kind, tender, fair, and loving. And none of these necessarily mean you’re incapable of being the opposite, just… I see who I see.” he admitted, hoping his honest feelings may help actually comfort her in some way.

Cass' lips pressed together into a small frown as she thought about what he said. Maybe that was it. But it didn't particularly feel like it was her brain reminding her that it was wrong… Because she was having to force herself to think about it. Even now, she didn't really feel any guilt about the people she'd killed. Fear that she had the capacity to hurt and kill her loved ones, yes. But very little guilt…

"That is who I try to be… And it does come pretty naturally! But it feels like I put people in two boxes. Those I love, and those I don't. You get the me that you see… And it's not like I'm an asshole to other people! Not at all! But if someone hurt you, or Trisha, or Casey, or the girls, or my brothers, or any friends of mine… I don't think I'd hesitate to hurt them back. Because I still don't actually feel guilty about killing. That's what scares me! And I'm worried that one day I won't be able to tell the difference between people I love and don't."

She let out a little huff, mostly at herself.
"It probably sounds a bit ridiculous, right? Like, with how you see me… But in the dream it started as an accident. I killed my younger brother because I couldn't control my magic. Then, it was enemies. Then, the rest of my family. Because I couldn't cope- with my mother's expectations and with the boredom of life at home. It was kind of a mercy kill then. But… then I killed everyone you loved too. Until it was just you left, and I woke up before I could finish that. And I know it was the cats. But it's true that my control of my magic isn't great. And I really think I have that capacity… I don't think I'd ever let myself get that far, but it doesn't make it any less scary."

It all came spilling out when faced with him trying his best to comfort her. It was difficult, because there was a complicated mix of incredibly possible and unlikely. The very real fact that she couldn't always control her magic. But she was unlikely to ever get as far as she did in the dream. She was too aware. But, she shouldn't be alright with killing anyone. And if anything she needed to keep that fear in the back of her mind to stop herself from ever stepping over the edge.

”I… Mean… I’ve dealt with this. I thought it was different, honestly, because I was already so used to being violent. Used to killing with my magic. I never had a fear of it like that. But, when I took Lelou on, there were a few Full Moons before the bindings were complete. Full moons that I… I really did hurt the people I love. Furio, Clarissa, Andrade, Hell even ex-Sycamites who were still willing to throw a helping hand in now and again. People are dead because of me. And, yeah… I was really worried about when the next time I was going to freak out was.”

But it was a monster inside him, ultimately. Not the monster inside, but an external entity bent on carrying out its own will through his physical form. Not the same, dumbass.

”It… Was the girls. Well, just Mia and Ed, really. Both didn’t want to live where they were at the Temple dorms. So, I cleared out the other side of the apartment, and gave it to them. And they stuck around, and didn’t leave me even on the nights that I thought I wasn’t going to have control. Ed wasn’t even Adjoined then. But they both just… Stuck around. Ready for anything. So, I’ll follow suit. I’ll be right here with you, whether you think you’re fine, or you think you’re gonna freak out. I’d rather you kick a hole through my stomach than get to someone who can’t heal through it.”

He let his body shift up onto one side, both arms slipping fully around her to pull her close.

”I’m here. And we’ll take steps to improve your knowledge and ability, so you’ll have the chance to gain the confidence you need. Sound about right?” he asked gently, voice rumbly in the low tone.

Cass nodded slowly.
"That does… help. I don't want to hurt you at all, but at least you can take it… Which sounds really bad outta context! But when I was finishing cleaning up I just kept scrubbing the foot I shoved through your gut thinking how fucking shit that was but also, what if it had been someone else? Because it would've killed a lot of people…"

She pressed her body against his, taking a deep breath. It did help. The fear and frustration was still there, but she knew that if shit happened Leon wouldn't let her get to anyone else. There was real comfort in that.

"Hopefully with more training and practice the uncontrollable bit won't be a problem, at least! It's tough cause so much of that shit comes naturally, and then I ain't sure how to do it… by choice? Like if I hadn't ran outta magical juice then I'd probably still be stuck with a bunch've sharp bits. But! You're right about just needing to take steps to improve all that… It ain't gonna be like this forever. And I ain't dealing with it alone! It'll be in the back of my mind for a while, and honestly I still gotta do some processing myself, but knowing you'll be here helps an awful lot."

Leon brushed Cass’ curls around gently with his fingers, taking one around the index and playing with it slightly.

”Even if I’m not here, I don’t mind bringing you wherever I will be… I’d rather you dealing with shit around me than dealing with it solely by yourself. The world of the Paranormal isn’t one that should be learned listlessly, and we shouldn’t leave shit up to chance. Because you have a terrible habit of casting without your Channeler, and it’s gonna fuck you up before you end up hurting someone by accident, I promise that. Like, fuck it, we’ll get you a private Green tutor, I know someone honestly, I think they’d be perfect.” he explained, shrugging his shoulders at the end.

"Terrible habit suggests it's on purpose! Whenever I cast without it, it ain't on purpose! It's always that accidental casting shit… And it ain't hurt me yet…" Cass protested with a little pout. Maybe she needed to figure out a spell to shove her channeler inside her skin, then she'd never have to worry about casting without it anyway…

"But who is it that you think'd help?! Not that I'll know em… But y'know! I'd like a name!"

”There’s this guy, Temple Member, runs a big bar down in the Waterfront. Comes from a long line of Green Lux Adepts. He’s got this cousin I met once, she’s a part of our charter in the Congo. I’d call her back in a heartbeat if it meant that you’d feel more comfortable than what we’ve been doing thus far. Her name’s Naomi.” Leon explained, recalling that they’d hit it off well when they’d met.

He remembered being incredibly impressed by her fundamental grasp of Luxal theory, as well as her emotional well of Joy that Green Lux required.

”She’s definitely another actual Green Adept. Just like you; always way more happy to be alive than anyone else. The joy you walk with is honestly impressive as Hell.”

"Hehe, well, someone's always gotta be happy when everyone else is so glum! It wasn't even fueling any magic for me for a long while…" Cass grinned. She really did love living. There was a lot to be happy about around all the bad shit.

"But… from the Congo?! That's a long fucking way for someone to come just to help me with magic! I ain't sure it's that bad?! Okay, I mean, my control is pretty bad and I do keep wildcasting and shit but… that's a really really long way for someone to come!"

”I won’t fault you for forgetting that there’s a whole school of magic that lets people teleport.” he said, grinning for the first time in a couple of hours at least.
”She could be here in an hour and be back in time to catch lunch.” he giggled to himself, brushing his finger against her cheek.

"Ughhhh… Fucking magic! I'm still getting to grips with what everyone I know can do, nevermind all the other types! Takes a lot more than a couple of years knowing about it to get over a lifetime of not…" Cass good naturedly grumbled, putting on an exaggerated grumpy face.

"And here I've been wasting all my money on planes and petrol… I do love my magic, but Teleportation would be so fucking useful!"

He shook his head immediately.
”Purple Lux is based on the user feeling anticipation. Pretty often, that makes purple Adepts totally neurotic. Jumped the fuck up, honestly. You’re excited and fun, they’re usually just excited. High strung, or just plain kooky.” he explained, thinking about all the cool shit they could do.

”But if you master that shit, it’s the gateway to Chronomancy. Time magic. They’re in the same school if you can imagine it.”

"Shit, really? Time magic is way beyond me. Like that's the kinda shit I wouldn't wanna touch… imagine how much you could fuck everything up! I'd totally cause a Back to the Future scenario if I could mess with time!" Cass wriggled a bit as she thought about it.

It would be cool… But also pretty insane. Teleportation and time! Damn, she wasn't gonna be messing with a purple adept anytime soon.
"I take it back, I'm happy with my nice, practical and totally understandable magic."

”We have this whole facility outside town that uses portal magic to break physics and… Like… Synthesize magical materials from the edges of spacetime. It’s this crazy complex process, I’m not sure they’re going to keep it running after uh… Everything falls down.”

Taking a deep breath, Leon closed his eyes. Thinking about that, then the Farm last night… The PRA stepping in…

”We should… I should at least call the Doc. I need to go get my phone… I think it’s-”

He reached one hand down, stuffing itself into his pocket and fishing around for the broken piece of technology. It’d been smashed against the stone floor when Kable flung him off.

”-fuckin’ broken… Right.”

Rather than move to get up, he just curled up a little closer to her.
”Whatever, I’ll get my book from downstairs. Soon. Not now.”

How Dogs Are [FernStone & AtomicEmperor]

Thursday November 16th
Cass’ Apartment

The next day, things were back to more of the normal routine- a night together filled with vigorous activity and then cuddling to sleep, before Leon had to go for his Layla Hyacinthus babysitting duties.

Which left Cass with no excuses to stop her from dragging herself up to her apartment to start unpacking.

It had gone well for a while. She moved her desk to the back corner of the main room, in a nice little nook between the bathroom and the apartment walls. Then, she’d gotten to work setting up her monitors and main computer. The other desktops were just shoved under the desk to be dealt with later.

She’d started ‘unpacking’ her clothes- mainly throwing them into piles on the very generously provided couch that had obviously been snuck in there when she was in Portland. Then, she got distracted. Because she made the mistake of unpacking some of her books in the middle of going through her clothes… Because the box was in the middle! What else was she supposed to do?

So of course she started reading a book she’d gotten half way through and forgotten. It was only natural… What better place to read a book than in the middle of a bunch of boxes and strewn clothes?

And it was peaceful! For a little while at least, until there was the faint sensation of eyes following Cass’ place alongside on the page. Like the feeling of primary school, where two children had to share the book and read along. Finally, after a few pages, a small voice made itself known openly.

”Can you please stop reading so quickly? I don’t understand all of it.”

”Holy shit!” Cass nearly jumped out of her skin- and literally jumped in the air. Which was impressive, considering she was lying on her stomach.

She turned to face the little ghost girl with wide eyes. She didn’t recognise her but… She could only assume she was a ghost attached to one of the other residents. She wasn’t sure who but… That didn’t really matter much. Not when she looked so young! And cute!

”Where did you come from?” She asked, before suddenly flipping to the start of the book.
”And of course you don’t understand it… You’re starting from the middle! Here, we gotta start from the beginning!”

”No, no, the words! I still haven’t learned all the words yet. Anyway, I’m a Ghost! A dead one! I got pickled in a wine barrel, like, a long time ago. Still buried under the floor downstairs!”

The milky white visage of the girl was not dressed like any kind of Gold Rush era dirt basement child who died in a vat of wine. She was in sweatpants, and a comfy looking sweater that had some kind of logo on the front. Only, it was like looking at a two-hundred forty-four pixel image blown up; terribly fuzzy, no clarity, almost artificially intelligent…

She looked down, then back up, and she smiled visibly. It let out the oddest wisps of white smoke that smelled terrible.
”Well… Can’t fool ‘em all. My Moms are comin’ up to say hello. And, give you presents to keep your new house warm. Whatever the Hell that’s supposed to mean. I’m Serenity.” the ghost explained vaguely.

Her cumulous, almost gaseous form may have stuck its arm out to shake the hand, but in the same instant, it retreated back as if it’d never been there before.

”It's about all the shakin’ I can do. Unless you’d really like to relax with me.” Serenity intoned calmly, her whole shape collapsing into a cloud only to reform sprawled out across the floor.

Cass had no idea what ‘relax with me’ meant. It didn’t sound like something awful, but… She couldn’t relax right now! Not when she still had a shit ton of unpacking to still do. And her Moms were coming up? Like, Ghost Moms? Was this really a haunting? Obviously not from a wine barrel death, but maybe something else…

Either way, she clearly couldn’t touch the little ghost girl right now.

She closed her book, rolling to sit up.
”Well, it’s nice to meet you, Serenity. You ever heard of an air five? It’s like… a high five, but your hands don’t actually touch. Like- we both make the motion without slapping each other! It’s pretty cool!” She raised her hand and made a high fiving motion to demonstrate.

”Yeah, yeah… I do it with my aunts and uncles.”
Reactively, the young ghost threw her own hand up, even mimicking the slapping noise with her mouth.

Her form was still laid on the floor, not really doing much of anything besides being a visually ambiguously aged young woman. She could’ve been ten, could’ve been sixteen, but it all seemed to get lost in the way the fog rolled under her vague features.
”How is Uncle Lee? He left this morning, I assume to hang out with that Layla girl! He keeps complaining about it to Ma, so… I bet!” she asked, not really knowing she was supposed to care about how Cass was settling into the new Apartment.

”Well, it’s more a job than it is hanging out.” Cass shrugged one shoulder, not seeming bothered at all with the question or topic.
”So… Y’know, everyone complains about their job a bit! But yeah, he’s gone to look after her. Otherwise he’s good! I mean, who wouldn’t be hanging out with me all the time?”

With her mentioning Uncle Lee, Cass had a slightly better idea of who her Moms might be. The three girls in the basement apartment? Mia, Ed, and Hari? They’d met, and talked a little bit, but not spent much time together yet. Which… made this pretty exciting!

”Oh, well… I guess I don’t know the answer to that one. I don’t know you to say one way or another, do I? Can I copy the way you talk? I loike ih.” she wasted no time commencing with her plan.

However, the door knock was already interrupting her.
”Aw, geeze, fun police. Fun… Bobbies? Monties? Which one?”’

”Oh, you’d never get this- we call em the Dibble. A bit odd, I know.” Cass laughed, hopping to her feet.
”Feel free too! I ain’t gonna stop anyone from tryna sound less American!”

Still laughing, she made it over to the door- having to step around boxes and other discarded books to get there. She opened the door with a bright grin, launching right into it.
”Hello! Welcome, welcome… Y’here to pick up your kid? She’s been real good, honest.”

Outside the door were three women, the same she’d met previously, only this time they at least seemed like they were going somewhere. Catching them mostly naked could never have bothered Cass, but the one at the head of the pack always tried to make a great first impression.

”Hey, Cass! We, uh… Well, what better person to send up and check to make sure we’re not just barging in! Did she scare you too bad?” Hari asked, her bright red hair shimmering in the light from the hall.

Flanking her on both sides were Ed and Mia, one of whom dressed like an Adam Sandler impersonator while the other dressed in very soft clothing. Hari at least looked somewhat distinguished, but that didn’t do a lot surrounded by two homeless people. Though, anyone in the know on fashion would be able to clock Mia’s as the most expensive outfit with her eleven hundred dollar kashmir sweater and camel fur knee high socks.

In her arms, Ed carried a couple of boxes wrapped in gift wrap, while Mia was holding something large and rectangular behind her back.

”We’re honestly here to welcome you! Wanted to say hello, bring you gifts! Leon told us you were moving in up here, so we got uh… Well, the usual package!” Ed explained, her vaguely hoarse voice giving strong contrast to Hari’s. Mia didn’t speak, but did peek her head in and smile at Serenity, who smiled and waved back.

”I got no idea what the usual package is, but gifts are always welcome! Come in, come in- Uh, sorry ‘bout the mess. I got distracted while unpacking.” Cass pressed against the door to hold it open and let the three in past her. Once they were inside, she immediately darted over to the couch, grabbing as much clothes as she could and throwing them over some of the boxes.

”Heh, there we go, now there’s room to sit! Make yourselves comfortable… Unless you were just wanting to drop stuff off and leave?! Which I totally get! I ain’t got much to offer right now… Aside from water.” She was a bit erratic, mostly with the realisation that her apartment really wasn’t ready for visitors.

Then she paused in the middle of everything, gesturing slightly with her arms.
”Do you do hugs?! Leon said it’s a family thing, but I don’t wanna assume!”

Mia was quick to have an expression of shock and excitement.
”Oh, girl, you’re not gonna be able to escape huggin’ me after this!”

”No, Mimiiiiii-”

It was too late. As Mia got close enough to Cass for a hug, she whipped it out. The frame, half as tall and just as broad Cass was, was burnished metal with a coppery sheen. Powdered, almost. But inside was, for the second time in less than a day, an insanely valuable piece of Gravity memorabilia. Obviously, for a family that’d been around him all their lives, the Richoux siblings had plenty of different relics and stashed heirlooms. Most didn’t even have homes, and were waiting for the day that Leon managed to open some kind of boxing museum.

But this was it. It wasn’t Leon, no; Maxwell IV in all his glory, going up against the Greek God Ares: At the time, probably all time, the fight between Gravity Richoux and Ares Katsaros had been such a spectacle event that fortunes were made and lost in bets that night. And this was the absolute Cadillac of display pieces involving the fight. A full poster, pristine and sealed in the frame since the day after the fight, along with ringside pictures, event programs, newspaper articles, clippings, and…

At the very bottom of the display, held in place by a powerful spell and lightened to keep the frame as nimble as possible, the Cosmic Collision Galactic Championship belt. The only one of its kind, made for the event and still kept by the Richouxs to this day.

Until its rightful heiress found the perfect fan to hand it off to.

”This is my pleasure to give to you… To welcome you. I know it’s too much, but I want you to take it anyway! Because, Brother or not, you’ll always be a fan of our Dad. I hope, anyway!

”Holy shit! What the fuck?!” Cass’ reaction was as extreme as it always was. Just seeing the poster was enough to have her practically vibrating. Then, all the other pictures? The belt?! She did her best not to actually bounce for fear she’d hit into something so precious. But all that energy had her swinging from side to side like a metronome at the fastest tempo.

”Are- Are you sure?! I mean- I guess you are! Holy fuck, I’ma have to hang this up in my bedroom… Shit, thank you so much!” She took the frame from Mia, just staring at it for a moment. Taking it all in. It was amazing. Everything was placed perfectly, and it was just… filled with so much.

”One minute!” Cass darted off with it, to safely stash in her bedroom. Once she came back out with free hands, she went right for Mia.

She hugged the taller girl with incredible enthusiasm. It wasn’t a light hug at all- though Cass was careful not to squeeze Mia too tight. After just a moment she lifted her off the ground, and even spun her around. She was surprisingly light…

”Shit, I don’t think I got enough words to say how amazing that is! Fuck, thank you, I’ll treasure it forever!”

”Augh, Mia!”
”No fair!”

The other two girls immediately closed in, with Hari hugging Mia’s legs into Cass while Ed moved in for the double pickup. One arm slipped under Cass, the other under Hari, and there was a moment of hoisting before nothing came of it… But they were all very close.

”She was supposed to reveal that last! So we all got excitement!” Hari explained through a squished mouth muffling her speech.

”I got-The first huuuuug. You twoooo-Both suuuuuuck!”
The three of them laughed in unison, and Hari lifted a hand up to pinch Mia’s bony arse.

”Slag! You betray the Coven! Sister Cass, to the Couch of Doom with her!” Hari playfully instructed, putting on a fake pirate voice.

Cass laughed with them, grin so wide it threatened to escape her lips. They were all… So fucking… Adorable! God! She’d always wanted younger sisters. Was this what it was like?!

”Now, now, ain’t that a bit harsh? It’s cold and lonely over there!” Cass cackled, before bending her legs slightly. Green Lux subtly rippled across her body, further enhancing her natural strength.
”Gotta make sure she has some company!”

She quickly shifted her arms, somehow managing to slip around all three of them. It wasn’t the most stable or comfortable, and she was basically pressing them all into each other… But! It was more than possible for her to lift them all up and waddle the few steps over to the couch before letting them all go.

”There we go… And don’t worry! Plenty’ve hugs and excitement to go around. I dunno how much Leon’s told you but I’m, like, an expert in excitement.”

All three of them started squealing when she managed to wrangle them all into one bundle of lesbians. Ed particularly wasn’t used to the treatment, so her feet instinctively kicked and pumped at the air before they landed in a pile on the couch.

”Eddy, you kicked me!” Hari pouted playfully, wrapping her arms around Ed and kissing on her before she could pull away.

”Save it! Save it for Cass!” Ed laughed, finally pushing her away before they managed to situate themselves on the couch in a human fashion. Though, Ed was quick to get back up and bring over the other gifts.

”Now, uh… Well, what with the Trisha Decrees, we’ve been pretty hesitant to ask much. Afraid we’ll hear too much, and then it’s squaams to the ceiling.”
The two boxes were both big enough that they had to be carried underarm like footballs.

”Mind you, not sure how clear we made it, but we love Trisha.” Hari added with an incredibly matter-of-fact tone.

”Porcupine Trisha… We do, I promise! We do! Just, well… This is really the first time we’ve ever made concessions for people outside our circle, right? It’s hard adjusting. So, it’s refreshing you want hugs, and like-”

”-You don’t want us out of your apartment. Not that I’m using magic to know, just… I know I don’t need to, I can feel it.” Hari included, piggybacking off of what Mia was saying.

”But, we figured you were different, and Leon said so, so we figured coming up here today to welcome you in would hopefully start you off on the right food.” Ed said, stomach growling at the end of her sentence.

”Food? Hungry, Babe?-” Mia started giggling, wrapping her arms around Ed and squeezing. ”-Admittedly, we did order a delivery. It was two-of-three that we’d order you some treats, and the third came around when we decided we’d be okay with doing that even if you didn’t want us around.” she continued on to admit.

”Well, food tastes best when there’s other people around! And yeah, course I want you guys around… I mean, sure, we haven’t really talked much before! But that just makes it all more exciting, huh?” Cass grinned at them all.

She could completely understand where the wariness came from, if Trisha was the comparison. Cass loved Trisha with all of her heart, but she also knew her friend’s flaws. She was so prickly. Always keeping up high walls so she didn’t have to risk anyone hurting her… Not understanding the stability of platonic love.

”I get it with Trisha, you don’t need to worry bout that either. I love her too, but she’s always been like… delicate china! Gotta treat her just right. Eh, that ain’t the right metaphor, cause if that was the case I would’ve smashed her…” Cass got lost for a moment, before clapping her hands together.
”Anyway! I know exactly what she’s like. I understand being worried, since I’m her friend! But yeah, I really ain’t like that… Hug me all you want! Bother me all you want! Well, heh, maybe not at certain times when I’m with Leon… but otherwise! Completely open.”

She nodded, hoping that reassured them a bit more, before continuing.
”Y’know, she used to be worse. Not… Not as a person! With hugs. When I first met her… When was it? Six years ago! I’d hug her and she’d flinch away. But y’know who you’re looking at?” She grinned, pointing a thumb at herself.
”The reason that Trisha Vanburen tolerates hugs from anyone who isn’t a romantic partner!”

”Tolerate’s a very strong word, I’d say.” Mia pouted slightly. Hari held her close, patting her head like a sullen child.

”Oh, never mind her Cass. Couldn’t quite get across what she wanted to say to Trisha, but it’s important to her. Maybe, if you’re that open, you’ll be able to help all of us out with relating to her. And, her little problem specifically.” Hari smiled, sticking her tongue out slightly.

”Probably! But, uh, I really don’t wanna make this about that, right? We’ve done enough pushing lately elsewhere, we’ll just-”

”-accept that for once, we’ve got an easy friend? Sounds great.” Ed replied, sending the others into roaring laughter.
While they giggled, Ed was already positioning the other presents.

”So, every tenant gets a historic piece of boxing memorabilia, because the building is just as much a boxing legend as Gravity was. Then, you get a nice woven blanket!”

She handed off the first box to let Cass rip open and admire the incredibly intricate woven detail. The threads were a loose fibre, with plenty of fluff and little divots indicative of a crochet style, and it looked like a nebula in space similar to the cassette cover Leon had gotten her.

”Because what's housewarming without, y’know, something to warm your house. That fibre is actually nice wool, grown in the colors, not dyed. We’ve got magic, why not grow a blue sheep?” Hari laughed nervously.

”And the second is to warm yourself! Only one rule: Leon can’t drink any. Its not exclusion for the sake of it, only that he has plenty of his own: Don’t let him drink yours. If anything, let it age. It’s a great year, it’ll only get better in the bottles.”

The second box, much heavier, revealed itself as an eight pack of French wines from the L’matise vineyards. The only connection she had to her French blood left was the Cabernet that ran through it. Four whites on one side, and four reds on the other, all varied in taste and savor.

”I also know you’re not a snob, but everyone loves good wine. So, I hope they’re all good!”
”We!”
”All three! We want you to be happy and feel excited to be living here. Because we’re happy to have you.”

All three smiled between one another, nodding along happily.

Cass was blown away by the gifts. The woven blanket was beautiful. Seemed super cozy too… just in case she had any cold, lonely nights! Then, the wine… She wasn't so much of a wine drinker, but Ed was right! Everyone loved a good wine!

"D’aw, that's so fucking cute… Thank you so much! Shit, this is all amazing… I ain't ever got a housewarming gift like this!" She grinned, quickly darting away to put the blanket on her bed where it'd be safe from any unpacking chaos. The box with the wine was placed in the kitchen before she bounded back over to the girls.

"Seriously, thank you!" She pulled Hari into a tight hug.
"You too!" Ed got one next.
"... And it's only fair!" She couldn't resist swinging back round to give Mia another hug, before she went to perch on the edge of the couch. Mostly because she had too much energy to properly sit down…

"I feel insanely happy to be here! And, y'know, I was a lil worried I was gonna have to camp out on the gym and force my friendship onto people… I'm a pretty social person! But Leon’s got all his duties, and Trisha's busy being in love… So I'm super happy to have you three as well!" She spoke incredibly enthusiastically. So genuine. She really was happy about it… She was such a social creature. And it was doubly awesome that these three were people so important in Leon's life!

"But I gotta ask… before it tears me apart tryna figure it out…" Cass trailed off, expression seeming to turn a bit more serious. Just for a moment.
"What kinda food did you order?!"

”Well, we wanted sushi. Our plan was to drag you out, but-”
”-I figured, and we agreed! We did agree, I don’t want them making you think I’m some evil taskmaster-”
”-We agreed it’d be better to have it delivered, that way we can help you unpack!”

Clearly all three had something they wanted to say, but adding three contributions on a single thought was never easy. Most days, Hari was the group speaker purely by virtue that she had the fewest “off” days. Mia’s natural antisocial personality crawled out of her throat every few days, while Ed’s depression symptoms came in long, slow waves that weren’t always predictable. Hari had no qualms about blasting her own brain with her Pink Lux, then getting back to business until a time that she could truly purge the negativity.

But they were all excited. Excited to be here, excited to be welcomed, and even more excited that it seemed like she had no problem with them staying. None of them were particularly tidy, leaving most of the inhabited space they shared devoid of peaceful respite. Each way the head turned was a mess to clean, and this being their shared day off of work, none of them wanted to be cooped up. Not down there with It.

”Oh, you’d seriously do that? You don’t gotta just cause you’re spending time up here and eating and shit! Honestly, any excuse for me to put it off longer…” Cass laughed. She was just more than glad to have the company. Not that she was the kind of person who needed it- not when she fell into some kinda hobby hole. But when faced with the daunting task of unpacking? Boring shit? Yeah, it was nice.

”If you guys wanna help, you gotta be alright with my technique… Which is pure chaos. As you can probably see, cause I got clothes everywhere! And books too! I got distracted reading one… Wouldn’t’ve stopped till I was done if your lil ghost daughter didn’t pop up on me. Thank fuck, honestly!” Cass grinned, hopping up and moving towards the kitchen.

”So… What do you guys wanna drink? I got water, fancy wine, and a couple bottles of beers in my bag I nicked from my friends. They’ll be warm, I didn’t have time to put em in the fridge last night. There ain’t anything in there-” Cass paused midway through talking, opening the fridge as if things would just materialise inside it. They had. At least a mix of soda cans and some more beers. Maybe put there when some of the guys moved her shit up?

What a nice gesture.
”Well I guess I gotta load of soda too! And cold beer!”

Ed laughed aloud.
”I get a text message from Casey yesterday asking me to skim a little budget for a grocery run. I sent it off through the proper channels, so it’s nice to see the fruits of my labor.” she asked, clapping her hands and getting up.

”Is- Is that a case of fucking Last Round in there? Please don’t tell me those idiots paid for beer we can get for free!” Hari groaned, furrowing her brow.

”Naaaah. I told them to grab one from the store room. Uh, Cass? If you ever run out of beer, go upstairs one floor and hit up five-o-three. Just open the front door, walk in, grab another rack or whatever, walk out. No questions.” Ed laughed again, getting closer to Cass and snagging a few beers so she didn’t have to carry everything.

”This isn’t a brag: That shit’s like water at this point… In fact, I honestly trust that the water quality in the beer is better than St. Portwell tap.” Mia made a disgusted face after saying that, then laughed aloud as Hari playfully slapped her leg.

”Well don’t scare her! She’s gonna wind up perpetually drunk, unwilling to drink water like a normal human!” Hari’s half-straight face turned into a playful smirk as she giggled.

”Oh my poor, young, sweet Hari… I’m English! Of course I’m gonna be perpetually drunk!” Cass cackled as she pulled out one for herself, immediately opening it. She grabbed another to make it four between her and Ed, already knocking back hers. All that unpacking- what little she did- had been hard work!

”I’m a Green Adept! I ain’t too worried ‘bout what I put into my body. I bet I can repurpose the nasty chemicals or whatever into like… A noxious gas fart or some shit!”

Ed was quick to hype Cass up, slapping her drink down on a solid surface and making quite the show of pointing at the newcomer with both hands in motion. Rapid stabbing points, big sweeping pointing motions, so vigorous that even Serenity began to mime her Host-Mother with eerie precision.

”She understands the fucking assignment!”

The rapid motion ended in a hug while the other two laughed their asses off on the couch. Serenity wrapped herself around them in a smokey wisp, letting her form turn into a curly cloud before hugging Ed’s back directly… Which promptly broke up the hug as Ed nervously cleared her throat.

”Aaaah… Sorry. Ren? You know the rules, Baby, I’m sorry…”

The ghost looked somewhat sad, kicking imaginary rocks with her cloud feet. But she nodded and let out a terribly quiet apology.

Cass tilted her head as she watched. It didn’t seem particularly fair on the little girl, ghost or not. Was it… Something to do with what she mentioned earlier.

”You ain’t allowed to hug outside the house or somethin’? That seems a bit unfair- unless it’s… To do with the relaxing thing?” She looked a little confused, staring right at Ed with some amount of prompting in her gaze. Not that she’d be upset if she didn’t get an answer! It just seemed a lil harsh…

All three women shared a look. How much to reveal, how much to explain, how far before-

”Serenity’s… Our baby. All three of us. We made her together, and I was the only one whose Lux wouldn’t bind. I couldn’t Kindle. So, when she was born, I took her on as my own. She… Well, touching, hugging, can be dangerous for our girl. More like, for the people around her.” Ed explained, only for Mia to clear her throat.

”Dancing around won’t help anyone…” Mia grumbled, clearly in pain over the current moment.

”If you accept hugs, and affection, you’re accepting that you’ll keep her safe. Protect her. Which means, in return, she’ll keep you at peace. Peace for the three of us… For a long time, was pretty serious opiate usage. Serenity is our little Poppy Princess, uh- Y’know. Heroin. Hugging her, accepting her, means she’s open to making you feel at peace. So, unless you’re interested in learning what it feels like to be super fucked up? We try to keep her as un-clingy as we can. At least outside of designated times. She understands, but she’s still a little girl about things… She’ll be a baby probably as long as I live.” Ed admitted, smiling as Serenity slotted into her side.

”Only, poor Ed ain’t immune either. So, too much hugging, or too much of a good feeling… She gets just as caught. We don’t really want anyone out of commission right now.” Hari added, rubbing Mia’s shoulder and leg as the girl seemed to grow weepy and anxious within moments.

It was the moment of truth. Well, probably one of many. The gates of Richoux friendship included things like “Please don’t hate me for my heroin baby.” or “My Mother made me breastfeed until I was six.”. Strange, often maddeningly minute moments of trauma that would eventually leak out, each another opportunity for the person on the other side to pass hate through their judgement until the love was lost…

And then she’d be alone again. Only them. Their little universe. She didn’t hate it, but the thought of being trapped alone, isolated even in that trio, gave Mia enough impetus to loathe the feeling of losing new people.

Cass looked incredibly sad. They were all so young… She knew Mia was eight years younger than Leon, so… Twenty one. They were all around the same age. And Ed said Heroin had been their peaceful place for a long time… They must have been even younger when they started. She could only guess. It was difficult to keep the anger out of her expression too- that anger she felt towards unjustness. Where the fuck had the adults been?!

But she was smart enough to know they’d perceive the anger as being towards them. But she couldn’t hide the sadness. Hiding anything was difficult for Cass.

”So you can’t ever hug her unless you’re alright with that happening? That’s awful for you all.” Her volume was much lower than it had been. There wasn’t that same excited bounce. Instead it was replaced with empathy and sympathy.

She made her way over to the three girls on the couch, crouching down in front of all of them. She patted each one on the legs, before very gently resting her hands on Mia. She seemed to be reacting the worst, after all. Did she expect rejection? Probably… A lot of people would. She wasn’t a lot of people.

Cass looked up at them all with big eyes shining with compassion.
”I ain’t gonna judge you guys for any of that- or Serenity. I may be judging the adults in your lives who let that- shit, not important right now! Wherever you are right now with it… Well, course, recovery is better- that’s beside the point! Maybe it don’t mean much coming for a practical stranger, but I’m here, y’know. That ain’t gonna stop unless you do something really heinous.”

Though it was a little rambly, the point got across. She cleared her throat a little awkwardly, looking at Serenity.
”I’m sorry, Ren- if I can call you that- but I ain’t gonna be able to hug you or anything. I did heroin once in uni- an ex suggested it may help me chill out a bit- and I ain’t looking to do it again. I like my normal energy!”

Mia couldn’t keep from balling, immediately reaching out and wrapping around Cass at the first sign of acceptance. It was all she could do up to that moment to keep the dam from bursting open, and now it was just a sobbing hug that echoed through all their ears. Serenity, however, slowly and calmly rubbed Mia’s back while nodding at Cass.

”It’s okay… I know, at least, that it isn’t easy for people around me. But, the people around me love me. And sometimes we relax.” her ghostly smile curled up just a little more.

”With… The important distinction that it’s not-”
”-Hey! She said we’re good. Let’s trust her; no more qualifiers.”

The two of them seemed satisfied, which meant all of their attention had to be turned to the actual baby of the situation. Mia was still desperately clinging to Cass’ shirt, hunched over into her lap and sobbing. The release, hearing that there wasn’t going to be immediate rejection and that there was little chance of lasting, prolonged judgement based on a twenty-year built notion that she wasn’t anything but a lazy slob. That her addiction, and the impetuous need to escape the constant pressure of simple existence, didn’t define her.

Trisha had been so lukewarm… Even the relayed moments of goodness that Ed, or Casey had obviously seen were dull because of how difficult it was trusting anything between them besides Trisha’s utter disinterest. Sure, they’d exchanged niceties, and it was instinctual for Mia to give as a means of showing affection. It was effort she went through, after all, proving that she was useful and not worthlessly lazy. That she really had been crippled by expectation, and that giving her life to the darkness of nothing like the authors of old had been purely reactionary. But…

”I-i j-u-ust d-o-on’t wanna lose… You… I don’t wanna lose another friend…” she quietly wept into Cass’ lap. It was probably odd to see such a strong reaction, but the buildup had been there long before Cass was ever the subject of its results.

”And you won’t.” Cass leaned up towards Mia, arms wrapping around her. She held her close, one hand moving up to soothingly rub the back of her head. It was an extreme reaction, and Cass didn’t know everything behind it- but she could guess it was much more than this.

She’d experienced similar before. Well… A very different negative reaction to the slightest thought of abandonment from Trisha. No wonder there was a struggle between the two. Trisha always held people at an arms length to stop herself getting left. It wasn’t something she’d ever told Cass explicitly, but Cass had experienced plenty of events that pointed to it. She was too insightful to miss something like that.

It made her sad again that Mia was so used to it that she was breaking down like this.

”You ain’t gonna lose me! Look, lemme make a promise… Even if shit doesn’t work out with Leon? We’ll still stay friends. Unless you wanna take his side cause it's a messy breakup- which it won’t be! But otherwise? None of you’ll lose me. I’m the kinda friend who sticks around through all kinda strife, alright?” She spoke as soothingly as was possible for her too- maybe a bit too loud to have that real comforting feel. But what she was saying was more important! And that she was still hugging her, and would until she felt alright enough to let go.

And, with a surprising jerk of strength, the entire height of Mia extended out, arms tucking into Cass and hoisting her up into the air to squeeze as she shook them both back and forth. There were no words, and Mia hoped that the sobbing didn’t turn into squealing as she allowed herself the moment. Only a moment, however, as the other two slipped off the couch and formed a solid surface of human shoulder under her.

Mia began to chant, voice still wobbly from the tears.

”She’s a jolly good fellow- For she’s a jolly good feeeelloooow-”

And within a moment, all three of them were carrying Cass around her apartment, tossing her up and down with joy and laughter returning around them. The establishment of a promise, and the understanding of a group of girls who could safely add a friendly face to their very small book of outsiders. Really, the next insiders. Friends and relations made outside this stupid cult, and their stupid way of life… In praise of Goodness on Earth in the form of Cass, Mia, Hari and Ed celebrated.

---

After the celebration, the four got down to hard work… or at least the chaos of helping Cass unpack. It was a less stressful thing with some help- at least she could get suggestions for where to put shit! By the time food came, all of her clothes were properly (ish) put in the closet, and books were randomly put on the one shelving unit put in the apartment. She'd definitely need more, but for now it was fine.

Sure, they got a bit distracted in the middle when Cass properly set up her electric guitar and gave them a little show- but Hari was able to sensibly pull out of it and redirect them.

By the time food arrived, all that was left was boxes of her electronics equipment, of random shit, and a box full of photo frames she didn't want to think about placing yet. Also all of the boxing posters… again, she has to figure out where to put them!

But there were more important things to worry about now. Mainly, eating the insane amount of food the girls had ordered.

"Holy shit, you got enough to feed an army!" Cass practically vibrated as she helped laying all the food out across her kitchen counters. She didn't have a proper table- didn't really plan on getting on either, she could use her desk- so they had to make do with what was there. She probably shouldn't be surprised about how much food there was. She'd spent enough time with Leon… and she know about the Obli-thingy infection, but the girls were just so skinny!

"Thank fuck, honestly. I gotta eat at least five times what I normally do now." Cass grinned.
"Me and Leon practically are a hot pot place outta their meat yesterday… you shoulda seen their faces! They weren't so surprised by the first like five portions Leon had, cause he's a big guy y'know, but by the time I went for my fourth they were sweating a bit!"

There had to be four sushi boats worth of various morsels scattered about the counters. Like a military operation, the other three seemed to know and fall into their roles without hesitation. Ed had produced a small, folded sheet of parchment paper which, when enrolled, covered the entirety of the tabletop. Hari was popping container after container, leaving them all open and passing them off to Mia.

In her hand, a small set of tongs which seemed to gingerly pick up each cut roll from its center piece, lifting in a static position as if they'd never been separated.

”Being in a different city is the only way we can eat buffet style in our family. Before Gravity disappeared, Gramps and Nana came to town. He took all of us out to Mr. Roundtable's unannounced, and we got banned out of principle. I remember the owner still being apologetic, like he was sorry he didn't have enough food. But we were still asked not to come back! Then all the other buffets started doing it too. Now, if you're Temple, you can't go to a buffet in town.” Ed laughed.

”I can't blame ‘em. Besides, we've got Andrade. You wanna eat something crazy? He's got you.” Mia grinned as she spread the roll she had like a strange set of flower petals across this artsy food display.

Hari, close to Cass and snagging the occasional nigiri as she opened boxes, leaned in slightly.
”How much do you actually know about our situation, anyway? Like, I know Lee isn't the most transparent dude when it comes to talking about private things, but like… Y'know, cult of goth people, eating copious amounts of food, gathering wizards… You've gotta have thoughts on it, right?” Hari asked, curiosity in her voice.

Leon wasn't? Cass had found him pretty fucking transparent so far. Sure, he didn't offer up a ton of cult information from the get go. But if she ever asked about shit? He answered. Like the Oblivium infection - she knew cause she'd seen the inside of his mouth, all those black patches. Impossible to miss. Then the crazy apparition food… again, asked after Casey told her to steer clear of screaming food.

"Well Leon ain't that secretive around me, so I know enough? Like the whole Lynette spying thing, the food- I ain't missing fucking black patches in my boyfriend's mouth-, the freaky cats- Ooo, that's looking real good." She couldn't help but get distracted for a moment by the way Mia was laying out the rolls. Sure, it'd be ruined when they ate, but it was nice for now!

"Anyway! Obviously… I ain't so pro-cult. The coven thing? I can totally get. I didn't know how much I was missing till I came here, really. But as soon as it becomes a cult it's all control and…" Cass rubbed the back of her neck.
"Well it don't take much to read between the lines and figure you're all pretty fucking trapped. But I bet there's loads of people like you guys- uh, assuming I ain't read things wrong and you're super pro spying and control."

Where had she been going?
"I think it's pretty fucked up. The actual cult, not all the people in it."

Ed started laughing aloud. There seemed to be some kind of inside joke between the three of them, with Hari taking her face in one hand and shaking her head. Mia just looked shocked.

”But, once again, we prove that nobody actually gives a fuck about what we’re doing! God, it’s so funny how many times I’ve been like ‘Yeah CULT y’know CULT ahahaha CULT’ and then people look at me like it's not a bad marketing strategy? We could be handing out vouchers for free homes on skid row, nobody’s going to give a fuck about what good we do. It’ll always be overshadowed!” she groaned, bouncing up and down with frustration.

”It ain’t like we can really explain what we’re doing anyway!” Mia intoned, shock turning to a vague frown.

”Yeah we can! We’re goddamn Methodist environmentalists, we participate heavily in community outreach with an emphasis on giving back to the planet that harbors our petulant asses. That’s the thing!” Ed continued, a smile still on her face, but a clear verbalization of annoyance still ushering forth from her.

”It’s a weird situation, don’t blame her fo-” Hari tried to inject logic, but was cut off by Ed.
”Woah! Nobody’s being blamed for anything.” she responded, defending her position.

There was a moment where the two women had a vague conversation between one another with eyes and head tilts alone… So Mia stepped in.

”Temple membership is like… Ninety percent Blinds who are looking for a church that isn’t going to tell them how to live. We provide that. Hippies like us, rich people like us, but most of the time they’re just doing the ‘Designer Religion’ thing. Spirituality, people try it out, some stay and most either quit or move onto something else. That’s the hard part. The federal government can’t even really wrap their heads around it.” Mia shrugged.

Another moment passed, and Hari took a deep breath before smiling.
”The only people who get culted, unfortunately, are people like you, Cass. Adepts who kindle into a situation where they don’t have support. Or, people like me: Magical people in bad situations who need safety. Which is what Mia meant, talking about the Government: We’re not classified as a cult. We’re not on their watchlists. Real people don’t get swallowed up in our system… Just the ones already living outside the norm.”

The three of them didn’t see it as defending the situation. Clarification, morelike. They were happy to accept that whatever it was they were involved in was something altogether different than what most people were. Most people didn’t eat food made out of ghosts…

”Whoa, I pay taxes- paid taxes- the Government’d be coming after my money if I disappeared!” Cass waved that suggestion away. She’d spent a good couple of years with her only magical support being a Pink-White friend a good half day drive away… Not really felt bothered till she got more. But it was a good thing nobody in the Temple showed her their computer systems before she knew about the whole cult thing…

”Look, I ain’t looking at it so black and white, even if I said it’s fucked up. You can do good things as group while still hurting other people- and I’m sure there’s plenty who’ve been hurt, right?” It was a rhetorical question, and she quickly moved on.
”Some people can be sheltered and grow after being accepted, others get trapped. You can do a lotta good with the resources you got, but there’ll be people who abuse it. And… It can fundamentally be a group- coven, or whatever- with a proper aim, but if the core’s rotten, the bad’s always gonna be overshadowing the good.”

Cass talked evenly, but she clearly wasn’t upset by what Ed had said. She couldn’t resist reaching out for a roll and popping the whole thing into her mouth, swallowing it down before saying a bit more.
”Like I said… not black and white. I’m the kinda person who’s gonna call out injustices, but I also recognise the good, y’know? It’s like… our whole fucking society! The system, the people right up there with all the power going to their heads? Pretty shit, but that don’t discount all the good people under ‘em do.”

”And, my good ladies, remember that we’ve hardly had time to step into anything. We’re shitty babies, remember? Good for nothings?” Hari stuck her tongue out playfully as Mia laid the last box of sushi out. There had to be half a gallon worth of soy sauce packets and little wasabis, or hot mustard packs, pickled ginger slices dotting the spaces between the rolls. It all popped with color.

”I am definitely good for laying the sushi out.” Mia giggled, grinning and looking up with a smile.
”Sorry, Cass. If I can’t see it all, sometimes I forget what we got and lose out on eating what I actually wanted. Like that-” she pointed to a roll end with a shrimp tail sticking out of it.

Then, in a moment of strangeness, she snagged the same roll end and ate the entire shrimp tail along with it. It didn’t even really look like she chewed, just… Rolled in around in her mouth, then swallowed…

”We’re good for plenty. They can’t judge us ‘cuz we chose to spend our time how they didn’t like. Well, they can, right? But, fuck ‘em! Because they’re not real either.” she grinned and nodded, throwing up a fist toward Cass for her to bump.
”And it’ll all be over soon enough.”

”Over? Like how?” Cass’ fist shout out to bump Ed’s instantly, equal parts intrigued and concerned by Mia seeming to swallow something whole. She wasn’t going to start choking, was she?!

”Some kinda crazy coup?! Or shit just gonna dissolve? I know Casey was talking bout getting me to look at computer shit cause’ve your crazy brother, but I ain’t heard much beyond that. Or since that… Probably a Trisha gag order!”

Cass grabbed some more plates, putting a little stack beside all the food. She started to absolutely cover hers in sushi… Getting something from every box, before pouring soy sauce over it.
”But since I’m dating Leon, pretty sure I got the same rights to know about stuff as she does.”

There was a short “Should we” glance exchanged before both faces focused on Mia. Clearly, she was the only one in conflict about actually saying anything. However, after a moment of using the sushi as a buffer, she cleared her throat.

”Enough time’s passed. Everyone’s tired of the status quo. There’s no big scary nightmares in St. Portwell anymore; people don’t feel so scared. They forget why they needed help in the first place. I know for the three of us, we already tried to get out once, so… There’s nothing saying we’re opposed. But, unfortunately, the coup part was spot on. Mom’s not the type to go quietly into that good night, y’know?” she explained very simply, doing her best to avoid the nuance of her visions. After all, how could she explain herself?

To one of Trisha’s friends, no less…

Cass nodded, mouth forming a little ‘Ah’ shape. It did explain why Trisha was so against her involvement. A coup meant there were sides and fighting. It wasn’t the kind of thing everyone came out of unharmed. But that was often the price that had to be paid for freedom, wasn’t it?

”So it's gonna be real messy? And probably dangerous too…” Cass trailed off, stuffing a soy sauce covered sushi roll into her mouth and giving it a thoughtful chew. She hadn’t heard much about Lynette that made her seem like anything near a decent person. Sure, Leon clearly loved his Mother. But there were some really Mommy issues there… A lot of just casually said shit that she made her dislike the woman.

But she was still his Mother. And Mia’s too.
”That must be pretty tough for you. Even if you’re all fine with getting out, the whole situation… I imagine you gotta lotta mixed feelings about it. It’s…” Cass scratched the back of her neck.
”Well, there ain’t really anything I can say that’ll make it all better! But if the worst happens- whatever that shit may be- and I’m here? I’ll at least help make sure you’re all safe and sound in the end, yeah?”

”I… Wish it had more to do with my Mom. She’s sick- I’ve known that since I was a little girl. I think I knew earlier than the others, relatively. Because of how early I Kindled, and… How close we were. Became. Forced… Scarily, it’s the feeling of knowing your animal’s sick and won’t get better. I’m resigned to that. It’s the fallout. The aftereffects, really. I don’t know, uh- Eddy?” Mia started to explain, clear dissociation as she let her actual thoughts tumble out in piecemeal for once. Hari wasn’t able to hide the shock on her face in response.

Ed stammered slightly, but found her footing quickly.
”Ahhh, well… Y’know, there’s Adepts, then there’s Aberrants. Adepts are natural spellslingers: If you’ve played D&D, they’re like Sorcerers. You. But, then, Aberrants are like Warlocks. You gain your power via an Apparition, a ghost essentially, whether it takes a liking to you, needs your body for something, whatever. The culture’s always been divided among the Temple.” Ed explained, taking up some sushi from the table and eating it wholesale.

”Ed’s an Adjoined Aberrant. Hari and I are both Adepts. It’s part of the culture that we’re seen as better than them. Than her. Because our magic comes from us and not from some source that isn’t beholden to you. Which is obviously dumb, because Lux isn’t beholden to us. But, assholes argue semantics, and will make it your problem if you stand against the system that keeps them comfortable.”

”There’s a high chance that the differences are not reconcilable, and that Lynette may become increasingly harsh and spiteful as things wind up. Which means, the undercurrent bubbles up to the surface.” Hari added, tone dire.

”And so people like Ed… or Leon. Will be expected to fight for freedom. And, Hari and I will be expected to do harm in return. Civil war… Then a coup. Because, why not step down gracefully?”

Cass’ legs bounced up and down as she zoned out for the first little bid Ed said- though the D&D comparisons were entertaining. She knew the differences between the two. Reyna had told her, then Leon had told her, and they’d even talked about the whole nonconsensual adjoining thing. Maybe she needed a little ‘not a complete beginner’ sign or something…

But she snapped back to it when Mia mentioned the whole better than her thing. That… made absolutely not fucking sense. It was just another kind of discrimination cause of how you were born. Like racism, but for magic. Of course the Abberants would want to rise up in that situation. But it didn’t mean all Adepts were awful either… Fuck, that really made the situation extra messy.

”And you can’t just say ‘fuck those expectations’ and not hurt people you love?” Cass asked bluntly, before quickly realising it wasn’t a fair question.
”Sorry! I know it ain’t that simple. I mean… that’s just fucked up. We ain’t any better cause we got magic genetically. I’m sure there’s plenty of Adepts who think the same… Nobody deserves to be dragged into a civil war. But I also get wanting to fight the oppressors! Fuck.”

It wasn’t really something she could have any kind of positive reaction to. She wasn’t in the Temple. She didn’t know the politics, or if it could be swayed away from some kind of civil war. Killing Lynette first? But people might still fight.

”Casey and Trisha’ll have problems too, won’t they?” Cass frowned, shaking her head. It didn’t make it any better or worse. It was a bit hard to wrap her head around the whole moral dilemma.
”No one should have to fight like that if they don’t want to…”

”Casey and Trisha are-”
The words came out fast enough, and Mia had enough of a physical tensing, that she couldn’t help but stop and think about how she was about to react. She’d already felt it coming on, but hearing those names… The Dream.
”-the… most important people in the story. I know it sounds funny, but you see the future with White Lux. It’s a curse, really. If you’re accurate, you prove to yourself that your world is on a string, and that choice is all a grand illusion. It’s a parabolic lens. All points reflect toward the same singular instance. Mom functions on that principle. She knows, she’s seen when she dies and by whom.”

She lost track of what she was trying to explain. There was a moment taken to rip open several wasabi packs and squeeze them into her mouth without reprieve. She needed focus.

”If Mom’s seen what I’ve seen, then… It’ll take her, my sister, another Temple member, and a rogue Apparition to bring her down. And the only reason it happens is because Casey’s the person in the hot seat to protect her. And the only reason that he’s not fallen into the brainwash is because, unlike the last fucking ten years, he hasn’t been crippled with depression and anxiety like the rest of us… Because he’s got Trisha. She’s his security blanket. So secure, he’s been shirking his duties completely. The security teams are in shambles, Furio is pissed with him. He straight up refused a duty recently…” Mia did her best to explain the whole thing as lamely as possible. No frills, no mist, no haze.

It was quite a lot for Cass to take in. She knew the gist of Casey’s job. Temple security, head honcho after Lynette… She didn’t really understand why he’d been given the job when he was so clearly besotted with Trisha. Did Lynette think he’d snap out of it because of duties, or whatever? That Casey wasn’t brainwashed seemed like a good thing. But it was hard to read how Mia felt about it with how she was just dealing out the facts.

Nevermind the whole prophetic dream stuff. Cass was still getting to grips with magic itself! That was way out of scope of what her very practical brain could imagine.

”So Casey won’t protect Lynette because of Trisha… Furio’s the guy who had his job before, right? So people real deep on Lynette’s side are pissed, makes sense… Do you think it’s a bad thing? All of you?” She decided to just ask the question on her mind after processing the facts as best as she could.

”That Casey isn’t gonna protect her, and shit will collapse violently, instead of staying the status quo?”

"Absolutely not." the three girls said in unison, almost instantly in reply.

”Like I said… Mom’s a sick animal. Sick animals can’t ask for fairness. But sick animals don’t tyrannize others either, so...”

”Uh, f-first time Mia had a dream about Lynette dyin’, we were… Eleven? We’ve hashed it out a lot over time as the picture’s gotten clearer in Mia’s head. The bottom line is that the system needs to go. Lynette’s not willing to make concessions, or to back down, because she’s convinced there’s only one way. I think it’s how these White Luxers actually ‘predict’ the future. They just lock in on something they think’s gonna happen and just fulfill the fuck out of it.” Ed tried to joke, only for Mia to give her an awful glare.

”Regardless, we’re not going anywhere until it’s resolved. Not until the armistice is signed, and the triage is done. I want sick people recovering before we start scrambling for our own skins. I’m not a little girl hiding under a skirt anymore.” Mia spoke sharply, with great conviction in her heart.

Cass nodded, serious expression breaking for a bit of a smile. Of course, the whole situation was shit. But they seemed determined to move forward… Which seemed like the right course. At least, to her. Even if it came at a cost…

”Well, I ain’t planning to either. I know I’m not Temple, but I already feel like a protective big sister to you three- nevermind Leon, Trisha and Casey too. I’ll stick around and help how I can ‘till everything’s peaceful.” She spun around to the fridge, pulling out four more beers and handing one off to each of the girls.

She then raised hers towards them, smile widening.
”Gotta toast to that, right? To staying until everything’s over, and making sure there’s peace and happiness in the end.”

The three girls weren’t shocked to hear Cass say something like that, or react the way she did… But they were inspired. Encouraged to stay the course.

”In so many words: Here’s to turning out the lights, Sisters. And the Coven of the Hidden Rose.”
The three girls put their hands together, and it became clear that all three shared some kind of ring tattoo: a little band, and a rose as the center. They smiled together, then at Cass. Serenity’s ghastly little hand slid up to meet them through the table, causing laughter across before they pulled away and drank.

”We’ll get you one too, if you want. Join our coven… We do tea parties and cuddle puddles on Thursdays.” Ed grinned at Cass.

”Ohhhh, are you proposing to me, Ed?! Leon’ll be so upset!” Cass laughed, grinning back. It was good there was no lingering bad mood for now.
”I do like the sound’ve tea parties and cuddle puddles, though! The more people to cuddle the better, I say. Sure, two’s nice ‘n intimate, but there’s just something real comfortable about lying in a pile of bodies.”

Not really thinking about how that sounded, Cass went back to absolutely demolishing the sushi on her plate.
”How d’you form a coven, anyway? There any magical world coven creation rules, or it just a get a group together call it a coven kinda thing?”

The three of them laughed, unanimously shrugging.

”Traditions based on culture! To lock that down to anything besides a union of like minded individuals is just showing what culture you’re from. We figured the things we valued out of our relationship made for good Coven tenants, so we decided those are the lines we’d establish ourselves on. Love-”

”-Dedication-”

”-and Faith! If you love your sister, if you’re dedicated to her, and have the utmost faith in her, then… Clearly you feel about her the way we feel about one another. Meaning, you’d qualify just as well for the same treatment. Just, y’know, as an example.” Ed finished their little display, and the three hugged with Hari in the middle.

”It’s a marriage in spirit, I guess. The dedication part, really. Like, we’d never expect anyone to just relinquish themselves, but eventually it’d be nice to have a whole group of people living together in love.” Hari smiled, giving a hint as to her own ideal.

”Awww, that is real nice. Honestly, super fucking adorable- not to sound patronising! It’s just so… ugh… so cute!” Cass was bouncing again, just thinking about the currently little love filled group that one day might expand to something equally loving, just larger. It was sweet. Idealistic, but not a bad ideal.

”The kinda thing is something I’ve imagined before too. The whole larger group in love thing- none of this separate partners thing. That’s what’s always broken down my past poly relationships! For me love and dedication is the real important thing… I wanna dedicate myself completely, whether it's to one or multiple people!” Her hands threw into the air, almost throwing beer everywhere.
”So- the point- it’s a Coven I can really approve of!”

---

The day continued along into the evening, then the night as darkness fell around St. Portwell in a veil of cold. Eventually, Mia’s social battery drained up dry, and she craved the comfortable filth of their massive bed. Not before there was a text message that came into Cass’ phone at least, detailing Leon’s status. He’d be home soon, which meant that there’d only be a short lapse between accompanying bodies.
He was interested in seeing how things had been put together upstairs, and knowing vaguely that Mia and the girls had been up to visit, he could only imagine the result.

A day spent hanging around Layla was a day spent doing a whole lot of vibing. She was, at least, an easygoing girl to be around, whose primary focus seemed to be the reeducation and reintroduction of Alizee Vul into the reality of Shimmer. Plenty of time spent just going places. They’d been out to a farm, then to the ocean, off to a shopping mall, then back to the Temple Grounds for a service.
He’d not expected her to take to the actual religious aspect, but either she was faking terribly well, or she found some kind of value in the spirituality. Either way, he was at least satisfied with it being his job, essentially.

Rather than head upstairs immediately, Leon headed down and gathered up the stuff for Cass’ record display, so that they could get it done together and find a place to hang it before settling in for their night together. In total, maybe an hour after the three girls left, Leon’s massive hand knocked squarely on Cass’ apartment door.

”Luuuuuucyyyyyy I’m hoooooooome!” he jokingly called through the door.

There were a couple of clatters inside that Leon would easily pick up, and a distinctive thud of someone jumping down onto the floor. Then, a moment of eerie silence.

”Whoaaa, how did you know my sexy alter ego?!” Cass shouted from inside, finally crossing the distance from her desk to the door with big bounds. She pulled it open, immediately leaning in the door frame with one arm above her like she was posing in some kind of magazine. Since the girls had left she’d changed into her real comfortable clothes- which today was a loose tank top and boxers.

She grinned up at him.
”Did’ya miss me?”

Leon didn’t waste more than a second looking her up and down before letting his lips make purchase on whatever open flesh they could find. Hands full he couldn’t grapple ahold of her like he wanted, which probably prevented the floor from becoming a mess on impact.

”Of course, but you never really know what you’re missing until you see it again. God damn you look so comfy. Can you, uh- Nevermind, y’know, I’ll have my way when I put this shit down. Look! Look, it's all the other matching records! And the display I got!” Leon managed to get his attention to shift from the carnal to the playful, not wanting to go back on his primary intentions.

Having pulled away, he spared a moment to give the place a full lookaround, checking out the final results of the move-in.
”Had good help today? Hari’s great for moving, she gets things organized.” he intoned.

It took all of Cass’ willpower to not just jump him as he stepped inside and she kicked the door closed behind him, records in his hands be damned. But! Patience just made the final result better. And there were things to talk about and show off.

”Oh yeah! You’d be looking at a barely changed place if they hadn’t come up!” Cass grinned, bouncing over to gesture her arms wide around the room. There were still boxes tucked between the couch and her desk, and she was clearly in the process of putting up her posters. That was what the thuds had been- her kicking unimportant shit off her desk while standing on it to put up the poster Leon had signed in front of it.

There was some mess left over from the food, though- with beer cans and plates still in the kitchen, because Cass had told the girls she was fine to tidy up… then gotten distracted. Obviously. But it wasn’t too bad.

”You really do have all of the records, huh? Not that I didn’t believe you, just- wow! It’s kinda insane you managed to collect them all.” Her attention shifted from vaguely showing off the main room to bouncing back over to Leon, getting her face up really close to everything she was holding. Like it helped her see it any better…
”Oh! Are you wanting to put together that record display thingy together just now?! Hell yeah! You chose the right time, before I cover the wall in posters!”

”Would’ve been way easier if I’d have just done it online, but I tried to find them all in the wild! And, with your help, I did! So, let’s get these in place how you want.” Leon smiled, moving toward the table and placing everything down where he could.

He nabbed a leftover roll still sitting out and swallowed without consideration. The display had sections for each record, and then a weirdly shaped space that was for the sleeve in the middle. Just one sleeve, which Leon had neglected to bring since Cass had the yellow copy’s sleeve up here. One of the displays, on the bottom right, had a notch carved into it, allowing one to grab ahold of the record within and slide it out without disturbing the others.

”Now, which one is the one that gets played? I’d recommend the dark green one, just because if it ends up getting scratched at all, it won’t show as badly.” ed

”Are you underestimating how good my record player is?! Whoa, and where she can hear you!” Cass teased, elbowing him as she slotted right into his side to look down at the display.

It was very cool. She’d honestly never seen anything like it… Especially with the notch to let her take one out whenever she wanted! When he said that was possible she’d imagined it being at the top, and her having to climb onto shit to reach it. This was way more convenient!

”But since you’re the one recommending it, I guess I can do that. Dark green in the bottom right… then we gotta fit all the other colours around it aesthetically! Unless you think complete chaos would look better- oh, I should get the yellow one!”

She detached herself from Leon, bounding over to where she’d set up her record player for now. It was on a specific stand she had for it, with her favourite records already packed into the shelves underneath where it sat. There were two more boxes of records beside it that she hadn’t found space for yet… But the one she needed was right on top of the boxes! So she snatched it up and bounced back over to Leon.

”Here we go! Yellow’s gotta be at the top, surely, cause it’s the colour of the sleeve too!”

”Yellow is the rising sun, too. Takes its place at the peak of radiance.” he grinned, pulling open the display fully and taking the yellow record out of its sleeve.

The sleeve itself went in first,letting the other discs come out from behind it. Yellow was first, then his mind immediately went for the grey one.

”Grey’s close, right? Or, did you have a specific idea?” he asked with a big grin.

Cass shook her head.
”I don’t tend to preplan these things. Honestly, if it was me I’d just shove em in random places and call it a day, so… Grey’s good!”

She put her hands on her hips, surveying the other colours. Aesthetics and figuring what went with each other was never her strong point, but she could at least try figure it out. They were doing it together, after all.

She pointed to the light blue one.
”That ones pretty close to the grey, ain’t it?”

Then she also pointed to the orange, and neon green ones.
”I dunno how the fuck we’re gonna put these in a place where they don’t clash awfully with the yellow.”

”Uh… Yellow’s the sun, orange is the setting sun. Mental gymnastics, sometimes it's easier to just let things roll and let other people put their own conclusions together.”

From Grey to light blue, dark blue, then the dark green, light green, light red, orange. Looking at it from the display angle, Leon at least felt satisfied.
”It’s going up in your place… Best to have it how you like it rather than how I like it, right?” he offered.

Cass took a step back, putting her hand to her chin in the ultimate thinking pose. Really, she wasn’t thinking of much at all. It looked good. She couldn’t think of any better combinations. What else was there to it?

”I think it looks fucking awesome!” After a reasonable time of fake thinking she grinned, bouncing up to smack a kiss on Leon’s cheek.
”I don’t really have a strict colour combination preference or anything. If it looks good, that’s perfect… And if I tried I’d make it look like record vomit!”

She giggled at that, beginning to scan her apartment for a good place to put it.
”Oh, since you’re here you can get it real high up- somewhere I couldn’t reach. Like… Above my bedroom door! Wait, no, that’s a shit spot- Above the couch?!”

She once again started bouncing around, trying to figure out the best spot by standing in various locations and staring at the wall. At the same time, her mind was whirring in the background, trying to figure out how to bring up the topic she wanted to before things took a turn back towards the spicier. After all, nothing was more of a boner killer than talking about your mum’s upcoming death.

But how did she ask?! She couldn’t just be like ‘oh how do you feel about the whole Lynette being killed thing’ could she?!

”It was great hanging out with the girls earlier! Nice to know there’s a buncha people I can hang out with if I got the social cravings and you’re busy.”

”Oh, absolutely!” Leon happily blurted, moving toward the couch and leaning the frame up where he thought she wanted it.

”Here good?”

”That’s fucking perfect!” Cass grinned, after moving to a position where she could see past him. It do look really nice held up on the wall, so it’d look even better properly up!

With her approval, Leon wrenched forward, stuffing the frame into the wall by the built-in pins until he knew it wouldn’t move without his permission ever again.

”And, don’t forget it’s not just them! All the folks who work up on the eleventh floor are great, definitely enjoyable people. Ed knows ‘em, she’ll introduce you. Casey could also introduce you to the security guys who live here: The Cannery is pretty exclusive living when it comes to the Temple.” he smiled, pulling away and stretching his shoulder muscles.

”Oh, that’d be awesome! I’m a pretty social creature… And I know I ain’t gonna get much from Trisha, what with her so grossly in love.” Cass laughed, more happy for her friend than in any way upset she knew her Trisha time would be limited. She just had a much smaller social battery, after all…

”And it’s exclusive living, huh? Oooh, the benefits you’re giving me, Babe, they just keep coming! The apartment in an exclusive building is a pretty fucking good one! I’m beginning to understand all those people who chase and try to date celebrities now!” She joked, tilted her head back with a laugh.

Wait, she really wasn’t doing a good job at moving the conversation towards a less jovial mood! Fuck. Well… It’d get there. It wasn’t like Lynette was going to die tomorrow.

Leon laughed with her, his face snuggling up to hers and kissing her before pulling away.
”Oh, you’re too much. I only say exclusive so you know they’re not a bunch of zany freaks! You never have to worry about doing your laundry downstairs at an odd time, or using the gym and getting accosted by someone.” he grinned.

Reaching his hand up, he slid the record out of its slot to show Cass just how easy it was.

”Damn, this action works better than I thought it would. Just, make sure you watch the rubber gasket. When you’re putting it back, make sure it’s not tucked up and folded against the record, or it’ll get all dry and crack up.” he instructed, getting real close to observe the little slot before pulling back.

”But I like getting accosted by freaks in the gym.” Cass giggled, following him in getting right up close to the record display- which involved climbing onto the couch for her. It was a really nifty design. Pretty amazing.

”Right, right, I’ll make sure I’m careful! I wouldn’t wanna try to lube something like that up around all the records!”

”God, you’re such a pervert. I love it. Tell me more about lubing up around a bunch of records.” Leon grinned, finally grabbing ahold of her properly and swinging her down onto the couch to hold hands and cuddle.

”I really missed you. Missed your goofy ass accent, ‘n all your energy. The face you make when I touch you here.” he said softly before cramming his finger into her side to tickle her, his other hand restraining her arm so she couldn’t fully escape.

”Fuck, stopppp!” Cass laughed, legs reactively flailing about and kicking him. Her whole body wriggled to avoid the tickling, but she was pretty solidly trapped unless she wanted to flop off the couch.

Which she didn’t, obviously.
”Missed bullying me, more like!”

Not that she disliked it. Any of it. Just having his hands on her- Wait, no, slow down. Shit to talk about! If it was still on her mind now, it meant it’d be on her mind for the rest of the night. She didn’t want that! It was fucking distracting to all the fun shit. But how did she ask-

”How do you feel about the whole Lynette dying thing?”

Immediately, her eyes went wide.
”Fuck, that was meant to be a thought! A thought! I swear I was gonna ask in a much better way at a much better time!”

Leon’s face almost instantly became confused. Cold, almost disconnected, he stopped and let Cass go with an oddly slow and calm movement. He usually wasn’t like that around her, seemingly trying to keep up with her own speedy hands and limbs crashing around him.

”Well… Shit…” he said absently, frowning and situating himself a bit more squarely on the couch.
”At least like, I don’t know, ‘Hey can I ask you something heavy?’... I’m all for answering whatever you ask me, but… Damn, dude. Damn.”

He took another moment to breath before he was actually able to answer the question without frustration or sadness.

”Like crap? I don’t want a dead mom. I really don’t want to lose anyone, either. How much did they tell you?” he finally asked.

”I’m sorry, Leon.” Cass shifted to be sitting and facing him, one leg bouncing with some agitation. She’d really fucked up asking it the way she did. She hadn’t meant to, but that didn’t make it much better.

”For that and for bringing it up like that- even if I meant to do it better, I didn’t, so- I just gotta apologise, really!”

She looked at him sincerely, hands clenching and unclenching in her own lap over and over.

”They told me how a lot- the whole thing, I’d assume. How your… sister’s probably gonna kill your mum, how it’ll happen cause Casey is slacking on all his duties cause of Trisha, and how there’ll probably be some kinda civil war after. I… Well, obviously I wanted to ask you cause when I heard I thought about how shit it must all be for you. So… Like, how can I help support you through that?” She shook her head, directed towards herself.
”Not asking so bluntly would be a start, I suppose.”

For the first time in their relationship, Leon was more or less stumped. He couldn’t really think of anything to say from his position that would be any more comforting. It wasn’t a good situation all around, so dealing with it in any way was enough to make him anxious. But, was it even about the situation?

”I’m worried that if I let you go much further, you’ll wind up involved. Involved in an inescapable way, and I’d not only be dealing with the real chance of you getting hurt, but Trisha too. Like, in the sense that if something happens to you, that’s game over. Trisha makes Casey’s life miserable forever, and he chooses her over me. I never see my brother again. I lose him, and you, and anyone else who dies a pointless death. Its not…”

He trailed off, not really sure what to say about it. He really didn’t have anything worth saying, did he? She was worried. Concerned. For him to tell her to not be? What did that even mean? It was impossible. She was here now, and in it.

”It’s not easy to say, Cass. We’re not even really there yet, y’know? She’s still above ground. Still making our lives actively miserable. I don’t really want to give her that time once she’s gone.” he admitted, frowning.
”I’ll have an easier time than Casey. So, be thankful for that, I guess…”

Cass nodded slowly. She understood the worry. He was probably right that Trisha would have a pretty awful reaction if she got hurt. But did that mean she was supposed to just sit by and watch when people she cared about were already deeply involved? Of course not.

”Well, I ain’t really tryna be thankful for anything in the situation… But sure. I get not wanting to dwell on it at all.” She rubbed the back of her neck. There was also uncertainty on her end over what to say. Why had she brought it up? Because she wanted to make it wasn’t something constantly dragging him down… Or to see if she could help, like she said. And because she owed him the honesty that she knew.

”I know the whole situation’s tough… and messy. I kept thinking bout that over and over… But y’know I ain’t the kinda person who can just stand by and not do anything. Especially when people I care about are involved. But I promise- sincerely promise- I’ll do my best not to get hurt. I sure don’t plan on dying… I just wanna help keep everyone safe. That’s it.”

He shrugged with frustration.
”I’m already guilty. Bringing you this close, like I didn’t know what I was doing. But, you’re not a fucking porcelain doll either. You’re here because you want to be, because you feel like there’s a reason to be. If its as easy as you liking me, then… Just do what you said. Try not to get hurt, use your better judgement, and if you come into conflict with Trisha over it, then stand on your feet and know that I’m right behind you.”

But… They’d only been together a few weeks! He seriously didn’t want her in a position where violence could happen, but they’d already been impulsive once. There was no taking it back.

”When you went to that raid… Innocence died. You killed, and accepted that you did. If it gets bad, I promise you’ll have to do more… And it may take from you. More than you know yet, maybe.” he frowned, pulling her close.

”If you feel like it's too much? Promise me you’ll tap out. I’ll send you anywhere, do anything I need to get you out of harm's way if it comes to it… But, just promise me you’ll admit it if it does.”

”I promise that I will.” She craned her neck back so she could properly look up at him without moving away. So he could see from her eyes that she really meant it.

She did. She’d absolutely keep the promise… But she doubted it’d come to pass. Not when protecting people was so important to her. And there was the thrill too, that she’d felt during the raid. The love of the fight and the risk that came with it. Though she would do her best to not purposefully put herself in harm's way.

”I can handle having to kill again, if it’s necessary. And we’ll deal with anything taken if it happens. Ain’t much point worrying about something that may happen… Eh, well that’s a bit ironic considering what I asked about, ain’t it?”

Her arms wrapped around him, even though she kept staring up at him with that open, honest gaze.
”I really am so fucking sorry for how I brought it up. I know I already apologised but it really wasn’t fucking okay!”

”Uhh… It’s alright, Babe. It’s fine. You’ve clearly been thinking about it, right? Since you heard today clearly. I’m just sorry you’ve been living with that all day. It's definitely not what I was thinking they’d bring up” Leon quickly admitted, letting Cass feel him soften his arms and release the tension through his body.

”Just… Y’know, start with a qualifier. That’s all.” he giggled, pressing his face into her neck and kissing.

”I’ll try my hardest- it ain’t something I can always control. Sometimes the brain to mouth filter just don’t work… But I won’t fuck up that bad again! And it’s all good, really. Wasn’t like it was most of what we talked about, just a lil bit.” She relaxed too. Well, went from a bit tense to steadily increasing energy. Which meant a lot of little wriggles, cuddling him as she was.

She twisted her head to kiss, then lightly nibble, his ear.
”I bet you had a much chiller day, though. Or was it more intense?! Did the babysitting turn into bodyguarding?!”

Leon shook his head giggling.
”Layla’s always been pretty easy going. Though, a friend of ours tells me he may’ve had a hand in convincing her that we’re the people to stick around with. She used to be adjoined to this real piece of work Apparition, so now we’ve just gotta keep her mind off it. Since, y’know, if she digs for it enough, she’ll find it in the Temple’s sphere. That’s the job: Keep her mind off Void.”

Sounded like a strange job even in his mind. It was, of course, definitely strange and not a job someone in real life would have. But, there were no rules when it came to this kind of thing. Only magic and consequence.

”Well… Actually, her situation is super strange. A real case study of magic and its capabilities.” he explained.

"How so? I assume it ain't just the being Adjoined to something as edgy sounding as the Void?" Cass asked curiously. It was an incredibly strange job- she'd honestly just assumed the job was making sure Father Wolf didn't kill a Temple Sycamite member, this kind of keeping him safe too.

Keeping someone's mind off a ghost… Eh, well, it was a job that actually involved doing shit unlike, say, being a middle manager.

"Does she have some kinda extra magical ghost bond or some shit?"

”She’s part of a cursed bloodline. Usually, that means bad things. Bad luck, constant inability to get ahead in life for generations. But sometimes, something so bad happens, it makes its own little Hell for the afflicted. In the case of the Hyacinthus’, they’re inexorably linked to a few of the most horrendous and abusive voidlings you can be attached to.”
He hoped he wouldn’t have to explain voidling, but realizing very quickly that “Void” and “Voidling” were too close for comfort, he knew it couldn’t escape scrutiny.

”Voidlings being little creatures born of a place called the Void. Her object of affection Voidheart, is an equally shitty voidling, but far more broadly concerning than the Rhiil siblings. The Rhiil are like three ticks: They suck her blood, they mess with her brain, and there’s always a potential for lyme disease. But they could never suck so much that she dies of anemia. However, if she adjoins to another voidling that isn’t them, they scarper. Can’t compete for the tap. That’s how Voidheart came to get his claws around her.” Leon explained, hoping to catch Cass up as much as she wanted to be caught up.

"Damn, that is a pretty fucking shitty situation. I can see how it's real strange too. A buncha ghosts all wanting one girl… Yikes." Cass shuddered for effect, before she processing something he'd said in the middle of all of that. Not the Void… a place she'd never heard of, and frankly didn't sound like somewhere she ever wanted to be. It was in the name! But no, it was ‘her object of affection.’

"Wait… is she in love with this Voidheart?! Like- a ghost? Voidling, Apparition, whatever- cause it sure kinda sounds like it if you're saying he was her object of affection or whatever. That's possible?!" Of course that was what Cass got caught up in.

Leon nodded.
”It’s not entirely natural, not from a creature perspective, but from a mental perspective. Y’see, until the point she was faced with the option of playing into Voidheart’s hand, she was an all-you-can-eat for the Rhiils. For the first time in her life, there was a creature that wasn’t trying to devour her maliciously. Voidy’s a seducer: He finds people in pain who can’t protect themselves, tells them he’ll save them and he’ll- You know the spheal. It’s a load of hot crap, so we’re all working to make sure she keeps this new Apparition.” he nodded, hoping that whatever plan his mother actually had for Voidheart herself never came to fruition.

"Ahhhh… yeah, I see, he's basically her saviour in her eyes. No wonder you gotta spend all your time stopping her from thinking about him! Man, that's textbook abusive relationship… ‘saving’ someone only to use em yourself…" Cass shook her head in disgust. But it was an Apparition, and they didn't really play by human rules. More seemed malevolent than not.

"I take it the new ones much better? Thank fuck, hopefully she does keep ‘em. Maybe eventually realises that the other ghost wasn't good for her…" Even though she barely knew the girl, she really couldn't stand people- or things- that took advantage of others.
"At least I understand your job better, now! It sure does sound like a full time one, heh… I've done the whole convincing someone an abusive ex was bad for em thing, seems harder when it's a saviour ghost."

For a second, Leon wondered if he should even go into any detail about the new ghost.

”It’d be a lot better if the ghost wasn’t also Voidy’s last ‘girl’ if you know what I mean? Uh… Alizee. Girl I was pretty close to as we grew up. Adjoined with Voidheart, did the song and dance for years and years. Tried to get her out of it, but she ended up dying. On… My watch, really. I did everything I could to try and save her from the situation, but she was a moth to flame. But, her essence rekindled into an Apparition. Thankfully, we’ve managed to unite the two of them. Alizee doesn’t remember much, save for fucking Voidheart which goes to show how deep the claws can get.”

He figured he may as well, and avoid having to rehash the explanation later.

"Damn… following her even past death, huh?" Cass' eyes had gone wide, her mouth parting in shock. The whole thing was kind of insane and hard to keep track of. She could vaguely picture the messy relationship diagram in her head. Both girls were adjoined to Voidheart, now to each other… It was like the good ending to every love triangle.

"And I thought some've my past relationships were messy! Sorry, bad joke… But that sure does double your problem with keeping em away from the ghost predator, doesn't it? I bet their just bouncing off of each other."

He nodded wildly in return.
”Thankfully, I have Lelou. Not that she’s directly helpful, but I recognize the signs of a conversation in an Adjoined mind, so I usually catch her and pull her out. She really avoided it at first, but now she knows it's coming. I’m…-”

Leon cut himself off with a thought that had already occurred to him previously, but hearing Cass’ side would help. She was so morally north-facing, how could he ignore her? And, if she didn’t say nay? He could stop feeling bad…

”-Is it weird for me to feel conflicted about the situation? I’m surveilling her, and even though it’s not how my Mom intrusively watches everyone, it’s still… Dishonest? Between Greyson implanting thoughts in her head, and me actively watching her like I’m a babysitter all the time… She knows why its happening. Hell, she knows when at this point. But, I can still feel the two of them bucking me constantly. Every little spot, every little thing… It hits Alizee with a new memory, and Layla main lines it, because she can’t control it. So, there’s all this nostalgia and shit that isn’t hers. But, ultimately, she wouldn’t be in this position if it weren’t for people like us! And then, on top of that, her natural state isn’t anything to write home about! Like… I don’t know how to feel, Cass!” he finally blurted out, shaking her as he did so.

"Whoa there, you're gonna make me dizzy." Cass patted his arm- even though it wasn't really much more movement than she'd normally be doing herself. It was just hard to think when she was being shaken about!

"I mean… Feeling conflicted is fair. But ultimately you're doing it for her safety, right? To try and keep her- both of em- away from something you know'll just hurt them? Sure, it ain't the most honest… but sometimes you gotta make those moral sacrifices to keep someone safe. I ain't so sure bout the whole thought implanting thing… But you're doing your best to help her now that she is in this position." Cass answered evenly.

"I can't tell you how to feel, cause y’know… I ain't you. But! Intent's pretty important. And sometimes you gotta make harsh choices that someone won't like to stop em from crawling back to that kinda abusive situation."

He shook his head, frowning slightly.
”I just… Don’t know, Cass. I guess I wish she’d never come back. She’d be dealing with her own nightmare how she had been her whole life, and nobody else would feel responsible. But maybe that’s me being lazy.” he frowned in return, squeezing her just a little tighter.

”Sorry… Real downer stuff tonight, huh?” he asked calmly.
”At least you’ve got this nice place. You like it?”

"It's all good, we both brought up a downer subject, so we're even." Cass reached up to ruffle his hair aggressively, before smiling.
"Hell yeah! It's fucking sweet… I ain't ever had this much space to myself. I've always had flatmates so the only space that's mine is my room. Never been much've of an issue, but I do like having the whole place."

Her smile pulled up into a wide grin.
"Plus, I don't have to worry about anyone getting upset at me for being messy! I can just leave dirty clothes all over the place, no worries! I can do whatever I want wherever I want!"

”Dude, try and get your laundry done at least: I’ll absolutely make you regret not doing so. You’ll not be expecting me, I’mma be in here in the dead of night one night eating the crotches out of all your panties.” Leon grinned widely alongside her, goblin brain instantly activating as the air cleared out.

”Seriously though, I’m glad you like it… Is it bad that I’ve been thinking about all the things I’d do to you up here?” he held her rather still, making sure their eyes met as side glances, grins still consuming their faces.

"It ain't at all… I've been pretty fucking excited, to be honest." Cass' grin got wider somehow, and she made tiny wriggling motions within his hold. Sure, they'd done it in plenty of places… Leon's sex dungeon bedroom was a pretty fucking good one. But it being her place… it was fresh, new.

"We gotta christen the place after all, don't we?"

Leon only grinned with more evil in his eye.
”Fuck a Christening… Let's Baptize this bitch. Slip n’ slide style.”
In the early hours of the morning, after fully baptising the place, the two curled up together for a peaceful night's sleep. At least, it was peaceful for a couple of hours…

”FIVE! FOUR!”
Huh? Cass stirred at the slightly staticy sound of a number blasted out into the air. A hand reached out to grope for her phone, only to find it wasn't on the bed… of course. And she was trapped by another arm… a comfortable arm…

”THREE! TWO!”

Had she set her alarm to some number countdown? What the fuck? She groaned, starting to wriggle out of Leon's hold.

”ONE!”

As a jaunty little tune started to blare out of her phone, she woke up fully.

"Fuck- Fuck!" She wriggled herself fully free and shot over to the edge of the bed, grabbing her phone from the bedside table she'd dumped it on. She was so tempted to just decline the call… but he'd just call back again. And again and again until she answered. Because he knew what she could be like. But still!

"It's fucking six in the morning, Jack! Why the fuck are you calling me?!" Cass practically screeched, very much leaving Leon no chance of still being asleep if he'd somehow ignored the blaring theme tune ringtone.

Her older brother appeared on her screen with a grin. His dark, curly hair was kept just a bit shorter than Cass', and he was wearing a t-shirt with a triangle telling a circle ‘you’re pointless’. Thankfully Cass had been awake enough to accept the call without turning on her own video.

“Wow, is that any way to greet your brother, Cassi?!” Jack snickered on the other end of the line.
“Like you ain't missed me at all! I got my maths wrong figuring out your time, is all. And honest mistake… but you're awake now, ain'tcha?”

"Against my will! I can still fucking hang up on you!"

"Awww, you're so grouchy in the morning… is that why your video’s off?! Cause me to see you're dopey half awake face? C'mon, I've seen your ugly mug after just waking up plenty!"

"... My camera's off cause I'm naked, Jack!"

"Whoa, you with someone right now?! Damn, Cass, what would Ma say? Maybe I should go-"

"You know I don't give a fuck about what Ma thinks." Cass let out a little huff, wanting to wipe that smug grin off her brothers face. And… she totally could. She had an amazingly evil idea.

She turned to look at Leon, finger raising to her lips to tell him keep quiet. Not that she thought he'd interrupt or anything… but it was extra important he didn't speak for her plan to work.
"Speaking of things Ma doesn't approve of… You ain't lost your interest in the PBL cause it's the off season, have ya?"

"Course not! The fuck do you think I am, some casual fan?"

Cass smirked.
"Hey, I'm just checking! You'll never guess who I met recently…"

Jack's expression turned thoughtful. But before he could open his mouth to guess, Cass was already continuing.

"Timberwolf! In the flesh! Like, not just that I saw him, I met him!" Cass gushed, easily dragging up her intense fan excitement. Even after weeks spent with Leon it hadn't dampened. She doubted it ever would!
"And I got exclusive posters of him and Gravity… He even signed a whole bunch of them!"

"Holy shit!" Jack exclaimed, eyes going round with shock. He leaned forward closer to his phone camera.
"You serious?! You met Timberwolf?! Fuck- did you get any for me?"

Cass' grin turned into something filled with pure evil mischief. She shuffled on her knees back towards Leon, glancing away from her phone for a moment to wink at him.
"Nope! Why would I?"

"What the fuck, Cassandra?! You didn't?!" Jack's reaction was immediate and overblown, hands moving up to grasp his face in despair. Exactly as Cass had expected and been aiming for.
"C'mon, Cassi, surely I can have at least one?"

"Nope! They're all mine!"

"Seriously?!" Jack began to look like a man who was about to lose his house and was desperate to keep it.
"Surely there's some way you can get me one? You must be able to go to another fan meet or something sometime! Please! I'll do anything for you, Cass, you just know how fucking hard it is to get PBL stuff over here. I just need one… I ain't as big a fan as you, but I'm still a fan!"

"You'll do… anything?"

"Literally anything!"

Cass was more than satisfied that she'd got her revenge for the six am call and subsequent bullying… so she turned her head to look at Leon, eyebrows raising.
"Well, y'think you can sign another poster, Leon?"

The face on the screen- with all its similarities to Cass’- went from despair to confusion in a split second.

Leon had hardly woken up even with all the excitement. If Lelou needed rest, she needed rest; the decision was no longer his to make. But nobody could fully escape that voice, and with her being so enthusiastic about what was being said, he was doing his best to not just fall back asleep without concern. She was talking to… He could hear a younger male’s voice in the speaker in spite of the buzzing. Jack.

If he remembered correctly, one of her brothers. Okay. She was bragging. Bragging about him, and having signed merch. There was a low, rumbling laugh as she was teasing him; one that would’ve been hard for the phone speaker to pick up. And when she finally asked him the question, he lazily reached his hand out for the phone.

”I’ll handle this… Let me see.” he quietly mumbled half into the pillow.

”Dude, you’re barely awake! What’re you gonna do, snore at him?” Cass laughed, not helping with her brother’s confusion. Instead of handing over the phone, fearing he’d take it and pass right out, she clambered right on top of Leon. With a bit of wriggling she got comfortable enough that she could hold it in front of both of them, letting Leon see the man on the screen.

If his eyes were open enough.

”My camera ain’t on cause, y’know, naked and all.”

"Cass…" Jack’s eyes narrowed suspiciously, leaning even closer to his phone camera.
"D’you think cause you’re banging someone with the same name as Timberwolf you can pass off a signature as his?"

”Why the fuck is that your first assumption?!”

Leon lazily scooted until he reached a point that he knew Cass wasn’t in frame. He was shirtless, covered in bruises, but the second part could be easily passed off as a fight. Hair still mangled, half knotted and absolutely pulled in a dozen different ways, he turned the camera on. Real close at first, so only his eyes showed in the picture streaming back to Jack.

He took a deep breath.

”This thing on? Jack Williams? The Jack Williams?” he asked, playfulness veiled in a weak seriousness.

Jack wasn’t such a big fan that he could recognise Leon from just his eyes. Cass almost definitely could, but her brother wasn’t in the crazy fan sphere she was. Just a big lover of the sport. So he squinted.

"Ay, the same… You’ve got some real nice eyes, mate. Real blue. I can see what my sister sees in you, whichever Leon you are- wait-" He frowned a little bit, distracted for a moment from the false promise of Timberwolf posters for a while.
"How much has she been shit talking me for me to be ‘The’ Jack Williams?!"

”As much as you deserve!” Cass couldn’t exactly stay quiet… Especially when she was having to stop herself from doing her normal constant moving that’d get her in frame! She could only suppress one thing at a time!

As Leon pulled the phone away to reveal his bare chest, and the very recognizable tattoos thereupon, he made sure to totally spin toward a wall where Cass wouldn’t possibly jump in front of the camera. Saving her from herself, of course.

”I’ll be honest with you, man; not enough for me to know why you’d be worried about it. Are you?” he asked, mostly letting him deal with the potential mindfuckery of it actually being him.

"Worried it’ll overshadow my shining personality, ay- Wait, what the fuck?!" In a response spectacularly like Cass, Jack processed the tattoos only after a few moments and answering the following question. His mouth fell open, eyes going so wide it looked like they might pop out of his head.

"No fucking way- Damn, Cass, are you really- actually- shagging Timberwolf?!"

”Dating him! I’m dating him! You couldn’t have thought’ve a single nicer word?!” Cass flailed her arms around, before rolling away to grab the sheets and wrap them around herself. Then she shuffled back to Leon.

"You’re dating… Timberwolf…" Jack was clearly still processing it, head tilting back like he was having a mid life crisis. But after only a moment his gaze snapped back to his phone.
"Mr Timberwolf, what kinda dirt does she have on you?! Blink twice if she’s got you trapped in a basement!"

Without hesitation, Leon started blinking rapidly.

”Leeeoonnn, what the fuck?!” Cass immediately pounced on Leon, playfully hitting him.
”Fucking ganging up on me!”

Laughing as Cass went on, Leon shook his head and finally moved more of the hair out of his face.
”Anyway! It’s nice to talk to you, Jack. And don’t worry, I won’t leave you out in the lurch: I’ve got a plan to hook you up. You’ll only need to wait for as long as it takes me to get everything together. I need shoe size, shirt size, pretty much anything you can wear. And then, make sure you let Cass know what your favorite fights are. I’ll get you everything I can. How’s that sound?” he asked with a bit of pep in his step.

"Seriously?! Shit, course that sounds amazing. Cassi already knows most’ve my sizes, and favourite fights. We watched plenty of em together, after all! So long as it ain’t a hassle for you to get all that together… I know you already got the family’s biggest hassle on your hands." Jack laughed, flashing a grin through the screen. He’d gotten over his shock pretty well. A Williams family trait: bouncing back up easily. Or, maybe it was more the changeable mood.

”Eh, that’s a lie and we both know it! Tony’s the biggest hassle cause he’s the baby of the family.” Cass shot back, ceasing her attacks on Leon to focus back in on her brother.

"Yeah, yeah, you’re all hassles." Jack smirked, shaking his head.
"Also, I’m sorry for waking you, mate. If I’d known Cass was with someone I would’ve waited a couple more hours."

”So it was on purpose!”

"Guilty." Jack held up his hands.
"I do have some shit we gotta talk about… But more importantly, how on earth did you meet?! Please tell me it wasn’t at some kinda fansign thing?"

Leon shook his head with a calm smile.
”Cass and I have a mutual contact. We met by chance through them; Cass was enthusiastic about meeting, and we got to spend more time together than I usually get to spend with fans. Turns out, I like her. Even with all the chaos.” he nodded.

”But, it’s fine… No worries about waking me up. Though, if there’s something serious you guys need to talk about, can I go back to bed? Unless you think you need me” he half-joked.

Jack’s grin got wider as Leon talked about how they’d met. As much as he spent half his time bullying her, he did love his sister. So if she was happy and things were going well… Good.

"I ain’t got anyone needing punched in the face right now, so I’m good!" He laughed.
"Feel free too! I didn’t even realise Cass’d be with someone when I called, y’know. Real fucking awesome surprise, though."

Cass had sat up properly, staring down at Leon with a teasing spark in her eyes.
”Are you seriously gonna kick me outta my own bed?!”

For a moment, Leon did consider leaving the bed, but narrowed his eyes.
”Hey, you want someone to point fingers at, it's his fault! You heard him, he did do this on purpose.” Leon grinned, eyes still squinted in sleepiness.

Giggling, Cass rolled out of bed with her phone. She turned back off the video as she got rid of the bedsheet, shuffling out into the main room and letting the bedroom door close behind her. She pulled a baggy t-shirt and shorts from the closet before sitting down on the couch to talk to her brother.

”So… What did you wanna talk about?”

Jack’s jovial expression turned more serious, and he sighed.
"Christmas… Well, it’s mostly Ma. I wanna give you a proper warning, give you plenty’ve time to prepare. She’s being like that again."

”So?” Cass waved a hand dismissively.
”She’s normally like that.”

"She seems serious this time. She’s talking ‘bout kicking you out if you don’t agree to stay… She’s mad at all of us, cause I’ma be leaving soon too, but you went first. She even said if you don’t pull your weight for the family you ain’t welcome for our holidays."

”What, she’s gonna fucking ban me from christmas?”

"It won’t come to that. Even Da ain’t happy about that. Majority wins, y’know? Just… it might be pretty tense. Worse than usual."

”Y’think she’ll try force me to stay? To what, fucking look after you- when you don’t even need that?!”

Jack’s silence spoke far more than words would have.

”Fucking seriously… Eight years. Eight fucking years and she still thinks I’m some little girl to boss about! And that all’ve you are useless cause you’re, what, boys? Fuck! I gotta stop hoping she’ll change.”

Of course she wouldn’t stop hoping that. Because it was her Mum. She still loved her, even if she couldn’t stand to be around her. And her Dad had changed. Just a little bit, really just accepting that Cass had left and was never really coming back, but it was something. But ironically, for all her traditional values her Mom’s word really was law in the house.

Jack smiled sadly.
"I’m sorry Cassi. She ain’t stop treating me like an invalid, and I ain’t needed the help for years. It’ll be better next year, since Rob’ll have his own place. We’ll have Christmas there."

”Fucking better be.” Cass let out a sharp exhale, trying to get lose the anger with it.
”I’ll see if I can stay at Sal’s if shit hits the fan.”

"Can we all come? His place has way more space."

”Dream on, he ain’t your friend.” Cass rolled her eyes at him, laughing slightly. The laughter didn’t last long as her mind went back to something else. Something brought up by talking to Leon yesterday, about the possible civil war- and having to kill again. She’d wanted to talk to Jack about it, and now she could…

”Can I ask you something? About the War?”

"’Course. It ain’t like you to ask permission, Cassi, something up?"

”Nah! Just curious.” Cass shook her head.
”What was it like for you, killing people? Especially the first time.”

"I hardly had time to think about it. Y’know, we were sent to France when the Germans were invading in full force. It was kill or be killed. Really, it was survival mode the whole time. Y’know how many people died? It wasn’t till I was safely evacuated that it really hit me. The PTSD, y’know, I got enough’ve a breather to think ‘bout it till I was sent to the Mediterranean front. It really hit how many I’d killed. Enemies, sure, but people with family’s just like me…"

Cass frowned a little. It hadn’t been the same for her at all. There’d been the survival aspect… But she hadn’t dwelled on it much since. Maybe because she talked to Leon about it immediately afterwards?

”Did’ya talk bout it with other soldiers? Was it the same for them?”

"It varied. Everyone who made it out didn’t freak out, cause that would’ve killed em… There were people who took it well during the war. They viewed it as a necessity, all’ve that stuff. The scariest were the people who could just kill without a worry. No hesitation. Even though I was fighting to survive, I still hesitated. These people just did it without thinking."

Cass did her best not to let her expression worsen. Was that what she was like? She hadn’t hesitated. There hadn’t been any thoughts during it, and very few afterwards. It was like it had been natural. She wasn’t even that worried about having to do it again. Fuck.

"But! I’m sure they’re doing well now, just like I am. Why were you suddenly curious?"

”Well, it ain’t like I can ask normally cause Mum’s around and starts freaking out. Plus… Remember Trisha? Her boyfriend fought in the War too! So I figured it might help me understand him better.”

"Awww… That’s our Cassi. Always so considerate." Jack teased, grinning at her. He didn’t seem all that upset that she’d asked, at least. She only did because she knew his PTSD wasn’t so close to the surface anymore.

”Yeah, yeah, shuddup.”

The two chatted for another half an hour about much less serious things, before Jack had to go. While Cass had put things to the back of her mind for now, the resulting agitation was still there. It was a feeling that meant she couldn’t just relax. She had to move or constantly do something, her limbs jerking about the moment she put her phone down. Overwhelming, somewhat anxious energy she needed to channel somewhere.

Which meant she couldn’t crawl back into bed with Leon. There was no way she was getting back to sleep now…

Her eyes darted between her new drum kit and her computer. After a brief thought, she shot over to the latter. Less likely to disturb Leon… and she had plenty of coding projects to get lost in for however long she needed to.

But Leon hadn't really fallen asleep. Not entirely, anyway. The same way a dog takes a snooze, his ears and nose remained active enough to alert him to shifts around, and let him slip in and out of consciousness without much effort. Flying in the face of its tonal quality, Leon found Cass’ voice to be terribly soothing; thus it was difficult to avoid accidentally eavesdropping.

So he just didn't. He listened to her, and then the phone buzzing beneath. And, in doing so, he felt a great deal of sadness. Knowing that there was something going on that none of the siblings could escape hit close to home. Close enough that he felt like something had to be done.

As Cass and Jack settled into the lighter conversation, Leon went to work on his phone rattling off messages to contacts in the UK. He was determined to do more than sit idly by when it was, in fact, a problem that his wealth and connections could fix.
By the time he was done, he had fifteen condo listings, five homes and a whole ass flat building within commuting distance of Manchester for Jack and Co. to choose from.

Having taken longer than it took to hear all the talking stop, Leon emerged from the bedroom in nothing but the sheet wrapped around his waist. Skirts were incredibly comfortable, after all. Holding his phone in his hand, he took a look left toward the nook where Cass’ computer was. He didn't hesitate to take a picture of her, the position she was in hilarious.

She was like a chair gargoyle. Both feet planted on the seat, ass planted firmly behind for stability, and fully tilted toward the computer. He wasn't sure how someone got comfortable like that, but he'd seen the behavior before.

”Sometimes I wonder if sitting correctly in a chair is attached to Neurotypicality. We've been on for like almost a month now; I don't think I've seen you sit like a human ever.” he grinned, stashing the picture for safe keeping in his phone.

There was a brief pause as Cass finished off a small bit of logic from the program she’d already gotten stuck into. Just a silly little game to occupy her brain. But her mind quickly unstuck from the hole it was starting to fall into at the sound of Leon’s voice, so she could turn her attention to him.

”That’s cause I ain’t human! I’m an extra stretchy alien.” Cass pushed on her desk to spin the seat around to face him.
”But I ain’t ever really thought about it. Not like I ever got diagnosed with anything! A buncha teachers told my parents to get me tested for ADHD and that, but y’know, they don’t believe in that stuff. No point now!”

She tilted her head, glancing him up and down before swapping topics.
”What happened to going back to sleep?! I thought I was gonna get a couple hours peace!” She laughed… Obviously not what she actually wanted. Having him awake and active was far better than getting into any code hole.

Of course her reaction was funny enough that he couldn't help himself. The laughter just came naturally around Cass.

”Oh… Well! I certainly know when I'm not wanted!” he playfully snapped. But, rather than leave, he slid himself closer to her and bent down to kiss her. Or, kiss on her more precisely. He could see the spots she was warmest, and instinctively let his lips explore her soft skin.

”Honestly… I was listening to you. Your voice. I was headed back until uh… Well, uh-”

Did he feel like a dick for eavesdropping? Not if he could help the situation, but if she rejected him negatively, it'd be a lot harder to not feel dumb.

”-Listen… I can help, I think. Your brother fought for his family, he doesn't deserve to be stuck somewhere that he feels suffocated. No more than Casey does. I… I want to buy property over there anyway. There's an opportunity for me to invest money in a larger property. A flat complex, something like a hundred flats. I buy it through the company, set up infrastructure, three months tops your brothers all have their own apartments. Free. Grandfathered leases, all that… Or, houses! If its simple, I mean within a week! We transfer the money, they-

”Leon, that’s way too much.” Cass interrupted before he could start detailing how he could buy all of her brothers houses. She wasn’t upset at all that he’d listened in- she’d planned to talk to him about it anyway, and would’ve left the apartment if she didn’t want to risk the dog ears picking it all up!

But buying a whole flat block? Houses?
”I really appreciate you tryna figure something out for us! But I can’t really accept you… buying them houses! Or even free flats! Sure, if you’re planning to invest in something over there already, that’s fine. But there’s gotta at least be rent or something. They won’t be comfortable if there ain’t either… And it ain’t so bad you gotta waste so much of your money on it.”

Of course it was that. What was it with people not wanting free stuff? He'd never met a person who didn't want the handout until it was staring them in the face. Then, only then, did the bastards grow humble when faced with Leon's overwhelming desire to give. It was the steward within, knowing that the only resource necessary for a comfortable life was the seemingly infinite stretch of profits that continued to roll in.

Was he a land baron? The fifteen or twenty properties owned by the Temple were controlled by his stake in the organization, and the rent that flooded into their coffers from it ultimately hit his payroll first. It was nothing to get more, still knowing that he'd probably sell off his stake in the LLC once management changed hands. But, for now, the money was was a great flood. And people's attitudes toward it, rather than his own conscience, was the dam.

”Free is just the first thing I offer so people honestly tell me what they can comfortably afford. If you go from zero to something, everyone feels satisfied.”

A lie. He meant free, but everyone just saw “trap.” Maybe it'd be easier to do when there wasn't a cult… But, then again, the money wouldn't be infinite at that point.

”Can you mention it, at least? That I want them comfortable, and I'm willing to work something out to get them on their own feet? And that it isn't a problem or some kind of imposition, because I enjoy doing things for others?” he tried to return to sincerity, looking deeply into Cass’ eyes as he spoke.

Cass didn’t look away as she properly thought about it. It was difficult to accept something so big. It wasn’t how any of them were brought up. They’d been taught that they had to work hard. They shouldn’t just accept free things… But it was more than that for her.

”Alright, I’ll talk to them about it. Jack gets money from the government, and he’s gotta proper grant when he starts uni next September… He was planning to find somewhere anyway. Dom graduates from his masters this summer, and Tony’s gotta year and a half more… But he ain’t even in Manchester most’ve the time. What I mean is that they can afford something! But having someone willing to give a decent rent’d help ‘em all a lot.”

She couldn’t exactly reject on their behalf. And she didn’t want to just push away his generosity. But…

”It ain’t cause I don’t trust you or anything. I know you wouldn’t pull the rug out from under ‘em if anything happened to us. It’s just that… Well…” She looked a little frustrated. But she was always honest where she could be, even if she didn’t know how the fuck to say something diplomatically.
”It makes things pretty unequal, don’t it? You getting rent controlled flats for my brother, and I just ain’t contributing.”

Leon didn't know how to make the scenario equal. He didn’t even think it had to be. He furrowed his brow, trying to figure out what to say that wouldn't have the usual consequences. The first six things that came through were rejected on principle, and answers were filtered further until he had what he wanted.

”How can I alleviate that? I'm doing what comes natural for me, and that entails giving. I do it because I can, and because I enjoy people feeling secure. If my actions don't give you that feeling, then explain why so I can fix it.” he said in a curt fashion. Thankfully, in spite of such brevity, he didn't sound mad or upset. His face spoke of genuine confusion and conviction to make things here right.

”It’s not you.” Cass was quick to respond, holding up her hands. It wasn’t something he could fix because it wasn’t like he was doing anything wrong. Sure, maybe it was too much for how early in their relationship it was… But giving wasn’t a problem.

”Y’know about the whole traditional family thing… You’d think my Mom wouldn’t want me to do the same, right? But, uh, she’s its biggest champion. So I grew up being told to not bother trying hard with school, and I should just learn to properly cook ‘n clean ‘n shit. That I’d just stay at home till I got a husband! Like, I said ‘bout being expected to marry… But in the shitty traditional way! Like, I couldn’t be anything but a housewife. So… I still struggle with shit like this cause of it, even though I got a lotta therapy when I left. I just ain’t really had many partners spend that way, y’know? And it ain’t like you’re giving off any signals that's what you want! It’s just a deeply rooted worry.”

She was completely honest about it. Cause while she didn’t come with the bundle of issues some others did, this was one she had. The one that affected relationships, really! She’d taken real steps to move away from the person her Mom had tried to- and almost succeeded in- making her, but that didn’t mean she was completely over an entire childhood worth of it.

If nothing else, Leon tried. Right now, the trying was a bit more desperate as he tried to link together her concern to his actions. She even said herself, he’d never expressed wanting to lock her down.

”So its inequality by… I presume there’s a privilege here that I must be so used to that I can’t understand. Is… Is this about independence? ‘Cuz, I mean, you said! They can pay their own ways. But so can you! Uh… Y’know, I know contextualizing it over again probably ain’t gonna fix anything. But, like… There’s no wizard lease here. None of our legal contracts grow teeth and latch onto you. You’re not ‘hitching’ your cart to my horses until the end of the trail, like…-”

He paused, trying to find the words to use to ease her frustration. Whether or not he was able, however, was a different story altogether.

”-I guess I don’t know. I see you, I see an independent woman who doesn’t need help. I just think you deserve it, and I’m in the position to provide. You’re not the only one. Only a few people in this building actually pay rent: Most of them are just good friends, or people who I care about and feel like they deserve to be comfortable in their lives. Is that… Wrong?” he finally asked her, not with sarcasm, but a sincere inability to figure out if he’d really done something wrong.

”No… It ain’t.” Cass shook her head, shuffling forward to reach out for his hands. She hadn’t mean to make him feel confused or start questioning shit… Not that she regretted being honest, or anything! Just, the consequences.

”If people accept it and you don’t force it on em? ‘Course it ain’t wrong. That ain’t what I’m tryna say at all! There ain’t strings- I get that- it’s just cause you care. It’s a kind gesture.” She squeezed his hands before continuing.

”I don’t even have a problem with the offer myself! I ain’t upset at you at all, I don’t think you’re judging me or any shit I just… Fuck, well- I just… Fuck, how do I explain?” Cass got a bit frustrated again, too many thoughts in her head to clearly form what she was trying to get across.

”I get worried I’ll get used to that kinda shit and… somehow lose who I actually am. Cause it happened before! And I know it’s completely irrational but it’s like the one thing I got stupid anxiety over. I bet that doesn’t even make sense- but it really ain’t what you’re doing. You ain’t doing anything wrong, it’s just my own issue- which, heh, I guess you’re lucky to stumble on? I ain’t got so many.”

She was still holding his hands, so he gripped hers tighter as she wrapped her head around an explanation. She was afraid of… Losing her ambition? Her drive? And it’d happened before…

”Were… You supposed to be married to someone? I don’t mind, obviously, I just feel curious now. If you’ve gotten to the point where you’ve, y’know, lost yourself; I’d at least like to know the context. Maybe I can gleam some preventive wisdom.” he explained, thumbs rolling against the backs of her hands.

”Nah, nah, it wasn’t that extreme. It was just when I was growing up, I… honestly really didn’t like myself for a while! Cause after I went through puberty my parents really started pressuring me to ‘act more like a girl’ cause I should be growing outta being ‘boyish’. So I suppressed myself and basically lost a lotta it for a while. I was super quiet! Tried to be more ‘like a girl’, y’know? It wasn’t till I moved over here I really stopped that. I had to do a lotta work to accept myself fully. So I ain’t… Worried about it happening again cause’ve something you do. It’s…” Her whole face scrunched up. It seemed ridiculous to say what she was about to with how self confident she generally was.

”My fucking Mum! She finds out bout the flats for my brothers, and I know she’s gonna be like ‘So you finally took my advice, Cassandra, and found a well off man? I knew you’d realise your mistakes eventually!’ or some shit like that! It’s pretty unfair for me to worry bout it cause’ve that, right? Like I ain’t the teen girl I was then, and what’s between us ain’t anything like that. It’s just the longer I ain’t conformed the worse she’s gotten.”

Taunt her.
What now?
Inform her of your intent. The belief that you are extricating them from her life. That their reduced proximity to the matron is no sign of relinquishment, but rather… Emancipation, as Mia says.

Well, if anyone in his life was good at being petty, it was Lelou.

”I think, if it comes to that and you feel like you need a better grip on the moment, then… You should be honest about the intention. Plain and simple, if your mother is so stressful that they want to avoid her, she shouldn’t be sheltered from the fact. So, you let her know that you have your own stuff. And that you can do for you anytime. And, if she can’t understand what you mean, you explain better. That way I can be sure that she knows: Your brothers are Men. They deserve the opportunity to flourish without a boot on their backs. And as a Man myself, I’m willing to give them the opportunity where their mom won’t. It just so happens that I have the finances to back up my conviction, is all.” he suddenly had a very smug look on his face, as if he’d solved the puzzle.

As if it was any easier for the Richouxs to get that boot off their own backs. Hell, they were going to have to kill their way out.

”And as for who you are? Don’t you ever fuckin’ worry about that. Dating, single, divorced, fused together: You’re a solid person. A grand soul. Another smile I’d like to see flourishing. As long as you’re alive, I’ll be sure to bring you right back to who you really are, no matter how far you stray.” he admitted, sliding his back against the wall into a half-squat so they were equal in height for once.

At least this was something he really knew he could back up. Everything else? It was a hard sell: Family was family, and she could just as easily never want him involved that intimately. And he understood why. But, between them? He didn’t see anything that she could ever do to lose the status of “friend.” Maybe not even best friend. The last person he had in his life who could keep up, after all…-

”Well, I can’t really argue with that. You just gotta strip in front’ve me and all the feral energy will come back no matter what!” She brightened up a little with a laugh.
”I’m only kinda joking there… It is something I try not to worry about, cause I’m super fucking happy and confident with myself now. But it’s nice to know someone’ll kick me back to that if my Mom makes it slip. As for the rest…”

She couldn’t really bring herself to say that talking to her Mum was sometimes like talking to a brick wall. The last few years she had that very same conversation, and she’d just gotten bored of it. Sure, it’d be a different one about a current partner… But it was the same old argument. The shit with her brothers was a bit different.

”I ain’t so worried ‘bout the younger two. Far as I’m aware, she just wants ‘em in the city so they can help out if needed. So, y’know, she expects ‘em back when they finish uni. It’s Jack… Good luck convincing her to stop treating him like a kid. Like the bullet took out his brain when it took his legs! Sure, he really struggled the first couple of years- y’know adjusting and PTSD and shit. But she’s convinced he can’t do anything! Whenever he argues about it, it’s like it just goes over her head. Dad ain’t any help too, cause he doesn’t really care.” She shrugged.

”But if you wanna try break through the wall that is my Mom with cold, hard cash? I ain’t gonna stop you!”

Leon shook his head. Of course being mean wasn’t going to fix things, but Lelou felt Leon’s immediate emotional response and amplified it. It was a straining reaction that wasn’t entirely his… But he’d grown used to feeding her, and by proxy, the behavior. The headmate-equivalent of a dog scratching its own ear.

”Y’know, actions just ultimately speak louder than words, right? Like, why bother uh… Straining ourselves. We already won at life, right? That should give us the confidence we need to let these kinds of things roll off our backs. We’ll get there. It’s a lifetime of conditioning to shed, that’s all.” he grinned, finally laughing and moving to kiss her face with excitement.

”You’re here for it, right?” he looked at her expectantly.

”Course I am!” Cass grinned back. She’d already been pushing through her own conditioning alone for years… Adding some company only made it easier, even if he brought along his own burdens.

”If nothing else, I’m always gonna be punching my way forward. I don’t like getting trapped too much in the past, even it gets real… sticky sometimes!” She laughed. Really, it was just this. It just happened to be a pretty big thing.

She leaned back slightly to firmly plant her ass in her chair, legs able to swing out from their curled up position so her feet planted firmly on the wall to ‘trap’ Leon between them. Her hand came up to form an okay symbol.
”That’s yet another difficult conversation we’ve gotten through! We’re really on a roll, Babe.”

Smug confidence bubbling back up inside him, he could only grin as his hands shifted to holding her by the legs. Slowly, surely, he pulled her forward, looming down until she was the one trapped in the chair.
”We’re just hungry for everything, ain’t we? Even… Resolution.” he giggled, slowly lowering until they were both engulfed in long black hair.

Recollections: Primal Sinister

Loni Rodriguez & Moriah Motta

Tuesday. 10:30am.

_{with @AtomicEmperor}

New Leopold Building.

---

Loni wasn’t woken up by an alarm clock, but by tiny hands insistently patting her face.

“Maamaaaaa… Maaaa…”

"Solo cinco minutos más, Mijita…"

“Mama, up! Up!”

The patting turned into more insistent slapping and Loni opened her eyes with a groan. Normally Vin was there to deal with ‘mornings’... How they got up early while staying up so late, Loni didn’t understand. Even with Luciana more on Loni’s sleep schedule than anything… The little girl always woke up after eight hours of sleep like clockwork. With them staying at Sin Sisters now, she’d even been able to go to sleep before Loni finished work for the night.

All her grumpiness washed away at the sight of her daughter. She stood on the bed with one hand on Loni's shoulder, the other hovering above her face. Messy curls framed her chubby face which broke into a grin now that Loni was awake.

"Buenos días, Cariño." Loni reached up a hand to rub Luciana's head, pushing herself up into a sitting position. For a moment, she was confused about where she was. It wasn't her pastel pink room, punctuated by insect posters. Oh right… she'd moved into Sin Sisters for now.

Luciana brightly responded with what was probably a morning greeting in response, followed by whatever was on her little mind. She toddled away from Loni, hands grasping the top barrier Loni had put up on the bed to stop her from rolling off. She started to wave one hand at Loni, babbling insistently.

"Alright, alright, I'm gettin' up." Loni laughed, going to lift Luciana up and over onto the floor. Then she pushed down that side of the bed gate to get off too.

Luciana didn't wait for Loni, running over to a large empty space where the toys Vin brought over for her were spread across the floor. She started playing by herself with little giggles and cheerful babbling.

Loni had planned to go to the attached hotel's restaurant for breakfast but… Luciana would just end up wanting to run around. It was easier to ask for something to be brought up. No one was going to be upset if she ordered room service, after all! At least, Loni knew Momo wouldn't have a problem with it.

In the time that they were waiting for food, Loni managed to corral Luci away from her toys for a moment to get her ready and dressed. Then, she went through her morning stretch routine while watching the little girl play.

It was a bit more difficult to get her to eat. She really didn't want to be confined right now, kicking her legs and arms around when Loni picked her up to put her in a high chair. Eventually she stopped protesting and pouting long enough to let Loni airplane a bit of cut up pancake into her mouth… then she was all smiles, grabbing the cut up pieces with her hands and shoving them into her mouth. When she was done eating, Loni let her free with a sippy cup filled with warm milk to drink while playing.

That left Loni to actually eat some food herself… It was just a little more difficult when it was just the two of them. Just a little! Not that Loni was dependent on Vin or anything. She could deal with them not staying here every night! After all, Vin had said they'd would stay when it worked out work wise. Just they had an early shift today so it was easier to stay in their apartment.

Which was fine, because someone needed to check on Archie, Loni's pet giant millipede.

Completely assured of her ability to parent alone, Loni went about actually getting herself ready. Some time to choose and outfit before sitting down to do her makeup.

"Mama!"

Loni turned her head to look down at Luciana, pausing brushing blush onto her cheeks. As she got her mom's attention, the little girl smiled widely. She puffed up her cheeks, patting them with her hands.

It took Loni a moment to understand, before she laughed. "You wanna look pretty like Mamá?"

Luciana threw up her hands, excitedly babbling. Loni smiled, putting down her makeup brush and reaching down to lift Luciana up onto her lap. One hand held her there, while the other reached out for a clean makeup brush.

She gently brushed it across Luciana's face as if she was really putting makeup on. Luciana giggled, body wriggling in her lap even as she did her best to stay still. It was so cute... Warmth bubbled up in Loni's chest, wiping away any of the lingering worries from the day before.

"Close your eyes, Mijita."

Luciana scrunched up her face, closing her eyes. Loni dabbed a smaller brush across her eyelids lightly. Finally, she got her daughter to imitate her pursed lips- to loads of giggles- and pretend to put lipstick on.

"There! Perfect, just like Mamá!" Loni beamed down at Luciana as she babbled excitedly, little arms flailing all over the place. She put her back down on the ground as she started to wriggle against Loni's arms.

Luciana didn't immediately totter away. Her hand grasped around Loni's nightdress, tugging at it insistently while gesturing towards the door. Though most of what came out of her lips was unintelligible, Loni could figured out some of it.

"Mamá's still gotta finish getting ready, Baby. I ain't even dressed! Once I'm done we'll go out, alright? I got somethin' special planned... And we can go find Aunt Momo first!" Really, Loni planned to ask Momo if she'd come along. After all, it was much more fun with more people! Less lonely too... Not that she could be lonely with her daughter around. She just loved spending time with more people. "That sound good?"

After seeming to think about it, Luciana nodded and ran back over to where her toys were scattered. She plopped herself down in front of the piece of paper she'd been scribbling on.

Loni watched her with a soft smile. She was blessed to have such a perfect little girl. Then she turned to the mirror, going back to finish getting ready.

---

12pm

Sin Sisters.

Loni's plan to grab Momo as soon as they were ready was foiled by her boss having a client meeting. But that was alright.

But it wasn't a problem! Loni was about to keep the both of them entertained by going outside to the nearest patch of grass to play. Of course, playing ended up being a ‘find bugs' game where she told her daughter all about whatever they found… which wasn't so much here. But there were some spiders, woodlice and even a butterfly!

By the time they went back inside as morning moved to early afternoon, Loni was helpfully informed by one of the other girls that Momo had moved from office to the main bar.

That did make Loni feel a little worried… was she busy? Did she need to man the bar all afternoon? Not that it was an issue! It was as simple as asking and accepting a rejection. Then her and Luci would just go on a little date by themselves.

The club wasn't too busy yet, but it was starting to fill up for the lunchtime rush. Businessmen looking for some relaxation on their lunch break… Loni weaved through the tables easily, ignoring any gestures from clientele with a bright, polite smile. She wasn't working, after all!

She kept a tight, careful hold of Luciana against her chest. She wasn't going to put her down and let her get lost or go up to any of the customers. No way! Even if the little girl was looking around with wide eyed excitement and waving graspy hands around.

But it was a different story when they went behind the central bar, and she saw her Aunt Momo. Luciana wriggled so much that Loni had to put her down so she didn't drop her.

"No running, Baby, hold my h-"

“Ahn Mo!” Luciana completely ignored her mom's soft whisper, throwing her hands up in excitement and shooting forward as soon as there wasn't something holding her back. She barrelled right into Momo's legs with an excited squeal. The little girl grabbed whatever fabric was nearby and tugged, looking up with big, brown eyes. She looked especially adorable, dressed in a pink checked pinafore dress with a puffy skirt over a long sleeved shirt. Her curly hair was done up in cute pigtails with matching pastel pink bows.
“Ahn Mo! Ahn Mo!”

"Luciana!- I'm sorry, I shouldn't have let her go!" Loni immediately, panickedly, apologised. She was dressed pretty cutely herself, if still revealing enough (though nowhere near as much as normal) to not stand out here. A low cut v-neck, pink floral dress with a loose short skirt with lace around the edge. Her own hair was pulled back into a single ponytail, strands already falling out, with a more subtle bow that matched Luciana's. She held both their coats under her arm, hands coming up to frantically wave.
"Maybe I shoulda left her in the back… Luci, you need to listen to Mamá…"

By the time Loni made it to Momo, big strong arms were already scooping the little girl up and hoisting her into the air.

”Luci Bambiiiiiii!”

The massive woman was dressed up for a working bar shift, bedecked head to toe in serious designer business wear. Her blouse was wide open at the front, either side clinging to the mounds of flesh and muscle that she'd bound tightly to her chest. The mass of hair she carried on her head cascaded down her back like a cape, a small tiara band keeping most of it held back from her face.

She had seen Loni the night before, having stopped upstairs to insure the room was taken care of before ultimately making her way back to her own home. But with Vin there, she hadn't put in a great deal of affection toward Luci… It didn't feel right, but giving the little girl an unequal reception wasn't right either.

So Momo was quick to make it up, cracking open a can of soda and letting the little girl sip the sweet treats with a very controlled hand.

”Ooooh, yummy huh? Remember, Luci… Blue! Blue can! The red one? Is gross!” she playfully teased the baby before turning her head to Loni directly.

”Slept well up there, Honeysuckle?” she asked the woman with a wide, joyous smile.

Some others working the bar also greeted Loni, one of them immediately shifting focus to making faces at Luci while she sipped her soda.

Luci giggled, slurping at the can with loud mmms. Her attention constantly switched between it and the silly faces, constantly smiling and laughing.

With her daughter so happy, it was easy for Loni to further relax, responding to Momo’s smile with a bright one of her own and greeting everyone else.
"Yeah, we slept great! There ain’t any lumps in that bed… Ain’t that right, Mijita? You could sleep anywhere, huh?"

Luci pulled back from the can to stare at Loni with absolutely no understanding in her eyes. But her Mama was smiling, so she smiled and babbled as if she did understand. Then she turned back around to Momo, patting her to get her attention.

“Ah ee? Peh! Peh ee!” After saying whatever wise words she had to say, Luci started patting her own cheeks while staring up at Momo with shining eyes.

Loni tilted her head, before laughing. It was that same motion she’d made earlier… Of course she hadn’t actually put anything on the little girl, and she always looked adorable- always would- but it was cute how she was trying to emulate her. She not so subtly gestured to her own makeup.
"Tryna show off how I made you all pretty like Mamá, Baby?"

“Peh ee!” Luci repeated, puffing up her cheeks.

At first, Momo was confused. Not exactly quick on the draw when it came to little things like these, “pretend” had never come naturally to the Matriarch. Reality was broad, and with magic even moreso.

”Ohhhhh… Momma did your makeup, my little Ladybug? Well… Lets take a look at that together, huh?”

The one arm carrying the little girl rubbed a spot of bare skin; the hand that grabbed playfully at her finger. A dart of color, like some kind of octopus shape, darted up Luci’s arm and into her shirt, climbing up to her face and spreading out into a very even-coated layer of makeup just like her own mother’s. With the free hand, Momo lifted the palm to face her and Luci.

All at once, it turned shimmering and became reflective like silver, clearly showing off herself, Luci with her fresh makeup, and Loni in the background with her own big smile. Momo’s joy was clear.

”Oh yeahhhhh! I can see it now, mamacita! You are soooooo pretty! Ain’t she, girls? Ain’t she just the prettiest gal in here!”

“Too good for this place, Mo!” one of the other girls behind the bar joked, causing the group to laugh behind Momo.

"That’s right, she’s really gonna go places." Loni joked back, leaning in to rub the top of Luci’s head. It was only a joke in that Loni didn’t think this place was bad at all. She loved Sin Sisters… But she also hoped Luci could go somewhere beyond her simple life. Maybe university! Or something!

Luci absolutely basked in the attention, giggling and babbling completely incomprehensible but excited words. She didn’t really understand what had happened, but she could recognise some of the change in her reflection, gasping and patting her cheeks again. She wriggled in Momo’s arm, stretching herself up to just about manage to fling her arms onto her shoulders in a little hug.

"Aw, Mijita, que preciosa!" Loni couldn’t help but turn from the joke to also lavishing her daughter with love and attention. A few more Spanish exclamations escaped from her lips before she realised why they were here in the first place… and it wasn’t the makeup.
“Now, Baby, you gotta tell your Aunt Momo why you’re all pretty.”

“Ah.. Peh ee oot! Bih oy! Uhn Mama!”

Momo liked to think she spoke Luci’s language… But there were just some times that life proved her wrong! One day, the little girl would speak English, and Spanish… Probably Italian. Whatever other Latin language crept into her life. But for now, it was a whole lot of nothing.

But that couldn’t kill Momo’s joy. Not much could, but that was an easy thing to shrug off.
”Oh? Yeah? Can you tell Momma that one too? That way her and Auntie Mo can work that out together?”

However, there was a few seconds that Momo had extra in her head. Deep little processes allowed to ruminate and birth themselves as full fledged ideas. Then the translation appeared as if it were in front of her.

”Oh, wait! Toys!? We’re going to get a bunch of toys for Luci!?” Momo’s eyes widened, happy to take the burden of the mistake if it came to that.

There was no reason that she couldn’t take the financial aspect of it in stride, after all. Life got easier like that after everything settled back down… Now, with things coming back into frame riding a dark cloud, she’d take all the pleasure she could get. She’d need the memories, maybe.

Momo’s head spun to one of the other girls behind the bar.

”Hey, go get my coat? I’ll call Teo, she’ll be happy to work until I get back”

There was no need to ask her. Loni almost never had to ask… The presumptive, sometimes pushy Matriarch easily inserted herself into the lives of those around her.

Luci let out an excited squeal at the promise of a bunch of toys, little hands throwing up into the air.
“Oy, bih oy!”

Loni had only promised her one big toy… But that didn’t matter now. She practically beamed at Momo essentially inviting herself along without knowing what exactly was planned. It made it so much easier for Loni. It was why she’d had Luciana ‘ask’ in the first place. Who could say no to that little face?

As much as Loni was bright and confident, she didn’t like imposing.
"There’s this ‘Thanksgiving Week Festival’ at Crystalline Mall- y’know, the real big fancy one! We were gonna go yesterday, but couldn’t cause y’know… So we’re going today, cause I ain’t workin’ today and ain’t gotta worry bout crossing the bridge now! I read there’s lotsa stuff for kids… and adults too! And buncha the shops have discounts cause’ve it."

Momo was more than happy to tag along, and even add a pitstop of her own.

”Of course, Junebug! I had Marco and Regina go over there yesterday, actually… If you’d had a list we could’ve gotten everything taken care of for you… But, this is better! Are we uh…-”

Having already rescinded the makeup spell, Momo let her free hand move to pinch Luci’s earlobe in a gentle way. Her hands were so big, she practically grabbed the whole ear… But for a moment, the little girl wouldn’t be able to hear a thing; just a little rapid earcleaning. It’d feel good for the little one, a ticklish sensation that would make her laugh and forget all about the odd sensation of a blocked ear canal.

”-shopping for Christmas too? Or are we saving that for later?”

For Christmas? Oh shit, she probably should! Last year she hadn’t thought about it in advance, and ended up getting presents after Christmas because she’d spent her entire paycheck for the month… But it hadn’t been so much of a problem when Luci was only one. She loved the boxes the gifts Vin and Momo got her more than she did the gifts themselves.

But this year was different! She was way more aware of things.
"Oh yeah, probably should start that! I gotta spend all’a that money I got last night too- Wait…"

She shoved her hand into her bag, pulling out her phone. Anything she earned was put into the bank as soon as she could so… It should all be in there. Should be… Loni went a little pale as she looked at her bank statement. Didn’t she get loads after doing two shifts yesterday? Where’d it… oh.

Well, she had her credit card! So long as she paid it off.
"M-maybe later! I gotta save to get some real good presents, y’know."

While she didn’t break her smile, Momo’s eyes spoke to Loni in a way that they had before. They were absolutely accusatory, but only in the way that a knowing mother looked at their child when they’d done something foolish. Not wrong. Just admonishing.

”Does my money have cooties? Is my money orange? Does it have a little man in a top hat on it?” she asked with a very flat tone.

"N-No, but you can’t buy my Christmas presents for me. That ain’t how it works, then they’re presents from you, ain’t they?" It was an ‘argument’ they’d had before, and one that Loni was very stubborn about. After all, Momo already paid her! And showered Luci with gifts!

And of course, it was better to redirect it to that age old discussion rather than admitting the reason she had no money right now was because she spent her two days worth of saved salary on a super expensive, rare pal for Archie.

”Oh, how would you know what gift is for Christmas and which isn’t? Especially if I withhold all of them until December twenty-fifth… Then they’re all Christmas. Now, come on! Don’t you worry about your wallet, just let me handle it.” she said, finally releasing Luci from the depths of hearing loss now that the discussion was slain.

But Momo’s coat was already there, and so was her cellphone.

”Ah, shit… Alright. Lulu, be with Momma, honey. Auntie’s gotta make a phonecall. Oh, and is the car coming?” she asked the same Adept who brought the coat. She in turn nodded, and Momo threw a thumb up.

”Great. Loni, Baby, I’ll meet you in the lobby, give me… Ten minutes maximum.”

---

Crystalline Mall, Cloverfield North Side.

After a short wait, and a bit of a drive, the three reached Crystalline Mall. The largest in the city, it was named for its large glass roof that expanded upwards in ‘random’ geometric shapes. It was the peak of luxury, representative of the state of the North Side of the city and one of the first things rebuilt.

It wasn’t a place that Loni had visited very often. Nowadays they were strict about people like her coming into the North: if she couldn’t provide shift times, they would let her in. But she’d managed to come a few times… But it didn’t mean the place filled her with any less awe.

Inside, the wide ground floor walkway was bustling with life.

The permanent stores and restaurants all had signs for ‘deals’ for the special Thanksgiving Festival. There were large, digital displays describing what was going on. From special screenings in the mall’s cinema, to small rides that had been set up in the large circular hall in the centre of the building. Shopping events, kids events, even late night cocktail and wine tasting sessions.

Right from the entrance, there were extra little popup shops and stalls. Many were akin to what would be found at a carnival: cotton candy and popcorn stalls, all sorts of mini games. Of course, since this was a rich person event put on for rich people, all the ‘prizes’ and goods sold were of much higher quality than would be found at a normal carnival. Some games were even to win designer jewellery and watches… With exorbitant costs to enter.

As for the Thanksgiving theme? It was likely just an excuse for the extravagant event…

But there were staff members dressed up as the event mascots near the entrance. One was a massive, plush looking turkey with golden feathers. The other was a… Purple dragon? Like the kind you’d get in a kid’s cartoon… It was very on the nose for anyone who knew what’d happened a year and a half ago.

“Tih-en! Mama, down! Down!” Luciana wriggled excitedly in Loni’s arms, hands flailing in the direction of the turkey mascot.

"That’s a turkey, Mijita." Loni corrected gently. She looked down at her daughter with her best stern gaze- which wasn’t very stern at all.
"If I put you down, you gotta hold Mamá or Aunt Momo’s hand the whole time, alright?"

Luci twisted around to stare up at Momo, babbling something completely incomprehensible. But her expression was comedic and over exaggerated, as if she was saying ‘what a ridiculous request’ and expecting agreement from her Auntie.

For Momo, the ride had been wonderful. As unsafe as it usually was, with her in a Vehicle, impacts were anything but troublesome. Hence, Luci was allowed to play on the open floor of the limousine, with Momo sat cross-legged at the front in case there were any emergency stops threatening to send the poor girl flying. Instilling her with that sense of safety and insulation probably wasn’t good in terms of actually raising an obedient and well behaved child… But, fuck if she wasn’t going to know what fun was.

When Momo was born, she only knew “fun” from memories that weren’t hers. The rest of it was hard fucking work… Meaning, she had no time to faust that sort of sensation upon a baby girl. Not when she was surrounded by people who destroyed hard work, and consumed pain like snacks. The battle-hardened and tested Adepts of Cloverfield…

And they planned on adding a few more to their visit roster. A happenstance call in the car saw Momo inviting her Matriarchal Desciple, a teen that Loni only knew as “Little Sister”. With her, an escort that Loni would know much more intimately, especially from the Cataclysm days. Ruth L’mata, a Lesser Dame of the Whispering Flesh, and one of the only other fully-fledged Matriarchs that Momo allowed to remain in the Twin Hills specifically.

She was what many Matriarchs considered “Failed Product”, as she invariably did not meet certain criteria that the Ladies of Culla weren’t so kind about. But, her heart and soul were bigger than any other Matriarch that Momo had known. Of course, it was compensation. She felt there were things left to prove, and Momo had no problem taking advantage of that little quirk.

But for now, it was just Luci, Loni and Momo… And the latter was staring at the golden turkey with a massive grin on her face.

”Luci… Come here, love. Stand next to Auntie, okay? We’re gonna race! We’re gonna race, and we’re gonna go see the big Turkey together! You see him?” Momo giggled, squatting down and pointing a finger toward the Turkey as she motioned with the other hand for Loni to put the girl down.

Loni was a little nervous to put Luci down. It wasn’t that she didn’t trust Momo- she did. Just there were lots of scary people around! Scary, rich North Siders. Sure, she’d grown up running rampant on the streets of the Lower District… But down there no one was going to kick a snotty nosed kid just for being poor. Vin was insistent they could smell it. The poverty… It was why she was always paranoid when out and about in this part of the city.

Then again, Momo wasn’t… So it’d be fine! She’d probably notice Luci going to run towards something interesting before the little girl started moving.

"Don’t run too fast, I don’ think your Auntie’s pride can take it if you beat her by too much, ‘kay?" Loni jokingly lectured her daughter as she bent down to put her on the ground.

As soon as her feet hit the ground, Luci toddled over to Momo. She threw her hands in the air with an excited giggle.
“Way! Way!” She repeated the same word a few times, hopping up and down in excitement. But even though she wanted to run to the turkey immediately, she did know what a race was. They had to go together!

“A tih-en!”

Of course, what was more fun than a race against Auntie? Only one thing. At least in Momo’s experience, there always seemed to be one thing Luci loved. That she would never say no to.

”Tachi, Baby… Say Tachi for Auntie? Ta-chi. Taaaaa-Chiiiiii” she paused, attempting to push Luci’s speech in a particular direction before she got too distracted by action.

“Taaaa… Taaa-ti. Taaaa-tiiii!” Luci tried her best to copy Momo, brow furrowing. “Taa- Ta-di. Ta-di!”

”Yes!!! That’s plenty, Baby! Oh mio Dio, I’m so proud of you Chiquita!” Momo cheered, her arms hoisting into the air and wrapping around the little girl.

”And for that? Dragonflyyyyyyy! Draaaaaagooooonflyyyyyyyyyy!” Momo excitedly intoned, snagging her by the coat and swinging her high into the air.

As she recognized what was happening, Momo made sure to brace Luci. She had a tendency of getting overexcited, and Momo had managed to catch her every time… But the panic wasn’t worth it. So, preemptive bracing brought Luci over seven feet into the sky, held tight around the chest and legs so her arms could splay out like a bird. Just how she liked.

”Get her wings flapping, Momma!” she laughed, swinging Luci down to Loni.

Luci squealed in delight, arms shooting out to the side and waving up and down.
“Daffeeee, Mama!”

Loni was watching close enough- with no insects in this place to distract her, thankfully- that she easily hopped forward to ‘catch’ Luci. Her smile was bright and joyous, even though she didn’t start to make the surprisingly accurate buzzing she normally did. Because there were so many people around, she could feel them staring…

But she wouldn’t let it actually affect her daughter’s enjoyment.

"No, no…. Not a dragonfly, you’re a beautiful butterfly! They’re way better than airplanes, ain’t they? Cause Mamá can be a butterfly too." Loni laughed, holding the wriggling toddler above her head with ease before spinning around and gliding her back towards Momo.

Of course, Luci didn’t care if she was an airplane or a butterfly. As long as she was being swung around in the air, she was delighted.

Momo’s arms relaxed slightly, however. The reluctance to play along from Loni wasn’t typical… She didn’t want to give Luci the sense that there was something wrong, so her arms started to go through the motion that they usually did, but slowly. As if building up the anticipation… She had to ask.

”Momma?... No wings? You okay?” she asked gently.

"Of course! Is just- busy, y’know!" Loni’s arms jerked forward, motion more frantic than normal. There was a little panicked look in her eyes as they darted around. Her being flustered or even frantic was common, but panicked? Not around Momo, at least. Because they were always in places where Loni felt safe and comfortable. Not a rich person mall. Yesterday hadn’t helped, with the Bakery owner’s immediate judgment of Loni and the other South Siders. It had just reminded her of how they really viewed someone like her…

As Luci slowly came back towards her, Loni shifted her whole body forward, lowering her voice into a whisper.
"They can smell that we’re from the South- Vin says so. I don’t wanna draw any attention cause then they’ll know and Luci could get hurt."

Momo’s eyes said everything that her voice didn’t have to.

”Loni… Make the noise. For the love of your daughter.” she said with a stern, motherly guiding hand.

Loni trembled just a little bit, eyes going wide. All the ‘what ifs’ ran through her head… But hadn’t she promised herself she wouldn’t let any of it get to Luciana? So if she had to endure a few stares, words or kicks, what did it matter? So long as she protected and kept safe her little light.

As she took Luci with steady hands, the practiced to perfection buzzing sound escaping from her lips. It was quiet at first, then loud enough for the three to hear. Luci flailed all her limbs excitedly, delighted laughter only getting louder.

There was immediate feedback from Momo, her face brightening with joy once more.
”There we go! There we goooooo! Dragonflyyyyyyy: Gooooooooooo!”

And then Momo began to slowly but surely start to spin and walk toward the turkey mascot. The constant rotations weren’t tremendously fast or breakneck, nor was her sauntering pace. It was so Loni could keep up, and keep making the noises. This was always a team effort. Whether or not Loni was nervous, didn’t matter. It was all important to push through those nerves, for the sake of one’s inner Joy.

She resolved to talk with Loni about it after they had a moment to themselves… Dispel this notion of bad faith that had built up once and for all…

But, they eventually flew right up to the turkey, and Momo took charge.
”Mr. Turkey! This is Ms. Dragonfly! Please, say hello to her!” she barked in her incredibly loud voice.

“Why hello there, Ms. Dragonfly!” The turkey was clearly paid very well, putting on a goofy pseudo-turkey accent and cheerfully greeting Luciana.
“You must be famished after flying around everywhere?”

Luci excitedly threw out her hands, leaning forward in Momo’s hold towards the turkey. The man in the suit moved himself so she could grab some of the golden feathers, letting out a chuckle reminiscent of Santa Claus as she tugged on them.

“Yes, you’re very smart, little dragonfly! For that, you deserve a treat, don’t you?” Before pulling anything out, the turkey looked past Luci to the presumed parents. At least it looked that way, with how close Loni had ended up shuffling to Momo.

"Oh- of course!" Loni nodded her agreement, doing her best to soften her accent a bit.

“Looks like Momma one agrees, what about… bigger Momma?”

”Oh, if you didn’t, I’d be insulted Mr. Turkey! Please, may it be your most special treat you have!” Momo said with a genuine smile… It wasn’t veiled so much as it was a fully obscured threat.

None the wiser, Mr Turkey pulled a gold foiled egg out of his pocket. In an adult hand-wing thing it looked small, but it was almost as big as Luci’s grasping hand.
“There you go, Little Miss Dragonfly, the special-est treat we have!”

Luci giggled excitedly, immediately putting the gold foiled egg in her mouth. Her lips crinkled the foil and her brow furrowed in confusion.

"You gotta take of the foil, Mijita." Loni laughed, not particularly concerned it had gone straight into her daughter’s mouth. After all, she’d eaten all sorts as a kid that shouldn’t be eaten, and she was fine!
"Give it to Mamá, I’ll unwrap it."

“Nooooo!” Luci stubbornly held onto her now damp prize.

”Hey, Miss!” Momo intoned, sliding Luci back into a more comfortable position.
”Now, you give that to Momma… And you say thank you to Mr. Turkey for your gift that I know you’re gonna love! Say it? You say ’Thank you Mr. Tadi!’” she directed the girl to the mascot with a finger, giving him her massive smile to encourage the interaction just a moment more.

Luci’s little face scrunched up for a moment, before relaxing again as she handed over the golden egg to Loni. She babbled away as she did… Perhaps giving instructions to make sure her Mamá took proper care of it.

She wriggled a bit in Momo’s arms, looking at the turkey mascot with a bright smile.
“Ban oo tadi!” She did her best to imitate Momo.

“You’re very welcome, Ms Dragonfly.” The Mascot said brightly back. If he could smile, he probably would have- unfortunately the plush turkey head covered up anything like that.
“Make sure to enjoy your treat and your day!”

Luci giggled in agreement.

"Here, lil dragonfly… Don’t bite it all at once!”" Loni handed the unwrapped chocolate egg back up to Luci. The little girl stared at it, then at the gold foil in Loni’s hand, before putting together that it was the same thing. She took a tentative little nibble, before nibbling more at the taste of sugary goodness.

"I knew she’d love it here!" Loni grinned, seeming to have completely brightened up.
"Normally Luci hates when Mamá shops, don’t you, baby?"

Luci looked up from carefully eating her chocolate egg to babble her agreement.

”There’s nothing to hate when Auntie’s here too baby!” she laughed in return, handing Luci back off to her mother fully to let the little girl be.

As they walked away, Momo grinned and turned her face to Loni.
”Did you hear Mister Jive Turkey? He thought we were fuckin’.” she laughed.
”I guess nobody’s heard of people having female relatives these days…” she laughed to herself, looking around the mall’s main area.

There was a carousel that Momo was already endeavouring to take a ride on with Luci, but that could wait.
”So? Where to first, my sweet Ladybug?”

Loni was laughing at the thought of Momo being Luci’s other parent… If that was the case, there’d be no way Loni could carry around her daughter like this! Loni bet she’d be double her current size...

But there were much more important things to think about. Where to go, where to go… Loni highly doubted there was a pet shop here that sold the kind of substrate she needed for her new millipede, so that wasn’t an option. Maybe she could get some plants for the new tank she’d ordered?

"A bit of shoppin’ first? Then we’ll have a big appetite to try out all’a the stalls they got." Loni spoke as if she wasn’t a Green Adept who could eat and convert food to magic fuel relatively easily at any time of the day… But it was more for Luci, who was happily munching on her chocolate egg in Loni’s arms. She’d probably get a bit sleepy after it, as well… The time spent shopping should be the perfect amount of time for her to wake back up!

"I wanna get some plants- oh, and a new outfit for Thursday! Gotta have somethin’ nice to change into when I ain’t on the floor."

She hadn’t mentioned anything about insects yet, besides the period of distracting Luci and then dealing with the dragonfly vs. butterfly situation. Maybe that was a blessing? All of the Deer’s creatures were loved similarly, thus there was no reason for her to be averse to the pet store… She’d save it for a little while… Maybe if Loni was just a little tired, she’d not buy any creepy-crawlies that the other hotel guests may be averse to finding on sojourn from her room.

”Let’s save the complicated stuff for last then: We don’t want to be carrying around pots of plants and babies who are tired for too long, will we? Let’s hit some real stores. I haven’t really had the chance to actually bring you to one of these shops, have I? We’ll go to one that’ll be able to cater to both of you. And we can get Vin something too, huh?” Momo asked warmly.

Loni smiled brightly, the thought of shopping more than enough to give her extra energy. It really was something she loved, even if it was normally restricted to online shopping and the occasional trip to a shop in the North when she had time around work.

"I dunno if Vin'll wear anythin' from here, they're surprisingly fussy… Maybe it's a chance to get them to dress nicer!" She had a little bounce in her step, causing Luci to giggle in her arms. The little girl still had her mouth mostly full of chocolate as she diligently and carefully ate it. It had melted onto her hands now too, but Loni wasn't too worried about that. She always carried baby wipes around.

"And no, we've never really been properly shoppin' together… It's always loadsa gifts and work, work, work." She giggled at that.
"Not that I mind. Nothin' worse than not being busy! But real shoppin' is way more fun… I never got to go to many of the shops here. Last time I came was with some of the girls cause Kayla said there was this amazin' smoothie place. It was pretty good, but I dunno with the price…"

Loni looked down at her daughter for a moment, her voice turning more singsong.
"But we don't gotta worry ‘bout the price when Aunt Momo's about, do we, Mijita?"

As if Loni ever really worried about the price when actually shopping… the credit card came out, and that was that till she hit the limit.

Luci had no idea what Loni was asking her, just that it was to her, so she just nodded sagely.

”You know as well as I do that Vin likes the way I dress. As long as you know their measurements, I know just what to get.” Momo insisted.

Her great, long legs took striding steps, though Momo paced herself so as not to lose Loni in the dust.

”I’ve been wanting to get them some really nice things after what happened on your last birthday… It was hard enough getting anything sourced into the city at that point, but still… That look I got? I felt so terrible after…”

She had only gotten a gift for Loni. At that point, apparently that wasn't the problem. The problem was, frankly, unknown. Momo felt the abject distaste directed toward her, and she didn’t stick around. Couldn't.

Loni nodded, grimacing a little bit. She was very in tune with her twin, which made it difficult when there was discord between them and Momo… which there had been since that time. There’d always been a little bit on Vin’s side, but it only got worse. Loni had never understood why it was there in the first place and no matter what she said Vin brushed it off. She didn’t like it, but just put it to the back of her mind because the two rarely interacted.

But it was going to happen more, with Vin staying at Sin Sisters with her… She wasn’t sure if Momo gifting Vin things would help. Hopefully? Hopefully! It’d be a start.

"They were goin’ through a really hard time then… It wasn’t all that." Loni said, with little care for her twin’s privacy.
"Cause they expected it to just be the three of us… And they really missed their partner, I think. It was like I had other people and they didn’t, then I got all these gifts too. At least, that’s what I think. They ain’t really into tellin’ me things so I gotta use the twin sixth sense."

Loni hugged Luci a bit tighter, though she was still smiling.
"I bet they’ll love some nice clothes in their style! They never buy anythin’ for themselves… I gotta force ‘em too when whatever their wearin’ falls apart."

”I do need your advice on what to say… I think ‘I want to be friendly with you so please accept this bribe.’ isn't gonna work.” Momo replied simply, looking longingly at Luci's chocolate egg before gripping her hand together tightly.

When she released the grip, there was a couple more identical eggs sitting in her palm. Thoughtless, Momo popped one into her mouth and nearly wretched. She'd never excelled at product synthesis. Ingredients, single materials, and metallic products were all leagues different. She could form a fully built transistor and stick it onto a motherboard for a quality working part…

But making a chocolate confection? She knew how to make a cacao bean. She knew how to synthesize milk. But the precise ingredient list escaped her. She didn't understand how her Uncle had synthesized sweets and pastries all those years instead of fucking baking…

The second egg wasn't any better than the first. Both were beyond dark chocolate, and tasted like bitter wax rocks that she had to chew through. With a grimace, she tossed them both into her mouth and swallowed without further chewing.

”Though… We should talk about that problem while we walk. My sweet Ladybug? When has a wealthy client ever given you the feeling that they know you're a Southie?” Momo asked rather sternly.

"That ain’t the same." Loni stubbornly responded. It might seem to Momo like she was in a much more argumentative mood than normal, but it was just that she kept hitting topics that Loni was absolutely sure she was right about.

"All’a the clients are from the North, and they do know we’re mostly from the South. But it’s… what’s the word? Uh- transactional? Somethin’ like that. I’m somethin’ they buy, so a lotta them don’t really see me. If they ever saw me in the street, the best they’d do is ignore me- and only ‘cause if they did somethin’ they know you’d never let ‘em back."

It was blunt, but Loni had grown up in poverty facing discrimination. Then those fears had only been fed by Vin’s attitude and what they’d gone through. She didn’t think they were entirely right, cause Vin thought they were all bad. But she knew a lot would judge her. Especially cause of her upbringing, her job, and the kid she’d had so young.

Momo rubbed her nose in embarrassment. Of course that was the wrong example… the dynamics were all wrong. Or maybe it was a matter of perception, or-

”I don't ever want you to feel scared. Or intimidated.” she spoke quietly, but with great intensity.

Being so close physically, Loni would be able to feel the temperature rising off of Momo's body.

”But you understand, there's no sixth sense. And, more to the point, you're more wealthy than any of these vapid airbags. You've been bestowed great and valuable gifts that they will never have. How could you let their perceptions destroy your joy?” she asked sincerely, voice sounding incredibly contemplative.

Loni furrowed her brow a little. She wasn’t really sure how to explain it. It wasn’t that she was scared… and it wasn’t just about any money she had now. They could tell as soon as she opened her mouth, even if Vin was exaggerating about the smell thing. But she was used to it. Didn’t care, really, cause she could take most things thrown at her.

"It ain’t like that. I ain’t scared- just a lil nervous. I don’t care what anyone says ‘bout me… I just don’t want Luci to hear." She spoke quietly too, her daughter still thankfully distracted by the now half finished egg. She was really savouring it.

"I don’t want her to think she’s less than ‘cause her Mamá’s a highschool dropout Southie stripper. She ain’t, and she don’t understand yet, but she will. I don’t want her to suffer like I did… Y’know, even in the South there’s the judgment. All’a my teachers thought I’d end up sellin’ my body or somethin’, so most of ‘em never bothered. They concentrated on the ones from the good areas who had a chance. But Luci don’t deserve that. It ain’t about my joy, it’s about protectin’ her."

She spoke about heavy internalisation discrimination so openly, like it was nothing. It was just so normal to her. It wasn’t that she had confidence issues or anything. She loved her job, and most of her life. She’d just accepted her place in the world. She was comfortable with it. But like all mothers, she wanted her daughter to have the best she could.

This was, of course, what Momo got for not running a traditional Culla Branch. Outsiders did what they pleased, while the small core of Cullan members maintained the beliefs and practices that kept them afloat. It’d never been easy for Loni to entirely accept that emotion was a spectrum, and that abject ecstasy was on one end, and total despair was at the other. Cullans recognized this totality without pain or fear, allowing themselves to strive for the “good” end of the spectrum.

The ultimate belief was that a Green Adept with their Joy was the most basal and powerful source of confidence that one could experience. That if she could only embrace such a lifestyle, and reject the apathy within that caused her to see the world with such sad eyes… She’d be free of rich and poor. Free of worry and concern.

”You’re an Adept of the Twin Hill Coven. One day, Luci will be too. And we will both be there, to help her learn that the only truly important thing in life, is her own devotion to Joy. Struggle will evaporate before her, and all these fears you have as her mother will go with them. I have sworn so before, but I’ll say again: I’ll never let this precious larva pupate into a nightmare. Never.”

Loni admired Momo, but she struggled to not feel… Lesser when she talked about something like this. Loni felt her life was filled with Joy, but she didn’t have devotion towards it in that way. Her upbringing had been coloured by suffering and her Mamá’s teachings. Her Green Lux was her connection to Vin, to Momo, to the coven, but her Black Lux was the only connection left to her Mamá. As much as she hated it, it was still there within her.

She wasn’t ‘pure’ in that way. Luciana wouldn’t be either. She’d be born with that Black Lux too. Even if she didn’t have it, even if she did just have Green… could struggle really evaporate like that? Would her struggle have evaporated if she’d just been a bit more dedicated? Not just joyful, or chasing life’s pleasures because it was the only thing she could actually do…

She knew that Momo would protect Luciana. And maybe it would be different for her daughter, raised surrounded by Adepts and love. Loni had only had Vin and a Mamá who was away more than she was home.

"I know you won’t." Even as Loni agreed, there was a hint of frustration in her voice. A feeling she tried to suppress of not being understood. But that wasn’t Momo’s fault. And she was used to it… Such a small thing was nothing compared to those who couldn’t understand her at all. So she wouldn’t bring it up.

"I don’t think I’m gonna just stop worryin’. Ain’t it natural for a mother to worry? I know my Mamá did… I dunno, I just don’t think it’s such a big deal. So long as I keep Luciana safe ‘n happy, nothin’ else really matters. She’s the most important thing in my life." Loni hoped Momo would understand that. She should, shouldn’t she?

Momo simply smiled and lifted a large hand to rub the top of Loni’s head.

”I believe that one day you’ll understand what I mean. I believe that all of this talk won’t be in vain, and that you’ll pull it all out of thin air. I know you’ll get it. Now, come on… I want to show you something.”

Holding Loni’s shoulder, Momo cut for the nearest service corridor, and slipped down behind a department store into a stairwell. Taking it down, the Matriarch cleared her throat.

”I’m just about due for visiting here, so I figured why not bring you along? You’ve never seen one. One of my secret places. There’s reason for that; but you know how much I love and trust you. And, of course, Luci. You’re both incredibly special to me.”

The stairwell led into the parking garage of the complex, this one meant for employees. There were people hanging about different entrances smoking cigarettes and taking their breaks. None of them paid Momo or Loni much attention as they walked through, though Luci’s presence didn’t exactly scream typical. After a short walk, they came to another doorway that looked to lead back into the mall. But when Momo opened it, Loni would find a staircase, once more, leading downward to the depths. Another of Cloverfield’s massive holes.

Of course this one was filled up with concrete… And, per usual, the bones and corpses of dead Paranormals. However, due to the way the bodies were cleansed through Green and amplified through Orange Lux, there was minimal impression that could be made through any connection via Black Lux… For obvious reasons, the Cullan construction crew responsible for laying the foundation work of the building specialized in Paranormal repair.

And what was more Cullan than using magical dead bodies as support joists for the subfloor?

It would still feel incredibly eerie on the waves that made it to Loni, being such a strange kind of sensation that lingering death didn’t usually have. Had there been such a thing as a “happy” corpse? They didn’t seem sad in their position…
Momo had told Loni about these places before. Told them all, that there were places in the city that were sacred, and that in the event of an emergency, they’d be given patrol of those places.

This must be one of them.

”Do you know what this place is, Loni?” she asked calmly, a smile on her face as she turned back to coax her dear disciple onward.

Loni shuddered, trying her best to cut off her connection to Black Lux so she didn't feel those occasional waves of odd, lingering death. But it wasn't something that could just be turned off… So she just held her daughter a little closer.

"Well it's one of your sacred places where you…" She trailed off, one hand coming away from her daughter to awkwardly gesture. How did she word it? Create children? That wasn't right… How had Momo worded it when she first explained it to Loni? She didn't remember.

"With one of your… children?"

As with all of Momo’s Lugar Apartado, the path ended in a thick, massive, magically enchanted door. Loni would be able to feel the rush of Green Lux as Momo willed the door to open by physically changing a small pin’s material from something magnetic, to something not. A simple shift that made her doors physically impossible to open without a great deal of raw power, either magical or physical. Most would probably need both…

Tumblers rattled about inside the framework, until eventually the frame swung open like a vault door. The inside was, like the others, a sterile brass and copper room beautifully adorned with some of the most articulate metalsmithing that Loni would’ve ever seen. Reminiscent of the safety grates that lined the walls of the upper rails in Sin Sisters, these were telltale for anyone knowledgeable about Culla, as well as the sacred geometry of the Deer itself.

Momo ushered Loni in, closing the door behind them. Even the light that came alive was somewhat copperish, an orange light bathing the place in its hue.

”Spot on. You… Said when you’re a mother, you’ll worry. You know, I do?”

As she said that, the great vat in the center of the floor opened, revealing a pool of deep emerald green within. And inside, was a baby girl just a bit younger than Luci. A year and a half of progress.

”Maybe I mentioned my sweet Fiora? Taken from me, as I hadn’t made good in my diligence to protect her. She’d be nearly ready now. Instead, I’ve… Started something new. Imagine having ten at once, Loni? Pretty crazy, right? Why would I want ten?” she giggled, moving toward one of the massive freezers and pulling out a large sample to begin defrosting in the machine.

Loni stared at the place with wide eyes. It was a lot to take in. The little girl suspended in a pool, growing in a way that was completely different from normal human biology. Or was it that different? Loni didn't pretend to know the science well… But Luci had grown inside her stomach, so maybe it wasn't so different at all…

Luci shared that look, looking an awful lot like her mother in that moment. Having finally finished her chocolate egg she leaned forward, sticky hands waving towards the big, emerald pool.

"Not just now, Mijita." Loni said softly, shifting Luci to one hip so she could awkwardly pull some baby wipes out of her shoulder bag. She tried to think about what Momo said as she cleaned her daughter's hands.

Why ten? Loni knew it was a different process, normally there was… only one, right? Was it for safety? But then… she couldn't imagine raising ten, to only choose one in the end? Surely Momo wasn't planning something like that? Was she?

"I don't know." Loni answered honestly.
"It ain't… cause you're tryna make the most perfect… child, is it? Or… safety?"

As one of the bronze clad clockwork machines spooled up into a frenzy, the frozen sample from within liquefying in a matter of moments, Momo smiled and nodded.

”It’s certainly safer. But, in the Whispering Flesh, ten is a sacred number. There were ten women who gave their lives to make the first Matriarch. Ten sisters born in the hills of Italy, that would later become Culla.”

The machine snapped to a stop, hissing and unlatching so Momo could pull the vial and slide it into another machine. This time, it shook like a rabid animal latched to a piece of meat.

”The rule is always one-for-one. You make a single Matriarch to replace yourself. But, that rule is purely based on a world where Matriarchs couldn’t do what I can. My own Mama… Cracked that mold. Broke it apart, in fact. Now, most Matriarchs born are Nutype. They’ll be as strong as me, probably. So what can I do?” she giggled.

”Break the mold again. See where this new age of discovery takes us. But, that means doing interesting things! New things. Means making changes too. Honey, if you really feel scared up there? Around all those people? I want you to think for one second about what may be under your feet. About all that stuff that they just don’t know about. And I want you to teach Luci how to smile even when she’s not happy. Because she’s set to inherit this world after you, and you can give her everything… But who will give her all of that if you can’t? She’ll learn. Like you did. And you’ll teach her. Won’t you?”

Momo’s hand reached out, brushing against Luci’s cheek to keep her calm while the machine made a terrible racket. But, Momo knew Luci didn’t like things like that. Loud, violent rattlings or motions were usually a surefire trigger.

Luci reactively went from flailing about and reaching to get down to withdrawing back towards the safety of her mom. Her little face leaned towards Momo's hand while her own hands grasped at Loni. Loni held her tightly, gently rocking her through the loud, scary noises.

She was once again thinking through what Momo said as she comforted Luci. It was normal for Loni to take a little more time to think about things before responding- at least when it was things out of her comfort zone. Was teaching Luci to smile no matter what right? She wanted her to always be happy. But that was unrealistic. She couldn't protect the little girl from everything. She could just give her the best chance possible…

"I do wanna give her everythin’… Like, earwigs! They'll watch their babies even if it means they don't eat, and move ‘em and stuff. Or burying beetles! They raise their young in a corpse- but the Mama beetles fight off intruders to defend their young. I want to be like that for Luci. I want to protect her and make sure she's happy even if I gotta sacrifice myself. I would if I had to. I ain't scared for me, it's for her…" Loni's bug speech enthusiasm tapered off a bit.

"Do you really think I can give her everythin'? But I dunno if I have all that much to teach her… I've just kinda floated through life, really? I dunno if I can change that much."

Momo pressed her fingers together tightly, shaking her hand with some dissatisfaction.

”Loni… It’s precisely your ability to waltz through life which will be your biggest gift to her. If you can impart that sense of happy-go-lucky pluck, and she manages to carry it around with her throughout her life? That’s the Joy!... Oh, I know you’ll never quite get it love…”

As the machine clicked off, it stopped all its blustering before unlatching itself and allowing Momo to pull the fully prepared slurry from its container. As she manipulated the thick Green Lux infused material, it glowed at the points where she tugged at its magical fabric. Regardless, she leaned down and planted a kiss on Loni’s cheek, then Luci’s cheek.

”Come, bring her. Show her. This is Armina.”

Once more, Momo walked to the edge of the pool and knelt down.

”Look, Luci! Look!” her finger pointed out and down into the emerald pool at the baby girl inside. Her hair was already long, and contrasted starkly.
”You know, Lon? It’s funny. You’ll be in charge of her. In a way, you’ll be her Godmother. See, she’s… My special girl. Reach out to the Lux, you’ll feel something familiar. Something I bet you’ll be surprised about.”

Loni tilted her head, looking at Momo with a wide eyed stare. She'd be like the Godmother to… the baby? The one who'd come out as strong, if not stronger, than Momo.

"What d'you mean?" She asked unnecessarily, since she was going to reach out anyway.

But there was Luci to worry about first. The toddler was wriggling in Loni's arms, leaning forward with excited coos and ahhs. Her little hands reached out, desperately wanting to touch the strange emerald pool. Loni wasn't sure if she actually saw the other little girl inside, or recognised her as that, but she was certainly enthralled by what she was seeing.

“Mama, dow! Dow!”

"Only lookin', Baby." Loni said softly as she squatted beside Momo at the edge of the pool. She put Luciana down between them, one arm wrapping around her daughter to stop her from immediately running forward. Luci leaned over it, little arms still stretching out even though she couldn't actually move any closer.
"Hmm, do you see the lil girl in there? Just like you."

Luci giggled and Loni smiled softly at her. Then her attention turned to the pool. She'd feel something familiar… that she'd be surprised about… what did that mean? Well, there was only one way to find out. Loni trusted Momo completely, so once she was sure she didn't need both arms on Luci, she reached one hand forward towards the liquid.

And there it was… Just on the other side of the pool, that sensation that Loni had been told to suppress ever since she’d started working at Sin Sisters. Inside that little girl, magic already swirling about her in such profusion as to disperse through that emerald water, was a powerful mote of Black Lux that was absolutely straining and dragging at every single wall and floor in the entire place.

And in that moment, the whispers of the closest layer of the dead spoke to Loni’s connection, and something strange was within…

Every single one was singing in unison. And their choir was harmonious and full of Joy, and clattered about the miracle of the Horned Wolf. And the choir was warm, and they sang as they poked at the heavy copper walls. And they hugged her. And they hugged the child. And in that hug, not a single one of them cared about a thing. No pain, no fear, no heartache of loss as so many dead did. And in that nothingness, they were strangely happy.

”I only know that it's working because I can stand being around her. I told you that I’d never ask you to contribute anything, and I still won’t. But, I think… She’ll be able to teach you things that I never could. And you’ll do the same for her. And, in that, Luci will grow up knowing you as her Mother, but Armina as a Sister.” she intoned with a gentle voice, looking at Loni and Luci with that little smile.

”Let her touch. It won’t hurt her; I would never let anything hurt your little larva”

Loni stared at her hand in the pool with a mixture of awe and discomfort. It was that strange, conflicted feeling whenever Black Lux was involved. The familiarity… like her Mamá's magic, cold but comforting, or Vin's, both brutal and protective in the same moment. But there was also a fear whenever she heard the dead. Memories of all those spirits her Mamá summoned that drained her of her life.

But it did feel different here. A warmth where there wasn't normally one. A gentle hug. It was nice, joyful, even through her lingering fear.

"She has Black Lux?" Loni was still shocked enough by it that she asked the obvious question. It was just so strange… especially after that constant confirmation that she was right to suppress that part of herself and her magic.

She shook her head, moving herself to crouch behind Luci. She let the little girl get closer to the water, gently guiding her to crouch down while keeping an arm around her torso.

Luci let out a joyful giggle as her hands went in, wriggling them around and splashing water across the surface.
“Mama, ha!”

Loni obliged, free hand gently moving back into the emerald water for Luci to hold and play about with. The sensation of the Black Lux pushing outwards made it difficult to entirely concentrate, but what her daughter wanted was more important. Anything for her daughter… And for a daughter of Momo's, a future Matriarch, to be her Sister? It was comforting, but…

"Why? Why did you mix in Black Lux?"

”Oh, so many have tried and failed to break the ceiling. The dome above us, so to speak, which keeps the laws of reality working as they do. As intended. I do it, simply, because someone must break the ceiling. If anyone else can be my contribution, it’s my Black Sheep. Armina is the name of a Necromancer from the stories of Culla. One who came to burn the walls of the city down and end the Whispering Flesh.” she giggled.

”It’s a name we give to girls who we think will be troublemakers. And, with her contributors, I expect quite the personality. It’ll be some years yet, but… Well, if anything happens, she’s yours to keep safe.”

She was regarding the Apartado, but assumed that Loni would take it as if she meant in the event of her demise… Which wasn’t ever going to be a problem. If Momo died before things were finished, after all, things would promptly end. And, if it were after, she’d be a Matriarch. There wouldn’t be any problems.

”But, simply? If I didn’t do this, nobody would try what I’m trying now. We would remain cloistered and ignorant as a Matriarchy. And I’ll do the same with the other girls. I’m solving two problems at once, you see: Integration of separate Lux signatures into the greater Green current. But also, the Hounding. The sickness we experience around strong Black Lux signatures. If I were to succeed in bringing her to term alone, she would revolutionize the Whispering Flesh’s capabilities.” she seemed so proud as she allowed the slurry to dissipate into the pool.

Loni nodded with wide eyed awe. It was a lofty goal well above anything she'd ever thought of. Just the existence of someone like Momo, of Matriarchs, was beyond her simple world. At times like this Loni was reminded of how far beyond her Momo was - but instead of feeling insignificant, it just made her feel blessed that someone like that had chosen to be so active in her life.

She was, at the end of the day, someone content with her simple life and aspirations. She could appreciate people with goals far beyond her without jealousy.

As for keeping the girl in the pool safe if something were to happen… Loni didn't even want to think about that

"Wow. That's amazing… I bet you'll do it. If anyone can, it'd be you." She smiled with bright confidence at Momo.
"Hmm, what d'you think, Mijita? Will Aunt Momo solve all'a those problems?"

“Yeah!” Luci giggled, throwing her hands up and throwing drops of water all over Loni. She didn't understand at all, but she could feel the pride and positivity… the answer could only ever be yes.

"That's right, Baby. You ain't gonna have to worry as much as me." Loni wrapped her arms around her daughter, pulling the little girl between her bent legs and against her chest. One hand gently tickled her stomach and she let out little laughing squeals.

Still smiling, Loni looked back over her daughter’s head at Momo.
"Will it… Help you with the Houndin'? Or is it just gonna be Armina and any made after?"

”I’ll never connect to the Hound’s shade. I’ll be dogged the rest of my life. But, Armina will hopefully open the door for future generations… Which is why my dear Kin-Sisters never bother with this sort of thing. We tend to focus on our own longevity, which means improving the quality of new generations is second in the Guiding Hand’s priorities. Only Matriarchs in positions like mine are afforded the time and space to push the envelope. It’s why my Grandmothers were able to birth my Mother, and why she was able to birth me: The first and second generation of the Nutype.”

Her hands slowly reached out to play with Luci’s before she stood and stretched, the chilly flask still in one hand.
”But, the point of bringing you here… You’re nervous. Shaken. I hope that seeing joyous glory will help you focus on what’s good in life: What’s best. But, I also know that I’m no psychiatrist, and that there’s no panacea for fear. A child is born, it leaves the womb; yet the womb was only as safe as the Mother. All else is illusory, isn’t it? This big copper room is just a womb too, it can be crushed and pierced and stabbed and rent from its seat. Her safety isn’t this place, or that place. It’s you. Your mind, your soul, your attitude… Your confidence is shaken now, but in a week? You’ll have brand new doubts, and the old ones will have faded back.”

Loni smiled up at Momo, nodding. Sure, she didn’t entirely understand everything that Momo said. Sometimes it was hard to follow when it wasn’t said so simply. But she got the message at the end. She was the one who kept Luci safe… And always would, until she could protect herself. Just like her Mama had her. But she and Vin had also had each other…

"I know. Vin always used to say I was a scatterbrain - forgetting things super easily! They’d always bring it up when I was worrying, to say it’d go away. They were always right… It’s hard adjusting still, being in the North after growing up not. Yesterday… I helped get rid of that thing! But the way the owner looked at us… I know she was judging us. I can read it. So I guess that was still lingering."

Loni scooped Luciana back up into her arms, tickling her belly as she straightened up. The toddler giggled and flailed her little limbs about.
"I’m gonna keep her safe… and give her a better place to grow up in than I had."

Momo took a clean, deep breath.

”You’d neglected that last bit… What cafe was it? Diner? I can’t for the life of me remember you mentioning any of the details!” she laughed casually, not wanting Loni to pick up on the subtle question’s intention.

As she spoke, she was moving to replace the cylinder and gather her things. The child was fed, and had a nice bit of socialization with some faces that would be pivotal later. Momo’s subtle pull on the child locked in the memory of watching Luci play in the water, and of Loni’s gentle and tender matronly love. No matter what, this girl would always love the two of them. She’d have no choice, it’d be sheer compulsion. So was the dreadful little programming, the conditioning slowly over the period of defenseless years. Millions of psychoactive triggers…

She may not have been a psychiatrist, but she knew exactly what she wanted.

"Uhhh…" Loni tried to remember. It had been somewhere she really wanted to go, but there were so many places. She looked down at her daughter, continuing to tickle her.
"Where was it, Mijita?"

Luci’s babbled answer was complete nonsense, of course, her arms flailing up to try to capture Loni’s hands. Loni let her, laughing as Luci started to playfully bite at her fingers.

"Oh! Cozy Bakery… I’d seen about it online and always wanted to try it. Never had the chance till then… The macaron I got from there was nice, wasn’t it?! I never got to drink my coffee… Now I can’t really go back, can I?"

”What!? Oh, love, you’ll be going back. How about next week, we’ll go together and I bet they’ll recognize you. Hell, I bet they’ll give you the best seat in the house…” Moriah’s voice trailed off into her smile, spiraling down into her chest where a well of lava gave a single bubble of gas up to the flames of fury.

[Cancelled]

Ayesha Opeyemi (and Pandemonium)

"I really hope this world has some good books too."

_______________________________________________ Ayesha ‘Aya’ Ife Opeyemi She/Her | 21 | Nigerian-American | 5’ | 105lbs _______________________________________________ Nervous. _______________________________________________ Skills & Talents "You want to know about the book I’m reading right now? Well, it’s about this girl who lives in the slums and- oh, n-not that much detail? O-okay, I’m s-sorry..." ___________________________________ [+] Bookworm ⫻ Aya is a voracious reader, rarely found without a book by her side. She reads very quickly and is a bit of a sponge when it comes to soaking in information she reads… But generally, she enjoys fiction over informational reading. Orienteering ⫻ While Aya’s a shy nerd, she wasn’t someone who stayed cooped up inside… She just dislikes crowded places. Back in Shadow she was very into orienteering, often doing it with her older sister. This means she’s good at reading an old school map, at navigating using key features around herself, and has surprising stamina and speed when it comes to hiking. So if you’re lost with no phone signal, she’s pretty good at figuring out where to go. De-escalation ⫻ Aya’s pretty good at getting people to de-escalate and calm down through sheer panic and looking like she’s on a verge of breaking down. She hates fighting so much that she’ll do absolutely anything to stop it… To the point it’s practically a skill. Tabletop Games ⫻ Aya is a master of both games like Dungeons & Dragons, and a wide variety of board game. Her little group of nerds at highschool were always getting together to play D&D or board games together. She’s surprisingly competitive when it comes to the latter, whereas the former really lets her come out of her shell… But she can only do it with people she’s comfortable with in the first place.

Appearance ▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔ "I miss my dark hair… This draws too much attention. I d-don’t like that." Ayesha’s counterpart- Alannah- was much more… expressive than Ayesha is. Her tightly coiled, natural hair is dyed a bright orange-red. It’s well maintained and styled, varying from simple hairstyles like tying it back to putting in the effort to twist it into protective hairstyles that’ll last weeks. It technically goes almost to her shoulders, but its length greatly varies with how it's treated and styled. Sometimes its more like an afro, On top of normal lobe piercings, she has a nostril piercing and belly button piercing. Unlike her, Alannah would actually wear things that showed this off. Their build is similar. Short, and more stocky, with wider hips but a minimal chest. Thankfully no piercings… Alannah’s skin is a dark, red toned brown, relatively unmarred apart. Aya has only found a couple of scars: one on her left knee, another on her right abdomen. Both small, but there’s a larger one across her back she doesn’t know about yet. Her dark brown eyes are expressive, though they now normally hold nervousness. Alannah’s style varied- from crop tops and wide legged jeans, to tighter short dresses, to longer summer dresses. Thankfully, the latter is closer to what Aya is comfortable with, and she can match wider legged pants with baggy t-shirts! Aya was always a knit jumper girl… Unfortunately Alannah seems to have a distinct lack of those in her wardrobe.

_{Psychology
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"Please don’t shout! Isn’t it ea-easier to just talk?"

MAIN GOAL ⫻ Ayesha wants a quiet life. She wants to complete her degree, get her job, and live in a little bubble with her close friends. So to do that, she needs to go back to her original body! And not have a ghost attached to her!

PHILOSOPHY ⫻ Aya believes in tight knight community and helping others, while also being about to retain your own space. She believes strongly in peace, and that violence only perpetuates more violence.

SECRETS ⫻ Aya tends to hide her sexuality, though she’s mostly accepted it herself. Her family is quite conservative, and she tends to assume other people are unless she knows them better.

SEXUALITY ⫻ Aya is a lesbian, though she’s not particularly open about it. She’s kissed a few girls in highschool, but is generally quite inexperienced.

FEARS ⫻ Aya has social anxiety, struggling with panic attacks whenever she has to talk to new people. While she’s improved in the last couple of years to the point of being able to push through, she still finds it incredibly difficult and often stammers. Aya fears rejection, being judged, and being hated by other people. She’s generally a very nervous person, the kind who jumps at loud sounds and shouting. As she was bullied at school, she fears confrontation and becoming a complete outcast again. She also has a deep fear of spiders.

REPUTATION IN SHADOW ⫻ Aya was an often overlooked, quiet and nerdy girl. She had her small group of friends in highschool and then university, but very few would know her outside of that. When she wasn’t overlooked in highschool she was bullied… But thankfully she hasn’t dealt with that since she was sixteen. So generally, she was pretty forgettable.

FLAWS ⫻ Aya’s social anxiety is her greatest flaw. It makes it difficult for her to talk confidently to other people, and often sends her into panic attacks when she has to push out of her comfort zone. She’s got low self confidence. Her voice will get lost in the crowd, and she rarely pushes her own opinion even if she knows she’s right. She’ll go with the more confident people, being much more of a follower than she is a leader. She lacks a backbone. Because of her low self confidence, she can often be quite harsh on herself, and hates how much she struggles with things that should be easy. She can also be quite eccentric, with nerdy interests that she’ll gladly talk about for hours with the few people she’s comfortable with. But she was bullied heavily in highschool, which only adds to her struggle with talking to people she doesn’t know. It takes her a long time to get over her nerves.

_{Backstory
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"I love my home. I miss it."

Ayesha was born the second child to Nigerian parents who moved over to the USA before she was born, in Gary, Indiana. Her upbringing was relatively normal, at least in her eyes. Stricter, conservative parents, sure, but they loved their three children. While they weren’t the best off, they never went hungry.

Aya was always a quiet, shy child. Especially close to her older sister, she struggled to socialise outside of her family for most of her early years. She would always be hiding behind her parents legs or nervously following behind her much more outgoing sister. It wasn’t until she hit her teens that she really made any friends. Other people like her- the shy and quiet nerds. People who didn’t mind just all sitting in a room together and reading, and who got excited about the same nerdy hobbies.

But with her slightly increased confidence came something to tear it back down. Other teenagers were cruel, and Aya was an easy target for bullying. Verbal bullying and pranks turned into physical aggression that had her not wanting to go to school more often than not. But her parents wouldn’t allow something like that- not after they’d worked so hard to make sure their children got a good education.

It hit its breaking point when she was almost sixteen. After daily panic attacks, Aya had one so bad she lost the feeling in her limbs and fainted from hyperventilating so much her blood pressure dropped. Then, her parents relented. She was allowed to finish highschool at home, keeping in touch with the friends she’d made to prevent her complete social withdrawal.

Since, things went back to being more peaceful. She graduated highschool and got a place at Indiana University Northwest, allowing her to attend university without having to move out. There she’s started to take solid steps with her social anxiety- attending classes in person again was already a big move for her. She’s ended up majoring in Biochemistry, and is almost done with her degree. From there she can actually see a future. Sure, she still really struggles with anxiety, but she’s been slowly improving.

Until suddenly she woke up in Kindle, in a body that wasn’t her own with another voice in her head.

_{Abstraction
^{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"W-Why’s there a voice in my head?!"
"Because I’m fucking stuck in here!"

TYPE ⫻ Aberration (Adjoined)

ABSTRACTION ⫻ The Storm of Pandemonium. The ability to create and control a variety of chaos causing storms.

ABSTRACTION DESCRIPTION ⫻

Pandemonium is an Apparition born from the Linebreaker event itself. A soul forced from her original body into the body of Alannah along with Ayesha’s soul, it was Ayesha who ‘won’ residency within the new body thanks to it being her counterpart. Without a true body, the other soul became an Apparition. Pandemonium remembers snippets of her old life, even if she doesn’t retain her name and identity. But more than that she remembers when she lost her body. The confusion, rage, and then resentment towards Ayesha who has it.

As a result, Pan doesn’t allow Aya free use of her abstraction. It’s used in two ways: Pan comes out of the body to freely use it as an Adjoined Apparition, or Pan is allowed some control of the body to use it.

Pan’s abstraction allows them to create and control various aspects of a storm in the vicinity around them. The abstraction always starts with looming grey clouds in a radius of up to fifty metres around them. However, the further spread the storm is, the less powerful it is. The tightest that can make it is a ten metre radius around them, where it’s at its most powerful. Generally, when Pan uses her abstraction she can only use one of the three aspects of it.

Winds of Resentment ⫻ Pan creates gusting winds with the ability to sweep people off their feet. These winds can be targeted, with strong gales hitting specific targets to throw them in the air, or be over a more general area where everything within- friend or foe- is buffeted by almost hurricane speed gales.

Thunder of Disorder ⫻ Pan controls the storm clouds to clash together in loud crashes. Any who hear this will be disoriented and confused, only worsening the longer they listen. It addles the brain, making it difficult to think through it and causing crippling disorientation. People who listen long enough will struggle to know where they are, what they’re doing, and eventually who they are. Along with the mental effect, the loudness of the thunderclaps will cause harsh ringing in the ears and make it difficult to talk over.

Bolts of Wrath ⫻ Pan summons lightning bolts from the clouds above to strike at enemies. However, the control over this is shaky and dependent on her emotional state. The angrier she is the more powerful the lightning bolts get, but the less controllable they are. They can become completely random if her or Aya’s mental state is bad.

The Storm of Pandemonium ⫻ The all in version of Pan’s abstraction, where she combines all three aspects at once. Heavy gales followed by disorienting thunder and burning lightning bolts. It’s powerful, but at the heavy cost of draining Pan’s energy to the point she can only maintain it for ten minutes. Then, afterwards, she will need to withdraw into Aya’s body- leaving both of them vulnerable and Abstractionless for a day or more. This is incredibly taxing on Aya too, leaving her drained and exhausted afterwards.

LIMITS ⫻

Right now, both Pan and Aya are new to the magical world. Pan is a baby Apparition with great potential power but very little control. Along with this, the tension between the two of them makes using the Abstraction harder. Ideally, Pan would grant it to Aya and use it through her… But that just isn’t possible right now.

If Aya lets Pan use her body, it causes great damage to her. But if Pan uses it herself from outside Aya, she is both vulnerable and her magic source easily drained. Until they learn to work together, they’ll never reach their true potential.

Pan can only use their abstraction for thirty minutes to an hour before needing at least a two hour rest. Whether it’s the shorter or higher amount of time depends on their mental state and Aya’s. It’s taxing on the body and mind, and Aya isn’t entirely immune to the effects of the storm. Pan can only use one aspect at a time unless really pushed, and using all three can be devastating to the two of them as well as their surroundings.

As mentioned above, it can be done in a radius of up to fifty metres where it’s at its weakest. The closest it can be done is in a ten metre radius around them.

Winds of Resentment ⫻ This can knock over objects as heavy as a car in targeted blasts, and less when untargeted. Pan can’t buffet the entire radius with anything more than light, almost aesthetic, winds while targeting with it.

Thunder of Disorder ⫻ People with Emotional Fields are resistant to the mental effects of the thunder. While it can cause ear pain and ringing, it can’t cause permanent damage.

Bolts of Wrath ⫻ The lightning bolts are the most uncontrollable aspect, even if the strongest in terms of raw power. They’re just as likely to harm as they are help, and there’s a real risk Pan will strike Aya with them.

WEAKNESSES ⫻ (DO NOT FILL THIS OUT, I WILL PROVIDE IT FOR YOU)

^{Other
_{▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔}}
"Why did this have to happen to me? Why not someone who wants an adventure?"

- Aya’s counterpart, Alannah, is a Pink Adept who also has social anxiety, but is much better at dealing with it.
- Aya’s never left Indiana before now

Pandemonium.

0 | Pandemonium of Raging Storms ‘Pan’ | She/Her "If I can’t get myself back, then why the fuck should she get to live in peace?"

Description: Pandemonium was originally a woman called Penelope Fisher from the world of Shadow. Penelope was a fiery woman who pushed through a great deal of hardships to really make herself a life worth living. Someone full of spirit and potential… Until the Linebreaker event, where her soul was torn out of its body. In the mess, her soul went into the body of Alannah along with Ayesha’s. The Apparition Pandemonium was born from the result, where Penelope was almost extinguished by the event and no longer having a body. Pan didn’t purposefully adjoin to Aya. She’s a baby Apparition with little knowledge about magic or how her own existence is possible. As far as she’s aware, the two need to remain attached. She’s retained her sassy, brash personality- but with much harsher anger and resentment to go with it. She’s resentful of Aya, even though Aya has been torn from her normal life just as much as Pan was. Pan has fragments of memories from when she was Penelope, but doesn’t actually remember her name or who she truly was. Unlike a lot of Adjoined Apparitions, Pan spends a lot of time outside of Aya’s body - although severely restricted in terms of how far she can travel. Really, she only goes in to rest. (Or at least, that's how she will be...)

Pan’s Theme

How Dogs Are [FernStone & AtomicEmperor]

Downtown Portland

The next day, Cass was feeling extra refreshed. After all, what was more recharging than an evening with people she loved?! Of course, her and Leon went out for some fun later in the night… But it had nothing on the night before. It didn’t quite hit the point where it went from energising to exhausting.

Unfortunately, while Reyna had taken the day off it didn’t stop her work calling her in the morning to help with some emergency bug. She’d told them to just go enjoy themselves, and that she should be able to join them by lunchtime.

It was a shame, but it did mean they’d be able to buy her a gift without her being there while they did.

Cass had suggested walking to Downtown Portland, rather than driving- because it was actually fucking possible for once! Though St. Portwell was also a fairly walkable city, she’d learned not to take it for granted now that she lived in the States…

”There’s an awesome record shop we gotta check out. It looks deceptively small, but you go in and it really opens up… and the amount’a shit they got! Some real rare, obscure stuff. We can grab something for Rey… I’ll probably pick up a bunch too since, y’know, why not? It’s right next to a music store too! I ain’t looking to buy anything there, but I always enjoy trying out all the different guitars and drum kits they got.” Cass chatted away, a constant bounce in her step.

She'd dressed a bit more femininely than she often did, with a red tartan pleated skirt flouncing about as she bounced. All the attached chains jangled as they hit each other. She'd put on a simple black headband to pull back the curls that normally fell down to her eyebrows, the hair twisted together in a cute style from her hairline to the band. Her leather jacket was doing a lot of work for keeping her warm, with the only thing underneath it being a black, strappy bra top that turned into fishnet just above her chest and down her arms. Not that it was a problem, with the green lux and her constant movements.

"Maybe I can think about getting some drums now I kinda got my own place."

Leon’s long strides were constantly matched by the bounding, rabbit like energy of Cass. He was constantly impressed by how she skipped along and kept pace, even across a large boulevard where he’d usually just pick up whatever shorty he was with. Most people simply couldn’t match how far almost eight feet worth of legs could really propel a man… But there she was, every time he looked down and to the left. At least she stayed roughly in the same position. It’d be a little embarrassing if she was running actual circles around him…

The only problem with doing so much walking was the fanfare. Portland was not a combat sports city, as far as Leon knew, so the expectation was leaning more toward St. Portwell for fan traffic. Back home, a Leon spotting was like seeing a panda at the zoo: Exotic, but you expect it to be there. Different cities often had different reactions; going someplace in the Midwest, walking was practically a fool’s errand. Cities built for cars, sure, but try and walk into a gym, or head to any restaurant… Suddenly dozens of middle aged men crowded whatever table he was at to hear all the stories they could.

Sometimes there’d be someone closer to his age… But the fanbase was getting older and older. Hence, the forums had become such a refreshing source of praise. Anonymous, or near-anonymous posting meant a perfect opportunity to project his own imagination upon the faceless text. He could imagine everyone was an attractive admirer just like Cass, and the fantasy could pass for something Lelou could eat.

But today? Today the fantasy seemed real, until he remembered the different social media platforms he posted on. Sometimes it happened where there’d be a reaction he didn’t assume would come. This time, posting a picture of the Portland skyline last night may’ve tipped people off. Today’s result; every ten minutes, some kind of stopping to sign a piece of paper or a laser disk package. Anything to say ‘Timberwolf touched this to sign it.’. It was great.

And having Cass there for it was even better. He just hoped she didn’t mind.

”Y’know, all the sex, we’ve barely actually talked about Rock n’ Roll… Do you listen to Decent Exposure at all? Not to make this all about me, I just… I never know if my fans realize I’ve only ever been on a couple of album tracks that got released. Honestly, like, there’s a whole other set of fans who think I’m some kind of rockstar. I like to tour, I guess; more people. Sales numbers don’t really do anything for Lelou, they’re too abstract.” he joked, looking both ways as they crossed another street.

”It’s a little ironic you drum though. Not unsurprising with the spastic energy, just… Lynette plays drums. If you can believe that… You’ve seen pictures of her, at least; is that a person who looks like she goes hard with a double pedal?” he asked with a laugh.

”Oh dude, I wouldn’t say I drum. I’ve dabbled, never had the chance to own em. So it was a bit’a playing at school, a longer period in uni cause one of my exes played em. Guitar’s the thing I actually got practice with. Always wanted to play the drums properly though!” Cass grinned at him.
”And I dunno… Lynette looks like enough of a Goth Mommy to go hard on anything!”

She absolutely cackled as she said that, winking up at him. There was no dampening of her energy, not even when they kept getting stopped. Her only issue there was stopping moving was annoying, but it was something she could fix by absentmindedly hopping around Leon before they kept going again. It was pretty cool to see him getting recognised so much, anyway.

”Of course I listen to Decent Exposure! Remind me to get you to sign some’ve my albums l got. But y’know, I can definitely tell when it ain’t you singing. The guitar’s a bit harder to figure out… But the singing ain’t! At least not when you’re attuned to your dulcet tones like I am.” Cass threw her hands up with a laugh.

”Never got to see a tour, though. I wanted to, but couldn’t- wanted to hear more’ve you actually singing and shit, I guess! But the music’s still solid, even when you ain’t on it.” Her eyes narrowed teasingly at him. Of course she wasn’t the kind of fan that only listened to a band cause she was a fan of one guy in it. It was her kinda music anyway- and part of a very expansive collection she listened to.

Leon grinned at the instant flattery, eyes narrowing until they closed fully, his big grin lingering as she finished speaking.
”The talent really speaks for itself; it’s my kind of music too. Honestly, I like only contributing part-time. I still feel close to the project, but I can appreciate it as an outsider more often than I can as a contributor. It’s liberating, I guess… Plus, God, if people recognized me more from them? That’s why appearing on the album as a feature is a lot easier than being The Guy, right? Marcus Pinsky is a great frontman too, I like to think I have charisma, but his little Devil is even hungrier for attention than Lelou. Dude’s a saint for dealing with that shit like he does.”

Ah yes… Another giant of an industry magically juiced by something or another. Was talent real? Or was it all magic, raw from the tap and syphoned by a less receptive mind? Maybe time would reveal all statistics to Cass as its inexorable march forward was spent traveling close behind the wake of Leon’s ship of fame.

”We’ll definitely go see them next time we match up with a tour. Maybe we’ll even get up on stage; you and I can duet. Orbiting Bodies is my favorite…”
A deeper cut from an album smack dab in the middle of the discography. One that Leon hadn’t actually written anything for, but had been chosen to sing due to a certain ethereal quality Leon had that Marcus didn’t. A song about Marcus, and his at-the-time sick father, and the inability to reconvene before the inevitable worst happened.

Of course, Leon knew it wasn’t exactly the type of song to duet, but having lost his own Father before being able to reconcile certain things touched him in a place he couldn’t deny. He wanted to share the emotion with Cass, not so much the subject matter.

”Oh yeah, I really like that one too. Made me fucking sob when I first heard it!” Cass admitted with incredible ease. It was empathy more than relation, but the kind of empathy only really possible having lost someone herself. Those who’d never suffered grief so young tended not to understand the conflicting feelings… Even if she was on good terms with her brother for his whole life.

”I always find it’s the more emotional songs that really show a band's talent. Like… Anyone can be carried by energy. But the sadder stuff? You gotta be skilled.” She looked up at him with earnest openness.
”I can definitely understand why it’d be your favourite.”

As they walked, he couldn’t help but notice what was missing…
”So… Maybe too much to duet? We’ll get something lighter. Marc’ll love you, I bet. I know, honestly, uh… During the war, he went to go volunteer over there, I’m not sure what part of England, but…” he shrugged, vaguely waving his hands around.

”Y’know, it doesn’t matter too much so long as it’s with you. For now, let’s definitely get you some drums today. I want that to happen, especially if you feel like you’d be comfortable practicing up there.” he smiled.
”We’ll ask Casey to soundproof it too…”

Cass grinned, easily following along with the mood swinging back up.
”I’d love that! I ain’t got any before cause they’re so noisy, y’know? I kinda figured I couldn’t till I was rich enough to own an actual house or something. Magic really fixes every problem, don’t it?”

She was exaggerating, of course. It didn’t fix everything… But it sure did fix certain problems that were otherwise expensive to deal with. Like soundproofing…
”But if you wanna duet, we’re gonna have to practice… With clothes on! We’ve always played together naked, I ain’t sure if I’d have the confidence to do it clothed! Y’know… acoustics or something!”

Leon made a jokingly flat expression, shaking his head.
”You’ve finally said something that makes no sense! God, I was starting to wonder if you were human.” he said, finally laughing aloud as his hand moved up to ruffle into her curls.

Long, active strides carried them on toward the fabled record store of Cass’ itinerary. Having stopped for some coffee and a couple more rabid Timberwolf fans (and some serious flirting across all parties), Leon was grateful that their entry to this hole-in-the-wall storefront was met with zero recognition. In fact, the clerk at the front didn’t even bother looking up from his magazine, which was Leon’s favorite vibe to walk into. If the clerk was comfortable, that meant the store was too.

And what a wonder it was, as the initial storefront seemed to be mostly decorum and special offers locked up in tightly sealed display cases just waiting for the right hipster’s thousand dollars. And Leon was that rich hipster, who, upon entering and sweeping his vision across the panorama of rare and expensive collector’s pieces, instantly locked eyes on a small cassette tape resting on a little velvet bed. Predatory vision honed in on the immaculate preservation job of what was probably the most amazing piece of box art ever made for the cassette era.

He didn’t care about the music inside, although it was a wonderful album with a seriously psychedelic style: It was a piece of Gravity memorabilia even he had a hard time getting his hands on. The depiction was of a nebula, and if one left the art within the package they’d never see the rest. But pulling it out and unfolding it revealed that the nebula was shaped like a man. And the man who that was, was a twenty-year old Maxwell IV just starting out on his own career. Such a subtle Gravity reference, especially having essentially nothing to do with boxing, made it an incredibly desirable piece to the right person.

Something that whoever owned this place clearly understood…

But he didn’t bring any attention to it, not wanting to have it brought out until they were ready to go. So, he followed Cass through the small clerk area into the greater shop. Around a single corner, down a small set of stairs, the place opened up into a warehouse that probably spanned the rear of the other buildings on the street. There was an abudding brick block that carved a section out, presumably for the music shop next door… Maybe it was a studio? It was incredibly quiet for a big brick block that typically vibrated gently with talking…

”Do… They have a studio next door?” he asked quietly, taking in the rows and rows of records, and racks of laser disks.

Cass had to literally skid to a halt, in the process of absconding towards sections she knew had music she liked. Balancing with one foot up, she turned her head towards Leon.
”Uhhh… I think so? They gotta downstairs in the music shop, at least. I ain’t been in it. Could be a studio.”

Her gaze went past him to the row they were standing at the start of, with its more mainstream selection of indie rock. Not the stuff Cass was so into anymore, but sometimes they had hidden gems… Or records that were hard to find because they were so popular. As her eyes quickly skimmed it, they widened.

”Oh shit!” She shot forward, pulling a record out. It showed a cool purple cityscape on the cover.
”They got one’ve the earlier Numbats albums! Rey loves these guys- I mean they’re pretty popular, but y’know… She definitely ain’t got this one!”

Leon nodded, having seen the album before.
”Is this the dark print? I’m pretty sure there’s another version with a clear print that has the same cityscape as on the sleeve.” he asked, flicking through them to see if there were any that had a slightly pricier tag on them.

”Well, hold onto it. We’ll ask if they’ve got the collector’s print when we get up front; maybe in a cabinet up there or something.” he smiled, happy to be able to participate in gift hunting. If he ever had the chance to upscale the gift, he invariably took it.

”How ‘come they always call marsupials ‘bats’? Like, wombat, dingbat, numbat…” he asked with an incredibly puzzled voice as he stared at the record sleeve a little longer.

”I’m pretty sure for numbats and wombats it comes from, like, the native Australian name for em. So it ain’t bat in English but in another language.” Cass answered, somehow pulling the knowledge from her brain. But it wasn’t so surprising with her obsessive personality and general love of animals. She’d gone down many rabbit holes of the years about various obscure creatures.

”And who’s to say they ain’t the original bat, anyway!” She laughed, putting the record under her arm after Leon had plenty of time to look at it. She continued to move down the row, cursorily scanning it in case there was anything else they could pick up for Reyna.

”Y’know I considered imitating the long tongue that the numbats and anteaters got, for like a crazy party trick… But I only knew Rey had magic, and she wouldn’t find it funny. Not that the others would either… Trisha’d probably sting my tongue to oblivion!”

Leon grimaced.
”Oh, God, Babe please… The last thing I want is something long, thin and wet snaking into a place I didn’t expect it. Find me one person who appreciates that as a joke and I’ll find you a sounding fetishist.” he laughed aloud, thanking the lord that the other people in the store were so few and far between.

”So, how much is for Reyna? How much is for you? Don’t be shy, I’ll cover whatever you don’t think you could… If that sounds like a half decent arrangement?” he asked, wondering how she felt about the good ol’ premium split.

Cass stopped playfully pouting at him to properly think about his suggestion. She hadn’t come in her planning to get much for herself, but she also knew the moment she laid her eyes on records she wanted she’d be unable to resist. And while she had quite a decent amount of savings from her job, she did help her brothers cover a bunch of costs back home, so she couldn’t just spend money like it was nothing. But she also didn’t want to use Leon’s money too much like that either. He already paid for most of the food, they weren’t asking for any rent on the Cannery apartment… It had a risk of making shit really uneven!

”We can get Rey maybe three records or something- anything more she’ll feel is too much. As for me… I ain’t sure! Depends what they got. That’s how it always is with this place! Sometimes they got a ton of obscure shit I want, sometimes it’s all stuff I already got.” Cass scratched her chin. She hadn’t really answered the money split question yet.

”I suppose if I end up getting too much, sure, that works! It can be like an early birthday present! Well- there’s the drums too… that can be too, I guess? Early, kinda insane birthday present…”

”Oh, no no… The drums are more like an investment into your enrichment as a human. I don’t really put a price on something like that; honestly I donate money to musical gear for like, different St. Portwell schools and charities for places elsewhere… It’s a special interest. Anytime someone’s like ‘Yo I wanna play an instrument’ I’m like sure, we’ll make it happen. In other words, I guess… Don’t be shy?” he smiled, already knowing that the cassette out there was never his to keep. As soon as she knew? He could only imagine the excited bouncing.

”Now, be on the lookout for any color-print. If it’s got a funky ass vinyl, I want it… Just point it out and I’ll see if I have it in storage.” he smiled, looking around for any distinguishing marks that would reveal the special prints that weren’t products with four to five zeros in the price tag.

Not that he found anything before coming to rest on a banger of an album.

”Oh, hell yeah… Grain debut album. So many good songs, God… This came out, I was like… Twelve? Lynette played the shit out of it, I almost got sick of it.”
He broke out into an imitation of the most famous song on the album, featuring an oddly placed rock-scat solo near the end of the track which he was perfectly imitating.

Cass grinned, half bouncing half dancing along to his singing. She’d already bounded a fair bit away- but more than close enough they could talk to each other. Especially with the super senses and general lack of people around. Not many people went record shopping on a Wednesday morning… But that was great, cause she didn’t even have to worry about constraining herself.

”Babe, I dunno if I feel jealous or sympathetic. Cause having that album almost ruined for you? Damn, I’d be well pissed. But also actually sharing some music tastes with your parents? Not getting yelled at to ‘turn that screamy bangy shit off’ whenever you try listen to it? Kinda outweighs the downsides I think. My parents are really ‘silence is the best kinda music’ people.” She laughed, shrugging off a statement that really summed up what a lot of her childhood had been like.

Leon nodded, smiling.
”Oh, I can empathize with that. I guess that it would, ultimately, be way better to have parents who are into cool shit. Withholding the drawbacks of getting, y’know, crazy and dangerous in the genetic pool.”

He could’ve thought of a million different things that he’d have given up their parent-child mutual interest in Numetal to have out of his life. But, it was Cass… He didn’t want to ruffle her feathers with his accidental trauma dumps.

”Well you can get crazy and dangerous in the genetic pool when there ain’t the similarities too- Not that I did. Just some people I know.” Cass shrugged one shoulder, smiling.

It wasn’t really high up on her list of things she wanted to change about her parents. But maybe if they were more similar, her parents would have understood her as a person better? There’d be some sympathy instead of trying to force her into a specific box they wanted her to fit into…

She shook away the thought, finally getting to a section full of stuff she was interested in. Progressive rock. While generally Cass veered more into heavy rock and then metal, she had a soft spot for the weirdness you got with prog. Plus, so many of the big bands were British. There was quite a lot she already had, but-

”Oh shit!” She pulled out a primarily steel blue record, with a funky picture of a solid metal cube painted in a watercolour style on it.
”Fuck, fuck- Look! Look, Leon! They got Rigid by No! Y’know how hard this is to get? Shit, it’s only like 60 dollars too… That’s pretty cheap for something that ain’t been in print since… I dunno, I think I was like, five? Either way, holy shit! I guess it just ain’t so popular over here, huh, so they ain’t asking for an arm and a leg?”

”Oh, damn, that has Straightaway right?” he asked, almost instantly striking an incredibly vogue-level pose to imitate the characters from the popular anime associated with the song.
”Sat through ten seasons of that show with Gin, shit was bizarre.” he laughed.

Taking a second glance over, he saw her staring at the vinyl itself. The swirling blue-into-grey subtly formed the telltale cube-structure that the Rigid album cover was known for. An attractive enough press that he figured he had a display it could go into. Having only cursorily cared about sleeves, which he kept in their own plastic protectors to be locked away in storage, Leon mostly cared about the vinyl itself. Any markings, interesting patterns, prints that weren’t the standard ink-tone presses, were all things he really valued. It was something of a hobby to get records and coordinate them in color or theme collages, sometimes having a dozen vinyls in a single piece.

”There a second one over there? I wouldn’t want to deprive you, but that’s definitely one I don’t have either.” he asked simply.

”Uhhhhh…” Cass scanned the vinyls on display, before flipping through them just to see. There were a fair few others by No, but no other copies of Rigid. She wasn’t surprised considering that it was a pretty difficult to find album, what with the popularity of Straightaway.

”They don’t…” Her face fell a little bit, before very quickly brightening up as her gaze snapped up from the vinyl to Leon.
”We can share it! Unless you’re one of those people who likes to only look at his vinyls and not, like, y’know… play em… like they’re made for…”

Leon gave a playful frown.
”I can listen to ‘em any time digitally, y’know? The LPs are artful… Soulful, even. Someone took the time to think about how the pattern would come out, and how it’d look spinning in the deck. I’m not ashamed.”

He loomed over her, looking down at the album and noting the color along with the given grain texture, trying to compare it to other things in his collection before shrugging and letting it go.

”You win, of course; my argument about being able to listen to it digitally just highlights how little I really need it, I think.” he finished, smiling and kissing the top of her head.

Cass let out a little giggle, tilting her head back and stretching up to kiss the bottom of his jaw.
”I’d say thank you but y’know, finders keepers and all! It’ll look real good spinning in my deck. I gotta real nice setup! It was one of the first things I upgraded when I got my job.”

She carefully put it under her arm along with the Numbats record, taking small steps to the side to keep looking through the vinyls in this section. She was bound to find a couple more Prog ones she didn’t have yet…

”What d’you do with them if you don’t play em, then? Please tell me they ain’t just stored… Or did I somehow miss the cool vinyl display in your place?”

”I’d say you’ve probably seen a few at my place and just didn’t stop to look. In the hall by the bedrooms there’s one between the trophy shelves, and then another on the left side of the TV. There’s also one in my office down there, which I know you’re not in much. And then I’ve probably got twelve or thirteen other displays in various locations. A few in some of Andrade’s restaurants where they fit, quite a few at the Temple… They’re around, and they’re mine, and I… Just like puttin’ em together and looking at them through my own satisfied mind’s eye.” he explained, all smiles as he thought about amassing the records, then finding a board, then actually mounting it all together…

It was a supremely satisfying little hoarding habit that quelled the natural physical artist within. He was, after all, the only Richoux child without Orange Lux to tinker with things… And he truly was the only one who didn’t tinker.

”All my siblings have something physical they do, like an art… I’ve got the instruments still, I’ve got the crazy hand-eye coordination. But, I’ve got no impetus to participate in much physical artistry these days. Lelou’s not really a patience-oriented partner, if that makes sense.”

He wondered what he’d even tinker on these days. There wasn’t a lot that interested him; weapon making, or other crafting? Clothing design? Jewelry, like dear old Granny? None of it brought joy, probably because there was no magic to channel it through.

”Getting a board together is like getting a little stash together. Something about it itches Lelou’s brain, so she itches mine in return. It may have something to do with the music too, she is absolutely a patron. Just doesn’t have any kind of patience.” he admitted, giggling a little bit as he moved back off to find a new target.

Cass nodded along. She didn’t have a literal impatience ghost in her brain, but she did have her own little mental demons. If she wasn’t into something she just didn’t have the patience for it either… But at least it was just based on her own whims. Double edged sword really, cause when she got properly into something it was hard to drag her away.

Putting together Vinyls on a display was the kind of thing that’d probably be in the boring category for her. But it was pretty cool to see the final results… She’d actually have to look when they got back.

”So if I become an awesome one woman band, both you and Lelou will be completely enraptured?” Cass joked, pulling out another vinyl and silently adding it to her collection. It wasn’t anything particularly special, just an album of an obscure, more recent prog rock band she’d forgotten to preorder a vinyl from when it came out…

She quickly looked around to double check there wasn’t anyone in earshot before continuing.
”I bet if I grew a couple more arms I could drum and play the guitar at the same time. Might overload my brain, but hey, that’s the price I gotta pay to become uniquely talented and thus an extra hot musician.”

”I’m sure you’ll get to the point that you can bootstrap a second nervous system into your first one. Then you’re one step closer to psionism.” Leon half-joked, knowing fully well that there were Green Lux Adepts with enough power to physically multiply themselves, never mind just having a secondary nervous system.

”Remind me again what I’m hunting for our girl for? Or, are you doing that yourself?” he asked, starting to flip absentmindedly through increasingly aggressive guitar riffs.

”I’m kinda looking, but I ain’t really in the right section… Uh, more like old school rock? Lighter stuff too, more indie rock and that. She always gets a kick outta anything that’s in Spanish too- ain’t so common, though. I could list bands but we’d be here ages so just… shout if you think you find something!” Cass responded after some thinking.

She took a mental note of the whole second nervous system thing to possibly think about later and probably forget. It seemed pretty cool, but also an insane amount of work for what… didn’t seem like much reward. At least, for her! She didn’t need to be able to do things doubly, normally.

”Oh dude… You ever heard of the band Haken?” Cass asked, doing her best to sound as neutral as possible rather than super excited about something she’d just remembered as she picked up one of their vinyls.

Leon pointed.
”Ayyy! What fuckin’ color is it! Look for a yellow one, Babe, the only one I’m missing is fuckin’ yellow!” he started to encroach back toward her at a quicker-than-necessary speed.

Cass’ put on passive expression fell for just a moment- she’d remembered the band had sick as fuck vinyl’s, but of course Leon’s nose for colourful records clearly outweighed their general obscurity. She flipped the one she’d picked up- Virus, the album with the many coloured, collectible vinyls… What were the chances? Yellow must be the most sought out one, after all-

”Oh shit!” she literally jumped a foot off the ground, only managing to avoid dropping all the vinyls she was carrying thanks to her lightning fast research. She managed to keep her excitement to a more reasonable level of just the normal excited bouncing after she landed.

Wait, fuck… She should’ve held it in. Then she could’ve teased him… Well she still could, couldn’t she?

Cass smirked at the rapidly approaching Leon, hugging the vinyl to her chest.
”Well look at that, it’s yellow… But I don’t actually have this album on vinyl yet, and it’s the only one, so…” She outright lied, stepping to the side to not so subtly cover up another copy of the same album.

”Oh, I don’t care about that, Cass! You can have all eight of my copies, I just… Need to know that I put them all together. We put them together. Wherever they live, that’s just where they live. Custody with Mom, Dad, we’re hardly divorced. Just, add it to your pile. I just need to pay for that one when we’re done.” he reactively compromised, years of doing so for the sake of his Mother turning his one pig-headed “my way or the highway” attitude into a soft, pliable bed of subtle suggestions.

In truth, that was all that really mattered. If she was going to listen to them, as long as she promised to keep them displayed a certain way, she could listen all she wanted. It was, ultimately, the completion of a job. Probably the oddest high that Lelou gave him was from satisfaction in action and reaction. It made killing feel good. If he aimed to do so, and killed without pause, she rewarded it. It was quickest, and what drove him most easily into a rampage. Even thinking about it in the subtle mind made his lip quiver.

”Aw, Babe, no…” Cass suddenly looked a little sad, holding out the vinyl towards him. She didn’t want to bulldoze over him like that… Not right now when it was a joke, but not when it was something serious either. Sure, maybe all he needed was to put them together. Maybe it was alright that she somehow ended up having all of them so she could listen to one.

But how was that fair to him? He couldn’t display it. And she couldn’t be sure she wouldn’t mess with it either… Or just forget to put things back.

”It was just a joke. I know we’re together and all- hopefully for a long while- but that doesn’t mean it isn’t important to have our own things. I hope you ain’t just gonna give me everything without even a protest if you don’t really want to?” She wasn’t speaking with her normal loudness, but it was still firm. Like she wanted him to actually think about it rather than just compromising again.
”And I’m sorry. I just wanted to see you excited, I shouldn’t’ve played with you like that.”

”Oh… N-nah, it’s… It’s not like that, Babe… Well, I mean, maybe it is? No! No, I’m serious, it’s… It ain’t like your apartment ain’t upstairs. I can come up, see ‘em. After all, how often are you gonna listen to it? Enough that you think the little display I make for it is gonna be fucked up all the time? ‘Cuz, honestly, I’ll just fix it if it’s messed up. Sometimes I feel like a magpie.” he admitted, smiling down at her and stroking his thumb gently across her face.

”I’ve got plenty of logical ideas to back up my feelings toward it, as long as I examine it. It’s just split second seeming, or like there’s no protest, because I’m… Pretty good at making up my mind.”

Which wasn’t entirely a lie. The whole two-brain theory afforded him a great amount of time to think about things that crunched down into split seconds for others. Mostly because he could afford to let Lelou’s instincts take the motor function. But, that didn’t mean that her being concerned wasn’t somehow valid. He had to admit to being a bit of a beaten dog in a lot of regards.

Cass stared up at him, trying to hunt for any signs that he didn’t really mean what he was saying. Not that she assumed he didn’t… She was just used to people who tried to hide how they felt. She couldn’t really read anything obvious from his face, even if she wasn’t entirely convinced.

”Well, so long as you do protest if you don’t want to do something, and other shit like that. Then I can protest back, then we come to a compromise together and all. No just bending to my every whim or anything!” She tilted her face against his hand with a slight smile. Her hands were too full to physically respond in any other way right now.

”And only if you’re sure about the vinyl. It ain’t that I think I’m gonna listen to it often, just that when I do there’s a chance I’ll just leave it in the record player for days or, uh… When I swap it out for another one? I kinda just… put it into the sleeve for the vinyl I’m replacing it with… Rather than putting it back where it should be…” She admitted.

”And I’ll never make you feel bad for that. Your habits are yours, and I’m asking to make a little display for you. Pick the color you like the most, and that’ll be the one you can pull out of it freely. But, I think we can both say for sure, we only need one sleeve.” he joked, looking down at the vague egg-froth yellow with the image of the virus on it.

”It’s something we can even do together; pick out a display you like since it’ll be in your apartment, yadda yadda. I’ll draw something up later.” Leon grinned, satisfied with the compromise as his hands reached out for what she’d gathered so far.

”I’ll hold ‘em if you want.” he offered with the same smile.

”Sure, sure, put those big hands of yours to good use.” Cass teased, easily handing the various vinyls over to him. She did generally prefer having her hands free after all… Less of a risk of throwing something valuable when she got too excited.

”Thank you very much, Babe. Now my hands are free to do whatever I wanna…” As if to demonstrate, and possibly thank him further, she patted- then briefly squeezed- his ass. Then she darted further down the row to keep looking at vinyls with a bright grin.

She was more than happy with the compromise, as well. It’d be cool to have something like that up in the apartment- something they’d done together, among the gazillion boxing posters. She had band posters too, and a ton of pictures with friends and family… But not really anything that had been made. She wasn’t creative in that way.

”Making a display like that sounds nice! Maybe you can help sort out my other records- I always think about making it not just a random mess, then never bother.” She paused, letting out a little joke gasp, before laughing.
”Oh God, with all these PG-13 plans we’re gonna become prudes!”

”Woah, hella untrue. We’re hip regardless; don’t ever question that. Pervs can have PG-13 interests. Besides, it's not in my nature to miss degenerating by the end of a long stretch of good behavior.” he grinned, starting to move back toward some other softer, or more popular, rock.

”Does she like, uh… Ice Cold Cherries? Floridation double print, the red on one and blue on two.” He held up the iconic image of a Florida trailer park situated along a beach with palm trees surrounding it.

”She does- Whoa, I didn’t know they had a Floridation double print. Actually… I didn’t even know that was a thing?” Cass twisted around to stare at it with awe for just a moment, before laughing. It was just… It was an iconic image, of course, an iconic album, an iconic band. But the ‘Floridation’ double print seemed a little ridiculous.

”She’ll- she’ll probably like it.” She managed to stop laughing long enough to speak again.
”As far as I’m aware she doesn’t have anything against Florida either, so we’re extra safe with it.”

”Well, alright! It’s pretty easy listening, some rock some pop, a little punk a little funk; they were definitely coming off that whole punk vibe from when they started. Streaming the music for the main vein, y’know?” he intoned, trying and failing to not sound like a nerd at a trivia competition.

"Ohhhh yeah, that's kinda where they lost me. Not that I'm one of those people who's all like ‘mainstream music sucks and I have superior taste', it just tends to not be my kinda thing! I was way more into the full punk vibe from the start… But hey, plenty of other punk bands to listen to." Cass shot right back, just as much as a nerd for music. It was, after all, one of her big passions.

"Though it is cool when bands keep some if the original sound when they go more mainstream, and being people into new genres they wouldn't normally explore."

”Oh, man… I prefer they just stay the way I fell in love with them with. I know that’s probably a bad habit of mine, but I’m not the biggest fan of change. Especially after meeting and talking to a lot of these guys? I understand why they transition away from what they were doing… But, you can’t help falling in love with what you first saw.”

Leon didn’t make many secrets about his everlasting nostalgia. Even after Severance, the emotion didn’t go away. He was no less bold, and no less wrapped up in idealized images of things as they were. It was the kind of talk he’d been molded by, after all; brave knights on horses come to banish the darkness. Heroism on grand and ancient scales.

”Definitely learning how to get away from that behavior… But letting go of the ingrained perception is probably difficult for most people, I wager.”

He saw Marcus’ other band, the incredibly famous MACHINE, and thought about all the music the guy had made over a decade and a half in the music industry. And yet, really, Leon never needed more to connect to him than one song. If that one song was the basis of the attraction otherwise, then surely there was no need for anything else to come before or after. It was a difficult boiling down of his internal mindset over something that he’d actually bothered to internalize… Because he, again, wound up meeting a lot of heroes himself.

And most of them were disappointing.

Marc was a nice guy, he was great, but ten years ago just about exactly they’d met. And it was hard for Leon to admit that, in spite of Marc very clearly being that good person, he didn’t actually like him. Not anymore, at least. He’d lost all the down to Earth qualities one should have when you’re first cutting your teeth in professional entertainment. The ground broke apart, hoisted itself in the air to lift that guy up to the sky from an incredibly shitty position…

And now he played private Temple concerts in the steeple, and schmoozed with people who plied his Blind behavior with magical trinkets and toys. Easily manipulated by miracles in his face, but then what Third-Eye wouldn’t be?

Moments like talking to him about his song, about what he had connected over, they were great. But they were also so long ago… And he just wished he could reach back in time to reclaim them. Because he hated that kind of change.

”She’s probably not into MACHINE, right? Even the new stuff is a bit rough and tumble for casual listening…” he reflected his own internal thoughts quietly.

"You really hate change, huh?" It was the blunt, impulsive question that came out of Cass' mouth, instead of any well thought through one.

In the time that Leon had been staring at the MACHINE album like a frozen computer, Cass had made her way back over and right into his space. She stared up at him with a concern, while clearly pushing him to actually answer. She was close enough that she really had to tilt her head back to look at him, arms loosely winding around him in what may have been comfort or a trap.

"What happened? I ain't taking ‘what are you talking about' or anything as an answer, you zoned out for a solid few minutes. Kinda hard to not notice! Clearly some not fun thoughts up there so… Y'know, always better to share, rather than letting it stew."

She could vaguely guess, with the talk of change then the attention on MACHINE. Something to do with the band? People in it? She got it, a bit… There was some change she found easy to deal with. Bands changing their style? That was easy, because she could just listen to their older stuff and ignore the new. Practical things she could do something about? Annoying, because it often meant changing how she did things, but possible. But people, when they changed for the worst? She struggled with that. Everyone struggled with that.

She just had a habit of directly confronting them over it, which never went well.

Like… Right now… Shit. Well, she'd said it now, might as well just go with it! Sometimes it was better to push people with these things, anyway.

”People change too. I'm proud of my improvements. Marc's probably proud of his. That doesn't mean I like the person who came out on the other end, and I feel guilty. Objective improvement should mean good things, so why I'm so hung up on the past is probably just… nostalgia, holding me in the moment. Making me think things were better than they were.” he did his best to spit out the results of the internal debate rather than trudging endlessly through the meat and potatoes surrounding it.

Life was getting weird. Soon he'd be unhitching his own wagon from the prairie train to wander off for lands of his own. Thankfully the hills of gold were already dry: He'd be wandering off into the settled places, where life had already bloomed, and was well through withering.

”But it's hard, the ego still thinks that it's right, that its presumptions are all completely correct. It's not even a Lelou problem… and it makes me conflicted. Because I feel so strongly about being right, and I never am…” he admitted quietly, still holding the album in his hands.

”Marc's a great guy. Clean and sober five years now. Generous, kind, willing to give you the shirt off his back, always looking to have some kind of fun. But all the genuine humanity, all the stains that made him interesting as a person… They aren't there. He doesn't really listen anymore, he doesn't have time to just sit. Always doing something, always being seen by someone, doing something good. I have to genuinely believe this sanitized sterilized face that looks back at me with that blank fucking smile is the same guy responsible for this album?”

He quietly and calmly replaced the album on the shelf, letting his fingers drag across the surface. The psychedelic image of a hand covered in eyes stayed in his brain even as he turned away. For a split second, Leon dedicated some thought power into considering why he was feeling this way. Why this was coming out now. Maybe there was some underlying depression? He definitely wasn't sure of the months ahead. Father Wolf may've slowed his murderous roll, but the future marched inexorably onward.

Either he'd kill again, or the notes Greyson lifted from the House of Cards would put a lid on that chapter in St. Portwell's magical history. But Leon was fine… The only person here cared about who was gone now was Daisy, presumably with his collar…-

”I think maybe it's just… one of those days, y'know? Sorry, Babe.” he finished, sliding a hand up into hers and holding it tight.

Cass shook her head at his apology, squeezing his hand in response.
"I ain't looking for you to apologise cause you're a bit more gloomy than normal. I'd be kinda a shit girlfriend if I was only alright with dealing with your good moments, wouldn't I?"

She wasn't someone dragged down by someone else's low mood anyway. Maybe if she'd caused it… but even then, she'd just try her hardest to fix it. Sometimes it was hard to not just try fix whatever the problems were. That was always going to be her inclination…

"Sometimes even if someone changes for the better, you ain't gonna like who comes out the other end. You can think ‘good on him' and ‘we don't get on like we did'. They ain't mutually exclusive. You can be nostalgic and accept that it's better for that person, right? So long as you don't try stop the change…" Cass trailed off, free hand going to rub the back of her neck. She was coming across as lecturing when she really didn't mean to. What was the point she was trying to get to? Oh, right.

"It ain't bad to feel upset about it. Right and wrong ain't really so easy when it comes to emotions… And like, he's not the guy you became close to, right? You don't feel those feelings anymore? That's rough. It's like… a kinda grieving. Sure, maybe that's selfish. But you ain't putting it on him are you?"

Still felt a bit lecture-y. Oh well. She pushed up right onto her tiptoes, tilting her head right up to press a kiss against his cheek. Then she smiled.

"Really, I'm tryna say I get it! Honestly!" Even if in the end, she'd been the person who changed so drastically that past friendships fell apart…
"And you're allowed to feel upset about it, even if you know some of that feeling is wrong. It's only human."

”Well… That’s probably where the disconnect is. Y’know we were never just kids. There was always something going on with our noble bloodline, our defense and patronage of a Blind society. The natural reaction being, of course, that ultimately we were more than them. Smarter, harder, like Elves looking at mankind. It was harder to parse as a kid. Imagine racism on a more abstract level, like what people look like don’t matter, it’s all in what you can do. Maybe I’d feel differently about Marc if he had some kind of magic. But, he’s just got money now. Like that fixed all his problems… I’ve got money, why aren’t all my problems fixed? Oh, right, because there’s more in the world than your cocaine addiction…”

He finally threw his hands up, closing his eyes and tilting his head back with some exasperation. Leon could recognize when internal conflict was leading to frustration; the conversation was no longer just about Marc. It was tangential, and that was never good for trying to work through a single specific problem.

”Never mind this. It’s deeper than the album or the guy, and honestly it’ll kill my mood if I keep going.” he admitted with a more stern, firm tone than previously used.

Cass' eyes narrowed slightly, visibly thinking as she pushed down her initial reaction to what felt like being shut down. It was never something she did well with. When she pushed and the iron gates came crashing down, she always wanted to just keep pushing further. To just get to the bottom of it all instead of leaving stuff in what felt like an unresolved state.

But it wasn't an issue between them. It wasn't really something she had any right to stubbornly push him on, even though she absolutely wanted to. She really wanted to get into it- but she was pulled back by the location. It really wasn't the place to push and push and risk an argument or bad mood. Not the middle of a fucking record store… Not when they were meeting Rey later either.

She really shouldn't get so riled up about it anyway. It was Leon's issue. It should be at his pace and whenever he wanted to talk about it.

Not that she could just leave it like that…

"Alright, you're right, it ain't the time or place." She visibly wound down, shaking out her arms to get rid of the tensions that'd crept into them.

"But! We're gonna come back to it sometime. I ain't the kinda person who can just forget and ignore stuff like that… that resentment ain't healthy. It's clearly something that's hurting you, y’know?" She held a hand out for his again.

"I'll stop pushing for now… I gotta pick the right time and place to really push and push till I piss you off, yeah?" Her eyebrows raised up and down, and she grinned, trying to make it clear she was joking about that last bit.

Leon shook his head.
”You don’t need to push me, Cass. I feel like I’ve been pretty free with my thoughts thus far, at least from my own position. It’s just like you said, not here and not now. That doesn’t mean home later isn’t an option… Are you uh, like, used to people just clamming up and then never coming back to things?” he asked with an incredibly even tone.

Asking a question like that had to be even… Too many times, he’d been caught off guard by asking a genuine question only for the person receiving to freak out about the tone. He’d long learned that it’s all about how one comes off.

”It’s just, y’know, we’re out. We’re doing stuff. I’ll happily be depressed and spill my guts later, and I’m sorry that I had a long enough reaction that you got worried.” he added, arms hugging around her and rubbing up and down her back before pulling away to take her hand.
”And thank you… You’re great at letting me know you’re here and active. Not shying away ever… The consistency is a boon.” he finished, planting a kiss on her head.

"Heh, I'm like a rock. A real fast moving rock… eh, maybe not the right metaphor… But anyway! Consistent and bold are my middle names." She grinned up at him. She swung their joined hands, tugging him in the direction she'd come from to keep looking at records. She certainly wanted to pick up a couple more.

Her mind went back to his question as she did. Not avoiding it, just considering how to answer it. The answer was yes, obviously, she was used to that. But did she give the simple answer, or explain it a bit more?

"As for your question… Yeah, I'm pretty used to that. A lotta people I've had in my life just put up the walls in the moment, and they ain't gonna lower ‘em later. I grew up in a pretty traditional household, so my brothers were always pressured to be ‘men’ and not talk about their feelings, especially not to their sister. So I got pretty used to just forcing my way in, especially with the younger two." She shrugged one shoulder.

It was the first time she'd really mentioned the ‘traditional household.’ She always talked about her brothers, about what happened to the older two serving, about how annoying the younger two were… but details about the overall situation and her parents tended to be lacking. Not because she was hiding it. Not entirely. It just never seemed worth bringing up.

"Then you've met Trisha. Diyah's similar, just with less issues and a bit easier to coax. And Sal… Well, we've been friends since we were kids, but once we hit our teens there was certain shit he'd never talk to me about even when I pushed. I see now it was magical family shit- but still. He was the worst for ‘oh we'll talk about it later’ and we never would."

Leon nodded along. Trisha, he definitely saw. The others, how could he? Having spent so little time with the names he knew, and zero with the ones he didn’t, he couldn’t. But, it made sense, as people were naturally like that more often than not. Nobody actually wanted to talk about what hurt. They didn’t really have to either, they simply had no choice. Not with a Mother who could read your mind.

”Maybe my ability to bring it up comes from an unhealthy place. Privacy of thought wasn’t an option as a child. If you were happy, Mum knew why. If you were sad, or mad, Mum still knew why. If you felt resentment or ‘unwarranted’ displeasure, Mum knew and made it a problem. You didn’t get to just walk away, you had to talk about it until you agreed with her. And she’d know when you lied. The only acceptable ‘I don’t want to talk about this’ was accepting a verbal lashing on the other end. If you bowed and scraped, and believed it, then you got off easy.” was his full explanation, moving the conversation to something entirely worse but far less oppressive in his brain.

”Obviously, that’s where the compromise comes from. I’ve been trying to redirect all that trauma toward good things, if that makes sense. Like, before, I’d always push back against anything anyone else said to me, because I was trying to claim whatever agency I could. I had to be the one in charge, because going home meant giving all of it up. Being emasculated, driven like a dog… But now, I just try and remember I do have agency, and I did learn how to compromise, even uncomfortably. So, try and compromise comfortably on my own terms, and maintain a level of control over my own circumstance. I’m not done yet, obviously; there’s plenty to work on. But, you’ll never know me at my worst. I’m thankful for that.”

Cass nodded along just like he had a moment ago, because she wasn't immediately sure how to respond. The openness about his abuse growing up wasn't unwelcome. She wasn't bothered by shit like that just suddenly coming out. Trauma dumping or whatever… It explained some things. The immediate compromise earlier. A want to compromise. The ability to be open about things, because there'd been no privacy before. It was good she hadn't known him at his worse, cause she probably would've tried to beat his ass a lot.

But… Why ask her the question to immediately make it about himself again?

Did she call him out for it, like she normally would? Let it go, cause they'd been talking about his issues just before? There had to be a compromise there… some in between.

It wasn't like it was that bad. It was on topic, even if it was about him again. It just… Felt like there was no need for her to say anything in the middle. Like what she'd said wasn't actually listened to or acknowledged. That was what she struggled with more than it going right back to him. It wasn't an active shutdown or anything, but it didn't feel great.

But she didn't really want to get upset over something so minor… But she should just bring it up, right? Even a joke? Honesty was the best practice. But what if it ruined the mood again?!

Now there was a moment, and a long one for Leon, where there was perceptible gear-spinning in his companion’s mind. He could smell the smoke, and noticed it most in the way she actively stopped bouncing. Movement died. Momentum died.

”Woah, wait… I said somethin’ wrong, huh? What’d I miss?” he asked quietly, brow furrowed as he frowned down at her.

Cass stopped staring off into space and looked back up at him. Well, since he'd asked…

"You missed everything I said, I think. Why bother asking if you ain't gonna actually hear it?" She bluntly answered, jumping right to full honesty since he'd noticed anyway.

Leon’s brow remained furrowed, but concern turned to confusion. He’d very clearly heard what she said, and offered the alternative counter to it… At least, he had in his mind? Lelou gave him an automatic playback, detailed word for word in the span of an eye blinking.

”W-ell… I did, though. You’re not a rock, you’re too fast. You’re a glacier. Slow as it is, it's faster than a rock. But, then you basically confirmed what I expected: That you really are used to people clamming up. Traditional family, men not talking, having to break into your younger brothers’ hearts because they were struggling with the exact same expectations… I just assumed offering my side would give you insight, not… Make you feel like I ignored you. I physically can’t. I’m paying attention to everything happening all at once. Two brains.” he made a funky motion around his head after pulling one hand away, but quickly swung back to grab hers again.

”I’ll say, I did lose my point… If that’s what you’ve gone through, then I definitely don’t want that to be how our relationship is. So, if your middle names are bold and consistent, then mine will be genuine and transparent. I’m very sorry for losing that.” he did his best to tilt his body so they were closer to eye level. He didn’t want her feeling condescended to, but at the same time it felt odd forcing her to look up at him all the time.

Cass let out a long breath, rocking back on her heels. While it wasn't major, but there was some of that bouncy movement back.

"You gotta remember to say that next time. I ain't gotta problem with the insight… I ain't really gotta problem with stuff reflecting back to you, or me, or whatever. Cause y'know, that's how people relate! Just without that lil bit it was hard to see the connection, y'know? The ‘I’m not like that so I won't do that to you' bit. I mean… I probably should've got it! But sometimes it's gotta be real blunt for me to realise." Cass responded pretty well.

So it wasn't really on purpose. It was getting lost going towards a point and forgetting to make the actual point. She got that- she did it. She was just pretty aware of it nowadays and tried to circle back.

"Thanks for explaining. You can probably guess that the other side've that traditional family was me getting shut down or ignored so it kinda… Well, I can get a bit more touchy about it, yknow! But I understand it wasn't on purpose." She smiled again, squeezing his hand in hers.

”Well, I sure do understand now! God, I’m… Really sorry, that’s definitely a feeling I know too. But, of course you’d be touchy. If something like that happens, just say, Babe. Chances are; I just forgot what the fuck I was trying to say. But, still, obviously that doesn’t mean it's excuse time across the board. I messed up, and money doesn’t make up for it, but effort will. Do you agree with that sentiment?” he asked politely, really looking her in the eye as he did so.

"Oh yeah, definitely. Effort's one've the most important things in making up for shit… just relationships in general, really." Cass nodded, stopping her initial reaction of it not really being that big of a deal. Sure, it wasn't the biggest mistake in the world… but why not set a precedent between them? Honesty, and making the effort after fucking something up.

She grinned, looking right back at him with that honest, warm and energetic gaze she so often had.
"You can start by continuing to carry all my records around the store for me… I wanna hunt down at least a couple more…"

”Oh, I think I can handle that…” he grinned, shifting his arm to make the thin stack wiggle slightly.

Another hour passed in that shop, and by the end, the stack wasn’t so small. Maybe Cass had temperance when it came to spending, but Leon didn’t. They needed two milk crates to hold the haul, but it was well worth it. They’d gotten so much stuff and spent so much time that the far more enthusiastic clerk showed back up from her lunch break to help them… Probably the best thing that happened, honestly, as Leon wasn’t sure that other kid was going to scan a hundred records on his own with any speed.
So, they both scanned. It was way more efficient… And when the enthusiastic one was done, he was able to bother her about something else.

”So, uh… Either of you have keys for the expensive shit?” he asked calmly, looking back behind them at all the different display cases and crazy price tags.

“Oh yeah, for sure! Why, looking to cap things off?” she asked in return, a grin splitting her face.

”Yeah, please. The Nebula tape up there, the one with the special art.” Leon said calmly.

“Ohhhh, yeah! I mean, that means you can tell me why the Hell you’re willing to pay so much for it! Boss keeps saying ‘Oh, you wouldn’t get it Alicia, oh you wouldn’t get it.’ so, I continue to not get it…” she replied, a little annoyance in her voice as she sent the slow scanner off to get the ladder while she finished his work.

”Well, uh… It is a present for my girlfriend here, but… Since you’re asking, I guess I can tell you. Come here-” he intoned toward Cass at the last moment, head spinning to look at her before drawing her in close with a hand motion.

”The actual art in the cassette box is a full poster. The reason it’s so rare is because most of the inserts wound up plastered on gym walls across America, then getting ripped down for one reason or another.”

Nebula was a funk band from the decade of his Father’s youth. Even then, Maxwell IV was the spitting image of style and gallantry, and his ability to garner attention with his looks and physique were hardly matched. He was often mentioned in the same breath as Richard Weissklug and Ben Skinton when it came to the world of modern day fitness, especially for men. Gravity was, if nothing else, a gym icon even to this day.

”So there ain’t a lot of ‘em left. And this one’s sealed, obviously, which means the creases haven’t even been exposed to the air. Cass, I bet you can guess who's on the poster…” he grinned at her.

Cass normally didn’t bother looking at the display cases out the front- she didn’t have money to burn like that. It’d just make her frustrated if she saw something she really wanted. Sure, maybe it was something to aim towards- but it’d probably be gone by then!

But at the mention of Nebula, her head snapped up. She knew it, of course. She wouldn’t be a real Gravity fan if she didn’t. Ironically, it was one of the few bands she’d listened to that her parents hadn’t absolutely hated- if her dad enjoying it and her mum still hating it counted, that was.

The tape, though… She looked up at Leon with excitement shining in her eyes as he explained it. The more he talked, the more she couldn’t keep still, and the more familiar it sounded…

”Gravity, obviously! Wait, shit- is this- is this-!” Cass was so excited that she was struggling to form the words she wanted to say, bouncing within the constrained space she had next to him. Her mind was running at light speed and her mouth just couldn’t keep up.

”The one where the fuckin nebula makes the picture of him? That one?! The one that’s super fucking rare?!”

Of course she knew about it. She knew, but had shoved it down to the place of her mind where she stored ‘cool things she’d never ever see or find.’ It was easier that way to not become an extra mopey teenager who missed out on so much Gravity stuff because he was missing when she really got into him…

”No. Fucking. Way!”

While he did his best to keep her from smashing into the cases, Leon knew not to hold her down otherwise. He could only smile from her to the girl at the counter.

”And Gravity was a famous-”

“-Boxer, right? My Uncle loves uh… What, fighting sports?” the girl behind the counter chortled as the ladder arrived. She even pulled out a glove to handle it as she brought it down from the case.

And there it was, the sealed Fight to Funk cassette. It glimmered there on the glass counter, radiating an aura that just wasn’t matched by anything else there. Though, she was clearly a professional, as she placed it far enough back that she’d get it before anyone trying to snatch it would. Now that she actually understood the value, it made a lot more sense to keep it at hand.

”Uh, combat sports? “ Leon laughed, scratching the back of his head.

“Oh… That’s how I recognize you…-” the quiet younger man finally spoke. “-You’re like, some famous fighter too, right?”

“Oh, shit, well… Boss would be mad if we didn’t get a picture. Is he, like-”

“Yeah, yeah, definitely. Dave’d freak, actually.”

“Should we call him?”

“No, fuck him. Uh, so, can we get your picture? Or an autograph?” the woman finally asked, grinning back up at Leon.

He could only laugh in return, smiling down at Cass before looking back.
”You didn’t know who I was five seconds ago, now you’re twisting my arm?” he joked, pulling the trusty sharpie from the back pocket.

”You want it on the receipt? Or, maybe you wanna go get a copy of Carousel Clearance by Decent Exposure, I’ll sign that.”

“Why…-” she started to ask before the guy stopped her.

“-He played on it, pretty sure you sang too?”

Leon nodded with a smile on his face, and the young man rushed off for a copy somewhere in the store.

“Yeah, our boss’ll definitely like a signed sleeve.” she affirmed looking up at Leon with a smile.
“Anything else in here that caught your eye?”

”Nah, next is the music shop, sort out how big of a drum set we can get someone without her head exploding.” he chortled.

“Right on, cash or credit?”

”Uhh… Debit?”

---

There was only a few feet between the doors of the two shops, but they were definitely going to need a place to keep all the cumbersome stuff. And having such an expensive piece with them only made Leon feel a little more paranoid. However, he wasn’t going to let that stop Cass’ excitement as he held the door open for her to leave. He trusted that she’d cling to her new gift like a piece of candy after the world ended.

”So!? What do you think, did we overdo it or what!?” he grinned, soaking up the warmth of excess.

”What d’you mean we?! You overdid it! I ain’t taking any responsibility for that!”

It was a good thing that Leon held the door open for her, because Cass would’ve walked right into it otherwise. She was just staring at the cassette in her hands. She held it like it was a fragile, precious jewel. Delicately like just touching it would ruin it somehow, but also firm enough that it’d take magical strength to tear it away from her.

She was just about starting to come out of her excited stupor, though. Enough for other thoughts to slip in. Like… the fact it was an absolutely insane gift. But she couldn’t reject it now, could she?! She’d lost her chance… Fuck, this was way too precious for her to own. And-

”Fuck, we shoulda brought the car!” Cass froze exactly midway between the doors of the two shops, finally looking up from the tape to stare at Leon.
”Where are we gonna put all this stuff?! I’m sure Rey’ll be driving but… That doesn’t help for going into the next shop! Aw fuck, maybe we did this the wrong way round?!”

It was cold, but not rainy or windy in spite of it being Portland in November. In fact, lately it’d been getting so cold that the rain wasn’t making it to the ground as such. Thin layers of snow, followed by winds strong enough to brush the layer off into the sea. Leon took a deep breath, then looked upward at the height of the building before looking around. Too many people…

”Come on; we need an alley, or a corner. Something we can break line of sight.”

Hastening forth, he headed toward the corner of the building and rounded to see the hook of the alley ahead. Cass was so adept at keeping his pace, he had no qualms about breaking once he rounded and saw his goal. Long legs pounded his feet against the pavement, and in three bounding lunges, he was kicking off the side of the building in the alley. No hands whatsoever, total leg power drove him up the wall like he was making for the world’s most difficult incline.

It was only a moment before he was up the lip of the roof and descending back down the fire escape, which he was sure to loosen the ladder to as he made it all the way back down.

”Theeeere… Safe and sound, there was even a cardboard box up there that I put on top, and tucked the mouth under the crates so it can’t blow away… You just hold onto the tape in your jacket, and if you don’t think you can, I’ll get it. Alright!?” he asked enthusiastically, poking playfully at Cass’ cheeks.

At the poking, Cass closed her mouth that’d been hanging open. Sure, she’d seen Leon get up buildings before. Seen him jump off them too… But generally he had hands?! Generally it wasn’t quite that insane?! Holy shit!

But there were other, more pressing matters than being impressed by Leon’s vertical scaling ability. The tape… No fucking way could she put it in her jacket!

One of two things would happen. Either she’d spend the whole time paranoid as fuck about getting near anything, or she’d totally forget where it was an undoubtably damage it while bouncing around.

”Please take it!” Both hands shot out towards him, her body leaning forward a bit. It made it look like she was offering him a sword in some kind of samurai movie…

He laughed, nodding. Somehow, he knew that was coming.
Sliding it into the pocket of his own jacket, he made sure to put it on the side that Cass usually didn’t slam into on instinct.

”Alright then, let’s go look at drums.” he smiled, playfully scooping under her arm and skipping out of the alley from whence they came.

Cass grinned, way more relaxed now that she wasn’t holding an incredibly expensive tape- and really, its emotional value was priceless. So… onto the music store with no fear about how intense she got trying out drum kits!

Unlike the record store, the top floor of the music store was much more open, with a large amount of space. It was hard not to assume the two original owners of the stores hadn’t somehow designed it that way. But maybe that was just how they were leased, and it was a coincidence there was a music store right on top of a basement full of records…

Just like in the record store, the clerk was comfortable reading at the till. She glanced up as they came in and gave a slight nod, before going back to it. There was a big sign saying ‘ask for assistance’, so that was probably seen as enough. There were probably a few more people in the back, but the shop was practically empty at this time…

Wide windows meant natural light spilled in, making it easy to see the vast displays of instruments. Right at the entrance was the cheaper kind, and racks of sheet music… But stepping further in, round the corner past where the record shop had it’s little square, revealed a much wider variety. While there were all the typical classical instruments, the focus was clearly more on the kinds you’d find in a rock band. Walls covered in at least four rows of guitars and basses - with the topmost being high enough that it required Leon height to reach, or the little step stool provided.

Then there were the drum kits. At least four fully put together kits, along with racks of various cymbals and individual drums if anyone wanted to mix and match, or add more onto the pre set up kits.

”Fuuuccckkk, I always forget how awesome this place is!” Cass was practically vibrating from excitement, head darting about to look at the drum kits they had set up. They all seemed to be the standard five drum, three cymbal and a hi-hat kits- it was probably more about testing the difference between the wood the drums were made out of and the like than figuring out a setup.

”I dunno where to start! I’m pretty sure this place is just a pick up and try kinda thing, just y’know… don’t try to run out with a guitar or drum.”

Right away, Leon understood where he’d been confused when it came to the soundproofing. Maybe they didn’t need it at this time of day, but he could imagine the place being more than cacophonous during peak hours. With the vibe next door being so chill and quiet, he couldn’t imagine having to deal with a practical symphony band playing from the hours of two to nine at night. Still, there were places with guitars free for testing, and most other stuff had ’Wait for Attendant’ if they didn’t want you just touching it. Easy enough to understand.

There were some brass instruments available, though he wondered how the Blinds dealt with the potential infection passing. Not something he’d worried about even before Lelou.

”I think you start at one side and work your way to the other. Try and uh… Use your special talents to really listen to the tones that come out of the drums. And always remember, there’s a thousand ways to get the sound adjusted just a little bit. You’ll really notice the subtleties when you put your soul into it.” he advised her, snagging a bass from the wall and plucking a few strings.

Cass nodded. Going from one side to the other made a lot of sense… That part seemed like such a silly thing to get stuck in, but she just tended to flit about so much. She didn’t want to somehow not try one!

”Oohhh yeah it’s gonna be way easier to figure out the tone now I got those.” She grinned up at him. She bounced over to the leftmost drum kit- they formed a sort of loop with two wider apart near the front and two further back. A nice amount of space between them. There was a little rule set next to where the drumsticks were. Just the basic things- to treat the instruments with respect, don’t hit them too hard ect.

Cass slipped into the seat, immediately having to adjust it to be a bit lower so she could properly reach the foot pedal. She pressed it a couple of times in an even beat just to get the feel of it, whistling quietly as she tried to figure out some tune to play rather than just bashing. Did she even remember any from the year or so she’d been able to consistently play?

She twisted slightly to get her other foot on the hi-hat pedal. She spun the drum sticks in her hand, running them along all of the drums and cymbals as a quick test. Seemed pretty good. She… She could definitely still remember a couple of the songs she’d properly learned.

So with a grin she launched right into it. One stick hitting the hi-hat, the other the ground Tom, before launching into what was a mostly recognisable beat from right in the middle of a song. It wasn’t perfect by any means, and she was pretty sure her ex had a couple more drums- but the more she got into it the more it came back to her. Since it was one of about three songs she’d actually perfected (well, maybe not the whole 9 minutes), it sounded pretty good for an amateur.

It helped that she had a natural sense of rhythm and had picked up drumming easily in the first place.

She got so into it she almost forgot to actually listen to the tone, having to adjust half way through to concentrate on that just as much as playing. The mistakes increased at that point, but she still went at it with intense enthusiasm. Like she was actually playing on a stage to an audience soaking up her energy… She probably played like that in private too.

She finished with a little flourish, rolling the sticks along all of the toms. Not that she really stopped playing, still lightly hitting them as her head snapped up towards Leon.

”It feels just as good as I fucking remember! You recognise that one? I get if you don’t cause like… I’m well outta practice…”

Her perception wasn’t wrong; for it being a rusty performance of a song long lost to the haze of days passed, she had her fundamentals down to a T. Or, maybe a W, if he had to compare letters. He’d listened up for her, keeping track of how hollow it sounded, getting a vague feeling for how tense the actual heads were based on the echoes they made. Watching as the sticks came up and off the heads as they smacked along to the rhythm, the dance they did as they patiently wriggled within her hands.

Skilled hands. Unnaturally so, maybe. A talent for these sorts of things, raw and unnurtured besides that short, passionate amount of time spent. Maybe it was magic all along. But he had his hands in his pockets, and his head was nodding along all the same.

”Great! You’re telling me you don’t go to a community center and practice occasionally?” he asked her, genuinely sure that she was a special kind of creative. A real talent.

Cass’ head tilted, her eyes widening as the constant beat of the bass drum slowed.
”That's a thing? You got drum kits in community centres here? You mean I could’ve been keeping it up this whole time?! What the fuck! Nobody ever told me that!”

She threw her hands up, making sure to keep a good grip on the sticks so she didn’t throw them. It wouldn’t be as regular as having one at home, but something like that existed? She was pretty sure none of the- admittedly rare- community centres back home had shit like that. Pianos, sometimes… And her school had a kit, but you only got to use it if you were paying for lessons.

”I went into shops a few times after me ‘n my ex that played broke up, but the ones near me started getting judgy I wasn’t buying…”

”Oh, yeah… I mean even frequent customers rarely get the benefit of the doubt, I mean… These guys don’t really want people in here, right? It’s just a necessity of business… But, yeah, there’s plenty of places. Most are probably not great, or missing pieces, but some old retired music teacher loves ‘em all the same.”

His finger pointed toward the set she’d been on, nodding up and down.
”That one already seems fine. Good place to start as a base, I’d say. Feel good?” he asked, already knowing the answer. Of course it felt good, it was fuckin’ drums.

”Hell yeah it does!” Cass grinned, hopping up. She loved the guitar and singing, but there was nothing quite like the intensity that came with playing the drums. The high pace, the variety of beats all at once… It really made her feel alive. Even more so than normal.

She moved onto the next kit, excitedly sitting down. It was amazing how all the normal movement channeled into her arms and legs when she started playing- her torso posture was pretty perfect even with her legs bouncing about and her arms going all over the place. The energy was channeled in a specific direction…

On the second, she did an incredibly energised performance of the well known Boogeyman’s Escape. There were more mistakes in this one, but it was made up for by her enthusiasm and ability to just keep fucking going rather than freaking out and slowing down. But she didn’t like the second kit quite as much… It didn’t feel quite as bouncy or easy to use.

For the third, it was a song from the very album Leon had signed earlier- Carousel Clearance. That one was the most accurate of the three, and clearly the one she’d practiced the most. It was still pretty raw… But with all of them, the intense passion she played with came through far more than the mistakes.

By the final drumkit, she’d run out of songs she remembered how to play. So she tried out a little, incredibly rough mix of all three that ended up with her almost laughing herself out of the seat for how ridiculous it sounded. But it did the job of letting her try it out and figure out how the set felt.

”I think…” Cass put down the drum sticks with some reluctance, only able to do so because she knew one was coming home with her, and bounced back over to Leon.
”I like the third the most. And not just cause I played a Decent Exposure song on it- it felt the nicest! Sounded it too. At least… it has the kinda tone I like. Like… it was the liveliest sounding!”

Leon had, admittedly, spaced out during Boogeyman’s Escape. He’d heard it a thousand thousand times, and had actually gotten sick of it. But it wasn’t destroying his ears at least… Checking his phone during it had revealed a text from Reyna letting him know that she’d finished up her work and was making her way downtown.

Empty trunk I hope.

His quick reply gave him a smile as he thought about the cold stash of records on the rooftop. But her rendition of Dreamer’s Dance to Death on the third was certainly the best. Long ago, he’d have determined exactly why with his Lux. Instead, he could only hear the subtle differences.

”I am pretty sure that it’s a 24. The bass, I mean, 24 inch. Big, deep, rumbly. I’d say, since you like it so much, we should get measurements for it. Does it have it on the tags?” he asked inquisitively, lurching toward the drum set to take a look at the tags.

Some were paired or matched sets, meant for a specific style. But this one had been shuffle-built, and as such, each individual piece had a different tag for info and price. Between the two of them going back and forth, they were able to figure out exactly which sizes Cass liked the best to put her ideal set together. Then, it was a matter of inventory checking, making sure they had the right pieces, which left them with a little more time to play around while they looked. After all, Leon didn’t want Cass to wait! He wanted her to start drumming tomorrow!

”So… We gonna customize them when we get them home? Should I call someone from the 313 to pimp your drumset?” he asked playfully.

”Baabbbee… Y’think I’d let someone else pimp my drumset? No way! I’ma use my full artistic… talent…” She broke of into a fit of giggles. What was her artistic talent? When it came to actual art, very lacking.

”Did you not see those amazingly drawn boobs on the board in my old flat? Y’know, right by the entrance? I drew em. I know, I know, they were so good it's probably hard to believe I’m that talented.” She puffed her chest up like she was talking about some amazing painting rather than something that looked like it was drawn by a teen boy.

He laughed again, holding his stomach as he did so.
”God, you’re so right again! Of course, it’s way more punk to draw your own crappy set of dick and balls on the snare than it is to have some artist paint a suggestive flower.” he giggled still, pulling her in close.

”Has anyone ever told you how cute you are when you tell jokes?” he asked playfully, smiling down at her with immense joy.

”Hmmmm…” Cass put a finger on her cheek, tilting her head as if she was thinking deeply about the question. An even brighter smile lit up her face, cheeks squishing up extra cutely.

”Not enough! So go on, keep telling me I’m cute! I gotta blow up my ego so it’s the same size as yours!” She cackled, arms loosely draping over his shoulders as she leaned in against him.
”Maybe impossible, since that seems proportional to overall size…”

”Oh, you… Can’t get enough, my little glutton…”
He wrapped his arm around her waist tight, slipping down to kiss her deeply. In the interim, he felt his phone vibrate again.

”Ah… That’s probably Reyna again.” he said calmly, pulling one hand away to grab it out of his pocket.

”Wait- why did she text you and not me?!” Cass let out a gasp of mock betrayal. When had they gotten close enough to cut out the middle woman and exchange texts about meeting up right now? How had that happened?!

Like Leon guessed, it was a text from Reyna. Simple and to the point.
Here. Trunk empty. Where are you, I’ll come meet you.

Tinwhistle Music, on 38th and Austin.

”Because she and I both know that you don’t know your phone exists when there’s something else in your hands.” he laughed, shaking his head and kissing her on the head again.
”She’s here, just about. Said the trunk is empty.” he nodded, eyes turning to look over at the counter to see whether or not they’d gathered all the pieces.

They seemed to be almost done- just one or two pieces still to collect. The person who’d stayed behind the counter while her coworkers went to get everything was going through it all to make sure there were no issues or flaws, scanning them at the same time.

Cass had pulled out her phone to find out that she had gotten a text from Rey that she’d completely missed. Two, in fact, with the first saying she was finishing up, and one right after saying she’d text Leon too so Cass didn’t need to worry about it. Of course…

”Well, thank fuck for that! Rey’s got a pretty roomy car too, so we won’t have to worry much space wise. It’s always been the preferred one for road trips and the like.”

As Cass spoke, the last two pieces- the bass drum and a cymbal- were brought up. The clerk glanced over at them with a smile, though didn’t say anything, not wanting to interrupt the two. It wasn’t like there was a rush.

Cass folded her arms, looking up at Leon a little more seriously.
”Are you sure you’re good to buy these for me? It’s… a lot. Especially when there’s the tape too!”

”So sure. You deserve a gift. I’ve even got a nice frame for the poster in the tape if you happened to want to take it out.” he nodded, making way for the counter to make the transaction happen.

By the time it was done, he was getting a whole phone call. Parking was an absolute shitshow, so Reyna was apparently bumped up and hazarded outside the store waiting for them. There was simply no room nearby. Thankfully, the store had a dolly that they could use to roll it out to the back of her vehicle, loading it in as swiftly as possible before seeing the clerks off with their equipment.

”Alright, Reyna! I hope wherever we’re going to eat has parking… Listen, I need you to circle the whole block, alright? I’ll meet you somewhere on the other side with the rest of our stuff; we had to stash it somewhere before we went into the music shop…” he instructed, speaking through the rear hatch and waiting for confirmation before heading off and leaving the two of them to deal with driving around the block in traffic.

"How much did you buy?" Rey had a chance to glance at Cass incredulously before she pulled back out to drive. Not that she got very far before getting stuck in traffic.

"You don’t have a job right now…"

”Hey now! I, somehow, ain’t the impulse buyer in this relationship!” Cass immediately defended herself, throwing her arms up. She was a little bundle of energy in the passenger seat. A bit jealous of Leon not being trapped in a car, really. Not that she had a problem fitting, just she had nowhere to direct her energy. It was fine when she was driving, but she wasn’t, so…

”I got a bunch’ve records well within my budget. Leon got a shit ton more, and he insisted on getting the drums.” She decided not to mention the very expensive tape. Rey probably wouldn’t understand why it was worth so much, and Cass herself was still accepting that she owned it!

Rey laughed, side eyeing Cass as the crept forward a little bit.
"If I didn’t know you so well, I’d be worried you got a sugar Daddy instead of a boyfriend…"

”Only in the kinky way!” Cass cackled, hitting the car door beside her. It was just… hearing it out of Reyna’s mouth… It almost brought a tear to her eye outside of her laughter. Her crude humour was really rubbing off on her friend!

"What do you mean- Actually, no, don’t answer. Some things I don’t want to know." Rey shook her head at Cass.

”Alright, alright…” Cass giggled, grinning.
”I mean, y’know what it’s like to date someone who’s uber rich. They just throw money at things! I mean, at least they’re both pretty conscious about it?”

They stopped again, in perfect time for Reyna to turn to Cass with a completely dead pan expression.
"Trisha’s not really sugar Mommy material though, is she?"

”What the- fuck, Rey, are you alright?! Has someone replaced you?! Not that you’re as judgy of this shit as Trish and Diyah, but damn!”

"I find the easiest way to relax after unexpected work is to joke about things that are very much not work appropriate. Besides, just because I can’t compare to you and Sal doesn’t mean my sense of humour is perfectly pure. You’re just too busy dying of laughter normally, or distracted by Trisha yelling at you."

”I-” Cass shook her head. Reyna was right. They’d spent time just the two of them plenty… But if Cass was honest, Rey was the friend she knew least well. Because she lived with Trisha and Diyah for two years, and had known Sal since she was young. While she’d met Rey first, after a while most of the time was in a group. The calmest person was always going to be a bit overshadowed.

”Shit, you’re right… Well, is it helping? How bad was it?”

"Frustratingly easy. A product manager panicked and thought it was in a domain only I knew. Our tech lead apologised when he found out, as he wasn’t informed. He would have fixed it himself instead of calling me in. But, they need to pay me, at least."

”Man, that’s the shit I don’t miss about work. All the incompetent people! Just lemme sit down and code, fuck. Then they drag you along to meetings… See, Trisha has the right idea. Be a contractor and just code without any of the worries about process and shit.”

"She’s been forced into plenty of meetings when contracting for my company. But, it does seem easier, if less stable. Not so much of an issue for her." Reyna smiled. They’d finally moved, turning the corner to a much clearer road, then again to get to the other side of the block. She gestured out the front window with one hand.

"Look, he beat us."

The German Shepherd grin on Leon’s face would’ve been matched by a wagging tail if he had one. Too bad he didn’t! What he did have, however, was a double stack of milk crates with a whole bunch of records in it. As she pulled up and the hatch opened again, Leon slid the product carefully into place before closing it back up and jumping into the back. At least they were both short; but being a Richoux in a back seat situation never went according to plan.

With his legs tucked into his gut, he settled into a leaning position in the back.

”Heyyyy… Good time, I was going to start walking in the direction you’d be coming in, but stopped when I saw you up ahead. I can’t wait to show you what we got you, Rey!” Leon exclaimed with joy in his voice.

"Yeah, traffic’s awful in this part- you really ended up getting me something?" Reyna turned her head to briefly smile at him before she was driving again. For a solid couple of minutes, at least.
"I’d say you can show me now, but the traffic’s start-stop enough I wouldn’t want to risk it. Someone will drive into me."

Cass fully twisted herself to sit sideways in the passenger seat so she could look at both of them with a grin.
”You’re gonna love it! Just, y’know, don’t get as excited as I know you can. I don’t want anyone overshadowing my reactions.”

"Ohh, of course, I’ll hold back for you, Cass. You know me. Known for my intense reactions to things." Rey laughed.

Cass hoped at least she would have a reaction. Normally she did to gifts, it was just quite muted in comparison to Cass’... Then again, most were. So, it’d be fine! She doubted Leon was expecting anything like what she’d given earlier.
”You can get ‘em over lunch!”

"Oh… No. Much too dangerous."

”Huh, where the fuck we going? A fucking warzone diner?”

"Well, I know you like a thrill." Rey intoned, before shaking her head.
"I thought we could go to a hotpot place, if that works for you guys."

”Oh hell yeah- wait, is this the place we went for your birthday? That pretty pricey all you can eat place?” Cass was immediately excited again, doing her best to not bounce up and down in her seat too much. It had been fucking good. Amazingly good. God, she could practically taste the meat that came right out of that spicy broth…

”But I thought that’s a celebration kinda place for you? What’s the special occasion?”

Rey took one hand off the steering wheel to gesture to Leon with her thumb, tone completely neutral.
"Having money bags back here with us. Why not take advantage?"

”Whoooaaa!” Cass giggled, slapping a hand against her thigh.
”And you were accusing me of having a sugar daddy earlier, but you’re soooo quick to take advantage!”

"Your short term memory is quite faulty, Cass…" Rey’s deadpan expression broke for a laugh, shaking her head.
"No, it’s just a good place for two people with large appetites, and a treat for no reason is nice every now and then."

Leon clapped from the back seat like a giant kid, smile plastered on his face.
”Oh, you’re both going to watch me do heinous things to that place’s meat supply. I’m so ready to tear something like that up. You said it’s pricey? Upscale kind of place? I can’t imagine a hotpot shop being that upscale that you’d worry about it. Is it?” he asked simply.

Hotpot was one of his favorite things socially. There’d been a couple of times where the organized Apparition event for the month was hotpot and movies. They’d set the projector up, each table would bring its own ingredients, and everyone would go crazy.

"It's pricey if you bring along Trisha and Diyah, who barely eat a person's worth between them!" Cass declared passionately. That'd been before her appetite was extra increased by her lux usage, so she'd made herself sick eating three portions worth of food. Even though Trisha and Diyah paid for their share equally, it was just the principle of it!

"It's more upscale than the hot pot place I'd go to back in Chicago. It's nice, but I wouldn't say it's fancy. But it's more of a… Comparative thing. When you balance it out, really the value for money to the amount of food is better, especially when you have a large appetite. But the upfront price being higher than a similar, not all you can eat restaurant makes it seem expensive. Especially when you grow up without much money, it's sometimes harder to justify, rather an unable to afford it thing." Reyna gave a full explanation where Cass didn't. Not cause she didn't want to, just she thought that the whole eating for three people thing was enough of a point!

”That is definitely not something I think of from a day-to-day. I’m sure my cost of living in food alone is entirely unrealistic for a normal person’s daily existence. I mean, I can’t remember the last time I ordered takeout that wasn’t at least a hundred fifty dollars. More, most times.” he admitted, knowing full well what she meant once she said it.

It was purely the use of the phrase “pretty pricey”. It struck a chord in his brain, thinking his wallet may yet be challenged. Sure, he wasn’t private jet all the time rich, but his kids would do well after he was gone certainly.

”Hard to justify is definitely tough for a place like this, yeah? Like Cass said, you get someone who can’t eat their own plate never mind someone else’s? You had a great idea picking the place.” he grinned, looking at Reyna through the rear-view mirror.

"I thought so. Between the two of you, it'll be more than worth it. I'd say I eat my worth as it is, so I'm a bit more concerned you might want the place out of business…" Reyna laughed lightly. She was glad he seemed to understand what her and Cass meant by the price, even if it wasn't something he could relate to. Everyone had their different backgrounds… She laughed a bit more remembering the little pouting face Trisha made as she questioned why they were so put out by her barely eating her fill the last time.

"Oh dude, I sure hope they gotta good stock. Can you imagine comes to evening and they gotta close cause we ate all the meat?!" Cass cackled.
"I can't wait to tackle it now I got that proper Green Adept appetite! This time I refuse to throw back up all the precious, tasty meat…"

"Do you really need to be so blunt about it before we plan to eat?" Reyna shook her head, knowing full well dependent on traffic it could be a while before they actually got there… and found parking. The one blessing was it was on the outskirts of the downtown, and they could go a bit further out to find an annoyingly rare parking garage. The walk without a full drum kit wouldn't be much of a problem.

"You and Sal kept eating after I ran off to the bathroom, so don't gimme that like you got a sensitive stomach!" Cass flung her arms into the air, managing to hit the roof of the car. Those two had eaten nowhere near as much as her, but they had made it through the whole two hour period. Part of the problem for Cass was that she'd stuffed her face far too quickly trying to eat three portions worth, then just kept going. Her much weaker Green Lux hadn't been able to keep up…

"I really regret not properly working on my magic sooner… then I totally would've been able to eat for three that time…"

Leon was utterly cackling in the back seat, knees buried deep in his stomach as he laughed and laughed some more until he couldn’t.

”Y-you… You… Babe! Shameless! You go eat until you’re sick then go back!? I’m so crazy mixed about how I feel! I’m so proud of you, but also, Goddamn!” he laughed again.

”You’ll absolutely be able to hold it down this time. And if you don’t, just baby bird it into my mouth.” he started cackling again, remembering something from a couple weeks prior.

"Not in public, Babe!" Cass snickered, practically beaming at him for what was really a strange compliment. The confidence she'd be able to eat so much this time, and pride over her absolutely shamelessness.
"Keep that for at home overeating! I don't wanna actually get banned! That's wayyy worse than going and neatly throwin' up into the loo."

"God, I can really see why you're dating now." Reyna would've face palmed if she wasn't driving.

"The matching sexiness wasn't enough?!" Cass laughed.
"I'm telling you, Rey, if anyone can actually keep up with me, it's him!"

"I can see that. He's not looking too tired after… Over a week with you?" Reyna lightly teased. It was clearly good natured ribbing, the warm, fun atmosphere everpresent.

"Oh you're so lucky you're driving and I can't hit you, Rey!" Cass shot back jokingly, sticking her tongue out at her friend. She then twisted around to look more at Leon.
"Are you listening to this, Leon?! She thinks I could exhaust you. You! How insane is that?! God, I can't believe these baseless accusations!"

”I'm certain Rey's got a good hold on things. I believe in her!” Leon continued to laugh, arm twisting around to the front in order to poke at Cass in whatever way he could.

”You know as well as I do that we both love getting bullied! So, let her talk her shit!” he continued to joke, prodding and jabbing with his fingers.

"Whoaaaa… I plead the fifth! I dunno what you're talking about!" Cass giggled, twisting her body to try and avoid Leon's pokes without disturbing Rey's driving. She very quickly gave up on that, instead grabbing his hand with both of hers to try and keep it still.

"Who are you trying to fool, Cassandra? Your best friend is Trisha… Only someone who enjoys being bullied could tolerate that." Rey said drily.

”Hey, don't go throwing shade at me and my girl's friendship like that! Damn! There ain't any bullying there, I just replace everything she says with nice things in my mind!" Cass cackled.

"Oh, and goading Sal into shit talking you whenever you game is the same? Doing things you know Diyah will comment on?"

"Reeeyyynnaaa you're making me seem like some crazy pervert! Like I'm getting off on my friends being mean to me, God-"

"I never said that. You're the one taking that from what I said."

"I can't believe it. I didn't think this would come from you." Cass threw her head back and dramatically sniffed, as if she was about to cry. She wasn't, of course. She would've grasped her heart too if she wasn't trying to keep Leon's hand trapped.

She twisted her head to look at him again with an exaggerated pout.
"I can't believe you'd out me like that, Babe! How am I ever going to live this down?!"

”Well obviously you just won't. It's stuck to you forever and ever now: Cassochist. Can't vibe unless someone's trying to knock her kidneys out of her body.” Leon retorted, still laughing to himself as he took her hand in his.

His long arm reached around the seat, rubbing her arm before slotting in to hold her hand.

”Don't be afraid, Cass… There's places to go, treatments we can find. I won't ever leave you, just because you're a total perv.”

In truth, he liked her vulgar. No need to trim himself up, no desire to clean her up. Just two vulgar people getting along like peas in a pod. In a dirty, smelly, moist pod. The consideration alone made him laugh even louder.

"Ohhh, are you gonna be in the padded anti-perv cell beside me?!" Cass cackled, holding his hand tightly enough that it'd hurt a normal person as if to prove a point.

Reyna was laughing along with them both, shaking her head.
"I'm not sure I can even imagine a non-pervy Cass. What would be left?"

"Heyyy, I got plenty other things going for me!" Cass defended herself, puffing up her chest. But it wasn't the only thing she wanted to defend herself on… She pointed her free hand directly at Leon.
"Besides, you love that I'm a total perv! And, for the record! I like knocking kidneys outta other people's bodies too!"

"... That's what your upset about?"

”Of course I love you being raunchy. I never imagined myself with someone stuck up, so that's perfect for me. No shame, no need for constant comparisons, or foolish validations… You're genuinely you, and that's the best. Right Rey?” Leon replied with a big grin, leaning forward a little more and planting a kiss on Cass' cheek.

"Absolutely," Reyna agreed with a gentle smile.

Cass let out a little ‘heh heh', practically beaming at them both. Of course she already knew that… but it was always nice to hear!

---

After eating the hot pot restaurant out of a large chunk of their meat supply- the staff visibly elated when the group's two hour period was over- the three went back to Reyna's to just chill for a bit after the meal. Or, at least chill as much as possible when Cass was involved.

She had managed to eat the quantity she did last time, and more, without getting sick. And it was just as fucking good as she remembered. The whole thing was! Leon and Reyna were getting along well, which was one less friend she had to worry about feeling iffy about their relationship. Not that she'd ever let it affect her- it was her relationship- but it was always nice to prove that she really wasn't making some insane impulsive decision.

And Reyna really had loved her gifts. Though the reaction wasn't as obvious as Cass', there was visible happiness. She was especially happy- and shocked- at the Numbats vinyl with its cityscape print on the record itself. Most of her own were the plain dark print, after all.

Sadly, afternoon drifted into early evening, and the couple really had to make their way back to St Portwell.

Reyna insisted on walking them down to the car before saying any goodbyes.

"Thank you for coming. I'm sure a last minute trip like that isn't so easy when you're employed." Reyna said with a smile towards Leon, shooting strays at Cass.
"You're welcome to visit anytime."

Cass paused dramatically clutching her heart to grin at Reyna.
"Course, if we ever get time again and wanna take a lil trip we will!"

"Oh… I meant just Leon. He's calmer company." Reyna teased lightly. As Cass pouted, Rey stepped forward to pull her into a tight hug.
"I'm joking, of course. Visit as much as you want, Cass. I don't expect to have a roommate anytime soon, so there will be a bed."

”Well don’t let work stop you either, Rey. Come down for a week sometime; we’ll get you set up in the apartment adjacent to Cass’, all your computers and stuff. Otherwise, I’ll make sure her unemployed ass gets up there plenty.”

Just as happy as Cass was about the arrangement, Leon instinctively opened his arms to hug, but held himself back while passing Reyna a questioning, permissive look.
”Ahhh… I’ll take a handshake, but, we hug in my family.”

"Mine too. Try find a Latin American family that doesn't." Reyna smiled, easily moving in to hug Leon. While she wasn't as much of a touchy person like many others in her family- constant hands on shoulders and the like- hugs were always something she was comfortable with. Especially greetings and goodbyes.

"I'll see about visiting, as I often have to go into the office a couple of days a week."

"Visiting for my birthday is mandatory!" Cass shouted, bouncing a little bit.
"You got… like three weeks to prepare? But you gotta be there! No choice!"

"Hmm… I'm not sure." Reyna smiled, tone clearly joking.
"I'm a little worried that I'll go to St Portwell and be immediately paired up with a Richoux. It seems to be the trend for our friend group, doesn't it? Trisha, you… Maybe I'm next."

Leon made a gagging noise aloud.
”Noooooo luck, sister. The three Richouxs worth being around longer than a few minutes are all taken. Though… Who knows, maybe Elise has come around emotionally after trying and failing to be with a dude.” he smirked, shrugging.

”Last girlfriend she had was not doing well in that relationship. Still wouldn’t recommend it.” he added, laughing again.

"Oh, that means I don't have to worry, then. I think it would get much too messy if a third person followed the trend." Reyna laughed.

"Awwww, you've ruined my plans, Leon! I was hoping to drag another one in!" Cass shook her head at him in mock disappointment, slapping his arm a couple of times.
"Man, and here I had a three way wedding planned out- wait, what happened to Elise's last girlfriend?"

It was the normal switch of Cass' brain from thinking of one thing to another without much logic behind it, aside from it having been talked about…

If they weren’t in mixed company, he may’ve said…

”You’ve heard enough stories about my Mom, you can probably put together an idea or two.” he said simply, doing his best to subtly brush the conversation off. It was hard enough trying to make first impressions for other people without them being fucked up.

”But, she’ll never be Junior!-” he gave a very clear nervous laugh that was meant to be part of the overall joke… A sad, sad joke.
”-Point being, you’re safe. No fucking… Three way marriage, what? That’s so out of the blue, Babe!” he laughed again, this time truly.

Cass was observant and emotionally intelligent enough to realise Leon was redirecting, and brushing off her question. But it was a point where she knew not to push, and she didn't exactly want to make him uncomfortable. She reached out to rub his arm comfortingly.

Reyna knew too. Even without her magic, she was good at reading people. But she'd always been a gentle prodder when it seemed necessary. Here? It wasn't something that was her business.

"Well clearly I'ma be the one walking Trisha down the aisle if she gets married- obviously. So if it all works out, may as well just make it a joint wedding, y'know! One big ass insane celebration! Add another person and it's even more fun!" Cass answered after a beat, grinning playfully at him. Of course, it was a joke. She didn't even know if she wanted to get married at all, nevermind to the guy she'd only known for a couple of weeks!

"Does Trisha know?" Rey asked with a soft laugh at Cass' continued antics.

"No, but she ain't gonna say no, is she?! She loves me too much! Just you wait, another year with Casey and she'll be coming to me like ‘oh Cass please walk me down the aisle and also get married at the same time.’!"

”God, please! Let’s not move as quick as those two love birds, maybe? You’re moving into my apartment building: Nothing says we’re getting married in the next six months… ‘Cuz you know that’s coming next. They’ll disappear to some quiet place and show back up with a couple rings.” he laughed, rubbing Cass’ shoulder.

”Preferably, I’d not see our good time shared so heavily anyway. I want a big marriage, for us.” he added, tapping at his head.
”It’s practically a must.”

Cass swept a hand across her brow as if she was wiping away non existent sweat.
"I'll be honest, thank fuck you ain't wanting to go at the breakneck pace! I was a lil worried it was a family trait!"

Of course she was the one who'd started the whole joint wedding joke… But she absolutely didn't want to get married as fast as Trisha was likely to. Cass wasn't exactly ‘traditional’, but there was an order to these things- at least you properly moved in together first. And that wasn't something she foresaw herself fully wanting until after that six month period anyway…

"I was fully joking about the shared thing, of course- even I ain't that… communal? Anyway- you're lucky if something big's practically a must, cause I ain't got any preferences about that! Big, small, quiet, loud, gaudy or cheap- ain't something I've thought about much!"

Reyna didn't say anything- since the conversation had taken a turn where she couldn't entirely tell how serious Cass was. But it certainly didn't seem like her place to say anything… so she just smiled gently at her friend, not seeming too bothered that it had turned away from something she was involved in.

To Leon, however, the further away a conversation drifted from any periphery individuals to it, the more an indication it was that the conversation was focal. Only… That probably wasn’t the case for Cass. He was starting to get a slightly better handle on that sort of social buzzing she did whenever she could. Never concerned about being locked down into a single topic, her mind seemed to froth and roil at the slightest provocation. The swells of speech and emotion followed the whim…

”We’ll have plenty of time to work out gory details. For now,-”

Holding Cass in one arm, he scooped Reyna in again and brought them real close.
”-say your see ya’s, because bye is forever, and let's get out of this poor woman’s hair with our bullshittery.”

”Oh yeah, we’ll stop bothering! In person at least- I’m never getting outta your hair over text.” Cass grinned, managing to wriggle her arms in to hug Reyna.

"Well, I’ve almost missed your frequent boredom spam texts, so it won’t be entirely unwelcome." Reyna smiled, easily going along with the second, closer hug. As it ended she stepped away, back towards the apartment block. One hand raised up in a half wave.

"I’ll see you both another time. Drive safe."

”My birthday! You’ll see us on my birthday, if not sooner!” Cass darted round to open up a car door, before she got herself stuck in dragging out things even further.
”See ya, Rey!”

There was a brief moment of silence as they pulled away and started the drive back to St Portwell. A moment where Cass’ brain got stuck, at least. It was one of those occasions when her mind didn’t just move on to something else. A tiny, nagging worry… And her motto was always to be as honest as possible.

”I dunno if I ever wanna get married.” She blurted out, incredibly bluntly. Probably too honest. Immediately a hand came up to smack her face.
”Wait, that came out wrong! Like I suddenly expect it to be on the table, even though it definitely ain’t for a long while… I know we ain’t been together for long, but I just think it's better to be honest about it. Cause it can be a deal breaker for some people, right?”

Leon was pleased with the trip, and had a wide smile even after she spoke up about her feelings. Granted, it was a little out of the blue, but he saw where her mind was at. They had been about it in the apartment, but having let the time pass, he figured there wasn’t anything left to talk about!

”Oh! Well, I mean… Married? Or, like, married? ‘Cuz, the Church really ain’t gotta have anything to do with it. And, it ain’t gotta be traditional or anything with me. Last wedding Lelou had, there was a lot of blood, and no matter how many weddings I’ve been to since I Adjoined, none have been so metal.” he giggled, looking at her with an encouraging smile.

”Like, married at all? Ain’t anything to do with the Church, or the possible Lelou bloodbath- Or worrying ‘bout what a wedding would be like! I just don’t know if I’d even want one.” Cass rubbed the back of her neck. Maybe it wasn’t going to be an issue. Maybe they’d never make it that far! But she wanted to treat it like they would- like she did all her relationships. Hoping for and working towards longevity, but without any false promises.

”Most people know if they want to or not, right? Whether they’re with someone or not… Especially if they're with someone. But say in two years we’re still together, and you turn around and propose? I can’t guarantee I’d say yes.” She was completely honest about it, at least.
”Maybe that ain’t a problem! And it ain’t something I’m thinking about all the time, y’know… Or even that worried about? I just don’t want to turn around further down the line and say outta nowhere. It’s best to be completely honest as early as possible, right?”

At all?
What is Matrimony if you consider it? Love is love, lust is lust, honor is honor and trust is a must. Is she any less your woman without some silly rock?

”Loyalty and commitment? Some kind of honor ceremony? A party, just to say ‘Hey everyone, we’re’-”

What was the hang up? The necessity of that word and the attachment existing along with it, totally unable to separate the very concept from his most basic and subliminally mind washed instinct for… What!? Exclusivity?

”-uh… Is it… What is the difference against it? I’ll be honest, I’m struggling right now trying to figure out what my arguments for it actually are. But, I know you’ll be honest with me too! Right?” he asked with an incredibly thoughtful tone behind it.

Cass nodded. Of course she would be, but she had to take a moment to actually think about it. Why was it something she was so unsure of? She wasn’t one of those people who just didn’t believe in it. She wasn’t like Nadiyah, whose upbringing had turned her against it… Or was she? Her parents were happy together, but…

”It’s legally binding.” The answer came eventually. Not just that…
”And I grew up being told I had to. It was, like, expected? I ain’t come outta that against it… But it makes me a lot more unsure. Like, what if I end up trapped?”

She grimaced a bit as she said that. But she had to be honest.
”That sounds bad! I know you ain’t like that. It’s just a hangup I’ve been working on for a long time, and I dunno if- or when- I’ll get over it. Maybe it won’t be so much of an issue in a couple of years, maybe when the time is ‘right’ I’ll be like ‘hell yeah!’ It’s not cause I don’t want commitment or anything cause… A relationship’s built on that. It’s really the fear of being trapped, the more I think about it.”

Ah, you weren’t paying attention again. Missed the forest for the trees.

She was right. Cass had, in fact, not expressed whether or not she intended on getting married. She expressed her indecision about the desire. He’d reacted, heard what he wanted, and was thankful that there was only a little time between the misunderstanding and the clarification. Probably so little she’d never get the chance to notice.

”Oh, definitely not like that! In fact, we’ll set up a stipulatory lease for your new apartment! Anything I can help to make it feel like you’re not, y’know, hitching your wagon to my horses. Frankly, it’s smart! Better, y’know, that it’s separated. That way, nobody in our life can think anything fucked up either. And, we’ll just continue knowing that if we last that long, there’s a possibility that you’ll always be Ms. Wallace! Would we hyphenate our kids? If, I mean… Well, honestly, I’d have kids with you. Even if you didn’t wanna take care of ‘em, I think we’d make a great baby. I’d fuckin’, y’know, lock it down. Single dad shit.” he grinned across the seat at her winking.

There was a moment’s pause, before Cass started laughing.
”Oh man, how did you know my dream was to pump and dump like that!” She shook her head as she laughed, relaxing again. Not that she was too worried… But there’d been an occasion or two when a partner had broken up with her because of her uncertainty.

”I’m a lil more confident I’d wanna have kids. Not like, so much I’d insist on it with anyone, y’know? But I’d have em and I’d raise em- even if it was into little hellions. Which, I mean, ours would be! An awesome, nightmare baby.” She could already imagine how insane any child of theirs might be… At least, if they were anything like she was, they’d be troublemakers.

”It would help to have the stipulatory lease. I just need that fallback, in case. And so long as you’re really alright with it being a possibility. I know it doesn’t even really change shit, but you’d be surprised by the amount of people that it’s super important to! Like me not knowing is the worst thing ever.”

”Well, speaking frankly, it is important to me. But, like I said before, thinking about it now? I can’t really figure out why. Monogamy, I guess. Expectation? Like you said? I mean, not exactly, I never really saw it as a negative thing. Getting married was my expectation. That I’d grow up, meet a woman who looked like my mother, and we’d get married and I’d be just like my Dad. It’s all sentiment, but none of it seems to have anything to do with any concrete conviction. Not religious, not moral, so-”

He laughed and shrugged openly, tossing his free hand in his lap.

”-at this point I’m basically telling myself that it’s stupid to get hung up on. That you’ll have that kind of monogamous love and respect and trust with me in spite of there being nothing crazy binding us. Nothing religious, nothing traditional. Nothing but us. I can respect it… But we’re still gonna have a party. If we get there, and you don’t want my last name, please tell me we can still have the party.” he grinned.

”I want people to treat us like we’re getting married. Just, like, ten or fifteen years down the line, y’know? People recognizing us and our love, like ‘Oh these two idiots made it work.’ I guess.” he had a much more playful look in his eye when it came to this.

”Who’re you calling an idiot?! I’m very smart, thanks.” Cass turned her head slightly to grin back at him. That really didn’t sound so bad. At the end of the day, her possible issues with marriage were the more legal and practical things. Not the thought of a loving and committed relationship.

After all, she’d always been… More emotionally monogamous, at least? Or at least, committed. Whether it was with one partner, or a throuple where they were all together. Rarely was she emotionally open outside of neglect within a relationship… So she really was happy with the future Leon talked about, if it came to be.

”But I ain’t gonna say no to a party, don’t worry! Cause, yeah… I will have that kinda love, respect and trust with you by the time it’d even be a consideration. So even if it ain’t a marriage in the legal sense, it can be a big ass celebration of our love.” She glanced at him again with a slightly softer smile.
”If you ever figure out why it’s important to you beyond the expectation, make sure to let me know. Maybe it’ll help me make my mind up too.”

Leon simply scrunched his nose and shook his head. A smile curled up across his lips, and he thought about the security of the number one. One and only. The one. Could be.

”I don’t think I will, Babe… I don’t think I will…”

How Dogs Are [FernStone & AtomicEmperor]

Cass' Apartment, San Francisco

It sure was a night to remember.

By the time Cass and Leon got back to hers, the sun was already making its appearance for the next day. It meant it was going to be a sleepless drive back, unless they had a quick nap… But Cass had no regrets. Zero! Wow. It had been fucking amazing. Everything she’d dreamed of, really!

But her high spirits didn’t quite beat the physical fatigue setting in as her stamina boosting spells started to wind down. An ache in her joints started to creep in as they properly got into her apartment, making those last few steps down the tiny hall into her room a bit of a drag.

”Oh man, I’m fucking beat!” The moment she was inside, Cass made a dramatic display of flopping onto her bed. While the jump onto it had been energetic, the moment she landed on it she found she… really didn’t want to move again. Not right now.

”Clearly I gotta work on my stamina and durability spells… I mean, I made it the whole night! No flagging till right now. And I mean, look, I look like I should’ve passed out hours ago!” She joked, one hand coming up to lazily gesture to the myriad of marks across her exposed skin. It looked like she’d been in some insane fights… And it wasn’t like she’d only been on the receiving end all night. That was the best part! She was actually able to jump around to whatever end of the spectrum she felt like…

”Fuck, I ain’t felt like this in a long time. I thought all our night long fucking would’ve prepared me for this too!”

Leon was hardly worse for wear. The more Lelou got, the more she gave in return; nights like those were positively rejuvenating as Lelou ate to her heart’s content. Every little bit of carnality, drunk up by the beast within only to be slowly but surely eked back out to him on request. Right now, cruising speed. It was a powerful speed after a feast like that, so at least he had energy to spare.

Hell, the bastard was practically glowing. He let Cass alone under her own power, but that didn’t mean he didn’t want to try helping.

”Y’know, at one point last night you turned colors? I wasn’t sure what was going to come next, until you wound up turning back into the normal color. That wasn’t uh, intentional, was it?” he asked casually, laughing slightly at the circumstance.

”Shit, I did that? Wasn’t intentional at all! Fuck, I didn’t even realise… Damn, that mean I can become a human disco ball now?!” Cass giggled, holding up a hand in front of her eyes. With a bit of concentration her skin shifted, hiding the marks on her wrist… But no colours. Clearly, she was just as drained magically as she was physically.

”Sometimes my body just seems to change without me casting anything actively. Like I’m just using the magic without thinking… I guess that’s probably pretty common when starting, right? Rey said some’ve her stuff came naturally, and the rest she had to figure out spells or learn from books. I’m assuming I’ll get to the ‘can’t just accidentally cast spells for the first time during sex’ stage soon enough?” While Cass was clearly physically exhausted, her mind was running at the same speed as normal- which was fast, and with a lot of talking.

Ah, more things Leon was knowledgeable about at least.
”Yeah, most Adepts Kindle with an associative spell or two inherent to them. Lots of research’s gone into what determines an Abstraction, but the associative Affinities are generally linked to a person’s natural temperament. When you start out, your body’s trying to push Lux around and out of you as much as it can. It’s not used to having it.”

However, what he wasn’t sure of is why Cass was still experiencing stuff like that three years in. It could only be that she’d not been properly trained. Wild Adepts were uncommon, as they usually wound up finding something to kill them… Which made Leon all the more happy that she was at least somewhat domestic. Software engineering and the occasional urban excursion were nothing compared to a Wizard who found out they could fly and started doing it to get to work casually.

The viscera, oh, the horror…

”We’ll get that ironed out, Babe. I bet in a year or so, you’ll have full control of your natural Abstraction. After that, it’s all study and practice. Well, it’ll all be study and practice, but… The first bit is actually fun. Fundamental.” he grinned.

”Dude, that’s an awful one!” Cass pathetically kicked Leon, since she couldn’t quite muster up the energy to bend around and slap his arm like she normally was. But she was absolutely cackling, completely contrasting her words.

”Well I sure am having fun! I just can’t wait to not pop out a pair of wolf ears whenever I get too emotional… It’s so inconvenient!” She let her leg flop back down onto her bed when she was sufficiently happy with the puny blows she’d dealt to him.
”So if this stuff is all associative Affinities, that means I’ve got an Affinity to… Well, the animal shifting was first. And having an awesome super powered body, which, of course! And… Changing colour? Where’s that fit in? Wait, didn’t I get kinda bendy last night too? Guess that was probably my magic kinda initiating yours or something…”

Leon shook his head somewhat conspiratorially, taking purchase in a spot she hadn’t occupied.
”Well, your Abstraction is probably some version of Animimic. Not-so-werewolf, it's a lot easier to target traits than fully transform; especially if they’re non invasive. Shit like your ears and your tail, they already have pathways to work with in the human body. You just link ‘em up. Ani-Mimic, you get it?” he grinned, enjoying theorizing and explaining from the vast pool of knowledge he’d managed to accumulate about general Lux Theory.

”Which means that it’s highly likely you have an affinity toward Biomorphism. That is, fleshcraft. The molding of meat. Which would also explain the changing color; the extra flexibility is almost certainly your base level Abstraction. Honestly, I can imagine it actually being your core, maybe a Biobolster. Still, same affinity if I had to guess.”

”Ohhhhh… That makes a lotta sense!” Cass gave Leon her full attention as she listened, wriggling over a little bit so her head was closer to him. Made it much easier to stare up at him.

It was stuff she didn’t have much idea of herself. The kind of thing passed down from magical parent to child… Except kindling had skipped a generation of her family, and no one from the generation before that was alive by the time she and her brothers kindled. They were just as blind as her… With less inclination to work on it.

Not that she’d done much more than play around since she kindled, till meeting Leon.
”That does explain everything I can do! All of the animal transformations came first, then the generic body enhancement… I only started shifting my skin to cover up bruises and shit recently, so I guess the changing colour is a natural follow on from that! It’s pretty good to know what my affinity probably is… Biomorphism. Awesome. I wish there was some Adeptal Wiki I could go on, but picking your brains is pretty great too.”

It was pretty good to know a possible direction her magic was taking her… And where she could concentrate in the future when she started actually having to study and figure out spells more actively.
”Wait. If that’s the case, that mean it’s likely to start getting freakier? Like, what if I turn my hand into a ball or something? Or make all my skin melt off! That’d be an insane turn off if it happened while fucking!”

Leon turned his head downward slightly to stare up at her with a devious smirk.
”Nah, put it in my ass.”
Then he burst out into laughter.

”Well- Fuck- Since you asked for it… I fucking will!” Cass rolled onto her side as she laughed like an absolutely maniac, hitting the bed as she did. The image was just… it was too much! It was fucking insane! And if her skin ever melted off? She was going to make sure he went through that.

”Dude, you can’t say that with that fucking face! You’re gonna kill me over here, gimme a break, fucking hell!” As the laughing fit subsided, leaving her a bit breathless, Cass properly wriggled her way over to Leon to flop as much of herself onto him as she could while still lying down.

”Good to know even skin melting won’t scare you away. I feel extra secure in my sexiness and the future of our relationship.” Cass put on the best non nonsense, deadpan expression she could in that moment. Like she was stating something actually profound.

”Well, honestly Babe? Once you’re in the driver’s seat, I expect nothing but surprises. At least until it gets old. Maybe it never will; we’ll grow old with the Sunday joke being you rolling a newly demented penis in my face to say good morning.”

He couldn’t not keep laughing at himself, totally breaking through whatever true or false seriousness Cass was giving him. He laughed so loud and hard, he curled in until he was practically squashing her between his thighs and torso.

”H-o-ly MOLY! That-don’t… Don’t do that. God forbid anyone else is ever in our house.” he was still laughing slightly, finally coming down.

Cass had gone momentarily quiet in the midst of his laughter, brain silently whirring. Holy shit… She’d never actually thought about growing a dick! But that was something she could totally do, right? That was one to add to the list for later spell development…

”Our house, our rules- Wait, wait, you don’t wanna wake up to that in the far future? Babe… I feel misled…” She snickered, flipping herself onto her back again so her legs could hook up and over his.

She didn’t really let her mind dwell too much on the growing old and our house thing. It was pretty early to be thinking about that… But really, it was in the context of a joke. And even if it wasn’t? That was alright, she was chill. So long as there was no proper moving in together or any of that stuff till further down the line. She wasn’t someone to rush these things, but she could also deal with talking about it and it not happening in the end.

”Oh! Actually, we gotta talk about that, since we’re now official.” The moment she said that, Cass slapped a hand onto her face.
”Fuck, that makes it sound some super serious talk! Not like that, like… expectations. Like, obviously orgies? Group sex? Okay, we’ve already done that. But, like… Sleeping with other people separately? Dating? What about that kinda stuff?”

She looked at him with a completely open expression. She had her preferences here and there in this case, but she was pretty flexible at the end of the day. Maybe talking about it took some of the magic away but… It was healthier, wasn’t it?

Leon thought about the question like he was glitched. Slowly, surely, his eyes grew distant and unattentive as he tried his hardest to explore himself. What the fuck did he want in the end?

”I mean… I’m not insecure. Even if, and this would never happen, but, even if we lost our sexual compatibility, I don’t think I’d be concerned about you betraying my trust in some wanton way. You really just don’t seem like the type. You’re in possession of an upstanding moral code, I’d say.” he offered her everything but an answer, because he was still trying to piece together whether or not something exclusive could ever actually exist.

But it didn’t have to be a static decision either, did it?

”Maybe we can sort of, oh I don’t know… Tier-step the commitment? I don’t see anything wrong with saying, for now, that I don’t expect you to remain physically or emotionally exclusive to me. Just loyal to me. Does that make sense? Like, y’know, see who you want, meet who you want, enjoy St. Portwell, come and go as you please without pressure, and if we last another year? We can reassess. Or, six months, three, a month, however long or short.”

Explain our royal nature. It is fit that a Queen take as many-

”Uh, Lelou actually says you’re one of her concubines? I don’t think that really changes things, she’s not in charge. Just, uh… Well, y’know, just don’t bring whoever else you’re seeing around me during a rampage and we’ll be fine.” he finally admitted, scratching his head.

"Heh, well that saves me asking if I'm also dating- I mean, one of her concubines." Cass smiled at him. She'd been patiently watching- ready to prompt him if necessary, but perfectly fine with just waiting.
"Something more open for now that we revisit in however much time sounds like a good plan. Obviously the same goes for you… Well, that probably goes without saying. I ain't an asshole."

She grinned, moving her head forward to kiss him. It was softer than normal… Partly from her exhaustion, reducing the normal intense energy she went about everything with. But there was also just a gentler emotion behind it.

"I don't meant to put the decision all on you… I just ain't really gotta strong preference at this stage! I tend to go along with my partner's… there just weren't many who can handle me alone anyway."

Though, she didn't see herself getting emotionally involved with someone else. At least not right now… Thinking about it, she tended to be more exclusive in that way- whether with one person, or in a throuple. It changed when she wasn't mentally stimulated, or was neglected by partners. Physically was a bit different… It gave her an option for things to do when Leon was busy, or just a bit of fun when she wanted without having to worry about it.

"I gotta couple of questions, though. Exclusive versus loyal… I kinda get it? Like… I don't just fucking abandon you for other people- which'd never happen, or is there more to it than that?" She pulled her legs back up to her chest and flipped onto her side. It was a bit annoying to get properly comfortable right now…

"Maybe the difference ain't that important, since I ain't planning on dating other people… Eh, still best to clarify! Anyway! Other question- during a rampage… I thought I shouldn't even be around you?! Or will Lelou now very graciously allow me to live since I've been elevated to the status of Royal Concubine." She waggled her eyebrows- clearly half joking, half flattering the beast within.

Of course, Lelou would eat up whatever praise she could without question. But she liked Cass’ flattery enough to push Leon's explanation.
”Well, uh… First question: Just, don't cheat on me emotionally? Like, do your thing, enjoy who you're with, but don't let them leak into your thoughts without at least telling me that you're developing feelings for someone else. Now, question Two: It's, uh, a double edged sword. It guarantees nothing, except that you become prioritized by her senses. If she's in a whimsical mood, there's a chance you get King Kong'd to fuckin’ Idaho. If she's down, she may steal you away to a quiet Grove and confide herself in you. It's… Not something I've dealt with yet.”

"Oh, you don't gotta worry about emotional cheating. That happens, I'll say- shit ain't healthy unless there's communication, so as long is there on both sides, we're good." Cass nodded, mentally taking the whole relationship boundary conversation as all nicely wrapped up. Things were clear, at least.

So then there was the Lelou situation. Getting King Kong'd to Idaho didn't sound like the worst thing to ever happen. Unless it involved getting thrown from the very high building she was kidnapped to, which would be probably deadly and definitely inconvenient.

"Being prioritised by her senses doesn't seem like a bad thing- not completely, at least. I'd rather be the focus of whatever attention it is- even if it's King Kong- than her use your body to, like, maul a bunch've other people or something." Perhaps that was a too simple way of viewing things. But who knew how it'd turn out.
"If you ain't dealt with it before then we'll have to just take it as it comes, I suppose. Well- I will, heh. However it goes we'll deal with it when- if- it happens! Maybe she'll surprise us and become super enamoured with me, and act super romantic. It'd be showing off her good taste- well, both of you've got pretty amazing taste."

Only, they weren’t exactly linked to one another by choice. Lelou saw the most tasty host at the time, and assumed it’d be a slam dunk. The Temple had other plans, obviously. Now it was a moral impasse; let her praise the murderghost and feel the ego swell up, or finally draw a line in the sand that he probably should’ve before…

Oh, now it’s a problem…
It’s a problem when things get serious
What if I was romantic?
There’s not a lot of actual romance in Conan.
Still willing to educate me after all this time?

Leon was now, very clearly, stuck in some sort of vague off position as the conversation in his head lasted more than a moment.

”Sh-sh-e… Thinks romance is a pile of stinking corpses. Cass, if we really are going to go much further… She’s going to get in the way. Maybe. Probably.”
I’m in your head, how could I get in the way? the voice in his head echoed, a pang of hurt in her voice.

”It’s the unknown factor that I fear. We can’t do anything about it, and that sucks… Because doing anything about it, means I lose everything. At least, everything magical. If you can imagine, it’s an important enough factor in my life that I’d… Live with these drawbacks to keep it.” he admitted.

Cass nodded. While it wasn't something she felt- that having magic was worth so many drawbacks- she could empathise. He'd grown up around magic and had it since he was young. It was an entirely different situation from someone like her, who hadn't even known about it until a couple of years ago. So she could imagine. There were certain things she'd struggle with living without. Things she'd watched people lose and struggle to move on from.

"I can say I completely understand, cause I spent most of my life without magic. But I can imagine. Especially now I have it, like I could probably go back… but in a few years? Even longer? It'll just get harder. So, I can imagine." Cass nodded.
"But there's a lot about life that's unknown, y’know? Shit sucks but sometimes you just gotta deal with it. Sure, I can't promise I'll be able to stick around through anything but… there's a lot that ain't gonna push me away. From her, from you."

She considered making a comment about if there was another way to get him magic but… That must be something he'd already thought about. It wasn't something she'd want to say in front of Lelou either. She was much less experienced in magic. It wasn't something she could help with right now.

"Maybe I'm being too optimistic… But I like to be, y'know? If you say we can't do anything about it cause having magic is that important to you? That's fine! We just gotta deal with shit as it happens… And I'm fine to do that."

”Oh, Babe… Never lose that. Courage to face the unknown, and the joy of doing so… Dad always praised Green Lux adepts, and the Deer itself; he said Joy is the ultimate expression of positivity. Even those who use pain to fuel their joy, it’s still, y’know, the highest version of itself. Love, courage, all that? They all produce joy ultimately. Everyone funnels back down into it.” he explained the theory, one learned from and shared by years of Eurasian Lux research.

”Makes it kind of prone to weird things happening too. Like, you; you’re what we call a Wild Witch. Wild Adept, whatever. You’re essentially a natural kindle, totally undeveloped, but you have a pretty strong connection with it! You cast spells naturally. It wouldn’t surprise me if you’d not have a hard time actually wildcasting. It’d hurt, but I bet you’d get used to it; I mean, using your magic without the influence of a Channeler…” he stopped, looking up at her and giving her a goofy smile.

”I’ll keep going if you don’t stop me… I could talk for hours and hours.” he admitted.

"It's alright, it's cute! Y'know how I get sometimes talking on and on about things too sometimes." Cass grinned back at him. It was stuff she had no idea about and was actually interested in… it'd be a bit more difficult if it wasn't something she didn't care about. Then stopping her attention from drifting would be hard…

"I like the sound of ‘Wild Witch.’ It fits me pretty well! I'll have to try out the wildcasting thing… I basically ain't been without my channeler since I Kindled." She reached to hook the thin chain around her neck, pulling it up so the guitar pick that almost always ended up under her top was more visible. She was always wearing it in some way or another- sometimes around her neck, but sometimes fashioned more into a bracelet or wrapped around her ankle.

"I ain't gonna try now, though! Not got the energy… and we gotta think about moving everything and heading in an hour or two. So, you're gonna have to save the talking for hours and hours ‘bout it for the journey." Smiling brightly, she let her channeller drop back against her chest.
"Oh, we should probably get some breakfast? We'll just order it… Wait, shit, I forgot to actually talk to you about what I wanna do with my stuff, didn't it?! Like… honestly I didn't wanna assume how much I could take to yours versus the room I'm renting in Rey's, but it totally slipped my mind to actually fucking talking about it."

Leon could only laugh at the momentum shifting as she spun back around to talking about the move. Not an unwelcome switch, and if she was giving him carte blanche to babble about magic on the way back, he had no intention of not. He simply had to tell her about the Veridian Crater. Maybe they’d visit one day…

”There’s plenty of storage at the Cannery. Half the apartments are empty on purpose; Hell, you could set one up for yourself. I don’t care, really, and I bet Casey wouldn’t mind. Even if anything happened between us, you’d just wind up paying some kind of rent. We’d figure it out.” he offered, shrugging slightly.

”Obviously, I know you want to live with Rey, because she’s your friend and whatever, but you shouldn’t feel like it's your only option… In my opinion, anyway.”

Cass let out a thoughtful hum, scratching her cheek. She hadn't really thought about asking if there was an apartment in the Cannery, especially since the whole quitting her job and moving thing had been done on a bit of an impulse. Not one she regretted… She wasn't immediately sure what she wanted.

She was pretty likely to end up spending most of her time in St Portwell anyway. She just needed a place- however big or small- that was 'hers' in a way. Somewhere she could escape to if really necessary. Not that she was too worried about it, cause she wasn't really someone who needed individual time and space very often… It was best to not trap herself in anything.

At least with the Cannery, she did trust Casey and Trisha would deal with stuff fine if her and Leon broke up. Not that she didn't trust his word either, just… Best to not put all of her eggs in one basket. But on the other hand, if she didn't move into Rey's her friend would totally freak out. In an incredibly calm way, but it'd be a bit of a freak out nonetheless.

"Aw, fuck, dude… Ok… Uh…" Suddenly having too many options, Cass threw her hands up before immediately dropping them back to cover her face. What the fuck did she want to do.

"Alright… Let's do this for now- check with Casey if I can use one of those empty apartments? Doesn't even need to be the whole thing! Like, realistically? I'ma be spending most of my time at yours. I just need a place, y'know? I ain't really the move in properly with someone after a few weeks kinda girl. Don't ask how having most of my shit in a different apartment in the same building while always using your bed is different from that, it just is- mentally! Or some shit." She didn't really know how to explain it, but it felt like the right move. Probably. At the end of the day, it wasn't a problem, Reyna wasn't in a rush to get another flatmate so she could always change her mind…

She did love Rey, and would enjoy living with her, but she knew she wasn't gonna end up spending much time in Portland.
"Fuck, I'ma have to call Rey, she's gonna gimme one of her lectures…"

”Well, tell her she can come down whenever she wants. You guys showing up all the time will make Trisha more comfortable too, so I doubt Casey would have anything else to say besides yes.” Leon explained, pulling his phone from his pocket and rattling off a text.

”That being said, uh… Is your ex-roommate home? I can get this stuff moved a lot faster if she isn’t; like fast enough that you can go get in the car and figure out where you want to eat breakfast, and we’ll roll over there rather than waiting for delivery. It’d be about the same amount of time.”

"What time is it?" Cass asked, pulling out her own phone to actually check. At the same time she fired off a quick text to Reyna. Just a brief explanation and a promise they could call later if she wanted.

"She might've left for work already but I ain't sure. Lemme check- NAIMA?!" She didn't bother moving, just tilting her head to the side and shouting in the direction of the door. The walls were pretty shit here, the only blessing being that their bedrooms were at opposite ends of the apartment. But if they were loud enough it was possible to hear each other.

Cass waited a moment for a response- something thrown at her door, most likely- but there was nothing.
"We're safe! You can do whatever you gotta do to move stuff quick just… be careful with my computers? They ain't the most delicate, but it'll be a pain if shit breaks."

She started shuffling to the edge of the bed without actually sitting up, legs draping over so her feet hit the floor. She groaned.
"You're… definitely gonna have to drive. At least to start. My whole body feels like a wet noodle!"

”Dude, last night you literally were a wet noodle. It’s understandable.” he giggled, fingers sliding down to tickle her stomach slightly.

”Here… Let me get something square enough that I can lift a bunch of stuff at once.”

---

[right]San Francisco > St Portwell > Reyna's Apartment, Portland[/right]
In the end, only about an hour of the journey was filled with Leon's chatting about magic. It was all Cass could survive before her body wouldn't let her stay awake any longer. She wasn't bored or anything… And she didn't so much fall asleep as she did pass out.

She only half woke up for a food break in the middle, not really coming back to her normal, energetic self until they made it back to St. Portwell. And by then it was like her battery had been fully recharged, from zero to a hundred. The insane boost in energy- non magically- stopped her from worrying about how unusual it was for her to just fall asleep without actually wanting to. It was probably just because she'd exerted herself far too much the night before.

But there was no rest for the wicked, with Reyna demanding in a very polite manner that Cass at least come visit and stay the night as she'd taken the Wednesday off work. Which… fair enough, Cass did feel pretty bad about that! So after a nice apartment, courtesy of Casey, was chosen, they swapped from truck to car and were right back onto the road.

She hadn't actually expected Leon to come along- not because she didn't want him too, just she'd already dragged him away for two days! But the more the merrier, and she was pretty happy to have as much time as possible with him. Plus, he got to continue the magical talk on the much shorter journey to Portland…

"Alright, game plan!" Cass declared after they'd found parking in the right area, like Reyna was some kind of final boss rather than just a friend who honestly wasn't going to be that pushy about things.

"Maybe avoid talking about the whole magically spying cult… Not that it tends to come up much in most conversations, but I've already gotten pretty used to just talking to people who already know about it! That's the one thing that'll really make her freak out about both me and Trisha. It's not like she can drag either of us away, I'd just rather not worry her about that shit." Cass ran a hand through her short curls, before grinning.
"Otherwise, I ain't actually worried about anything. Rey's pretty chill, even if Trisha'd disagree with me on that. I bet she would've just been fine with everything- after a lil lecture- if she hadn't taken tomorrow off work."

In truth, Leon was happy to spend as much time away as possible. He’d squared off blocks of away time and was currently spending it as much as he could. With Lynette terribly bothered by events elsewhere, she wasn’t so apt to force him into sticking around. The only problem was Layla Hyacinthus, but thanks to her fast friendship in the Adjoined-sphere, she was constantly around people who would at least protect her…

Alizee was there too, but… It wasn’t as trusting. Not that she ever could’ve been trusted, but now it was hard to imagine a world where Alizee was still roaming around with that menace… Nevertheless, with Casey on duty, there was no need to worry about anything. It meant some well-earned vacation time, ultimately.

”But, this is the magic one too, right? She’s uh, like, Pink or something, ain’t she?” he asked, slightly absent-minded as he scrolled through the latest gossip columns. As they were pulling in, he unbuckled, but wasn’t making much of an effort to get out; mostly because he wanted to make sure she went over everything she needed to.

"Yeah… Pink-White. But when we visited Trisha she couldn't wear her channeler cause you were basically blinding her. So, you've got like a built in anti Pink-White system, I guess!" Cass responded, assuming he was worried about her reading him lying or something… Like she had Casey when they first met him. But she also didn't think that Reyna was going to be actively reading either of them. She was generally pretty respectful, and her channeler was so obvious it was pretty impossible for her to hide she had it on.

"I ain't worried. She's pretty good about not using it with friends, at least. But… She does know a whole ton more about Adeptal magic than I do, since both her parents have it."

”Well, I’m sure we’ll find good common ground to tread. As far as the blinding thing, I can’t really help it. It’s Her, uh… Imagine having never seen sunlight before, then all of a sudden it’s right next to you. If she’d never scanned an entity as powerful as Lelou, she probably had no idea what to look at.” Leon giggled, thinking about having scanned Lelou with his own magic those years ago.

”From what I remember, she’s an incandescent lightbulb of hunger and hatred. And lust, but I feel like that’s natural for everyone.”

Sliding his phone away fully, he popped the door and pulled his way up out of the car. It was hard being that tall and then getting into something only a foot and a half off the ground, and he’d become most used to the spinning maneuver to get upright.

”Best for Reyna to not stare, is all. She’ll get it, I’m sure it’s all fine.”
In truth, he was happy she probably wasn’t skilled enough to see inside. He didn’t need her taking a tumble into the velvet prison just to wind up as wolf food, after all.

Reaching his hand out for Cass’ after closing the door, Leon smiled.
”Ready. Lead the way.”

Cass grinned, slapping her hand into Leon's. She was right back to the normal, bouncy Cass after the rejuvenating nap… Like all of that fatigue was completely wiped away. Sure, there was still a bit of pain in her limbs, but it wasn't too bad!

"Yeah, don't worry, Rey won't stare… Which is a shame, since you're pretty nice to stare at." She wiggled her eyebrows up at him.

It wasn't that far of a walk, with Reyna living in an apartment further out of the city with a decent amount of parking in the area. The buildings in the area were pretty nice, red brick with a bunch of the apartments having nice little balconies. Cass had visited enough times to know exactly where she was going.

They didn't have to wait long after pressing the button for the right apartment, with Reyna just buzzing them into the building. It was a second floor apartment too, so Cass just skipped using the elevator and led them right up the stairs.

As if by magic- and likely because of magic- the door to one of the apartments down the corridor opened as they neared it.

Reyna leaned out with a gentle smile, slipping off her denim jacket as she squinted against the brightness that was Lelou.
"You made it. And here I was worried you were trapped by St. Portwell, which seems to be popular right now."

"I would never do that to you, Rey! I said we'd come so here we are!" Cass laughed. She let go of Leon's hand to run and jump at Reyna, wrapping the taller woman up in a tight hug.
"Did you miss me that much, huh? It's been like… Two weeks! Aw, you're the best!"

"I didn't miss the noise." Reyna hugged Cass back. Over her head she smiled at Leon.
"It's nice to see you again, Leon. Come inside… If Cass would stop trying to be a… Ah what is the animal? El percebe…"

"Barnacle?" Cass supplied, with basically no knowledge of Spanish, but plenty of knowledge of what she was acting like right now. She let go, hopping into the larger entrance hallway.

"That's it." Reyna nodded, stepping further inside too. She glanced between them both.
"I assumed you hadn't eaten, so I planned to make us something… If that is alright?"

Leon was just happy to be out of the car. It wasn’t his favorite place to be, though one he could tolerate at least. Coming into Reyna’s apartment, he didn’t feel unwelcome or like the place had been boxed off to hide anything. Over the years, he’d grown attuned to noticing when things were tidied up too well.

”Nice to see you too… Thanks for having me on such short notice… I’d be more than happy to enjoy a home cooked meal made by you; that sounds fantastic.” he smiled, holding out his hand for her to shake.

"It's no problem… I already had a room set up for Cass, so there's no extra hassle letting you both stay in it." Reyna replied easily, shaking his hand. Honestly, she was glad he'd come along. It gave her a chance to get to know him a bit better… After all, any time had been cut short when she visited thanks to Trisha's blowup. While there was that small element of concern- sizing up a friend's new partner- Reyna trusted Cass' taste and ability to handle herself far more than she did Trisha's. So really, it was getting friendlier with someone she expected to be around more.

"It has a pretty big bed, with a really nice mattress. I'd even gone to the effort of doing the bedding for you, since I knew you wouldn't bother after travelling…" Reyna's gaze drifted over to Cass.

"Aw, Rey, don't give me that look…" Cass immediately pouted, trying to make herself look as cute as possible.
"I'll do anything to make it up to you… Anything!"

"Oh? Well you can help me cook, then." Rey's gentle smile was responded to by a bright grin from Cass. There was no actual guilt tripping there- Cass had planned to offer to help, and Rey knew her well enough to know she would.

Reyna gestured them properly into the apartment, before giving a very brief tour. The entrance hallway was spacious- neat but lived in, with a rack for shoes and plenty of coats hung up on a hook. It felt open, a feeling that continued throughout the apartment. The room that was going to be Cass' was mostly bare aside from the bed- which was much bigger than her one back in San Francisco. It had a large window looking out the back of the building, the sun setting visible in the distance.

Reyna's own room was skipped, and the bathroom just pointed out. There was a comfortable living room- plush looking couches, with an armchair nestled in at the window with a book left half open on it. One wall was lined with shelves, with a variety of books, photos and other items on them. It felt cozy, without being too cramped.

The last room was the kitchen-dining room. The kitchen was an open plan, with a four person table away from it to the side of the room. It left plenty of space to cook without having to worry about walking around anyone sitting down as well.

"There's beer in the fridge if you want any… or sodas if you'd prefer. Help yourself. I made sure to stock up, and hid any expensive food I didn't want Cass eating." Reyna gestured to the fridge with a teasing smile towards Cass.

"Oh shit, I ain't gonna say no to booze… Want anything, Babe? There's… a whole mix of shit! Ooh, will you be able to stomach something that ain't St Portwell brewed?!" Cass joked, having already bounced over to the fridge and pulled it open.

”Oh, geeze, I’m not that snobby, I don’t think. What the heck!-” Leon joked, beaming as he watched Cass flit about.
”-Uhhh… I mean, I’ll have whatever you have. Surprise me.”

Leon couldn’t help but do a little sniffing as the fridge popped open. The lingering scent of fish and other daily products mixed with the overpowering tartness of fresh fruit; mango and passionfruit, limes, persimmon… Things he didn’t usually bother snacking on. He could smell the hops in the beer, the corn syrup in the soda, the lingering funk of crema, and then the fridge door closed to leave him basking in the scent of something he’d certainly never had on his own.

”Jesus… Onion, garlic, cumin… Orange? Th’fuck is that pork in there?” he asked enthusiastically, vaguely recognizing the scent profile from something Andrade had once cooked.

"Good nose… I suppose I shouldn't be surprised when you literally sniffed out all of our magic." Reyna laughed, moving over to lift the lid off the large pot to check how it was doing. The smell of it escaped further, filling the room.

Cass sniffed at the air too as she grabbed two funky looking craft beers that Reyna had. Shit… it really did have all those things in it. She could tell now, but only with the pot open.

"It's Fritada. An Ecuadorian dish… I've made it so often at home that it's like a second nature. It's easy to just add more and more meat to bulk it up too. I know what Cass' appetite was like before she kindled, nevermind now. I heard yours is even bigger, so…" She held up her hands in a shrug, smiling.
"And i's nicest to share meals from home when cooking for others, I feel… Cass, can you get some onions out the fridge?”

"Ohhh, shit, you've never made this one before!" Cass was still sniffing the air, eyes practically shining. She held out one of the bottles of beer to Leon- interestingly named ‘Love Bomb', it seemed to be some kind of IPA? Strong, too. She started back over to pull out onions, while also pulling out a bottle opener to pop open hers, holding it out to Leon.

"It's always stuff with fish… not that I dislike fish. But when all I had was fish and chips to offer to our food sharing pot lucks… it kinda made mine look like shit."

"It was more of a problem that we were the only ones that could cook- can you cube them?" Reyna laughed, taking the onions and directing Cass towards a big pile of potatoes that needed chopped up.

Cass got started, tilting her head to look at Leon with a grin.
"You're super lucky! Occasional bad British food aside, I'm a pretty awesome cook. Poor Casey's stuck with Miss Managed to Burn Pasta."

”Well, good for her, that boy has always loved the kitchen. He’s been cheffin’ it up, making bread and shit. Granted, easy to suck up knowledge for a guy like him. Literally sucks it up. Me? I’d order out, but if you’re tellin’ me you can cook, I’m not gonna say no to filling my fridge up again.” he grinned, imagining a massive fish and chips meal to slather in ketchup.

Taking a swig of the beer, he realized why it’d smelled so strongly, even from under the cap.
”They brew this with… Some kind of spice? It’s neat, it kind of mixes with everything else. I wonder if Andre carries this at Tournesol… Anyway, uh- I mean, yeah I definitely ain’t much for cookin’. Dad showed me how to do the bodybuilder diet, but he didn’t even eat like that honestly. Boiled chicken and white rice? Th’fuck?” he grimaced.

”I love fish though. What other sorts of dishes do you make? I did smell a lingering smell from the fridge, is it just like uh… Shit, what’s that soup…”

"Encebollado? It’s an onion based one… Ah, no, you’re probably smelling the Viche de Pescado I made a week or so ago. That’s a proper soup, if you can stomach every part of a fish. I make both of those, a lot of other stews… Empanadas, fried fish. Nothing as plain as boiled chicken and rice. That’s not a meal… I’ll be making Llapingachos today as well, which are fried potato… Pancakes?" It was a topic Reyna was happy to talk about. Though she was no professional chef, she’d grown up helping her parents cook- and learning directly from her Abuelita too, while she was alive.

”Oooh, Llapingachos…” Cass cooed longingly. Rey had made them enough that she remembered exactly what they were… And they were really fucking good. Her mouth was watering just thinking about it. That explained all the potatoes she was cutting!

"And you’re right about the beer. That one is from a small beer maker back in Chicago- my parents have ended up close with the owner. He’s from Peru, I think… My younger brother bought a whole batch when he last visited. I’m surprised Cass went for that one instead of one of the more normal beers. I even bought Guinness specially."

”What’s life without a bit of spice? I like this kinda stuff too!” Cass grinned, taking a big gulp from her own bottle. She paused rapidly chopping the potatoes to face Leon, knife thankfully left on the chopping board as she wagged a finger at him.

”Also, I can cook, but I never said I was gonna cook for you, did I? What, you tryna shove me into traditional gender roles?! Nuh uh, I’ma cook for myself and make you watch me eat it all!” She cackled with a mischievous grin. She then put on a full body shudder, all of her movements energetically playful. She was absolutely alright to take up cooking for them- she was already getting a little sick of ordering in- but why just agree so easily when she could tease him?

”I can’t believe it… You’ve been after me for my cooking this whole time! Now you’re showing your true colours… And here I thought it was my sexy body!”

Not unfamiliar with the concept of flattery, Leon buckled his neck, tilting his head toward Cass as he grinned deviously.
”Oh, no, no! See, you’ve got it all wrong: It was you big, fat and round personality.” he said with a flat tone.

”Now, don’t think I’ll eat you out of house and home or anything, but do you have any leftovers you’re looking to get rid of? I’m on a bulk between fights, which means a caloric count like you wouldn’t believe. I’m definitely not just trying to taste as much of your amazing cooking as I can, Rey. Swear.”

Flattery, flattery for everyone as Leon did his best to charm his lady and her lady. Understanding there probably wasn’t going to be any funny business, he wasn’t exactly pressed. It was Portland, after all; all he and Cass had to do to meet another weirdo was knock on the next apartment door. No, this flattery was for the express purpose of a good impression, which was oh so valuable to him. First impressions being what they were, he now had to make sure things were actually convincing…

He never wanted to be in private, resentment filled talks between friends. So, Leon strove to leave a lasting impression as a friendly, jovial and humorous person. Someone who wasn’t famous or spoiled… Or messed up.

”Ohhh, you’re so lucky you’re hot.” Cass teased with a wide grin, reaching up to pat Leon’s cheeks before turning back around to potato cutting. Not without a little wiggle of the aforementioned personality…

"He’s a charmer too." Reyna said with a good natured smile. She gestured to the fridge, and then to a cupboard just above Cass’ head.
"There’s a tupperware of Viche in the fridge, you’re welcome to it. I won’t eat it before it goes bad… It’s the only real leftovers I have, unfortunately, so you can’t try too much of my cooking. There is some chicken I cooked a few days ago too, though it doesn’t have any sauce. And that cupboard is where I keep all of my snacks. There’s a whole mix- nuts, dried fruit, protein bars, chips, and I think there’s still some chocolate… Help yourself."

It was relatively easy to tell there were no hard feelings from Reyna about anything that had happened prior. She was trying to not hold onto any preconceived notions, and just get to know Leon as Cass’ new boyfriend. It hadn’t been so bad when they’d visited St. Portwell, anyway… And Rey had always been a relatively easy going, calm person. It was pretty obvious that Cass was happy and doing well, so that was what really mattered.

”You’ve always got so much shit, Rey! You’d think you’re feeding a whole army all the time. I’ma eat my body weight in snacks after dinner, I swear!” Cass laughed.
”You have no idea how much I gotta eat now, Rey. It’s increased so much in the last few weeks… This Green lux shit ain’t a joke! I’ma be out eating Leon soon!”

He was immediately in the fridge and back out eating cold soup with a spoon.
”Impossible, I hate to say. Not that you couldn’t figure out how to get rid of it, but it’s never going to be as important to you. Three thousand, or thirty thousand, if you’re burning it just to burn it I can still beat you.” he playfully stuck his tongue from the side of his mouth.

”If I’m fully transformed, how many calories do you think Lelou burns through in a twenty-four hour period?”
He looked at Rey then, and smiled.
”Uh, not sure if I mentioned, I’m… Basically? A werewolf? But on crack. For context.”

"You didn’t, but I could roughly gather the basics around being blinded." Rey shrugged one shoulder. With time, she could have gotten over the bright aura and looked past it… But she chose not to. Her Lux types weren’t something she could choose, but she tried to use them as… Consensually as possible. At least on friends and people close to them.

Cass’ whole face had scrunched up as she tried to figure out a number to guess. She wanted to be right, of course. How much was normal? Three thousand? It wasn’t really something she’d ever bothered tracking. She just followed what her body wanted.

”Is it… Oooh… A hundred thousand? Or is it even more than that?!” She tilted her head back to look at him with burning curiosity.
”If it ain’t ever gonna be as important to me, that means it’s gonna stop increasing at a certain point, right? Like my appetite will stabilise?”

"That tends to happen with most magical fuel requirements. Green Lux is one of the most taxing, but others need fuel too. There’s a reason I always keep something with sugar on me. My magic is taxing on my mind rather than my body, and the sugar can help." Rey offered an explanation.
"Normally it stabilises in the first year, so I’m surprised it’s been increasing so sharply recently. But I don’t know any other Green Adepts."

”Ohhh…” Cass looked from Rey to Leon.
”You must know plenty, Babe- It’s normal I’m constantly getting hungrier, right?! Especially since I’m working on it so much recently.”

”Well, yeah for the most part. Lux is great, but you go and make a tail and a few ears, then attach all the nerve endings and shit: Yeah, you used Lux to command calories. You metabolized a bunch of fuel instantly, and grew a new part.”

The tupperware of soup was delicious, and he shoveled another mouthful in before he carefully extracted a near-whole fillet of fish from it.

”Now, think in a new way: We eat food based on calories. Maybe you think about it, maybe you don’t, but this fillet is like… Three hundred calories? Not much in the grand scheme. But imagine I come and rip the side off the fish while it's alive. Obviously, to grow it back doesn’t cost three hundred calories. It’ll cost considerably more, as it's done over time.”

He sat back and gulped the fillet down half way, biting it off and offering the rest to Cass as he stood next to her. Then he smiled, and kissed her on the cheek before looking at Rey.
”This is so fucking good by the way. Thank you. And, to answer my proposed question, Babe? Our researchers determined that, in Lelou’s heyday, based upon the sort of prey she’d go for regularly: One million, eight hundred thousand calories. Roughly, two full grown auroch bulls per day. Bones and all.” he grinned, going for another bite of soup.

”Holy shit!” Cass almost choked on the half fillet she’d taken from Leon, tilting her body back a bit to make sure it didn’t get trapped anywhere. That was… A lot of fucking calories! Not that she had any idea what an auroch was. But the calorie number?! Yeah, she got that.

The amount of calories she was having to consume made a bit more sense with Leon’s explanation. She was always hungriest after growing something extra. So she was always going to have to eat a shit ton after using her magic… But eventually she’d figure out exactly how much she’d need. That didn’t sound so bad!

”Thank fuck I’m never gonna get up to that number! Even growing a whole ton of limbs ain’t gonna cost that much… I mean, even after I’ve had the ears and other extra parts pop in and out a buncha times I haven’t had to eat as much as you. Oooh… so I only need to eat more cause my calorie cost is increasing.” Cass grinned at him, pretty happy to come to that conclusion. It was good to know how things worked, at least.

"Auroch? Like, the ancient cow?" Reyna’s eyes were a bit wide as she digested the number too.
"Your adjoined Ghost must be very old. How did your researchers determine that? White Lux tracing?"

”Actually, if you can believe it, genuine modern day hypnotherapy. She blocks out every other stimuli available, magical or otherwise… But she can’t avoid what, essentially, amounts to jingling a set of keys in front of a baby. Once we determined what the most responsive stimuli was, it was pretty easy for us to get her calmed down.”

He grinned at the prospect of having to rampage in a room that constantly played a low frequency noise while every surface in the room was a shatterproof monitor playing recordings of various North American Squirrel species in trees.

”Granted, it’s pretty niche therapy, but she’s fairly pliable in her own way. The procedure is pretty dangerous for me, however, so we’ve only gone through with it a few times. God forbid she gains some sort of an immunity to it, suddenly they can’t coax her into giving me back: I only have like six hours in a rampage before I start to lose myself. At twelve, the chances of me coming back out of it are slim enough that we only really did the calculations. We’ve only ever pushed eight.” he admitted, with Cass never having seen what an uncontrolled Lelou actually looked like.

Not that he ever really wanted her to. Not only did he have to worry about what Lelou may do to her, he found himself vaguely worried that she may end up liking it. There’d be nothing more awkward than getting body swapped with your ghost just for your then-girlfriend to end up liking the ghost more than you…

”But, if you ever did let it go, there’d be a pretty high chance you’d have a hot girlfriend instead, Cass.” he raised his spoon like a toast to her before taking another sip.

As much as Cass was into sexy warrior women, she wasn’t so sure about losing her boyfriend to the murderous wolf ghost.

”Duudddeee, I’d get so sick of washing blood outta everything!” Cass shook her head with a laugh, like that was her only concern about that future situation. But she sincerely hoped it wasn’t something that’d happen. As much as Cass was happy to flatter Lelou, and there was a spark of primal attraction there, and sure the sex would probably be insanely hot- But! Not a fun scenario.

”Is that the only way she’s calmed down? Hypnotherapy? Damn, I guess if she’s got a proper strong emotional field.” Cass scratched her cheek, finally finishing chopping the massive pile of potatoes into small cubes. She scraped them into the waiting pot of boiling water Rey had prepared.
”I mean, I sure as shit hope it doesn’t ever happen! That’d kinda blow. Well, I’m sure it’d be real fucking hot for a while but it’d get old-”

"Are you thinking through the scenario where your boyfriend is taken over by a Ghost?" Reyna interrupted Cass gently. She’d also finished her cooking prep- cutting up a healthy mixture of salad- and turned around to lean against the counter and look at them both. She regarded Leon with a bit more seriousness in her gaze.

"How high is the risk? Of going into this Rampage, and possibly hurting Cass?"

”Lower with her in my life. I haven’t had a steady partner in some time, since before I had the ghost problem. Turns out, she likes the familiarity. It just isn’t something that comes up when we’re trying to get an idea of the migrations of nomadic empires from… Gosh, hundreds of thousands of years ago at this point. But, the ease of interaction is good, she gets frequent workouts… Cass is adventurous and spontaneous enough that her energy level is enriching.”

Of course he understood why she’d as a question like that. If he had to tell an honest truth, he hated the fact that he was shackled to something so dangerous. Nobody would have these questions if he was still an Adept… But he wasn’t, and they did. All he could do about it was the same thing he did with the rest of his life: Be honest as possible.

”Still, higher than I’d like it to be. People who I’m close to are taking steps to remedy the situation: Recently, a cousin of mine went missing. It wouldn’t be so bad, but she happened to be a priestess of my Mother’s tribe capable of utilizing an artifact made to bind her to me safely. With her, went the artifact. We’ve been trying to recover it for months now, but there’s no luck. And even though Lelou could probably sniff it out, you can imagine she’d be uncooperative in doing so.” Leon admitted.

Reyna nodded slowly, with some acceptance in her eyes. While as a close friend, she didn’t want Cass near any danger… She also knew her friend well enough to know where to step in and not. Minimising it was fine, but Cass had always been someone who sought thrills regardless of others opinions. And Rey did trust her to look after herself- and Leon’s honesty helped. At least he knew and wasn’t trying to cover it up.

With all her kitchen duties done for now, Cass bounced over to Leon. Not that she stayed still when she got closer, rocking from toe to heel constantly.

”You really ain’t had a steady partner since before Lelou? That must’ve been… Years ago. Awwww…” She looked up at him with an incredibly adorable expression, eyes shining and cheeks puffed out slightly.

Then her mind immediately switched to everything else that’d been said.
”Wait, the artifact can only be used by someone from Lynette’s… tribe? That’s pretty inconvenient even if you do end up finding it!”

"I assume it requires a certain type of… Lux or Luxal energy?" Reyna’s brow furrowed a bit.
"It’s a shame it can’t be easily found, and that you have to deal with it. Obviously… I’m concerned for Cass. But I do trust her enough that I know it’s not my place to do anything more than feel that. I do appreciate the honesty as well. I know a couple of Adjoined, but most are in situations like Trisha is. That seems much easier."

”Probably so; I dream about the days I used to be an Adept. Fully in control. As for the artifact, it was made in a non-standard way attuned to our family’s specific genetic predisposition. It’s one of those ‘disorders’ that isn’t really anything, y’know? Just a funky little kink in the DNA, and our White Lux is channeled slightly differently. Cockeyed, I guess. So the enchantment is cockeyed too. Takes a special brain to make it happen.”

He was coming to the bottom of the bowl, and while it was delicious, it was hardly satisfying. A sensation he was getting more and more used to as time passed, unfortunately. It was fine… He had her. And she was close, and she was warm, and she was being cute in spite of his nerdy babbling.

”There’s a keeper lined up, I just didn’t want to pressure her with it at the time.” he admitted, putting the bowl down in the sink and hugging around Cass.

”Still, I really appreciate your attitude, Reyna. I don’t imagine many people being emotionally strong enough to decide that as a reaction.” he explained.

"I try my best to not react with my gut instinct where possible. It’s rarely the correct one." She smiled, moving over to check how the potatoes were boiling.

”Yeah, she’s the most emotionally stable of us all!” Cass grinned, leaning back against Leon.
”It’s how she managed to date Trisha for four months!”

“Don’t say something like that around her.” Reyna shook her head, moving past the couple to get back into the fridge. She pulled out panela cheese and pre-chopped chorizo.

”She’d know it's outta lovveee!” Cass laughed, one hand coming up to wave in front of her. She got away with saying a lot more around Trisha than most people did… Well, it seemed Casey was now beating her when it came to that. She was glad about that. She was happy her friend was so happy… And it had brought extra benefits to her! Mainly the extra fit guy hugging her right now.

”Rey’s mind of steel aside, step back- there’s magical genetic disorders? DNA can affect that kinda shit? I suppose it makes sense… I never really put together kindling and genetics. But course it’d be in the DNA. Oooh, is there something extra in there that Adepts have, or does it just have a different structure? It’s gotta be one of em if a DNA kink can change how you channel.”

”Astute as ever, my Dear… Adepts have a sequence called the Ancient Strand. Tacked onto a chromosome end. Again, thanks to crazy Green Adepts, we know about this stuff. And we can confidently trace it back to a single source, which is also pretty cool.” he smiled.

It was hard to hate where he came from or what they did, especially when what they did involved discovering the secrets of a history before history.

”If you can guess, Green Lux is most prone to disorders. Really anything where you can rapidly change your biological standard. Red, Pink, uhh… Purple even.” Leon added, not really thinking too hard about it.

After all, that fact aside, he didn't want either of them worried about using their magic.

”Whoa, I’d love to see that- the DNA, that is! Course Green’s got the most. Someone changes their own DNA, passes it on to kids, whoops! Magical disorder! I bet that shit sucks. Do you know about the kinda disorders that exist?!” Cass didn’t seem at all worried that her Lux type was most prone to those. She wasn’t even thinking about herself- there wasn’t a single thought in her head about it being something that could affect her. Just enthusiasm. While she’d ended up switching major, she had started with one in Biology… Something she found genuinely interesting, just not as much as tech.

It was why ending up a Green Adept was so cool! And she loved learning about this kinda shit.

"Are you going to switch careers to magical disorder specialist now, Cass?" Reyna teased lightly, mashing cooked potato cubes, caramelised onions and spices together in a large bowl. She wasn’t worried. If she had something like that, she’d know by now- she’d been kindled for almost ten years.

”Well, nah- I ain’t just allowed to be interested in something? That kinda shit’s what I miss most about when I did biology! Looking at things in a microscope and tryna figure out how it’d been fucked up, and how that affected everything. Just wasn’t as fun as coding!”

”There's a ton of little ones. Shit like what my family has, forces you to make spells work in a certain fashion. Those are the natural ones usually, and you get those the same way you get most genetic disorders… Lack of diversity. Old lines will stay tight knit for a few hundred years; your kid may not have a club foot, but he may not be able to force Lux out in a spell without a toasty seizure for his troubles either.”

Grimacing, Leon took a long swig of beer before moving onto the next topic. Long enough to need a new bottle, which he got and popped open.

”The bigger disorders are almost always from someone trying to mess with a perfectly good setup. Some overly ambitious Adept trying so hard to push the boundaries of their humanity, only to get bitch slapped by their Ancient with a not curse. In other words, a ‘fuck your bloodline’ button. For the former stuff, the names are for the discoverer. Wigman's Disorder, Butcher and Petrov Syndrome. Stupid shit. But the bad ones? Get cool names. King Leonard's Folly. The Shame of Clan N'gouba. Stuff having to do with how it was born.” he explained, eyebrows raised and expression tense as if he was trying to make things scarier or more intimidating.

Cass tilted her head back to look up at him, her own eyebrows raising in turn.
"You're looking at me like you think I'ma mess with my DNA and fuck up my descendants! I ain't that crazy."

"You aren't?" Reyna was only half paying attention to the conversation, whole making cheese filled potato patties to fry.

"I ain't! I mean, that shit sounds like it sucks. Imagine, you're stuck with some shitty disorder but at least it has a cool name?" Cass flung up her hands.
"Thank fuck I'm pretty sure my ancestors were just boring ol' Adepts. I can't imagine dealing with that shit! No thank you."

Not… that she actually knew. There were no records of her Ancestors before they were taken by force to the Caribbean islands. Even the history there was a bit shady. Her Nan told stories, but had died before Cass was old enough to fully remember. So it wasn't like there was anyone to ask about their Adeptal heritage.

"I guess none of its stuff that can be studied easily, if it's like… whatever percentage are Adepts, then an even smaller have the small stuff, and even less have a ‘not’ curse. I assume it ain't a curse cause it's still baked into the DNA, just magically? I wonder what that looks like…" She trailed off, before her eyes widened in self realisation. Broken out of her bubble of fixation.
"Uh, I ain't really being very sensitive, am I?! You maybe even know people affected and I'm getting all excited… shit…"

”I don’t think you need to worry about that. You’re asking questions out of genuine curiosity, not morbid fascination. You’d not see anyone with an issue like that as any different, and I don’t think that’s because you wouldn’t know where to look; I just don’t think it’d matter to you. No hate in that heart… If there is, it’s reserved for rapists and Nazis I presume.” he joked.

In truth, he knew plenty of them. There were actually enough participating Adepts in the Temple’s network of contacts that their research team could get a cross section of the population and find some averages. It’d done wonders for modern day Luxiturgical studies, and was pretty much the sole reason the Temple actually garnered any amount of respect to date. Their unbridled innovations in cross-Lux sciences and techmaturgy were widely revered as cutting edge in the fields of Paranormal research. And that was totally absent of all the black-bag projects regarding Apparitions and their various uses…

”Oh yeah, I save all my hate for the real bad guys!” Cass grinned. Though, he was yet to see how she reacted towards someone who did something she hated. But it wasn’t the same. That wasn’t discrimination or anything. She wasn’t entirely sure she was just curious and not morbidly fascinated, however…

”You’re right, I ain’t gonna start seeing Adepts like that as lesser. If anything, it’s impressive if they can keep going and using magic even with limitations! I doubt I could.”

"I’m sure there’s some things you could deal with. But there’s no point thinking too hard about it, is there?" Reyna said. As she spoke, she threw a couple of the Llapingachos on a sizzling frying pan. The aroma of spiced potatoes, cheese and chorizo filled the air, mixing with the marinating pork still lingering.

”True! I’ll put my disease interest back in the box, it ain’t really a dinner topic, is it?” Cass laughed, knocking back her beer to finish it off. She bounced back over to the fridge to pick out another, just going with one of the cans of Guinness Reyna had specially bought for her.
”Not that we tend to stick to dinner safe topics… You should’ve seen how Trisha started glaring at me the last time we all ate together! I mean, it was super cute, but still! We’ll try for you, Rey. Won’t we, Lee?”

Leon grinned first, but then tucked his head as he couldn’t prevent the laughter. It was just too much.
”Yeah! Of course, uhhh… Gosh, y’know, I love when you call me that? So cute, you’ve been talking to my sisters so much it rubbed off.”

For a moment he grinned at her, leaning to kiss her cheek as she made her way back to her seat.
”Dinner safe topics are… What? Books? T.V. shows? Reyna, what do you do for work?” he asked, the most safe for work topic possible.

"I’m also a software developer… Which makes things very uninteresting." Reyna laughed, looking at Cass and shaking her head.
"I don’t know why you’re trying so hard, Cass. You’ve said plenty at a dinner tablet that should not have been said. And there can be no worse impression than those exes of yours- does he know the story?"

”About the throuple that went wrong? Yeah! And y’know, instead of laughing at me like everyone else, he was real sympathetic about it!” Cass practically beamed at Leon, kicking her legs like a little child waiting for her meal.

"I’m glad I didn’t live with you for that… It was bad enough the time they joined our monthly dinner."

”Oh yeah…” That had been just a few weeks after the attempted fivesome. The three of them had seemed to be going back onto the right path, so Cass figured it was a good way to smooth things over with her friends. How wrong she’d been…

”They, uh- My two partners invited their partners without asking. Y’know, the two that made it a fivesome but were also the reason it was so shit? Then those two had an argument in the middle of dinner, made out, made up, went and had very loud sex in my bed-”

"They often seemed to do that." Reyna shook her head, beginning to plate up a salad as the Llapingachos cooked.

”And my partners just… didn’t even try with my friends! They were just all like oooh let’s feed each other, we’ll feed you too Cass, let’s pretend no one else is here and our other partners aren’t banging next door and we can’t all hear it and Trisha and Diyah aren’t a step away from flipping the table!”

Leon looked sad. It was the kind of pain that one got from hearing about a loss. The loss of the poor woman’s experience, the pleasure of a solidly good foundation… Maybe it was something he romanticised because it was so infrequent in his own life; the solidity of people’s influence in one’s life, and the consistency of making the right choices rather than the wrong ones. That kind of influence was pivotal in the meaningful relationships that one experienced not just on a day to day level, but over the span of an entire life.

”Y’know, they broke the mold with you. I don’t even know where to begin, honestly.-”

He let the comment hang for a moment to let the two question what he meant.

”To anyone else, that shit would’ve been pretty disturbing. Devastating, even. You? Like water off a seal’s back. Your strength of will consistently impresses me, and I think that’s what makes you such a capable Adept…” he finally admitted, grinning down at her.

”I see exactly why you’d want to hang out with someone like her, Rey.” he added, head turning slightly without letting his eyes leave Cass’.

”D’awww, you’re gonna make me blush!” Cass waved a hand in front of his face, smiling brightly up at him. She knew she had a strong will- because it was something she’d worked to build over the years. Six, seven years ago, when she lived at home? She didn’t have it in the same way. Her first reaction to someone hurting her was to hurt them back- normally by punching them in the face. Now? Well, she was incredibly confident in herself. They were the ones missing out.

”I just ain’t gonna let other people get me down like that. I spent enough of my life bending to em!”

Reyna smiled.
"I’m glad you can see it, Leon. That’s a good sign for the future… Cass is the centre of our little group of friends, really. Without her we wouldn’t still be a group. Especially not after me and Trisha broke up. It was Cass who kept us all together."

”Aw, c’mon, you’re gonna make me blush too!” Cass shouted, actually beginning to go a little red. A little more than a little. She matched the tomatoes on the big plate of salad Reyna brought over to the table.

Leon had, since they first started existing in one another’s sphere, done a bit more mental digging about Trisha. The lasting impression of her was being a fiery little witch who used far more of her mouth than her abstraction. But, he’d never really considered that he was aimed downward in regards to the age brackets. It’d never even occurred to him, due to the proximity of others like Sully and Stormy, or his cousins, that he’d been in the highest age bracket that summer. There were a couple others close, but he only knew people like Stormy because he’d been a senior when they played the annual cross-grade game.

High schoolers and middle schoolers, playing on mixed teams to promote partnership for the next group coming in. It was all very school driven. But, Trisha had been even less tangentially involved, despite being closer to Stormy’s age… So why had he hated her? Why did he have memories of looking at her stupid little teenage face and yelling at her about how dumb she was? He was so much older. Apparently, not so old that he couldn’t act like a child. Maybe he still acted that way now…

”What was that like? I only knew Trisha when she was a little shit, so… Definitely not the best impression to leave off on.” he admitted, still curious about his brother’s chosen partner.

”She was always pretty touchy, especially when we just met. She was like… A prickly hedgehog! You said something that upset her and she’d puff up. But it was all just self protection, y’know. Like, she’d never talk about it, but she had it pretty shit growing up. Like for her graduation? Nobody turned up.” Cass said openly. She knew what to share and what not to share, after all. The minimal things said in secret? Of course not… But anything that had been public? Witnessed? That was fine.

"She was definitely more comfortable when we dated. It was… almost five years ago? We were twenty. When I broke up with her, she reactively lashed out and tried to isolate herself." Reyna’s smile was slightly sad. At the time, it was exactly what she knew would happen. She’d even been prepared to step back from their friends so Trisha at least had someone…

”I didn’t let her, of course! It’s just like… She had these massive walls I crashed through, and she tried to put em back up, so I crashed right through em again!” Cass made a punching motion as she shot up out of her seat, moving to grab plates and cutlery for Reyna so she didn’t have to. She knew where everything was, after all.

”It was pretty difficult, honestly. I love Trisha, but she was quite snippy with Reyna at the time. Testing her, I think. Then she softened up. When she’s actually herself? She’s super fun. Sure, she’ll still make snide remarks, but you can tell it’s just teasing. When she gets super into something she’s really cute too… It’s so hard to drag her away. And there’s a bunch of stuff she’s enthusiastic about that you wouldn’t guess. But I can only imagine it was harder to get through when she was a teen. She rarely lets herself just be… Her.”

Leon nodded, frown turning into more of a questioning glare that went from Cass to a mostly empty spot of cabinet behind her head. He really couldn’t piece together why Casey liked her then… Had it been something between putting them together and that next morning? It had to be something, but ‘what’ was a question he couldn’t even begin to fathom.

”I mean… That’s definitely not something any of us had the wherewithal to deal with at the time. We were fighting something nutty while the adults all tried to kill one another. I guess the natural disaster level Apparition was a pretty good distraction. Still, the younger ones didn’t stop being teenagers that Summer. Neither did I, I guess. Magically, my fight schedule was cleared for those like… Six months.” Leon explained, thinking about how little time he actually spent dealing with most of the riffraff to begin with.

Most of his interactions were during big group interactions. Tall, older, he figured being some kind of imposition on them would mean that they’d respect him. It only pissed most of them off. Especially people like Trisha, who had a seemingly innate need to push back against that kind of authority. He’d never been a great friend to any of them at the time. It was only later when he came back, found some of them a little older, that he tried to include them in more things. Tried to include himself too…

But Lynette always had other plans. If he wasn’t making money, he wasn’t worth money.

[color=a36209]And here we are now, Lover… And you’re worth so much more carrying all my weight.

The first time he questioned if he really loved what he did. The first real time he wanted to take a break. The End of Gravity.

”I was probably never a good candidate to be their friend… But, I think a lot about how I could’ve been a better mentor. You’re not grown at nineteen, I guess. But, it’s been nice having the opportunity to make things up to her. I’ve already fucked up a couple times, so maybe things’ll never be right. But, that doesn’t mean it’s not worth a shot.” he finally smiled.

”I’m glad you’re trying!” Cass said cheerfully, pressing a kiss to the top of Leon’s head on her swingby holding plates. She put one in front of him, where she was sitting, and where she guessed Rey would.

”We all know Trisha ain’t always the easiest to get on with. Honestly? I can see why you guys clash. It ain’t all on you or anything. She takes a specific type’ve person to get through to her… Like me!”

"And Casey." Reyna added. She was serving up the food now- and soon there were three large plates in the centre of the table. She really had gone all out with the amount of pork for the Fritada, then there was a whole mound of Llapingachos, and a mixed salad to add something more healthy. She grabbed her own bottle of beer before sitting.

"Help yourself, by the way."

Cass didn’t need to be told twice, starting to pile food on her plate, while continuing the conversation.
”Really, you just gotta keep trying, Babe. Consistency is the best thing with her… Like sure, you’ll probably fuck up a few more times. She’ll probably fuck up too. But like, the more you stick around- as Casey’s brother, as my boyfriend, tryna be her friend- the less she’ll react around you. Maybe it’ll never be great, but I’m confident you guys can be friendly at least.”

Leon slid up to get himself another drink too, and sat bag down to politely wait for the two others to fill their plates before he descended upon whatever remained. The temperature of the food, he found, no longer mattered to his palette. It was all the same, incredibly hot or ice cold, his flavor receptors were so adept at picking everything out that the intensity in variability only served as an added sensation.

”Oh, that’s my middle name Leon Consistency Richoux, nice to meet you both.” he joked, smiling as he looked down at the plate with so many colorful morsels on it.
”Also, uh… Please, help yourself. Grab all you think you’ll want, I’m going in on whatever’s not nailed down. It’s in the nature.” he admitted, a little shy about the idea that he’d almost certainly still have to order food or run out later to get some vast army-sized order of fast food to meet his caloric needs.

Reyna had served herself a relatively normal portion, so didn’t go for anymore.

Cass, on the other hand, absolutely wasn’t going to miss out on eating an extra portion of Reyna’s cooking. She’d been polite with her first one, but now the Chef herself was served? It was all up for grabs. So she piled a whole bunch more onto her plate, until it threatened to topple and fall over.

”All yours, Babe- I mean, thank fuck you ain’t like an actual wolf, or I feel like we’d be having a fist fight everytime we wanted to eat. Like fighting over a corpse or some shit! Can you imagine? Actually, that might be kinda fun.”

Rey hit Cass with a flat gaze.
"You’d find fighting over meat like a couple of stray dogs fun?"

”Well yeah!” Cass shoved some pork into her mouth with a pleased groan. It was so fucking good.
”Spices things up! Keeps it exciting! You never know when you’re gonna get pounced for eating!”

Leon could only laugh. The wolf references wrote themselves practically.
”Well, like you said, this isn’t like real wolves. I’m definitely a much more uh… Well, benevolent alpha just sounds like cringe bullshit doesn’t it? I’m a courteous glutton. And, Rey, if you haven’t had your fill, I don’t mind treating for anything extra. Hell, I’ll fill your fridge back up before I go if you want.” he offered as only a rich child knew how.

Money was always the solution, at the end of the day. A few extra dollars in any one direction usually bought enough breathing room to slip through a crack and end up in a brand new impression. But, he’d found with the company Trisha kept, the attitude was anything but that. Whether it was because they were all somewhat wealthy, or just because they really were genuinely decent, he could only tell for Cass.

But the offer still came from his mouth. It wasn’t born of condescension, rather genuine desire and ability to simply pay his own way. If he made a wave, he wanted to wait until the water was smooth before he started to swim.

"Oh, don’t worry about it. It’s normal to feed people that you host. I won’t stop you from buying whatever food you may need outside of what I have, but I’m comfortable enough that this much isn’t an issue." Reyna replied politely, without any judgement on her end. She could understand someone feeling uncomfortable when another housed them and fed them without asking much in return, even for just a night. But it wasn’t a problem to her… Not now that she had such a well paying job and the money to do these things sometimes.

”Oh yeah, we’ll definitely have to hit up a shop sometime. Otherwise I will eat all your snacks, and Leon’ll start eating the table.” Cass joked between mouthfuls.
”Even if you don’t want it, me n’ Mr Benevolent Alpha over here will at least buy you a meal tomorrow! I ain’t just staying for free… And don’t say some shit about how my company is the best payment. I know it is! My company’s great. But it ain’t a valid currency in this stupid world!”

Not that she felt so uncomfortable about it- the reverse would happen anytime Reyna visited St. Portwell. Which she would do. Cass would drag her across for her birthday in early December, whether her friend liked it or not.

"I won’t stop you, if that’s what you want to do." Reyna smiled.

”Maybe a little gift too, I’m sure we can find something around. What are you into? I saw a record player in the other room; did you ever think of upgrading? I wouldn’t mind hitting a music shop tomorrow.” Leon added, hoping to make the impression a little better.

After all, he did love throwing dollar bills around. Unlike Casey or Junior who had to go through Elise for money, he had his own career. His own safely accrued millions to dump on whatever lavish personal expenditure he wanted. A few thousand dollars for a top line record player for a woman who, otherwise, didn’t seem to live any other way but modest? It was just desserts, frankly. She probably deserved it regardless of their personal connection.

”Obviously, I can understand not being comfortable with a gift like that. I’m not an arm twister. But, I think that people often underestimate the gratitude that we feel toward one another. One may not find themselves in a position to give a great gift, even if their heart would compel them to. Uh… Does that make any sense? I feel like a bit of a goober talking like that, but we were taught to say how we feel in my family.” he shrugged, finally starting to fill his plate before tucking in.

"It’s better to say it than not. Normally, I need to magic things out of people. I understand what you mean. I’ve been in the position to not be able to do any gifts at all, before. But material goods aren’t everything when it comes to gratitude." Reyna smiled gently.
"I can’t accept a gift that big for something so simple. That’s hardly a ‘little’ gift. If you would like to get me something, records, books, or herbal teas would be nice. Cass knows what I like, at least."

”Hell yeah I do.” Cass paused eating to reach out and pat Leon’s arm. It was hard to tell if she was comforting him for his large gift being rejected, or thanking him for thinking of doing it in the first place.

”You’re preaching to the choir, Babe. At least when it comes to not being in the position to give massive gifts, haha! But your rich side is coming out by just offering to replace a fucking record player! Like damn, that’s some marital partner birthday gift shit! Eh, actually, I don’t think my parents ever got each other something so big…”

”It’s a privilege I can recognize. I won’t say I didn’t do a little work to retain my family’s status, but nepotism put me in the hot seat. I benefit from a system that was around long before I was born… So, I just want to give now. To whoever, however. Why hoard what wasn’t mine?”

It was a simple position, but one he at least felt comfortable standing on. It was true enough, after all; none of it had been his to begin with. And, even through all the other bullshit, he didn’t qualify to take over for their Mother. His Lux was gone. There was only money left to inherit. And, frankly, far more than he thought was possible… But his father fought in Boxing’s last golden age. MMA had crawled its way into the world of combat sports, leaving the pugilists to convert or die. Only a good few still filled the smokey dens they fought in now.

”But, that’s fine. Books, records, herbal teas… If Cass knows genres and flavors, I won’t push my luck. But, now I’ve got to ask; what’s the best gift you’ve ever gotten?”
At least the game of verbal pinball was easier than imagining what could’ve been… A cult of his own…

”Oh… that's a good one!” Cass exclaimed, excitedly shoving food into her mouth as she thought about it. What was the best gift she’d ever gotten? She’d gotten a lot over the years, even if they’d never been expensive ones. But that was never the point… It was the emotion behind it. Oh, but how could she choose? She’d gotten so much random, cute shit from her brothers over the years, then from her friends too! Oh God, it was so hard to choose!

"My denim jacket- my channeler." Reyna answered, not having to think anywhere near as much as Cass.
"It doesn’t seem like much, but my younger siblings all saved up to buy it for me by doing odd jobs. My parents tried to help, but they refused because they wanted it to be from them… And they knew my parents didn’t really have the money spare anyway. It was a sweet gesture. It’s why it’s my channeler."

Cass nodded along in understanding.
”I think for me… Ugh, fuck, it’s so hard to choose! But probably, when I turned thirteen? I was going through puberty and shit, there was some stuff going on… My older brothers got me this stupid fucking t-shirt with some stupid slogan like ‘I may be small but I’ll still kick your ass.’ It was so stupid, and they got me some other small things too- but it was also, like, the only not girly thing I got that year? So I knew it was really for me! Even if it was… Incredibly fucking stupid. It’s maybe not the ‘best’ but it’s my favourite! Well, one of- anyway, what about you, Leon?!”

Leon already had a warm, fuzzy expression crossing his face.

”I’ve had a few nice ones too. My little sister makes toys; she enchanted one of mine when we were younger. Well, she was. I was a little too old by then to pay much mind, but now I cherish it. That said, around the same time, I went with my Dad alone for the first time. Actual tournament stuff. I was in a youth league that was running alongside the adult promotion. Dad had gotten me my very own set of entry attire. Y’know, the robe and stuff? It’s super, uh, like corny and exactly what you’d expect a fifteen year old to want as their first impression. These skull-shaped stars exploding in the middle of a crazy nebula background; the whole gravity theme.” he blushed, scratching his head absentmindedly.

”I still have it, Cass. Yes, you can see it. I just don’t have another spot on the wall in the office to hang the display of it.” he admitted.

”Whoa, you read my fucking mind!” Cass grinned, not even needing to ask the question on the tip of her tongue. He knew her so well… Not that it took long to learn something like that, when she asked to see his boxing shit so frequently.

”I mean, it sounds super fucking corny but also super fucking cute. I bet you were adorable in it!”

”Well now you sound like Mom. I was, from what I was told. But, I never felt cute at that age. I’d started to put on a little muscle, but my voice hadn’t fully changed yet. So I was a squeaky, half-hairy giant freak. Definitely the awkward phase before I filled out and managed to get my hair growing how I wanted.” Leon laughed, thinking about what she’d said.

He had, in fact, heard it a million times. From phone calls to in person when she’d made him dress up again and have mock fights with his Father for her entertainment.

”Aw man, I don’t wanna sound like Lynette!” Cass gasped. Certainly not a comparison she wanted from her boyfriend, even though in the short period they’d been together she’d already started to sniff out the Mommy issues.

”The awkward phase is pretty cute, though. Man, puberty was pretty wild for me too. Like I had the opposite for a while! I’d gotten these kiddy muscles from always fighting with my brothers and stuff, and then I started losing it! Honestly, it was devastating. I mean, I did go from looking like a long haired boy to a hot girl- but! The muscle loss wasn’t worth it! It was so hard to build back up!”

"And you didn’t even gain much height from it, no wonder you’re still so upset about it." Reyna teased.

”Hey! I’m above average height! A whole inch above average! It ain’t my fault I’ve ended up surrounded by tall people!”

”That seems to be a common curse for the vertically challenged.” Leon tossed the comment out so quickly it almost didn’t register in his brain that he’d said it. But, how could he miss the chance to tease Cass? So, he stuck his tongue out to make sure she knew he was messing around ultimately.

”Regardless! Rey, this is delicious.” he did his best to redirect back to the real subject matter at hand.
”You really don’t, like, have any sort of background in cooking? Just that good ol’ family knowhow, huh?” he asked with genuine interest.

Cass squinted at Leon, lips pursed into a joking pout that was half faked upset, half flirty. She wasn’t actually bothered, of course! She was perfectly fine with her height… And whenever she needed to be taller, she could just climb him!

"Just family knowhow. I’ve been helping in the kitchen since I could remember. I always enjoyed it, especially when I was younger and could help and learn from my Abuelita back in Ecuador. Thankfully, my parents and one of my younger brothers are decent cooks too, so I never got resentful of doing it." Reyna offered quite a full answer.

"I’m certainly no professional. I can cook certain dishes very well, others are average. And proper cooking comes with a certain… Inventiveness?"

”Hey, you were pretty good at making dishes outta what I suggested!” Cass stopped fake pouting to rejoin the conversation, tilting her head towards Leon with a grin.
”Cause no one else ever cooked for the dinners, me ‘n Rey started doing these like… Surprise dishes, where I’d think of something and then we’d make it happen. Some of the shit was pretty fucking wack.”

Leon grinned widely.
”Don’t even get me started on crazy made up bullshit meals. We had Andrade from the time I was a young kid; at first he lived with us, then he moved out but kept coming over to make our meals. So, the only times I didn’t have fuckin’... Like, Michelin level dinner, essentially, was when he was gone somewhere. Then, oh… Dad would try. With what he knew… Like, y’know, ‘Hey, let me get this boiled chicken split up and blended into a thick consistency. It’s like patte!’” Leon grimaced, faking a gagging motion.

”That guy was a fucking menace. We’d watch him slurp one of those down, not know whether to feel like shit because you just couldn’t, or feel angry because this dumbass was the world champion of Boxing.” he laughed.

Reyna grimaced too, looking visibly disgusted at the thought of blended chicken. Like it was an affront to cooking itself. It was.

Cass, on the other hand, looked thoughtful.
”Y’know… It’s actually a pretty ingenious idea! Like, if you gotta eat tons, that takes a bunch of time, right? And I dunno, protein shakes made with the powder and stuff kinda sucks. I ain’t so sure about the boiled chicken bit, like at least fry it, but- blending it and drinking it is super efficient! You just gotta get over the texture which… Well, I’ve definitely eaten worse before! Y’know, I might need to try it sometime…”

”Thanks for confirming his theoretics, Babe. He said the same thing. Like the whole dunking the hotdog in the water at the hotdog eating contest thing… Purely less resistance. Or, it is if you can make it past the occasional strand that makes it through.”

Punctually, Leon took a bite of his food and giggled thinking about the kind of bullshit he was now conditioned to eating as an adult. The high octane garbage food of his adult life was only sustainable thanks to the ever-hungry nature of the parasite within.

”I’m not gonna stop you from liquefying your dinner, but I’ll ask you to do it in the privacy of your own space… Lest you trigger my fucking latent PTSD.” he joked.

"I will disown you as a friend if I so much as hear about this happening." Reyna snorted, managing to go back to her own meal after that disgusting thought.

Cass tilted her head back and laughed.
”Aw, don’t worry guys! I ain’t gonna do it in front of you, Babe- and I’ll never tell you, Rey! Honestly… Maybe I’ll just perfect swallowing food whole instead! Then that’s even less effort. No need to blend it, but also no need for chewing! It just goes right down… And y’know how good I am at swallowing big things.” She winked at Leon, unable to hold back that last bit.

Rey let out a mock groan of annoyance.
"I thought we were keeping it dinner table friendly?"

”I’ve managed to hold back this long! That’s pretty good for me!”

Leon laughed, pointing playfully at Cass.
”Jesus Christ, I mean… I’d find that more acceptable honestly. I guess you’re a Green Adept, so, anything goes?”