Plank Sinatra

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@Krayzikk @Kaithas @NarayanK

"I see." The Negasi patriarch's face was inscrutable, even as he turned back to his daughter. "I bet you're enjoying that big mouth of hers, too."

Behind Lauren's deliberately bemused face, Ben and Amy both locked up.

"Whatcha talkin' about, Pops?" the scrapper asked innocently. "My mouth hasn't been up to anything in a while--"

"Right." In Pops' right hand, as if by sleight of hand, a wad of lien appeared; he waved it in front of his only daughter, bills making flapping and crinkling noises as they moved. "So I guess you were just grinding out financial aid forms for the past few weeks to make over ten thousand lien. Knowing how you get about honor among thieves, I'm willing to bet that if I had looked under the other beds in this dorm I'd find some more of your stashes too, right? How much money's here, Lorena?"

Lauren's face was a lesson in dawning comprehension. Then she laughed, clearly relieved.

"Shit, Pops, that was for a mission! We went to a brewery near the Atlesian border Friday! It was awesome as fuck! I killed the most Grimm out of anyone, and engineered our escape by using all the lessons you taught me about electricity to get an elevator working again, and then I managed to bring one of the bombed-out trucks back to life and smuggle out, like, hundreds of thousands of bucks worth of chemicals and shit! I got a finder's fee for it, and ooh, Cap killed a Manticore! It was--"

"A Manticore?" Costa Negasi sounded slightly concerned as she turned to Ben. "They knew there would be a Manticore there?"

"--no no no, it was fucking sick! Cap jumped out of a helicopter and his dildo-guns became a giant sword, and then he cut its head off and skull fucked it back to hell from whence it came untilwegotbacktoValewhichiswherewe--mmrrrrrrrrrphle"

"Right. A mission. I'll believe that." Pops Negasi drew his hand away from her face for a second, ending her attempts to continue the story while muffled, before tossing Lauren's reward money her way and resting both hands on his hips. "So they gave you the finder's fee..."

"Yup! Cap says I should invest it in tech stocks, or making a tofu and kale bar for white people, or for--"

"And I'm guessing that they also gave you this handmade Zephyr handbag," her father continued. "And the Palladium card under the alias... Estellise Sidos Heurassin Nuit? Bit long-winded, Lauren."

It was a long name, and even though Lauren had been expecting it, she'd lost a shade of color with every word.

"I, uh...heh...well, they reward good..."

"If you lie to me, I will throw both of these out the window, child."

...

Lauren pouted softly and crossed her arms defensively. A noise of upset admonition was welling up in her throat.

"You can't!" she protested. "I earned them! In a bet! I talked the girl out of them in under ten minutes! Cap said!"

"Cap said." Negasi's eyes found Ben's sheepish-looking face and then went back to Lauren. "What did you tell her?"

...

"That...it was clearly a fake from Kuchinashi, and you could tell because of the way that they did the stitching," Lauren said reluctantly, pointing to the bag. "I said that they only did it diagonally like this in Kuchinashi factories."

It was her father's turn to fall silent - before he burst out into a loud, booming laugh, occasionally cracking with incredulous glee. Even Lauren's mother, through her look of disapproval, was clearly holding in an amused smile. Lauren brightened up at the reaction, having clearly expected reprimand - or even confiscation. It would be just like her dad to steal something that she'd earned and then sell it for his own profit.

"Okay, okay, that is a worthy boost," her father conceded, nudging at Lauren's stash underneath the bed with his boot.
"She bought that? Why the hell would anyone buy that?"

"Because Lauren Negasi, Vale Style Co. morally murky sales representative, said so!"

Lauren produced her falsified business card with all the gusto of a police officer pulling his badge. It almost sent her father into tears.

"Yeeeeeup!" Lauren was clearly pleased with herself. "I made enough money and swag this weekend to even build myself a new weapon, better than that shitty-ass fucking axe that Slo boosted from a primary school for me. Have I shown you this fucking thing? Where the hell is it, hang on..."

Lauren bent over to crawl underneath the bed and find her weapon, lower half jutting out from the bed at a dangerous angle. Ben's tight jeans only compounded the issue.

Her father's stare found those of the poor, brave Redwood boy, daring him to break eye contact.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

<Snipped quote by FlitterFaux>

Not if you keep pestering them to post.

You either get them to state they quit or they stay, both options of which are really fucking good when the alternative is fence-sitting.

@Crimmy

this is why nobody likes u u dunk

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

I'm probably not gonna make the jump to a new thread if it happens to be honest.

Didn't we just have this conversation two months ago and come up with a plan for how to make classes and missions more engaging back then? Once Family Day is past we can implement it, see if it's worth a shit, and go from there. If we already have a plan waiting in the wings and Family Day is wrapping up within a week or so, there's no point rehashing each other's talking points or giving up on something without trying on what we've all already decided.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

JMTC canon soon

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

lauren post tonight to commemorate this anniversary of turnt history

also vive too

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

jericho best girl

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

Please Do Nothing To the Kitchen Girl

@Crimmy @HereComesTheSnow @Silvan Haven @Ayazi @LokiLeo789 @Write

As cranky and fed up as he no doubt was with the events that had befallen the unfortunate day shift of this cafe one by one, Jericho had it in him to roll his eyes good-naturedly at Severa Mindaro's polite protests - and at her even more cautious order. The woman was possibly the most gentle soul Jericho had ever met outside of his own family, and even then he'd seen his twin have some pretty rough days. Then again, who knew what Severa Mindaro was like when properly roused to anger...

Better to never know.

"Ms. Severa," Jericho said warmly, already fixing his hair into a makeshift ponytail, "making you a latte sounds like the least amount of trouble I've had in days. Now, if you would both be so good as to witness me..."

• Four green teas, two iced
• Two lattes
• Mocha, five sugars (no garlic, no priest's ashes, no puns)
• Six cookies (three choc. three oat.)
• Cappuccino (personal use, prepare last)

Rich, you towel-whipping despot, don't even try and tell me that I've let my skills atrophy when I see you this summer.

He was a boy who grew up wanting to spend his whole life killing, bettering the lives of his friends through his own sins.

Now that same boy snapped into action, bettering the lives of his friends through something as simple as making them their promised drinks.

The poor barista, whose name Jericho hadn't even gotten before Bianca's business acumen had driven her out, had already started preparing the green tea. That was as simple as waiting for the fresh batch to finish preparing and then portioning it out. She hadn't gotten started on Geni's juice yet, so Jer decided to start on that, as it was the only drink that wouldn't be harmed by cooling down somewhat.

Apple Berry, Passion Fruit, Lemons and Citrus, Sweet Berry...

Shit, Sweet Berry would go nicely with some mint, actually. So would Lemon and Citrus, but the last thing anyone needed this morning was sour, and if he was wrong, he always had Vega's tea to fall back on. Mint? Mint? There had to be mint around, it was springtime in Vale for Christ's sake.

Jericho darted into the back room behind the counter in search of a mint plant and found what he was looking for obscured behind some ingredients. He didn't entirely trust anything that was touching some of the bottles of syrups and milk back here, so he cut three stems from the top of the plant to encourage regrowth later on. One stalk was balanced deftly between his fingertips; Jer started chewing on the other for concentration. Slipping back out front, Jericho filled the largest cup he could find - he hadn't specified sizes in his original order, but to hell with it, he had paid for everything so far and everyone here deserved twenty ounces for surviving each other every day - with ice and filled it about three-quarters full with the purplish fruit juice he had chosen. He stopped there to make sure he had time to stir; God only knew how much flavor had floated to the bottom and how much was just water. When he was properly satisfied with the drink, he filled the rest of the cup, gave it a cursory second mix, and then garnished with the two remaining stems of mint leaves.

One down.

The tea was ready!

Jericho hastily filled another two glasses with ice and made his way over to the tea - ingredients lemongrass, what? Lemon verbena? Could that hurt vampires? Note for later - in time to start pouring. Two of the glasses - more like mugs, but they still fit - were placed in a brown cardboard to-go container, along with Geni's juice and another cup of equal size for Vega to pour any tea she felt like sharing into. The Schwarz sister's teas were kept separate.

Five down.

Wait, not yet!

Jericho hustled over to the other side of the counter to the glass container where the cookies were kept heated, chocolate chips gooey and glistening as he withdrew two, then another, carefully with tongs and wrapped them up in a bag to preserve said the melty warmth of the treats. Three oatmeal raisin cookies soon followed in another bag.

Now five are down.

"Open your mouth, say 'aaah,'" Jericho said brusquely to April.

"Blaaaaaaaaah!"

She stuck her tongue out for emphasis. Cheeky little thing.

Jericho rolled his eyes and stuffed both waiting bags into her mouth. No doubt Luke would thank him for it just as soon as the sisters would.

"Beryl Harken! Order up!" he called out. "I'll forgive any and all of your tail mischief if you carry these back to Dawn and your teammates. Leave the other iced one, it's hers. Now. Coffees, coffees coffees coffees..."

Aha, he knew what to do here. Jericho turned his back to the three young women (wink) gathered around the counter to start on the other half of the order. After a brief span of time - and some nonsensical High Atlesian muttered under the tired knight's breath to himself - Jericho turned around carrying three hot cups, wrapped in zarfs, between his hands. He kissed his fingertips and planted the mocking gesture onto one cup, and slid the other two forward for Severa.

"For the happy couple, two matching lattes," said the Young Devil. "And for the unhappy daughters, two mochas. Galla!"

He had titled his head up and called out to the girl still loitering by the doorway expressionlessly.

"I don't know what you take in yours, you can add whatever you'd like," he explained, sliding forward her coffee beside the cup he had blessed. "And...a cappuccino for the kitchen wench."

That could wait. He wasn't done with the mint he was chewing yet, and besides, he didn't want to touch any more coffee for a couple minutes.

Still, that was pretty cool operating in the midst of an impossible situation. If he'd known that in eight hours he'd be paying for drinks, preparing those drinks, and all because of Bianca Nuit's hyper-possessive love for him, he would've never boarded the plane beside the Mindaros.

He thought.

In all honesty, he was pretty proud of the job he'd done. It was an okay feeling.

There'll be no towel whips for this girl.

Buffy The Vampire Slayer

Yeah, I'd be happy to post if this is still going.

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

@HereComesTheSnow @Write @Crimmy

Jericho's heart twitched in his chest.

Read: 1:41 AM.

Sender: Babylon P.
Recipient: Jericho P.
Message:

It me! Papa John delivery girl!

Gigi once asked me a question that I thought was pretty good: what does it make us if we lived in the same room before we were even born?

Daddy called me tonight and told me that you'd made up your mind somehow about Atlas over the weekend and wanted some time off from the whole thing. I get that. Or that you wanted to find yourself or something? I didn't picture you as the type to chew peyote in the desert and look for meaning in the stars or anything, bro, but hell, I can't blame you. Atlas could never ask anyone for more than you've already given, and I don't know a whole load of people who would've stuck around after what they took.

I know that's why I couldn't stick around. I don't know if Daddy will ever forgive me for that, but I still remember that you did.

So! From one Atlesian washout to another, I hope you enjoy the big wide world. I've thought it was pretty brand spanking fucking cool,
and so does Bekahboo. She's in the vents above my bed proofreading while I type right now. She remembers all you've done for her, too -
and she wants me to let you know that she's living proof you're more than the orders Atlas gives you.

I love you, Jericho Dylan! Vale is comfy; I hope you think so too. And for fuck's freaking sake, don't be so standoffish during your next semester! I know you're gonna miss the team, but that's no reason to take it out on these poor Vale kids. You'd better pay attention to me! :)

I mean it. You'd better. I remember our first time in Vale, when Daddy took us to the Vytal Festival. I still remember how much you cheered for BANK. Remember my bad Umeko costume, and how you spent the whole two weeks calling me a race traitor?

I remember, big bro.

And I remember that you were an even worse Noel. you pink haired brat. : )

Glomps and kisses!
Babylon Paris Piper

PS. It makes us womb-mates! God I love Gigi.

"Yeah, I'm spending a semester here. Maybe even until the Vytal Festival. Honestly? It may have just been past time," Jericho admitted, meeting April's stare as coolly as he could manage without thinking of his sisters in wherever-the-hell principality of Mistral or wherever. He'd thought sometimes about how many caveats Babs would probably have to cop too before the all-important "but I still love him, he's my wonder twin!" but had never really seen it in action before. Luke Schwarz hadn't terribly impressed him too much from what he'd seen, apart from a cute face and a body that was marginally fun to splash water on, but it was hard to find someone with a more intuitive grasp on what made you who you were than a doting little sister. Loving you despite your faults. Seeing you through masks. Warming you up even when you wanted to be a cold, confident, aloof son of a bitch - and always hampering your training when that's just what you were trying to become.

In one facial expression, one throwaway sentence from a dumb high schooler with ridiculous hedgehog hair, she'd cut to the heart of what it was to be a big brother. The big brother he'd been before he became a knight of Atlas.

Jericho's hair twitched, glowing brightly and folding up into a scythe shape over his right shoulder.

"Babs always liked to tell me I wasn't born wearing a Gold Stripes uniform, so I might as well stop acting like I have one up my ass," he continued. "But don't tell your brother I'm passing on my sister's coarse language to you. You haven't been through boot camp. He wouldn't understand."

Jericho Piper's smile was returning. There was even a threat of him showing teeth, fulfilling most of the criteria a normal, functioning adult without manual control of their face would call a grin.

Then Gratia came over, drinking up any mild fun Jericho Piper may have been having for the first time in three days and replacing it with a chill that made the hairs on his exposed, dark arms want to stand on end. Bianca was with her.

And the barista was walking out the door in a huff.

...

The barista.

Oh, Jesus goddamn Christ.

There was now officially no employee on duty, for reasons he didn't need to be a frickin' palm reader to grasp - and not a single Beacon student aside from he and Bianca, ENTREPRENEURIAL V I S I O N A R Y that she G O D D A M N W A S, had gotten their drinks!

And WOULDN'T YOU GODDAMN KNOW, T͈̗H̗͉E̻͡R̰̠͖̞͍̤ͅE͘'̦̪̞̟S̢̱ ̵̫̖̘̗A͏̲̠͔̮̠ ̧̭̙̖̪̜͕K̭̝̠̲ͬ̍͒ͮͥͥ͂̆̀͠I̢͇̠̭̣͖ͩͨ̂ͧ̿͞Ţ̟͚̪̹̯̦̂̏͌ͯ͋͞C̞̻̩̦͍̹͎̫ͮͬͨ͑̉ͩ̾͛̄͡͝H̛̫̗̠̥͚͙ͯ̏ͅE̸̷̱̫̭̝̳̝̝̹̔ͭ͗͒ͦͫN̠̮͕͈̹͖̳̍ͪͬͮ̆ͮͮ͛ ͉̫͐͒ͪͭ͆ͩ̀́ͅW̴̃́͆ͦ̈́͏̖̮́E̴̛̫͍̮̞̠ͣ̅ͥ́̆̍͌͊N̴̛͌ͧ́͛̈́͛ͬ҉̜͓̥̼̙͚̝C̸̬̬̲͖̣͒̿̇̈ͬ͐͐Ḣ̤̝̞̯̦͙͎͙̺̿̒̇͗͜͟͠ I͔̘̲̣͡ͅṆ̯̙̥̭ ̠̫͓͚̘̞͍͘T̴̺̝H͠E̹̫͙͘ ̫͖͚͝ͅB҉UI̶̳̬̫̮͕̜̫Ḻ̖̖͉̲͎̘͘DI̹͓͇͞N̡̝͎̬̖G̷̜.̮̘̱̖ͅ

His face had grown still as Grat pulled Bianca out of the cafe, with only a quiet "Hey" to even acknowledge the Mindaro's presence, and despite her cavalier farewell he stared at the birdbrain emotionlessly until she walked out of the door. Then he let out a quiet, long-suffering sigh at April and an apologetic shrug before vaulting over the counter and turning back to face her from where an employee would normally stand.

"Break out the tip money, it looks like I'm on duty," he remarked sardonically, noticing an approaching figure out of the corner of his eye. A faint blossom of warmth that didn't feel like blood welling up in his throat began to return to the Young Devil. "Hey, Ms. Severa. I already paid for you and your family. What's your poison?"

Heroes of Beacon - the Next Chapter

AS IF WE DIDN'T HAVE ENOUGH FRENCH TIDDIES