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The halls of Halcyon Prep have become adorned in pinks and lavenders as Valentine's Day fast approaches. Large painted banners announce the Valentine's dance, proudly declaring it to be a Sadie Hawkins-style event wherein the ladies are expected to ask their dates to the dance instead of the gents.
Those who have been to Hal-Prep in previous years know that this is a bit of a twist on what has usually been a standard, seasonal-obligative dance. event. For the members of First Class who had been unexpectedly absent for the last couple days, they find themselves behind the curve both academically and socially. While they receive excuses for their absences from official channels, there is no such thing for the missed social interactions.
Caio arrives at school through his usual route from the tunnels out of Unity Base and the block-and-a-half walk to the campus grounds takes him past Skyler's favorite spot to people-watch. She's there, heavy coat and toboggan protecting her from the morning chill, when he comes into view. Her mouth opens slightly when they make eye contact, but she doesn't call out. She doesn't even smile, though her eyes bore into his intensely.
She slowly reaches up and grabs the knit cap covering her head and pulls it off, causing long, pink locks of hair to fall across her shoulders down to the small of her back.
Shin goes through the motions for the first half of the day, catching up as best as he can for the days missed. Once lunch period finally hits, he enters the cafeteria and finally spots Valerie -- at school going as 'Tasha' -- sitting with Alden and a few of the other football players and their girlfriends.
She makes eye contact with him once he spots her. She's got a tray with a scant amount of food in front of her, which Alden seems to be picking through.
Being super smart means that a few days' worth of missed classes require only a modicum of attention in class and the skimming of a few pages. Unfortunately, it also means getting stuck with whoever the teacher assigns you in AP chem projects. Which happens to be one of the new students, Fae Miller.
The purple-tipped girl regards her with mismatched eyes. "Hello there," she says with a smirk. "Lucky me; everyone in the class wanted to be your lab partner, which meant the teacher gave you to me. Said you could 'bring me up to speed.'"
She steps aside to reveal her current experiment. "I thought we could demonstrate the heterogeneous catalytic conversion of CO2 to CH3OH. What do you think?" A quick glance shows that Fae has taken several steps in the project. "Do you need me to explain?"
Femtite's dread anxiety over Duke Zepar and the possible machinations of Chastity's church are forefront in her mind when she arrives at school. At her usual time, Chastity is dropped off at the traffic circle in front of the main building. For an instant, Maeve's anxiety melts away when Chastity sees her for the first time in days and gives her a bright smile.
The first half of the day is a whirlwind. Chastity doesn't stop by the restroom to apply makeup, citing a need to turn in a paper that she'd gotten an extension on. The rest of the periods that morning required Maeve to hustle to catch up for the days she'd missed.
It's not until lunchtime that she was finally able to truly attempt to catch up with Chas and her friends. Once seated at their usual table, Raquel, Gina and Ngon excitedly welcome Maeve back from her "emergency."
Raquel is busy on her phone while Gina and Ngon elbow Chastity. "Well? Sadie Hawkins dance?" Ngon says. "This is where the ladies have to face the possibility of rejection!"
Gina looks at him out of the side of her eye. "Oh? I need to be worried about rejection? Are you, like, assuming I'm going to ask you?"
He smirks. "Well, you know what they say about assuming. U plus Me plus Ass, is, Ing-ing. And I'm down for that."
Gina gives him an incredulous look complete with eye-rolling, then giggles despite herself. Chastity, too, stifles a laugh.
Triumphant, Ngon looks at Raquel, still texting away at her phone. "So, I assume you'll be bacheloretting it up? Huh?"
Raquel flushes with a smile. "No, I've got a date. He said yes."
Chastity gasps. "Gabe?!?! He'll go with you?!?"
Raquel squees in response. "Yes! He's going to be my date! Eeee!" The two hug tightly.
"What." Gina looks at Raquel. "Who's Gabe, and, what?"
"My cousin," Chastity says with an irrepressible grin. "I'm staying at his house while our apartment is being fixed. Raquel came over the other night, and, well..."
Raquel blushes. "I know. It's weird, but I think I finally get it. He's cool in a dorky way. Likes horror movies more than me. I mean, I think I finally understand the whole mashing genitals together thing." That causes Chastity to blush more brightly.
Gina just stares. "Um." Her eyes glance at Chastity, who seems inordinately pleased. "Raquel. Are you still... aro?"
Raquel opens her mouth to speak, but her phone beeps. She looks at it and giddily starts responding. "Sorry, he just texted me back. OMG, I need a dress! Like, a real dress!"
Maeve is definitely alarmed by Raquel having a date.
“Just one night and…”
Unslacken the jaw. Smile.
“Well, maybe you can join us on a shopping trip. I mean…” She turns to Chastity. “We obviously would have to meet at the mall since I’ve fallen out of favor with your mom. But with your cousin going, you could still go to the dance.
“I suppose I should officially ask though…” She braces herself. “…Chastity, will you accompany me to the Sadie Hawkins dance, as my date?”
The mention of her vision gives him a chill. "I'm not sure if we can or should trust visions. Like, are they a prediction of the future or just a possibility? Perhaps they are just an extension of our own fears and anxieties... I don't know." He has not idea about who this Pollyanna is.
"Well, that is it. Max had visions about this Reibold, you had visions about Zepar and these disasters, but we can't use any of this as proof about anything. Let me know if you discover something concrete, because then I'll need to get to the source of this Zepar thing... this kind of knowledge needs to be locked away for everyone's sake." Caio then waves and turns to leave.
Caio raises his eyebrows, his eyes go wide and his jaw drops. "How!? Wow... just wow!" He reaches for her, smiling like a fool. He reaches to pick her up. "I did not think you could look even prettier and hotter..."
He takes a strand in his hand, sliding it on his hand until the tip, his eyebrows still up. He then takes a fistful behind her head to kiss her, then hug her and finally give her neck a kiss. A quick one, since they are in school. "I missed you." He whispers, his words clearly telling her how he wanted to make up for the time he was gone. "This is going to be a loooong day..."
Chastity smiles at the invitation, but immediately shakes her head. Touching her upper arm, she says, "You know we can't go together. If I'm going to a dance, my mom's probably going to chaperone, and even if she doesn't my parents are going to insist on meeting my date!"
Biting her lip, she looks uncomfortable. "I know it's a lot to ask, but what if we each invite someone else, and make it like a double--" she looks at Gina and Ngon still agape at Raquel-- quadruple date? Then, you know, we'll be going to the dance together! Kinda."
She leans forward. "Don't worry. I'm not inviting Jonathan."
Skyler looks thrilled at Caio's reaction to her new long hair. She grabs a fistful and rubs it on his cheek when he pulls her in for a kiss. She just makes cooing sounds when he hugs and kisses her more but has to restrain himself.
"A long day, yeah, but I had to wait three days, you know!" She joins him in the walk to the building cluthci his hand tightly. "I just wish I had the chance to try to fool you into thinking you've been gone so long that this grew out naturally!" she smirks.
Mae is worried… but not overly worried since this is a plan. And she was mentally prepared for this or worse.
“Okay… Chas. I have to confess I was anticipating something like this. Remember Conway? He’s the president of the Femtite Fanclub. I can ask him and make sure he doesn’t get the wrong idea.
“But Chastity, Jonathan doesn’t worry me. My only worry is that he would want it to be real, and it was hurting him to keep trying—to not move on.” She looks into her eyes and reaches for her hand, but only meeting halfway. “Do you know a boy who won’t get the wrong idea?—who’ll know it’s a cover, and be okay with it being a cover?”
Is he really ready for trying to integrate himself in again with the athletic crowd? Shin looks and sees how Alden is helping himself to the meager food 'Tasha' has on her plate. He's unsure how he feels about that type of casual familiarity.
He approaches, taking a seat. He's dressed perhaps a little more along his prep school days back in the past with a button-up and sweater vest. Layers were fine when it was still cold outside.
"...lot of buzz about the upcoming dance, it seems," He mentions as he takes a bite of his sandwich. It's a bag lunch today, a bulkie roll with turkey, tomato and spinach and some horseradish sauce for bite.
The athletes all exchange looks with each other when Shin sits down. He recognizes most of them, even if he can't match everyone's names. Alden, of course, Amber is sitting next to Troy, and Uma is sitting across from another football player Shin's not sure the name of.
"Hey, Shin. You know everyone here, right?" 'Tasha' greets as he joins them. "I've been to two dances, and they were both disasters. For different reasons. I'm probably going to sit this one out."
"Really?" Alden asks, surprised. "I thought you might..."
Tasha arches an eyebrow at him. "Might what? Just 'cause I let you eat my food doesn't mean I have to ask you out."
Alden deliberately takes a fry off her plate and bites it, glancing briefly at Shin as he does so. "The sharing of food in some cultures show that the woman is interested," he smirks.
Tasha matches his smirk and slides her tray fully in front of him. Then she turns to Shin. "What about you, playa? Some hottie snatch you up already?"
"That's why I'm not inviting him. I don't know who, yet. Probably a freshman or sophomore. Danny Gilbreath was in my media arts class last semester. I'll ask him, maybe. He was nice."
"He's dating Hannah Dibny, last I heard," Gina says distractedly. She still is staring at Raquel who remains on her phone.
"Oh." Chastity frowns in thought. "Ngon, do you know anyone?"
"Oh, yeah. I have a huge social circle outside you guys. And I keep a running list with all the single dudes." He chuckles at his own sarcasm. Then at Chastity's crestfallen look, he sighs. "Lemme think about it."
"Yeah, quick access to internet has ruined a lot of pranks. And on top of that I'd have to believe you can survive that long without me." He jokes, but boasting is so not his thing that he can't even do it properly.
He looks at the decorations and gets the whole idea of girls having to ask for a date. "That is... interesting?" He wonders. "I mean, go girl power, but I don't know how I'd react if we were not dating... probably I'd blush and babble some nonsense."
"No. Rules as written, no one has asked me and I can't ask who I'd want to go with me." Shin replies. He reaches over and steals a fry for himself off of Tasha's tray. She might notice he's redone his manicure to a muted pink. "But it's still a while out. Plenty of time for people to make up their minds about me."
A look of relief crosses Mae’s face. “Oh, Chas… I’m so glad we’re coordinating this before we ask the wrong boys.” She turns to Ngon. “Your eligible bachelor friends don’t wanna be fixed up with a girl who’s really with another girl, and honestly, I’m afraid Conway might get a false hope about me. And he probably would pretend like he’s fine… I really don’t want to break his heart.
“Let’s face it. For varying reasons, none of us are experts on how to fake straight for mom. But why feign expertise when we know a master?
“Connie!
“She even offered to find Chas a beard.” Mae turns to Chas, using her hands to push her own blonde locks against her cheeks, so Chas is looking at a beaded Maeve. “I’ll bet Connie knows two boys who would play the roles? Y’know, a gay couple? So they both have their real dates too.
“Nobody ends up lonely or starts wishing it’s not just for show.” She glances back to see if Connie’s at her usual table, then asks, “What do you think?”
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Percival rushes to the school before buses are even out and running, one major benefit of his extended circadian rhythm being that he doesn't need sleep nearly as much as humans. So he's in the school and his locker and make it to the classroom before he can be questioned about the fantasy world. It also helps him feel normal for just a few moments sitting in a classroom. Like most times he doesn't expect anyone to approach him about anything and just works his hands worriedly as he waits for classes to start wondering if he's okay to be back around so many people after everything that happened.
In his humanoid form his general unease shows in the form of bristled spines and scales, closely tucked wings, and nervous hands.
Skyler gives him a brief glare at his boast. "I managed three days, and you're complaining about one. But I don't want to do that ever again," she whispers in his ear.
Onve inside and beneath the Valentine's Day streamers, she rolls her eyes at the Sadie Hawkins part of the upcoming dance. "Pfft. It's so old fashioned. Like girls can't invite a guy to any other kind of dance if they want to. We don't have to wait for the guy to make the move. If you want to call it 'girl power' be my guest, but I think its dumb." She stops in the intersection where she has to go one way and Caio has to go another for their classes. She gives him a tight hug.
"I missed you too much to tease you about who I'm going to invite to the dance. You. Me. And no wolves. Right?"
Alden's expression falls when Shin snags a fry off the tray. Tasha leans back, clearly amused. "Good point. I'm the new girl here anyway. I shouldn't be making snap decisions."
"You still good for the media project, right? After school, Room 105?" Alden asks, rapidly changing topics.
"Yeah. Sorry about falling off the Earth the other day," Tasha says, sounding genuinely contrite. "I'm glad I could make it up."
He waves off the apology. "Hey, it happens sometimes. I still have time before the project's due. Hopefully we won't need to do any reshoots." He smiles. "Unless, you know, you think I did a good job..." He rises from his seat, his lunch period about to end.
Tasha grabs a fry before the tray is out of reach and brings it to her mouth. Shin notices a decent slight of hand maneuver that disappears the fry before it goes in her mouth. "We'll see," she tells him. Her eyes flick to Shin. "When do you think we'll be done?"
"Shouldn't be past 7:30. 8, tops. Why?"
"I got some catching up to do, is all. See you after class."
The day is a comforting routine at the start. Except for the seasonal decor and posters everywhere announcing the dance, everything is about as normal as it gets at Halcyon Prep.
During the time between classes students generally give him a wide berth because of his spiky bits, but others call out 'heys' and 'yos' as they pass.
His keen senses unfortunately pick up a whispered conversation by some girls out of eyeshot about what it'd be like inviting him to the dance. They conclude that it'd be... rough.
"Um, sure. Let's try that," Chastity says. "If you don't think Conway would understand. He was always nice. I think he'd want to help, even if it was, you know, for show. But maybe you're right. You shouldn't let him get his hopes up."
Mae smiles at Chas as she takes her hand. “He looked so cute all dressed up when Captain Stalwart moved my planet. I mean, yeah, if I really wanted to ask a boy, he’s the only one on Earth I would ask.
“But don’t be jealous; you’re ahead of all the competition on multiple planets.” She gives Chas’ hand a squeeze as they cross the caf to Connie’s table.
|
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Percy tries his best to not let the comments get to him or at least to not let them know he heard. At lunch it seemed like Shin had already made his way back into the jock corner, Maeve back into her group of girlies and no sign yet of Caio or Connie.
With that in mind he sat at a table by himself with both of the trays he picked up and picked lazily at it, not exactly interested in the food at the moment. Next up was AP Calc and Chem classes so those would at the very least be interesting enough to keep him distracted from everyone chittering on about the dance.
"You are right, it has nothing to do with girl power." He admits. "Still, girls don't really do it, otherwise this would not be treated as a novelty." He shrugs. "It think it is nice if it serves to remember girls they can do it already or even just to put people on each others shoes."
He hugs her bag, losing himself for a moment on her smell. "No wolves and no drama." And hopefully no demons too. He thinks, recalling the daemons in the Halloween.
A bit late for lunch, Caio sees Percy sit by his own so he sits with him. "Hey Percy! Game night tonight since we missed Wednesday?"
Session 12: Everyone Faces Heartbreak
--------------------------------------------------------
The halls of Halcyon Prep have become adorned in pinks and lavenders as Valentine's Day fast approaches. Large painted banners announce the Valentine's dance, proudly declaring it to be a Sadie Hawkins-style event wherein the ladies are expected to ask their dates to the dance instead of the gents.
Those who have been to Hal-Prep in previous years know that this is a bit of a twist on what has usually been a standard, seasonal-obligative dance. event. For the members of First Class who had been unexpectedly absent for the last couple days, they find themselves behind the curve both academically and socially. While they receive excuses for their absences from official channels, there is no such thing for the missed social interactions.
Being super smart means that a few days' worth of missed classes require only a modicum of attention in class and the skimming of a few pages. Unfortunately, it also means getting stuck with whoever the teacher assigns you in AP chem projects. Which happens to be one of the new students, Fae Miller.
The purple-tipped girl regards her with mismatched eyes. "Hello there," she says with a smirk. "Lucky me; everyone in the class wanted to be your lab partner, which meant the teacher gave you to me. Said you could 'bring me up to speed.'"
She steps aside to reveal her current experiment. "I thought we could demonstrate the heterogeneous catalytic conversion of CO2 to CH3OH. What do you think?" A quick glance shows that Fae has taken several steps in the project. "Do you need me to explain?"
"Not broadly. Are you hoping to demonstrate the efficiency of a catalyst that we're already aware of? Or is this a push the boundaries of human knowledge kinda thing? Oh, I also don't have a Monel Parr reactor in this pair of pants, but depending on the volume we're attempting to produce, we might be able to scrape something extracurricular together..."
***
It's not a Spirit day, so no one at the table is in their uniforms, but there are still school colors to be seen on each of the cheerleaders, even if to count Connie in that number you have to include where her bra shows through the artful holes in her crop top, which implores Femtite and any other readers to 'spill ur GUTS'.
"...Look, if it helps, I was debatably doing conditioning exercises the whole time I was running through the- Oh hey. Chastity, Maeve what's up?"
Maeve is a little nervous about Jade overhearing her, but not to the extent she won’t speak plainly.
“Hey, Connie. Chas and I were just talking about the dance, and… I’m not gonna dance around the topic. Remember how we talked about getting Chas a beard? Well, what if it were a short-term role—just for the Sadie Hawkins dance? Preferably one who so impresses Mrs. Robertson that she doesn’t feel compelled to chaperone.
“Is this something you’re okay helping us with?”
And to fully disclose what’s been discussed, she adds, “Oh, and if you think a gay male couple and gay female couple make a good beard-match, I can work with that. Else, I will ask Conway to be my beard. Our table is attempting a quadruple date. Raquel was the first to get a ‘yes,’ and she’s looking as giddy as the Dutchess of Zealand.”
Fae shrugs. "The former. I don't plan on turning the scientific community on its head my first week back. Though, I've got some ideas for comparison. To see what those little molecules are up to."
At the mention of scraping a Parr reactor, she laughs. "I didn't know you needed that much extra credit. But yeah, if you have a line on one, let's do it."
The members of First Class get a notice of a debriefing scheduled for after classes at Unity Base.
Those who follow the instructions and arrive at the base find Feya Firestorm and Whippoorwill waiting on them.
"I would have liked to have done this sooner," Whippoorwill explains without preamble, "but you needed to get back to your lives and we needed to make sure there wasn't any residual effects anywhere else but that gate by the stadium. So, now that you all have had a chance to breathe, I'd like to hear about your experiences in that place."
"It wouldn't be name brand, obv, but the whole point of it is to provide containment, heat, and pressure - and once you solve containment, you really just need precision and measurement when it comes to the heat and pressure. I haven't made the tools for that yet, but it's not as though there's not plenty of inspiration already available... Oh, and 'first week back?' We're doing that? Even as lab partners? What some possibly consider a nigh-sacred bond?"
***
"Uhhh I think you took away the wrong lessons from my little sermon on beards and the acquisition thereof. Why do you need beards at the dance anyways? Just don't give each other a corsage or a smooch in front of her parents? Or if the dance isn't a safe place to be visibly girlfriends, maybe just don't be visibly girlfriends there? I recommend ditching. Or doing a platonic hang. Beards don't solve any of your actual problems here."
Maeve smiles nervously. “Yes, we don’t have beards where I come from. Which is of course the rural side of Kildare. And they probably definitely do, so fallacy retracted. Haha, I mean… I lack any personal experience with a beard.
“So umm…” She turns to Chas, “You know your mother. And you wouldn’t think of asking a boy unless you thought it would be helpful, or maybe even lead to me being unkicked from your life. So, would you like to answer Connie’s questions and talk this through?” And in case Connie would rather not, Mae adds, “I mean, if you’re okay with that.”
Fae stares at Connie with wide eyes and an open expression. "We're doing what?" She takes a step back and hands her the tablet with the write-up of the project and some of the initial planning. "You're free to check everything I've done so far. I'm actually excited to work with you. I've heard a lot about you."
She twirls a purple-tipped lock of hair around one finger, her demeanor changing as someone who's all of a sudden afraid of having messed something up.
Chastity frets with her hands and looks uncomfortable. "Ditching? You mean, just not go?" She glances at Maeve and then studies the floor. "I-- yeah. It's probably for the best. She's going to want to chaperone, I'm sure. Especially after Halloween."
She looks up at Maeve. "You should go anyway. Have fun for me, okay?"
Maeve can see that ditching is not what Chastity wants. “Okay, umm… well, thanks anyway, Connie.”
Mae leads Chastity toward the table, but stops somewhere in between near the place where students can get napkins and plastic wares. (a.k.a., a place with little-to-no traffic after the first ten minutes of lunchtime.)
“Chas, you know we’ve got options. Ditching doesn’t need to be among them, and shouldn’t be since you loook dejected just thinking about it. I love the way you keep finding ways to spend time despite my falling out with your mother. It’s not fair to you if you have to do all the thinking.
“How about we work on a plan together—one that you’re comfortable with?—and happy with. First I think we gotta step back and look at the givens: Sadie Hawkins dance, Raquel and Gina have dates, and your mother might be there.
“In this situation, what is one thing that would make you happy?—whether you think it’s possible or not?”
Maeve hopes that by being a supportive girlfriend who is putting Chas’ happiness first, Chastity will open up. And from there, the two can develop a plan that may or may not require the enlistment of Conway and/or another boy…
Shin meets Valerie's eyes, giving a slight nod. "I see some other faces I have to check in on," He says, getting up and looking to Alden. "Hope to see how your project turns out. Sure it'll be well, you have a brilliant subject to capture."
He looks back down to 'Tasha'. "Later," He tells her, heading off for now and hoping he was playing it cool enough.
He stops by Connie's table on the way to see Percy and Caio. Nodding to Chastity and Maeve as they leave and taking note of the odd girl he wasn't sure he'd met before. "...real quick. Do you know anyone who might want to ask Percy to the dance? I think it might be good for him to have something to look forward to that way. Even if it's just as a friend."
Chastity huffs at being pressured and shakes her head. She goes to her tray and busses it. When she returns, she's a little more composed. "Let's just do this: we don't say we're girlfriends during the dance. So there's nothing to worry about because there's nothing for Mom to find out. You go, invite Conway, or maybe let me if you're worried he'll get the wrong idea."
Her eyes bore into Maeve's. "Nothing would make me happier if I just ]didn't have to worry."
'Tasha' smiles back. "See you," she says, rising as well. Without a tray to put away, she leaves the cafeteria alone.
Skyler is waiting in Caio's room made toasty due to a space heater. He sees immediately she is topless with her pink hair now hanging down to cover her breasts. "You better not have to rush off to fight evil tonight..." she says with a warning in her voice.
If Shin decides to try to catch up with 'Tasha' after her photo shoot, he misses her by a few minutes. Alden is packing up his camera equipment and storing it away in the media arts center.
What does he do??
"Alden - Tasha just left?" He asks, taking out his phone and sending her a text.
Shin: Want to catch up? Haven't spoken since ice rink
He shoots it off, before glancing at the equipment. "Good session I hope. Don't worry, I think you'll do well with your assignment."
Mae takes Chas by the hands.
“I don’t want you to worry, Chas. I wish I knew how to fix everything.” She knows she can’t possibly… but since Chastity seems to think Conway could help, she runs with that. “I think if you ask Conway or a friend of Ngon’s, there’s one less worry. Your mother won’t try to fix you up if you already have a date.
“How about you get your mom to approve joining us at Ngon’s for the movie? You can say there will be at least one shy boy there, and you think it’s an opportunity to ask someone nice. And if you leave it at that, it’s the truth.”
She gives Chastity’s hands a tender squeeze.
“Well… what do you think?”
Mae wants to be sure Chastity approves before she asks Ngon if it’s okay to invite Conway, and of course she’ll call Conway after that’s settled.
"All right," Chastity sighs. She doesn't sound sure, but doesn't offer up any alternative besides abandoning any efforts to attend the dance at all. "We'll try that. Maybe that'll get Mom to approve the movie night."
"Yeah, she took off pretty fast, like she had to be someplace. I guess it's not with you then, huh?" Alden says, sounding glad about being wrong. "It was a great session. Tasha's a natural."
After a few minutes, Shin's phone informs him that his text was read. He doesn't get a text back immediately, however.
What do you do?
"Oh, I'm not trying to get you in trouble or start a fight or anything, but you are Faetite, right? And this is (with the benefit of the doubt) a chance for you to get to know the humans of the larger world now around you? To see how your alternate grew up? Possibly meet Conflux/Connie the Great and Terrible? Your mother and her alt both seem on board with lasting enmity, but you weren't part of that conversation, so I'm perfectly willing to assume for the present that you might not be here to be my enemy. Especially since we're Lab Partners."
She quickly skims through the notes in the tablet. "Oh, do you have a pressure cooker at home? Even an Instant Pot? That would make a shockingly good base for what we're trying to do..."
Caio smiles and walks awkwardly and hops towards her since he was trying to take off his shoes at the same time. "Not my plan!" On the bed, he gives her a kiss before pushing her until she is laid on her back. As he takes of his shirt, he pauses a moment just to burn the image in his head.
"Now... these locks look very soft." He says, smirking and barely containing himself as he puts one hand on top of each of her breasts.
Where had she gone off?
"Thanks Alden. See you later," Shin tells him. He steps out and thinks for a moment about where Valerie might have gone off.
The easiest way to find out was by flying up high enough to get a bird's eye view of the campus. Hopefully he'd be able to spot her that way.
He also used an app he'd gotten for the purposes of getting a pin on team members phones in case they needed to find them without their comms. Seemed like she was getting near the skyrail station. Easy enough to get there, landing on the street out of sight before walking and continuing to follow.
Who was she trying to catch up with tonight if not him? He was a little worried about that.
Fae humms. "I don't know if I've got a pressure cooker at home. I'll have to ask Mother."
She looks a little crestfallen when Connie lowers her voice and asks if she's Faetite. "I'm Fae Miller. Formerly known as Rebecca Miller," she whispers back. She furrows her brow in concentration, then her eyes widen in understanding. "Ah! 'Great and Terrible.' That's a Wizard of Oz reference, right? So you're Oz, the Great and Terrible. Can I be Dorothy? I can get a dog, if you need me to."
Skyler needily pulls him to her, and the scene quickly fades to black.
When the lights go back on and the two are intwined with each other just enjoying being close to each other, Skyler lightly brushes Caio's chest with a pink tuft of hair in her fingers. "So my incredible powers of deduction and telepathy tell me that you juuust might like my new hair." She glides the lock of hair up to tickle his nose. "Is it long enough? If you want longer I can ask."
Shin reaches the station just to see the train leaving, a rapid-transit
express to the heart of the Tower District.
He can follow it easily enough as it snakes through the outer districts, but the doors are sealed tight making entry while it's moving tricky. The skyrail passes through several outer stations and finally slows to a halt at the Lovelace Plaza station. The doors slide open and a scattering of people disembark, a far fewer number at this hour than the usual hordes during rush hour.
Valerie is among the passengers leaving the train. She's fashionable in a long black coat, black gloves, and high black boots with a block heel. She weaves her way through the station, heading toward the Plaza exits.
Before Shin can catch up to her, she reaches Lovelace Plaza itself and heads directly towards the towering Lovelace International building.
"Interesting, I would've expected Oz to be the Great and Powerful for you. Well. If you should bump into Faetite, please extend that to her- Sorry, did you say you would get an entire dog if I needed you to? Girl, there's lab partners and then there's whatever that is."
Shin is really hoping that this isn't what he thinks it is here. Lovelace, international enterpreneur and one of the best information brokers to be found out there. Chicle worked for her.
He has a thought to continue to follow her and confront Valerie. But he knows that she's been looking for information on the Instigators and Heartache. He had to trust her to toe the line here.
He did want to make sure he wasn't missing any information and assuming off of bad intel. This did seem like a good opportunity to test out the new laser microphone gadget he'd gotten installed to eavesdrop through windows at a distance. But he'd need to know which window was Lovelace's office. If she was meeting with her at all-
No, they were too small time. Chicle, maybe. Did he ever get her contact information? Only Max and Femtite had met her face to face. He needed a number. Surely they had her card?
...Or, since he'd been spinning his gears for the past minute trying to justify doing something after having told himself to trust her, he could just trust Valerie.
"...good luck." He comments quietly before walking away and trying to avoid overprotectiveness.
Shin: Just missed you. Let's catch up tomorrow.
Maeve isn’t entirely sure that Chas will go through with the plan, that Conway will want anything to do with it, or whether both of them blowing off the dance is best.
“Chas, you know that the Sadie Hawkins dance is all about giving agency to the girls. You don’t have to go through with this plan if you don’t feel comfortable, okay? How about we both sleep on it.”
The thought of Chastity’s sleeping situation prompts a look of guilt.
“Oh, and Chas… you’re at your cousin’s house because of that hole in the wall.” She lowers her gaze for a moment. “I’m so sorry. I mean, I can explain if you want. But I don’t feel right just telling you ‘a villain did it’ because… you were counting on me, Chastity.
“How is your family holding up?” Maeve isn’t happy that Mrs. Robertson perma-banned her. But she’s still Chastity’s mother, whom Chastity loves. And she didn’t deserve to have her home trashed.
One minute of frustratingly trying to figure out how to use the spy app that was on his phone, Shin really wishes Valerie had kept her comm so he didn't need to deal with tech he was still not fully comfortable with using.
Fae stares at her with her unnerving mismatched eyes. "So what are we then, if not Lab Partners? It's a nigh-sacred bond, you said. I'll get the instant-pot."
"I-- it's fine," Chastity says as she checks the time to make sure they're not going to be late for class. "Sure, it was scary, when there was that crazy vision and the winter scene... but it's not like we're out on the street."
She shrugs. "It's Halcyon. At least we weren't home when it happened."
Horizon had been taught the rudimentals of the spy app, so he gets it working initially. After dialing it in, he catches Valerie's voice in his earpiece.
"Hey, Hogan! Rufus! It's been a while. I just need to go see Lovelace for a moment."
A muffled but gruff voice responds. "She's busy. Now leave."
"It won't take but a moment of her time. I can find her myself -- penthouse suite, right? You can go back to eating barbells or whatever it is you do to get so big." A few grunts and jostling happens before he hears, "I guess we're doing this the hard way, huh?"
He hears the sounds of a scuffle, then the pinging sound of an elevator. A few minutes of pleasant jazz plays before another bell chimes and the sound of doors sliding open.
The smooth jazz fades and ambient strings replace the background noise before voices pick up again. "Siphon. Were such theatrics necessary? You could have called." The voice is feminine, cultured and refined.
"You could have taken my calls. And you look really busy right now. I promise, it's only going to take a few minutes. Then you can get back to your spa treatment."
"You're becoming an inconvenience, Siphon. Why should I agree to entertain this childish intrusion?"
"Because you owe me. I did great work for you. Just give me what I want to know, and you'll be free of me."
The disappointed sigh is clearly audible. "Your services were paid in full. I owe you nothing. At least your parents had a modicum of tact."
Valerie's voice is starting to sound strained. "And all that money's gone, thanks to them. I just need to know where the Instigators are holing up. I'll never tell them I got the info from you."
"And there's the rub. Are you seeking revenge for how badly your little dalliance with the heroes went? Are you looking to avenge your one chance at redemption?"
"You think I don't owe her for what she did?"
"I don't care. But you're asking me to put a very valuable asset at risk for absolutely no gain. Why would I offer up the Instigators, when you are providing me nothing in return?"
"I know you like to give tidbits to heroes -- makes you useful to them so they leave your operations alone."
There's a dismissive bit of laughter. "You're hardly a hero, dear. You're a confused child."
"I'm. Still. Siphon."
"Are you? Then prove it."
"..."
"... What do you want?"
"That's my girl. Although... if we're to discuss business, I'm going to have to ask you to turn off your phone. There's no need for them to listen in as we hammer out the specifics of our new working relationship."
"What are you talking about? Wait! I didn't know!"
"I didn't think you did. But whoever's listening in, they now know the depths of your commitment to your rehabilitation."
"... I..." The feed cuts off.
A look of guilt crosses Mae’s mismatched eyes… but before she can respond she notices Chastity’s watch. “Oh gosh, Chas… if you want to talk about it later, we can. But I’ll understand if ‘it’s Halcyon’ is all the explanation you need.”
She walks Chastity to class wondering how much a non-powered human really wants to know. And while ‘it’s fine’ isn’t an outright lie, it does read as ‘it’s forgivable.’ I really am the temptress who ruins everything…
He was torn. Because the right thing to do now would be to call his mentor, let her know what he discovered so they could deal with this together. He was fairly certain once she knew he'd eavesdropped on her he'd lose all the trust he'd built up with her anyways.
"Dammit."
Hope. Fragile, but worth holding onto.
He headed back to Unity Station for a sleepless night of checking everything he had on Lovelace International and any potential leverage he could give Valerie.
Chastity pauses in the middle of the walk to the next class and stares openly at Maeve. "Wait. It wasn't random, was it? Did it have something to do with y-- with her?" She throws up her hands. "Come on, Maeve!" She spins, groaning in the back of her throat, then stomps the rest of the way to class.
Lovelace International is a conglomeration of holding companies and businesses across the globe. While nowhere near as prevalent (or brand-conscious) as Infini-Corp, its shell corporations have extensive interests in other morally bankrupt companies like Mnemodyne and Oesterhausen.
Unfortunately, companies like this are squirrelly and hard to have anything pinned on them. They're truly hydras, because any time a branch or division is taken out, a bunch more rise up and take their place.
Shin spots Tasha in line for coffee at the small cafe next to the breakfast counter. Her fingers are tugging at the hem of her oversized dark gray sweater that is hanging off one shoulder, revealing one black strap of her bra. Heavy black tights complete the ensemble.
She appears preoccupied and doesn't notice Shin immediately.
Shin's got on a tight black turtleneck sweater and jeans, worrying some of the diamond patterns woven into the thick fabric as well. He walks up behind her in line, clearing his throat. "So, how do you like your coffee? I honestly prefer the matcha." He smiles at her. "Got a few minutes before you need to get started for the day?"
Maeve’s jaw drops as Chastity stomps off. She doesn’t follow her girlfriend, even though she should, seeing how they’re in the same class!
She retreats to the girls’ locker room. If anyone thinks to look for her there, they won’t find her. Not even if they have an electron microscope or a yo-yo.
"Tasha" almost jumps when Shin appears behind her. "Huh? Oh, um, black." She looks him up and down. "Yeah, matcha's probably more your style. Sure, I guess I've got a little time before class."
She orders her coffee and wanders in the direction of A-Hall while he gets his tea. "So, I was thinking we could just download Star Wars off a streaming platform. Watch it here on campus, or maybe at your base? Should be less likely for us to get yanked away into someone else's fantasy world, right?"
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"Yeah. I mean, if you're okay with it. You might bump into some of the other team at the base, though I'm sure they might want to say hi. Especially Fem, she's friendly to a fault."
He sips from his tea cup, glad he doesn't have to worry about it burning his lips. "Real quick though, I want to know if you want to keep it light for right now. I don't want to stress out or make you stress out by jumping into extracurricular discussions. Especially after being trapped for three days."
He looks at Valerie. "So, yes to movies, but keep it on campus? I usually watch on my laptop in my dorm. Though sometimes Connie will crash in."
"If you play back the tape that's actually not what I said, but I get your meaning. Let's start with the pressure cooker for now."
***
Femtite: I better get some rest before school. I’ll keep you posted.
Connie: hey quick hypothetical
Connie: say chastity makes a wizard of oz joke
Connie: and you yourself could be Dorothy
Connie: does it occur to you to get a dog?
Connie doesn’t get a reply until just after the alert about the debrief comes up. But that’s normal for Maeve, a diligent student who keeps her phone in the bag during classes.
☀️: I better get some rest before school. I’ll keep you posted.
Connie: hey quick hypothetical
Connie: say chastity makes a wizard of oz joke
Connie: and you yourself could be Dorothy
Connie: does it occur to you to get a dog?
☀️: No.
☀️: I could magical-girl on a pair of ruby slippers.
☀️: Maybe embed teleporters activated by clicking the heels together.
☀️: As Maeve, pigtails and a blue and white dress would be a cute look.
☀️: I’d probably want the picnic basket too, but in my head, I’ve got food in it.
☀️: I might be conflating Dorothy with Red Riding Hood. Do they both skip and carry picnic baskets?
‘Not that skipping is something that I’—Bug-Eye, please cancel that. Text, ‘Clearly…’
☀️: Clearly, only one of them is a dog-person!
☀️: Hey, maybe Jade’s table wasn’t the best place to out my alter ego, but you caught what I said about Raquel having a date, right?
☀️: That is, she asked Chas’ cousin out, whom she met once while visiting Chas at her cousin’s house.
☀️: I think the Duke Zepar artifact (or whatever you detected on the nightstand) is highly effective, but Chas is able to fend it off.
☀️: Is there a way to detect whether Raquel is being affected?
☀️: Also, does Duke Zepar’s influence stay with Raquel if she’s not constantly exposed to the fallen angelic being’s power?
☀️: (I’m not expecting you to know the answer to that.)
☀️: Chastity owns two cats.
☀️: I don’t think I would become a dog owner because, if anything, I think I’m a cat-person.
Femtite is using Bug-Eye’s thought-to-text feature as she flies. So by the time she’s sent all this, she is
☀️: At the Unity Station.
☀️: See you in a bit!
Valerie's eyebrows go up at the mention of Connie crashing their movie-watching. "That's one way of keeping it light."
She takes a moment to blow the steam off her coffee and savor the aroma. When she looks up, her eyes are serious. "Shin, I... I'm just going to say this. You're still hung up on Kylie. And... well, I'm afraid I won't be able to keep it light. And knowing my luck, the instant I start getting the feels, she's going to show back up.
"I mean, no one seems to know where she is. Given how things went down the last we saw her... she could be in trouble. Or maybe she wants nothing to do with any of us anymore. But we don't know. And the last thing I want is to force you to choose between her and me. 'Cause I think we both know how that'll go."
She sucks in a breath like saying all that had been exhausting. She stares at her coffee. "I'm trying to find the Instigators. Maybe they'll know something about where she is. It's not just about paying Heartache back. We'll find Psyche, and then, you know, we'll know."
Shin listens as he warms his hands on his own cup. "I do still care about Kylie a lot. Psyche, though... the version that she and everyone else saw in public, I didnt like," He admits ruefully. "Because she let her powers define who she was and dictate her own ethics and morals to a fault. It wasn't healthy for her, but I still supported her to the end even as I saw how she was letting her body fall apart. The body we literally traveled through alternative dimensions to get back for her. I think that made me so angry."
He looks down at the steam rising from his drink. "I don't think she's a bad person. I think she might have gotten the opportunity to get her wish and she did it, becoming only psychic energy and discarding her body. It would be nice to know for sure. But I think I'm no longer carrying that torch for her anymore."
He looks at Valerie. "What about you? Do you still feel the same about Rory after all this time?"
"I like it and the length is perfect... for sure do not want it to cover your butt. It would be a shame to cover a masterpiece." He laughs, caressing her ass. He wasn't ready for another round yet, so it was just a playful tease. "How did you got to grow it so fast by the way? And do you like it as well? I do not need to keep it long just for me, ok?"
"Connie supplied the magic hair potion," Skyler tells him as she holds a handful of it up in front of her face. She runs her fingers through the pink locks and gives them a shake and toss. "I'm still getting used to it. It's a lot warmer, which is nice now but I might not feel that way in the summer."
She shifts positions to straddle his chest and to let her hair hang down to brush his face. "I like it because you like it. You should've seen your face when you first saw it..." Her smile is triumphant. Skyler cups his cheeks with her hands and leans down to kiss him on the lips. "It's worth it to make you happy."
Valerie frowns while Shin talks about his feelings for Psyche. She sips her coffee now that it had cooled off some while listening.
She looks away with a flinch when he asks her about Rory. "No. I feel..." She turns back to him, eyes hot. "You know, I don't want to talk about him. I was stupid. I fell for him, I fell for him hard, I fell for the idea I could be--" She stops abruptly.
Deflating, Valerie shakes her head and stares at her coffee again. "Never mind. This was... this was probably a bad idea from the start. So. Disaster averted. See ya around."
She turns toward her first class of the day.
|
|
Horizon —
Percy gets a text from Shin.
Any chance you're feeling up to talk about what happened?
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
Percy texts back eventually. Feeling up to it, not really. But should we talk, yes. So long as you don't make ominous promises to kill me like Caio did that night.
Horizon —
Never. And that's kind of concerning. Pick the place, I'll be there soon.
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
>Percy sends a map pin that is quite a ways outside of Halcyon going past the outskirts even beyond Rustside<
Horizon —
Why?
Shin can fly there at least. It takes him a bit as he flies over treetops and rising hills getting larger towards the far mountains.
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
It's near where I finally stopped yesterday. Could have portaled to Madagascar or something, but figured that'd be a bit much. Just head to the pin i'll be there.
Whenever Shin arrives he doesn't see the large imposing dragon, but instead a significantly shrunk down version of Percy for when he's trying very obviously to not draw a lot of attention.
Horizon —
Shin lands, though he's not in uniform but plain clothes. "You know, I had thought we could talk over a meal but I think the nearest diner is a couple of miles in that direction," He says, pointing off in the distance.
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
Percy gives Shin one of those 'really' looks, "I don't want to be around people right now considering i've had at least a dozen wanting to end my life, succeeding in one instance and then trying very unsuccessfully the second time, and then... yeah. Not that I'd fit in at a diner anyway."
Horizon —
"To be fair, you also killed one of them." Shin looks less than enthused about that detail. "However, everyone was under the effects of Quincy's game world. You can hardly be blamed for acting within the boundaries of your character. I found myself drifting occasionally into the desire to rend people's bodies and bathing in their vital fluids."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
Being about the size of a horse right now allows Percy to give Shin a downward side-eye along with his resulting sigh, "Like I told Caio the other day, I'm pretty sure that was just me with all the filters stripped off. He made some weird monster at the bottom of the well analogy and then promised he'd be my Saint George. He killed a dragon or something. Anyways, it wasn't not me but it wasn't just plain me either."
Pointing a claw at Shin he goes on, "And what you did was pretty f%@!ed up too."
Horizon —
"More f!@@ed up than a murder pact?" Shin asks, before shaking his head. "But no, you're right that I left you fending for yourself there. Didn't realize just how horribly it would be to give away that key. And being given a saving grace for myself and Valerie...I'm sorry."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"Just to be clear I didn't agree to that, and... honestly I'm really worried about him of all people saying that. Like he was so confident and sure and when he talked about his time as the wolf searching for the person that'd be his end it just." He shakes visibly. "No way."
"I was so angry that they'd done something horrible to you Shin. I mean yeah you're a f%$~head who doesn't seem to care about me sometimes, but you're still my teammate and I wish you had at least said something before going all zombie on me. Maybe then I wouldn't have..." Percy looks at his talons and pulls his wings in close, "Maybe then I wouldn't have tried to break down the door and gotten killed."
Horizon —
"Of course I care, but...I was really messed up in the head." Shin grimaces. "It wasn't just called the Psy-key. It felt to me like it was her and that giving it away... well, I'd had enough of that world by that point. I was chosen to be a villain for them to defeat, but I couldn't play that role. So I gave it away, and it was the greatest agony I'd ever felt. Like tearing out my heart and squeezing it."
He looks at Percy. "I think at some point my consciousness left that vampire to become the hero. Which is where you started to see me act the zombie and go away. I'm sorry about that. I had no idea it would go down like that."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"Shin you do realize alot of the.." He twirls his talon making a little hop over something motion, "Umboriax blow up, was about out here right. You always talk to the others, but not me. You've never really even tried to learn about how I do things I feel." Then he shakes his hand out dismissing the thought for a moment, "But yeah, no I totally get it about the key, when they took mine it was like a knife in the chest twisting and pulling everything out. I prayed for death, begged for it with my eyes since I couldn't speak. Then the heroes and it were gone along with several pieces of me, then I died and well Umbroiax was born out of that full of rancor, rage, and despair."
"Loosely bound to the general, and still somewhat free to exact his revenge. Which is what lead to Maya..." He clenches his hand and jaws tightly. "You know the rest.."
Horizon —
"You're not wrong. Connie's way of using magic I don't understand but I can see the rules in place for it. Your magic feels like you can just pull energy from the universe and twist it around your finger. So I assume you can do the things you've shown me you can do."
He sits on the frosthewn grass. "Our positions might have easily become reversed. But I think I had a little more information than you because I was able to speak to a player instead of just their character. And, best news, nobody is dead from this event."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"There are plenty of rules and limitations to how I do it too. Some even that I've set specifically for myself, like when I refused to look into mind manipulation magics. Connie just has to take a longer but more energy efficient pathway to the goal. My natural talent lets me skip all the hocus and get right to the pocus. It costs more energy, but my body can also handle that greater draw of aether, which is typically the problem for anyone else. Hell Shin with the right training you could literally do what Connie does right now." He looks down at Shin, "I dunno maybe?"
"Look I trusted the group and Quincy, and it bit me in the ass yet again. That and my sensitivity to the magical nature of things, dragon greed, or whatever would have made it much more of a 'you'll have to kill me to get my key' situation. And yeah sure noone died in reality, but that doesn't change the fact that what happened in the game could have very easily been in reality if the rules were even a little less fantasy. But I doubt even Quincy is stupid enough to not have that be one of his first safeguards in place."
Horizon —
"So. What do you want to do now?" Shin asks. "Like, really. What's your short-term/long-term?"
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"In regards to what exactly? Short term I want to stay out here and never go back to being around people, but I know that's unrealistic."
Horizon —
"It's not. Or are you forgetting you're a powerful apex predator that can fly anywhere and has access to powerful magic?" Shin points out. "If what you really want is to be alone in the mountains, you could easily be self-sufficient, avoid people, live like a hermit."
He smiles. "But, long-term, what do you want to accomplish with yourself?"
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"It's weird to hear someone actually encourage me to step away from society." He replies tapping a claw on the ground.
"I want to figure out what happened, I want to go through with my plans to go to college and actually help people. I'd love to lead a somewhat normal life, to prove Drake wrong, that dragons can be more than monsters in fairytales. But I don't think i'm convincing myself of that very well at this point. I mean Feya couldn't even trust me to help with this situation and resorted to... yeah."
Horizon —
"I mean, we were trapped for days. She feels responsible for you. I know you don't have the same relationship as I do with Whippoorwill, but I think she wouldn't have let Mathers help if she wasn't worried for your safety."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"She outright denied both me and Connie before we got sucked in."
Horizon —
"Denied you to do what, exactly?"
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"We tried to help with the dungeon in the subway, to try and figure out what was happening with all the fantasy stuff. She said I'd make it unstable, and didn't want anything to do with Connie or Femtite assisting."
Horizon —
"Femtite was trying to be helpful. Or was she trying to ask for help?"
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"Demanding help is more her style so I dunno both? I really don't know what's ever going on in her head Shin. I do know she seems counterproductive to any teamwork recently, can't take no for an answer, and even in the fantasy world shirked her responsibilities. She straight up abandoned the team for the wiles of her own f~&#ing desire. Defended the players despite them being fully in the wrong and being told so multiple times."
Percy flicks his hand upwards in an exasperated motion, " I'm done with her treating us like s&&& after we risked our lives for her planet, ignoring advice and causing more problems by going off on her own, never actually consulting the team about any of her actions and then playing the victim when we call her out on her b*%#@%@!. I just... I can't with her anymore Shin, she needs to change or she needs out. Cause if she doesn't want to be part of the team then let her fly solo and pick up her own damn messes for once." He huffs after the tiny tirade pinching the bridge of his nose. "Sorry, just the emotions are still pretty raw. But just like my issues with you, they're real."
Horizon —
"I don't doubt that." Shin nods. "...do you want to quit the team?"
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"Wha? How the hell did you draw that conclusion from what I just said Shin?"
Horizon —
"I mean, you have nothing but complaints about myself, Femtite, even Caio to some degree. What's your reason for sticking with us?" Shin asks as he stands up and stretches his legs.
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"First off, Caio threatened to kill me last night Shin. You haven't made nearly as much of an attempt to reach out to me as everyone else. And Femtite... are you really not seeing the issues?"
Horizon —
"Of course I see the issues. The resentments and entitlements." Shin replies. "You've clearly stated the problems to me. And I'm here now, listening to you. And that is what you wanted, for me to listen to you? Not to be blown off."
He adjusts his glasses, looking up at Percy. "I'm good at listening. I'm listening right now. But you're also blowing off the questions I'm asking to help you. Do you want to quit the team?"
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
Percy stares at Shin, long and cold before glancing off to the side.
"No, I don't exactly have friends at school especially since all this. I'm sure I 'could' go solo, but as a wannabe prophetic murderer said. I need good people to keep my well from drying and letting the monster out."
Horizon —
"Good. That means that you still think of Femtite as your friend and a good person. And me as well incidentally."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
Percy stays noncommittally` quiet for a few moments to see if he's got more to say on how he sees things.
"What's your read on the entire happenings from yesterday?"
Horizon —
"That if I had been there alone, I would have broken completely."
Shin pivots back on topic. "Since Femtite is your friend, and a good person, maybe it might be a great idea to go seek her out, sit down with her and have the hard conversation about how her actions have negatively affected yourself?"
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"That is making the assumption that she'll actually listen for once and actually admit she was wrong. Not a great track record on that so far."
Horizon —
"That's the wrong way to approach it." Shin taps lightly on his thigh. "Don't go into it telling someone they are wrong. Tell Femtite your personal problems and what she can do to help you with them. If you frame it that way she'll bend over backwards to help."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"And what if she's ingenuine just to placate me and slips right back into it again?" He asks folding his forearms across one another on the ground.
Horizon —
"Then you try again. Or you quit. Or the team breaks apart. The worst thing you can do is nothing but stew in your bad feelings and not express them. Because nothing will change that way."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
"Sounds to me like you've already taken her side no matter what with that second option." He grumbles in his throat, "But you're right no sense stewing in something I can actually affect. Already s*@!ty enough that i've got to stew in my own brain about everything else."
Horizon —
"The last time I tried to kick someone off of the team, it ended with me on life support for two days in a coma and no team. So no one is getting voted off. If you can't work with her, then you have to revisit the question."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
Percy lowers his head, "Right... sorry that s@*! happened."
Breathing deep Percy looks to the city again, "So, fantasy world is shut down for good then? Quincy down, Mathers put back in his box?"
Horizon —
"Percy, are you going to go and talk to her?" Shin asks, shutting down another change of topic. "If you want me to sit in the room and mediate, I will. I will do as much as I can for you, Percy. What I can't do is make your decisions for you. I can however stop you from changing the subject because you're uncomfortable. My team was destroyed from within because we didn't communicate enough, and that was with a f%+!ing psychic linking everyone's minds frequently!"
Shin's a little worked up after they touched on his old team, but he pulls back and settles down. "It's not all on me to keep this team together. You have to put in the effort to reach out to us. Promise me that."
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
Percy's fins flare and spines bristle at the aggression, his own built up frustrations getting the better of him and talking at the same time as Shin. "I have Shin. It seems you've forgotten, I was the one who reached out to her to stop looking into the future to try and dictate every action when she felt like everyone was ganging up on her. I was the one who stopped and listened to her about the entire Chastity debacle among other things when she thought we were all siding with Connie. I tried to explain to her why the situation was bad then, and I'd gladly do it again if I thought it'd get any traction. I HAVE put in the effort and recently rewarded with backlash, backstabbing, and dissonance. A s&&! load of that happening recently but f@%$ me right?"
His tail thrashes on the ground with a thud, "And then 'the' second I've hit my b#&#*~++ quota and bring up my issues apparently I'm the one who hasn't done anything? The person who hasn't tried to be the neutral ground! >haha< Yeah guess what the neutral ground got me in our last situation? It got me stabbed in the f!%~ing back. The entire Quincy and Mathers situation, used as a human battery because I was trusting. So yeah excuse me if I'm boiling over a bit! He breaths heavily after the outburst, causing the ground nearest to him to freeze over.
Once Shin backs down he calms down a little himself. "Yes I'll talk to her. No you don't need to mediate because then she'll feel ganged up on, especially if it's about her faults as she always does during group 'discussions'. Now can we talk about the other things? Because we've got a lot of ground to cover if you don't wanna be out here all weekend."
Horizon —
Horizon —
"-that's about it. Had to sit with Whip for about two hours to hash out details." Shin finishes.
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
After hearing everything Shin has to offer Percy let's out a groan and pinches his eyes closed. "Okay after... all of that, I would like to change my earlier statement, perhaps you should mediate."
Horizon —
"We'll probably have a team meeting soon. Hopefully we'll bring some of this stuff up there." Shin glances at the sky. "...for now, though, you want to blow off some steam and show me how your flying's going?"
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
Percy followed his gaze up, "Yeah sure, still need some work on inner city flying, but my lessons with Glasswing really paid off. Besides it'll be nice to fly again after... well all of what happened earlier."
Horizon —
"Cool." Then he taps Percy on his flank. "Tag. You're it."
Shin smiles and flies upwards, trying to wash a tough conversation out of his mind by helping his friend do the same using one of the oldest games in the world.
Percy Dorn/Indarius —
Percy let Shin take off after tagging him, giving him a small grace period before running to take off after him.