Fantasy St. George's School for Young Hunters (closed)

[Mikotsuhime]

Agni looked at Bram and let out a bark of a laugh.

“Hunter, she would chew you up and spit you out,” he said, and May sighed.

“Maybe don’t flirt with Nikola, if only because the people back home would be really angry,” he suggested. It was, after all, the equivalence of flirting with a god. While he was sure that the person herself wouldn’t mind - in fact would be highly amused - the followers would not.

Agni listened to Alex’s proposal with mild interest before Scarlet piped up, and he waved one hand in agreement.

“You are outsiders with no knowledge of this situation. We are the ones who have the most knowledge of the seal and the circumstances around it; grandfather was the one who created it in the first place. But if you still insist on coming along, you are welcome to try your arguments. Just know that you are, how should I say, preaching to the choir. Is that the correct term?” He turned to May, who just shrugged his shoulders.

At Alex’s suggestion of the hotel, he leaned back and crossed his arms over his chest.

“It sounds, little vampire, like you’re trying to get rid of me.” He said, though he had a little smirk on his face that showed he was more amused than offended. May was just embarrassed.

“No, no, I don’t mind taking the air mattress, seriously,” he began, but Agni cut him off with a wave of his hand.

“It’s fine, if you will be forced out if your room then the solution is simple. We’ll just share your bed.”

 

[jones573]

Maybe it would be best if Bram didn’t come at all. Or Winona. Or Scarlet. Or – Maybe just Vlad and himself should accompany May. That seemed reasonable. And probably for the best.



“I mean, yeah, it needs some work,” Alex admitted. Scarlet’s criticism was also his biggest concern as well. Not only did he not know the facts crucial to the argument, he didn’t even know if they existed.



“But we’ve got an expert right here,” Alex said with a nod at Agni. “Like, probably the most knowledgeable, except for his, uh, ‘Granddad’.”



“Due diligence is in everyone’s best interest,” Alex said with confidence before anyone might suggest that Agni might not want to explain his ancient, private magic to people he was making a point to refer to as ‘outsiders’. “Because- uh- eliminating May doesn’t eliminate the threat of this serpent-thing, right,” he said, incredibly uncomfortable with ‘eliminating’ but fairly certain he was far less comfortable with the other available verbs. “It just postpones it again, makes it some future person’s problem?” Alex was pretty sure some sort of reincarnation was involved? Maybe? If they could come up with a better, more long-term solution- Well, he was really being an optimist here.



He shrugged when Agni accused him of scheming.



“A bit, yeah,” Alex admitted freely. “I know you said you won’t let your emotions influence your voting at all, but- Well. I don’t want to risk Winona making such a strong and terrible impression that it colors your opinion of the situation-”



Um. What.



“Uh- I don’t know if- Really, Agni you’re welcome to my bed,” Alex reiterated, shocked at how unshocked he was (mostly) managing to sound. Like, Alex changed his sheets the most regularly so his bed was probably cleanest, it was perfectly logical. He could just stay up all night and oh, also keep Agni up by asking him questions and did Agni even need sleep-



Like, it probably wasn’t weird? Alex hadn’t really had many friends his age growing up, but if Agni and May had grown up together they’d probably done sleepovers and camping and other things kids with friends did. Like, both of them plus Henrietta had probably all curled up together under the blankets and told each other creepy stories by flashlight and that wasn’t weird at all. It was only weird that Alex was offended, that Agni felt so comfortable with inviting himself into May’s personal space. And maybe jealous? Not that he was. He wasn’t.



“I think Win’s concerned that you’re going to like, abduct May in the night, so. She’d probably have some objections.”



That wasn’t an excuse. It was true.

 

[Reynarda]

Bram snorted. "If I didn't flirt with someone because other people didn't like it, I'd never flirt with anyone."

"Truth," Vlad agreed.

"Mostly because Vlad is the one not liking it," Bram added.

Vlad really could not deny that.

Devon glanced at Vlad expectantly, but the elder vampire just shrugged. The likelihood of Bram flirting with a local deity was directly proportional to the amount of words Vlad spent telling the slayer not to flirt with a local deity. If he ignored it, Bram was likly to forget his flirtatious plans. Unless Bram found said local deity to be attractive—in which case, they would have a whole other problem on their hands. Deciding tea was a good idea, he slid from his perch and slipped into the kitchen.

“Wait,” Scarlet said. “So have you ever seen this seal? Because I mean—no offense to the Big Dragon—but everyone else just kinda trusts that he and the other guardian did a good job and the right thing? And honestly, I’m confused how killing off Sugar Cube solves any problems, too. Like, at least he’s a known entity, right? You off him and they get another vessel or whatever, the new vessel could be very down to end the world, you know?”

When Vlad returned and resumed his perch, Bram was glancing between Alex and Agni with great delight as the little guardian suggested he share a bed with May. “Yes, well, May does have one of the biggest beds,” he agreed with a wise nod.

“Abraham,” Vlad sighed, sipping his tea.

“And you’re both small, so it’s not like you’d be sleeping on top of each other,” Bram continued, his expression serious but his eyes shining with gleeful mischief. “I know from experience.”

Vlad choked on his tea. “He does not—silver, Abraham, I swear—he does not know from any—that was the guestroom bed.”

“It’s perfect for all your needs.” Bram’s suppressed grin slid into a smirk. “As Vlad can tell you.”

The elder vampire spit tea all over an unfortunate Scarlet. “I WHAT.”

Bram gave him a mock-confused glance. “You and I shared it when that poltergeist trashed our rooms, remember? What did you—wow, Vlad. Wow. You have a dirty mind. Get our mind out of the gutter.”

The elder vampire’s skin deepened a few shades. He passed a snickering Scarlet his handkerchief before hiding behind his mug.

Bram clicked his tongue at Vlad as he settled back into the chair. “Wow. Anyway, yes, it’s perfect for sharing.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Agni did not seem to be quite as on board with sharing intimate facts about himself and his homeland with May’s surrogate family, if the pinched expression on his face was one to go by.

“It is our problem, and this is the way we deal with it. Unlike us, the serpent is locked in our dimension; the only way it could get to this one is through a suitably prepared vessel,” he explained, giving May a pointed look. “It cannot create its own avatar the way that we do. Once the vessel is eliminated it has no way of getting free.”

Scarlet’s question gave him pause.

“You would accuse my grandfather of doing a subpar job?” He asked dangerously. “He used all his power to seal the serpent away in the deepest part of the island, on our side. The only way to reach that place is to pass through eleven cursed gates that strip one of their magic, abilities and personhood. We have made sure that the serpent’s real body is secure. The only threat It poses is through its vessel.”

May had been practically shrinking behind the couch the more Agni talked, but he practically jumped to his feet as soon as the doorbell rang.

“Pizza! That’s the pizza, I’ll get it,” he announced, eager to be out of the room, especially when Agni suggested sharing a bed.

Agni, however, did not seem to understand the issue as he turned to Alex and crossed his arms.

“Nonsense, the serpent and I have slept together many times before,” he said, listening to Bram extol the virtues of May’s bed with interest. He did end up furrowing his brow when Vlad got embarrassed, because he really didn’t understand. “There is no shame in sharing a bed with a friend or attendant, I do not understand the issue.”

 

[jones573]

“What’s the tactful way to suggest Bram stays home,” Alex muttered under his breath, only partially joking. Who was he kidding- They should all stay home, May probably had a better chance on his own than with their interference.



He was still taking notes on everything Agni said, though with considerably less gusto.



“No, of course not! I’m sure your grandfather’s solution was brilliant,” Alex jumped in. Eleven gates was… Impressive. “And certainly the right choice at the time. But, you know- It’s been awhile. Things may have changed since then- The resources and knowledge available to you have been expanded. And also maybe to your, uh, enemies. It’s always good to reassess.”



And wasn’t that a concerning thought- If these Guardians were content with the nature of the cage they’d built and hadn’t been looking to improve it, and the serpent had spent the same amount of time looking to weaken it… May didn’t share Alex’s keen interest in ancient texts and arcane magics, so it was probably fine?



“Umm, point of clarity,” Alex asked, looking down at his notes. “You said a ‘suitably prepared vessel’- But we sort of got the impression that May was not one of those?”



If he was, wouldn’t the serpent already have wreaked havoc and destruction?



Alex felt more than a little uncomfortable, discussing May like he was some academic pursuit and not a real live person (who was also his boyfriend, that was an important facet Alex was trying not to fixate too much on), but it was marginally easier without May in the room. Even if he should probably go with May and take the moment alone to check in and make sure the older boy wasn’t completely and totally freaking out, which would be understandable, but Agni was talking at the moment and may not be so willing later-



“He isn’t- He’s not your ‘attendant’,” Alex said sharply before he could stop himself. “And just because he’s willing to look past your ‘neutral stance’ on killing him, doesn’t mean he wants to be your friend either!”







If May had thought going to get the pizza would afford him some privacy, he was mistaken. Winona had snuck back down the staircase silently and was waiting to ambush him almost as soon as he’d finished collecting the pizza. Though in addition to the hand she put out to poke his shoulder, she also extended the other to protect the pizza from any incident.



She held out a note in her own scratched handwriting that read:

• i have car down street
• 4000 $$$ (can get more easy dont worry)
• leave by 2am to be in can. by morn (no cross point)
  • day wait to get docs for you (cross point)

“Or now,” she suggested quietly, nodding at a set of keys on the wall that would start Bram’s truck.

 

[Reynarda]

Scarlet nodded, impressed. "Dang, gates that take away magic, abilities, and personhood. Intense. But I have to agree with Alex. We've got a not-suitable one, right? So why destroy the not-suitable one who loves rainbows and unicorns and does not want to end the world? Doesn't that just kinda give whoever made him in the first place reason to try to create a more-suitable vessel?"

Scarlet was honestly confused about May came into being, but from the little she had picked up, it sounded like some evil person had been the one to do it, so it stood to reason they'd try again if May didn't work out for them.

Bram wasn't really sure how he felt about Larry being called an "it". Sure, he hadn't been happy that something had taken over May's body, but Larry seemed like a decent enough evil deity, and Bram almost wondered if he were not just misunderstood. After all, Vlad had seemed like an evil being until Bram had gotten to know him. "Are we sure the Snake is chaotic evil, though?"

Vlad instantly regretting having the discussion with Bram about whether Loki was chaotic evil or chaotic good in the latest Thor movie after they both watched it on the plane.

Bram was about to declare that he thought that Larry was actually lawful neutral--after having met him, he seemed to have a strict set of rules and not really care much about people--but the pizza cut him off. Then the war of continuing to embarrass the crap out of the un-embarrassable Vlad, or eat food comensed. Surprising even himself, Bram chose to continue to embarrass his vampire.

"No, of course not," Bram said brightly. "No shame in sharing a bed. I, for one, have shared a bed with many a person. Even Vlad. Surprisingly, he is not the ugliest person I have shared a bed with. And you don’t have to be friends to share a bed, Alex.”

"No, there is nothing strange about sharing a bed,” Vlad agreed, ignoring Bram. “I am not entirely sure why the culture has recently decided it is.”

"Vlad and I were regular bedfellows back in the day," Bram continued gleefully. It was true. One bed in an inn was far cheaper than two. "We just haven't slept together much since the kids. You know how it is. We finally had time during our stay in Vlad's castle."

"For fangs sake, eat your bloody pizza!" Vlad groaned.

"Wow, that is two dollars you owe the swear jar."

"You know what? Agni can just have my bed."

Bram grinned. "Perfect. You sharing my bed, then?"

"Stop it, oh my word." Vlad sighed. “Really, Agni, the air mattress is quite comfortable, and if you still have objections, you are welcome to my bed.”

“Never thought I’d hear those words come out of Vlad’s mouth.”

“I will be vacating it, Abraham. Eat. Your. Pizza.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

It was a good thing Winona thought to reach out and steady the pizza, because May very nearly jumped a foot in the air when she tapped on his shoulder. The pizzas still wobbled dangerously for a moment, but he managed to catch them and put them on the floor before pausing to catch his breath.

“God, Win, you startled me,” he said, before noticing the scrap of paper she handed him. He blinked and read it, his brow furrowing for a moment before he let out a low, defeated sigh.

“No, I’m not running away. That wouldn’t really solve the problem, and besides, I kind of expected this to happen, to be honest. I screwed up when I let... that happen back at the castle. I put a lot of people in danger and l need to face the consequences of that. Besides, Agni isn’t really that bad,” he added, though he knew it sounded a bit weak. To be honest he wasn’t quite sure where Agni fell with him lately. His leaving to go on his trip six years ago without any explanation whatsoever had really hurt May’s feelings, and he wasn’t sure that he forgave him that enough to let him waltz back into his life.

But he didn’t hate him either, and he wasn’t going to run away and leave the others with the fallout from it.



“He is a suitable vessel,” Agni began to explain, his voice carefully casual. “The flaw comes not from him, or from his personality, but from the fact that he is able to use magic. The principle behind the vessel is simple; it fills with the serpent’s magical energy until that energy overwhelms it and rewrites the original personality, allowing the serpent to take complete control. However the little serpent has managed to reroute that magic and use it to fuel his own abilities. Still, the older he gets, the more power builds up in him, and while it makes his magic stronger, it also makes the seal weaker. Allowing him to live up until this age was a great risk, but one that was considered acceptable. The voting process is merely to see if that risk is still acceptable.”

He reached down and snuck another lemon bar from the pile, hoping he looked elegant and discreet while doing so.

“As for those who created him, their sect was completely eliminated as soon as they were discovered. We increased our vigilance, and it will not happen again.”

He was going to leave it at that, but then Alex spoke up, and Agni looked as though he had been slapped. He stared at the young vampire for a moment, before his hands clenched into fists, his knuckles whitening from the pressure.

“You, how /dare/ you presume to understand our relationship! You are an outsider! You, who could never begin to understand our traditions or the reasons why we do these things, an ignorant child with no idea what responsibilities I and the serpent have to our people, you would dare to make such baseless and ignorant comments?! Your opinions are unnecessary and unneeded! Neither I nor the serpent will be staying here tonight,” he announced as he stood up from the couch and headed to the doorway, where a surprised May was still talking to Winona.

“What? What’s going on?” He squeaked as Agni tossed his coat at him.

“We are leaving. We will find accommodations for the night, and then fly back to the island in the morning. You can have a servant fetch your things at a later date,” he announced, and May gaped at him, having no idea what on earth had happened to result in this.

“What? I thought you were staying here, if this is about the bed you can totally have mine—“ he began, but Agni didn’t respond as he shouldered past Winona and tugged May by the wrist to the front door.

 

[jones573]

So May had to use magic, to prevent the serpent from taking over… But generally speaking, the use of magic furthered the growth of more magic, or at least made the magic user more efficient at spending energy, so- Even according to some of the basic principles Maria had taught him, May’s situation wasn’t sustainable.



Shit.



He tried not to roll his eyes at Bram’s chipper commentary about bedsharing, but was really only a success because of his shock at Agni’s sudden outburst.



“Wait! I didn’t mean-”



Alex cut himself off as he leaped up to follow Agni, horrified at what he’d done. He /had/ meant it, though- The way Agni talked about May was rude, and Alex didn’t like it.



“Sorry,” he said lamely. “We just- We don’t use that kind of language anymore,” he tried to explain, hoping that this could maybe just be a genuine cultural misunderstanding. “’Attendant’, and ‘servant’ and stuff like that- People don’t really have those, so it’s weird to me to hear that and it just seemed a bit rude to talk about May like that-“



His panic at offending Agni was quickly replaced with a more generalized panic, as he watched Winona’s face rapidly change, first when Agni announced they were leaving, and then when Agni brushed against her- And again when he grabbed May’s hand.



She tucked something into her sweater pocket and took a swift step to get herself between Agni and the door, her hand landing firmly on his opposite shoulder with a finality that seemed to highlight their physical differences- Agni could probably get away in actuality, but Winona’s expression indicated she would be content to hold him there at arm’s length all day no matter how much he struggled.



Her expression was- Alex knew that Winona was dangerous. But he hadn’t really fully appreciated it until now, and he couldn’t help but recoil at the difference between her current malice and her confusion at trying to solve simple word puzzles on cereal boxes during breakfast.



“Let go of May,” she said harshly and Alex suddenly understood why Devon had been so uncomfortable spending time with her lately.

 

[Reynarda]

Vlad considered Agni’s explanation with a thoughtful frown. Bram rubbed his forehead. He got the implications of the whole thing. Vlad could remove himself from the situation and consider it like a puzzle, but Bram couldn’t help thinking that this was May they were talking about. This wasn’t just some inanimate “vessel”. This was May. Their May. Their absolutely dorky and painfully colorful May. And if this guy thought that he could just vote May to death, he had another think coming.

Bram glanced at Vlad, who was working through this problem in his head. Bram knew he could count on Vlad to figure something out. If not, they would just blow the island up or something. Regardless, May was not dying on their watch.

Bram would have been content to leave it at that, but then Agni got extremely offended—entirely not letting his emotions rule his decision-making, obviously—about what Alex said. He wouldn’t have been the slightest bit concerned—because he had heard the door’s locks click into place and Vlad had taken a peevish sip from his tea—but then Agni brushed past Winona.

“Oh, hell.” Bram rose quickly and rounded the chair. “Win, don’t. Let the dragon kid go.” When he saw her expression, he said. “Vlad.”

The vampire in question was still perched on the arm of the chair, drinking his tea.

Bram turned. “Vlad, explain why this is a bad idea to your kid.”

Vlad drained the mug and rose. “Ah, yes, because she listens to me.”

“Vlad!”

Vlad shrugged and strode past the bunch of his family by the door. “If she wants to damn May by beating the daylights out of Agni, there is no way I can stop her.”

Bram might have punched Vlad if he hadn’t been nearly to the kitchen. “And you’ll damn May by doing nothing?”

Vlad stopped. “The door is locked and the wards are up. Really, I almost want the little guardian to attempt to leave with May. It has been a while since I have been able to fully test their strength.”

That was not what Bram meant, and he was fairly certain Vlad knew exactly what he meant but was just dodging. Bram really hated the days he had to be the sensible one. Vlad was so much better at being the sensible one when he wasn’t… whatever the hell was going on with him.

Bram turned to Agni, hoping appealing to him might work. “Look, little guardian, Alex really meant no offense. You came at a pretty stressful time. We all sorta went through hell, so everyone is super on edge about everything. You’re talking about voting to kill May, and we don’t really know you, and now you’re trying to leave with him—we’re all just pretty freaked out. Just stay at least until morning, then we can figure things out. Let’s all just calm down and eat pizza, okay?”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Agni turned his sharp gaze to Alex, still bristling a bit, but he was no longer tugging May to the door with him, so that was a plus.

“Rude?! What is rude is your assumptions! To be a personal attendant is a great honour!” He snapped, and May’s eyes widened in understanding and he couldn’t help letting out a small snort that sounded suspiciously like a laugh.

“Wait, that’s what this is about? That was something from when we were kids. I helped him out with stuff like getting dressed and washed his hair and made him tea and stuff,” he explained, not really seeing what the big deal was. It wasn’t like it was something he had been forced into, and his dad had given him five bucks a week as an allowance for putting up with it.

Agni huffed, And was ready to turn and leave again, but Winona put her hands on him and /challenged/ him, and he felt his lips curl back into a snarl at the audacity.

“You would /dare/ to challenge my authority?” He asked, voice dangerously calm, but he roughly wrenched his shoulder from her hand, and the temperature in the room rose about five degrees. It was very difficult to actually manipulate his form or use his magic here, though; perhaps because this was a vampire’s home? Nonetheless, this girl thinking she could threaten him had to stop.

Except May immediately grabbed his hand that he had been lifting up and slammed it back down to his side.

“Ok, enough! Win, Agni’s not a threat, he’s not going to kidnap me or hurt me or anything, Agni you can’t attack Win! I’m sure she didn’t mean to offend you. Or, we’ll, I’m pretty sure she did, but she doesn’t know you very well and you’re not making a very good first impression! Also Vlad and Bram would be very very upset if you burned their house down, and so would I, and then Henri would have to deal with paying them off and everything and it would be a big mess for the people back home, right? So let’s just, calm down and eat some pizza, ok? Please?” May turned his pleading eyes to the dragon, who wavered for about a moment before the temperature returned to normal and he stuck his nose up at Winona in an obvious dismissal.

“Fine, but only since it would unseemly,” he said, though he turned and glared at Winona, making sure to put both his hands on May’s shoulders as a deliberate show of disobedience. She could not think that she actually controlled him, after all. May blinked, not quite sure what he was doing, but didn’t bother shrugging him off as he handed half the pizza boxes to Bram to take into the living room.

“I guess it would be weird for you guys,” he admitted, feeling a bit bad. He had never really brought this up before since the situation had never called for it, and he didn’t really think that it would ever come up like this. “I’m sorry I never really warmed you or anything. I didn’t really think this would happen.”

 

[jones573]

Winona frowned at the accusation she might beat the daylights out of Agni- She only meant to restrain him from taking May without first having May’s approval. And besides, even if she was spoiling for a fight, she wasn’t totally stupid. Even if she could overpower Agni physically, his magic was far too much of an unknown.



“Your… authority,” she said with a note of speculative confusion. She respected the threat he represented. But that didn’t give him authority.



“Sorry,” Alex was saying, but more to May than to Agni and it seemed more genuine than just panicked. “I guess- I didn’t understand the context so, I just thought he was being rude and- Sorry,” he said again, and Winona rolled her eyes. His vocabulary was atrocious when he was around May.



Vlad was right that Winona was unlikely to listen to him. But she did listen to May, and relaxed her stance visibly, though she lingered in the hall to stay between Agni and the door.



“Win, come eat pizza with us,” Alex suggested hopefully and Winona gave him a tired look.



She didn't want Vlad back in her head, but she did kind of miss the ability to instantly communicate what she was thinking, without having to figure out the words.



Fine, she signed. But I don’t trust him. It was an… oversimplification of her feelings, but it would have to do.



She followed them back into the living room, though not before noting the locked position of the front door. She wasn’t surprised, she reminded herself. It had always been a cage, and she shouldn't have let herself get comfortable pretending otherwise.



“So, uh- Has May always had such a bright fashion sense,” Alex asked, a blatant ploy to steer the conversation towards something he hoped would be less volatile.

 

[Reynarda]

"Yes, please don't burn our house down," Bram agreed hastily. "There are a lot of old books in here, and Vlad would not be a happy camper."

Vlad reappeared from the kitchen, cursing quietly in his mother tongue and pulling his hoodie over his head. He checked the thermostat, then scowled at Agni. He would give that dragon five seconds before he started forcing the temperature back down.

"There," Bram said, letting out a small smile of relief as the temperature returned to normal. He took the boxes from May. "Everyone just needs a good night's rest. Devon, can you get paper plates down? What else do we need? Drinks! I'll get drinks."

Devon soon returned with paper plates and passed them out before taking a large slice and dropping it on his own plate.

Bram several times with varieties of sodas--which Vlad eyed like Bram was purposefully poisoning their children. Returning one final time, he handed Scarlet a travel mug. He handed a similar one to Vlad, saying, "Drink this so you'll stop being so pissy."

Then, he popped the top off his beer bottle using the coffee table (and earning a growl of protest from Vlad) and leaned back in the armchair. "Yes, please, embarrassing stories of baby-May. I'm going to ask Bill to get out the photo albums when we visit."

 

[Mikotsuhime]

“Yes, my authority,” Agni said as thought Winona were being purposefully dim, and May sighed.

“You don’t have the same authority here,” he pointed out, and Agni’s mouth twisted unpleasantly, but he didn’t deny him. Instead he headed back to his spot on the couch, sitting down again as though on a throne and looking pointedly at May.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” May said to Alex as he grabbed a slice of pizza for himself and one for Agni, which he dramatically plopped into his lap (on a paper plate, of course). “He’s... not used to people not worshipping him, I think.”

Agni made a very displeased face, but he seemed more fascinated by the pizza in front of him as he tried to figure out how to eat it without utensils.

“He has always worn bright colours,” he said as he eyed how the others seemed to be eating their pieces, and tried his best to mimic it with one hand, while the other hand materialized a photograph from nowhere. May’s eyes widened as he spotted it, because he recognized it as a very unflattering shot of a seven year old May showing off the gap in his teeth. There was a dark blurry shape next to him, but it was as though whatever it was couldn’t be caught on film; it only showed up as a large mass with the vaguely distinguished features of arms and legs visible.

“Hey, I /burned/ that!” May squeaked as Agni handed the photo to Bram. True enough, the May of the past was also wearing a sparkly sequinned pink top that was almost assuredly meant for young girls, along with a bright yellow headband and orange shorts. The dragon seemed to ignore May’s embarrassment in favour of finally taking a bite out of his pizza, his face brightening much the same way it did when he ate the lemon bar.

“I don’t know what humans consider embarrassing stories,” he admitted. “Henrietta, the serpent and Olivia are the only human beings I’ve ever spoken with.”

 

[jones573]

Winona was squinting at the sun with a fierce glare, as though it had personally offended her.



“Glasses, Win,” Alex prompted her, and she frowned at him.



He sighed and gestured at her to spin so that he could root around in her backpack and pull out a pair of sunglasses for her. She was carrying May’s stuff as well with a sort of possessive quality, as though by holding on to them she could ensure he didn’t go too far.



She did put the glasses on though, which looked funny on her- The frames were a bit chunky, but they suited her face just fine. The strangeness came from her obvious unfamiliarity with the accessory, and the way she kept wrinkling her nose to move them up and down her face.

“It’s so… Hot,” Winona complained, even though they had warned her the weather would be different from what she was used to.



“You were in Georgia less than a month ago,” Alex pointed out, looking behind them to make sure everyone was still behind them. Luckily, there had been less issues with security than when they’d gone to Europe- Winona was clearly very uncomfortable not having a knife, but she’d learned that the body scanners and metal detectors were not really things she could ‘trick’ or sneak past. “And you traveled around the States a lot, right- Didn’t you ever go someplace hot?”



“But not like this,” she whined. “This is… Sticky!”



Alex snorted. “Winona apparently retired and moved to Arizona,” he reported to the others. “She’s going to be one of those ladies that tells you about how it’s only okay if it’s hot if it’s a ‘dry heat’.”



“It’s wet, why is it wet,” she continued unhappily, though Alex was pleased to see she felt up to talking, even if it was complaining.



“The ocean, Win. Big body of water,” he reminded her and dug into her backpack again to retrieve a granola bar, which she immediately tore into. Whininess was often an indicator that she was getting hungry.



“Don’t see no water,” she said through a mouthful of peanut butter and honey.



“Well, yeah, it’s at the beach,” Alex told her with a roll of his eyes as he texted Maria that they had landed safely.



‘fine’ was the reply, and he frowned in disappointment. Winona was still looking out along the main road with confusion, and Alex didn’t know why because they hadn’t called a car yet-



“Oh my god, you’ve never been to a beach,” Alex said in realization.



“Hotel update,” she snapped, apparently uncomfortable to have her lack of knowledge about beaches publicized, and tightening her grip on May’s bag as though Agni might take it from her in penalty. May's strong admonition for polite behavior between the two had been mostly effective, but 'neutral' was perhaps more accurate than 'polite' and on Winona's part, 'generally not acknowledging his presence at all' might be even more so.



“Uh- We can check in whenever,” Alex reported, looking down at his phone.



Maria’s refusal to help was a disappointment he was still processing, but he hadn’t let that stop him from using his family’s frequent flyer miles or excessive travel points to pull off some last minute flight and lodging arrangements.



(Though he had maybe not been entirely truthful with Annabelle about the reason for their sudden visit to Domina. He was lying to his mother quite a bit these days, it seemed.)

 

[Reynarda]

"Whew!" Bram said as they waltzed off the plane. Well, he had waltzed off the plane. Despite growing up in Europe, he rather liked the tropics.

Vlad did not. Bram was beginning to worry he was going to have to scoop him up and carry him in a bucket.

Upon hearing that Win was not aware of beaches, Bram exclaimed, "Oh my goodness, well we have got to go to the beach then!"

"I do not know if the sort of women you are hoping to see will be there," Vlad muttered.

"For Win, Vlad." Bram took the book from Vlad's hands and fanned his peevish vampire. "I hope the hotel was paying attention when I said I needed the coldest, darkest room they had," he said, glancing over to where Scarlet had flopped into a chair and was panting like she had just run a mile.

At least Devon didn't look like he was melting.

"Curse you and your genetics," Scarlet groaned, dramatically sliding off her chair. "Why didn't I get Bram's resilience to literally everything? Why did I have to get your susceptibility to temperatures over fifteen degrees Celsius?"

"Ask the Nazis," Vlad shot back.

"Calm the hell down," Bram said, pausing in his fanning to pull out his phone. "May, does this place do Uber? Nah, we should rent a car."

"I will be carsick if you drive us in this heat," Vlad warned.

"You said that in Hawaii, and you were fine."

"I was nearly sacrificed to a volcano."

Bram snorted and shook his head as if this was a minor detail. "What do you think, May? What's the best way to get to the hotel?"

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Unlike half the rest of their entourage, May seemed to be just at home in the heat; he was even wearing only a single layer, and that layer was sleeveless.

“Nooo, this is perfect,” he said happily as they got off the plane, happy to be back home in the climate that he had grown up in. “It’s nice and warm and sunny!”

Agni had been rather quietly grumpy during the whole plane ride, mostly because May had opted to sit next to Alex rather than taking the seat next to him, even though the air company was local and would have understanded the change in seats. He had wanted to say something, but also didn’t want to appear whiny or childish in front of what he was slowly, begrudgingly admitting was his friend’s new family, so instead he stayed silent.

He huffed softly, though, when it became clear that Winona had never seen the beach.

“You can see the beach afterwards,” he said, cutting into that line of conversation quickly, because this was not a pleasure trip. “First I have to convene with Olivia and let her know that I have brought the serpent back home safely.”

May pursed his lips, the question of ‘what about Henri’ right on his tongue, but the whining vampires and questioning Bram behind him cut into his thoughts.

“Huh? Oh. Uh, we don’t have Uber or anything. The elder council doesn’t like bringing in too many big companies from the mainland. There should be a rent a car place inside. I was just going to call my dad, he’s got an suv that I think we could all squeeze into...”

Agni frowned, then turned to Winona and held out his hand, indicating May’s bags.

“I’ll take them,” he said firmly, and May groaned internally.

“No, Agni, it’s fine. I’m gonna go to the hotel with them before heading home anyways. If you need to go let Henri know we’re here then you should do that...” he trailed off upon seeing Agni’s serious gaze directed at him. “Did I say something wrong?”

Agni was quiet for a moment before shaking his head.

“Not necessarily. Normally I would have Henrietta know, but she is currently under house arrest. Olivia has taken over her old duties in the meantime until a suitable punishment period is up.”

May’s eyes got wider and wider the longer Agni spoke, until he was gaping much like a goldfish at the younger guardian.

“What?! Why?!” He squeaked, his voice an octave higher than usual, but Agni seemed unbothered.

“She abused her power by allowing you to leave the island without seeking my approval or permission. She will regain her duties eventually,” he explained, sounding completely unattached from the situation.

 

[jones573]

“Don’t care about a beach,” Winona muttered, apparently in agreement with Agni on this one. Her goals for this trip were narrow, and she wasn’t interested in distractions. She tossed the granola bar wrapper into the trash and straightened up- She wasn’t particularly pleased about the heat, but she’d get over it. She was determined to behave better than Scarlet, at the very least.



“Oh! I already got us a car,” Alex interjected, and Winona rolled her eyes. He could have led with that. “Should be parked in the front lot for us, already got the key,” he explained, rummaging in his manila folder where he’d been keeping the plane tickets and other travel documents. “But I’m driving,” he clarified as they approached the oversized van.


“Sorry, Bram- The insurance is under my name, and I don’t want to give them any reason to suspect I drive like my mother.” Annabelle was usually able to charm her way out of tickets, but her insurance rates more than reflected the number of citations she’d accrued over the years.



“You arrested a house?,” Winona asked, her confusion enough to overcome her distaste for acknowledging Agni. She hadn’t responded to his request for May’s bag, not even to unsubtly tighten her hold on them. “Who’s ‘Livia?”



“The house isn’t arrested, Win,” Alex explained with a sigh. He was trying not to worry about how shocked May seemed- He’d been grateful they’d been able to spend time together on the plane, but they hadn’t really been able to discuss Alex’s more pressing questions of ‘what the hell is happening here’. “It’s like- The house is the jail. The person can’t leave their house.”



“Locking people in, and with no deadline,” Winona observed icily. “Thought that was only for ‘cowards and a-holes that don’t deserve respect’.”



“You are paraphrasing,” Alex told her. Those sentiments may have been expressed but he was pretty sure that those exact words were never used- Though it was something that Winona had needed reinforcement on.



-No, Win. No one is going to lock you into your room. Yes, you can lock people out if you want, but you can also just ask us to leave you alone. If you are asked to go to your room because of bad behavior, it is just so you can calm down and collect your thoughts- It will only be for twenty minutes, and you won’t be locked in, and you don’t have to go to your room if you really don’t want to. Private spaces are for feeling safe in, not trapped.-



Winona seemed very able to recognize mistreatment of others, and not for the first time, Alex wished she would advocate for herself just as strongly.



“It’s… different,” Alex said, because he wasn’t willing to further undermine Agni’s authority when he’d gone nearly the whole day without angering the young man.



Even if he understood where Winona was coming from- But it wasn’t like Agni had locked Henri in a kennel and left her there without food, or whatever inhumane ordeal of her own Winona was using as a reference to imagine Henri’s plight.



“And no, you don’t get shotgun- Shotgun goes to someone who actually knows their way around, so May or Agni,” he told Winona, as if the stare she’d been giving him was about seating and not an ‘I-told-you-so’ glare combined with a ‘We-can’t-trust-him’ and a ‘Let’s-get-out-of-here’ plea. Usually she directed these looks towards Bram or Vlad, and Alex really hoped the change-up was because he was closest, and holding the car keys.



“Well maybe you could send her a text, just to let her know you’re both back and landed safely,” Alex suggested hesitantly to the pair of guardians, wanting to stick up for May’s friend but not wanting to cause another ideal. “So that she knows that, uh, the situation is being resolved.”



That right there was when Maria would have told Agni ‘so she knows you are fixing her mistakes’ or made some other commentary about the ineptitude of subordinates and the need for strong leaders to demonstrate their competency or whatever, but Alex couldn’t really bring himself to that level of bootlicking. Especially if it wouldn’t do much to help May.

 

[Reynarda]

Bram first stammered at not being the driver and then at being demoted to the back seat. He hadn’t ridden in the back seat since that time Vlad made him let the paramedics take him to the hospital in the back of the ambulance. This was so not cool.

“But you drive like my grandmother!” He complained.

“Didn’t your grandmother die long before cars were even a thing?” Scarlet asked.

“And she would have driven like a manic had she not,” Vlad added. “She tried to run me over on a horse once.”

“You gotta let that go, Vlad. She was nearly blind and you’re really short.”

Vlad might have mentioned that the crazy old woman could hear just fine and had fully intended to run him down as punishment for getting blood on her draperies—not his fault—but Agni mentioned Henri being under house arrest. He frowned at this but decided commenting would get him nowhere. Besides, he could tell by the intake of breath next to him that Bram would express enough disapproval for the both of them.

“Hold on,” Bram said. “What the crap? I met Henri. I liked her. She seemed like she had a good head on her shoulders. And anyway, May isn’t a frickin’ convict. He can up and leave if he wants.”

Vlad sighed. No number of conversations about how white-and-black arguments would not work when the other side disagreed with your definitions of black and white would ever get through to Bram. He certainly admired his companion’s moral compass, but it was frustrating sometimes.

So Vlad just rested his hand on Bram’s forearm. Bram made a few helpless gestures and Vlad shrugged at him.

Bram huffed. “Regardless, this sucks. Short people in the middle.” He shrugged at the dark look Vlad was giving him. “So Alex can see. Safety first.”

“Fine,” Vlad huffed. “But we are turning the air conditioning up and you are keeping your body heat away from me.”

“Wait, do I count as short or tall?” Devon asked.

“If you’re taller than the tallest short person—Vlad—then you’re tall.”

“Do I have to sit next to the dragon kid?” Scarlet complained.

“Bram, Agni, and myself will sit in one row, and you can sit between Devon and Winona.”

“I don’t wanna sit in the kiddie row.”

“It’s the kiddie row or next to me—my basal body temp is nearly a hundred,” Bram said with a grin.

Scarlet groaned. “Why can’t we just use the seating chart Alex made?”

“Because Alex messed that up by driving and kicking Vlad to the back seat.”

“Oh for the love!” Vlad groaned in a rare display of impatience. “Everyone get into the bloody van and turn the A/C up all the way!”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

Agni seemed a little peeved by Winona denying his request, but he swallowed it down in favour of answering her question. Or at least the one he deemed answerable.

“Olivia is acting as my representative, since Henrietta is currently not. She is also part of the elder council who runs things on the island,” he explained. He retracted his hand when he realized that staring Winona down was not going to work.

“She’s Henri’s mom,” May piped up, then quickly added, “but they, uh, don’t get along.”

Agni was, of course, offended by Win’s accusations.

“Excuse you! You have no right to judge me or my actions! She abused her power as my representative to make decisions without consulting me, so that power has been stripped away. There is nothing cowardly about it,” he snapped, and May fought back a groan.

“Yeah, Ill text her,” he said quickly, before Agni could make a similar speech at Bram. Agni huffed, then crossed his arms and turned away.

“I will not join you in that overcrowded deathtrap,” he said with obvious distaste. “I will return on my own. You are going to your hotel first, and as the serpent said, I need to convene with Olivia.”

With that he turned and left, and May let out a long breath.

“Oh thank god, I did not want to drive around with him,” he muttered as he got into the front seat. “I’m so sorry for how he acts all the time, he’s kind of always been like that? But it’s so much worse after not seeing him for like years. Especially now that everyone has been dragged here because of this. Uh, the hotel is straight down the road and then you take a left at the only set of traffic lights. The city is pretty small, it doesn’t take long to learn your way around.”

 

[jones573]

“I made a seating chart one time,” Alex muttered under his breath as they trundled down the road at exactly the speed limit, coming to a complete but gentle stop at each red sign. And he’d done it because he had a strong suspicion Winona wasn’t sure on how exactly everyone’s name was spelled. But it was just the one time.



“He’s fine- Well, I mean, he’s not fine,” Alex admitted to May, taking hold of his hand and squeezing it while they waited for the light to turn green. “But if you need it to be fine, then, you know. It is.” He let go once he needed both hands on the wheel again, but he was already prioritizing the questions to ask now that Agni wasn’t lurking over their shoulders.



The check in for the hotel went well enough. Alex thought the concierge seemed a bit surprised that they had actually shown up- they probably didn’t get that many large, last minute parties making reservations with weird specifications- but he wasn’t gawking at May, so. That was something, even if it just meant that Winona was doing a good job of hiding his body with her own larger, luggage-enhanced form.



And the blinds were all drawn in their suite of interconnected rooms, and the A/C blasting, so Alex made a note to tip the staff even more than he’d already been planning for putting up with their oddness.



“Y’all are walking for the rest of the time,” Alex declared with an eye roll. The airport to the hotel was probably the longest distance they’d need to travel anyways, and now they didn’t to bring luggage as well.



“I was good,” Winona protested. She’d sat in the back of the van as she’d been instructed with her brother and ‘sister’, and had not contributed to the petty arguments. “Not fair that-”



“And speaking of not fair,” Alex interrupted, and Win seemed taken aback. “We all agree with what you’ve been saying, but it’s not helping,” he emphasized. “Bram, too,” he added looking around for the redhead. “We can insist that we play aces high all day long, but they aren’t using the French 52 deck so it’s just a waste of time- They’re playing, like, a dice game or something.”



Or a board game. Or darts. Or… It wasn’t a perfect metaphor.



“They’ve got their own rules and ours clearly don’t apply, so. Focus on strategies that could actually be helpful to May.”



He looked at May expectantly. “Any suggestions? Or stuff you couldn’t tell us when Agni was around? Has Henri texted you back? Also, what’s this about Henri and Olivia functioning as Agni’s representatives? Don’t he and his grandfather represent themselves as the dragon, I thought Henri was like, the rabbit or something-”



Winona elbowed him in the side to get him to shut up, so May might actually have a chance to answer before Alex came up with seven more questions.

 

[Reynarda]

Vlad dramatically flopped across the couch and Bram dumped their suitcases in the most inconvenient spot possible, prompting a dark glare from Vlad. Bram ignore him and groaned.

“Yeah, I’ll be walking everywhere because it will get me places faster than your driving. My great uncle could walk faster than you drive—and he’s dead.”

“You only have great aunts,” Vlad groaned from the couch.

Bram would have stood by his statement if Alex hadn’t rounded on him. He scowled and might have insisted on it not being right if he didn’t feel Vlad’s warning look from the couch. He threw up his hands.

“Fine. I’ll play whatever the heck they’re playing.” He flicked his eyes to May. “What the crap are they playing? And had better not be chess. Or Clue.”

“Bram, let the poor kid answer,” Scarlet said as she unsubtly tried to steal Devon’s spot by the A/C. “Move, your humanness is protecting you from this heat.”

 

[Mikotsuhime]

May was grateful for the comfort and squeezed Alex’s hand back, then mostly hung back until everybody got into the hotel room.

“His driving isn’t /that/ bad,” he said to Bram, because really, he was being ridiculous. And also everyone was expecting a lot of answers, and May wanted to provide them, he really did. But they didn’t have that much time until they met up with Agni again and it was hard to figure out what was actually important information.

He struggled for a second to try and find a way to fit in with Alex’s game metaphor, before Alex asked more pointed questions that he could actually answer.

“No, Agni is... kind of an exception. He actually likes being here, but most of the other guardians don’t come to this side too often. In order to be active here, they have to be asleep in their real bodies, you know? So like a bunch of hundreds of years ago they decided that one human would be the representative for each guardian and could be trusted to act in their interest and enact their will while they’re off on their side of reality. Henri is... was supposed to be the dragon’s representative, but I guess Agni got mad at her because she let me leave the island,” he muttered the last part under his breath, clearly unimpressed with his friend’s actions. “As for texting her, I did on the drive. We can go see her later tonight, she’s just... bored and annoyed mostly.”

 

[jones573]

“Thank you, May,” Alex said, pleased that at least someone acknowledged that there was nothing actually wrong with Alex’s driving. Careening around town, blowing through stop signs and terrifying pedestrians would probably not have endeared them to the local population.



Winona was moving the curtains and peeking through the blinds, assessing the sightlines and possible weak points of the suite, only half listening to the others. At the very least she could reassure herself that no one was going to climb through a window and try to abscond with May in the dark of night.



“Hmm, okay,” Alex nodded with May’s explanation, like it made any sense at all to him. It kind of did? Except for… Well, most of it. Alex was trying not to freak out about how casually his boyfriend used the phrase ‘their side of reality’, like referring to a neighboring subdivision down the street or something.



“So this ‘vote’- Do the human representatives carry it out as they see fit, or like… Do the guardians…?”



He put his fingers to his temples and moved them back and forth, wiggling his eyebrows as he did so in an attempt to demonstrate ‘magical mental communication across the boundaries of reality’, which had rarely come up in charades. He wondered if it was a good sign that Henri wasn’t worried, or if it just meant she hadn’t been informed of the full stakes.



“Do you think any of the angles we suggested might work,” Alex asked May. “That you could convince them you’re a better vessel than whoever might be next, or that we could like, expand your magical capacity so you never reach the overflow point, or that there are better ways to contain Larry if he… gets out,” Alex listed, trying not to glance nervously at Vlad.



They could maybe prove that even the destruction of whatever group had created May in the first place wouldn’t guarantee that no one would try again- Humans were pretty stupid when it came to power, and history definitely supported that. But the rest of it depended on hypotheticals and magic they weren’t really sure was possible. And Maria had indicated she wasn’t interested in helping, this time.



“We could always offer to kill him ourselves when it happens,” Winona suggested casually, emerging from the bathroom she had been inspecting. The rooms seemed fine, she determined, though she didn’t understand the weird set up of the closets that trapped the hangers permanently onto the hanging bar.

 

[Reynarda]

Bram winked at Devon who rolled his eyes in response. The teen was pretty certain that Bram had absolutely nothing against Alex’s driving or even actually minded riding with him. Bram had been surprisingly strict on following the traffic laws when he was riding with the new drivers. If anyone was telling him to stop driving like a turtle, it was Vlad. Bram just liked teasing people.

Vlad—now that his brain had stopped chanting that he was hot and dying—opened both eyes and focused on the problem at hand. He sighed as Alex posted through their options. He had inferred much about the guardians and May’s condition—and listening to Agni and May interact had clicked a few more peices into place—but he still felt the gaps in his knowledge were too great to actually go into this with any real certainty of victory.

Bram had cornered him the night Agni stayed over and demanded to know the likelihood of successfully convincing the “cult” not to off May. He hadn’t liked the odds. They had spent the entire night laying on the floor coming up with alternate plans. None of them were good or even the slightest bit polite, but they were plans. And he would be altering them as he gained more information. Neither he nor Bram planned to sleep much this trip.

“So we have our list of who we need to convince,” Bram said, holding out his hand to Vlad. Once the elder vampire placed his journal in his hand, the slayer continued. “Do you think we need to try different tactics for different people? Should we divide and conquer?”

“I think we need to do a bit of reconasense first,” Vlad said. “We need a better feel for this island and its people before we attempt persuasion.”

“Food, then?”

Vlad nodded. “And we need to spend a bit of time—if possible—with those deities who are still on the fence.”

Bram just nodded without complaining about how he hated this part—which meant he was more worried than he was letting on.

When Winona suggested they off May themselves, Devon turned an alarmed look on his guardians. Neither had so much as blinked. Vlad had merely pulled a pen from his pocket and passed it to Bram.

Bram glanced over at Winona. “Yeah, people never believe you when you say you’re gonna do that. I know from experience.”

Seeing that his guardians were not freaking out about this, Devon settled. He could never tell if the pair were used to people saying crazy things or if they just responded calmly to Winona saying crazy things as some sort of parenting technique. Or maybe they were just really hard to shake and them freaking out meant things were seriously wrong.

 

[Mikotsuhime]

May shrugged his shoulders. He wasn't really used to explaining this sort of thing out loud, and he wasn't quite sure what Alex was doing with his face, but he decided not to mention it.

"The guardians vote and convey their vote to their human representative, who conveys it to Henri... Or Olivia now, I guess." He didn't seem too happy about that, but he tried not to dwell on it. "There's a place down in the caves beneath the island where the fabric of reality is... thinner. You can pass over down there, if you know how. The ones who don't bother coming to our side leave letters down there, to state their official business and stuff."

He honestly didn't know how to tell Alex and the others that he really didn't know if any of this was actually going to /work/ or not. He had never actually tried to sway the vote in his favour before.

"I mean, Nikola, the Tiger, she'll probably vote for me to stay alive. She always does. I think she just abstained from voting because she wants to meet everyone," he said with a little grimace. He wasn't really looking forward to /that/, because he could already imagine how it would go.

When Winona suggested they kill him instead, he actually perked up a bit, though, as though she had suggested something completely reasonable.

"Well I mean, that's what Gabe had to promise Henri before I moved in with him," he said with a little shrug. "And before that, she had to promise her mom and the other elders that she would kill me if I, you know, went off. I mean it's probably a promise we'll have to make anyways, if I want Agni to let me off the island again."

His mouth twisted unpleasantly at the thought. Not of dying, per-se, but of having to get Agni's permission when he had been free of it for so many years.