Fantasy The Last Judgement

[Lakyr]

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[/div][div class=characterPortrait][/div][div class=statusText]Location: Old Hampton Inn 1st Floor
Interactions: BasiliskVeranda
Anise Hell0NHighWater
OOC: Hope this isn't too messy ~ enjoy[/div][/div][div class=title]James /Ryan [/div][div class=text]James was relieved as Kayden smiled and then chuckled, it was good that nothing too bad had happened. ''Haha, yes. You'd look the same if you haven't seen a ghost from your academy days,'' James chuckled as the other hunter defended himself a little. "Well, I had no academy days, really, but have slept in a haunted house before and had a few other encounters with ghosts..." James' thoughts flew off into times before the apocalypse for a second. When he had hunted without his parents for the first time, just with Matt and Ryan. They had insisted on staying at that haunted place before getting rid of the ghost they were hunting, that night was one of the reasons he really didn't like ghosts. James shook his head and was back in the here and now with his thoughts. "... and yeah, I don't think anybody misses out on anything if they never see a ghost."

Ryan nodded as Rhys mentioned heading downstairs and then walked towards his bag first. He crouched down, opened the bag and somehow managed to squeeze the iron pipe in, it could prove useful again some other day. Then he hesitated for a moment, thinking. Would he stay around these people for a bit? It had been some time since his last group, around two months maybe more, it might be nice to have some company again. But he also knew it wouldn't work for too long, probably. A group would slow him down, get him into more dangerous situations... He'd stay, for now, a few days or maybe a week or two if these people were okay. At least that was the plan for now.

''Thank you for helping the elderly, Jams,'' James saw the smirk on his face and couldn't help it but grin as well. "I thought the only old people around were Rhys, Nik, and Grigs?" His eyes were bright as his smile grew wider. After that Kayden and Alaska talked briefly, with James just standing by, but it didn't take long until the attention of all three was taken by a loud thud outside. They ran out to see what it was and found Stella's body lying in the snow. Alaska put it to the other bodies, still burning and Kayden was supportive and James ... he just stood there, looking in shock, horror or maybe just pain. So much death. All the time. How long was this group together now, a week? And how many had died already? How many would still be alive next week? It had been like that for the past two years, but this truth was a lot harder to live with when you were around people you actually cared for.

Ryan stood up and threw the backpack over his shoulders, then took his crossbow, using its strap to carry it over his left shoulder. The last thing he picked up was his sledgehammer, he held it in his right hand casually, turned towards the door and started to make his way downstairs.

The moment of small smiles from a few minutes ago had been replaced by a moment of grim faces and silence as the three walked back inside. But Kayden broke the silence, not addressing anybody. James thought about the words, 'not a true hunter' ... what does that even mean? James turned to look at Kayden as the door closed behind them. "What does being a true hunter mean anyway? Does it mean you've been trained to kill monsters and hunt ghosts?" He let the question sink in before he continued, "Or is it all about the hunter's mark and being stronger than normal people? Does it mean you have to risk your life just because it's your job? That you have to be fearless? Or does it mean being ready and willing to help others without expecting anything in return, even when you have to put yourself in danger?" James met Kayden's eyes, looking for his reaction. "Or is it something completely different. Does it even matter?" He shot him a smile, not one full of happiness, because there was barely any happiness in this moment, but still a genuine and warm one.

Ryan heard a voice he recognized from downstairs as he came near the staircase. Was it - no it couldn't be him, no way in heaven or hell it was him. Or maybe...? Ryan's steps were slow as he walked further and he was suddenly tense, his gaze fixated at the direction the voice came from. He started descending the stairs and instantly froze like a deer in the headlights as he saw the younger man. He didn't have to see his face to know it was James, but he couldn't believe this was real. His eyes widened a bit but his face was serious as he blankly stared in disbelieve.

James turned around as he heard the footsteps coming down and froze up just like Ryan did the moment he saw the hunter. His face just as blank and serious as the one he stared at. They just stood there for some seconds and then a few more. Both kept in a timeless moment, searching for something wrong about each other. Something showing them this wasn't real, that this was, in reality, a terrible moment. But it was real and there was nothing terrible or fake.

"You?" Ryan breathed the word as he continued walking down the stairs, not taking his eyes off James. He quickly put his hammer, the crossbow, and the backpack to the side as he came down the last step.

"I can't believe this." James faintly shook his head and his voice was shallow. He stepped towards Ryan and then held his hand up. Ryan didn't hesitate to take the hand, squeezing it a bit, now, both of them, smiling. They looked at each other's faces for another long moment before diving into a tight embrace. Ryan cast his gaze downwards and James had tears welling up in his eyes. After a long moment, Ryan looked up and at the man behind James. He wondered what this stranger might be thinking, how well he knew James and a lot more, but he couldn't concentrate.

They loosened their hug and took a step back, both their faces full of bliss. Then James' face grew a little bit darker, the joy of meeting Ryan again wasn't gone but an important question lay on his heart. "Are-" how could he ask this, what was the correct way to ask it, was there a correct way to ask? "are you alone?" That was his the best he could come up with and Ryan would know exactly what he meant.

Ryan's smile faltered as he heard the question and he swallowed as he thought about it. His gaze trailed off as his mind took him back to memories of bloodshed, loss, and then loneliness. He snapped back out of it and focused on James again, regaining the smile from before. "Not anymore. What about you, where are-"

"I don't know. I haven't seen them since all of this began." James shook his head and cut the question off before it was fully asked.

Ryan nodded and then looked at Kayden again. He just had to chuckle as he saw the look on the man's face. "I think your friend is confused James," he stepped forwards holding out a hand for Kayden to shake, "I'm Ryan. James and I, we know each other from the times before."

James turned around to look at Kayden as well. He had totally forgotten that he had been standing there the whole time. "We're brothers, actually."

"Well, we're like brothers, at least..." The words came out his mouth inevitably but not easily and he felt James' perplexed gaze at his back. The sentence had hurt him as well but it was true, he has changed since they'd last seen each other and he had certainly lost the privilege to be called James' brother. That boy and his whole family for that matter were just too good for Ryan. He wasn't worthy to be part of it. Not anymore in any case. Some moments passed by and then Ryan made a few steps away, towards the other voices, and turned to look at James and Kayden. "I think I'll try to socialize a bit, to meet the rest of your group." And with that, he walked off.

James looked over at Kayden, still smiling, and then gestured into the direction Ryan was walking. "Maybe we should get back to the others too."

He wasn't paying attention to anything as he walked, lost in thoughts. The look on his face still surprised, perplexed and happy. "James...psst. James. Hey. Do you want a cigarette?" The words shook him out of his thoughts and he just now noticed his friend sitting there wearing these ridiculous, great sunglasses again. "Sure, thanks." James came closer, took the offered cigarette and lit it after fishing the lighter out of his pocket. He placed the cigarette between his lips, took a long drag and sat blew the smoke out of his nose as he took a seat next to Nik. "Today was one hell of a day, huh?" His eyes found Ryan again as he leaned back in his chair.

"Hey, hey, Ryan. Get in on this man. Unless, you don't think you can keep up." Ryan looked at the bottle Rhys held out towards him. Normally he'd refuse without much consideration, it wasn't that he didn't like alcohol, but getting drunk just wasn't worth the risk in the hellscape earth had become. But he wasn't exactly thinking straight right now and if there was any day in the apocalypse worth celebrating, it was today. Another important factor was the challenge weaved into Rhys' words.

He took the bottle with his right hand, led it to his lips and took a deep swig. It wasn't perfect, but damn he had missed the simple taste of alcohol. No, he had missed the whole experience of it, including the burning sensation it left when running down your throat. He put the bottle back onto the table. "Count me in." He looked at Rhys and returned his grin as he pulled back a chair to sit down. [/div][div class=text][/div][/div][/div][/div] [class=wrapper] background-color:#607B8B; box-sizing:border-box; color:#FFFFFF; display:inline-block; position:relative; width:100%; text-align: justify; [/class] [class=title] color: #FFFFFF; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:3em; font-style:italic; padding:0; text-shadow:0 0 1em; margin-bottom: 10px; [/class] [class=box] margin:2em 1em; padding:2px 4px 0px; position:relative; [/class] [class=boxBg] box-sizing:content-box; height:100%; pointer-events:none; position:absolute; width:100%; [/class] [class=boxBgLarge] top:0; left:-5px; padding:0 4px; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.35); [/class] [class=boxBgTall] top:-8px;left:3px; padding:8px 0; width:calc(100% - 8px); height:100%; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.25); [/class] [class=boxBgMedium] top:-4px; left:-1px; padding:4px 0; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.4); [/class] [class=boxInner] background-color:#607B8B; overflow:hidden; margin:0.5em; [/class] [class=statusBox] box-sizing: border-box; border-right: 3px dotted white; padding: 15px; float: left; max-width: 250px; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px; [/class] [class=text] padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:0.8em; [/class] [class=statusText] font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; margin-top: 5px; [/class] [class=characterPortrait] box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; border-radius: 20px; overflow: hidden; [/class] [class name=characterPortrait state=hover] opacity: 0.5 [/class]

 

[BELIAL.]

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[/div][/div] [div class="PennyDreadful"] PENELOPE VALE[/div] [div class="TextityText"]


“I’ve got a prize to win here, Sunshine, and I don’t take kindly to losing.” Rhys said, darling Rhys, as he threw back another shot. Penny stared, one eyebrow raised, at the glass that he had slid toward her. She smirked, narrowing her eyes at the man across from her, and then quickly downed the drink.

“Oh, you’re funny. Funny. Funny. It’s like you think you have a choice in the matter at all.” Penny whispered, leaning forward and then slapping the table with a ripple of laughter. “Ask Nicky. When I drink I drink… this Penny-wenny barely sees the light of day, but boy oh boy does she stick around for the entire afterparty.” The woman giggled, leaning back in her seat and rolling her eyes at Rhys’ wink. Her attention was drawn to the man’s blatant display of nicknames, all across the board. Though Penny’s mind was doing somersaults if she moved too fast, she was able to watch in mild awe as Rhys just whipped new nicknames right out of his ass. It made her snort a little, and she crossed her arms with a half-hearted glance at the bottle.

Her gaze slipped down to the pasta in front of her, and the blonde picked at it absently. It had been pretty freaking good for kitchen sink pasta, but the amount of liquor sloshing in her stomach made it hard to fathom eating any more. Still, she knew better, and if she vomited later or the next morning she’d want something in her stomach. Penny scarfed down some of the pasta, remaining some amount of dignity as the slippery noodles slapped against her lips. She laughed a little at the image, and then took a few more bites before looking back at the liquor bottle.

“Hey, hey, Ryan. Get in on this man. Unless, you don’t think you can keep up.” Rhys said to the hunter, and Penny’s mouth gaped open in a wide ‘O’ shape—mock horror, of course. She giggled into the palm of her hand, and a wave of warmth washed over her as Ryan took a swig from the bottle. Her eyes caught Rhys feeling a similar heat, removing his jacket. However, part of her figured that his was from a different number of sources than hers.

“Ryan, Ry-ry, Rian, Brian…Ronaldo… the key to drinking is to keep doing it… because eventually it stops burning. I’m kind of a pro at taking shots, so watch and learn.” She snatched the bottle and poured a little into her glass, downing it, and then repeating the action several more times. “Honestly, it’s like fucking water at this point.”

A burn slid down Penny’s throat, and into her face. She felt way warmer than before already and began to struggle at her coat and shirt.

“Okay, but like, is it hot in here… or is it just me?” She gave a wicked grin, sticking her tongue out repeatedly as she quickly removed her coat and shirt. A black bra, well loved, contrasted against the woman’s pale skin and even paler tattoos. She slapped her breasts a few times, clicking her tongue as she looked back at the bottle.

“Part of me says no, but the other says yes entirely. Though if I were me, at myself, totally would say hell fucking yes.” She winked at Ryan and let out a long laugh, hiccupping a bit at this point. Penny lowered her head into the laugh, and when she raised it, she was even pinker in the face. The blonde took her hair out of its ponytail and let the long waves cascade down her shoulders. She pulled one leg up and sat casually at the table, smiling between all the survivors.

“Nicky!” She barked. “How’s the fucking Sangria? Let Mother Penny sip from her holy baby.” She reached like a young child, wiggling her fingers in the direction of Nik. A wet nose pressed against her foot from beneath the table and nearly spooked the girl. She peeked under to see Woofus staring with wide, begging eyes.

“OH, babyy…. You’re hungry aren’t you my darling Woofus. Momma loves you, yes she does. You eat her pasta and she’ll drink some of the yummy wine, okay?” Her gaze flickered back to Nik, and after placing her pasta on the ground for Woofus to gobble, she went back to reaching immaturely.

“Pleaaseee? I’ll do a dance for you! You can tell the guys how good I am at dancing because I promise, gentlemen, I am one hell of a Shakira when I drink.” For emphasis, the blonde wiggled her chest and raised her arms straight in the air, letting an 'r' roll loose on her tongue (or some attempt at it, though she probably just sounded more like a piece of broken machinery than a sexy Spaniard).

She waggled her brows at the boys at the table before whispering indiscreetly: “I’m flirting with anyone else because Rhysie-pieces and Nicky are definitely butt fucking and I do not want to get in the middle of that. Let butt fucks be butt fucks, but I’d rather saddle up with a pony of a different… stature.” She barked out a laugh at herself, grinning into her hand and wheezing with laughter.

She winked at Ryan. “But like you’re also a total hottie, but do not let sober Penny catch me saying that.” Indeed, Sober Penny would have a total cow if she caught herself doing this, or heard about it afterward. Fairly drunk at this point, and easily heading on being ten shots deep and only getting drunker by the moment now, Penny could hardly contain her inhibitions. Ordinarily, she'd be a bit reserved and would rather make friendly small talk with the other survivors. She'd definitely kick herself in the morning for making a daring first impression, aside from the whole intervention on the side of the road or the taking control of people's dreams to save them hours ago. [/div]

[div class="TinyLines"][/div] Interacting: Hell0NHighWater BasiliskVeranda Lakyr | Mentioned: Nik, Rhys, Ryan, Woofus| Located: Old Hampton Inn, 1st floor (Dining room) [div class="TinyLines" style="margin-bottom:0px;"][/div] [/div] [/div]

 

[Hell0NHighWater]

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[div class=statusText] Location: Hampton Inn 1st floor; Kitchen
BGM-Obviously-not-playing-on-the-radio: Jack You Up
Interactions: Sunshine BELIAL. |Goddamn BasiliskVeranda | The Best Man Lakyr
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[div class=statusText][/div][/div][div class=title]Rhys Contiello[/div][div class=text]
“Oh, you’re funny. Funny. Funny. It’s like you think you have a choice in the matter at all.”

His lips twisted into something between a full-fledged smirk and self-confident smile, "Sunshine, I know I'm fuckin' hilarious no need to point it out."

Right arm hooked around the back of the chair, pouring another shot somehow without even spilling and kicking it back with another grimace and shake of his head. “Ask Nicky. When I drink I drink… this Penny-wenny barely sees the light of day, but boy oh boy does she stick around for the entire afterparty.” A puff of hot air left his nose, "And the after-after party? You gotta stay for those, that's when the real fun shit starts." He clicked his tongue, dark brows raising up and down in a succession of quick motions.

"Count me in."

His gaze cut towards Ryan, the instant agreement caused something impish to simmer on his features. "My man."

Rhys gave a grin of approval, unknowingly copying the words of a friend who had long since moved on to a better place. His fist extended, waiting for the other man to bump their fists together before pulling away. He shoved another spoonful of food into his mouth, suddenly feeling like he could eat everything at this fucking table. It wouldn't be a good idea to do so, but he trusted in his metabolism. For twenty-seven years it had never once lead him wrong and he had the body to prove it.

“Okay, but like, is it hot in here… or is it just me?”

He perked up at the sound of Penny's voice, fork still in his mouth as arctic blues traced over her action of removing her shirt. He tilted his head to the side, staring dumbly with the fork resting against his lower lip. He wasn't quite leering yet, but he was definitely having problems focusing on her face. The chair creaked as he leaned back, tapping the metal against his mouth as his lips formed into a smoldering smirk.

"Sunshine, if you keep peeling off layers like a fuckin' free-for-all it's gonna get quite steamy." Rhys rescued the rum from Alaska, pouring himself a bit more before setting it back between them. He took a long sip before leaning forward, "But by all means, I'm enjoying the show."

He threw another wink into the mix, voice dropping a couple octaves to the point where he could feel it rumbling out of his chest. He leaned back again, arms crossed in front of his chest, the muscle-t clinging to the sharp outlines of his biceps. Rhys swirled the amber liquor in his glass absently, looking for all the world like the type of man that controlled the room. It could have been considered a bit narcissistic, but his addled mind saw it as being the most powerful guy in the room and flaunting it.

“Pleaaseee? I’ll do a dance for you! You can tell the guys how good I am at dancing because I promise, gentlemen, I am one hell of a Shakira when I drink.”

He smiled behind his glass, pupils dilating slightly as his attention was drawn inadvertently to the way her chest shimmed. Ordinarily he might not have cared, would have brushed the remark aside with a good natured laugh and an un-bothered continence. If he were a bit more sober he might have reacted to the situation in the same way he had reacted to Stella when she stripped in front of him. Alcohol, more specifically tequila, made him into far less of a gentleman. His eyes rolled at her imitation of trying to roll her 'r's, finding the displaying funnier than warranted. Rhys' entire body shook, laughter bubbling up from him in an unbridled force.

"Jesus fuck, you need more drinks and less of whatever the fuck that was. Not that I don't enjoy the offer, Sunshine, but we don't have any music for you to dance to that would fit the uh...atmosphere."

He slid another shot her way, snorting as she copied the same eyebrow waggle he had used earlier. “I’m flirting with anyone else because Rhysie-pieces and Nicky are definitely butt fucking and I do not want to get in the middle of that. Let butt fucks be butt fucks, but I’d rather saddle up with a pony of a different… stature.”

Pausing mid pour, that pirate grin on his face twisted into something even more wicked not missing the way she eyed Ryan. His brain was stuck on the meat of her mini monologue, gaze slipping towards the blond in butt-fucking question. There was a proposition that he didn't mind and it showed in his expression, crystal blue gaze hovering across the other man for a much longer time than a casual glance called for. The inebriated whitelighter hadn't flirted much with the object of his affections for the entire meal despite the open ended innuendos Rhys had thrown towards the rest of the group. A tiny part of his brain that was still on normal functionality rationalized that it was because there was no possible way for him to check himself. He'd say something one second and be trying to bend him over the nearest table the next. It was safer if he skirted around him until he was more sober.

But Rhys had never been particularly good at avoiding danger.

His expression morphed into one of false shock, leaning forward as if he were to share a secret. "We're butt fucking? Did you know that? I wasn't aware that there were butt fucks included." The corners of his lips twitched, breaking the teasing shock he had displayed in favor of a full smile. He grasped the bottle of tequila again, pouring another round before downing the little bit of liquid courage. In the morning, he would regret this potpourri of drinks and highly sexual comments. But in the here and now he didn't care enough to be bothered by the trivialities of tomorrow.
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[Chise_Robin_]

Alaska​

​

Location: Hampton inn first floor
mentions: Olive oil life hacker@BasiliskVeranda
Fun drunk Rhys Hell0NHighWater
Sexy pennywise BELIAL. , very hot crush Lakyr
Ooc: WISH ME LUCK ON MY EXAM PLEASE

James and Kayden were talking to a new comer which James had introduced as his brother, Alaska nodded to his direction smiling. She intended to thank Kayden for being so supportive later. she remembered James's remark about being a real hunter and pondered the thought for some minutes.


Plopping next to her on the couch with one arm around her sat the resident angel detective, who looked a little drunk and completely happy about it. His remark about the rum made her chuckle, she held the bottle in her hands turning it left and right before getting up, getting some spaghetti and a wine glass then sitting back down on the couch and pouring herself some of the rum.


The hunter in her prevented her from going crazy, instead, she enjoyed her glass excruciatingly slowly, grinning at the ongoing drinking battle between the hunters and the blessed.


Penny was going completely crazy, dancing and laughing and throwing challenges left and right, Rhys was answering her challenges between gulps of rum and Ryan seemed to enjoy the attention of the blonde blessed.


When she'd mentioned the buttfucking, Alaska sunk in her chair chuckling with the glass in between her hands at the thought of her two new big brothers intimate. They'll make a wonderful couple she thought, she wasn't quite sure she'd want to hear about the buttfucking though, chuckling some more she took another sip.


Alaska would have enjoyed the battle more had Penny not taken her shirt off revealing a beautifully sexy body and a stunning bra. "I’m flirting with anyone else because Rhysie-pieces and Nicky are definitely butt fucking and I do not want to get in the middle of that. Let butt fucks be butt fucks, but I’d rather saddle up with a pony of a different… stature"


Sinking further back in her chair she muttered under her breath " Add James to your no flirting list Penz he's taken" though her words weren't true, though James didn't make any move to indicate she's more than a just a good friend yet, not being able to say these words loudly made her pout more. Picking the bottle off the table Alaska poured herself another glass of rum and gulped it down immediately sighing afterwards.


After a few minutes, and against her better judgement Alaska stood up, "Snowfall is gonna go get her lips melted." she whispered setting the glass in Rhys' hand, and walked towards James and Nik. They were both chilling with a couple of cigarettes, the nicotine smelled strong but her focus was on James' eyes.


" um.." her previously brilliant idea started to feel..not so brilliant after all, she was standing in front of him though and the kick of adrenaline and rum in her system gave her more courage. Sitting on the chair right next to his, Alaska bit her lip nervously. She was a COMPLETE prude back in the days, and anyone who'd known her back then would never believe what she was about to do.


Tucking a stray peice of hair behind her ear, Alaska leaned closer and pressed her lips to his feeling her heart almost leap from between her lungs and run out the door. For her it seemed as if they were both suspended in time for a moment, she stopped hearing the laughs, the voices, the music. at that moment there were only the two of them. Pulling away after that moment, Alaska felt her cheeks burning red, stole a sheepish look at Nik who she thought would be proud of her for this then watched James' reaction with an awkward chuckle.

 

[BasiliskVeranda]

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[div class=whut]
[div class=biggie]
[div class=handsomedevil] [div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦`𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦'𝘴. [/div]


𝘕𝘐𝘒𝘓𝘈𝘚 𝘓𝘐𝘈𝘔 𝘝𝘖𝘚𝘚




[div class=speakeasy2]LOCATION — Hampton Inn, 1st Floor
OOC: beeep boop boop beep boop yall kids crazy beep
BGM — AURORA - IS THERE LIFE ON MARS?
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[div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳.[/div]
[/div][div class=speaks]
Chise_Robin_
"Sure, thanks," James took a cigarette from him, and Nik smiled, broad and warm. His deep blue gaze flickered between Ryan and James several times, and he finally relinquished to tossing back a bit more wine. A wine-mom to the nines, Nik was on a mission to not get to his tanked phase. It would end with him behaving a damned fool, not unlike Rhys was doing currently. He shook his head and laughed. One of them needed to remain even keeled out of this group of misfits, and the blond was being a Responsible Adult despite every neuron in his brain begging him to join the ridiculous antics.

"Today was one hell of a day, huh?" his younger friend remarked, and Nik lifted his smaller pitcher of wine to offer the other man. If he took it, Nik would pass it along, and if not, he'd just take another few sips.

"Understatement of the century," Nik responded, sinking down in his chair, leg angled so that his ankle was on his knee, a goofy expression painted on his face. The sunglasses were obnoxious, but he was trying to be on his best behavior and not obnoxious, and so a little added flair of audacity allowed him to feel like he was still involved.

Certainly as the night waned on, it'd get harder to behave like a proper functional adult.

Nik wound up to the table, pulling James along so that they'd get a front-row view of the festivities. He started digging into a portion of pasta, first making James up a plate, and passing it to him with utensils. Then Nik doled out a helping for himself, plopping back in his chair, and started eating.

"So what's with you and the new guy? Old friends?" Nik asked, head tilted, gaze curious beneath the cloying glasses he was so endeared to.

⛥⛥⛥​

Lakyr
“Ask Nicky. When I drink I drink… this Penny-wenny barely sees the light of day, but boy oh boy does she stick around for the entire afterparty.” Nik caught the tail-end of her small verbal boxing match with the whitelighter, his grin spreading into a large swath of a brushtroke.

"She's veering into the confident phase right now, watch out, soon she'll be raging like a fuckin' hornball on speed," he said offhandedly, casting a cheeky grin at his light in the dark. Who was now consequentially going to start burning brighter than a thousand suns, try to make-out with someone, then fight them, and at some point, pass out like a lump somewhere.

“Ryan, Ry-ry, Rian, Brian…Ronaldo… the key to drinking is to keep doing it… because eventually it stops burning. I’m kind of a pro at taking shots, so watch and learn.”
"Penny, that's Dreadful. You're going to end up like the time we skittered through the fuckin' Queens mall and stole a mannequin..sadly there aren't feather boas this time around, nor weed," he said with a chuckle, low in his throat, a consistent dorky tic of a sound, not unlike a frat boy would utter.

“Okay, but like, is it hot in here… or is it just me?” Nik started to cackle, watching as his best friend started to strip, slapping her chest like a bar-warrior-maiden, and rambling on like a winding river. She was always so beautiful, but he thought she was most beautiful when she was acting like a dork. People with their defenses down were charming, especially the always proper, never-swearing Pennysworth. A little fire in her blood was a good look on her, comedy was a great spotlight.

“Nicky! How’s the fucking Sangria? Let Mother Penny sip from her holy baby.” Nik obliged and picked up her 'child', graciously passing it onwards into her waiting arms, but followed by a cup, so she didn't get the bright idea to just start chugging the fucking thing.

"Hen would saying you're being a 'proper fookin' lush' right now, and I love it," he said with a sharp laugh, sitting back to nurse on his wine a bit more, cigarette winding in the air to press against his lips, and puff out a ribbon of smoke.

“Pleaaseee? I’ll do a dance for you! You can tell the guys how good I am at dancing because I promise, gentlemen, I am one hell of a Shakira when I drink.” This train was riding off the rails, but he hadn't expected anything less. She chortled and wiggled, and even haphazardly, it was a treat. Seeing her in such good spirits made the blond feel so inexplicably happy, which was only heightened by the wine swimming in his system.

"...Pen, you're getting dangerous. Careful, Reese's Pieces seems like a horndog when he gets blasted, I don't need him running off with a pretty girl," Nik said behind his cigarette, joking, his half-smile spread a bit sloppy on his face. But still charming.

“I’m flirting with anyone else because Rhysie-pieces and Nicky are definitely butt fucking and I do not want to get in the middle of that. Let butt fucks be butt fucks, but I’d rather saddle up with a pony of a different… stature.”

"That was not at all subtle, you tanked little minx," now came the big, flowery words, because of course Nik was an intellectual drunk, until he wasn't, "Stop airing out my dirty laundry, bad, bad Pennifer. Do I need to put you in time out?" he chided, swishing at her with his free hand, the other fiddling with his cigarette.

"But like you’re also a total hottie, but do not let sober Penny catch me saying that.” Nik rolled his eyes comically and then jabbed James with his elbow.

Lakyr

"I love it when she gets this way. One time we were having a party for Olivia—mutual friend—and she stole the pinata and placed it on her head. I don't know how she managed it, but by the end of the night she had blown through all my weed, and torn through five whole pizzas. Yes, five of them, and was wearing nothing but a sparkling sequence bodysuit. I don't know where she fucking bought it, but it was amazing," he said with a rolling chuckle. The wine was starting to get to him, and he cast a lazy gaze to Rhys. Hidden by his glasses, but it wasn't at all a pure glance in the least bit, and he bit his lip.

He would be the voice of reason and stay the course. He had to be, what with these chuckleheads.

⛥⛥⛥​

Hell0NHighWater
"Jesus fuck, you need more drinks and less of whatever the fuck that was. Not that I don't enjoy the offer, Sunshine, but we don't have any music for you to dance to that would fit the uh...atmosphere."
"Sadly, no Bowie for me to be a flaming queer to either....shit, no. No more wine, nope..." Nik said with a chortle, knocking back another mouthful of the Sangria. It was actually quite good, despite the lack of juice and ice.

"We're butt fucking? Did you know that? I wasn't aware that there were butt fucks included." Nik's face turned eight shades of red, which may have been the wine thrumming through his system, or the fact that he had just been put on the spot by the object of his affections.

"...later," he said behind his cup of Sangria, that was lowly evaporating, in between bites of pasta.

"They are definitely included...I'm trying my best to be ...fuckin' responsible...I'm dipping out before we get to my absolute...worst fuckin' phase, I don't need a repeat of The New Years Incident, that of which we will not speak of, Penndragon" Nik said as an aside to Penny. To make a long story short, even he didn't know what had fully happened that night, but Di had been making terrible comments for the next two weeks. Little jabs of what might have happened, and a whole lot of laughing, brow waggling, and the like.

Almost the entirety of his friends had given awkward glances to one another, and a wide birth, for at least a month after. Penny, he couldn't say what her feelings were on the debauchery, she had flittered out of their lives again shortly after. Henry had been the only one not to be mortally mortified, going back to their old ways almost instantly, well adjusted in all things.

Simple, simple-minded, uncomplicated. They had addressed it once, and only once, as they had shoveled pizza down their throats as was their custom, every Thursday, watching sports Nik fundamentally did not care about. 'Was fun' was all he said, and Nik almost choked on his food. And that was that.

"You're making it difficult to behave," Nik said to Rhys, scooching down in his chair, his half-smile teetering on something more sloshed than he would've liked. The pasta was eaten, the wine was flowing, and he was starting to drawl his sentences out, spindling and long.

"You're all so beautiful, this is amazing," and so the next step had been achieved, and he'd get overly affectionate. He had to pace himself.

⛥⛥⛥​

Chise_Robin_
"Add James to your no flirting list Penz he's taken," at this declaration, Nik beamed like the proudest fucking dad in the entire world.

"I...entirely," he swept out his hand, the one holding the cigarette, "....fucking approve...." he laughed, something slow and dizzy, "James, treat my sister right...hmm....Alaska...is a wonderful human," it was a slow descent into madness after this, Nik wouldn't be able to stop with his own inappropriate comments as the night ticked on. But he was wielding his inebriated state with an ungodly amount of self control at this point.

"I know you will. You're...a great person, so kind...understanding, and...both deserve...." Then Alaska wandered over as if in a daze, and stole a kiss from his young friend, with Nik's eyebrows raised higher than the fucking moon.

He started to clap. Yes, a slow clap, a cheerful look spread across his face.

Then, all at once, he raised his hands over his hand, cigarette ash sifting to the floor.

"Yessss! I've been seein' it for days, and there it FUCKING is! Bravo, Stateswoman...Bravo, красивая! Shit, no. No more wine...can't start...throwing the old language out there...no, no, this is bad...stop...ugh," Nik uttered, his words slipping, trying his best to hold onto any semblance of his sense of up and down, left and right, and right and wrong. It was slowly swirling down the drain at this point, and he was aware of it, dreadfully aware.

⛥⛥⛥​

Hell0NHighWater
Nik slouched in his chair, trying to prevent the inevitable, but it was absolutely too late, and he had lost the battle but might yet win the war. In a heartbeat of a moment, he surged from his chair and fettered through the available music, which surprised him, and switched the record.

"Piaf...yesss..." Then he took a sharp turn and ripped Rhys from his seated position, dragging him forwards despite what protests he may have had.

"Let's dance. Keep it classy. Idon'twant...to have to...slap you..." he said with a wayward chuckle, cigarette somehow lost on the floor at this point. He was starting to tip into no man's land, and Nik wasn't sure he could stop it. He would stay the course, he told himself. So far, he had done an impeccable job.

Hopefully Rhys wouldn't fuck it up.

"No funny business...I'm. Trying. To be responsi..ble," he swayed. Tomorrow could hold the worst of things, but tonight was a celebration, and he aimed to live it up, within reason. Reason that was deftly crumbling with how much wine he had swallowed down, but he held on like a fucking saint.
[/div][/div]
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[Hell0NHighWater]

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[div class=statusText] Location: Hampton Inn 1st floor; Kitchen
Interactions: Snowfall Chise_Robin_ |
Tesoro BasiliskVeranda
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[div class=statusText][/div][/div][div class=title]Rhys Contiello[/div][div class=text]
His head fell back, lazily attempting to sort out the crink in his neck. "Add James to your no flirting list Penz he's taken."

His lips pressed outwards, head and gaze lulling to the side to look at the young huntress with interest. He had noticed the bit of tension between them, the shy looks, the awkward pauses, but this had been the first time he had seen either of them vocally act on this little crush they had going between them. He supposed it wasn't dissimilar to the same thing he and Nik had gone through before the kiss in the snow. Most of that oblivion came from the pleasantly drunk detective and his inability to deduce subtle romantic intentions.

"I...entirely...fucking approve...James, treat my sister right...hmm....Alaska...is a wonderful human."

He stole the words right from his mouth, an all too affectionate smile edged across his lips and the look he was giving Nik would have ordinarily made the detective scowl at his own 'hallmark looking bullshit'. Inebriated, loose-cannon, Contiello didn't give a fuck.

He swung his gaze back to Alaska with a broad grin, "Look at my little Snowfall growing up so fast. It brings tears to my eyes....just last week you were....uh....shit what where we doin' last week?"

His brows knitted together, completely lost as his memories and words began to slur together. He leaned back in his chair with a dismissive wave, turning back to say something only to notice that she had gotten up. He blinked, his mind desperately trying to chase down the words she spoke and their meaning.

Cornflower blue irises tracked her as she took a seat next to James. His head was swimming, the world vibrantly swirling around him yet somehow he hung on. Aware in only the most basic sense that he was absolutely smashed and the tingling warmth that radiated from him was due to the alcohol and not some mystical power. He watched as Alaska pressed her lips to James' and he almost fell out of his chair.

"Finalmente cazzo!!!!"
"--and there it FUCKING is!"
"I thought I'd never see the day!"
"--Bravo, красивая! Shit, no. No more wine...can't start...throwing the old language out there...no, no, this is bad...stop...ugh."

Hearing the foreign words slip from Nik's mouth caused his brows to lift in an expression of muted wonder. It reminded him that he didn't even really know this man. Not like he wished to. He hung back against the chair with a grin, teeth pulling at his lower lip for a moment. Then his attention was back on Alaska and James, chuckling under his breath and pawing at his glass. There was an undercurrent of misery that soured in his gut. He stared at the swirling liquid in his glass, smiles and laughter suddenly lost. His mood darkened briefly, a splintering pain shot through him that felt as if his heart had been brutally torn in two. He didn't know why, couldn't comprehend the reason but it lingered like an ugly shadow sucking the marrow from his bones.

The jarring sound of a needle scratching against a recond broke him from whatever trance the unexpected depression had held over him. Someone grabbed his hand roughly and he barely had enough time to swallow the rest of his rum and put the glass down before he was being tugged out of his chair. He was annoyed at first, lips parting to tell off the asshole who removed him from his pondering only for the words to die in his throat.

Nik was smiling at him as if he were something worth smiling at. Rhys' arms moved automatically, copying Nik's position as one hand gripped his shoulder and the other rested against his back. He didn't hear the music or the rest of the group for a moment, the only thing worth focusing on was the man forcing him to sway in time.

"Let's dance. Keep it classy. Idon'twant...to have to...slap you..."

The dark mood melted away and his grin was brought back to the surface. His expression might have been pure and almost innocent if the look in his eyes didn't subtly promise that he would very much enjoy getting slapped.

"Tsk making threats already, tesoro?"

He moved himself a bit closer, the hand on the small of Nik's back dipping just a bit lower to rest slightly above his butt.

"No funny business...I'm. Trying. To be responsi..ble."

His nose crinkled, face scrunching for a moment at the thought of being responsible. Rhys was always responsible. He deserved some time to not be, at least that's how he rationalized it.

"If you want responsible, you came to the wrong place."

He angled his hips just right mid-sway, pelvises connecting for a blissful second before he put the distance back between them again.

"Oops."

A roguish smirk carved across his features as he attempted to resign himself to swaying along normally. It was wonderful, but this wasn't exactly the type of attention he was craving. Despite himself and his base impulses, Rhys didn't try anything else. Telling himself that he would respect Nik's dumbass decision to remain responsible. His eyes kept flickering from his lips back to those pools of deep ocean blue, wanting so badly to kiss him but having enough restraint to hold himself back. As much as he didn't care if they started making out in front of the group, sober Rhys probably would have combusted on the spot. His lips twitched upwards, not saying anything as the lightness of the situation spread throughout his body.

He couldn't remember the last time he had been this happy.

Rhys hummed a little to the song, not realizing he was doing so. A burst of giggles fell from him then and he set his head on Nik's shoulder in an attempt at calming himself down.

"Ihope...you know that I like you a lot...like a lot a lot...you're like my...second favorite thing behind peanut butter."

He chuckled, twisting away so that he could look back at his face. "It's really close though....like peanut butter," he pulled his hand from his shoulder to give a height estimate. He lowered his hand barely, "then you. It's a close second Tesoro." He grinned boyishly, looking a bit more his age than his usual stoicism that seemed to make him look way older than he actually was. The Italian endearment kept rolling off his tongue subconsciously. He had used it once on purpose and now it seemed as if that was all he could call him. He muttered something under his breath a mixing of English and Italian that probably sounded more like gibberish than anything coherent.

His head slumped back on his shoulder. "I'm...really fucking drunk." He gripped at the other man tighter as if worried that he would disappear if he were to let him go. He placed a soft kiss behind Nik's ear, letting out a low hum.

"Are you still trying to be responsible?"
There was a pout to his words and a drawl that was almost reminiscent of a slurred whine. His free hand cupped Nik's ass without an ounce of shame. The devilish looking smirk was back on his face as he peeked up at the other man.

"Because I don't want to be."
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[Anise]

KAYDEN JULIAN HUANG​

INTERACTIONS: da cinnamon roll Lakyr , da tall, TALL guy Lakyr , the state Chise_Robin_ , barbie doll BasiliskVeranda , our lil pumpkin Hell0NHighWater , The striping girl BELIAL.
OOC: huhuhu, enjoy :3



"What does being a true hunter mean anyway? Does it mean you've been trained to kill monsters and hunt ghosts?"


Kayden flinched. He didn't really think any of the two would catch a word of his blunter ,so how did James, that cinnamon roll, manage to do that when even Kayden himself didn't truly understand the words that somehow escaped his mouth,


''James, you don't understand it's-''


"Or is it all about the hunter's mark and being stronger than normal people? ''


The sentence made Kayden subconsciously shift his gaze to his left hand that hung lifelessly beside his body.



Creating a fist, the gaze of the 'hunter' caught a picture of the mark peeking behind all of the bandages that were being wrapped around his hand, making him want to throw something at James. He didn't know why he felt the urge to do such thing, but he had. Maybe it was all because of the memories the words of his new friend had brought back to the surface when saying them. Bringing them back to life, when they were supposed to stay behind, thrown somewhere in a ditch, lost in some dark place, a gorge, an abyss, whatever the deepest and the darkest universe or prison it was in, it had to stay there, locked up for the time being-


Does it mean you have to risk your life just because it's your job? That you have to be fearless? Or does it mean being ready and willing to help others without expecting anything in return, even when you have to put yourself in danger?"


This was the time when their eyes met. Kayden's head ticked to the side, his brows furrowing together into an mixed expression full of confusion and yet understanding,


''Look at the guy…he talks…a bit to much if you ask me….smart ass.''


"Or is it something completely different. Does it even matter?"


''And he keeps on going…look at him go.''


Receiving a faint, genuine smile afterwards, Kayden returned a slightly bitter one back to the hunter, his fingers still itching, wanting so badly to throw something at his face…



…maybe a shoe could work?



Then suddenly footsteps were heard. They were coming from the stairs.


''Another survivor? Don't tell me that princess and his barbie doll have already adopted more children.''


It was confusing. But if the freckled boy thought that was it and that the confusion phase would be soon over soon, he was being badly delusional.


A TALL guy made his way down the stairs, locking his gaze with James' when he came into sight.


They kept on looking at each other for quite a while, when Kayden's subconscious started to play 'the crickets' soundtrack inside his head, indicating that it was starting to get really, REALLY awkward.


The next thing that followed made the young hunter even more confused.


He cringed a little. He'd never thought that the two would finish each others' sentences like a married couple…and then the hug…




''Ok what the actual fuck?!,'' the silent, screaming question came to the confused boy's head.


"I think your friend is confused James," the guy let out a chuckle.


''No shit dude, how could I not be confused?!'' his inner self screeched while he let out a reluctant, overreacted laugh,


''HA HA HA!!!''


That TALL boy made a step forwards, holding out a hand for Kayden to shake, "I'm Ryan. James and I, we know each other from the times before."


He must've known something like that would've happened soon. Everyone would find someone familiar, embrace them into a tight hug and never let go, while he'd always be left alone in the end. He pouted a bit, knowing that he would never be that bounded with the group like the rest of them.


An outsider.


He had no one, had he? Every single one that he cared about in his life, somehow found their way to leave, to escape the world of the living.


Kayden flinched.


He didn't want such thing to happen with the group he was in.




It would be the best for them if he'd just leave, wouldn't it be?...




…Maybe saying goodbye the following day wouldn't be such a bad idea after all.




''Kayden,'' he nodded to the guy, shaking his hand. ''Damn he's tall…and James?,'' His gaze flickered back at the cinnamon roll, ''He's still young…so that means, that he's still growing…Why do I have to be one of the smallest guys here?!'' his inner self whined, while he gulped a lump that had formed in his throat,


''Erm…from the times before?''


"We're brothers, actually."


''Brothers…?''


"Well, we're like brothers, at least..."



KAYDEN'S MIND WAS SHUTTING OFF AT THIS POINT, SYSTEM OVERLOAD. All he could do at the time was to continue on having that stupid, confused expression on his face, while trying to prevent his mouth from opening into a wide o.



"I think I'll try to socialize a bit, to meet the rest of your group."


That Ryan again, walked off after saying the words.




Kayden knitted his brows. He had felt something during that handshake that he couldn't left unnoticed. It was the feeling similar to the one that he got around Nik.


Was it possible he could be afflicted?


"Maybe we should get back to the others too.", James snapped him out of his thoughts, making him flinch a little,


''Jesus, why do you people keep doing that?'' he said almost as if he was being offended,


''Yeah, let's go.''



-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


"Alright, cupcake, listen, we're gonna do shots. You've had a shot before right? You know how this works?"


Rhys leaned over to Kayden, filling up two shot glasses.


A puzzled expression painted his face as he looked deep into the glass and then back to Rhys and then to the glass again repeatedly.


Nope. A big Nope.


He'd never had a shot before.


Should he drink it? Show Rhys that he's a grownup?




"If you don't want it, that's fine, I'll drink it. But you only live once right?", the princess suddenly cut through the silence.



The image of Ryan and James hugging suddenly made its way back to the confused mind of Kayden's.


His life was already a big fucking mess at this point, so he decided to go for it,


''Yes, pumpkin?OH… Just a glass? Wow how generous of ya... How about giving me the whole bottle, ey?'' He said half joking.


Kayden grabbed the glass and shove all of its content into his mouth.


And he regretted it.


It was the worst thing he'd ever tasted in his life. It was so bad that he just had to let it slide down his throat,


"God *cough* Holy fuck. *cough* Is that poison or what?..." He said clearly in pain. He didn't expect alcohol to be such a disgusting drink when so many people seemed to enjoy in it.


Seeing Rhys giving out alcohol like a bloody dealer and addict at the same time, he didn't want more people to get drunk, but snatching the bottles from drunk people sounded pretty complicated when they were clinging to them as if they were their babies.


He decided to wait a little before acting as he was expecting Nik to do something about it.


Kayden started looking around the room.


''Rhys and Penny drunk af, Ryan on a good way to being drunk, then James…''


The sight of his buddy taking a deep inhale of a cigarette made him screech,


" Jams!!! " he squeaked like a rubber duck,


"The fuck? You're like five, who gave you the ciga-'', this was the moment he saw Nik sitting on the floor beside the resident cinnamon roll,


" Nik?! OMG I can't believe you guys,'' he said while almost choking on air.


Then suddenly there was Penny putting up her own kind of striping performance, "For fucks sake," a deadpan expression painted on his face,


"these peeps have lost their fucking minds."


Kayden face palmed.

Then Alaska stood up, walked up to James, she took a while but then pressed her lips onto his with such a sensation and lust, just like that, out of the blue.


Kayden's left eyebrow rose up to heavens.


That kiss left him with mixed feelings of pride and disgust, cause he knew James must've been way younger than her... But damn they looked cute together and they'd most certainly make a perfect couple,


"Yaaaaas, Ally!!!! I FUCKING SHIP IT!!!" he started rooting for the two along with Rhys and Nik, not even caring how embarrassed they'd feel afterwards, but that wasn't enough.

He couldn't let them go without a little, innocent tease,


"Next time, James... Know that the guys are the ones who are supposed to make the first move... Be a proper gentleman, will ya," he said with a chuckle, knowing that he'd just signed his last will.


"god I'm going to hell"


He then saw Nik pull Rhys off his chair and drag him off to the dance floor.


They were having a great time but what's enough it's enough.


Kayden stood up,


''No more alcohol for the kids,'' he said with a smirk, snatching the sinful bottle from the table, stepping on a chair,


''You've had enough, especially you Rhys!''


Looking over at their faces, he didn't want to get murdered just yet, so he added,


''Touch me and I'll drop the bottle! Not kidding!''

 

[Lakyr]

[div class=wrapper][div class=box][div class="boxBg boxBgLarge"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgTall"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgMedium"][/div][div class=boxInner][div class=statusBox][div class=characterPortrait][/div][div class=statusText]Location: Old Hampton Inn 1st Floor
Interactions: Chise_Robin_
BasiliskVeranda Anise [/div][/div][div class=title]James[/div][div class=text]James eyed the wine offered by Nik a few moments, then shook his head a little. "Thanks, again, but I'll stay free of alcohol tonight. Somebody's gotta keep a clear head and it isn't the best mix with the cigarette." He looked up at Nik, took another drag and blew the smoke out to the side before he smirked. "Also, if things go crazy I'd love to be the one person to remember."

James took the plate of pasta gratefully, he would've thanked his friend yet again but it was getting repetitive, so instead, he just inhaled the pleasant aroma. It had been quite some time since he had such a nice meal and just the smell of it cast a bright smile on his face. "This looks good!" They both sat back down and began eating.

"So what's with you and the new guy? Old friends?" The question came just as James put a spoonful of pasta in his mouth. "Mmmhmhm," was all he could say to accompany his nod as his mouth was full with hot pasta. He sped up the act of chewing a bit and then swallowed. "Yeah, more like family actually." He continued eating instantly after the sentence was finished, bringing the spoon up to his mouth again. He hadn't even realized how hungry he had been until he had a good meal in front of him.

Then he kept eating whilst watching the drunken conversations the others had, chuckling more than once because of them. They seemed happy, weren't worried, it warmed his heart. Moments like this made life in hell on earth livable, they made it worth going on in the bad moments and they showed that these people trusted each other. You wouldn't let your defenses down like that, in a world like this unless you're around people you trust. At least James believed so.

"I love it when she gets this way. One time we were having a party for Olivia—mutual friend—and she stole the pinata and placed it on her head. I don't know how she managed it, but by the end of the night she had blown through all my weed, and torn through five whole pizzas. Yes, five of them, and was wearing nothing but a sparkling sequence bodysuit. I don't know where she fucking bought it, but it was amazing," Nik's elbow and his words yanked James out of his thoughts and he looked over at him, letting out a chuckle together with his friends as he listened to his words.

"Sounds like you had great fun together, back then." He let out another laugh and shook his head. "Man, I kinda knew you were crazy but I didn't expect Penny to be."

"Add James to your no flirting list Penz he's taken," James looked up at Alaska a little surprised but wearing a new, warm smile. It was amazing and almost surreal with this group how quickly everybody became friends or more in some cases. It was too fast for him to truly comprehend it, it left him behind confused with his feelings.

He heard Nik's words and nodded, partly in agreement and partly confirming to himself that this was indeed all real. The cigarette rested between his lips and he inhaled smoke and blew it out through the nose several times. He took it out with his right hand as Alaska sat down the chair next to him and he turned towards her.

" um.." He looked at her expectantly, waiting for her to say something. Instead, she leaned forward and pressed her lips onto his. At first, he was shocked, not expecting this, eyes widening a bit and cheeks turning red. But the feeling and expression of shock didn't stay for long, he closed his eyes and everything and everyone around him except her was suddenly gone or far away. Cast out of his mind for a timeless moment, which was over way too early as she pulled away.

He slowly opened his eyes, blinked a couple of times as if the light in the room was too bright, and lost himself in her's. He heard Nik's clapping, her chuckle and the comments coming from different directions, but none of it really got through, he was still lost in the moment already over. He opened his mouth, wanting to say something, then closed it again as he noticed there were no words in his head and he smiled instead.

"Next time, James... Know that the guys are the ones who are supposed to make the first move... Be a proper gentleman, will ya," Kayden's words were the first that he fully recognized again, as he was still lost in Alaska's eyes. He shifted his head and narrowed his eyes on Kayden and threw him a quick smirk. He'd get that back another time, and he'd also get a hug someday.

James looked back at Alaska, his mind still void of words, but he knew what to do. This time he leaned forward, put his hands around her to pull her in a little and pressed his lips against hears. He took himself another moment of eternity, a bit longer this one. And instead of pulling away completely after the kiss, he put his forehead against hers as their lips disconnected, noses still right next to each other and he lost himself in her eyes again. "Hey," he breathed the word out subconsciously, damning himself a moment later for the lack of a better thing to say.[/div][div class=text][/div][/div][/div][/div] [class=wrapper] background-color:#000000; box-sizing:border-box; color:#FFFFFF; display:inline-block; position:relative; width:100%; text-align: justify; [/class] [class=title] color: #FFFFFF; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:3em; font-style:italic; padding:0; text-shadow:0 0 1em; margin-bottom: 10px; [/class] [class=box] margin:2em 1em; padding:2px 4px 0px; position:relative; [/class] [class=boxBg] box-sizing:content-box; height:100%; pointer-events:none; position:absolute; width:100%; [/class] [class=boxBgLarge] top:0; left:-5px; padding:0 4px; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.35); [/class] [class=boxBgTall] top:-8px;left:3px; padding:8px 0; width:calc(100% - 8px); height:100%; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.25); [/class] [class=boxBgMedium] top:-4px; left:-1px; padding:4px 0; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.4); [/class] [class=boxInner] background-color: #000000; overflow:hidden; margin:0.5em; [/class] [class=statusBox] box-sizing: border-box; border-right: 3px dotted white; padding: 15px; float: left; max-width: 250px; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px; [/class] [class=text] padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:0.8em; [/class] [class=statusText] font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; margin-top: 5px; [/class] [class=characterPortrait] box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; border-radius: 20px; overflow: hidden; [/class] [class name=characterPortrait state=hover] opacity: 0.5 [/class]

[div class=wrapper][div class=box][div class="boxBg boxBgLarge"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgTall"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgMedium"][/div][div class=boxInner][div class=statusBox][div class=characterPortrait][/div][div class=statusText]Location: Old Hampton Inn 1st Floor
Interactions: BELIAL.
Hell0NHighWater Anise [/div][/div][div class=title]Ryan[/div][div class=text]Ryan looked at Rhys extended fist, thinking about the option to leave the other man hanging for a moment before he gave him the anticipated fist bump in order not to turn this moment into an awkward one.

He helped himself to a plate of pasta, appreciating to have a good meal for once, just as everybody would. It was good, really good, he dug into the pasta a few times, then filled himself up a shot before Penny snatched the bottle and spoke. “Ryan, Ry-ry, Rian, Brian…Ronaldo… the key to drinking is to keep doing it… because eventually it stops burning. I’m kind of a pro at taking shots, so watch and learn.” He gazed at her and chuckled, then raised his shot glass a little. "I'll drink to that!" With that, he downed his shot and watched Penny doing the same several times.

Then he continued eating and drinking, the others had a headstart on him but he was trying to catch up. “Okay, but like, is it hot in here… or is it just me?” He looked over at Penny again, watching her as she took off coat and shirt. His eyes trailed across her body and finally rested on her eyes, a small but wicked grin on his face.

“Part of me says no, but the other says yes entirely. Though if I were me, at myself, totally would say hell fucking yes.” She winked at him, making his grin grow wider. "Well, hell fucking yes it is." He emptied his glass another time, making good progress at catching up with the rest.

“I’m flirting with anyone else because Rhysie-pieces and Nicky are definitely butt fucking and I do not want to get in the middle of that. Let butt fucks be butt fucks, but I’d rather saddle up with a pony of a different… stature.” He shook his head, letting out a short laugh as his gaze flickered between Nik and Rhys several times. “But like you’re also a total hottie, but do not let sober Penny catch me saying that.” Ryan leaned forwards looking at Penny and imitated her whisper. "I am the hottie here?" Now he winked at her. "You're right, sober Penny doesn't need to know about that."

Ryan looked over and simply smiled as James got kissed. That and the way the others reacted made him realize again how close these people were. And he was happy that James had the luck to find such a group, that he had found something like a family in them. Maybe, just maybe, Ryan could find something similar here, or at least some people he could trust at some point.

Then, somebody snatched the bottle from the table just as he reached for it again. Looking up he saw Kayden holding it, stepping up onto a chair. "Hey, hey, HEY! What?" Annoyance and confusion were in his voice and on his face as he stared at the young man. ''No more alcohol for the kids,'' Ryan pushed his chair back and stood up, his eyes still focused on man and bottle. ''You've had enough, especially you Rhys!''

He tilted his head. "Bold move, boy," Ryan reached for his glass and hold it up. "Come on, grant me one more drink and you can have the rest for yourself if you want to, deal?"

''Touch me and I'll drop the bottle! Not kidding!'' Ryan burst out in laughter as he looked around the room at the others. "Look out guys, he's got a hostage!" He laughed a bit more and let himself fall back into his chair, putting his glass back onto the table.

He shot a gaze sideways towards penny, smirk back on his lips. "Maybe we have to amuse ourselves with something else than drinking now."[/div][div class=text][/div][/div][/div][/div][class=wrapper] background-color:#000000; box-sizing:border-box; color:#FFFFFF; display:inline-block; position:relative; width:100%; text-align: justify; [/class] [class=title] color: #FFFFFF; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:3em; font-style:italic; padding:0; text-shadow:0 0 1em; margin-bottom: 10px; [/class] [class=box] margin:2em 1em; padding:2px 4px 0px; position:relative; [/class] [class=boxBg] box-sizing:content-box; height:100%; pointer-events:none; position:absolute; width:100%; [/class] [class=boxBgLarge] top:0; left:-5px; padding:0 4px; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.35); [/class] [class=boxBgTall] top:-8px;left:3px; padding:8px 0; width:calc(100% - 8px); height:100%; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.25); [/class] [class=boxBgMedium] top:-4px; left:-1px; padding:4px 0; border:1px solid rgba(255,255,255,.4); [/class] [class=boxInner] background-color: #000000; overflow:hidden; margin:0.5em; [/class] [class=statusBox] box-sizing: border-box; border-right: 3px dotted white; padding: 15px; float: left; max-width: 250px; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px; [/class] [class=text] padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:0.8em; [/class] [class=statusText] font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; margin-top: 5px; [/class] [class=characterPortrait] box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; border-radius: 20px; overflow: hidden; [/class] [class name=characterPortrait state=hover] opacity: 0.5 [/class]

 

[BasiliskVeranda]

[class=biggie] width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; clear:both; font-size:13px; color: #1d1b15; font-weight:100; display:flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; height: 100%; [/class] [class=whut]background-color: #fff; padding:30px; [/class] [class=handsomedevil] background: #fff; text-align: center; margin: 0 auto; padding:20px; color: #1d1b15; font-weight:800; flex: 1; border: 3px solid #181a1b; outline: 2px solid #988b42; font-size:13px; [/class] [class=speaks] border: 3px solid #181a1b; outline: 2px solid #988b42; font-size:13px; max-height:1780px; overflow: auto; line-height:1.9; ;padding:2%; text-align: left; background:#181a1b; flex: 1; flex-basis: 30%; margin-left: 40px; margin-right:15px; color: #fff; [/class] [class=speaksup] color: #1d1b15; border: 3px solid #181a1b; outline: 2px solid #988b42; font-size:50px; word-spacing: 4px; letter-spacing: 5px; ;padding:1%; text-align: center; background:#fff; margin-right:15px; [/class] [class=speakeasy] border: 3px solid #181a1b; outline: 2px solid #988b42; letter-spacing:2px; word-spacing: 4px; text-align: center; font-size:12px; padding:20px; color: #fff; font-weight:100; background: #181a1b;[/class] [class=speakeasy2] border: 3px solid #181a1b; outline: 2px solid #988b42; text-align: left; font-size:12px; padding:20px; color: #fff; font-weight:100; background: #181a1b; line-height:1.9; [/class] [class name=handsomedevil maxWidth="800px"] margin: 0 auto; padding: 10px[/class] [class name=biggie maxWidth="800px"] padding: 0px; margin: 0 auto; flex-direction: column;[/class] [class name=speaks maxWidth="800px"]margin: 0 auto; padding: 10px; margin-top:20px; overflow: hidden; max-height: 100%;[/class] [class name=bye maxWidth="800px"]display:none[/class]
[div class=whut]
[div class=biggie]
[div class=handsomedevil] [div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦`𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦'𝘴. [/div]



𝘕𝘐𝘒𝘓𝘈𝘚 𝘓𝘐𝘈𝘔 𝘝𝘖𝘚𝘚


[div class=speakeasy2]LOCATION — Hampton Inn, 1st Floor
OOC: o no baby wat is you doing
BGM — SEMISONIC - CLOSING TIME
[/div]
[div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳.[/div]
[/div][div class=speaks]
Chise_Robin_
"Thanks, again, but I'll stay free of alcohol tonight. Somebody's gotta keep a clear head and it isn't the best mix with the cigarette." Nik nodded at his friend's decision, he wasn't one to force anything on anybody, least of all alcohol.
"Also, if things go crazy I'd love to be the one person to remember." Nik blanched at this, making a sound not unlike the audible form of a grimace.

"...I don't want anyone to remember fuckin' anything if I get to Phase 5. You're brutal," he said, his half smile ticking up the corner of his mouth.

"Yeah, more like family actually." Nik's brows raised at this, and he made a humming sound under his breath, cigarette stuck squarely into the air. Drawing it from his lips, he wielded it to his fingers and pressed out smoke rings. Little swirls of pale titanium upon the palette of their small party, breaking over the scenery to melt as the air dispersed them.

"...then I trust him. If he's your family, then...he's welcome," the blond said, letting a lazy gaze reach Ryan's eyes. His heart warmed not solely from the wine humming in his system, smile warm and soft. But by the idea they'd have another member of their team that was trusted and cared for. They'd lost so many already, and the little silver witch's death had affected him more than he cared to admit.

He had never gotten the chance to apologize to her, had never gotten a chance to give her the necklace he had found. She had died, scared, blind, alone.

Nobody deserved to go out like that. Nobody human, anyways.

"Sounds like you had great fun together, back then. Man, I kinda knew you were crazy but I didn't expect Penny to be." Nik let out a short laugh, cutting the air, flicking ass to the floor.

"Knew I was crazy, huh? I'm one of the ones being fuckin' responsible..." he snorted, the laughter rolling in his chest, deep and resounding.
"Yeah...we all had a wild time. Then we all started to get older, things...settled. A bit....a tiny bit," he said with a cheeky grin splitting across his face. They had settled. He had gotten older, most of this shit out of his system.

Olivia was well into her college years, Henry was moving up in his job, Percival had quit her's to change careers to something more technologically oriented (secret genius, much valley girl, wow skills), and they were..expecting.

They had made an agreement. Less craziness, for the sake of the little one. She'd have figured out just how nuts her parents were as she had gotten older. But the small joy they had expected had never gotten a chance to live that life.

And he hated this crappocalypse, the demons, and whatever else was pulling the strings, more than any one man could hate a thing, he thought. Each day, it bristled up his spine, but to think on it while mildly inebriated was a recipe for an ugly cry. He didn't want to do that right now, so he lied to himself that some day, it would all be okay.

He'd make new memories to forget.

Even if that was simply not true.

James reciprocated Alaska's kiss and Nik's heart properly exploded. The wine had done its job to make him even more warmed and affectionate than ever before, his eyes flicking to the pair, then away, as if trying to grant them a shred of privacy. While there really wasn't one. It was such a sweet gesture he was sure he'd get cavities, and he didn't mind one bit.

Both of them, happy, that was a gift greater than anything he thought he could ever receive.

Tonight was a blessing, better than anything Heaven could ever grant any of them, if it existed, that is.

⛥⛥⛥​

Anise
"God *cough* Holy fuck. *cough* Is that poison or what?..." Nik grinned, apparently Rhys was trying to 'poison' them all now. But he couldn't say he didn't agree, Nik enjoyed alcohol when it tasted nice, not when it tasted like fire water or rubbing alcohol. Fruity drink bastard to the nines, Nik could echo Kayden's sentiment, but stayed quiet. His wine was keeping him company.

"The fuck? You're like five, who gave you the ciga-Nik?! OMG I can't believe you guys,'' Kayden belted out, incredulously. Nik raised his brows, then one sharply angled itself like a cut of a palette knife in dark blond.

"...it's the end of the world, 'Cupcake', I'm pretty sure it doesn't matter if he smokes a cigarette. He's at least being....resp..onsible with refusing...the boozing..." he said with a joking smile, letting the other man know that he was just poking a bit of fun, deep blue eyes warm and genial.

⛥⛥⛥​

Hell0NHighWater
"Tsk making threats already, tesoro?" He wondered what that phrase meant, but took it as some sort of term of endearment. Like blondie, he enjoyed the phrase, eyes crinkling as he smiled.

Rhys was not going to play fair for the rest of the night, this Nik knew from the devious look in his eyes. Employing his inhuman amount of self control wasn't going to cut it. The wine was certainly doing its job, and he felt his own impending doom tick away as the moments hummed on. It was a horrible combination, the dancing and the alcohol. Yet he still had done it anyways, like a big stupid idiot.

Which he now knew even more to be a plain fact as the man rested his hand on the small of his back, but slightly lower. Nik's strong brows narrowed, ah, so this was how it was going to be. He'd lose this little battle, certainly, and have to whisk his 'princess' off the fucking dance floor because he would not keep his hands to himself.

Nik would save the others from that sight. Despite the Penny-debauchery-train brutally careening down the railroad track, Nik had aimed to stay the course. But this was impossible.

"If you want responsible, you came to the wrong place." The movement Rhys made was not in the least bit as subtle as he thought it was, the blond sighing, but relinquishing to rest his head on his shoulder.

"Oops."

"You're an absolute nightmare..." he said with a smirk, face warmed from the wine and their closeness, his red coat blaring against the backdrop of their small party. Painted in so many loud colors, like always, deep rolling blues and violent reds. Such was his way, as it would be till the end of time.

"...or maybe a wonderful dream. I haven't...fuckin'...decided onthatone...just yet," he murmured through his haphazard half-smile, barely holding the expression on his face, the wine twirling in his veins and rendering him helpless.

The other man hummed along to the song, and started to spindle a small set of giggles, letting his own head rest on the blond's shoulder as Nik switched up to take the lead of this dance. Deep blue eyes fettered over the side of Rhys' neck, to the shell of his ear, down to his shoulder. Nik pressed his cheek to the other man's, humming in his chest to the song he knew too well. Edith Piaf had been a perfect choice, and this was a perfect moment.

Rhys was getting silly. It was...precious.

"Ihope...you know that I like you a lot...like a lot a lot...you're like my...second favorite thing behind peanut butter." Nik chuckled softly, feeling that if he spoke too loudly or made too loud a sound that this magic would all be undone. He shifted his face against the other man's cheek, a soft gesture, the part-time devil being a romantic at heart.

"...second favorite behind peanut butter?" the blond asked, a murmur of a smile in his voice, almost audible, "...I'd say," Nik paused for a moment, his worried heart nervous for whatever words the wine wasn't letting him prevent himself from speaking, "...you're above cigarettes for me, princess. That's saying something."

"It's really close though....like peanut butter...then you. It's a close second Tesoro." That boyish smile would be his absolute undoing, Nik realized in that moment, mind hazy but definitely sober enough to appreciate the confession. Appreciate the other man's sharp cheekbones, all angles, usually intense gaze, and the bluest eyes he had ever seen.

Appreciate how he tried to be the leader as best he could, keep the others safe, fight for those he cared for. Appreciate the banter, appreciate all of it. The pretty package was icing on the cake, but what was beneath was something that drew him, like a moth to a flame, magnetized. If he were blind, he'd still follow that pull.

This was dangerous, and it felt raw, but it felt real, and Nik honestly was a bit scared. Scared of that smile, but he was brave. Braver than he thought himself to be, because he wasn't looking away.

"I'm...really fucking drunk." Nik smiled, the corner of his brow raised, gaze flickering over the other man's face, tracing the lines of his brows, trying to commit it all to memory.

"Hopefully not so drunk you forget all this...in the morning..." that would've made the part-time devil fairly downtrodden, if that was the case. Alcohol was fun, but when it robbed you of such wonderful things, it was more a handicap than the freeing thing people said it was. It was an agent of chaos. Nik wanted Rhys to remember all of it. The dance, the stupid jokes he had doled out, the laughing, and what would come after all that.

It'd have been a shame to forget it all.

"Are you still trying to be responsible?" Rhys breathed a kiss behind his ear and Nik flushed from his hairline to the tips of his ears, this was unfair. He wasn't ready to leave the party yet, but he couldn't let this continue on its natural path. The New Years Incident was looming nigh, his brow ticked up at the corner, raised in the middle, music lulling in the background. Classy.

"I said to keep it..." then his ass was squeezed and the blond let out a sigh, definitely exasperated, "classy. You're...such...a damn...fratboy..." he keened to Rhys' ear and added in a drawling whisper, "I love it though."

"Because I don't want to be."
"I...can fuckin' tell, let's...get out of here, hmm?" Nik shifted around to lock eyes with Penny, giving her a nod, which he hoped she'd be able to register. Hopefully she wasn't bleary-eyed to the point of oblivion, and read his not so subtle tell that he was going to cart the whitelighter away and if anyone came looking to...maybe do a naked cartwheel. Whatever.

They had their tells, their wordless signals, a glance, all their life filled to the brim of memories. Penny, his light in the dark, would tow the line...

Or get blasted and crawl up Ryan's lap, which Nik now thought was a possible certainty.

⛥⛥⛥​

Anise
''No more alcohol for the kids,'' Kayden was doing the one thing that was possibly going to make this even more awkward than it already was, the blond being well aware of the course this could take. He stood on a chair, alcohol bottle in hand, like sort of savior. Nik's brows piqued up and he closed his eyes, letting out a grumbling sigh.

"No, no...for God's sake...don't take drunk peoples' alcohol, stop, this—"
''You've had enough, especially you Rhys!''
"Oh, nope. Uh-uh, let's go princess..." Nik dragged Rhys back by the arm, cursing under his breath, hopefully he wouldn't charge after the other man and try to save the booze.
''Touch me and I'll drop the bottle! Not kidding!''

With a pained expression on his face as he snatched Rhys by the collar of his shirt and dragged him across the scene. He didn't need a full-on brawl cropping up, certainly not right now. Hopefully everyone would behave, because this shitshow was starting to barrel down a different route that would sour the blond beyond all possible irritations.

"If you cockblock me because someone has to save the poor, helpless booze, I will be very fucking irritated," Nik grumbled out a lukewarm threat he was sure he'd never carry out, and simply grouse like a petulant baby for the rest of the night.

For all his talks of responsibility, he was no better than Rhys, just...better at hiding it. Keeping his inappropriate fumbling as thoughts in his mind, for the sake of his friends and human goddamn decency.

Unlike Penny, which he didn't judge her for in the least bit. They just really didn't need two half-naked idiots gyrating around like heathens. Sloshed Nik was an absolute trainwreck. Two trainwrecks did not a fun time make.

Nor did a sour-faced, mopey blond drunk, stewing in his own juices because the precious alcohol was in mortal danger.

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[Lekiel]

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[div class=sidedetails]

Reverie Lowiezka​

LOCATION — Old Hampton Inn, First Floor Dining Hall
INTERACTIONS — Chise_Robin_ , BasiliskVeranda , Hell0NHighWater , Anise
MENTIONS— BELIAL. Lakyr , Also, sorry for the butchering of interaction sequences. I just wanted to make sure I replied to every interaction as much as I could!
DESC. — Hair unfettered, tan wrap coat, red scarf, tights, black converse.[/div][div class=sidedetails2][/div]

[div class=bye]
[/div][/div][div class=witchtalk]

❖ ❖​

It felt... nice. Clean and simple. As she sat behind Alaska, a rich dulcet tune melodiously drifting from her parted lips. Even grouchy old Nik and his olive oil did not so much as draw an amused smile from her. She accepted the proffered makeshift hair conditioner and set about making sure that the other woman had a beautifully tended crown. She couldn't remember the last time she'd done this for another, and the repetitive motions had a peculiar therapeutic effect on her mind. And even when Rhys poked his sorry head in to bitch about their choice of music, she merely chuckled at his annoyance, pleasantly surprised to see the detective in a mood other than sulky. So much had happened in the past week, and while much of it had been sour, the witch rather suspected that she somehow came out the rear end a little better than she'd entered it. The longing in her heart, that inexplicable emptiness, it was still there; but if she dared say so, she thought a little corner in that void had begun to be filled.

Alaska thanked her when she was done, drawing a quick smile from the white witch. Settling herself down on a beaten up couch she felt cold metal press against the small of her back. Reaching behind, her hands closed over the ever present revolver. An undecipherable look passed over her features as she studied the gun. Out of habit, she thumbed the catch, releasing the ammunition cylinder. It was still in there. A small sigh passed through her shoulders as she set the gun down on the table before her.

❖ ❖​

She had to admit, even to her honed palate, the pasta Rhys and gang had managed to magic out of the dusty kitchens was noteworthy. A bellyful of warm food, Reverie settled back onto her couch, half a bottle of wine in one hand and a cigarette from Nik in the other. She wasn't much of a smoker, but she did welcome a lungful of tar and nicotine on occasion. The party had escalated rather quickly. Not overly so, but enough that Reverie found herself enjoying the sight of various members of their group aping themselves out. Even Penny, the blonde girl they had really only recently met, was quick to release her inhibitions. Climbing to her feet to unabashedly perform an incorrigible drunken wiggle while half nude. The witch found herself chuckling in amusement as the blonde woman proceeded to tease their lead duo before wagging her eyebrows at Ryan. It was refreshing, how quickly they all managed to put the harrows of the past days behind. A healthy flush colouring her pale olive cheeks, she turned as she heard the detective drop a remark by her side.

"I'm a big fan of your work, Sparkles," A slim eyebrow arched at the new nickname. "maybe you could show me sometime." She did not miss the subtle tones the clearly buzzed detective slid from under the covers. Her head tilted to one side to regard him, something like a challenge sparked in her hazel eyes. Her gaze almost languidly roved over to Nik, who was walking towards their errant leader an intense gaze in his eyes as he looked at the taller male.

"I didn't think you were one to partake off a ménage à trois." The white witch remarked, but she quickly lost her poise, giggling as Nik appeared by the other man's side to pull him up for a sultry dance.

"Let's dance. Keep it classy. Idon'twant...to have to...slap you..."

The way the two men moved, the close embraces, the skin on skin contact, they did little to disguise the electricity that passed from between their sculptured frames. It reminded her of animated live art models. Raw emotion playing on the faces in whispers and deep promising looks.

''No more alcohol for the kids,'' Her silent observation was interrupted by a petulant declaration. An amused smile played on her lips as Reverie turned to find Jaemin up on a chair and threatening to take the party away from a bemused Ryan, Rhys and Nik.

"Oh, nope. Uh-uh, let's go princess..." Nik, perhaps sensing that their high and mighty leader might charge after the hunter in a hot rush of testosterone was holding Rhys back.

''Touch me and I'll drop the bottle! Not kidding!'' The hunter threatened again, like a bank robber demanding a clean getaway. A sudden idea flashed through Reverie's mind and her lips curled with a devilish smile. She extricated her lithe frame from the couch.

"Look out guys, he's got a hostage!" Ryan was hollering from another corner, though at least half of his attention was on the semi-nude blonde.

There was an audible step, and then the groaning of mortise joints. The tawny-haired witch was now stood precariously behind the young hunter, the small seat shuddering under the weight of two people.

"Hey..." Her voice tickled his nape from having to stand so close. "There's no harm in letting them have their spirits, don't you think?" Slim fingers traced along the length of his arm, slowly closing around the bottle, slowly and deliberately prying it from his grasp. Then she breathed into his ear, "besides, I haven't thanked you for carrying me back after we fought that Bell Witch, haven't I?"

[/div][/div][/div]

 

[Chise_Robin_]

Alaska​

​

Location: Hampton inn first floor
mentions: Olive oil life hacker BasiliskVeranda
Fun drunk Rhys Hell0NHighWater
Walking sass ball Anise , very hot crush Lakyr

"Yessss! I've been seein' it for days, and there it FUCKING is! Bravo, Stateswoman...Bravo, красивая! Shit, no. No more wine...can't start...throwing the old language out there...no, no, this is bad...stop...ugh," Two red patches burned on Alaska's cheeks as similar remarks fled her drunk freinds' mouths.



Nik slow clapped and looked geniunely happy for the two. "Look at my little Snowfall growing up so fast. It brings tears to my eyes....just last week you were....uh....shit what where we doin' last week?" Rhys' question earned him a chuckle and a head shake from the young hunter who seemed to realize that everyone was waiting for this relationship to happen, rooting silently for the two hunters to get together. She smiled at the thought and reminded herself to thank the angel detective for the rum, without which she would have never gathered the corrage to do what she'd just done.


"Yaaaaas, Ally!!!! I FUCKING SHIP IT!!! Next time, James... Know that the guys are the ones who are supposed to make the first move... Be a proper gentleman, will ya," The resident sassball was never more right, to which James took the initiative, put his hand around the young woman and kissed her once more. A long, amazing kiss which she'd wished would last for an eternity. ''Hey.'' His emerald green eyes peirced into her chestnut brown ones, and she felt all of her existence blushing. ''Hi'' she managed to whisper back smiling, their foreheads touching. She rested like this, in his arms for a while, safe and warm.


THAT. is when everything escalated. Looking behind her back at the booze commotion Alaska could see Kayden confiscating the tiquila bottle, Ryan utterely confused asking for one more drink and cracking jokes. In a way, he resembled James with his action. Alaska smiled as Nik stood up and started dragging a very drunk Rhys, blocking him from misbehaving. ''Touch me and I'll drop the bottle! Not kidding!'' Was Kayden's warning, the man looked serious enough but Alaska didn't want to test Rhys' threat about the rum.


Gently pulling herself away from James' arms she stole the lonely rum bottle and sat back down next to James with legs crossed. ''Not the rum people, we can't afford to drop that, guy's got a gun'' She chuckled closing the bottle with the cap indicating that she as well wasn't going to drink. ''I'll hide this for you in my bag for tomorrow Rhysie, no one's breaking the rum today'' she said with a grin

The white which had managed to rescue the other bottle from Kayden, she seemed to be a little more relaxed now. Smiling at the cockblock remark from Nik Alaska rested her head on James's shoulder and tried to close her eyes, happy at the day which went beautifully.

 

[Steel_427]

Location: Old Hampton Inn, 4th > 1st
Interactions with: Lakyr , Anise , BELIAL. , Chise_Robin_ ?
Sorry for the lack of posts, I will definitely write more this week.. as I had so much to catch up on I'm not 100% sure if I've interacted with everyone etc but I've did my best to stay in the relevant scenes and such. I hope it's okay and I just want to say that I am really enjoying this so far, it's great!


Daisy always stood ready by the door, staying prepared for threats. She turned away from Rhys and Nick to give them some privacy. Time passed as she waited and waited, trying her hardest to not drift off or lose concentration. Eventually she took a few power naps while sitting down to regain her energy.

After she waited a while longer she headed out the door, and to her surprise Ryan and Penny were heading into the room at the same time. She stood aside after locking eyes with Ryan.

"Sorry, they're okay." She said with a nod.

She watched out the door for a bit as the group talked about what they saw. She zoned out and stopped listening for a bit as she lost herself in her thoughts. The past memories flood into her brain, her friends. Family. Gone. Why am I suddenly thinking about this? Why now? Of all times?

She snapped out of it as she realised they are heading downstairs, though she wasn't able to recall what for.

Following at a slow pace she stayed alert, hand grasped around the handle of her knife.

They all headed downstairs where they are greeted by a whole new group of strangers. Hm. Do they know one another?

She examined each of them in close detail, not creepily but more so as a way of trying to figure them out and why they ended up here of all places.

She sat on the couch and stayed quiet, not even uttering a word. No point in being friendly, you'll just lose them again.

They do seem like a good group though, they must be because they've survived this long.

They must've been through a lot too...

The glorious smell of cooking filled her nostrils, instantly bringing back the memories of her past and the foods her mother used to make. It almost brought a tear to her eye. Almost.

The sounds of music flowed through her eyes, causing goosebumps to bloom on her skin. Wow. Music and food? None of these have been in her life for a while, she even pondered if she'd already died in the house and that this was her heaven.

Daisy tapped her foot to the rhythm of the music, finding it impossible to not stay still to the beat. Her eyes sparkled with joy as she listened closely to the tune, taking it all in.

She was never really a sociable person, always keeping to herself and doing her own thing. She referred to herself as kind of a loner but with a very few good friends. But that trait of being a loner seemed to work well this far without many problems.

Her thoughts were interrupted by a loud thud coming from outside. She quickly drew her knife out and ran outside, following the others. Her eyes widened at the sight. A death, although not a rare sight to her eyes it always shocked her nonetheless. Her insides churned at the thought of it. No good soul deserved such a fate.

She looked with sad eyes at the stranger group. "Are you okay...?" She asked to them all even though she already knew the answer.

She headed to the dining room to clear her thoughts and to check if dinner was ready but she locked eyes with a tall, blond young man on her way through the hallway. Woah. How did I not notice him earlier? Her thoughts must've been busy overflowing with the sight of the body and the look on the other's faces...

She clicked back to reality and realised she was staring at him, a little longer than she had intended. Shit. But his freckles, his eyes, his face and his body looked as though they had be carved by God himself. He looked strong and powerful but her eyebrows furrowed slightly at the bandages under his sleeves. Hm. Interesting...

"Uh...hey..." she mumbled quietly before heading through.

She quickly averted her gaze ahead and sat at the table where she watched the scene with the alcohol unfold. Oh this won't be good. Shots were poured and drank. She was never a fan of the drug, it tasted horrible and she never understood why people would even drink it.

She noticed the interaction between Ryan and a stranger causing her to raise an eyebrow. Ryan was a stubborn man from what she gathered. He definitely didn't seem like a people person but she thought she could maybe be surprised because of his sudden bond with the groups.

Daisy watched the way how Penny acted with Ryan. Woah... there's definitely something going on here. She so drunk!
Her eyes widened and her jaw dropped as she saw Penny begin to strip.

"What are you doing???" She blurted out, barely understandable due to her amazing laugh. Her eyes watered as she chuckled. After composing herself she smirked at the scene and rested her chin on her hands at the table, looking adorable with the smile on her as she realised how lucky she actually was to be around this group of weirdos, they seemed great...

 

[Hell0NHighWater]

[div class=wrapper][div class=box][div class="boxBg boxBgLarge"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgTall"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgMedium"][/div][div class=boxInner][div class=statusBox][div class=characterPortrait][div class="imageBorder"]

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[div class=statusText]
BGM: Heaven
Location: Hampton Inn 1st floor → an unknown room on the second floor
Interactions: Snowfall Chise_Robin_ |Sparkles Lekiel |
Tesoro BasiliskVeranda |Cupcake Anise | The Hyena Lakyr
[/div]

[div class=statusText][/div][/div][div class=title]Rhys Contiello[/div][div class=text]
"You're an absolute nightmare..." Mischief lurked in his gaze and hitched his lips into a lopsided smile, seemingly pleased with this idea of him being some abstract form of a nightmare. "...or maybe a wonderful dream. I haven't...fuckin'...decided onthatone...just yet," He tilted his head a bit to the side, regarding the other man in the low light of the room. Residual smoke from the various cigarettes curled in the air, twirling and hovering in the air like some sort of fogged ambiance.
"I could be both." His shoulders lifted in a shallow shrug, bricks of blue glinting with amusement, "Nightmares and dreams are all sort of the same thing."

He hummed at the cigarette analogy, resting his chin on the other mans shoulder as they swayed. He couldn't hear the music anymore, his mind a billion light years away yet somehow still in the present. It was surprising that he hadn't stepped on Nik's feet considering how sloshed he felt and his hand eye coordination was lagging more than usual. Rhys took a long breath, inhaling the stench of ash and tobacco cluttered in with something reminiscent to paint primer and a sulfuric odor that was all Nik. As unappealing as the combination of those smells seemed, they were beyond relaxing in the only way that a person who you cherished could be.

"Hopefully not so drunk you forget all this...in the morning..."
Rhys snorted in reply, leaning back just a bit and if Nik hadn't been holding him he might have stumbled on his ass. "It would take...an insane amount of alcohol to get me to forget any of this. Four pitchers of Rum and some high quality vodka max." He might have been exaggerating just a bit, but no matter how embarrassing this might be in the morning he wouldn't want to forget it. Not this. Any of this. Well, he might want to forget flirting with Reverie, but besides that he had the unfortunate gift or curse of remembering most of what he did when inebriated. Sometimes the memories blurred together, but he was almost positive that he would remember this night in crystal clear detail. He leaned in again, content with this simplistic sway and yet unable to stop his wandering hands. He wanted him. It was difficult to keep that desire in check when his inhibitions took a back seat with his sobriety.

"I said to keep it...classy. You're...such...a damn...fratboy..." He giggled a little, finding the comment wildly amusing despite never having been a fratboy in his entire life. His version of college had been the Police Academy which...for all intents and purposes had been the same thing: a general higher education and focus on policing. It had been more of a trade school in a way. "I love it though." His giggles ended abruptly, a wheeze leaving his lips that could have been an attempt at a breathy chuckle or noise of distress. His mouth went dry at the next sentence, biting his lower lip as he turned his head to look at Nik's face. They were close enough that all he had to do was lean in a bit, connect their lips and seal that promise of elsewhere with a passion that terrified and excited him all at once. He brushed his lips against the corner of Nik's mouth as he tilted his head to look somewhere behind them. There was no innocence in the action, and in that moment he didn't really care.

''No more alcohol for the kids!"

It was like cold water had been doused on him, a little reminder that the world didn't just revolve around the two of them. Rhys managed to pull away just a bit, eyebrows raised in a mixture of confusion and irritation. His gaze zoned in on the freckled hunter, holding the bottle up like some sort of hostage.
"No, no...for God's sake...don't take drunk peoples' alcohol, stop, this—"
''You've had enough, especially you Rhys!''

He took a step, expression flipping like someone would a coin, the dark glower promising all sorts of violence on behalf of the damsel named Partida Reposado.

"Why don't you come down here and say that to my fuckin' face!"

"Oh, nope. Uh-uh, let's go princess..."

There was an iron grip on his arm that held him back, body posed to charge at the slightly younger man who held the liquor delights hostage.

''Touch me and I'll drop the bottle! Not kidding!''

"I won't have to fuckin' touch you! Sparkles, grab my fuckin' gun. Goddamnit Nik, let go of me. I've gotta rescue the fuckin' liquor from certain doom! It's it's....shit...what's the word....what's the fucking word....important!! Get down here and fight me like a man! You aren't helping you hyena! Don't laugh in the face of---hgn!"

The sharp tug on the collar of his shirt choked off the rest of his words, arms flailing out as he almost lost his balance. His feet stumbled backwards, almost tripping himself up a couple times as Nik carted him away from the table and towards the doors. "If you cockblock me because someone has to save the poor, helpless booze, I will be very fucking irritated."

He blinked, as if remembering that there was something --someone-- worth doing that was more important than tackling the hunter who held the alcohol threateningly in the air. ''Not the rum people, we can't afford to drop that, guy's got a gun." His hand reached towards his holster, confirming the fact that he did, indeed, have a gun he just forgot about it. Another yank at his collar and another choked noise made him think twice about pulling it. ''I'll hide this for you in my bag for tomorrow Rhysie, no one's breaking the rum today!''

"Snowfall...you're a saint..." He mumbled, a grin carving across his face before Nik succeeded in tugging him out of the room.

He twisted in Nik's hold, almost slamming the both of them into a near by wall. "Hell forbid you get all irritated. That wouldn't be fun for either of us." Rhys chuckled, calming down from his earlier outrage in the space of a couple seconds. The next thing Rhys knew, he had slammed his lips to Nik's and nearly knocked all wind from his lungs.
There hardly had been a moment to react before he pressed his tongue to the seam of the blond's lips and, at grant of access, delved inside his mouth. It was a very sloppy kiss with the strong scent of wine and hard liquor being exchanged in the intermingling of billowing breaths. His arms reached up and tangled around his neck. Without breaking the contact he steered the other man towards the stair case.

† † †​

Rhys opens his eyes to the dimly lit room, though it is daytime no-one has opened the thick drapes. He squints, dry mouth sticky with thick saliva and moans before retreating under the duvet. His long legs were tangled in sheets and another pair of legs, head turning in an effort to get back to sleep. His throat felt like sandpaper. It hurt to move. It was like the flu only self-inflicted, which meant he'd get no sympathy from anyone. Not that he wanted it. It was his stupidity that caused him to drink last night. At least the curtains were still closed, he was always adverse to bright light when he was hungover. It was wishful thinking to believe that maybe he could sleep it off. He curled under the duvet and closed his eyes. He wanted to be nineteen again when he didn't get hangovers, now with the curse of old age they only got worse. His head felt like he had an axe planted in it and he pulled the mass of warmth resting beside him closer as if that would alleviate the pain.

Last night was a mix of blurred voices and images, but he remembered it for the most of it. It was kind of hard to forget. The corners of his mouth curved into a weak smile, dipping his head to rest against the top of Nik's head. The man had suctioned himself to his side, not that Rhys was complaining, but he was kind of wishing that he had some water and pain killers. He placed a soft, feather light kiss against the blond's temple, "...Are you awake?" His voice cracked, a product of the hangover and desire to go back to sleep. It had been blissful not having any kinds of dreams while he slept, just a comfortable darkness. It was nice. The whole experience had been...nice wasn't adequate enough to describe it and his brain couldn't function enough to provide the vocabulary.

He twisted onto his side, hand following the curve of Nik's spine lethargically. Somewhere in the back of his mind he wondered where the fuck his pants went, but for right now that problem didn't seem to be as pressing as the need for water. He was just too lazy to move and this felt far too nice. He wanted to remember this feeling, to hold it tight and never forget because he didn't know....he would never know when these feelings would cease to be. It scared him that he felt this way in the first place, but the idea of never experiencing this again was it's own kind of brutal torture.

"Did you want to go see who else is up?" He mumbled, words slurred from sleep and he leaned back to yawn, wincing a bit as the motion sent a stabbing sensation through his brain. He wasn't drinking again for a long time...another two years maybe because this was a shit show.
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[BasiliskVeranda]

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[div class=whut]
[div class=biggie]
[div class=handsomedevil] [div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦`𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦'𝘴. [/div]



𝘕𝘐𝘒𝘓𝘈𝘚 𝘓𝘐𝘈𝘔 𝘝𝘖𝘚𝘚


[div class=speakeasy2]LOCATION — Hampton Inn, 1st floor, then unknown room on the 2nd, back down again, beep boop
OOC: may get very busy today also I'm giving some peeps some shit to work with if they want, pretty much open, no tags cept Hell0NHighWater Angel Boi
BGM — YOUNG GALAXY - PRETTY BOY
[/div]
[div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳.[/div]
[/div][div class=speaks]
''Not the rum people, we can't afford to drop that, guy's got a gun." Goddamn, don't REMIND him, Nik thought with concern flashing over his face like a lightning bolt, sobering him in an instant. He would have facepalmed right then and there if he hadn't been trying to wrangle away the whitelighter from a battle he patently didn't have to partake in, let alone create.

"I won't have to fuckin' touch you! Sparkles, grab my fuckin' gun. Goddamnit Nik, let go of me. I've gotta rescue the fuckin' liquor from certain doom! It's it's....shit...what's the word....what's the fucking word....important!! Get down here and fight me like a man! You aren't helping you hyena! Don't laugh in the face of---hgn!"

Sparkles? This had escalated so quickly in such a short span of time. Nik rolled his eyes, but thankfully his gravitational pull allowed him the skills to wrench the other man away, not merely just a near-choke on the collar as he dragged him. Magnetic, Nik was not about to let this incredible disruption—all over a bottle of fucking alcohol—get in the way of this.

'This' being the pair of men literally playing a game of sexual-tension-chicken with each other for what, the past week? He guessed it started in their first car ride, fleeing the scene of the damnable army that had poured down upon them in the goddamn gas station. Fun music, quippy banter, the truck Rhys had a boner for, and the sunglasses.

Pink and obnoxious, which at some point he realized he had placed in the pocket of his joggers tonight. He'd keep them forever as a memento, something wonderful in all this chaos and death.

''I'll hide this for you in my bag for tomorrow Rhysie, no one's breaking the rum today'' Alaska offered her solution of hiding the rum, saving the day, yet again. Always such a hero, and his favorite State, by far. He considered her his sister, and was incredibly happy for James and her to finally spark up. They were good for each other, life was so tragic in the time of now, it was...important. A bit of joy, a glimmer of it, to hold on tightly to.

While the whole world went crazy, all they really had was each other.

"There's no harm in letting them have their spirits, don't you think?" Reverie was smooth, crafty, defusing the situation as it had started to derail. Careful hands pulling away the bottle as Kayden was triumphantly parroting saving the others from debauchery. Somehow, the booze was at fault, which Nik thought it definitely played a part. But also, they all deserved to unwind, after the shitshow they had just slogged through.

Repeatedly being put into harm's way, repeatedly dealing with traumas, deaths of their friends, nightmares so hellish they'd leave scars for years to come. His certainly would, as each day he had to remind himself to trust himself, and trust the others to not ever let him get that far.

Even if Penny was the only one who knew how dark he could get, the lines blurring between sex, art, and violence. A monster deep down, but she saw goodness there, and he wasn't one to question her in the least bit. She had always been smarter than he was, he knew this, a fact. More perceptive, a true seer into the hearts and minds of men and women alike. Even though she was jiggling about, still the better half to his nightmarish inclinations.

She didn't even like to swear, well, not when she was sober, anyways.

They deserved a bit of fun, within reason. He'd have to thank Reverie specifically for that later.

Within reason, because tanked Nik was a hellishly good time, but for all the wrong reasons. The makeshift Sangria had been kind to him, like a gentle caress. Not fuel for holy retribution, very nearly a tiny war, over a bottle of alcohol. Taken hostage, as Ryan had said.

Preposterous.

"Hell forbid you get all irritated. That wouldn't be fun for either of us." The blond raised a brow, a lopsided half-smile striking his face as he looked over the other man, who was calming down in all this agitation.

"I mean...it could be fun, depending..." he offered, before smirking and hauling the other man away by the collar, not in the least bit gentle.

It took no time at all for the two men to ascend upon each other, like the other was water and they were dying of some inhuman thirst. Parched for it, because the blond in this case felt some greater affect at play. Feelings and the like. He'd admit on any day of the week to being a bit too keyed into his own libido, but he wanted it to fucking mean something.

Other trysts had been...pale, shallow, bloodless. Not paintings of great beauty, just scribbles with old, damp charcoal, and ghosts of past glory that he tried to create to fill the void. He didn't want that, and never had, even in his crazier days of college parties and drinking games. It was too easy to just enjoy flesh, there wasn't anything on the line, and ever the thrill seeker, he knew there was no reward without risk.

And this was a risk, he knew. Tender-hearted despite being a monster in many ways, cursed for the affliction in his blood.

Nik played the steady hand to keep from subjecting the others to their shenanigans. He steered them onwards, despite every fiber in his body humming to tear into the whitelighter's throat with bruising kisses and teeth, hands wanting to wander, he was behaving.

Age did that to a person, age and experience. He wasn't altogether that much older than Rhys, he reckoned, but old enough to have gotten much of this out of his system in his earlier years. Nik before the apocalypse, pried back a year or two? Absolute craziness. But that had been a different time, with a different set of people, and there weren't fucking Revenants to worry about.

No dead ones to mourn, either, not until the hellfire. He had grown up a lot, and that was, in some great way, for the best.

A smile curled on his face as the two men nipped, pulled, and drew the air from each other's lungs, up to the second floor. Barely skittering up the staircase in all the grasps, gasps, bruised lips, and otherwise. Because he didn't have to behave anymore.

⛥⛥⛥​

Nik had been up for some time as the other slept, and tried to sleep away his inevitable hangover. The blond had peered out from the covers, tucked over the lower half of his face, deep blue eyes drawing over Rhys' sharp brow as he lay in soft repose. This was the best thing, the best thing to wake up to. Warm breaths slipped from the other man's mouth, but he seemed to sleep peacefully.

The blond smiled, eyes fluttering closed now and then, warmed as one would be, warmed enough to drift, legs tangled up in each other.

Nik was a clinger, almost as though in his sleep he worried the other man would evaporate, because this was all some shitty nightmare Leraje had set up to torture him even more. But the morning had come, he had slept very well—had to after their excursions—in a deep, deep sleep. He bet if they had been attacked, that he probably wouldn't have woken up from it.

A thunderstorm could've hit, and he'd still have been asleep. At some point, he had nuzzled the other man with his cheek, and hooked back in to lean his head and rest on him, hearing his heartbeat, the most important music he wanted to commit to memory.

He hoped the other felt the same, it was good that Nik still could even hope for that. Hope hadn't died in him. Humans now only had each other, and hope, he thought to himself. Without either, there really wasn't anything else but surviving. But surviving and truly living were two very different things.

Rhys shifted to place his head above his own and kiss his temple, Nik's eyes fluttering open.
"...Are you awake?" the other man's voice cracked, obviously the hangover taking its toll on him.

"Yeah, been up for a bit. Had a nice sleep..." he said through a quirked smile, deep blue eyes soft and his expression relaxed. Nik leaned up to snag Rhys' lips in his own and then shifted to stretch his arms out over the pillow behind his head, his shoulder cracking. He swiveled, trying to stretch the sleep and aches from his body, that luckily the whitelighter had helped with at some point during the night.

Eyes closed as he yawned out a groggy groan as he felt fingers up his spine, shortly after twisting again to face him, he cracked one eye open to look him over.

"Did you want to go see who else is up?" Nik caught the wince and tried to hide a smile. It wasn't funny, he was in pain, but it was also...pretty fucking funny. He only had himself to blame for the raging hangover he was feeling now. If Nik wanted to, he could prod that damned wound and laugh the entire way down, but...he was feeling generous.

"That bad, huh? C'mere, princess," he said with a chuckle, pulling the other man close, using his newly recognized ability to help take the pain away. Arms around the other, warm and comfortable, he could have stayed in bed forever. But...they'd have to leave at some point. Inevitably all hell would break loose, and also, hunger and thirst were things. Especially after last night.

He grinned.

"...next time stick to wine," he teased, then rolled over to scour the room for his clothes, "Mm...going to get us some water, and food, you can sleep a little more if you need your beauty sleep," he said with a chuckle. The blond stood and fumbled a bit, looking all over the room, taking in the scenery. He cast a gaze over a toppled over end-table he didn't remember smashing into nor the busted up, a broken lamp, then looked at the corner of the bed and soured.

They had done a number on this place. At least the hotel staff weren't around anymore so they couldn't get barked at or charged a fee. Money didn't even matter anymore.

He couldn't find his fucking clothes anywhere. The part-time devil sighed, snagging his boxers and...Rhys' shirt. Not his, which had been white with a band logo on it, one he was partial to. Now, destroyed with scarlet hues from all their violence, successive waves of carnage for their enemies.

No joggers in sight, nothing, his shirt gone, where had all this shit ended up? Nik ran a hand through his hair, catching his reflection in the ruddied mirror. A mess, and he needed a shave he thought, as he scrambled over his face.

"Be right back, I need some fuckin' water, and to figure out where my goddamn clothes went," he said, essentially leaving Rhys hostage without anything to wear except Nik's red coat and the whitelighter's boxers. He grinned, something devilish, knowing he was putting the other man in an awkward situation, and loving it.

⛥⛥⛥
​

Fettering his fingers over the wall, dipping outside the door, whistling, in obviously good spirits. His hair was all over the place, the wrong clothes...he looked down and noticed he only had one sock on. He remembered last night, but the sock? Really?

"Where the fuck are my..." the blond poked his head around the hallway, and peered into an adjacent room. His shoes were there. No pants. There was no use putting on fucking shoes with just one godforsaken sock.

"Why? What the hell," he said, exasperation creeping through his voice. He started to pop down the stairs and noticed his joggers on the rail. He hadn't taken them off down here, but there they were. Impossible, but not unlike when you lost your socks in the fucking dryer. A cosmic fluke, perhaps they had fallen into another goddamn dimension.

Along with the missing sock.

Hopping into them, waistband snapping, he thudded down the steps, then felt around in his pocket. Cigarettes, lighter, necklace....no sunglasses. His brow quirked, angled in frustration. He lit up a cigarette, jamming the lighter back in his pocket, to careen around the bottom floor. He couldn't find them, and it was...probably one of the most important things he owned. At least to him.

Nik was making a great deal of noise, this he knew, but he wanted to find those sunglasses. On a mission not just for food, not just for water, but for a keepsake. A memento, always a bit too much of a romantic for his own good.

The blond walked into the scene of last night's ridiculous antics, his shit littered about the place. The oatmeal container had been ripped apart somehow, oats spread all over the floor, various cups half-filled, mostly empty, food plates. Just, everywhere. Everything, all over the place. But no sunglasses. The blond snagged a water bottle from his destroyed bag, still tucked inside of it, and pulled out two of those nasty-ass protein bars.

"....where the fuck are my sunglasses? Son of a bitch, goddamn dimension fucking glitch shit, swear a demon swiped them, bitch-ass..shit...fuck" colorful, absent-minded cuss words spilled from his lips as he rifled around, lifting up the couch cushions, finding nothing. Water bottle in hand, he shifted his cigarette to rest between his fingers, gulped some down, then shoved the protein bar in his face.

Unceremoniously crunching, he rolled around that disgusting abomination in his mouth, swallowed, more water, then shoved the other bar in his roomy pocket. The other pocket got the water bottle, joggers had deep pockets for the most part, and he continued to hunt.

"...if it's another ghost somehow taking my shit I am going to be very fucking irritated." Not possible, they had cleared them all out, but...well. Anything could happen, in this time of now. Ghosts were real, Revenants were real, demons were real. Each new day had a fresh new hell.

So why not a random asshole fucking with his shit? It was possible, anything was goddamn possible.
[/div][/div]
[/div]

 

[BELIAL.]

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[/div][/div] [div class="PennyDreadful"] PENELOPE VALE[/div] [div class="TextityText"]


Still, deep breathing roused Penny from her sleep. Perhaps her own internal clock had decided to wake up, but judging by the lethargy clinging to her joints she figured that wasn’t true. As soon as her eyes fluttered open, and she took in her surroundings, she began to lightly panic. The events of the night were either completely absent or were foggy observations in Penny’s mind.

Her fingers dug into the sheets of the bed, and she looked next to her. Nobody. Penny released a breath she didn’t know she had been holding in, and then sat up slowly. Immediately her head began to pound; the really irritating type of headache from the back of the skull. She gasped from the wave of pain, massaging her temple as she continued to peer about the room. Touching the skin of her head, she recoiled in a sudden jolt of pain. It really hurt. In the corner of the room, slumbering in a chair, was Ryan. Penny noticed her own shirt was missing and held her chest protectively. He was still sleeping, and part of her wondered why he was even there. It wasn’t as if she had slept with him in a drunken rage or anything, which relieved Penny to no end. The last thing she wanted was to settle an awkward hook up with someone who you were trying to survive the end of the world with. It was probably last on her list of drama that she wanted to partake in.

Penny sighed, continuing to rub her head as she swung her legs off the bed. Still wearing pants, thank god. Looking back at her breasts again, she felt uncomfortable objects poking at her flesh. Peering within, she noticed small pockets of oatmeal sticking into her skin. Penny frowned, her mouth open in utter astonishment. She shook her head, bewildered at what kind of behavior she had gotten into the night prior, and slipped off the bed. Peeking at the man quickly, she spotted him still sleeping, and took it as her chance to clean her bra of the oatmeal. She whipped it off quickly, praying to god that Ryan wouldn’t wake up any time soon. She brushed the crumbs off and shook out the dirty, black thing before slipping it back on just as fast.

As she peered about for a shirt on the ground, and saw none, she looked back over at Ryan. The foggy bits of her brain had her recall the banter that they had shared, once her shirt had come off. His interest in her had been enough to send flushes of scarlet through the drunk’s skin and face and had sent butterflies thundering from stomach to throat. She saw sure that something had happened between them, but she wasn’t sure to the level of intimacy that the two had gotten to. Her head thumped from the back and the front in thought, and even still she had a small smile on her face as she made her way to a mirror in the hotel room.

Gazing at her face and noticing smears of spittle across the cheek and quite the red lower lip. She looked back at Ryan, touching her lip lightly. She couldn’t recall if they had kissed or not, but she figured there was some culprit to the bruised lip. Turning back to the mirror, Penny noticed the large cut bruised and scabbed over on her forehead. She gasped again, cursing quietly under her breath as she poked at it lightly. What the hell had happened? There were bits of oatmeal, dry, in her hair as well that made her hesitate for half a second.

Ryan was still sleeping, and the half-naked Penny took her shame with her quickly out the door. She was quite red in the face as she made her way back to the main area. She had to follow signs, not knowing where on earth in the hotel she was. Her mind kept going back to the previous night, despite the amount of pain it brought her raging hangover, and she tried to piece the pieces together. There was a lot of shame, for sure. Raging sexual tension all across the board. She remembered a specific image of Rhys and Nik sneaking off, which made the woman snicker a bit through the pain as she navigated her way through the halls.

There were loud noises coming, and Penny took it as her chance to find her way back to the dining area.

“…where the fuck are my sunglasses? Son of a bitch, goddamn dimension fucking glitch shit, swear a demon swiped them, bitch-ass…shit…fuck” Penny heard from around a corner, and immediately figured it for Nik.

Turning, she let out quite the audible gasp at the scene before them. Not only was there an apocalyptic level mess left behind from the drunken adults, but the whole area just radiated chaos. Another scarlet of shame whipped across her face, which was mostly from having let herself get so far gone in one night. It was one hell of a first impression, and she’d probably have a grand time trying to talk to some of the other survivor’s she hadn’t known as well as Nik or Rhys or… Ryan. Great. Great.

She saw Nik, indeed, shuffling about in a pair of joggers and a shirt too large for the lean man. It definitely wasn’t his own. Penny spotted her own shirt on the ground and dove for it before Nik could spy her.

“…if it’s another ghost somehow taking my shit I am going to be very fucking irritated.” Nik said, searching for something. Penny snickered, and then winced at the pain totally smashing her head into a million little pieces. She walked over to him as she put her shirt back on, and once she was within reaching distance, Penny let out a small gasp and a choked laugh. Penny leaned into Nik, peering at his neck with an amused smirk.

“Looks like you had a good rest of your night Hickey-Nicky,” Penny snorted, teasingly reaching to poke his neck. “Though I’m sure I look like the opposite end of your night. I think I had a fight… maybe with something not human.” She winced, gesturing to the cut and bump on her head. She sighed, turning on her heel and looking once again at the mess in front of them.

“Well, I have a raging hangover and no desire to socialize with the people that I made a fool out of myself in front of. I’m going to be taking all of this into the kitchen and attempting to tidy. Don’t. Bother. Me.” She hissed at Nik through another wave of pain and nausea rocking through the young woman’s body. She was glad that she hadn’t vomited yet.

Penny took a handful of dishes and stormed into the kitchen, disappearing immediately. Where was Woofus? [/div]

[div class="TinyLines"][/div] Interacting: BasiliskVeranda | Mentioned: Nik, Rhys, Ryan, Woofus| Located: Old Hampton Inn, 1st floor (Dining room) [div class="TinyLines" style="margin-bottom:0px;"][/div] [/div] [/div]

 

[Chise_Robin_]

Location: Hampton inn first floor
mentions: badazzled lost sunglasses BasiliskVeranda
Hungover oatmeal BELIAL. , drunk drunk Rhys Hell0NHighWater

Alaska Roberts​

​

Chilly morning air woke Alaska up with a stiffness in her neck. She'd slept on the couch next to James in an upright position in order not to mess up her braid and now was regretting the decision gravely.

With a groan she put a hand to her neck and rubbed gently before getting up and finding a shawl and a pair of pink sunglasses on the ground. She picked up the two items, draped the shawl around her shoulders and placed the sunglasses on her eyes intending to give them to Nik when he wakes up.

Wine glasses, empty bottles, half empty plates of pasta lay on the floor and tables. The young hunter walked past them to the kitchen stiffling a yawn.


The tipped open half empty jar of oatmeal was inviting. With a grin Alaska heated some water and dumped the contents of the jar into it, adding some cinnamon that some one found in the pantry the night before. While her fancy meal finished cooking, Alaska heated some sugar in an attempt to make some caramel her late brother used to whip out on busy mornings. And were Alexander alive at that moment he would have been proud of his little sister not burning the kitchen....for once. It had only taken her till the end of the world to be able to make breakfast. She brewed some old coffee, grabbed a cup.


The smell of sweet caramel filled the kitchen, Alaska poured herself a bowl of cinammony goodness topped with the golden sweet syrup and some peanut butter and made her way out of the kitchen. Her eyes, with the biggest most stupid grin were on her bowl and if she wasn't more careful she would have bumped right into a very grumpy plates holding Penny.


Taking a moment to look at the hungover blessed Alaska noticed the oatmeal pieces in her hair. she stood in front of her debating saying something as she remembered the occurances of last night, and being the little weirdo she was she held the bowl in front of her: " oatmeal?" she asked with a grin and ran out of the kitchen without waiting to see the irritated response.



"...if it's another ghost somehow taking my shit I am going to be very fucking irritated." Boy everyone was irritated this morning!
Alaska walked slowly towards their resident half devil, a confused look on her tilted head, his glasses still on her eyes: " I found them on the floor, though I'm pretty sure the ghost bride would have snatched them off had I not rescued them" she shrugged handing the man his pink glasses and sat on a chair in front of him digging in to her bowl after declaring that she'd made enough for everyone. a grin spread across her face as she noticed the hicky and she tried to distract herself from throwing a joke, " Did you guys hang the other sock on the door knob or something?" she chuckled setting the coffee mug on the table and " I used peanut butter for the oatmeal, hope Rhys won't kill me" she said stiffling a laugh


Glancing around Alaska was about to spit her food with laughter at the mess Rhys looked. No shirt, no pants, and with only Nik's coat to keep him warm. The man looked like he was out from the grave " thank God your underwear didn't go wandering off with your pants'' chuckling she pointed at her hpt coffee mug on the table figuring the half angel detective needed it more than she did.

 

[Hell0NHighWater]

[div class=wrapper][div class=box][div class="boxBg boxBgLarge"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgTall"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgMedium"][/div][div class=boxInner][div class=statusBox][div class=characterPortrait][div class="imageBorder"]

[/div][/div]

[div class=statusText]
BGM: A different age
Location: Hampton Inn
OOC: This is a fluff post giving everyone some time to post a morning interaction if they wish & give time for character sheets
Interactions: Mi Tesoro BasiliskVeranda | Snowfall Chise_Robin_
[/div]

[div class=statusText][/div][/div][div class=title]Rhys Contiello[/div][div class=text]
He hummed a bit, or tried to. It came out more as a grumble than anything deeply melodious. "That bad, huh? C'mere, princess." Nik's voice, although spoken much softer than his usual vabracious volume, hurt his head just enough for his facial features to twist into a grimace. Rhys rolled to his side more, curling into the embrace that Nik so willingly offered. It was nice to be held; a sensation that he had long forgotten. His chest rose and fell in a couple deep breaths, letting the tendrils of Nik's affliction leech away the splitting ache inside his cranium. The muscles in his shoulders almost instantly relaxed and his mumbled words of thanks barely made themselves audible. All he wanted to do was sleep beside him and, in light of his now less demanding headache, continue where they had left off the night before. Or was it just this morning? He couldn't remember, all he knew was that he never wanted to leave this bed.

When the brunet opened his eyes, he was greeted with a grin so bright that it was almost painful to look at. It made Rhys wonder how someone who could become the very sun had been cast unjustly towards a world where that light could never exist. His hand brushed against the side of his face, getting lost a bit in the deep swaths of indigo and royal blue that pigmented his irises. If he looked closely, he could have sworn that there were flecks of muddied hazel in there which only added to the darker appearance.
"...next time stick to wine."

His face scrunched into a scowl, "I only drink wine at church...which means I never drink wine." He muttered a bit distastefully, arms reaching out to pull the other man closer only to find him moving away. "Mm...going to get us some water, and food, you can sleep a little more if you need your beauty sleep," Rhys made a dissatisfied noise, flopping onto his back and throwing a pillow over his face. He could hear the other man rustle around the room, the noise still grating to his ears despite having less of a hangover induced migraine than he did a couple minutes ago. "Non...no...don't need it." His voice was muffled by the pillow, phrases blurring together to create muffled articulations of sounds that may or may not have been actual words.
"Be right back, I need some fuckin' water, and to figure out where my goddamn clothes went."

Another muffled reply. Then silence.

After ten or so minutes of just laying with a pillow over his face, he decided that it was probably about time he got his ass out of bed. Rhys groaned, pulling himself into a sitting position, muscles aching and joints popping as he stretched out. His left hand rubbed at the back of his head then traveled down to rest on the back of his neck. He took a moment to glance around, noticing the broken lamp and end table with a bit of bemusement. The headboard, he realized a heartbeat later, was cracked and the whole bed was tilted towards one side. Almost like they broke the frame. How he hadn't noticed that while sleeping was beyond him.
Bare feet padded across rough carpet and he took a moment to collect his underwear on the floor and pull it on. A yawn slipped out of him so deep that it caused his entire upper body to lean back. Bleary eyes scanned the area for his pants only to come up....short of any clothing except Nik's coat hanging half way across the TV mounted to the wall. He could have sworn his shirt...Rhys glared at the door, heat crawling up his neck in splotches. "Asshole took my fuckin' shirt."
He made a mental note to make that adorable little shit pay for that stunt later. Right now, he just...really wanted some water, some food, and hopefully some coffee. He could honestly say that he would kill for coffee right now. A hand dragged over his face, pacing over towards the coat. He held it in his hands for a moment, wondering where his own leather jacket had gone off to before giving in to what little option he had left.

Only his shoulders were too wide to fit comfortably so he quickly gave up on that pursuit in favor of draping it around his shoulders. He paused a second to look under the bed and found a sock. It wasn't his sock, which was unfortunate, but he found it wildly entertaining that Nik was running around missing a sock. He chuckled low under his breath, stuffing it in a coat pocket before reaching back under to pull out his own boots with the socks balled up inside. At least his drunk self had been coherent enough to do that much. But he still didn't have pants...or a shirt. The closet maybe? He pulled it open, not seeing much of anything besides a single backpack. It was fairly large and a spark of hope shot through him that maybe there were some clothes inside that fit. He pulled it open with haste, careful of the leather straps, and peered into the main pocket. His lips curled into a frown, "God shits in my fuckin' dinner. Again."

He stared blankly at five planks of thin canvas unmarred by any kind of art. The other pockets had various things like brushes, paints, charcoals, whatever those colorful crayon looking things were. A travel artists' wet dream. It was completely uninteresting to him, but he knew someone who might appreciate it. Nik had only mentioned that he used to paint once, but it --like most things that blond said that he pretended not to hear-- stuck with him to some degree. Rhys closed the bag, carefully using it like a shield to hide his naked chest.

He began his walk of shame (though not really?) down to the main lobby. The scent of coffee almost made him want to take back all those hurtful things he said about God, but then he remembered the end of the world had happened so, no take backs. Rhys was hoping that there weren't many people awake yet...he wasn't willing to face the group in this state. Honestly all he wanted were to find his clothes and then maybe go back to sleep for another couple hours.

" I found them on the floor."

He strolled in to find Alaska handing Nik back his sunglasses. Their gazes met and he paused mid step, face igniting into four different shades of red. He almost matched the coat.

"It's...it's...I uh...not what it...fuck..."

He was floundering and that only seemed to worsen the detective's fluster. Then she started laughing and that only seemed to make everything worse. He wished the ground would swallow him whole. Or better yet, that he had never been assertive enough to go out and try to find his own fucking clothes. "Thank God your underwear didn't go wandering off with your pants.'' He was painfully, all too aware, of how he looked in that moment. Hair askew, rough stubble darkening his jaw line, bruises congealing in certain areas of his neck and collar bone...he looked like a man who had just woken up from a night of the best sex in his life. Which...probably wasn't all that far from the truth. Rhys fixed her with a mild glower, "My shirt sure as fuck did though."

He wasn't all that mad about the shirt. He just needed something to distract himself from how embarrassing this situation was. He took a seat at the table, grabbing the cup of coffee Alaska so graciously offered. His chin rested in the palm of his hand and he looked over towards Nik, features softening for a millisecond.

"I found this upstairs. I know your old bag broke so...use this, but I would look inside first. I think there's something in there you might like."

His lips curled into an easy smile, bringing the coffee cup to his lips and savoring that first sip of heaven. Despite not having any pants...the morning wasn't really all that bad.

He downed half of his drink, before pulling himself into a standing position. "Do you..." He paused for a moment, moving closer to Nik fingers itching to take hold of his hand, "happen to know where the rest of our clothes are?" He chuckled a little under his breath, despite himself thinking about just how absurd this whole scene was. "If not...that's fine, I should have some spares in my pack. But," he paused gaze lingering on his shit before flicking back up to his face, "you're going to have to give me some compensation for stealing my shit." He grinned at him crookedly, driving home the heated implication. Rhys turned back to his coffee as if he hadn't just said what he had.
[/div][div class=text][/div][/div][/div][/div] [class=wrapper] background-color:#242c38; box-sizing:border-box; color:#FFFFFF; display:inline-block; position:relative; width:100%; text-align: justify; [/class] [class=title] color: #b5b7b7; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:3em; font-style:italic; padding:0; text-shadow:0 0 1em; margin-bottom: 10px; [/class] [class=box] margin:2em 1em; padding:2px 4px 0px; position:relative; [/class] [class=boxBg] box-sizing:content-box; height:100%; pointer-events:none; position:absolute; width:100%; [/class] [class=boxBgLarge] top:0; left:-5px; padding:0 4px; border:2px dotted rgba(255,255,255,.35); [/class] [class=boxBgTall] top:-8px;left:3px; padding:8px 0; width:calc(100% - 8px); height:100%; border:2px dotted rgba(255,255,255,.25); [/class] [class=boxBgMedium] top:-4px; left:-1px; padding:4px 0; border:2px solid rgba(255,255,255,.4); [/class] [class=boxInner] background-color: ##2a4047; overflow:hidden; margin:0.5em; [/class] [class=statusBox] box-sizing: border-box; border-right: 3px solid white; padding: 15px; float: left; max-width: 250px; margin: 0px 15px 15px 0px; [/class] [class=text] padding: 0px 15px 15px 15px; font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size:0.8em; [/class] [class=statusText] font-family: Verdana, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 0.75em; margin-top: 5px; [/class] [class=characterPortrait] box-sizing: border-box; position: relative; border-radius: 20px; overflow: hidden; [/class] [class name=characterPortrait state=hover] opacity: 0.5 [/class]

 

[BasiliskVeranda]

[class=biggie] width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; clear:both; font-size:13px; color: #1d1b15; font-weight:100; display:flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; height: 100%; [/class] [class=whut]background-color: #fff; padding:30px; [/class] [class=handsomedevil] background:#f1ffe3; text-align: center; margin: 0 auto; padding:20px; color: #1d1b15; font-weight:800; flex: 1; border: 1px solid #cdf6e9; outline: 2px solid #fff; font-size:13px; [/class] [class=speaks] border: 1px solid #cdf6e9; outline: 2px solid #fff; font-size:13px; max-height:950px; overflow: auto; line-height:1.9; ;padding:15px; text-align: left; background:#f1ffe3; flex: 1; flex-basis: 30%; margin-left: 40px; margin-right:15px; color: #153785; [/class] [class=speakstoo] background-color: #fff; color: #000; padding: 20px; border: 1px solid #cdf6e9; outline: 2px solid #fff; [/class] [class=speaksup] color: #1d1b15; border: 3px solid #0d38ad; outline: 2px solid #ebebeb; font-size:50px; word-spacing: 4px; letter-spacing: 5px; ;padding:1%; text-align: center; background:#e4f8d0; margin-right:15px; [/class] [class=speakeasy] border: 1px solid #cdf6e9; outline: 2px solid #fff; letter-spacing:2px; word-spacing: 4px; text-align: center; font-size:12px; padding:20px; color: #000; font-weight:100; background: #fff;[/class] [class=speakeasy2] border: 1px solid #cdf6e9; outline: 2px solid #fff; text-align: left; font-size:12px; padding:20px; color: #000; font-weight:100; background: #fff; line-height:1.9; [/class] [class name=handsomedevil maxWidth="800px"] margin: 0 auto; padding: 10px[/class] [class name=biggie maxWidth="800px"] padding: 0px; margin: 0 auto; flex-direction: column;[/class] [class name=speaks maxWidth="800px"]margin: 0 auto; padding: 10px; margin-top:20px; overflow: auto; max-height: 100%;[/class] [class name=bye maxWidth="800px"]display:none[/class]
[div class=whut]
[div class=biggie]
[div class=handsomedevil] [div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦`𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦'𝘴. [/div]


𝘕𝘐𝘒𝘓𝘈𝘚 𝘓𝘐𝘈𝘔 𝘝𝘖𝘚𝘚

[div class=speakeasy2]LOCATION — Hampton Inn, 1st floor
OOC: may get very busy today and tmrw
TAGS: Hell0NHighWater Angel Boi, BELIAL. Light in the Dark, Chise_Robin_ Coffee State
BGM — finally get to use this fucking song, don't pay attention to the lyrics they don't mean shit, he's just in a good mood, and this is the damn feelgood song rrrrr: JACK STAUBER - TWO TIME
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[div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳.[/div]
[/div][div class=speaks][div class=speakstoo]

“Looks like you had a good rest of your night Hickey-Nicky,” Penny piped up, breaking his concentration as he tried to scour the room for his most prized belonging. Gesturing at his neck with the prod of her finger, a neck painted in pale and middling purple marks but nothing that unruly. She leaned his way, and the blond took to curling his arm around her shoulder, to kiss her cheek, a gentle motion.

His blond lashes fluttered closed for this one pure moment of care for his light in the dark. He'd get to ragging on her in a moment, but it was nice, this different type of stillness.

"Looks like you woke up somewhere without your shirt, Penny-Dreadful," he shot back, she was hardly as sneaky as she thought she was, a fire in his eyes. However, every part of his playful banter was colored in genial tones and warm, deep resonance. He was irate about the glasses, but there was a lot to be happy about. A smile quirked the corner of his mouth as he thought on all that had transpired.

A lot to be happy about, indeed.

“Though I’m sure I look like the opposite end of your night. I think I had a fight… maybe with something not human.” Nik turned and held Penny's chin in his hand, turning her face over to peer at her, assessing the damage. It was a nasty thing, and he did wonder honestly what had happened to her. Cigarette smoke spilled into the air, but he made it a point to float it out of the corner of his mouth, away from her, as his deep blue gaze danced over her wound.

"Can't heal it. Gotta' wait for Angel Boy to get his ass down here, but..." The blond graced his palm over her cheek, up to her gnarly head wound, and played his fingers on her temple, tracing the lines with exactitude. He could take the pain away, for now, but it would of course come back. He'd need to stay near her for a bit longer to clear up a bit of the inevitable hangover, but she was already pulling away.

"Looks like you got mauled by a fuckin' honey badger..." he said, quirking a grin again, stepping back to pull in smoke to his lungs and peel out another long cloud into the air. Almost like he hadn't a care in the world, grinning in all this darkness around them. At any moment, they could be assuaged by the forces of Hell. He tried not to think on it too much.

“Well, I have a raging hangover and no desire to socialize with the people that I made a fool out of myself in front of. I’m going to be taking all of this into the kitchen and attempting to tidy. Don’t. Bother. Me.” She hissed at him, and uncharacteristically Nik shut his trap. He could, actually help her with her hangover, but she was in a wretched mood.

He raised his brows and made a whistling sound, cigarette between his fingers casting ash.

"Someone's in a mood, damn," he let his sentence trail as he went back to trying to find the one thing he really didn't want to lose.

Nik more or less had his face in every available vessel, seat cushion, small crawl space, crevice, and then some. He would not lose this keepsake, he was a man on a mission, a rather disheveled man on a haphazard mission. But a mission none-the-less. Suddenly, though on his knees fiddling about underneath objects in various disarray, Alaska came into view. From the corner of his eye, he registered her floating around the scene of the massacre.

And it was a massacre, to be plain.

" I found them on the floor, though I'm pretty sure the ghost bride would have snatched them off had I not rescued them" Nik gave his favorite state the biggest, broadest smile he could possibly muster. They looked good on her, framing her face, the pink tone casting off onto Alaska's skin. Pretty as a painting, he thought. He felt a tug in his gut, thinking on his prior career, and all the wonders you could make with just a pencil and a post-it note.

Any world you wanted to create, you could. There were no limits to what beautiful nightmares and ephemeral dreams you could spin up with just a brush and some ink.

That was definitely something he missed.

Popping up like a ground hog, or perhaps a meerkat, he raised to his feet and dusted off his joggers with a quick sweep. He plucked back his sunglasses with a boyish smile, sliding them onto his face, everything in it's right place, finally.

"Thanks, Stateswoman. My hero," he said with a dramatic, sarcastic air tugging at his words. Seeping into the creases of his syllables, he was sincere despite his nature. He meant every word of it, which he let her know with a quirked grin.

"Did you guys hang the other sock on the door knob or something?" the blond looked over his friend from behind his pale pink sunglasses with a curious glance. Then tilted his head to the side and cast his gaze to his feet, remembering that his wayward sock was missing its partner.

God damn it.

"Uh...no fuckin' idea where it went, actually," he said, knowing she was joking but actually concerned. He didn't have any other fucking socks...clothes were hard to come by. Functional clothes, that is.

Nik cast his gaze in a spiral until he picked up the coat Reverie had re-gifted him from his peripheral vision. Cigarette stuck between his teeth, he marched over and held it up. It didn't quite seem like Alaska would want something so gaudy, she seemed the type to like functional things that helped her fight better, or band hoodies. Which were also hard to come by.

Nik cast a gaze to the kitchen area, where Penny had stormed off to. This gift was for her, and he hoped she'd like it. A warm red fur coat, something Percival would've scratched out someone's eyes for. He folded it and placed it on the couch, when she was done stomping around, cleaning everything in sight, and wallowing in embarrassment, he'd have to pass it along.

The blond drew his gaze back to Alaska when she mentioned she had made food for everyone.

"Oatmeal? Fantastic...Wonder who bludgeoned the thing to death, I left...way before the massacre, apparently," he said, smile lilting at the corners of his mouth. They left early, he guessed.

They had important things to do.

"I used peanut butter for the oatmeal, hope Rhys won't kill me," Alaska said, stifling her laughter. Nik shook his head, pulling smoke from his cigarette, holding the cancer stick like a blunt. He blew it out in smoke rings, cutting the air with misted little circles.

"He won't. Trust me," the part-time devil said with a wink he wasn't sure she could see, his smile teetering on the edge of a shit-eating grin. The blond knew he had a great deal of sway with the whitelighter, he was intimately aware of this. Intimately.

" thank God your underwear didn't go wandering off with your pants'' Alaska had spoken, and the blond turned as if in slow motion, grin plastered on his face. He had planned this, the satisfaction of making the other man uncomfortable at every opportune moment was better than any douse of alcohol, or any modern drug.

"It's...it's...I uh...not what it...fuck..." Rhys had meandered into view, clad in his red coat, no pants, no shirt, just the boxers. Nada. The blond smirked something fierce and began to hitch out a laugh, like a machine popping out the phrase 'heh' over and over again. He knew he was being an asshole, but...that was his nickname anyways, wasn't it?

"My shirt sure as fuck did though." Nik beamed, proud of himself, like a satiated cat. He mulled over his lower lip with his teeth, flicking ash onto the floor with a light tap of the finger. It wasn't his usual nervous tick, but something in between devastatingly flirtatious and abominably hellish. He was such a terror.

He rounded nearer Rhys and settled to lean his hip on the arm of the couch, looking over the other man's features. Alaska offered him coffee, and the blond made a humming noise. He needed to snag himself some as well. He hadn't had a good cup in...over two years.

"I found this upstairs. I know your old bag broke so...use this, but I would look inside first. I think there's something in there you might like." The part-time devil's cheeky smile split and his brows raised, surprise washing over his features.

"...a gift?" He was a little taken aback by this, expression shifting. He was usually the one handing out presents, like some lunatic Santa Claus. He took the bag in his hands, cigarette precariously lodged between his teeth, and opened it to peek inside.

He said nothing, his expression plain and completely void of emotion. It wasn't because he wasn't grateful, it was because it was overwhelming. Five perfect little canvases, slim and easy to carry around, and checking the pockets, art supplies. Nik let the air out of his lungs in a slow tick, moving to grind out his cigarette on the end table. Smoke billowed from his nose, obscuring his face for a few moments.

"Thank you—I-I'm... shit...Sorry, I... can't...tell you how much this means to me." Very simple words, but the blond was having trouble articulating how he felt. All sorts of old, fresh wounds were ripped open, memories of before, and yet ideas about the here, the now, and the future.

All the glorious little colors, fine tipped brushes to etch the world in tones of blue, pitch-black charcoal that he'd get all over the fucking place, they were all instruments for expression. He could take the monster within his veins, and put it somewhere else. He could paint it out, he had a place to keep it, it was...freeing.

Nik tucked the contents of the bag back inside and shifted it next to the couch. He stood, intent on embracing the man before him in warmth, gratitude, and...something that was a far good deal too early to think on. Far, far too early. But it bit at his veins, nagging in the back of his head.

He felt like the other man had just given him a piece of his soul back. Nik thought saying that would be a bit too dramatic, even for him, but the sentiment rang true. Before he had become this...creature...he had just been a man. An eccentric man, with many friends, a full life, a thriving business, so many paintings, so many laughs, all of it immaculate, perfect.

But here, right now, was a new perfection. The world around all of them may have been diseased and crumbling, but it didn't mean the world they all forged together wasn't pristine. Because it was, even with the rough bits, even with the chaos texturing over everything in little pock-marks and grooves.

He didn't know what he had done to deserve this. He smiled, sheepishly, so uncharacteristic on his face. Then Rhys bridged the distance between them, and Nik let a smile spread over his features.

"Do you..." This pause was maddening for the blond. "happen to know where the rest of our clothes are?" He had gotten far past the point of mentally imploding every time the other man tried to box him into a corner, but it didn't mean his heartbeat wasn't thrumming in his chest.

"If not...that's fine, I should have some spares in my pack. But," Handsome bastard, he thought, "you're going to have to give me some compensation for stealing my shit." The grin on the blond's face shifted into something born of chaos, as if calling out this challenge would be the highlight of his day. And it possibly would be, except now Nik actually had to grease up the gears in his stupid head to figure out where their shit was, and if he really had seen the rest of it.

"Is that a threat?—No, no wait. First, food, coffee, then we can 'negotiate'. These protein bars taste like something a cat puked up," he said, deciding it was best to get his ducks in a row before they started down that road again. The distance between the two was not so far that Nik couldn't drift a hand to brush the side of Rhys' fingers, and he did, for the briefest flicker of a moment.

"I didn't see much of anything. My shirt is gone, I have no idea where your pants are. I didn't fuckin' think we were stripping all the way up the...goddamn...steps...." his sentence trailed off not unlike his earlier smoke rings, casting a glance to Alaska, then letting out a chuckle.

"Anyways...I'll help you look in a sec. Caffeine first," Nik offered, taking that exact moment to be a little shit, and swiping Rhys' coffee mug right from his fingers. He teetered away, knocked back a giant gulp, then pivoted before the other man could grasp him, booking it into the kitchen. He'd pour him another mug while he was here, but first he'd fix them both some food.

Entering the kitchen he winced, holding out the mug like it were a shield. Angry, hungover Penny, was not a creature you wanted to fuck with.

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[Beleth]

Edana

“The end has been brought upon us. The born shall perish and those who walk among you have long been deceased.” Edana could hear her own words melodically echo the chamber walls. Such bitter but fond truth are among the rarest of blessings. “You have ignored the signs of the ultimate armageddon; you all believe to deities to have cheated Death themselves.” The 15-year old's dark eyes narrowed in the emptiness, locking her gaze on a passing guard, “Your fate shall be the worst among them all.”

Silence.

That was all Edana could manifest within her thoughts and it was brilliant. Of all the places the raiders have managed to bind her and with their seemingly inexhaustible equipment, she could not be bound within her own mind.

At least, not by others. The room was dark, her gaze had fixed itself on the ground before her. As a matter of fact, for the past hour and a half, the floor and her eyes had been best of friends; every passing critter named, every crack counted and every blood stain delightfully accounted for.

Strands of jet black surrounded her peripheral view, the pacing of the raiders occasionally obscuring the gaps her hair had left. The adolescent's legs had lost all feeling during the time of her capture. She had tried all the different stretches her limited limbs would allow for stretches; yet, nothing worked.

After a few more shifts, Edana surrendered to the state of numbed legs to briefly look up and eye the raiders that roamed.

Insects.

They reminded her of insects. Poor bastard souls who were unaware of their pre-determined deceased state. They actually believe they were doing something useful with their existence. If only, if only . . . Edana mused under breath. That was where she would stop her thoughts aloud, however. These raiders may be gullible but that most certainly did not make them hard of hearing. The witch tugged once at the restraints with an inaudible huff, her nose slightly scrunching at the resistance. They most certainly knew what they were doing, making any plans of escape harder than she had initially thought.

Edana scanned briefly across the horizon, taking note of the weapons that were being used. Perhaps a switchblade of some sort? Nonsense, of all the things they could scavenge they wouldn't bother with a melee weapon when they could very easily have a firearm in their hands.

But maybe . . . what could be the likelihood of the members in getting a fight with one another? Edana toyed with the idea for a few minutes before dismissing the notion. Unless someone were to supposedly screw up and another member chastised them for it. Then and only then was it her moment to retaliate. It was now or never had the female decided she desired to continue her journey among the living.

Besides, there was the question of dignity. To be held in the position she was with the mannerisms that were brought upon her was not going to be without reprimand.

Perhaps then and only then these incompetent bastards would understand their place.

 

[Hell0NHighWater]

[div class=wrapper][div class=box][div class="boxBg boxBgLarge"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgTall"][/div][div class="boxBg boxBgMedium"][/div][div class=boxInner][div class=statusBox][div class=characterPortrait][div class="imageBorder"]

[/div][/div]

[div class=statusText] BGM: Die 4 You
Location: Hampton Inn > Unknown
Interactions: Mi Tesoro BasiliskVeranda |Snowfall Chise_Robin_
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[div class=statusText][/div][/div][div class=title]Rhys Contiello[/div][div class=text]
"...a gift?" He watched his features twist into an expression of surprise; lips parted slightly and eyebrows arched towards his hairline. It was cute, the way he had to question if this were a gift, and Rhys felt the corners of his mouth curling a bit higher despite his undercurrent of embarrassment. "That is the typical name associated with this type of stuff, blondie." Rhys shifted his weight from one foot to the other, arms crossed in front of him to compensate for the lack of a shield or cover. Plus it was far too cold out to be traipsing around without pants.

The silence stretched between them and Rhys brought a hand up to rub the back of his neck. Maybe he had been wrong to give him this. It wasn't like he would have much time to paint at the rate they were moving from place to place, but he still thought it was at least something. Though maybe that was precisely the problem; he thought far too much for his own good. Rhys wasn't the best when it came to phrases of romance, his tongue tied and he maintained uncomfortable eye contact...if he got too nervous, his palms sweat or he might actually turn into a bumbling buffoon. So, he tended to show his admiration in actions, tiny moments that accumulated up towards the greater meaning. A bag --something he knew Nik needed-- and some art supplies --something he knew Nik liked-- was his round-about way of showing that he cared.

Another couple seconds went by and Nik just stared, looking through the different pockets without saying a single thing. What worried him more was that he couldn't glean anything from his expression. It left him standing there swaying nervously and hoping that Nik didn't throw the gift back in his face. He didn't think he would, but if he did then maybe the whitelighter didn't know the Quasi-devil nearly as well as he thought. Rhys watched as he carefully moved to snuff out his cigarette, tendrils of smoke shrouding his features upon exhale.
"Thank you—I-I'm... shit...Sorry, I... can't...tell you how much this means to me."

He visibly relaxed, shoulders drooping as the smile slathered across his lips became wider. "You don't have to say anything, Tesoro." He could tell from that sheepish pull to his lips that Nik was overwhelmed by various kinds of emotion. He wasn't too sure if that was a good thing or a bad thing, but he supposed that if it were bad then the other man wouldn't be smiling. Something stopped him from wrapping his arms around him and pulling him close. It might have been the quick shift in topic or something else entirely, either way he stood there within arms reach and yet not actually touching. It was almost maddening.

He watched that little grin curl into something far less pure. "Is that a threat?" He sure as fuck intended it to be, though not the kind of threat that involved "—No, no wait. First, food, coffee, then we can 'negotiate'. These protein bars taste like something a cat puked up."

Rhys chuckled low in his throat, shaking his head a bit at the analogy. Skin brushed against the knuckles of his hand, the contact causing him to reach out without thinking about it. He grabbed Nik's hand, thumb brushing across his knuckles as he stared at the blond with a crooked tilt to his mouth. "I didn't see much of anything. My shirt is gone, I have no idea where your pants are. I didn't fuckin' think we were stripping all the way up the...goddamn...steps...." Rhys arched an eyebrow, thinking about it for a moment before shrugging it off, "I'm sure they'll turn up...somewhere...hopefully." He glanced off to the side for a second before bringing his attention back to the man before him. He brought his hand up to his lips, brushing a kiss across the knuckles. His gaze flickered up to watch his expression before he let his hand fall away.

"Anyways...I'll help you look in a sec. Caffeine first," Rhys nodded, making a noise of agreement. He was in the middle of bringing the coffee cup back to his lips when the ceramic was yanked away. The corner of his jaw ticked, lightning blue eyes narrowing on the slightly shorter man as he danced out of his reach. "Voss. Sweetheart. Give me the coffee back before--"
He drank it.
His eyebrow ticked, the irritation rolling off of him in waves. Coffee was essential to his well being at this point and the fact that Nik had just strolled off with his cup was somehow both aggravating and heart-wrenching. His gaze drifted over towards Alaska, shrugging slightly before he walked back into the main hall. The sound of barking echoed off the walls and Rhys, in confusion, headed towards it.

"Woofus?" He whistled, turning down a hallway he hadn't been down before. His boot hit something and he almost tripped, looking down in disbelief to see his pants balled up in the middle of the floor. "How the fuck.....you know what? Nevermind." He grumbled, slipping the clothing on and immediately checking the pockets. The tips of his fingers touched smooth stone and he let out a breath he didn't even realize he had been holding. It was honestly the only reason why he had been in such a fuss to find his pants. Not that he would tell Nik that. He continued down the hallway towards the sound of barking, "WOOFUS!"

He boomed.
The barking stopped.
A whine.
Then the sound of paws trotting against carpet. The german shepard came running towards him and Rhys smiled, stooping down to pet him as soon as he came within reach. "I was callin' you bud, did you not hear--"

The ground began to shake. It was subtle at first, a little tremor that caused dust to rain down from the walls, but then it increased to the point where Rhys was stumbling back. Woofus let out a low growl, snarling at the darkened area of the hallway as the earthquake began to shift. Cracks formed across the walls, breaking into the wallpaper with a crunch, plaster shook itself from the ceiling, and Rhys cursed under his breath. He had the good sense to run, tugging the dog along after him, as the area he had been standing in moments before ripped open in a violent display of crumbling rock, dust, snow, and sparks of magic. Rhys half turned, seeing a silhouette step from the plume of smoke, hand reaching towards the holster that was upstairs along with his gun. He spun around, "Woofus go to Penny!"
He snapped, watching as the dog raced off without hesitation. This wasn't good.

"Al'rite boys! It's party time!!"

A voice roared out of the fog, followed by cheering and then the onset of people. Clambering up the gaping hole in the side of the building with feral smiles and weapons that looked far too barbaric for his comfort. The first man up rushed him and Rhys reacted as quickly as he could, hangover completely forgotten as he dodged a swing with a metal chain. The guy over extended and Rhys caught his wrist, kicking out his knee with a sickening crunch, before whirling his own chain at the second man to climb up. He sputtered, clutching his throat before falling back of the edge. The one in his grasp shrieked in pain and the detective broke his wrist without thinking much of it. He didn't know how many there were, but he needed to get back to the lobby and warn who he could. Though, you'd have to be pretty deaf to miss the sound of half the building being blown wide open.

Rhys whirled back around, going to run back when something metallic wrapped around his ankle. It seared against his skin and with a sharp tug, he was on the floor, a scream ripping from his throat. He twisted onto his side, fingers fumbling against the metal loops as he was dragged back down the hallway. Azure eyes snapped up, glaring at the dark haired man who grinned down at him with jagged teeth and a musty odor that probably meant he hadn't bathed in weeks.

"Feisty one ain't ya?"
"Go to hell!"

Rhys struggled against the chain, ignoring the stench of burnt flesh as he tried to pry it off. His back burned against the carpet, jaw clenched and he wished that he hadn't left his gun upstairs.
"We'll be doin' that boy, only you'll be comin' with us."
The man laughed, spittle spraying out with each shriek of a chuckle.

"Wild Ones! Take what ya can, capture who ya can, and kill the rest."

"NO! I swear to God if you so much as touch--"

"You ain't in much of a position to be makin' demands here boy. Haven't you known the almighty isn't around no more? It's only Satan now, son. And the devil don't have no mercies for the weak."

"I'll show you weak you piece of--"

"Lights out."
The man reared his leg back, delivering a swift kick to the side of his head. Pain shattered throughout his nerves and then everything went dark.
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[BELIAL.]

[class=BackgroundBitch] Background:url(https://i.pinimg.com/564x/f0/cb/87/f0cb877b971791a9c356c4b3e2706747.jpg); Padding:50px; [/class] [class=BitchesbeBackgroundColor] padding:40px; background-color:#a3b0e2; Color:Black; [/class] [class=PennyDreadful] float:right; margin-bottom:10px; text-align:center; border-radius:2px; background-color:#000000; padding:5px;color:#a3b0e2; width:calc(100% - 15% - 25px); [/class] [class=TextityText] text-align:justify; position: relative; left: 25px; [/class] [class=FukImg] border-right:8px DOTTED #eff3f7; border-bottom:5px DOTTED #eff3f7; width:15%; float:left; [/class] [class=Imageborder] border:4px SOLID #142740; line-height:0px; overflow: hidden; [/class] [class=TinyLines] border-top:1px SOLID #000000; margin-top:5px; margin-bottom:5px; [/class] [div class="BackgroundBitch"] [div class="BitchesbeBackgroundColor"] [div class="FukImg"] [div class="Imageborder"]

[/div][/div] [div class="PennyDreadful"] PENELOPE VALE[/div] [div class="TextityText"]


Nik’s kindness hadn’t gone unnoticed by Penny, despite the glaring hangover and pulsing headache disturbing her usual good nature. It gained a smile, small and earnest, and she was quick to lightly push his affectionate self away. He had clearly been in a good mood, and she didn’t put it past her best friend to try and suck her into it. Usually, it would have worked. Her spirits would have been settled, and the smile that would have been on her face would have been a bright one… but she was in an enormous amount of pain and felt cooked and burned inside.

When she had made her way into the kitchen, Alaska had bumped into her with a bowl of oatmeal. The mere image of it set a grimace on the blonde’s face, which didn’t improve when the other woman jokingly mentioned the oatmeal. Clearly, something had happened with it to elicit that kind of response, as well as the presence of oats in Penny’s bra and hair. She didn’t even want to think about it, and with a scoff, slipped into the kitchen to enjoy the temporary lapse of silence.

Penny dropped the dishes on the counter, gripping the edge of the counter and closing her eyes tightly. She breathed deeply, counting the spaces between each pulse of pain. She focused on it, using it to ground the blonde. She needed to keep her peace, lest she lash out on someone. She didn’t want her reputation to take a note darker than the one it had already…

She pushed off and made her way to the sink, testing out the tap and feeling the freezing shoot of cold water hit her palm. Penny cupped her hands together and pooled some of the cold water before splashing it on her face and scrubbing away the sleep. She slapped some water on the back of her neck and ran it through her hair before greedily sipping from another handful of water. Well drenched, and satiated, she set to work on the dishes in an attempt to calm the blistering fire within her.

Voices slithered in beneath the door, and she caught the low bass of Rhys (or so she pictured). Eventually, the door cracked open and Penny peeked from beneath her mass of blonde hair, hanging over her face as she stood hunched over the sink elbow deep in freezing, soapy water. She noticed it was Nik, holding out a mug. Penny tilted her head, peering at him beneath a raised eyebrow. A scoff exited her mouth and she smiled a bit, turning back to the dishes and shaking her head.

“Nik, I’m not Medusa. A mug would not protect you from my wrathful ways!” She whipped from the sink, flicking fingers drenched in water at the passing man. She let out a small snicker, continuing to flick the man as if she were a priest with holy water and he were a demon. In hindsight, the thought association was a bit… too on the nose, and she masked the ill-timed joke in her head with another burst of laughter. Small, but in the sinuses.

From faraway she heard the ghost of a shout, something that sounded like it was Woofus’s name. Rhys was probably looking for the dog, bless him. She was thinking about the shepard, and she dropped her hands in a peace declaration. “I’m done, I promise. I won’t bother you—”

A low rumble, something not at all human, resonated through the old hotel. It shook the ground, not as much within the kitchen as outside or even further down the hall. Penny’s eyes widened and she gripped the counter, a look of pure fear whipping across her expression as she locked eyes with Nik. “Nik... What the heck—”

Like a bat out of hell, Woofus flew into the kitchen and nearly knocked his owner over. Penny yelped, catching the dog between her legs. The shaking halted, but a pop and crunch of building collapsing and breaking could be heard. Penny looked down at the dog between her legs, who now backed up and began to bark wildly at Penny. He growled deeply and hopped on his paws, barking heavily at the woman.

“Woofus? What the heck? Buddy, what’s wrong-- Sorry, Woofus-- Woofus what’s wrong?” Penny reached out a hand to calm the dog, but he whipped his head away and made for the door, barking at it. It didn’t feel right, not at all. She gave a single look at Nik and then thundered out the kitchen door, Woofus right at her tail. Before she left, she dug through a couple drawers until she found a steel knife sharpener and held it tightly in her hands. It wouldn’t cut but it sure could beat. At least until she got back to her stuff.

Penny entered the lobby, looking around in alarm. “What in the name of—” She made eyes with the others who had woken up, just as she noticed a handful of gritty figures enter the lobby from a hallway. They looked not to dissimilar from the raiders that she had dealt with previously. The ones from the apartment had been a little less disheveled, and a lot less Mad Max. Still, there were a couple of things about these men that brought her back to the deviled bastards who tried to kill and chase her down. Who tried to hurt Woofus.

“Looky Looky boys! What we got here?”

“Plenty of fresh meat, eh?”

“I like me the looks of them girls.”

“Charge em!”

Penny snarled, not unlike the canine beside her. Her grip tightened on the knife sharpener, but her attention whipped quickly to those around her. “We need to run. Now! Grab something to fight but don’t waste your time. Run god dammit! Get the hell out of here!” Penny cried out, looking back at Nik with a solemn nod. Turning back to the others, her heart sank into her stomach when she didn’t see Rhys. She choked out a gasp, looking to the advancing raiders and then back to Nik.

“Nik, where’s Rhys? God dammit, God dammit! We have to find him Nik. We have to--” Penny pleaded with her friend, grasping his hand.

One of the raiders came onto Penny, Nik and Woofus. She growled at the man and struck with the sharpener, catching him upside the face. Woofus attacked next, diving for the man’s crotch and snarling ferociously. Penny backhanded the man with the sharpener, whistling quickly for Woofus to return. The man stumbled to his feet and Penny made quick to catch the man inside of her arm and knee him sharply in the stomach, coming down with her elbow on the back of his neck, right above the top of his spine. She gripped him by the shoulders and threw him harshly into a side table. The man went sprawling on the ground, knocking his head into the wall and going out cold. She was breathing heavily when she turned back to Nik, sharpener tight in her grip. She knew he wouldn't leave without knowing Rhys was safe, and he knew she wouldn't let him find the other blessed on his own.

“Nik, let’s go.” [/div]

[div class="TinyLines"][/div] Interacting: BasiliskVeranda | Mentioned: Nik, Rhys, Alaska, Woofus| Located: Old Hampton Inn, 1st floor [div class="TinyLines" style="margin-bottom:0px;"][/div] [/div] [/div]

 

[Chise_Robin_]

Location: Hampton inn first floor >>>> Prisoncell, raiders' HQ
mentions: badazzled lost sunglasses BasiliskVeranda
Hungover oatmeal BELIAL. , drunk drunk Rhys Hell0NHighWater

Alaska Roberts​

​

The fluster that replaced Rhys' usually calm features were the cherry on top of the pie for her, she laughed so sincerely. "My shirt sure as fuck did though." To that Alaska shrugged and told him that they should probably find it soon before they get going, then got back to her oatmeal trying to give the two some borrowed privacy.

The gift that the blessed presented his friend with was a thing of wonder in those days. Alaska couldn't help but smile widely and look at the gazes between the two. ''You guys are adorable, I don't think I've stated how much I love you before'' She sighed, resting her chin on the palm of her hand.

When Nik had ventured to gulp Rhys' coffee, the astonished look on the young blessed's face made her blink repeatedly hesitating before telling him that she'd made enough coffee to keep an army four days without sleep.

When both men left her side, the young hunter took the moment to lean back in her chair, savoring her friends' happiness and smiling to herself before Woofus started barking in panic. Everything happened so fast, Woofus running to the kitchen, the hole in the wall and about a thousand raiders. Men and women, actual humans gone mad, cannibals without mercy. In someways, to her, they were worse than the creatures.

Acting on instincts, the first thing Alaska had dived for was Nik's new present, he looked so happy with it, the happiest she'd ever seen him, those cannibals' numbers were increasing each moment and the young hunter didn't even think they had a chance of taking them on, but she sure as hell wasn't going to allow them the satisfaction of distroying that hint of happiness the half devil had finally acquired. Gripping the bag tightly, she shoved it under the couch, with just a tiny bit of it showing, so that when they finish........IF they survive, Rhys' gift wouldn't be in ruins.


Her crossbow, along with her own back pack were too far for her to reach. Double pistols, and her double daggers would have to do this time. The stream of raiders surrounded her, spiked shields and hungry smiles with ferral eyes peering right into her own sending a shudder down her spine.

'' Love me some brunnette! Maybe we could have some fun before our meal''
''You know wer'e not supposed to play with food''
''well....maybe just a little''

Comments were flying left and right as eight of them went around her in a circle, hissing and grinning and making wolf noises until eight precise bullets lodged themselves respectively between each man's eyes. Alaska's eyes lost their brightness as she shot four more precise bullets at the men who made their ways towards her. For a hunter, humans were easier to kill than vampires or witches, they were heavier on their feet, slower, and weaker. Alaska's guns hit the ground momentarily as she dove for the daggers strapped to each ankle slashing throats, legs, arms, eyes, whatever her speed allowed her to.
''Cant....we.....get....just one......fucking.....normal day?'' she shouted with hate and anger glimmering in her eyes, the assholes wouldn't stop coming, and their numbers kept increasing....and she was starting to get tired.


A familiar scream made her stop in her tracks for a terrifying moment. At the corner of her eye Alaska glimpsed Rhys being dragged on the floor by one of the ferrals, the other man looking triumphant with a scary grin on his face. ''RHYS!'' Her voice was as sharp as her blades. The detective was now unconscious and was being dragged out of the hotel through the hole. Alaska ran through the army still slashing left and right, she was so far from the kitchen when Penny, along with Nik got out of there, terrified looks on their faces.

“Nik, where’s Rhys? God dammit, God dammit! We have to find him Nik. We have to--”
''They've got him! They're dragging him out! WATCH OUT!'' Alaska shouted, trying to warn the two blondes about the raiders that now rushed towards them. Within this moment, one of the raiders grabbed Alaska by her braid, ruining Reverie's beautiful work and bringing the young woman to her knees. Two chains wrapped around both her arms pulling them in a crucified position, making her drop the daggers. Alaska felt as if her arms were going to tear away from her body any moment if she'd kept struggling. ''Not so strong now are we''. A man with one eye missing cupped her chin, she struggled to get it free by biting his hand, and received a painful hit to her head before being dragged out of the hole as well. Feeling the wet blood trickling from the side of her head Alaska's eyes fluttered opening and closing, trying to focus her gaze to where her friends were, occupied with a handful of raiders of their own.

*************************************************************************************************************​

The sound of victory screams, cars bumping on a road, and an occasional hand cupping her face were what Alaska regained temporary consciousness for before falling back asleep, only to wake up in a clean cell, her arms, legs and neck chained to a wall, with no space for movement. Around her were some other unfortunate victims, along with Kayden, Daisy and Rhys who were unconscious. Panic started seeping to her veins when she remembered Leraje and the nightmare, she'd been chained exactly the same back then and was now gasping for air in fear. One of the victims looked at her with a smirk ''Relax sweetheart, or they'll come for you first'' The man's sentence was cut by some noise outside. Two raiders entered the room, opened the cell and dragged the very loudmouth out with a grin on their faces. The man pleaded and cried but to no avail.
''WHAT ARE YOU DOING? LEAVE HIM ALONE!'' Alaska's voice, coated in panic, came louder than she'd intended.
''It's feeding time!'' The answer stopped her, not sure how to divulge, or how to get herself out of there. She stood there shocked in her chains, with a look of complete horror on her face, wondering if they'd make it through the night.

 

[BasiliskVeranda]

[class=biggie] width: 100%; margin: 0 auto; text-align: center; clear:both; font-size:13px; color: #1d1b15; font-weight:100; display:flex; flex-flow: row nowrap; height: 100%; [/class] [class=whut]background-color: #fff; padding:30px; [/class] [class=handsomedevil] background:#221b1c; text-align: center; margin: 0 auto; padding:20px; color: #1d1b15; font-weight:800; flex: 1; border: 2px solid #243381; outline: 2px solid #000; max-height:760px; font-size:13px; [/class] [class=speaks] border: 2px solid #243381; outline: 2px solid #000; font-size:13px; max-height:760px; overflow: auto; line-height:1.9; ;padding:15px; text-align: left; background-color: #221b1c; flex: 1; flex-basis: 30%; margin-left: 40px; margin-right:15px; color: #153785; [/class] [class=speakstoo] background-color: #fff; color: #000; padding: 20px; border: 2px solid #243381; outline: 2px solid #000; [/class] [class=speaksup] color: #1d1b15; border: 2px solid #243381; outline: 2px solid #000; font-size:50px; word-spacing: 4px; letter-spacing: 5px; ;padding:1%; text-align: center; background:#e4f8d0; margin-right:15px; [/class] [class=speakeasy] border: 2px solid #243381; outline: 2px solid #000; letter-spacing:2px; word-spacing: 4px; text-align: center; font-size:12px; padding:20px; color: #000; font-weight:100; background: #fff;[/class] [class=speakeasy2] border: 2px solid #243381; outline: 2px solid #000; text-align: left; font-size:12px; padding:20px; color: #000; font-weight:100; background: #fff; line-height:1.9; [/class] [class name=handsomedevil maxWidth="800px"] margin: 0 auto; padding: 10px[/class] [class name=biggie maxWidth="800px"] padding: 0px; margin: 0 auto; flex-direction: column;[/class] [class name=speaks maxWidth="800px"]margin: 0 auto; padding: 10px; margin-top:20px; overflow: auto; max-height: 100%;[/class] [class name=bye maxWidth="800px"]display:none[/class]
[div class=whut]
[div class=biggie]
[div class=handsomedevil] [div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘸𝘳𝘰𝘯𝘨 𝘪𝘯 𝘰𝘯𝘦`𝘴 𝘰𝘸𝘯 𝘸𝘢𝘺 𝘪𝘴 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘯 𝘵𝘰 𝘨𝘰 𝘳𝘪𝘨𝘩𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘰𝘯𝘦 𝘦𝘭𝘴𝘦'𝘴. [/div]

𝘕𝘐𝘒𝘓𝘈𝘚 𝘓𝘐𝘈𝘔 𝘝𝘖𝘚𝘚
[div class=speakeasy2]LOCATION — Hampton Inn, 1st floor
OOC: noooooo this is so sad alexa play despacito
TAGS: (Stolen Divinity) Hell0NHighWater , (Superhero Barbie) BELIAL. , (State of Loss) Chise_Robin_
BGM — RADIOHEAD - JIGSAW FALLING INTO PLACE
[/div][div class=speakeasy]𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘮𝘺𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘳𝘺 𝘰𝘧 𝘩𝘶𝘮𝘢𝘯 𝘦𝘹𝘪𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘯𝘤𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘦𝘴 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘫𝘶𝘴𝘵 𝘴𝘵𝘢𝘺𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘢𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦, 𝘣𝘶𝘵 𝘪𝘯 𝘧𝘪𝘯𝘥𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘴𝘰𝘮𝘦𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘵𝘰 𝘭𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘧𝘰𝘳.[/div]
[/div][div class=speaks][div class=speakstoo]
''You guys are adorable, I don't think I've stated how much I love you before,'' now this was getting embarrassing. Having quite the stomach for making other people uncomfortable for the sake of humor, Nik wasn't sure he was very comfortable with the rave review of their relationship. It made it even more real, and living up to that realness...was still a fear of his.

A fear, but he softened, because he couldn't truly be disarmed by Alaska, her sentiment sweet. Alaska was a verifiable blessing upon this group, he felt.

Even though she was a powerful hunter, adept and bombastic in her flurry of fights and a precise instrument of war, he felt her greatest strength was her strength of character. Tender hearted himself, Nik also liked her tender heart.

Uncharacteristically, he gave her a shy smile, the only response to her sentence at that moment.

----

"You don't have to say anything, Tesoro." Nik didn't quite know what that word meant, it could be anything. Asshole, bastard, dickhead, perhaps some physical feature illustrated in charming Italian phonetics, a pet name. He made a mental note to ask the other man, but deep in his bones, he already knew what it meant. It was a golden thing, that phrase, packed full of little promises, he knew this from the way it rolled off of the other man's tongue.

So much to risk, so much to lose. If the blond were to lose that golden divinity, a pitch of salty skin between the crook of a neck, cyan eyes bright enough to burn, strong hands, weathered thoughts, a panacea for his darkness, the quirk of a promising smile...he didn't know if he'd come back from the edge of hell's clutches.

Too soon, too fast, and too violently, he was attached.

That was the risk, that was the danger. To hold someone so precious that the separation would split you in half. It always worried him, now moreso than ever, because it was made real. Real things broke. Real things could be destroyed.

But everything was right with the world at this particular moment, and he'd try to keep this glowing smile on his face for as long as he could. And bask in the one the other man gave him, that was a treasured thing. The friendly banter from Alaska was also something warmed and special. Even Penny's grumpy continence, twisted over on itself because of the war the alcohol had mired up her system, that was warmed.

Warm things, things to keep close. Warm like this hand that was brushing fingers against his own, a red line of a connection to someone else, crimson and palpable, linked in flesh. Nik set his grin wider, like the dawn breaking from a pitch-black night full of violent delights. The wolf beyond the sheep's clothing was not so feral a thing, not in this grasp.

"I'm sure they'll turn up...somewhere...hopefully." His knuckles were kissed, and he felt like he was dying. What had he done to deserve such gentleness? Especially with his mind in the sorry state it was in. The nightmare from earlier had been a true thing, somewhere deep inside, even if Leraje had had to coax it out with fingers prying into his wounds to tear blunt holes and let blood seep out as if from infected bullet wounds.

He didn't deserve it, but he wouldn't look a gift horse in the mouth. He wasn't that stupid.

"Voss. Sweetheart. Give me the coffee back before--" Nik was having far too much fun with this, wielding away and confronting the hectic creature that was Penny, trying to purify everything, and perhaps herself, by cleaning.

“Nik, I’m not Medusa. A mug would not protect you from my wrathful ways!” She was elbow deep in soap, trying her best to clean things that really didn't even belong to them. They'd probably leave this place eventually, but he respected her need to clean everything, because in some way, then she'd feel cleaner. Nik didn't understand why she was so embarrassed and therefore needed to busy herself, it's not like she had taken all her clothes off and straddled someone in the middle of the party...

Or had she?

Nik raised the mug and shook his head.

"But it's a very small shield in case your hangover compels you to lob something at my fuckin' head," he said with a deep-chested chuckle, slinking around with it still upheld, all in jest, just a game, something fun.

She started to flick water at him, and he played up the joke, wincing, pretending to flounder from the water flung at him from her pruned fingers. She laughed and he bristled from the 'attack'.

"Agh...no...I'm melting, melting..." he hammed it up, then his half-smile careened up as he meandered his way to fixing up a bowl of oatmeal. He couldn't very well cart two bowls plus two cups of coffee, so he merely refilled the mug and portioned out a bowl, to bring them back to the whitelighter. Nik resolved to round back in a moment and get himself something in a bit. He could wait.

“I’m done, I promise. I won’t bother you—”
"But I love when you bother me—"

A sound cracked their antics in half, a break in the dead air of the hotel. A booming cacophony split the air, the earth rumbled. Nik's mouth was slightly open, a bowl of oatmeal in one hand, and the other with a mug full of coffee, which had spilled hot over his hand. It burned, but thankfully it wasn't anything to be too concerned about.

As the sound...had been concerning. As if the very air had a pestilent gunpowder wound, punctured with a sharp, violent jab.

“Nik... What the heck—”
"I don't know, let's go—"

Woofus reeled inside like a storm himself, barking with nigh unstoppable warbles and deep, coarse, warning muffs and huffs. Nearly knocking Penny down in the process, the dog's eyes wild.

“Woofus? What the heck? Buddy, what’s wrong-- Sorry, Woofus-- Woofus what’s wrong?” Nik very slowly set the mug and the oatmeal on the table nearest him, and reached down to feel for his blades and their shoddy makeshift holsters. Nothing, he must have left them somewhere...stupid.

Dogs always knew when something was wrong, it was the reason he probably hated Nik, wrong in so many ways but also a patronizing bastard.

Woofus had been the warning bell, but far too late, which Nik would soon find out.

When Penny rushed from the kitchen, Nik's vision scattered for something to cause damage, finding a heavy iron skillet which would do in a pinch. Knives were one thing, but knocking something upside the head with the force of a pure iron, flat surface, did wonders. He didn't know what he was rushing into, but he rushed none-the-less. The dog knew what was wrong, and clearly they had to pay attention.

"Raiders," was all he said, one of the unwashed human abscesses speaking, but he didn't let him get the last word out without the blond using the violent means he had curled up in his body like a patient viper.

“Looky Looky boys! What we got here?”

“Plenty of fresh meat, eh?”

“I like me the looks of them girls.”

“Charge em!” A metallic ding thudded as Nik struck the man across the side of the head, nearly inhuman speed allowing him to flank the bastard, blood casting off as he had knocked a tooth out or cracked the man's teeth against his tongue.

“We need to run. Now! Grab something to fight but don’t waste your time. Run god dammit! Get the hell out of here!”
Penny was shouting for them to leave, his eyes scouring the scene for the man who had only just been standing here, and seeing nothing. He wasn't here. Like a void, an empty spot that was meant to be filled, like a picture with someone burned out of it, a piece of film edited to erase the most fucking important part of the movie—his movie.

Nik grappled with a raider who tried to wheel back his fist, but the blond clocked him in the throat with a sharp punch faster than his hammy fist could propel through the air. He was faster. Perhaps not as strong, but cutting, and faster, always.

"I'm not giving these shits any ground, go if you're gonna, get the others out of—" he barked out her pleas, watching as Alaska shot, sliced, and fettered across the scene like a hailstorm.
“Nik, where’s Rhys? God dammit, God dammit! We have to find him Nik. We have to--” Nik's eyes shifted in his head, Penny's grasp on his hand trying to pull him, his heart pounding in his ears, the look on his face was pure disbelief. But more than that, it kicked into a hot, white anger, his grimace razor-sharp. He struck forward, ripping his hand away from her, glaring from beneath his heavy brows, then launching himself forward to kick out one of the attacker's shins.

"Wanna' dance, pretty boy? Let's dance!" the toothless, gnarled bastard gurgled, drawing up his gun as he kneeled from the kick, but the blond shifted in the air like he hadn't existed to begin with.

He forgot, in all this time, in all this partying and warm gestures, in all this worshiping ministrations of wet mouths and knuckles rapping on his spine, and fingers curled in his hair, and drinks flowing with friends, shared cigarettes and eating a home-cooked meal for the first time in forever, of gifts and thank you's, of new friends and new relationships, of good things he hadn't had...in so very long...

That he was patently less human than he pretended to be.

He popped back into space with the dark cast-off of shadows licking the air, because his anger had throttled the afflicted blood in his veins, a quiet anger. Because it was so intimately angry that it couldn't be anything else but pure demolition. He'd speak in his actions, clocking the man over the side of the head with his shitty weapon, his gun firing off into the distance as he let out a yelp.

Nik stood over him and continued to beat him bloody, saying nothing, expression blank, like he were squashing an insect, blood casting into the air from his comedic choice of weaponry, skull cracking over the brutality of the beat. Over and over again, Nik's expression like a placid lake, the anger boiling beneath the surface, hammering now with the skillet's handle clenched in both hands, over his head in a long draw.

People were speaking, yelling, he could hear none of it.

"I," the skillet smashed down, "am a very," it smashed down again, cracking, "Good dancer," he continued on his beat.

Down again, busting through bones, blood on his face and hands, repeatedly, as if stuck in a loop.

''They've got him! They're dragging him out! WATCH OUT!'' The blond cocked his head to the side, sweeping to Alaska, but the moment was a mistake. One of the attackers had taken Nik's trance-like storm of violence as an opening to tackle him to the ground, which he did, trying to wrestle him down with hammy fists and an inhuman laugh sparking in his throat.

The blond glared, anger thrumming through his body, a line of blackened shadow sweeping from the nearer toppled over table to hook the man's neck, shadow manipulation, choking him back. The blond peeled the man off of his body, and shifted to resting on his haunches, then up to his knees, as another line wrapped itself around his neck. Then another, and another, one shoving itself into the man's throat as he choked on it, hands scraping at the immaterial made material, the blond was trying to rip his spine out through his esophagus.

"You're taking things from me. Things you shouldn't be fucking taking."

“Nik, let’s go.”
"Fuck that," he spat, the man still being deluged in darkness, shadows tearing down his throat, blood pouring from his mouth. At that moment a shot rang across the air, clipping the side of his face, Nik ducked down behind the other man, bullets flying. He was an open target. He couldn't pop around like a demon ninja for long, they were being swamped with enemies, enemies with guns, and the part-time devil sucked with guns.

Without his blade, and only a fucking skillet, and a hectic Penny, and others to protect, and...Alaska was being torn away, but his lurch to rescue was thwarted with a barrage of bullets. He tried to shoot forward again, but the bullets flew, his anger growing.

"I am not fucking leaving without..." Penny's gaze was piercing, she had been fighting beside him, fighting beside the others. Holding her own and tearing through, all the same, just like him. But she was intent in fleeing, which was the smart move.

But Nik wasn't very smart. He was, however, very angry.

"...you're asking me to flee. You're really going to ask me to flee, while they drag them off? You're asking me that?" he said with a flat affect, trying again to surge forward, but stopped again with a spray of bullets, one hitting its mark as it tore through his shoulder. There was pain, and there was blood, and there was anger.

But Nik liked pain. He could go on, he could keep going, he could destroy their forces...

And then what?

His gaze cast to the others, in various moments of fight, like dancing. In slow motion they seemed, spiraling in the air to defend themselves, whoever was down here fighting all the same, whipping back, bending, hitting...reeling as they were hit. Cast-off blood making a painting of the air, hurt and pain, his heart thudding in his ears, he felt shooting pain lick through his veins and reach the tips of his fingers.

With great power came a great price. His price was his soul. His price was also watching the others who were still here get torn up by the raiders. His price was watching Penny as she tried to coax him onwards, eyes warning, the dog barking, all the noise ceasing, he knew she...was right.

Without their leader...without him, there needed to be...decisive actions. Someone had...to lead. He'd have rather it been someone else, Penny or James...anyone but him. But it almost felt like he knew it had to be him, like he was quite simply the next choice. But how? He wasn't fit to lead anyone, let alone lead himself out of hell, so, why did he have to make this fucking decision?

Nik caught her gaze again, Penny fighting with all her might, a powerful person, always so brave, powerful. She was smarter than he was.

Blood dripped from his face as the sounds around him resounded, he rose slowly, time slowing down, and he followed after her. He followed, and turned...

Shouting out some set of orders he didn't even hear himself speaking, something like "fall back" or maybe even "this way" or "retreat" or any other fucking gung-ho bullshit Grigori would've pulled had he been here and not off on some jaunt indoctrinating others into his weird anti-religious authoritarian cult or whathaveyou.

He didn't hear himself yell it, but he had, and stayed behind as he kept the deluge, the overwhelming onslaught, off their backs.

"Go. Lead, I'll hold them back until I can't," he hissed between his teeth at his light in the dark. He'd tow the line until he was out of gas to let the others fall back, or until he felt his affliction was taking the turn for the worse, worse than it already was, which was bad enough to begin with.

They weren't in a defensible position, and they needed it to be. They were coming in on all sides, and Nik swore he saw a flash-bomb like machination cut through the air and lift fog in a retreat. Had they gotten what they wanted, already? Why this, why them, why now?

Taking everything. Everything. Taking everything from them—from him. Things he felt belonged to him, in that possessive type of love to want to keep people close that he cared for, because they were his, and they were being taken.

In this moment, Nik hated that he had taken the pragmatic approach.

He wanted to be the stupid idiot who went rushing after his friends and the man he was too scared to tell he loved because it was too early, and now it was quite possibly too late, because lord knows what they'd do to him. What they'd do to them.

Too late to bolt after him, too late to bolt after them. Too late.

His eyes crossed the scene and he saw the bag that was his gift shoved tightly beneath the couch that still was now veritably destroyed.

Fuck.
[/div]
[/div][/div]
[/div]

 

[Steel_427]

Location: Old Hampton Inn, 1st Floor >>> Prisoner Cell, Raiders' HQ
Interactions: BELIAL. BasiliskVeranda Chise_Robin_
Mentions: Hell0NHighWater
Spent all day on this haha and tried not to control other characters as much as I could. And fighting scenes are so fun to write btw! I hope it's okay, I'm aiming to improve my writing skills!
Enjoy quiet girl going psycho



Daisy slowly waked from her peaceful slumber. She slept like a log, it had been a long and very eventful few days. She felt refreshed, relaxed and ready. It was alien to her as she couldn't remember the last time she rested so well. With a small smile she rubbed her eyes and stared at the ceiling, realising a long sigh.

"Mm.." she mumbled as she stretched to a long plank while her eyes adjusted to the bright and blurry surroundings. A few curly hairs rested on her forehead, tickling her temple.

With a bit of an effort she sat herself up, swaying a little due to the sudden elevation of her head. Her blood flowed properly again and she blinked a couple of times to regain her sight. Woah.

Her stomach called to her after not having eaten much yesterday. She didn't want to steal the food from the others because technically she wasn't here on purpose and she wouldn't steal from those she cared about... well, in this case, sort of care about. She was still unsure who to trust because of past incidents. But that was mostly all behind her. Maybe it was time to relax and take a new approach?

Daisy stood up and headed to the corner of the lounge where her bag lay untouched. She searched cautiously in her bag as if there was precious material that must not be broken. After a scan she pulled out a packet of her Oreos. Down to the last two. Great. She tried to be as quiet with the packaging as possible as she didn't want to disturb others in room from their slumbers.

The mouth-watering smell of the cookies hit her nostrils, causing her stomach to call again but desperately. She nibbled on her snack, savouring it, the taste, the smell, the delight.

She sat back against the wall beside her bag. She swallowed the last of her happiness and stuffed the wrapper in her bag, saving the last one for another time.

After relaxing herself she closed her eyes to think about her next steps. What now? She felt lost and excluded in the world but this group made her feel... happy... Even though she hasn't talked a lot she still enjoyed their company. It felt great to be a part of something again.

Her thoughts were interrupted by the sound of a man yelling, which she recognised to be Rhys. He sounded a few rooms away as she couldn't understand the words. They were just muffled. She opened her hazel eyes, having had a terrible gut feeling...

Suddenly a loud explosion boomed across the whole of the hotel, deafening her ears which caused her to wince. She pressed her hands on her ears and tightly shut her eyes until the noise passed.

Daisy regained herself and stood up with a wobble. Her senses slowly came back to her and she whipped out her knife from her belt.

"Guys?! Are you okay?!" She yelled, checking those who were sleeping in the room. She ran out to the different rooms to check for others and ran into where Penny and Woofus were.

Strange men stood on the other side of the room. She furrowed her eyebrows as they eyed the girls up.

"Looky Looky boys! What have we got here?"

"Plenty of fresh meat, eh?"

Raiders. Shit. Fucking bastards.

"I like me the looks of them girls."

"Change em!"

"Shit! Penny! Watch out!" She yelled and frowned at the men. They had hungry and desperate looks on their faces. Looks she was all too familiar with.

She attempted to dart past to attack them from behind. The Raider spotted her and goes for a punch but Daisy blocked with her right arm and threw a punch with her left. Her hard fist collided with his face causing a bone-chilling crunch.

She furrowed her eyebrows, fully in concentration. Adrenaline pumped through her veins which reenergised her. She twirled her knife in her hand and stabbed the man in his neck, blood spraying over her face and clothes.
She exhaled in relief and searched. Penny, Alaska and Nik were okay. She widened her eyes at the way they all moved and attacked. They are clearly no strangers to combat. She noticed that Nik had a worried look on his face.

"Nik, where's Rhys? God dammit, God dammit! We have to find him Nik! We have to--"

"They got him! They're dragging him out! WATCH OUT!"

Daisy's terrified eyes darted over to more raiders that entered the door. Raising her knife she dashed towards them but halted, widening her eyes in shock.

Alaska...

Terror engulfed her entire body at the sight of her getting captured. She yelled and ran towards them. "Alaska!"

Everything in her body and mind overworked itself and consumed her. She was in a trance. She ran up and slashed one man's arm. He screamed in terror and went to attack her with his own knife.

She dodged. Again. Ducked. Swerved. The man was about twice the size of her but she wouldn't give up. Suddenly she got slashed across her biscep causing blood to ooze out of it. She cried out in pain and stumbled back. The man laughed.

"Stupid little girl. Not so strong now, are we? Just wait until you see what's in store for you and your friends."

"Fuck you!" She spat on his face resulting in him yelling in rage. "You little shit!" She slashed at him but he caught her wrist before squeezing it. She scrunched up her face and punched his chest but it was no use, she grew too weak.
His grip tightened and she dropped her knife, her lip quivering. He smirked and threw her against the wall. Her head collided with the solid surface causing her to lose herself. She struggled but kept her eyes open.

I can't give up.

He threw another punch to her head and after a shock of pain everything went black.

**************

Daisy's eyes flickered open slowly. All sorts of emotions took over her. Fear. Panic. Guilt. Everything bad.

She went to move her arms from behind her back but was unable to, they were tied together. She tried her feet this time, only to end up with the same result.
Her head throbbed in pain and it felt rough so she assumed it must have been dried blood.

Her vision strengthened and she looked around the room, staring in shock at the man being dragged out of the door.

"Wha-?" She went to speak but nothing came out, her throat was terrible.

What's going to happen to us...?

 

[Anise]

KAYDEN JULIAN HUANG​

OOC: DO NOT JUDGE! I CAN'T ENGLISH RN :,(
MENTIONED: Hell0NHighWater Chise_Robin_


Waking up in a hotel, Kayden didn't really want to give much attention to the previous night's events,



''What happens in a hunted hotel, stays in a hunted hotel,'' he said to himself, living out a slight chuckle.


After doing some quick sketches inside his notebook/diary, he aimed himself to go down to the first floor checking if the others were already awake, but the scene he came to wasn't the one he expected.


A high-pitched noise.


There were raiders, lots and lots of raiders,


Fuck.


They were grabbing everything, taking every single thing they could take, throwing, destroying, ripping apart-


Through the crowd of people Kayden saw Rhys being taken away through the hole in the wall.


He opened his mouth in attempt of calling out his name when he saw Alaska being taken away as well.



Dashing towards his friends, he didn't think much.


A rushed decision. The mistake he kept making over and over again.


Grabbing the nearest wooden plank, he knitted his eyebrows as he threw the heavy thing with all his might into the head of one of the men that were after Ally, knocking him down.


The only unfortunate thing was, that he lured all of the attention to himself with the action,


Fuck


There were seven men suddenly preventing Kayden from escaping, grabbing his arms and legs,


''What the fuck do you want?! Leave Rhys and Alaska alone!! Let go of them!!!,'' he screamed at the top of his lungs not even carrying that the men held him still.


Rhys and Alaska were the only thing he cared about at the point.


The guys kept grinning at his face.


No answer, just scornful grins, when suddenly one of the masculine men full of scars approached the freckled hunter,
''Good night Snow White,''- he said when suddenly raising some kind of a baseball bat up high, swinging it furiously at the hunter's nape.
A loud bang, the sound that kept echoing through his ears, then another hit onto his head-


Darkness.


It all went quiet after this, leaving Kayden in the pitch black void of nothingness. It almost felt as if the time itself would've stopped.


Some kind of the peace they were after?



---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------


Headache.


The young hunter slowly tried to open his eyelids.


5, 4, 3, 2, 1…


His eyes opening to a blurry vision, he couldn't make out anything.


Nothing, really nothing was clear.


Not even the closest objects.


Everything looked like a giant blob.



Barely moving, his limbs felt heavy.


His fingers stone cold, resting on the floor.


His wrists being chained to a wall.


Heavy gasps left his chest as he tried to fix his posture, fight against the metal, move a little.


Nothing happened.


Hearing some voices, they slipped away as soon as they made their way to the young hunter's ears…


…So distant.


The massive headache preventing him from really understanding the words.


The screams cutting through his soul as if hundreds of daggers would have been stabbed in his back,


''Please stop,'' a silent plea left his mouth.


His eyelids falling together repeatedly, closing, wanting to give up…



…Give up already, stop fighting,



''Hello…welcome home''