#( bien que les étoiles ne parlent pas même en étant silencieux ils crient ⋆｡°✩ ) replies

[astral-athame]

@dhampiravidi

"Everything good happens after midnight."

[astral-athame]

Pogue was unaware of the way that Caleb had watched him while he was whispering to Jayn, but he was well aware of Caleb's attraction to him. They had had... a moment once. A night that Pogue liked to pretend never happened. As far as Pogue was concerned, he was entirely straight. He might look at a guy from time to time, hell, he'd maybe even caught himself fantasizing about a guy here or there. But he was straight! He had to be. He didn't have a choice in the matter. If he wasn't... well, he didn't want to think of the consequences.

But it was easy to play at being totally straight when he really was more into girls than guys, anyway. The way Jayn fit against him, the way it felt to brush his fingers against her skin, to kiss her... He loved Caleb, even if he denied it, but he definitely, without a doubt, loved Jayn, too. Even this early in their relationship he was fairly certain of it. He kept her close to him as they walked, wasn't shy about stealing little kisses here and there, whether to the top of her head, her temple, her lips. He liked touching her and he did it just about as often as he could. "Are you hungry?" He asked her. Pogue figured that if they were going through these little shops and set up, now would be a good chance to get a quick bite of food that wasn't just a bunch of sugar and candy. Usually vendors sold savory and salty foods, too, that were easy to carry around with you while you were walking. But there were also plenty of places to sit and eat something proper. He knew he, certainly, had every intention of grabbing a bit to eat. Maybe a burger or a sandwich. He usually preferred fries, but those were a bit more of a two handed food. Admittedly, he was also pretty thirsty after walking around, so a soda or something would be nice, too...

Luckily for Caleb, Cass had been preoccupied with sort of spying on her dad and she'd missed the way he was looking at Pogue. She wouldn't have said anything even if she had noticed, of course, but the thought would have settled in and stuck with her the rest of the night. Caleb asked if that was her dad and, despite the small bit of embarrassment she felt at being caught so obviously watching after her father, Cass smiled shyly. "Yeah. I think he's on a date," She said. She wasn't sure who the woman was, but they both seemed to be having a good time. "He hasn't been on a date in years," By which she meant he hadn't been on a date since the divorce. She was pretty sure he hadn't even tried. "It's nice to see him out and having fun, but if he hasn't told me he's seeing someone yet then he's likely got a good reason," Maybe it was just a fling? Or maybe he felt a bit embarrassed? She wasn't sure, but she didn't want to run over there and take away his opportunity to tell her about his new girlfriend himself. If they were so obviously out together like this, though, Cass was sure he'd tell her about it soon enough. She wanted to ask Caleb if he knew the woman her dad was with. She couldn't help but feel a little protective of him after everything he'd been through. But Cass didn't want to seem weird about it or anything. He was a grown adult who could handle himself- he was her father, after all!- she had just... grown accustomed to taking care of him to a small degree.

But she wouldn't have had time to say anything more, anyway, because Tyler and Aaron were walking close behind them and she could hear their conversation about what class Caleb would be in D&D. A glance over at Caleb showed he was doing the same thing as she was- lips pressed together, trying not to laugh. Of course, as part of their D&D group, Cassia had her own thoughts on the subject, and she had to agree with Caleb being a Paladin- a pure hearted, knight in shining armor, type. They were more of a fighter than a Cleric, and not as focused on religion despite the Paladin's own connection and/or favor with the god(s) of their religion. But she wasn't going to butt in- it was more fun to listen to their debate than to pop in and be part of it in some capacity.

"CALEB!" She heard the woman's voice shouting to him and, quickly, Cass snapped her attention in the direction of the noise. Someone was definitely trying to get Caleb's attention and Cass had a feeling they wouldn't stop shouting until they got it. The source of the commotion was an older woman- probably in her 70s, if Cassia had to guess. She had a kind face... and her eyes were fixated specifically on Caleb. Was she a former teacher? A nanny? Just some sweet, old, woman that Caleb knew from around town? Cassia had never seen her before but she could feel that Caleb wasn't as thrilled to see her as she was to see him.

The woman gave Reid a donut and Cass wondered if it was more out of kindness or as a distraction so he wouldn't interrupt her attempt at conversation with Caleb again. (Then Jayn was stuffing what remained of Reid's candy and bag into a Halloween pail and Cass felt a relieved that something had been done to prevent further loss of his treats. She'd still be sure, later, to give him some of hers, though.)

Pogue already knew what was coming the moment Mrs. Marshal shouted out to Caleb. He positioned himself so that the older woman couldn't see his expression and gave a playful smirk and eyebrow waggle at poor Caleb, teasing him for the older woman's obvious flirtations. The woman was practically head over heels for Caleb all because of a simple act of kindness. It was kind of cute... or it would have been if she wasn't so enthusiastic that it had driven Caleb to stop going to her bakery. It was a shame because she had some pretty good stuff.

And then it was Pogue's turn to feel a familiar pang of jealousy. It wasn't even over anything big- it's not like he didn't know that Cass and Caleb were dating, and the pair, while not as publicly affectionate as Pogue and Jayn were, certainly weren't hiding their relationship, either. In fact, Pogue liked Cass a lot- she was cute and sweet and she seemed the type who would take care of Caleb in the way Caleb was always taking care of everyone else. But something about him introducing Cassia to Mrs. Marshall as his girlfriend, her fingers laced with his, their hands raised as if Caleb was showing her off... Pogue's stomach twisted in knots a bit and he had to force the feeling down before Jayn could look back at him from helping Reid with his candy situation.

On the other hand, Cassia felt herself light up when he called her his girlfriend. Realistically, she'd been thinking of Caleb as her boyfriend for a bit now, but the terms hadn't really been used because it hadn't yet been necessary. But hearing him say it aloud like that... it made her heart leap in her chest. The older woman, however, seemed less enthused. Was Mrs. Marshall actually upset about Caleb dating someone? Cass felt a bit bad about it for a moment. And she could practically feel the same small guilt coming from Caleb, too. "Hello. It's nice to meet you," Cass offered with a smile. She had a bad feeling she'd get a cold response from her. Cass would know not to take it personally, but it never felt nice to have someone so clearly dislike you.

Thankfully, though, before too much time could be spent on it all, Tyler was interrupting, as if intentionally trying to break some of the tension to help them out. "Oh! I've been meaning to ask you, Mrs. Marshall, when you're gonna start making those maple bars again. No one makes 'em like you do, and my mom's been craving them," Tyler knew that wasn't necessarily true. His mother had asked him to check in at the bakery at some point to see if those specific donuts were being sold again just yet (Mrs. Marshall hadn't made them in a few months) but she it was more out of casual curiosity than anything. Still, Tyler hoped it would put her back in a good mood to be praised like that.

Jayn felt her heart do its usual happy dance, warming her up as Pogue hugged her from behind. She beamed when he pecked her cheek, and she would've turned to face him and return the favor if their friends hadn't been talking. She'd probably never tell him, because it sounded so clichéd and maybe obsessive, but sometimes she really thought they were made for each other. The two of them fit perfectly, physically and emotionally. They read each other almost as well as Caleb read Pogue, which was amazing, considering how long the boys had known each other. Both Pogue and Jayn (to varying degrees) tried to hold their emotions in for the sake of other people's happiness, but they still could tell exactly what their partner was upset. They also tended to get irritable when other people kept asking after them. Maybe that was why they also both knew what kind of touch would be the best in every situation...

Cassia and Caleb finally exited the haunted house and joined the growing group of college-age, mostly magical teen adults. Right as Jayn gave them a friendly wave, Reid came out of the building, wings open and screaming bloody murder. For a second, Jayn thought he'd just been scared by something or someone in the haunted house. But then she and Pogue turned to look at Reid, and he was explaining that he'd, uh...acted on impulse. Honestly, Jayn didn't blame him, but they all still needed to get a move on. Pogue moved so he could walk with her instead of uncomfortably behind her, and the group hurried down the path.

It took a second for Jayn to notice the candy trailing from Reid's bag. Her first thought was, "Ohno! The haunted house people are gonna follow it and find us," but she quickly realized how dumb that sounded, given that everyone outside had candy because it was Halloween. Her second thought was that Reid reminded her of Hansel the storybook character, made just as tragic because Reid was completely unaware of his loss. Even worse was the fact that everyone else in their friend group was quickly noticing. The kids in the area had swooped in like seagulls stealing chips at the beach, so there was no chance for the Mothman to right the serious wrong. At least the night wasn't over--they could get him a new bag (maybe a pail, just in case) and he could get candy from some of the other booths. Still, Jayn knew that as soon as Reid realized what had happened, he'd be disappointed.

She was glad that Cassia was able to convince Pogue to go to the shops. Reid would just be standing around upset if they all went to the concert now.

"Aren't you the same guy who orders large fries and a Coke every time you guys go to Nicky's?" Aaron teased Pogue, since the other guy was acting like he didn't love food all of a sudden. Tyler snickered, partly because he'd been the one to tell his boyfriend about Pogue's fry obsession. There once was a day during spring break, back when they were all in high school...it had involved a trip to Boston, one that somehow turned into Reid and Pogue rating all the fries in the Fenway-Kenmore area--well, the fries from 7 places. Caleb put his foot down, because between the greasy taste and the overall fact that all that shit was unhealthy, he was done.

Speaking of Caleb, he couldn't help but feel a stirring of mixed emotions deep down when Pogue tugged Jayn close and whispered something to her. The wrinkles around those hazel eyes, the way his mouth quirked to the side as he smirked; the shy way she bit her lip and giggled, looking up at him...Caleb was all too familiar with how Pogue flirted with the girls he liked. He'd watched from the sidelines for years, always telling himself to give up on the guy (his best friend) who would never love him back. But every now and then, it still hurt. At least Pogue was with a girl who genuinely cared about him--a girl, who was Caleb's friend.

Caleb tried to divert his own attention since Cass always seemed to notice when he was upset. He couldn't ruin her first Ipswich Halloween. He'd noticed her looking at a zombified man who held hands with a woman around his age. "I'm guessing that's your dad?" he asked. That reminded him--he still needed to go to the Kellers', sometime before his and Cass's first date, so he could formally introduce himself to Mr. Keller. Caleb figured it was especially important since Cassia and her dad were new to Ipswich. They were new to town, so Mr. Keller probably hadn't seen or heard anything of Caleb, beyond whatever Cassia had told him. And decent parents tended to be a little apprehensive when it came to letting strangers take their kids out on dates.

He walked along with Cass, not far behind Tyler and Aaron, who were deep in a conversation/debate about who in their friend group would be which class in D&D and why:

"Caleb's got high Charisma, decent Intelligence and Wisdom. So that leaves Cleric, Paladin, Warlock, and Sorcerer. What's higher, his Intelligence or his Wisdom?" Aaron asked Ty. Tyler thought for a moment, thinking it through.

"Wisdom. Barely."

"Ah, yeah, he's the 'den dad', I forgot. Alright, Cleric or Paladin on three--"

"One, two, three--"

"Paladin!""Cleric!" They sighed, then snickered. "What the hell are you talking about? He's always helping people."

"Everyone helps random people if they're morally Good."

"Yeah, but--is he even religious?"

"Nah, not really. But shh, because he HAS to be a Cleric or a Paladin."

"...well, what's the big difference?" They both paused for a second, walking in silence. Caleb pressed his lips together, trying not to laugh. Usually Ty would've just asked to play a quick game of Rock, Paper, Scissors to help decide things, but he actually cared about reaching a satisfactory conclusion. Maybe he and Aaron really were a good match...

"CALEB! Caleb, dear! Over here!" Oh, no. He knew she'd keep yelling until he met her eyes, and their group was already set to walk past her booth...so Caleb reluctantly turned to look at Mrs. Marshal. Tildie Marshal was a 74-year-old widow who had fallen in love with Caleb after he offered his jacket to her on a windy day. She was walking back to her family's bakery, and he was going that way, so he thought it was just a nice, convenient thing to do. That was three years ago. Ever since, she'd given him free treats and airborne kisses (not to mention kisses on the cheek, if he wasn't careful).

"Mrs. Marshal! Hey, how are ya?" Reid interrupted. Caleb was thankful for the protective barrier. Ty's eyes were watering from the effort it took to keep from laughing.

"Just fine. Here." She grabbed a fresh apple cider donut, hand wrapped in a plastic glove, and handed it to Reid, who mumbled a quick 'thank you' before he started chomping. Jayn gently pulled away from Pogue, bought an empty Halloween pail, and shoved Reid's mangled candy-ish plastic bag. He raised his eyebrow in confusion, then cried out when he saw the damage. He nearly dropped his donut, and Jayn tried to comfort him, telling him they still had the night to get more candy. Meanwhile, Caleb was being harassed. "It's been such a long time," Mrs. Marshall said, batting her eyelashes at him.

"Yeah...so..." He'd started avoiding the bakery, actually. Java Jones's pastries were all as hard as biscotti (except for the loaf cake) unless you got there RIGHT when they came out of the oven (which apparently was around SIX IN THE MORNING). But that was a hardship that Caleb would have to face. Besides, Jayn sometimes baked stuff, and even included his mom. "My friend bakes a lot."

"Well, you can never have too much sugar..." She grinned, and he internally screamed. His immediate reaction was to hold Cass's hand (which he'd been holding for a while now) up in the air. He'd probably meant to point at her or something, but the exact intention wasn't important.

"This is my girlfriend," Caleb said, probably a bit louder than he needed to, "Cass, this is Mrs. Marshall. Mrs. Marshall, meet Cass." The light in the older woman's eyes dimmed, and Caleb felt bad. Still...Cass was his girlfriend...wasn't she?

[astral-athame]

“I had this dream that we were married.” [from Jayn]

@dhampiravidi

A dream that they were married. That sounded like a nice dream... But Cass was happy with Caleb, and Jayn was happy with Pogue. As much as she liked loved Jayn, that's really all it was- just a dream. That didn't get Cassia down, though. In fact, she lit up at Jayn's words. She put another scoop of ice cream in the younger girl's bowl then passed it over to her to let her start putting toppings atop her sundae- there was nothing like a Sundae Sunday watching movies and catching up with her best friend!

"Oh yeah?" Cass asked, scooping ice cream out into her own dish. "What was it like? Were we happy? I bet we were happy." Her smile was wide, bordering on a soft, joyful, laugh. She didn't mean it as a joke, though- she was just feeling a bit giddy at the thought. "Whose last name did we go with? Or did we hyphenate?" Silly questions for a not-so-silly thought.

She re-lidded the tub of ice cream and turned around to pop it back into the bottom drawer freezer on her fridge. When she looked back, she fixated her gaze on Jayn, that smile still in place. "There's still time yet, baby," She teased the younger girl a bit with the pet name. "We could always run off and elope!" Okay, so that wasn't exactly an option (and yet it also wasn't NOT an option)... but the idea of it was fun!

[astral-athame]

"your feet are cold.” [from Caleb, Jayn or Pogue]

@dhampiravidi

Cassia snuggled up closer to Jayn's back, but it was poor Caleb who was dealing with the cold soles of her feet. It was just an unfortunate factor in sleeping like this, really. And of the fact that he was taller than her- enough that with her legs positioned how they were, her feet were at his shins as he held her from behind. "Sorry," She apologized, looking back at Caleb over her shoulder with a little pout. "I told you I was cold." Though she was quickly warming up being snuggled up in bed with her lovers. Pogue was already fast asleep on the other side of Jayn, his legs all tangled up with hers, her head tucked against his chest. She couldn't tell if Jayn was asleep yet or not, but her breathing was steady and slow as if she might have been at least on the cusp of falling asleep.

Cassia leaned forward to press a kiss to Jayn's cheek, then slowly unwrapped herself from her girlfriend and very carefully turned, instead, to face Caleb. It meant her cold feet were off of him (and barely touching Jayn because of how her legs were linked with Pogue's). It also meant that she could lean up to kiss Caleb. He'd been gone most of the day and had only just hopped into bed a couple minutes ago after showering. He wasn't fully naked- he had his boxers on- but Cassia kind of wished he had been. She was cold, yes, but she wasn't entirely tired yet. And Caleb? Well, she knew he'd had a long, stressful, day. She could think of a good way to help soothe him some... if he was up for it. If they were quiet enough, they wouldn't even wake up the others. If they were too loud, though? Well, she doubted Jayn and Pogue would be opposed to jumping in. As she leaned up to kiss him once more, her fingers slipped beneath the waistband of his boxers. She was taking it slow for not, testing the waters. If he was too tired or just didn't feel up to it, he'd gently stop her and she'd listen, settle snugly against him, close her eyes, and fall asleep to the sound of his heartbeat. But if he didn't stop her... well, they were lucky tomorrow was Saturday and none of them had any reason to get up early.

[astral-athame]

His comment made her crack a grin. "You'd think," She answered back, her tone carrying just a hint of playfulness to it. Okay, so 'pretty good' was an understatement, at least for what Pietro could do. But she'd never seen them live, and live performances separated the "pretty good" from the "fucking great", at least in her opinion. As for whether she was good or not- she wasn't sure if he meant that to be a jab or if he was actually just curious. She wanted to give him the benefit of the doubt, though. She tried not to assume the worst of people. "I think I am. Though I don't have super speed, so..." No doubt he could outplay the best of the best with as fast as he could move. Still, though, her band, despite being just "up and coming", so to speak, tended to turn heads, and her skills had been praised plenty, even by the occasional music critic (or those who thought of themselves as music critics). She didn't like to brag, but she'd put a lot of time into learning how to play and her dedication and passion for the art showed. It was the one thing she felt especially confident in.

Unfortunately, one of the places she fell short in was reading people. She wasn't entirely sure what to think of Pietro, honestly. He was arrogant, obviously, but he'd still been kind enough to come to her aid. That single act of kindness deserved plenty of praise on its own. Again, she tried not to assume the worst. He didn't seem to have any ill intent, at least... Then again, she'd picked up on how rapid fire his thoughts were even just from brushing the surface of it. Even if she'd wanted to read more into what he was thinking, she'd never be able to keep pace. She just had to hope for the best here.

Don't get used to it. Oh, she wouldn't. In fact, she was already trying to run through plans in her head on what to do next, fully assuming he'd cut and leave soon enough. Then she'd be on her own. At least now, though, she'd know that they were after her. She wouldn't let them take her by surprise again. Hopefully. She looked back at Pietro when he mentioned her home probably wasn't safe and offered him a nod in agreement. He'd picked up on the fact that it was more than just a simple mugging and she wasn't going to deny it, either. Their whole aim had been to drag her off somewhere they could kill her and dispose of her body.

She shook her head to clear her mind of the thought- he was right that her home wasn't safe, and she didn't have any plans to go there, anyway. He'd caught her in a bit of a lie, it seemed. Unless he really thought her dumb enough to just... go home after all this. "Truth told, I'm not really sure where is safe," But she'd figure something out. She didn't have much choice. "I've been warned about people like them all my life, but never thought something like this would actually happen..." She all but muttered the words, speaking more to herself than to Pietro. She'd have to contact her dad, be sure he was safe, too. After all, if they had found her, they were only one step off from finding him. He was a hell of a lot stronger than her, though. He could likely take care of himself. Yet that didn't stop her from worrying.

She didn't hesitate to let him take the phone from her. He'd helped her this far and, though it might be naive of her to trust him this quickly, she felt like she didn't have many other options. She was as good as dead without him. At least with his help, if he was really offering it, she stood a chance. Even so, she hesitated for a second before she tucked everything back into the wallet. He didn't have much else on him. Well, except a handful of concealed weapons that he'd never even had a chance to unsheathe. "I don't know what I'd do with any of it, anyway. So..." She offered the wallet over to him. "If you know someone who could help, I'm not gonna turn down the offer. He's got 4 different IDs in there. All fake. His real name is Jacob Carlisle. Age 36. Born in Moab, Utah on April 17th. Currently lives on the outskirts of Jasper, Arkansas. He's married with two kids. One is 8. The other's barely a year old." She had plenty more on him than just that, but something about him being a father of two young kids and still being willing to come out here and murder someone else's child settled ill with her. It also made her not want to see him killed, even if it might be better if he was. That was as close, for the moment, as she was gonna get to telling him what she was or what she could do. She didn't want him to know everything, after all. She still didn't entirely trust him. "He's been following me for months. I don't know how I didn't notice..." She'd been blissfully off in her own world, she supposed. And he was plain enough that he fit right into the crowd without raising any suspicion. Considering she'd never had a run in like this before, she hadn't even known what she should have been looking out for... or to look out for it at all.

"I'm gonna go check on the other two. Um... he's still pretty well loaded with weapons, by the way," She warned Pietro. Not that the guy could do anything with them now, but, even so she wanted to be sure he knew. No doubt he could find and gather them all off the unconscious body faster than she could have. And with that, she moved on to the next, following the same routine, though without bothering to search him for his belongings- again, Pietro could do that faster than she could, and she was just gonna hand it all over to him, anyway. She focused, instead, on carefully running through his mind and cutting or changes memories where she could with a brush of her fingertips against his forehead. Then she wove nightmares for him, too. The last of the men got the same treatment, though by the time she was through with him she felt like a mess. The other two had had plenty of fucked up thoughts. His, though, had shaken her so terribly she felt sick. Still, she tried not to make it too obvious. She was desperately trying to play it cool, calm, and collected. The last thing she needed was to lose focus or to burden Pietro more by dissolving into a sobbing mess, even if every last nerve was nearing frayed. She never condoned murder. And yet a part of her was aching to kill him for the horrible things he'd done, for the horrible things he'd planned to do.

Still seated on her knees in the snow beside the last of the unconscious bodies, she didn't feel like she could stand up just yet. She pressed her eyes closed tight and took a deep breath, then focused back on Pietro. "So, uh... I don't really know what to do next..." She admitted. She'd never been put in this position before, clearly. She didn't have a clue where to go or what she should be doing. Hell, she was still mostly just internally panicking over the whole situation. She looked fairly calm on the outside, but her heart was racing so fast she felt a bit dizzy. "Any suggestions?"

"You would think saving your life would get me something more than 'pretty good'." It had been a long time since he had done something dangerous like this. Not that it was any sort of challenge for him, but it still got his blood and ego pumping more than they normally would. And that was already a rather massive ego.

Pietro didn't really know how to talk to her, or someone who had just been through what she had. She mainly seemed put together about being attacked, not curled up in some ball crying her eyes out. Or ask him questions about his powers or how he did what he did. If she had trauma and was a mess, she did a good job of hiding it.

"Are you any good?" That was a loaded question. He didn't mean it as one or for it to come off as rude as it probably sounded, but to him it was small talk. She was a musician like himself. Maybe he wouldn't be so quick to run off if he had a connection like that. But really the whole situation would keep his attention on her, a good deal of him wanted to know why she was being hunted.

It made him think of the mutants he had saved before. In another life. A life he was supposed to have left behind.

His training would kick in again, knowing if a group like this could track her down on the street, he home probably wasn't safe. Would she take up any offer for Pietro to give her a safe place? She had just seen him take down her attackers in the time it took for her to blink. She had seen him catch a bullet out of the air. He was infinitely more dangerous than they were.

Insert a witty and clever line about how he was just in the area. Or something about how he is actually always in the area. Because, you know, super speed. Or something about how he moves faster than his music. Anything would be good. "Don't get used to it." Anything but that would have been a good thing to say. But he just had to play up the asshole angle. "Your home probably isn't safe. Unless I'm looking at this wrong, and it really is just a simple mugging where they didn't try to get your money and looked like they just wanted you put down." Like an animal. Like a mutant.

He watched her as she rooted around, leaning against the wall to finish off his cigarette. The part that intrigued him was what she was doing with her hand on their foreheads. That wasn't normal. Maybe there was something hiding underneath for her. Something he would need to know if he was going to try and help her.

Pietro dashed over to snatch it out of her hand, looking at it momentarily before pocketing it, "I have someone to help. That is if you're willing to trust me enough to hand over the rest of the things you got from them." Mystique was good at things like that, but it would mean he would owe her a favor. That was something he wanted. At all. The girl would be worth taking on that burden.

[astral-athame]

"No, I can't be polite to them if they're treating you like you were just there to please them." Nilza

@southern-belle-outcasts

"Really, Nil. It's fine," They both knew it wasn't, but Cass had a tendency to downplay things. At least when those things happened to her. She didn't fight for herself quite the way she fought for other people and opted to let it... roll off her back, as her father would say. Clearly, though, Nilza didn't agree with the idea of just ignoring it, playing it off. "There's no need to get worked up over it..." Even if they were being rude, there was no need to be rude back, right?

[astral-athame]

"Hey! I saw this, and I thought of you! I mean, I hope you like it," Jayn says with a sweet smile. She holds out a necklace with a rock salt crystal that seems to have the colors of the lesbian pride flag mixed together in a swirl. She seems completely oblivious to the fact that she's offering her friend a gay gift.

@dhampiravidi

Cassia had spent a lot of time debating her sexuality. Putting labels on things was hard, after all, especially when you weren't entirely sure any of them fit you quite right. But that meant, too, that Cass was very, very, aware of the colors used in a number of different pride flags. This, of course, was no exception.

In fact, the moment that her eyes fell upon the crystal of the necklace Jayn was offering her, she recognized the colors. Red. Oranges. Pinks. A strip of white. It was swirled, yes, but the colors were unmistakable. Well, at least to her. But did Jayn realize what those colors meant? Did she know what she offering to Cassia right now? And did it mean something?

Cass paused, took the necklace, ran her fingers along the metal chain. She paused to hold the crystal in the palm of her hand, looking down at it. Was Jayn doing this intentionally? Or did she not know what it meant? Should she ask?

"I love it," She said honestly, her thumb stroking over the crystal, unable to keep a smile from her face. Well, whether or not the choice of color was intentional, she really did love it. It was beautiful. Maybe she'd mention the colors to Jayn soon, see if the other girl knew what she'd given her. For now, she just wanted to enjoy the kind gift. "Would you help me put it on?" She asked. As of late, Caleb had been clasping most of her necklaces for her. She could do it herself, of course, but she liked the way his fingers ghosted against her skin, how he'd smooth his hands against her back or wrap his arms around her when he was finished. She wondered if she'd get that same excited buzz if it was Jayn's fingers against her skin. She had a feeling that she would.

[astral-athame]

"I can’t stop thinking about you.” (from Jayn)

@dhampiravidi

The whole situation was... complicated. Cass was dating Caleb. Jayn was dating Pogue. Caleb and Pogue were clearly in love with each other, but they also loved their girlfriends? And Cass and Jayn had had... a moment. Or two. Or three. Nothing crazy just brushes of fingers and exchanged glances. Then there was that almost kiss a couple days ago...

Caleb was out for the moment. He wouldn't be home for another couple of hours at least. But Cass had still come over early, anyway. Partly because she really did want some help studying for that upcoming history exam (she and Pogue had been studying together, but he had work tonight and they wouldn't get a chance to study together again until tomorrow morning just a few hours before the test). Mostly, though, it was because she'd wanted to see Jayn. She wanted to talk this out, to figure out what was going on, what they should do. Her head had been swimming and she felt... confused.

But she didn't jump straight into asking Jayn about things. She was trying to play it cool, act like that almost-kiss had never even happened. Maybe Jayn wasn't thinking about it nearly as much as she was, after all. Or maybe Jayn just wanted to pretend that it hadn't happened. Cass didn't know because she had apologized and... left. With her heart thrumming so hard in her chest that she thought she might pass out, she had just left. It wasn't fair to Caleb, after all, that she was developing feelings for Jayn, too.

Here she was now, though, with a large set of flashcards she and Pogue had made together, a notebook, a pen, her laptop, sitting on Jayn's bed. And the studying did happen for a while, mostly uninterrupted. Until a long lull in the conversation turned things awkward and, finally, Jayn caught her with words Cass hadn't been expecting to hear.

"I can't stop thinking about you."

Cassia felt her breath catch in her throat, and for a long moment she kept her eyes focused down on her notebook, as if she was still studying the page. Nothing was sticking in her head but those 6 words, though. She might as well have been staring straight through the paper and ink, burning a hole right into the notebook, maybe even through to Jayn's sheets.

"I-" What should she say? The truth was what Jayn had given her, but Cassia wasn't sure what to do with it. Act on it and break Caleb's heart? Dismiss it and lose Jayn completely? Or was there some secret third option that she wasn't thinking of?

It took her a few more moments before she finally gathered her voice and answered back. The least she could do, she supposed, was answer back with the truth. Work her way from there. "Jayn... I can't stop thinking about you, either..." It was the reason she'd been "too busy" the last 2 days to spend time with her or with Caleb. In fact, she'd essentially ducked away from their whole friend group for those couple of days, feeling guilty for what hadn't even happened. "I don't know what to do..." She finally admitted, voice small, the confusion and concern heavy.

[astral-athame]

Cassia was about to disagree when Nilza told her she could go. Go where? And for how long? And all on her own?! She could drive short distances without much issue, but the kind of road trip she wanted would have been hard. She was medicated for her anxiety, yes, but it didn't put a full stop to it, and something about driving- knowing that she was responsible, in part, for not just her own life but the lives of every other person on the road, too- was hard to overcome.

And then Nilza followed those words up with "We could go." and it stopped Cass's possible argument in its tracks. They could go. Her and Nilza. Together. The momentary surprise was soon replaced with a slow forming smile, one that brightened as Nilza continued speaking.

"You sure?" Cass asked, hopeful. She wanted to go. To just... get away. And it's not like they had any shows lined up for almost another month, they'd earned some downtime. She'd have to, of course, be around a week before their next show to rehearse and see how the boys were doing and whatever but... that gave them plenty of time to work with. Whether they were on a 2 day road trip or a 2 week one, Cass would just be happy to not be stuck here. To do a bit of traveling, maybe some (probably cheesy) sightseeing. Aside from hopping venue to venue for gigs, she hadn't really had a chance to see most of the country- just bit and pieces as they rushed from one state to the next. No time to stop and take it all in. Money, too, wouldn't be an issue. Cass didn't usually spend too frivolously and with the band getting more recognition, she had a pretty damn good amount of cash set aside for emergencies. Wasn't this a sort of non-emergent emergency?

"Okay! Yes! Awesome!" She suddenly found herself unable to stand still, bouncing a bit on the balls of her feet with excited energy that she was trying to repress some. She was absolutely alight, and yet she was trying to remain somewhat cool and composed (it wasn't working). "Destinations. Right. Yeah. We'll need to figure that out," She hadn't thought that far ahead, honestly. She hadn't even thought at all before mentioning to Nil how badly she wanted to get out of here, just drive across country, forget everything. It had been a thought she'd had often, but one she'd never thought would come to fruition. To buy herself just a little more time (and because she was sincerely curious), she turned her attention back to Nilza. "Is there anywhere specific you wanted to go?" If they were doing this, it was only fair that they pick places together, after all.

Starter for @astral-athame

"If you want to go, you could go. We could go." Why she offered that was beyond her, Nilza had barely interacted with Cassia beyond the occasional show and well... "I like driving." She did, though. It was relaxing when she wasn't headed somewhere on some life or death deadline, or on her way to what was likely going to be unpleasant and cling in her nostrils for hours.

"Name some destinations, and I'll get some kind of route planned and we just fuck off. Live our best lives." The spontaneous side of her hadn't allowed the cynical part of her to catch up, and if she was quick about it, she'd already be committed and well- she hated a liar and a hypocrite more than most things.

[astral-athame]

❛ i love taking care of you. and i always will. you know that? ❜ [from Caleb]

@dhampiravidi

Cassia was strictly very careful with her emotions. Not because she thought that it was a "weakness" to show them- in fact, she encouraged people to let their emotions out in a healthy way, to cry when they needed to, to scream or hide or talk things out. Whatever helped without hurting someone else. But for her... there was always a small, prickling, fear of what it meant to let herself be emotional. Happiness, or the guise thereof, was easy. You stay calm, you keep your powers in check... and nobody really ever thinks to ask if you're okay. It always works. Or, it always had. An incident in elementary school, followed a few years later in middle school, kind of taught her that. And she'd thought it was working just fine with this new group of friends, too. Except she was stressed and, more importantly, anxious. Usually she could handle that- you just take each thing that's stressing you out, work through it one at a time, and let it go. Usually the anxiety went right out the door with it. But she couldn't quite pinpoint what, exactly, was leaving her feeling this way. She behind on some school work, sure, but that was easy enough to manage. She had her first gig with the band she'd just joined next weekend, which was scary but also exhilarating, so it wasn't that. Her dad was gone for the week, talking movie and tv show deals with big executives- but this wasn't the first time he'd been gone for a long period of time and, while she didn't like being home alone, she could handle it. So what, then, was getting to her? Why did she feel so terribly unsettled? And why, also, was that feeling so overwhelming that Caleb had noticed it? Something wasn't right. She could feel it. And very rarely were her instincts wrong.

"It's okay. I'm okay. I just feel a bit... odd," She mostly brushed off the initial concern, his insistence that she could talk to him. She didn't want to burden him. After all, he had enough on his plate already. But he didn't seem to be buying it. In fact, she almost wondered if he could read her mind, her concerns about burdening him, when he assured her that he loved taking care of her. And though her smiles had been bright up to that point, she felt herself falter just a bit with that. Not because she didn't appreciate his words- far from it, in fact. It was simply... letting the mask slip for a second. She found herself wanting to tell him. About this. About her. About the fact that her nails were digging so hard into her thighs right now because she needed to feel grounded, lest she should lose control. But he didn't know what she was, and she was absolutely terrified of the thought of him finding out. So she could only tell him so much.

"It's just that... something's wrong," If the words didn't make it obvious enough that she felt unsettled, then the fact that her accent was slipping through a bit more than usual would have given it away. "I don't know what. I just know it's... something." She knew that didn't make sense to him. If her dad was around, he'd understand. He didn't get the same feelings as her- his own powers were more elemental, while hers were more based in the psyche, in things less tangible- but her mother was the same way as her. Always seemingly knowing when something was wrong even before it happened. Not quite premonition, but some small remainder of what once had been somewhere down their bloodline. She suddenly second guessed herself, though. Raised her hands in front of her defensively, shook her head. "It's nothing. Just a silly feeling, that's all," She didn't want to sound crazy or anything. "I don't think I had enough sleep last night." She took a couple steps closer, pressed her forehead against his chest, then slowly wrapped her arms around him. The smile that had faltered before came back now, though perhaps a bit more genuine than it had previously been. "If you want to take care of me, though... maybe some nice, warm, cocoa and a bit of cuddling would do the trick."

[astral-athame]

wake me up when i care.- Nilza

You know by now I ain’t sorry so I shan’t apologize

@southern-belle-outcasts

A small part of Cass wanted to be playful about this, prod Nilza just a little more, try something silly to make her crack a smile. But she knew Nilza well enough by now to know that now was not the time for that. The other woman was clearly not in the mood and Cass wasn't going to press the matter when she knew it was just going to piss her off more.

"Okay, okay..." She relented. "Consider the matter dropped." For now, at least. Cassia, instead, crawled into bed behind Nilza. She gave her some space in case she didn't want to be held, lest she should feel coddled. But she shifted close enough that she could feel the other woman's body heat rolling off of her a bit, less than a foot of space between them. Then she reached a hand out to gently stroke her fingers along Nilza's arm. If she didn't recoil from the touch, Cass would draw closer. But for now, she was mostly just trying to offer some affection, some love, without being overbearing. She wasn't particularly good at reading what Nilza needed (or wanted), but she was trying.

[astral-athame]

Short starter for Pogue @diiisplxced based on this !!

Cass didn't do the "hooking up" thing very often. Almost never, really. But she'd been talking to this guy since she'd arrived at the party and there was definitely chemistry there and, admittedly, she'd possibly had a little too much to drink. Maybe it'd just be a one night stand? Or maybe there was something more to it? Not that she'd have the opportunity to find out, it seemed. Pogue had pulled her aside just as she was about to head upstairs with the stranger. "What's wrong?" She asked, eyebrows furrowed in concern. "You look annoyed." Was it naive of her to think he was just annoyed at one of the other party guests?

[astral-athame]

"I don't think that's just a scratch."

@amazingwcbs

Cass didn't want to make a big deal out of it. The cut on her upper arm hurt like a bitch, but it was manageable. Well, mostly manageable. It was bleeding fairly heavily, but she had already wrapped it up with a bit of gauze and hidden it beneath the fabric of her long sleeved shirt. Peter had initially commented on the stiffness of the way she was moving that arm to grab her bag, and she'd waved off his concern with a comment about it just being a scratch, nothing to worry about. But he must have looked closer and Cass, not having been paying her wound much mind, hadn't realized before now that the gauze was saturated with her blood enough that it had seeped out through the sleeve of her shirt some. If she'd worn just a black top then he might never have noticed, but the shirt had thick stripes of black alternating with thick stripes of light grey, and that's where the issue came in- the blood was very obvious on the lighter stripes, coloring them with a dark red. And now she couldn't just pretend it was nothing more than a little scratch. "Well, maybe it's a little more than just a scratch..." She finally admitted, clasping her opposite hand down over it to apply some extra pressure. "It's nothing to concern yourself over, though. I just have to switch out the bandage," And hope that the small bit of dizziness she felt didn't get any worse.

[astral-athame]

He sounds like the kind of guy who pulled the wings off butterflies and tortured puppy dogs.- Harry

@southern-belle-outcasts

She wasn't sure what had brought him up, but now she regretted it. The truth of it was that Harry was right. Well, maybe not literally- she wasn't sure if he'd ever actually tortured puppies or ripped wings off of butterflies, but he certainly wasn't a kind man. "That's why he's an ex," Cass tossed the words out there in a tone meant to be joking, but it wasn't entirely a joke, really. She'd stuck with him a lot longer than she probably should have, but she'd tried so hard to make it work, to keep seeing the best in him. It was just who she was. Her phone chimed and vibrated. A glance at the small screen made her wrinkle her nose up in disgust.

"Now if only he would stop calling me." She flipped the phone upside down and gave it a small shove away from herself- but not far enough away that she wouldn't still check it the next time it went off. Her ex knew as well as she did that if he kept calling, she'd eventually answer, and then he'd start in with the apologies and the "I love you"s and she was too tenderhearted to keep resisting. She'd probably cave in eventually, as much as she didn't want to.

[astral-athame]

@diiisplxced

The idea had been Cassia's. They were all in dire need of a little time away from Ipswich- after everything that had happened to them and Caleb's and Pogue's recent break ups, it seemed like a good idea to just... go. Where? She wasn't exactly sure. Just somewhere else. Anywhere else. Admittedly, though, she hadn't expected them to agree to it. And when they had, she immediately started preparing. There had been packing to do, after all, and she also wanted to plan out stops for places to eat and sleep, to get gas and snacks. They could figure out sight seeing as they went. Maybe they could stop at a beach somewhere- she knew how much the guys liked swimming and she wouldn't mind settling in on the warm sand of the shore with a nice book.

She finished helping Pogue load things into the trunk, being sure that she kept the snacks and the small cooler of drinks in the back seat for later. Everything seemed to be in order, too, as she double checked the contents of her small backpack for things she needed to keep on hand (extra sunglasses, chapstick, phone, keys, wallet, notebook and pen for when ideas struck for a song, etc).

Finally, with everything in place, all that was left was to get in the car and go. Well, assuming the boys were ready, too. "So-" She tilted her sunglasses down to get a better look at her companions, a smile on her dark red lips. "-who's driving first?" She asked. She didn't much care for driving and hoped that she wouldn't get stuck doing it in any cities, but she'd happily do her share of it as long as it was in smaller towns and back roads.

[astral-athame]

@ipswitched

Cassia's fingers twitched. She could feel it building in her chest- that same kind of discomfort she'd been feeling off and on for days. She had moved to Ipswich less than a week ago and she was still getting her bearings in her new surroundings. She was used to the noise of New York City, the thrumming pulse of a place that never slept. But Ipswich... Ipswich was much quieter. Maybe it was that simple fact that lent to the feeling of being watched, like there was someone waiting just around the corner.

Or maybe it was simply that, despite being just after 3pm, the sky was filled with dark storm clouds. It almost felt like night, barely a stray beam of sunlight peeking through. It was clearly about to rain and she'd made the mistake of walking into town this morning. She had an umbrella, thankfully, but that would only help her so much if the rain started coming down in buckets, so to speak. Despite the forecasted "light rain", she was certain it was going to be more than that. There was no way she was getting home before the downpour, and she'd have to wait until she was out of town, out of sight of others, before she could use her powers to create a better barrier between herself and the rain.

But Cass liked rain. The soothing sound of it. The way it brought a slight chill to hot, summer, days like this. So she kept walking until the first bit of a sprinkle grew into larger droplets before she stepped into the nearest open shop. As she entered, though, that odd feeling in the pit of her stomach returned. She felt like she was being watched. So much so that she abruptly turned her attention back towards the door as it was falling shut and walked right into the turned back of a stranger.

Thankfully, she'd not been moving too fast- she barely bumped him, honestly, just enough to be slightly startling. "Oh! Sorry!" An immediate apology fell from her lips, embarrassed at herself. She should have been paying more attention to where she was going. But that feeling... it was unsettling. She shot an anxious glance back towards the door only to find it shut. No one else had walked in. And yet she didn't feel any more at ease. She tried to brush it off, though, and, instead, turned her attention back towards the person she'd bumped into, giving another apology. "I'm sorry. I suppose I was distracted. I should have been watching where I was going. Are you alright?"