#ch:remmy

[nelllraiser]

best served cold | group chatzy

LOCATION: pat’s place. SUMMARY: revenge is a dish, and pat’s is serving it up. PARTIES: @nelllraiser, @beatrice-blaze, @divineluce, @whatsin-yourhead, @humanmoodring, @themidnightfarmer, @seizethecarpe, @faecurious, @detective-keen, @sgtrolandhills, @normallee, @detectivedreameater, @chasseurdeloup, @theskyeandsea, @mor-beck-more-problems, @theshadowandvalleyaremine  CONTENTS: mass poisoning, food poisoning vomit (brief description)

Nell wasn't entirely sure why she'd been chosen to receive a VIP invite to the grand re-opening of Pat's Place, but she certainly wasn't complaining. After all, it meant she got an entirely free meal instead of only getting 20 percent off like the flyers around town were advertising, and she'd never say no to free food. Perhaps she should have been a little more suspicious about the invitation, but only hindsight is 20/20. And she was hungry. With Bea by her side, she presented her special invitation to the host at the door, who promptly showed Nell and her sister to the long row of food laid out on a table. But not before being presented with two free drink tickets. "Oh, hell ya." As others filtered in with the regular flyers, they were also shown to the large spread of Americana style food, tall tables meant for standing and eating scattered around the dining area after paying at the door with their discounted price. "Where should we even start?” Maybe she should have waited a bit with the truth serum still working its way through her system, but it would be fine...right?

Remmy was excited to be going out tonight. It'd been a while since they'd done something just for fun, and even better, they were there with someone who they'd recently made friends with. Nadia was nice, and fun to talk to. And she made Remmy stutter and ramble, like some other people could make them-- and though they felt a little guilty, still, Luce had made her position clear. They stepped up and pulled the door open for Nadia. "Ladies first," they said with a big grin, trying to push away the nerves and anxiety that trembled their fingers each time they left the house. But this would be fine, right? They were out with someone they trusted, and it was a big public place. Nothing bad would happen here. "Thanks again for inviting me," they said as they headed inside with her. "You'll have to introduce me to your friend so I can thank them sometime."

When she first got the invitation, Bea had assumed she had been given a VIP ticket because she was also a business owner. Turned out that she wasn't quite so special and her sister got one too. "Well, I want a free drink to start the night," The eldest Vural answered, finding herself moving to the bar without seeing if her sister was following. She placed her free drink ticket down and the bartender smirked at her before making her drink and sliding it to her. She turned to her sister, "That guy was weird."

Dave wandered in curiously. Hell, he was always down for a cheap meal. Circumstances of their reopening sounded fishy (seriously, a whale shark had crushed the place?) But with two free drink tickets he wasn't about to complain. Food smelled good too, although he was only hankering for the meat section. Not knowing anyone yet, he went right for the table, picking up a plate and starting to serve himself with the tongs by each option.

Skylar blinked at the flyer she'd found around town-- it seemed a little too good to be true, but a part of her was curious about Pat's Place. She'd heard about it, but never got a chance to go before the fish rain incident had taken out the roofing. She wondered if Shiloh had helped fix the restaurant and idly wondered what the other woman was doing. Maybe she'd bring her back something? As she entered, she saw the long buffet set up and shrugged. Ah. Maybe not. Oh well. As she took a plate from one end of the line, she glanced at the drink tickets that had been handed to her. "Oh-- I don't..." But she was left with the drink tickets all the same. Looking to the person next to her, she offered a slight smile. "Um... I'm not really a drinker. Do you want these?"

Jared was already inside. He wasn't adverse to cheap food and definitely wasn't deterred by the thought of eating alone. He was too busy loading up a plate with as much as he could get his hands on from the table to notice others filing in behind him. He only had eyes for the food. Jared only glanced over when someone else came close. "Great spread huh?" He commented to the bloke with a grin.

Morgan couldn't believe she'd let Remmy talk her into visiting a restaurant of all places. They were zombies. They didn't need to eat, there was nothing here for either of them but--oh. Morgan arched a brow as she saw her friend playing chivalrous with a pretty girl. Well, maybe there was something here for one of them, and she supposed she could play wingwoman if Remmy felt a little awkward. And maybe give them a tinsy bit of a hard time if they weren't. "Wow, and here I thought I was your date," she teased. "You guys really know how to pick a place. It's so packed, I think half the town is here." She scanned the room, looking for someone familiar, or at least unaccompanied in case the maybe lovebirds needed some privacy later.

Dave nodded at the guy talking to him. "Better taste as good as it looks. Did you go to this place before it had shut down?" He carefully balanced his plate on one hand to offer Jared his to shake. "I'm Dave."

With an easy grin on her face, Nadia let Remmy hold the door open for her as she walked into Pat's Place. "Why, thank you," she said with a wink. The place was pretty nice in kind of an old school kind of way. Nadia could definitely see a crime boss of some sort owning a joint like this. Definitely the kind of person that Tommy would work for. Speaking of... "I'd love to introduce you to him, some time. Don't see him around at the mo, though." Truthfully, she didn't expect to. Probably for the best. She didn't want him to get distracted. She looked over at the other woman that came up to her and Remmy, giving her a smile. "I wasn't expecting it to be this packed. Really hoping it lives up to the hype."

Nell followed her sister over to the bar, all too ready to get that started. After getting her own drink and taking the first sips, she made a mocking face at her sister before saying, "You think tons of people are weird. But now it's time for food, come on! I wanna be rolled out of here." Somehow...the truth serum had allowed her to say such a thing which meant it was, in fact...true?

Norma saw the flyers for a gathering. It was not taking place at the best restaurant in town, the Bottomless Booty, but she would hardly hold that against this Pat's Place place. And if she was lucky, perhaps a fight would break out and she would get some delicious chaos energy to feed on. For now she hopped inside and saw a bar and many tables full of food. None of it was necessary for her but where there was lots of human food, there was usually lots of humans to feed from. She took a plate and picked up many of the green leafy things on the platters to put on her plate on the way down. "Oh, you don't need water to survive?" she asked the woman in front of her who was brandishing her drink tickets. "That's rather unusual. I'm perfectly fine with my two tickets, however. Thank you! I'm Norma! Norma Lee," she said holding out her hand.

Luce had found a flyer hanging outside of Ink Inc after a particularly long shift and you know what? Fuck it. Why not. Pat's Place had been decent enough before it had been taken out by that fucked up fish rain bullshit. And if they were trying to get more people in the door, she couldn't blame them too much. Pushing open the door, she raised an eyebrow as she noticed that her sisters were already here, with Nell eyeing the buffet spread and Bea leaning against the bar. "Bitches." She muttered under her breath before freezing when she saw who else was inside. Remmy. They were here too? Why the fuck-- they didn't even need to eat. Catching sight of the woman next to them, Luce felt the color drain from her face. Fuck. Shit, fuck, fuck. Taking her drink tickets, Luce made a bee-line to the bar and glared at her sisters. "Whiskey. What are you guys doing here?"

Jared grinned and nodded. "Yeah, lived in town all my life. It's real tragic about Pat, but I'm glad the place could re-open." Shuffling his two plates into one hand he offered the other a free one to shake. "I'm Jared."

"Luce!" Nell exclaimed at the sight of her sister, before brandishing her VIP invitation by waving it in the elder girl's face. "I was invited. You weren't?" she teased the fire caster. "So was Bea."

Agatha was a big fan of the place before it shut down, but after having heard that the staff had died crushed under a whale (which sounded like bullshit, by the way), she was no longer sure that the restaurant would ever be worth it ever again. But none of this mattered anymore, Agatha had spotted the buffet spread, and all she could think about right now was food. Some people were more interested in the bar? Their loss. Her plate full, she made her way to an empty table. She did not come with company, but it was fine. Nothing unusual for her.

"Tons of people are weird. Do I have to remind you of the man at the Stacked Deck or that lady in the grocery store? They were all weird." Bea frowned at her sister before taking a drink. She raised an eyebrow at the middle Vural. "We're VIPs." She said with a little smirk. "Did your VIP ticket get lost in the mail?"

Q was a bit over his head here, but he had promised his dad that he'd try to get out more and not lock himself away in the laboratory until he had a white beard. Everyone seemed friendly enough, even if that familiar feeling crawled under his skin. He moved with a small plate towards the woman sitting alone. "Hey, I didn't realize this would be so busy. Can I sit with you?"

Luce raised an eyebrow at her sisters, waving at them with the drink that was slid her way. "Bitches. Both of you. And yeah, I guess it did. Worked out for me, though, I found a flier next to work so I decided to pop by cuz it's apparently pretty popular." She said, bending her head to hide behind Bea's taller form. "Knowing Nell, she probably tossed my invite in the trash." She replied.

"Jared, nice to meet ya," Dave said with a grin, taking the kid's hand. Working hands, at that - this wasn't a guy with some office job. Then again, considering the long narrow scars that stretched along Dave's face and hands, nor did he. "Yeah, I heard. Sounds real shitty, what happened here. Did you know the staff at all?"

Skylar was a little confused by the woman's response and her head cocked slightly. Had she misheard her? There was a lot of noise happening around her, but... "Um, I mean, I do need water. But these are for beer or alcohol or other things?" She said, looking at the little tickets closer. Mhm, yeah, that's what they were for. At the woman's introduction, Skylar awkwardly shifted her empty plate from one hand to the other and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Norma. I'm Skylar. McKay." She said and nodded. "Did you find a flyer too?"

Tilting her head at her sister, Bea looked over to Nell, "Nellie, does it seem like Lulu is hiding from something or is it just me?" Over the last few weeks, it had gotten easier to be outside and in crowds. She was growing more confident every day, finally feeling like maybe her paranoia could ease up a bit.

Morgan snorted. "Aww, you're Nadia? That's so amazing, we talked so much when we first moved here! I didn't realize you knew Remmy. They are, I gotta say, one of the best people in town I've ever met. I'm sure they've got an amazing night planned out for you." She side-eyed Remmy and lowered her voice. "Does she know you don't need to...you know?" This might be more awkward than she wanted in her night. The loner tables in the back were starting to look a lot more cozy.

Agatha, her cheeks filled with food, raised her eyebrows as a young man approached her to get a seat. She glanced around her. Yeah, he was talking to her. "Mmmh," she nodded, wiping her mouth clean. "You know, you could have gotten more food?"

"I probably will, I was feeling indecisive at all the choices and didn't want to seem greedy," Q shrugged, but he did notice her plate. "Not saying that you were greedy-- maybe you have the appropriate amount. I’ll know for next time." He grinned and sat down. "I was at this place before, why is it so popular?"

"Oh definitely, Bibi. Poor Lulu, looks too upset to not be hiding anything." Nell knew it was only a matter of time now until Luce decided to take a swipe at either one of her sisters, so Nell took another gulp of her drink while she still could. "Sure you found a flyer, but did you get in free?"

Jared began to say, "Likewise bud." Taking both his plates back in a more steady grip the nymph shrugged one shoulder. "Knew of them, Pat was the knowable one if you get me? Always happy to chat to the customers. Wasn't here for the funeral or I woulda gone, he was a cool guy."

Norma's brow furrowed. Had she said something incorrect once more? "Oh, why would they call them drink tickets if they were meant for alcohol? That's odd," she said as she tossed one of the garnishes back over her shoulder. She had seen that's how children ""ate"" their broccoli, she assumed it would work here, too. "Nice to meet you too, Skylar! And yes, I did find the flyer. I work at Bottomless Booty, you know. I needed to check out the competition." Her eyes scanned the food table. 'Tell me, is any of this worth consuming?"

"That's me!" Nadia said, though mentally she was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Fuck Nadia for talking to people. "Yeah, Remmy and I are new friends. I took a bit of a fall, and they were there to help me out. Totally agree with you, though. They're the fucking best." She gave them a smirk. It was strange, that both of the people around her were complete emotional and literal dead zones. She looked over to the bar, watching as people took their drinks. Huh. Well, there was one familiar face, and she didn't look too happy.

Bea took another long sip of her drink before half choking as her sister called her Bibi. God, she hadn't been called that in a long time. "Do you think you got in for free because they know you're broke, Nellie?"

Remmy couldn't help but blush. "Morgan," they muttered, "shut up." But then Nadia was agreeing and they sort of wished they could sink into the floor. Clearing their throat, they pointed towards the bar, not even noticing the familiar faces by it yet. "Anyone want a drink? I'm gonna go get us drinks," they said with a squeak, getting ready to head off.

Dave walked them over to a standing table, mouthing back Jared's words to make sure internally he'd gotten them all right. "Right, that sorta guy. I hear it was some sorta freak weather event. Anyhow, you probably don't want to dredge all this back up." Dave picked a chicken drumstick, and took a big bite. He hated eating with his teeth caps on, but needs must and all. "So, Jared, what do you do? You a student, working?"

Luce clenched her hand around the whiskey, the glass heating slightly in her fingers. "Yarrağımı ye, both of you." She gestured to the two of them. "You can both fuck off. I'm not hiding from anyone. You're hiding from someone." She growled. Leave it to Nell and Bea to make shit even worse. Christ. As she glanced around the restaurant, Luce froze as she caught sight of Nadia staring at her. And fuck. Remmy was coming up to the bar. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." She mumbled, leaning against the bar, head ducked low.

Nell's shit-eating grin she'd been wearing for the roasting of Luce quickly disappeared at Bea's words. Hold on. That wasn't fair. They were supposed to be going after Luce right now. "If I'm broke, so are you!" Apparently hospital bills did that to a person when they didn’t have insurance. So caught up was she with Bea's betrayal, that she didn't realize Luce slipping even further down. "Your’s is probably just a pity invite, anyway."

"I was invited because business owners support business owners," Bea sniffed. "I am not broke. I just have less money than I did before." She patted Luce's back. "Do you need me to distract someone if they notice you?"

Morgan pulled Remmy back. "No, I'm good. I don't really drink much these days, you know? I'm on this great all protein diet and don't really wanna mess up my insides. I'm gonna check out who else is here but--" she kissed her fingers and reached to smush them into Remmy's cheek. "You two kids have fun. I'm sure we'll circle back after the line gets less long. I definitely want to spend more time with you, Nadia, when I get back." Pleased to have thoroughly embarrassed her friend, she slid away from the entrance and sidled up to the back by the more empty tables. There was a woman and what looked to be a college kid sitting together, plates piled high. "I gotta respect people who have their priorities in line. Does it taste any good?"

Jared nodded. He'd heard the same, despite not being in town. Fish rain had been a particularly interesting story to hear. Stuffing a whole wing in his mouth Jared nodded. "Farmer. Own a farm just in town. So not devoted enough to be a student or anything like that. Sounds like too much school to me." he laughed. "What do you do, bud?"

Skylar shook her head apologetically. "It's a little weird, right? I've never really worked in food service, but I think it's because of the cost of alcohol?" She offered helpfully. But, she was only more confused when Norma tossed one of the lettuce garnishes onto the ground. "Um, I don't think--" She said, but was too caught off guard by the woman's words to do anything other than flounder. "Ah-- I mean, I think the ribs look nice? And the fried chicken smells nice too." Skylar said as she put a few pieces of each on her plate. "Bottomless Booty? I've heard of them, that's the pirate restaurant, right?" She asked, a little confused how Pat's would have any kind of competition from the kitschy themed restaurant.

"...Dude, people are going to get food, and you'll be left with the stuff no one likes," she eyed at the vegetables, then back at Quintin. "I'm Agatha by the way," she didn't take notice of his comments. She did not mind being called greedy if it was about food. Being greedy about good things was not a sin. Or maybe the exact definition of a sin. Sin sucked. "I don't know, maybe because for one, there's no mimes here?"

"Oh I'm with ya. Just about scraped my GED, and that was enough for me," Dave replied with a rough laugh. "You got animals or crops on your farm? Oh, I'm a fisher, deep sea angling. Keeps me busy and fed, and the van working."

Norma nodded and then grabbed some of everything Skylar pointed out. That was perfectly normal, she was sure of it, asking for recommendations and then taking them with no questions asked. "Oh yes, it is perfectly pirate themed. I wear a hat when working there. Where do you work?"

Skylar nodded at Norma's words. She didn't really understand what she meant about the hat thing-- did she mean a pirate hat? She couldn't really imagine that Norma meant she showed up wearing a ball cap or something. Wandering down the line, Skylar picked out a few more meat based items before adding a couple vegetables just for appearances sake. She didn't really want anyone to ask any questions about what she was eating. "I work for the school district. I'm not a teacher," She added quickly, trying to avoid that particular rabbit hole. "I do interpretation."

Jared "Got one up on me there, I didn't manage to graduate." He laughed heartily. Looking up at the other man and spotting a congregation of people at the bar he knew. He smiled and then refocused. "Animals. A small greenhouse for flowers though. Oh a sea dog huh? Sounds pretty rad. Got a boat and everything of your own?"

Norma could not imagine working with children. Normal mortals were far too young to have anything in common with as it was. "You do interpretation? Of what? Ancient languages?" She didn't quite understand why small children would need to know demonic languages but that did make some sort of sense given their nature as tiny agents of chaos. "I'm going to go get an alcoholic beverage with my drink ticket, would you like some water of which you need to survive?"

"Q, or Quintin--" Q responded, happily munching on his plate as he never enjoyed enough good food. "So you are on team 'no mimes'." He air quoted, glancing up towards a few other people. All, he didn't know. "Do you know anyone else here?"

Luce rolled her eyes at Nell and Bea. "Broke. Both of you. At least I own my cabin outright." She muttered, head still bent low. For the first time in her life, she wished that her tattoos didn't make her stand out so much. She'd probably be able to blend into the background and just slip out the door if it wasn't for them. But, Nadia had already seen her. "I really don't think that will work. But thanks for everything, Bibi." She shook her head.

Jared took a water from a passing waiter.

It was kind of amusing to watch Luce sink away from the way Nadia watched, but she wasn't super focused on the witch. When Morgan left, Nadia gave a slight wave. "Looking forward to it." She watched Remmy walk away as well, enjoying the blush on their cheeks while she could. Then, she opened her phone and checked the time. She made eye contact with one of the bartenders.

"Cool, what sorta animals? Not at the moment," Dave replied, polishing off the last of the meat on his plate. He eyed the buffet table, that was beginning to look somewhat crowded. Eh, he was a grown man, he could wait for a bit. "Used to have a pretty little ship, but I had to move inland for a while, so now I'm boatless. If I end up staying here long enough I'll get a new one, but for now I'm renting."

The thing Bea had started to notice about herself was sometimes she didn't need anything to make her feel unsafe for her body to begin to react. Tonight, apparently, was one of those nights. Her heart had begun to pound. She put her drink down, the sharp click of it against the bar ringing in her ears. She took a deep breath, far too aware of how fast she was breathing now. "I'm... I'm just going to go to the bathroom for a second okay?" She slipped away from her sisters then and only made it so far before bumping into someone as she tried to walk fast to the bathroom. She wasn't going to freak out in front of all these people. "Excuse me. I didn't mean to hit you." She swallowed hard, trying to control her breathing, but couldn't seem to make it regulate. "I'm just- I have to... I'm just running to the bathroom."

Nell wasn't entirely sure what to make of Bea's quick departure, but she knew that her sister didn't seem quite as social as she'd once been in situations like these ever since she’d been resurrected. Maybe she just needed some air? Still, she wanted to make sure that the eldest Vural was doing alright, and took a quick step after her. One step in, and her head was spinning. What the hell? She'd barely had half her drink at this point. Dizziness wasn't something she should be feeling this early on in the night. Another step forwards, and she had to clutch the end of the bar to steady herself.

For what felt like the third time in as many minutes, Skylar blinked in confusion. "Ancient languages? Like... Latin?" She guessed, not sure what the other woman was talking about. She didn't think that ancient languages were part of the White Crest curriculum. "I-- No, I'm a sign language interpreter." She said before shaking her head. "Oh, no, I'm good. Thank you for the offer, really. I'm okay." She said before wandering away from the buffet. As she wandered through the crowd, her face went slightly pale as she saw Jared and Dave talking to one another. Two people who knew what she was? Mmmmmm, nope, nope nope. Hurrying away, she settled into a booth at the back, sighing as she relaxed into the seat.

"Q? That's funny, my other name is 007," Agatha deadpanned, although a smile soon followed. As much as she liked chit-chat, she was no longer eating. When he asked about mimes, her mouth was, thank God, full again. The food was alright, but there were really too many people in here. Another person had approached the table, and Agatha glanced at her with her eyebrows raised. Nice. "I really think you should hurry to get a plate if you ever want to find that out by yourself," she replied with a smile. "But to answer your question, it's pretty good, yeah."

Remmy swatted at Morgan. "I hate you," they mumbled at her before she left and they headed to the bar to get a drink for Nadia. On their way over, they felt a slight pang in their stomach. That was weird, they shouldn't be hungry? They'd eaten before Nadia came over. "Two whiskeys," they said to the bartender when they arrive, ignoring the feeling. They glanced idly around, noticing just down the bar were two familiar faces. "Luce?" they said. Two drinks were set down in front of them and it echoed loudly in their ears, glass clinking. Remmy shook their head, went to grab a glass. "Nell, are yo--" they started, but the glass suddenly fell from their grip and shattered on the floor. Remmy blinked, looking down. The world swayed under their feet. "S-sorry..." they mumbled as someone came around to clean up the mess. They looked at Luce again, went to say words, and found their throat too dry.

Jared blinked rapidly. His heart sped up and his head started to spin a little. It was faint at first but was building rapidly. He leaned his elbows on the table, taking a larger drink of the water he'd gotten, finishing the glass in the hopes it'd help. "Some cattle mostly." He lied in answer to Dave. He thought he spotted Skylar whiz past behind Dave but couldn't be sure as he got more dizzy. "Renting hah right..."

Norma thought that Skylar girl was rather odd, but nice. Once she got her drink, a tea from a long island, though she was unaware of which one, and took a sip. As she did, she felt a familiar sensation. It was like a pit dropped into her stomach and churned and turned it. The room started spinning and she gripped to the edge of the bar to try and hold herself up. "Fucking bounty hunters, not again!" she growled as she felt herself falling and tumbled to the floor, her heart pounding in her chest and the world starting to go black around the edges of her vision. Why these idiot hunters thought this could take down a fury, she'd never understand.

Quintin laughed. "That's awesome, do you have the scars to prove it?" The question didn't need an answer, clearly he was also playing along. "Hello," he said to the person who plopped at their table. "You alright?"

Jared's face grew a little slack, his eyes unfocusing as he leant heavily against the table. Dave's brow creased, leaning in concern. "You alright, kid?"

Morgan was bumped not once but twice on her way to the booths. One couple rose, spilling their drinks, and as she sidled down the aisle, one more person ran into her so hard she slipped and had to brace herself on the nearest table. There was something...off about all this. "Uh, I am, but I'm not sure if everyone else here is," she said to the young man. "Are you?"

Jared shook his head before realizing that made everything worse. His legs grew wobbly and he closed his eyes firmly hoping the feeling would pass. That was until his attention caught someone to his left falling to the floor. "Something is wrong."

The second Remmy dropped the glasses, Nadia moved over to where they were at the bar. Some poor fuck dropped their glass and stumbled in front of her, but she side stepped them, eyes on her target and concern in her eyes. "Remmy?" she asked as soon as she approached. "Hey, are you alright?" She completely ignored Luce, not seeing any sort of reason to pay attention to her. She wasn't getting paid to watch over Luce.

There was a tightness in her chest that seemed like it was set to stay, and no amount of air that Nell drew seemed to be enough. He hand slipped off the end of the bar as weakness gripped her, and she didn't even notice the floor coming up to meet her as her knees gave way. One second she was standing, and the next she was simply...not standing, trying to scramble to all fours on the ground. "Remmy? Luce? Bea?" Where did her sister go? Was she still here? Her brain was trying to connect dots, but the fuzziness around its edges was making it hard to understand.

Luce stared in confusion as Bea wandered away from the bar, her face pale. And then Nell-- she seemed to be holding tightly onto the bar. "Are you--" Before she could finish her words, Remmy was next to her, equally startled and just as out of sorts as Nell. Looking from her sister to Remmy, Luce slid her untouched whiskey away from her, glaring at the bartender for a moment before reaching out to steady Nell. "Nellie, are you okay?" She asked. In a moment, Nadia was there. Glancing over to the other woman, her eyes narrowed for a moment at the way she seemed to ignore her. "Are they okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, no shit," Dave replied, putting his hand on Jared's back. He looked around, eyes narrowing, as people staggered, looking green in the gills and falling over. Food poisoning usually took a whole lot longer, but... this was a lotta sick people. Could be a spell, could be, well, real poison. Shit. He smacked Jared's drink away. "Don't drink anymore of that. Don't eat. Hold tight kid. Think there's something in the food."

Bea pushed her way through the crowd, trying to get out of the thick of it. She found herself leaning close to the entrance, head beginning to pound as she slid down to the ground. This wasn't just a panic attack. No something was really wrong. "My sisters," She called out. "I need help finding my sisters."

Skylar quietly ate at her table, idly looking around as she ate. The dining room was quite crowded and, now that she was out of the fray, she could see that there were quite a few people that she recognized. Besides Jared and Dave, she could see that Nadia was there-- she hadn't seen her in ages, Skylar idly wondered if the woman had been keeping up on her ASL-- and then, Morgan. That was a little surprising, given.... Morgan's new situation. She didn't think that zombies could eat normal foods. But, the more she looked, the more she realized that things weren't quite right. People seemed to be stumbling around, people were rushing away from the bar? Glancing down at her plate of food, Skylar pushed it away before wandering towards where Morgan was standing, "I, um, hi Morgan." She said before dropping her voice slightly, "I-- Are things off to you too?"

The world was getting sluggish, fuzzy. So were Remmy's arms. And legs. And mouth and tongue. They blinked, heavy lead eyelids, and looked over at Nadia. Nell had collapsed, Luce was on the floor with her, asking if she was okay. If they were okay. Remmy stumbled backwards a little. A jarring pain ripped through their stomach and they jerked, keeling over a little. Wide eyes looked up at Nadia. "S-somethings wrong," they muttered, barely able to get the words out. "I'm not-- supposed to feel--" but another jolt of pain made them jerk wildly again, this time lower down in their stomach. They collapsed to the ground, hands digging so hard into the counter the wood gave way under their fingers.

Morgan tried to wave the woman’s attention away. “No, I’m good. I’m good, really.” But then she was off, darting into an increasingly unstable crowd. Then she saw another familiar face. “Skylar! No, I’m okay, just knocked around. Are you—?” She looked between her and the other kid at the table. “Are either of you okay? Are y’all seeing this?”

Jared was shaking, his knees knocking together like he was some sort of scared cartoon character, but there was nothing he could do. But he could hear voices he knew and he forced himself to move. "In the food? Pats would never." he whisper yelled stumbling towards a nearby table and almost toppling over someone on the floor, crashing to his knees next to the woman. "Fu-dge."

"Hey, I've got you," Nadia told Remmy soothingly. She slipped herself under their arm and wrapped her own arm around their waist, supporting their weight against her. "I've got you." She looked at Luce long enough to shoot her a look that said Not now. Then she pulled Remmy away from the bar. "Gotta be a fuckin' bathroom around here somewhere."

Things had gone to shit real fucking quick. Luce gently patted Nell's face, resting her hand on her sister's head for a moment before glancing over at Remmy, who seemed to be in an equally bad state. What the fuck? How could something be affecting them? They were a zombie this-- Watching as Nadia held onto Remmy, Luce felt a wave of emotion-- jealousy? Relief? Confusion? She couldn't fucking tell-- wash over her. Whatever was going on... it didn't matter. She needed to make sure Nell was okay. "Nellie? Nell, hey, what's going on. Talk to me."

"What the fuck is happening," Q frowned, standing up to catch a guy falling down to their knees. Was someone killing these people? Could he really not have a normal time anywhere? "I'm okay," he said to the woman asking. He didn't know how to help them.

"Pats ain't here kid, and new management don't seem too friendly," Dave said, and tried to catch Jared as he stumbled to the ground, the kid just slipping out his grip. "Shit!" He yelled, pulling out his phone to dial emergency service. "Got a whole lot of people suddenly sick at Pat's Place. Haven't been going long enough for it to be alcohol." He frowned as the call operator said there were already people on route, but was grateful someone had made the call before him. Putting his phone away, he knelt beside Jared. "Keep talking to me, kid."

Skylar's eyes darted around the room as she tried to make sense of what was going on. All around her, people were doubling over, some of them stumbling into tables, others of them just dropping where they stood. What was going on? She swallowed and nodded. "I-- I'm okay. This, there's--" She struggled with words as she caught sight of a familiar form falling to the ground. Remmy. And Nadia, she was carrying them away. "Remmy-- they're here too? They don't, I don't think they're doing alright." She said, her fingers instinctively signing the words as she spoke.

 “Good! Okay is good!” Morgan said. “Maybe don’t touch anything on your plate to make sure it stays that way huh? I mean it’s gotta be the food, right?”

Roland rushed out of the station as quickly as the police had received the tip. On the way over to Pat's Place, he radioed paramedics and a good deal of the officers who worked under him to make sure they could get to the bottom of this. His team was still tracing the tip, but they'd been told a special strain of cyanide was planned to be used at this event. Worry was evident in his features as he rushed over. He didn't bother with parking in an actual space and sirens were still blaring when he arrived with a slew of cop caps and ambulances behind him. He ran into the restaurant and it seemed people were already starting to feel the effects of the poison. "Everyone, remain calm and don't eat or drink anything else." Medics were already rushing over to those obviously affected.

Norma tried to talk but her words were slurred. "H-hey, wa-watch it!" she said as someone tumbled over her. The world went black. She fucking hated poison. Why poison? It was so slow. A stab to the heart was so much easier. She could simply pull out the knife and walk away then, but poison. What a trip. Ugh she would have to wait a bit until she could wake up again.

Back with a glass of water, Agatha felt like this was not going to be much of a help. What a mess. The sound of sirens stopped her in her tracks and she put the glass of water down on the table, heading toward the Sergeant hurriedly. "Hey, do you have any idea of what is going on?"

Jared mumbled an apology to the woman he'd fallen over, looking back at Dave as he reminded Jared that Pat was gone and something was definitely in the food. He squinted up at the new face as well. "Who're you, soft landing." he mumbled incoherently before looking back to Dave. "What if I stop? Will I die? This is far too early for that right?"

Roland looked to Agatha with a worried look on her face and immediately asked, "Do you feel okay?" He examined her for any sign of illness before he finally explained, "We received an anonymous tip that a special strain of cyanide was supplied for the reopening. Paramedics are on the scene and ready to treat anyone affected. Police are looking for whoever is in charge of this shindig."

Morgan barely heard Skylar over the noise of panic and sickness. But she caught her signing out of the corner of her eye and followed her gaze. “That...shouldn’t be happening,” she said. “C’mon. We gotta go.” She took the girl by the hand so they wouldn’t get separated but turned quickly back to the boy. “Hey, I mean it about not eating anything else weird. I’ll check on you later if I can.”

Kaden had planned to stay at home until the stripes were gone completely, he would use up all his sick days at work and then some if he had to. But when he got the call, the tip of a mass poisoning, all hands on deck, he couldn't let his vanity outweigh the risk of human lives lost. Putain. He grabbed gloves and made sure to wear long sleeves. His face and neck were harder to cover, but Regan could be mad about his attempts at using her makeup later. It wasn't great, but a least it hid most of the fucking face paint as he ran out the door and sped directly to Pat's Place, bursting in right behind Sarge and the rest of the crew from the station. The place was pure chaos. Fuck, he didn't even know where to start. Then his eyes landed on a familiar face by the door. "Bea!" No, no, no, she looked bad. But she couldn't die again. She couldn't. No. He ripped an antidote kit out of someone's hand, he didn't see whose. "Bea, talk to me!"

Nell was only slightly aware of Luce, only able to focus on her breathing and the fact that she felt like the world was quickly fading. Was there someone yelling about poison? Who the fuck would poison an entire restaurant? Whoever the hell thought they could get away with poisoning was in for a rude awakening when she was done with them. Luce was hard to make out, the edge of everything blurring. But wait. What about Bea? Was Bea poisoned? she wanted to ask. But instead when she parted her lips, there was nothing. Only the sound of her gasping for air and coughing.��

Marley had gotten the call while she was out on patrol. It was an emergency broadcast, which meant Jane had gotten the call, too. By the time Marley arrived, the place was in disarray. She had her kit in hand and rushed in, ignoring the swells of fear she felt as she waded through the crowd to the closest person passed out on the ground. Sarge was talking to Agatha, Kaden was with Bea-- Kaden knew Bea? Ugh, small towns-- and other officers were filling in behind her. She came to a man, collapsed on a table, an older gentleman helping him. "Is he sick?" she asked the man who didn't look like he was about to collapse.

Q's skin crawled in that familiar, warning way from the weight of the other. "Just listen to him," Q said to the one in his arms, talking wasn't the worst thing to keep doing when the threat of closing your eyes forever was the other option. "The cops are here, it will be fine." Though the words were stale on his tongue if this was supernatural related and not human.

"Medical's here," Dave replied, ignoring Jared's question about death entirely as he looked up as police and paramedics came up. A woman approached her, holding a kit, and Dave couldn't help breathe a sigh of relief. "Yeah, he is. Started about five minutes ago. What is this, you know?"

Remmy watched the floor slide by them as Nadia carried them off somewhere. Where were they going? Why couldn't they move? At some point, they'd stopped moving. Remmy slid to the floor, barely able to keep themself upright. "Nadia...what's..." they muttered, looking around for her, reaching out to try and grasp her as the world went fuzzy, dark, then sprung back to life again. They gripped their stomach in agony, trembling. "What's happening?"

Norma couldn't tell how long she had been asleep, or dead, it was hard to say, she never really knew, but her eyes flew open and she sat up and then turned to her side, the contents of her stomach spilling out on the floor beside her. Disgusting. She looked around and saw there was a man halfway fallen on top of her and another man helping him. And what she presumed was a medic. Oh no. Should she have played dead? "Wow, I must have eaten something horrible. Oh no, so tragic. How is it going here?"

Skylar let Morgan slip her hand into hers before offering an apologetic grimace to the two people the other woman had been talking to. "I'm sorry-- I--" She managed before hurrying away with Morgan towards where she'd last seen Remmy. They'd been by the bar, she'd seen them with Nadia. Where had they gone? And then, she saw that the two of them, Remmy's arm flung over Nadia's shoulder. "Morgan, over there." She said, tilting her head towards where she'd seen the two hurry off.

Bea looked up at Kaden's face, dizziness making it hard to focus on him. "Why do you look like that?" She asked, voice a bit choked. She coughed and the reality of what was happening began to hit her. She couldn't control the tears that started to leak from her. "I don't want to die again, Kaden, I can't die again," She told him, not even able to attempt to control how panicked she sounded. She grabbed his arm suddenly, looking back into the crowd. "My sisters are here," She wheezed out to him. She didn't want to die again, the thought terrified her in ways she couldn't even begin to understand, but her sisters couldn't experience what she had. She had told the truth when she said that she was willing to die for them again. She tried to push him toward the crowd. "Please."

Luce glanced around her as police began to flood the room, paramedics following close behind them. As Nell began to gasp and cough, Luce scooped her younger sister up in her arms. No. Not today. She'd resurrected Bea, summoned lightning for Nell, blown up a building and murdered countless people for her sisters. She wasn't going to let fucking Pat's Place hurt her family. Not today. Hurrying towards the entrance, she noticed Kaden kneeling over Bea, her sister saying words she couldn't quite hear, "Grab her and get her out of here." She growled at the man before pushing past him out of the building. She needed to get Nell to the ambulances outside, needed to make sure she was safe.

Jared's vision swam as yet another person arrived. He tried to raise his hand to show a peace sign but all he managed was a weird sort of wave at the newcomer, his arm falling heavily back into the guy holding him up. "Dave the fisherperson is a hero, I'm naming my next kid after you Dave." he decided his mind full of cotton.

There weren't supposed to be cops here. That was all Nadia could think about as she dragged Remmy away from the chaos. She flinched as they reached out to her, though she tried not to let it show. "It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine," she kept muttering over and over, though it was more for her benefit than Remmy's. When she got somewhere less crowded, she set them against the wall and leaned down in front of them. "I don't know what's going on," she said, glancing worriedly back as the cops all filed in, "but it's going to be okay, alright? I'm gonna get you some help."

Agatha 's eyes grew wide. She knew that her belly was more than full and her nervous smile, that probably looked like a freaky grimace told exactly that. "Never better, Sarge, never better," either way, she would have to do her job, anyway. "I'll go gather the staff in the kitchen." And with those words, she turned her back on the sergeant and crossed the restaurant countless times, each and every time with the same strict directions.

Marley took the dizzy man by the arm and shuffled around him. "I need you to open your mouth for me," she said, that firmness to her voice. When he obliged, she popped in the breathalyzer antidote before motioning over to a paramedic to administer the IV. "He'll be okay," she said to the older man, "we've been told it was cyanide. The EMTs will know more. Are you okay, sir? Not feeling any symptoms?"

Nell's heartbeat was growing weaker by the second, her head lolling uselessly as Luce carried her to...to...where were they going? Was she floating? Something felt wrong. Where were they going? There were so many people yelling. There were people in danger. She wanted to stay and help, but the thought was faint as her body continued to shut down, and finally the world faded away as a whole.

Morgan followed Skylar’s lead, all the way up to Remmy, not fleeing the place so much as being dragged away by Nadia. "This is not supposed to be happening, this is definitely not supposed to be happening, flipping universe, this just not..." Chaos was erupting around her. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw the Vural sisters in similar distress, but she couldn't split her attention right now. She grimaced, pulled Skylar along until they were outside with Nadia and Remmy. "What happened?" She asked Nadia, voice shrill. "How long have they been like this?" She dropped to her knees to examine Remmy, though for what, she wasn't sure. "What happened to Remmy?"

Roland was relieved to hear Agatha hadn't been poisoned though he did notice Luce rushing outside with someone in her arms. He'd have to check in on her later. Right now, it was imperative to find whoever was behind this before they got away. Agatha made her way toward the kitchen and he decided to check out the bar first. Not everyone was sick and this was a buffet. There was a chance the beverages were behind this. He walked up to the bar and demanded, "I need to see whoever is in charge of your bar immediately."

Kaden scrambled to get the antidote kit open. This wasn't going to happen, she wasn't going to fucking die again. Once was more than enough. "Open your mouth, you're not fucking dying, Bea, you're--" Her sisters? And then she was up and trying to move. Fuck, he grabbed her and pulled her back, maybe harder than he had to. Just then Luce brushed past cradling Nell. "They're okay, they're fine." He pushed the breathalyzer antidote towards her and called for a medic. "You're not dying. Nell's not dying. Neither is Luce. Now sit still and where the fuck is a medic?" One finally ran over to administer an IV at his second shout.

Dave shifted backward on his knees as Marley leant over Jared, giving him the antidote. "I feel right as rain. Guessing whatever it was wasn't in the meat, that's all I'd eaten so far, and hadn't got to drinking yet." He eyed Jared in concern, rubbing his jaw in concern. "Don't name no one after me, kid. Just keep talking. You already got kids?"

Remmy wanted to cry out, it hurt so bad. Pain torn through the stomach, like swallowed lava. A burning so deep inside they wanted to tear their chest open and rip it out. "Get it out," they muttered, clawing at their chest, "g-get it out. Morgan, get..." they could barely see now, the world spinning around them so fast it made them fall over, even as they were sitting up. Someone's hands caught them. They couldn't see who it was, only hear familiar voices. "Make it stop," they gurgled, feeling something rising in their stomach, their chest, their throat, "make it stop."

Luce made her way out of the building and blocked the path of a passing paramedic, her eyes burning with enough anger and fear to stop them in their tracks. "You're going to save my sister, right fucking now." She snarled as she lay Nell down on the ground. Without a word, the paramedic bent over her sister and opened up the antidote kit. She gripped her sister's hand, holding it tightly as she looked around. So many people were in the same state as her sister, so many people were hurting. "You better fucking save her." She said. "You better fucking save her."

Q let the medic help the person near him, and after setting them down, stood up to aid anyone else to get over towards the medics so there wasn't delay in their care.

Marley patted the younger man on the shoulder. "You're gonna be okay," she said, as the EMT arrived to take over her spot. She gave a glance to the older man, nodding. "We're not sure yet. Count yourself lucky, though," she said, turning to head off to the next person, but-- finding that she was already up and alright. Marley eyed her warily, and the pool of wet next to her. "Everything okay, ma'am?"

Bea fall against Kaden, looking at him with wide, panicked eyes. She finally opened her mouth at Kaden's instruction. He said that her sisters will be okay. She had to believe him. He'd take care of them or make sure they were being taken care of. She knew he would. Her friends took care of her family, she had to trust that. As the medic administered her IV, she realized how hard she was shaking. Through gasping breaths, she asked Kaden and the medic, "What's happening?"

"Get what? Get what out, Remmy! I don't know what you mean!" Morgan shrieked, hands fluttering everywhere and nowhere at once. "Did you actually eat something, Remmy?" She looked helplessly over at Nadia. "I don't understand! Did you see anything?”

Agatha stood in the kitchen with the restaurant's staff. "Everyone here?" She watched them look at each other else before nodding. "Alright. I'm going to need whoever was in charge of food to go over here, and whoever works at the bar to go over here." She had not had anything to drink, so clearly, there was something in the water.

Jared "Got tons of kids. Farm full of 'em." he told Dave. "Don't have a Dave yet so it's perfect." He winced at the IV going into his arm and make a face at Dave. "Feels like a movie, no one gets poisoned in real life do they?"

"I don't know," Nadia said, her tone matching Morgan's. She began to back away, her hands shaking as she watched the two undead. "I--" she needed to get out of there and fast. But there were too many fucking people around. She couldn't be suspicious. Inwardly, she willed herself to calm down, while outwardly she put all of her effort into looking concerned and panicked and horribly inept at handling this situation. "I'm going to get help," she said, backing into the main room. On the way, she saw a discarded drink tray. Fuck, she didn't sign up for this. As slyly as she could, she downed the drink and headed back into the main room, hoping the effects hit quickly. In the mean time, she pretended to look for someone to help Remmy. Not that they could. Zombie poison really was a real bitch.

Skylar followed behind Morgan, doing her best to dodge the people who were between them and Remmy. Before she knew it, Skylar was staring at Remmy, their hands pulling at their chest, their body wracked with pain. Her eyes widened, memories of the last time she'd seen them in pain coming rushing back to her. The way they'd been ripped in half, the way their insides-- "No, no, no, no, no." She mumbled, frozen in fear. She shook her head, trying to force away the memories. She didn't-- they didn't-- she couldn't handle seeing them like this. "Help! Someone, someone help!" Skylar yelled, not knowing what else she could do. She just knew she needed to get Remmy help, and fast. They were in so much pain.

Dave nodded as the officer walked away, turning back to Jared with a bemused smile that didn't quite mask his worry. "Right, your cows're your kids," he agreed, looking around. "Pretty shitty movie, if you ask me. Whoever made that first call saved a fuckload of lives."

Roland gave the timid looking assistant bar manager a harsh look. "Are you the one in charge here?" His words had a bite to them and he was frustrated. A mass poisoning was horrific and he couldn't even begin to wrap his mind around it. The younger man stuttered, "Oh, I-I- I don't know what happened. I was walking a-around seeing if everyone enjoyed their meals. I'm nn-not sure where the bartenders ran off too or what's making everyone sick." Roland narrowed his eyes. It was hard to tell if the nerves were because he was lying or because of the utter chaos ensuring around them. "I'm going to need you to come back to the station with me and answer some questions."

Kaden could feel Bea shaking, closer to death than she had any right to be right after just coming back to life. "Got a call about a poisoning. Breathe, I need you to breathe." Because if she stopped fucking breathing, it would all be for nothing. He couldn't handle that, not again. And he knew Luce and Nell couldn't even begin to handle that. "Luce looked okay. She had Nell. There are medics everywhere, I'm sure she's okay." God fucking help him if he was lying to her right now. He'd never live it down. But he couldn't leave her to go check. He had to trust that Luce would kill someone to keep Nell safe. Had to admit, that wasn't a stretch to believe.

"Get it out, it burns!" Remmy nearly screamed, tearing at their clothes. Sweat was beading on their head, pooling under their shirt. Their arms felt stiff, slow. Their entire body heavy. They sank to the floor, curling up. Exhaustion rushing into them. "It burns, everything burns, it--" they choked on their words, shaking. Wished that the darkness would just take them over, wish they could slip into that release, too. "Please, please," they begged.

"Ma'am-- I need you to--- Ma'am! Get out of here!" The medic yelled and Luce found herself being pulled away from her sister. "Alright! Alright! But, you better fucking, you better save her!" She swore as she stumbled down the pavement. Breathing hard, Luce stared up at the restaurant again, saw Kaden next to Bea, watching over her while the medic administered the treatment. Hurrying back towards them, she glanced around and stopped dead in her tracks. Through the doorway, she caught sight of Nadia... Saw the glass in her hand. What the fuck? What the fuck? Her eyes widened in horror as she watched Nadia drain the glass dry.

Morgan tried to reach out for Nadia before she backed away. "NO, no, you have to tell me what they did! Fucking--Nadia!" But the girl was gone. Yeah, she definitely didn't know that much about her date if she thought the paramedics were going to have anything to help a zombie in distress. Skylar, nearby, was feeling some distress too. "Hey," she said, her voice firm with determination. "We're gonna figure this out, okay? Just not here, and not with the help of human cops. I'm going to take Remmy back to my place. Can you cover for us, Skylar?" She heaved her arms under Remmy's body and picked them up. It was awkward with their difference in size, but she was going to make it work. "If Nadia comes back, tell her we're okay, make sure she doesn't ask any questions?" She tried to lock eyes with the young selkie. Tried to sound as confident as she wished she was. "We're gonna handle this, and we're gonna be fine."

"That's right." Jared’s head still felt wrong, but the cotton was clearing a little as the medic monitoring the IV in his arm gave a nod to someone to help Jared to his feet. "The worst movie I've ever seen bud." he agreed, being hauled into a chair to be moved. "Coming for the ride in the ambulance? A cyanide come down is a great way to meet new friends."

Norma tried to stand up, but still felt weak. The poison was no longer killing her, but the effects always lasted far longer than she would like. It was unfortunate that someone had noticed her fall. She glanced around her, every other mortal who had fallen was being given intense medical care. Gods, how could she explain this one? Hopefully this human approaching her was very stupid. "Oh, yes, I'm fine. I think the poison just didn't stick. It's a miracle! Praise your deity of choice!"

Instead of looking for someone to help Remmy, Nadia immediately went over to the EMTs, stumbling by the time she got to one of them. "I think-- Fuck." Fucking cyanide. Fucking cops. She wasn't getting paid enough to poison herself. She groaned and allowed the EMT to help her out. Tommy was going to be getting some choice words after all of this.

Poison. Some fucking bastard poisoned her and her sisters. Bea was going to fucking kill them. She was going to burn... No, not burn anymore, but she was going destroy whoever fucking did this. Her tears started to clear as she was worked on and she looked up at Kaden, face set in rage, "I'm going to kill them." She looked to the side, trying to find her sisters and saw Luce. Reaching out to her, she called to Luce, voice rough. "Luce!"

Skylar focused on Morgan's words, doing her best to hold herself together, though her shoulders were shaking violently. "Mhm, mhm,. I can-- I can do that. Just, make sure they're okay. Please, please make sure they're safe." Skylar glanced down at Remmy, watched as they screamed and cried, and curled on the ground. Tears burned in the corners of her eyes as she nodded. "It's all going to be okay, it's gonna be okay." She said, more to herself than to Morgan. It had to be okay.

With the sergeant handling this, Agatha left the kitchen, passing a woman who was thanking God instead of medicine with a judgemental look on her face. Yeah, no, no time to argue. Besides it looked like someone was taking care of her. It seemed things were getting slowly under control. But time would tell how bad this truly was.

Marley eyed the woman carefully. "Didn't stick, huh?" she said with a low voice, glancing around them before leaning in, "sounds pretty...supernatural to me." Before leaning away. She didn't exactly have time for this, there were more people who needed poison kits. She backed away from the strange woman, smiling, gave a wave, before heading off to another sick person. This town sure was strange sometimes.

Roy Chambers couldn’t wipe the grin off of his face if he tried. What was there to be upset about? The day had been good to him. Another day with the sun warming his skin was a good one, in his book. Coupled with the sound of ambulance sirens cutting through the air? Oh, that tickled him in more ways than most people could properly understand. What did it mean? What was going on? That was probably what most people were thinking. Roy, however, knew exactly what it meant. It meant success. It meant his plan had gone off without a hitch. As he neared the restaurant—Pat’s Place—he watched the chaos from the sidewalk. No way this place was going to pick back up after a catastrophe like this. Shame. They had the best cheesesteaks in the area. With the mess unfolding, everyone was far too consumed with the sick and dying to notice him. He halted at the sight of a familiar face. Remmington McAllister. 30. One of the parties to blame for the Ring explosion. He was sure Penelope Vural was around here somewhere. Preferably dead. Remmington didn’t look too far from it themself. He caught their gaze, lowering his sunglasses to fully take in the picture. Phew, boy. Looked like that hurt. He winked, his grin spreading wider across his features. Tucked his hands into his pockets and carried on down the road, a melodic whistle on his lips and a pep in his step. The day had been very good to him indeed.

[nelllraiser]

bea-day party | group chatzy ft. jack

LOCATION: illusions of grandeur.  PARTIES: @beatrice-blaze, @divineluce, @nelllraiser, @phoenixleah, @halequeenjas, @streetharmacist, @mor-beck-more-problems, @chasseurdeloup, @jane-the-zombie, @whatsin-yourhead, @professoranieves, @harlowhaunted, @themidnightfarmer, and best boy jack. (picture in link courtesy of rhi) SUMMARY: bea’s birthday party goes off without a hitch, apart from one very friendly sea-man. CONTENTS: strippers. (of the non-mime variety.) 

Luce finished off her second glass of champagne, looking around at the party that was in full swing. Literally. Swing dancing, who'd have thought. Setting the empty glass down on a table, she made her way towards the wall of champagne again. A wry smile slid across her face as she took another glass of very expensive champagne. Fuck the coven, fuck their mother, fuck their parents for abandoning them. This was their little revenge, a party fit for a queen, with a bill to match. Glass held loosely in her hand, she glanced over at a person lingering near the wall of champagne. "Help yourself, seriously. We went all out for a reason." She said with a grin before raising the glass up in toast. "Did you watch the show earlier?"

For the moment, Nell had placed herself by the entrance of Grand Illusions, showing those that had been invited to Bea's party to the private box and party room. Now, as she made her way back upstairs to the main events, champagne, and poker tables, she looked over everyone's outfits with a careful eye, trying to spot those that might not have dressed to theme, and preparing some scorching words should they have denied that part of the invitation. But then she spotted something that caught her even more off guard, a certain blonde hanging by the champagne towers. "Blanche?! What the hell are you doing here?" Her voice was loud enough to carry to anyone else in the close perimeter.

Bea had a champagne glass already in hand when she went into the room where the party was truly happening. It was her birthday and she'd get hammered if she wanted to. Taking a long sip, she nodded toward the poker tables in the back. "Anyone care to join me at the table?" She was fully intending on taking her friend's money tonight through the tables and had no shame in that.

Kaden didn't feel a lot like celebrating after what had just happened, but it was for Bea so there was never a doubt that he'd show up for this party if he could. He was also pretty sure there as no way Regan was going to put herself in this sort of big public space with all the stress that came with these kinds fo gatherings. He had her present for Bea with him all the same. A quick look around and the place was immaculately decorated, of course. He hoped his suit was okay, it was all he could manage. But he tried. First thing after dropping of the presents was to grab a thing of champagne from the fucking wall of it before heading towards Bea. "Happy birthday, again. I'll join if you want." He wasn't very good but it was all for fun, right?

There was nothing Jasmine loved more than a good party and she had high hopes that Beatrice could deliver. While her party planning skills weren't quite on par with her own, they'd definitely had some fun in the past. Plus, who didn't love a Gatsby theme? Her flapper headband and red sparkly dress that hugged her in all the right places really was an absolutely look. Some good photos of her Bea, and Leah were a requirement before leaving. She greeted the younger Vurals as she walked in and helped herself to some champagne. "It was quite the show," she mused with a wicked smile, "You don't have to tell me twice to grab some champagne."

Felix had to laugh when he first saw the joint. All they really needed was a couple signs about how silly prohibition was and they really had the theme in the bag. As gilded as the time had been, the party was even more so. He loved it. Bea deserved it. He’d make his way back over to her in time. He sipped idly on his champagne as he fluttered about the party floor, a wide smile in place as he surveyed the crowd. With the way things were going, it wasn’t out of place to keep an eye on anything being just that. Too many parties gone wrong, or right, kept him on his toes. He paused for a moment beside someone and cocked his head. “You lost any money at the tables yet?”

Morgan sauntered in, pleased to have an excuse to wear heels and some of the jewelry Deirdre had bought and kept stashed in their closet all this time. She almost didn't feel the chill of not having her girlfriend on her arm to make the night brighter. The sight of the Vurals excited her enough to make up for coming alone. "Hey, guys!" She called, twirling to show off her black jeweled flapper style dress."Bea, this is for you," she said, rushing over to the oldest Vural, and the crowd gathering around her. "Kaden, looking extra dapper today. I don't know about you guys, but since I can't get drunk, I'm up to blow a ton of money at Texas Hold 'Em."

Anita felt a little out of place at the party. Normally she would be at the bar flirting with any and everyone. But now she had a girlfriend , and it felt weird to continue to flirt with random women given the agreement she had made with Marley. But, surely there were other things to do at parties than just flirt with people, so Anita made her way to the champaign tower and grabbed a glass. Then she just made her rounds, walking around all the elaborate tables and attractions trying to spot somebody she might know. She saw Kaden and Blanche, but she didn’t really want to strike up a conversation with either of them.

Blanche had enough of the hospital after only two nights. She checked herself out early that morning and told exactly no one as she headed home to get dressed, leaving the bandages on her back visible. There was nothing to do about them. Bea deserved to have a good birthday, and honestly, Blanche wanted some time to chill and relax. .... And then there was Nell, yelling at her. "Drinking champagne?" Blanche asked, holding her glass up innocently. "And thinking about winning money by counting cards."

Jasmine eyed the poker tables and decided to follow suit. Was it the best idea when Larry Bob still had a habit of crashing her showings? Probably not, but she was decent enough at poker. Her father always had tables at their parties and she caught on young. She placed Bea's present on the gift table before joining the birthday girl's poker table. "Happy birthday, Bea," she said in a bubbly tone, "You've really outdone yourself with this party."

Jared spotted his two part time roommates and took in Nells face before he even half registered Blanche herself. He made his way through the crowds hover handed appropriately. "Are you...what's going on?"

Jasmine. Of course this bitch wore a red dress too. Whatever. Red was her color and she damn well knew it. Resisting the urge to roll her eyes, Luce shrugged at Jasmine, champagne flute cradled gently in her fingers. "Bea has an eye for talent, she knows how to put on a show and holds the others to those standards too. But, they did good tonight." She said with a nod of her head. As the woman drifted away, Luce spotted Anita through the crowd. What was she doing here? Making her way across the room, Luce cast a crooked grin in her direction. "Hey, stranger. Having fun?"

Leah was never much of a gambler. She usually preferred to watch in the background, silently judging people's drunken risks from afar. But today was different. Today was Bea's birthday, and with a few drinks in her and surrounded by people she loved and was comfortable with, it was easy to lose her inhibitions. She couldn't help but laugh at Morgan's antics, giving her a little clap as she twirled around to show her outfit. "That sounds like a plan to me!" she said with a laugh, holding up her champagne glass. "I'll drink enough for the both of us." She glanced over at Felix standing next to them, shaking her head. "I think I'm saving it all to waste it in one big blow. That's the way to go, right?"

"Yes, join me!" Bea grinned at Kaden, before catching a glimpse of Morgan twirling. "Looking amazing, Morgan, and I love that energy." She wanted everyone to have that spirit, blowing their money and drinking was the name of game tonight. "Thank you, Jasmine. You look great tonight. Nell and Luce helped me plan a lot."

Squinting her eyes ever so slightly, Nell watched Blanche carefully, as if she might burst back into flames at any moment. "Shouldn't you still be in the hospital?" But she knew from experience that if Blanche wanted to be here, there was no way of making her go back to any sort of medical care. It was, tragically, one of the many ways in which the two girls were alike. "You count cards?" The witch carefully left off the too at the end of that sentence, not wanting and unwitting potential poker challengers to be clued in. "I bet we could start a new table," she said, catching the eye of Bea at one of them already. Might as well spread their resources to bring in as much revenue as possible, right? "Then she turned to Jared to explain. "Someone decided to check themself out of the hospital early, but now we're gonna go legally steal people's money. Did you wanna come? Does anyone else wanna start a new table with us?" she asked to those nearest to them, hoping they'd brought a decent amount of cash.

Anita smiled slightly when Luce approached her. For a moment she regretted coming. The only reason she even did was because she felt like she deserved a fun night, and given how lavish a party this was, it was clearly the place to be. “Hey yourself,” she said as she finished up the liquor in her glass. “I just got here, but so far- yeah. You guys really know how to go all out.” Instinctively her eyes trailed down Luce’s body for a second with a small smirk, “And you really know how to clean up.”

Jasmine smiled at Bea. As much as they bickered, this had all the workings of a good party and this champagne was divine. "They did a good job, too. It's still so crazy seeing them all grown up." She turned and gave Leah a wave and noticed there were a few people at the table she hadn't met yet. She looked to the French sounding man and the pale woman who had joined. She extended a hand to shake, "I'm Jasmine. I don't believe we've met before."

Luce watched Anita over the rim of her glass, eyes drifting up the other woman's form. "We're the Vurals, we never do anything by halves. Besides, 30's a big deal." She said with a wave of her hand to the elaborate decorations around them. Tilting her head at her comment, Luce raised an eyebrow. "Mm. Our father made the dresses, so it's his handiwork. Besides, we set the dress-code. What kind of hosts would we be if we didn't stand out, you know?" She said with a laugh.

Kaden nodded. "Thanks. Looking good, Morgan." He settled down at the table and took his cards. He didn't consider himself a great card player, but he was competitive so he was going to try his best to keep his money in his pocket. He gave the new woman's hand a shake. "Kaden. Nice to meet you. How do you know the birthday girl here?" Kaden caught a glimpse of his cards and groaned. Bad hand already. "Putain," he grumbled to himself, under his breath as much as possible before taking another drink.

Felix looked between Leah and the tables. His smile widened. "Oh, certainly! Nothing really livens things up like losing it all in one fell swoop," he said with a sagely nod. "It happens to the best of us. Even Arnold Rothstein!" Geez, the guys from decades back would be rolling over in their graves if they saw the place. "I think Nell's looking for a crew over there. There's worse places to lose but you gotta watch her. She's sneaky." He waved at Nell and Blanche before he wandered over to Bea. He lightly squeezed her shoulder as he smiled at the small crowd she had gathered at her table. "So, she take anybody's money yet? How're the hands looking?"

Morgan beamed at Leah, primping her finger curled hair and jeweled headdress. "What would I do without you, Leah? I hope that's a promise." She said, reaching over to give her hand a squeeze before settling at the table. She gave Kaden another once over, a little impressed he found it in himself to have some fun instead of doing whatever hunter nonsense or fae damage control he normally got up to. It was kind of nice to see him at least trying to have a good time. "Thanks, handsome. You look pretty good yourself. Maybe we can keep each other out of trouble tonight." As she settled in, she caught sight of a new person and shook her hand. "No, I guess not!" She said with a careless shrug. "I'm Morgan. It's nice to meet you! You're looking very spiffy tonight, I gotta say." And Morgan's hand was looking pretty spiffy too, though she tried not to let it show too much on her face.

Jared looked at Blanche in worry, but didn't voice his concerns, she knew her own limits. And while it didn't sound like a very good thing to be doing, he wasn't one for a fight at the moment. Not that he believed he had any say at all, he was far too soft to win a fight like that with anyone let alone Blanche. "I'll come, got no cash to be throwing down though. More for moral support I guess."

Jasmine couldn't help the sly smirk on her face when Kaden swore in French under her breath. "Nice to meet you, Kaden. Bea and I have been friends since high school. We were on the cheerleading squad together." She wouldn't mention that Bea beat her out for captain of the squad. With a small laugh, she added, "You know, you're not supposed to give away the fact you have a bad hand, but hey, no complaints here." She looked over her own cards and kept her face neutral before responding to the petite woman named Morgan. "Why thank you, Morgan. Couldn't show up to a Gatsby party looking anything but. I'm loving your outfit, too."

Bea nodded,"Yeah, sometimes I remember that Nell is twenty three and lose my mind." She let out a loud laugh at Kaden's groan,"You know, you're not supposed to let people know that you have a bad hand." She glanced at her own, mediocre at best, but she'd make it work. She looked back at Felix with a grin, flashing him her cards,"I haven't yet, but I will soon."

"Maybe," Blanche replied with a shrug, giving her friend a small grin. She was still in a fair bit of pain, but it helped to be distracted and surrounded by people she loved and cared about. She glanced at Jared a little sheepishly. "I hate hospital food." Not that she was feeling very hungry to begin with anyway. Blanche waved at Felix as she reached out to grab Nell's hand. "C'mon, let's go kick some ass with our friendly neighborhood cheerleader."

Anita let out a soft laugh, “I gotta admit I’ve never thrown a party that had a dress code. But you’re certainly right. This is a fancy party, and it deserves to have the people in it looking just as smashing.” She took a brief look around the room, finding herself relaxing a bit more when she spotted Morgan. At least there were two people here that she liked. “This is a bit awkward, but could you point out which one is the birthday girl? I’ve, uh, never actually met any of your sisters.”

Leah grinned widely and waved back to Jasmine, fully planning on pulling her and Bea into the photo booth at some point tonight to reenact some of their photos from high school. She laughed at Felix's comment, although she had no idea who he was talking about. Maybe some defamed poker star? She should have studied up before she came tonight. Turning her attention back to Morgan, she couldn't help but giggle again. As if to prove her point, she took another sip from her champagne, holding it out to Morgan like she was toasting to her once she was finished. Felix's idea was as good as any, though, and she called out to Nell, holding her bag up with a bit of emphasis. "I'll join a game, Nell!" she called, maneuvering through the crowd.

Morgan blinked with surprise at how close this Jasmine seemed to be with Bea. It's not every day Kaden got dragged in perfect stereo. "Neat party trick. Now I know you guys are real friends. It's good to finally meet you. Guess you've got your night cut out for you, Kaden. What're you gonna do about it?"

Felix weighed the pros and cons of asking Kaden how this party compared to the last one but thought better of it. With the sound of despair that the man gave at his hand, Felix figured he was already in for a rough night. The corner of his mouth twitched as he looked over at Morgan. "You think he's gonna need any help or should we just see what happens?"

Luce finished off her drink, the alcohol making things nice and fuzzy around the edges. She fucking deserved to get trashed tonight after all the shit that had been going on lately. Letting out a wry laugh at Anita's admission, she nodded. "I'll do you one better." She said tilting her head towards the table Bea was settled at. She could see Leah and Kaden hanging around Bea, which wasn't... ideal, but fuck it. Whatever. Walking over, she took in the cards on the table, lips curling in a smile. Bea was going to clean them out. "Who's getting fucked over this time, hm?" She asked as she approached the table. "Anita, this is the birthday girl. Bea, Anita. She's a... friend."

Nell knew that now wasn't the time to fight Blanche on this, and finally decided to simply watch the girl closely for the night. Tonight was supposed to be fun, and no doubt Blanche wanted a distraction. So just let it be fun. An excited smirk came over Nell as they neared the table, and her head turned as she spotted Leah making her way over. Was she okay winning money from her sister's best friend? Yeah, she was okay with that. "Come and join us!" Would Leah know the Vurals reputation with poker since she was so close with Bea? That might complicate things. Grabbing a champagne glass on her way to the table, she waved at Leah as she settled in. "Great! Come on over. We even brought our own cheering section," she said with a motion towards Jared.

Kaden grumbled. "Well it's clear why you two get along. I was folding anyway." He tucked the cards away and waited for the next round. He shot a look at Morgan and then at Felix. "There's always next round. It's fine." He downed the rest of his champagne. Good thing there was more where that came from. "Hey Luce. Anita. Come to see them take my money, I see."

Morgan beamed up at Felix, batting her eyes fondly. "It's more fun to see the chaos unfold, right?" She whispered sweetly to him. "Parties are more fun that way. But I won't let him get hurt too bad." She elbowed Kaden gently, warmth shining through her mischievous smile. "And hey," she said to the hunter, "A positive mindset can do a lot for your chances. Aim a little higher, champ."

Jasmine let her laughter ring as she looked to Bea. "Guess we have a habit of doing that, huh?" It wasn't surprising Kaden folded, but Morgan seemed to be pretty giddy. She wondered which of them had the better hand. "Just don't ask us to do that one on command. It's gotta be in the moment." Morgan seemed to be sweet. "There's always next hand... though I don't think you magically develop a good poker face." She added with a shrug.

Leah continued her trek toward Nell and her friends, giving Luce a big smile as she walked by. There was no doubt in her mind that she was about to lose all of her money- she wasn't experienced in poker in the very least, and the Vurals were scary good at poker. Still, her vast experienced in, well, ...lying... it might make her a good bluffer. She sat herself down at the table and finished off her glass, pumping her fist at the mention of a cheering section. "Oh man, dude, that's normally my job!". She drummed her fingers on the table, eager to get started. She let her eyes fall to Nell's, pointing to her threateningly. "Are you prepared to get your ass kicked, Vural?", she asked, teasing. Maybe the alcohol was making her more confident than she should be.

Remmy idled. They had definitely gotten ready on time, but the last time they'd gone to a big public outing, it had not gone well. Morgan was already there, she'd gone early or on time or whatever people wanted to call it these days. Remmy glanced down at Moose. "Not this time, bud," cause no one would try something in a room with all three Vurals present, right? And so, an hour later, Remmy had found themself outside the doors, listening to the chatter inside. Someone came out and held the door open for them and Remmy was suddenly forced to scuttle inside. What greeted them....wasn't exactly what they'd thought it would be. If they had the ability, they might have paled. Still, they swallowed and gathered themself, tugging on the lapel of their suit, and made a beeline for the present table. Maybe if they could just leave their gift and go, it would count as having shown up.

Anita followed Luce across the room, dropping off her empty glass and picking up a full one on the way. She didn’t love that Bea was at a table with Kaden, but Morgan was there also, so that balanced things out. Plus, Kaden had a sour look on his face, so maybe he wasn’t doing so good at the card game. “Absolutely,” She shot at Kaden. “Sounds like a fun way to pass the time.” Anita smiled politely at the other people sitting playing poker, winking playfully at Morgan as she caught her eye. “So nice to meet you, Bea. Happy Birthday, welcome to the big 3-0 club. It’s not as awful as it sounds, I promise.”

A right hunk of a man walked into the building, dressed in a basic white long sleeved shirt and long linen trousers, with a black loose next tie and a white sailor's cap. If you looked closely, you could see the velcro fastenings on all his clothes. With an exaggerated strut and a million dollar smile, he walked up to a random individual. "Well hey now good gentlefolk! I seem to have stranded on this 'ere shore. Could ya point me to the captain of this ship, a Miss Bea Vural?" He winked, flexing his arms, but casually.

"Chaos? Here?" Felix's tone dropped into a conspiratorial one. Chaos in the presence of all three Vurals? "Say, Morgan, I think we got a long, eventful night ahead of us." The fae looked over to Luce and her friend. Raised his champagne glass in greeting. "Glad to meet ya and glad you could make it out. Hiya, Luce!"

"Hey Leah," Blanche laughed as she took a seat next to Nell. "You both talk big game, huh? I think - oh my god." Blanche went a little slack jawyed when she caught sight of a sailor. She swatted Nell and pointed. "Who the hell is that??"

Jared raised his arms in a shared cheer for the cheering section and mumbled about his cheerleader outfit before looking at the sailor who'd just arrived with curious eyes. "That's her." he pointed to the birthday girl.

Luce was about to say something to Kaden, make a pithy joke at his expense. But, as a muscled man made his way to the table, arms flexing and clothes far too tight, she resisted the urge to gag. "I think the fuck not." She murmured. Casting an apologetic glance in Felix's direction, she tilted her head away. "I'm gonna go... away from here. Have fun, Bea." She said, squeezing her sister's shoulder before hurrying away from the table. She was not interested in seeing stripper dick. Walking away, she hurried as fast as she could away from the table to one of the quieter corners of the room, the gift table.

Bea let out another laugh,"Aw, Luce, don't say it like that." She raised an amused eyebrow at Luce,"A friend, huh? Nice to meet you, Anita. I'm trying not to think too much about being thirty. Make sure to grab some champagne." She glanced at Jasmine with a grin,"We do that too much." Grinning at Morgan and Felix, she replied to them,"There is never chaos at a party like this!"

Jasmine peered over her champagne flute long enough to see the hot sailor man saunter on over toward the birthday girl. She set her glass down and arched an eyebrow. "I didn't realize this was going to be that kind of party, but I'm not complaining."

"Oh come on, Leah. You know I don't have the attention span for poker," Nell lied easily. "My sisters were always better at it, which is why I put slugs in their beds." Her face was complete with a sense of resentment, as if the words were true. But the arrival of a certain someone caught her eye, and a wide smirk quickly found her lips. "Oh, that? That is Jack. He's nice, isn't he? Very shiny. Very buff. Very good at dancing."

Morgan followed Felix's gaze to Luce and Anita, who seemed to be looking rather comfortable together. She couldn't help the way her eyes bulged at the combination, especially with Remmy finally strutting up the room behind them all. "You sure aren't kidding, huh," she whispered to Felix. She tried to recover quickly. "Hey! I didn't know you knew Bea and Luce, Anita! It's great to see you here. I hope you plan to drink enough for--" her conversation died into a snort as the sailor stripper came in. "Vural parties really do pull out all the stops."

Bea head whipped toward Luce. "What is this, Luce?" She asked as she was being abandoned. She downed the rest of her champagne before holding her hand out for more,"I need more champagne." What is happening? She hadn't planned for a stripper. She supposed it wasn't the worst thing, but this was a whole lot of a lot.

Remmy had successfully made it to the gift table. They could almost pick out their friends' voices through the haze of everything, spotting them all laughing over at a table. They considered, for a moment, joining them, but if they were playing cards, they weren't sure they could stop themself from card counting and that seemed unfair for a birthday party. So, instead, they set the card down they'd made Bea, turned to slip back through the crowd-- and ran straight into Luce. "Oh!" They stuttered, stepping back. "Hey, hi. Hello! Um-- I'm just-- I didn't see you there. You look--" they paused, staring a little slack-jawed at her. Tried to swallow. "This place is--" they tried to pry their eyes away, but couldn't. "I'm just gonna...." but didn't move. "Leave now."

Anita followed everyone else's glances towards the man in velcro clothing. She had to stifle her laugh because this man was clearly about to strip for the ‘captain’, the birthday girl herself, Bea. “This is gonna be fucking hilarious.” Anita said to Morgan as she finished off a second glass of champagne. After she acquired another glass, she sat down in the chair beside Morga, then looked around the party. “No girlfriend tonight?” She whispered as she mentally prepared herself for the horror that was the male body.

Kaden blinked a moment at the goddamn striper that rolled up to the table. And then he started laughing. "At least he's not a mime." He shot a glance to Felix. "This also your idea?" Knowing he was a fae surely explained a lot more of the chaos. He saw some champagne on the table somewhere, didn't care whose it was and handed it to Bea, still laughing at the whole situation.

Jack smiled beautifully as a couple people pointed him over to a table. "Oh I'll be sure to thank y'all properly later." He winked, strutting his way over to the table with a wide smile. He tipped his cap. "Ma'am. I heard someone was in need of the art of seaduction?" He shifted his pose, so under the thin cloth of the shirt his large, impressive pecs popped.

Luce had made a quick exit from the table, practically fleeing from the male stripper. In her hurry to get away, she didn't realize where she was going until it was too late. Remmy-- Fuck. Shit, shit, shit. "Oh. Hey." She said awkwardly. As she stood there, listening to them stutter, she weighed which was worse-- going back to the table and suffering through... that or stand here and talk with Remmy. Honestly? She wasn't sure. "You... look good. Nice suit." She nodded before frowning. "Leave? Didn't you just get here?"

Leah looked over to the new guest, her eyebrows furrowing at the intrusion. This man was not someone she recognized, and her eyes were accusatory as he walked through the guests. Oh, god, was he a stripper? It all became clear when he spoke, he's dramatic tone making it obvious. If she could have shrunk down into her chair, she would have. She desperately hoped that being situated at the poker table would make her go unnoticed by him... she did not want some random dude dancing all over her, no thank you. He'd probably be pretty distracted by Bea, anyway. She turned her attention back to the table, choosing to essentially ignore his presence. "He's certainly something", she said, responding to Blanche and Nell. Her eyes were accusatory again, and it was all she could do not to laugh at Nell's words. "I'll make sure to buy something nice with the money I'm about to win from you", she said, feigning confidence. "Maybe I'll even get you a gift!". She turned her attention around to Jared, winking at him. "Are you our dealer?"

Felix threw back his champagne in record time and took a moment to get a few more glasses for everyone before he took his own seat. He looked over at Kaden. "Nope," he said with a pop. A grin followed as he took a drink. "It's not my fault this time. I'm just happy to be here, fella."

"... Well," Blanche said, glancing at Nell. This had to be her doing. She started to snicker, tipping back her champagne. She was immediately distracted from counting cards and that was certainly fine by her. "He's certainly... a seaman." Blanche made a face. "And shiny??"

Morgan sniggered alongside Anita and used everyone's distraction to advance her hand in the game a little. "No, she's uh, a little indisposed right now. Although she might be sorry she missed this much fun later. She's a fan of just about everything here, booze, friends, counting cards, and a little chaos." The stripper popped his pecks and Morgan had to look away when she started to laugh too hard, even with her politeness reserve. "Kind of a shame we didn't get one of each, huh?"

"I did not do this," Bea let Felix know as a glass of champagne was placed in her hand. "Thank you," She told Kaden, laughing slightly. As his pecs popped, Bea was both impressed and a little startled. That was a sight. "I suppose that someone is me, sailor. Work your magic."

Something was going on over at the table of all their friends, but Remmy was always a one-track mind kind of person. Easily distracted. And Luce was certainly a distraction. They weren't sure if they wanted to stay there, though, when she was looking at them like that. "Oh, uh--" they blinked and looked up, "I can like...I was just-- maybe? It's uh-- I figured I can just go say hi to Bea and then, you know--" scratched their neck, "leave." Tried to smile, turning to look towards the table and-- "Is that a stripper?" they blurted loudly.

Leah looked over to the new guest, her eyebrows furrowing at the intrusion. This man was not someone she recognized, and her eyes were accusatory as he walked through the guests. Oh, god, was he a stripper? It all became clear when he spoke, he's dramatic tone making it obvious. If she could have shrunk down into her chair, she would have. She desperately hoped that being situated at the poker table would make her go unnoticed by him... she did not want some random dude dancing all over her, no thank you. He'd probably be pretty distracted by Bea, anyway. She turned her attention back to the table, choosing to essentially ignore his presence. "He's certainly something", she said, responding to Blanche and Nell. Her eyes were accusatory again, and it was all she could do not to laugh at Nell's words. "I'll make sure to buy something nice with the money I'm about to win from you", she said, feigning confidence. "Maybe I'll even get you a gift!". She turned her attention around to Jared, winking at him. "Are you our dealer?"

Felix threw back his champagne in record time and took a moment to get a few more glasses for everyone before he took his own seat. He looked over at Kaden. "Nope," he said with a pop. A grin followed as he took a drink. "It's not my fault this time. I'm just happy to be here, fella."

"... Well," Blanche said, glancing at Nell. This had to be her doing. She started to snicker, tipping back her champagne. She was immediately distracted from counting cards and that was certainly fine by her. "He's certainly... a seaman." Blanche made a face. "And shiny??"

Morgan sniggered alongside Anita and used everyone's distraction to advance her hand in the game a little. "No, she's uh, a little indisposed right now. Although she might be sorry she missed this much fun later. She's a fan of just about everything here, booze, friends, counting cards, and a little chaos." The stripper popped his pecks and Morgan had to look away when she started to laugh too hard, even with her politeness reserve. "Kind of a shame we didn't get one of each, huh?"

Something was going on over at the table of all their friends, but Remmy was always a one-track mind kind of person. Easily distracted. And Luce was certainly a distraction. They weren't sure if they wanted to stay there, though, when she was looking at them like that. "Oh, uh--" they blinked and looked up, "I can like...I was just-- maybe? It's uh-- I figured I can just go say hi to Bea and then, you know--" scratched their neck, "leave." Tried to smile, turning to look towards the table and-- "Is that a stripper?" they blurted loudly.

Jasmine considered sharing her champagne with the birthday girl, but apparently Kaden already had her covered there. She leaned over and whispered to Bea, "Kudos to whoever picked the stripper out. He's hot." She scanned back over to see Leah's reaction and grinned at her furrowed brows. "Not the classiest party favor, but hey, fun doesn't always have to be classy."

Anita couldn’t help but let out a fairly loud laugh when she saw the stripper talking about seduction and flexing his chest muscles. It was way too over the top. “Well, at least you’ll have a hilarious story to tell her.” She replied to Morgan, motioning over to the sailor. “Uh, could you imagine? That would be a real party.” Anita looked around the table, looking to see how everyone else was reacting to this man. “But hey, since we’re both here solo, we should have some fun, yeah?” She asked, lifting up her glass to cheers.

Jack met Bea's eyes and smiled temptingly. He saluted. "Aye aye captain. I hear this here's some sorta celebration, and I'm your gift." He winked, lifting up a part of his costume, the faux white belt that attached to his trouser. He offered the end of it to Bea. "So maybe you should unwrap me?"

"How could I refuse?" Bea replied with a chuckle, before taking the belt in her hand, sipping on her champagne. This was a hell of an experience, but she would remember this for her sisters' birthdays.

"I'm sure Bea would be happy to see you, but..." Luce grimaced as she gestured behind her, to the crowd that was growing around Bea's table. She watched as the man handed her the belt of his pants and grimaced. "She's got a little bit going on right now." She said before letting out a sigh and rubbing her forehead. "Yeah. Someone got her a stripper and it sure fucking wasn't me." She mumbled. "I need a drink. I need... many drinks." Luce said as she walked over to the champagne wall and took two glasses, downing one then the other in rapid succession. "Good fucking jesus."

Nell watched the stripper events unfold with far too much amusement in her eye, pausing from her game for a moment. "I don't know why everyone's looking like I did something. He's the one docking his ship at my sister!" She had definitely done something. If you could include hiring a secret stripper as doing something. "It's probably all the sea mist that makes hims shiny."

Jared shook his head to Leah. He was not qualified to be dealing them anything other than an awkward smile and a poorly covered astonishment as the stripper made moves towards Bea. The man took a full step behind Nell as if that would protect from from what was about to happen.

Morgan nodded at Anita, taking two champagne glasses from a passing waiter and holding them up in as classy a double toast as she could manage. "Oh, completely. If I manage to win anything, without her help, showing off her presents--well, she'll either be excited or jealous, and that's a win-win for me." She downed one glass in a single chug. "Sorry yours couldn't be here either. Sincerely. But I am all having a good ol' fashioned time without them." She turned over her shoulder to the stripper, "Dance, Magic Mike!" She called, laughing harder than she meant to.

"Okay, yeah," Remmy said, backing away from the gift table, "not going over there. My eye doesn't need to see that." They followed Luce over towards the champagne wall, not bothering to take a glass themself, feeling a little jealous that they couldn't also down two glasses in succession and get rid of the anxiety-- and the image of that large man unraveling his clothes next to Bea-- but decided it was fine. "So...fun birthday, huh?" Morgan's shrill laugh echoed and Remmy fought their curiosity to look over and see what was happening. "Wanna dance?"

Jared was looking anywhere but at what was occurring (he was bi but too innocent for this sort of thing) and caught eyes with someone he vaguely recognised. His mouth bloomed into a smile and he sidled over to Kaden. "No uniform? You didn't get hired for this one?"

Jasmine giggled with glee and gave a little "woop" as Bea took his belt in his hand. "Yes, sailor, we gotta sea this." She turned to Morgan with a wide grin and noted, "I like you, Morgan."

Leah let her eyes lock with Jasmine's, a clear look of panic gracing her features, though there was definitely playfulness laced within them, too. "I will murder you if something like this shows up for my birthday", she warned her, watching Bea and the stripper with masked amusement. "I think I need more champagne!" She rolled her eyes at Nell's joke, grabbing a champagne flute from a passing waiter.

Slowly, Felix slid off his glasses and blinked. That had to be against some kinda sea safety protocol. "...So anyhow, August is an alright month, huh?" He said absently as he looked at the stripper, his expression a little less than amused. Oh heck. It was August. The ring on the table from the champagne glass stared up at him. Oh, it was that time, wasn't it? So focused on crime and whatnot, he forgot about the dang mushrooms. He loosened his bow-tie before he sat back further into his chair. Nope. Not dealing with that today. He occupied himself with his champagne glass and turned his gaze away from the man who, as Nell gracefully put it, was docking ship.

Jasmine feigned innocence. "I would never, Leah!" She had to admit, it would be pretty hilarious to see, but she wouldn't do that to Leah. "I, for one, disagree. This sailor is more than welcome to my birthday bash." She gave him a sly wink.

Jack gave her a sultry wink, and once she held the belt tightly enough, he stepped back, flexing every muscle in his body as the outfit popped off it, one velcro fastening at a time, until it all dropped to the floor. All he was left in was his navy blue mesh thong, and his matching necktie. His dark skin glistened, every inch of him (and he did mean every inch) was toned and muscled to perfection, a physique that could make anyone jealous or horny. He rolled his hips slightly, letting them look and salivate.

Kaden was sitting back and laughing at this whole thing. And hey, still not a mime stripper so it was really still a win. His brow furrowed when the kid with the tractor came over to him. "Oh, hi. Uh, what are you talking about?" A quick glance to the stripper and then back to the kid, it became clear what he meant. He rolled his eyes and shook his head. "I'm not a mime. Or a stripper. I'm Bea's friend. You must be mistaken. Who are you anyway?" He was never admitting that was him the other day. Ever.

Luce made the mistake of glancing over at the loud laughs that rang out from Bea's table. And immediately wished she hadn't. Some things just couldn't be unseen. At least, not without far more champagne. "Fuck me." She said and took another glass from the wall, head already beginning to spin from the alcohol. "Dance? I--" She blinked. Dancing. "I... Sure. Why not." She said, taking their hand and walking with them over to the dance floor.

Oh this was much easier to deal with when this man had his pants on. Bea sent a look over to Felix that she hoped conveyed, Oh dear, lord what is happening? "Wow, consider me seduced." She finished her drink quickly. Was there going to be more after this?

Jared was taken aback for a second and then he made an oh shape with his mouth and grinned at the other. "Riiiiiight, not a stripper! Of course. No worries, I won't out you. Not dressed as a mime can't blow your cover I gotchu." he whispered.

Nell cupped her hands around her mouth, wasting no time it letting a loud whoop mixed with laughter fill the air as Bea undid Jack's attire, revealing his seascape to everyone. "Make him your bitch, Bea!" Maybe the champagne was hitting her harder than she'd thought. Then she turned back to Leah to say, "I'm getting you ten strippers for your birthday! You should be so lucky! I'm gonna get you the whole armada of sea-men!"

Oh. Luce had said yes. Remmy didn't actually think she would have said yes, but she had! They smiled, stealing only the slightest of glances over to Bea's table before turning back around when blue mesh was spotted in a place they didn't mean-- or want-- to look. They followed Luce over to the dance floor, placing their free hand on her hip when they made it there. "It was really nice of you guys to do this for Bea," they said to her, smiling. Maybe if they just didn't say anything weird things could be alright, "she deserves it."

Anita hesitated when Morgan made a loose reference to Marley. Realistically, she knew there was no way Morgan knew that they were actually girlfriends now, but she got oddly nervous. “Maybe a good thing given how our last double date went.” She smiled, then decided to change the topic. “How many drinks do you think it would take to enjoy this for more than just comedic purposes?” It was a tease, obviously, since the answer was infinity drinks. Anita looked over at the woman who seemed to be enjoying it the most and laughed. She was kind of jealous of the people who were enjoying it. Then she overheard someone asking Kaden if he was a mime stripper, and she absolutely lost it, keeling over with laughter. “He’s definitely a stripper! You just gotta offer the right price!” She called over in between laughs.

Bea glanced over at Kaden. "If you start stripping here, I will kick you out. I support you, but not here," She teased.

Kaden pinched his nose. "Kid, there's nothing to out. I work in animal control." He sighed, clearly there was no way to convince him so he downed the champagne he had left. Oh no. Anita heard, too? Which was worse, mime fucker or mime striper? "Putain de merde, I am not a stripper! That's a stripper," he said pointing to the lap dance happening across the way. "I'm a cop."

Jared "RIIIIIGHT I gotchu." He looked at the woman he didn't know and whispered "DOn't blow his cover that's not cool, mimes can't be seen talking." and then he clapped Kaden on the back. "Cop as well huh? Good with costumes?"

Blanche was cackling, laughing so hard that it actually hurt her and her injuries. Wheezing, she swatted Nell, giving Bea her own whoop. "Get it, Bea!!" she cackled, grabbing another flute of champagne. "We know this is your.... Fanta-sea."

Leah rolled her eyes, taking a sip from her new champagne. Of course Jasmine would want this dude at her birthday party. "I'll get his number from Nell", she teased. "That way you can just call him whenever you want. Bad day? Call the Sailor Stripper man, he'll make it all better!" Her eyes widened comically at Nell's joke. It felt more like a threat, to be honest. She wouldn't put it past the younger woman to actually pull something like that off. "Nell, Nell. ...Nell." She let out a breath, shaking her head no. "Nell... I think you know that if you even try that, you'll regret it." Would she ever do anything that might hurt Nell? Absolutely not, and Nell probably knew that, too. But it was worth the threat, if only to avoid the embarrassment and the mere suggestion of what Nell was threatening to do.

Morgan snorted again, some of her champagne flying up her nose. "Kaden, you didn't tell me you had a passion-project second job! You gotta follow your heart, and invest in all of the best props for your set list." She patted his shoulder, beaming, and got up from the table, taking Anita by the hand. "Y'all are swell, but Jacky Boy isn't our type. We'll come back around though!" She slid her arm through Anita's and escorted her around the room, aiming for the dance floor at a safe, respectful distance from Remmy, who seemed to be finally working things out with Luce. "How's that for a save?" She asked Anita.

Bow-tie thoroughly loosened, Felix shifted in his seat before he got up and went to Bea's side. His eyes went to Kaden for a moment. Not you too, his eyes said. "Wow, you sure know how to clear a deck, fella!" His smile was sharp as he looked at the stripper. "You know, I think there's someone else here who could really use the kinda good time you've provided us all with. Hey Nell!" He called over before he looked back to Jack. "That's the one. Promise you'll show her a decent time? She's great. Dynamite. Aces. She deserves it. It's been a tough month."

Jasmine joked, "Oh Bea, that's not fun." The French man was attractive enough he could pull off the looks, but he didn't look like much of a dancer. Still, she poked fun. "So, you do a cop strip show then." She could see Bea was getting a bit uncomfortable, so she sauntered over to that side of table and tapped Jack's soldier. "Hey, Sailor, I think your moves may be a bit more appreciated over here."

Luce 's head was spinning, the bright lights and decorations sparkling in the light. The sound of the band's music was almost enough to drown out the chaos of what was happening behind her, but she could still hear Blanche and Nell shouting words of encouragement at the male stripper, who was no doubt... doing his job. Remmy's hand rested on her hip and she blinked. "I don't know if she deserves that specifically. I definitely didn't pay for that guy." She said with a shake of her head. "Fucking Nell... I bet she hired him."

Jasmine grinned widely at Leah. "Please, do. One of the girls is having a bachelorette party soon and he'd be perfect!"

Jack looked over to Nell with a quick promising wink. He'd definitely be by her seat later. But he had to give the birthday girl his attention first. He turned on the spot, giving Bea a show of every single one of his muscles. She didn't seem as eager as the girl to his side, so when he leant in to ask a question, it was with his normal, quiet voice. "Do you want a dance or do you want me to take myself somewhere else?" But it seemed his question was answered by the others around. He flashed both the hot at the gills looking guy and the pretty lady who tapped his shoulder. "You got my sailor's oath!" He told Felix, and turned over to Nell. "You want me to swab your decks, miss?"

"I'm not stripping because I'm not a stripper!" Kaden started cursing under his breath. The kid, Anita, Morgan, Felix, and Bea, too? Come on. "Someone back me up here. Anyone! Come on, let's go back to taking my money, that'd be great, right?"

Bea glanced between both Felix and Jasmine,"Thank you." Standing, she grabbed Felix's hand,"Do you want to go dance?" She could use a little bit of time away from the chaos of the table, even as fun as it was. "Have fun, Nell!" She cackled as Jack made her way over.

Remmy gave a chuckle, shaking their head. "I meant a good time," they said, stepping in time to the music and moving Luce with them. It was a more upbeat tune, the music drifting around them, and Remmy spun her a little before pulling her back in. "You all deserve a good night to let loose and have--" they flinched at the sound of Blanche's loud shout cutting through even the loud music, giving Luce a sheepish grin, "--fun."

Blanche paled as the stripper turned on Nell. "Oh no. You're on your own." She started to inch away.

Anita followed Morgan out to the dance floor, grinning widely. This was far preferred to watching a man strip. “The absolute best save. You’re my hero,” she grinned widely as she began to dance with her friend. As they danced she noticed Luce dancing with some person she didn’t quite recognize. She smiled softly, they seemed nice together. Turning her attention back towards Morgan, she laughed as she could still hear the things people were saying by the stripper. “This party did not really go how I was expecting… but this does make me kinda wanna hire a stripper for my next birthday.”

“What?!" Nell squawked as the tables were turned, and suddenly there was a whole ocean of flesh coming closer. "Blanche, don't you dare fucking leave me. This is what you get for running away from the hospital!" she said as her friend tried to inch away, latching onto a non-injured portion of Blanche with a vice-like grip. "My decks are good, though! Freshly swabbed! Just got them done yesterday!"

Leah pushed herself closer to Jasmine as the stripper came closer to where they were sitting, all but turning her back to him and Nell with an amused but mortified look. In a supportive move, she grabbed Blanche's wrist and pulled her toward them as well, holding her close.

"We know, Kaden," Felix said with a solemn nod. "The champagne tower is all yours, friend. I know it's a real hard time for ya." He laced his fingers with Bea's and smiled as he led her towards the dance floor. "I don't know how I'll compare to our new pal Jack over there but I'll do my best for you, doll."

Jane had been stealing other guests money at a different table, and went to go see what the commotion was. Jane saw Jack, and snorted as she heard Kaden assuring everyone he wasn't a stripper. She clapped him on the shoulder. "Come on Kaden, everyone here knows you strip to ABBA."

"I don't want to think about my sister having a good time with that." Luce said automatically, shuddering. She let Remmy spin her around, her feet just a bit clumsy underneath her as they danced. The haze of the alcohol was settling in, everything golden and bright around them. Tilting her head, she looked at them, eyebrows arching. "Mm, you're not wrong. You know," She said, pausing for a moment before leaning in closer to Remmy, "I can think of a couple fun things we could do."

"Oh, I'll take your money for free, Kaden!" Morgan called over her shoulder, winking at him. "Is that a promise?" The music was picking up and she took her friend's hand, whirling her around as they came near the dance floor. "Anita, I will hire you only the best, most voluptuous strippers for your birthday. Name the date, and they're all yours." She spun them around again as the music picked up. "Also, fun fact about me no one here knows yet? I know how to do the charleston." She started to demonstrate, working more flare into it than usual. "If you take another drink, I'll even teach you too."

Jared had a lot of people backing up the knowledge that this kaden guy was a stripper. He was embarrassed but Jared pat him on the arm. "Don't worry bud, no one is judging. I'm sure you're a wonderful stripper."

Jasmine cackled as Nell tried to back away from the stripper. There had to be some sort of anecdote about not hiring a stripper if you're not down for a lap dance. "Good call, the kid definitely doesn't need a stripper." Leah was held on to the small girl even though Nell tried to keep her in the stripper's orbit. She wondered if this short blonde girl was even old enough to be here. "I'm guessing Nell's the one who hired our sailor friend here." Good taste, just not Bea's. She nearly spit out her champagne when it was mentioned Kaden stripped to ABBA. "Oh honey, we need to get you a better playlist."

As the world faded from view, and tsunami Jack took over the majority of Nell's line of sight, she raised a single middle finger across the room, pointed directly at Felix.

Remmy looked around the hall-- people laughing, people grinning, people just plain having fun, having the time of their lives-- and decided that not everything in the world was bad. In fact, there was a lot more good than bad. There had to be, right? Luce looked stunning, Bea looking like shew as having the time of her life now that she was on the dance floor, even Nell, though flustered, looked like she was having fun. And Blanche and Morgan and everyone else. Remmy spun Luce one more time before bringing her close, smiling warmly at her drunken words. "Maybe tomorrow," they said back to her softly, "once the alcohol has worn off."

Kaden turned to see Jane behind him. Of fucking course. "Fuck you, Wu." He was going to need something stronger than champagne soon. There was no living this down was there?

"I think you'll do just fine," Bea let out a little laugh. As she looked around the party, she felt warm. Just last week she had been kicked out of the community that had raised her and she had felt alone. Her family and friends were the people here, having fun and celebrating this day with her. "As ridiculous has this has turned out, this has been one of my best birthdays." Even without her parents or friends from the Coven, she was happy. All these people, even Jack, had helped her make this birthday perfect. She couldn't ask for better people to spend this day with.

[nelllraiser]

hell to pay | margot, remmy, & nell

LOCATION: a Ring base hideout. PARTIES: @g0t-ri5h, @whatsin-yourhead, and @nelllraiser SUMMARY: nell, remmy, and margot hunt down roy— charlie’s angels style, and the last nail is put into the ring’s coffin. CONTENTS: mild torture, violence

After doing in the other two big names of the Ring, this seemed like it would be a last step. The culmination of all her and Remmy had been working towards ever since they’d been holed up in cages beneath the Ring. Margot had told Nell and Remmy that this was where she’d seen Roy going in and out, and the witch was ready to turn the man inside out after what he’d done to herself, her family, her friends. She’d learned after Montgomery that the fastest way to escape danger was to eliminate the threat as soon as possible. The warehouse where Roy had been seen going in and out of seemed to be a treasure trove if the stills Margot had given them were anything to go off of. It seemed that the remainder of those trying to rebuild the Ring were holed up here as well. Nell knew that Remmy wasn’t all that interested in a massacre, so she’d brought something else instead, a nasty little curse she’d prepared beforehand, one that was simply waiting for the finishing touch to be brought into reality. That would be enough to make sure those responsible for the Ring never took an unwilling fighter again. “Are you ready?” she asked Remmy, crouched a good distance from the entrance to the building. Then she was speaking over to Margot in her remote location. “We’re about to go in. Is the camera at the front door still on, or can we start?”

This was going to be it, Remmy had told themself. This was the last thing they were going to do for the Ring. No more fires, no more prison breaks, no more shake downs. They weren’t sure they’d be able to do much more, anyway. And they hoped Nell understood, at least in some way, why they couldn’t raise their hand to others anymore. There was just too much of it, and they almost felt a yearning to be done. A need to be done. They’d put it aside for now, though, because no matter how they looked at it, this needed to happen. These people needed to be stopped, more than Remmy needed to solidify a vow of non-violence. So this would be it. The last hoorah. The last stand. At least...they hoped. They crouched next to Nell, eyes focused on the main entrance. They’d made sure to skip a meal before coming here, in case their strength was needed. And though hunger didn’t claw at them as badly as other times, they could feel the prickle. “I’m ready,” they said back to Nell, before listening in for Margot’s instructions. Whatever she was doing, they hoped it worked. They hoped no one needed to die uselessly today.

Margot had no idea why she was helping these two strangers. She had no vendetta or revenge plot like her accomplices, but this mission felt like the beginning of something. A gateway to a different world. What she was getting herself into she didn’t know, and while that fact scared Margot, it also spurred her on. Besides, she was in a safer place than Nell and Remmy at this moment. While they were on the frontlines, she was working from the comfort of her bedroom. Her set-up was a myriad of two computer screens she’d ‘borrowed’ from the AV club, her roommate’s gaming headset and a router she was using to tap the warehouse server. Margot could see the two of them crouching on one of the external cameras, just barely, invisible unless you knew they were there. “I’m ready if you are.” She told both of them, sensing their anticipation. Margot had managed to rig up Nell’s wireless headphones, and one of Remmy’s hearing aids so that they could all communicate. Margot was pretty confident that their transmission would be uninterrupted. “I’m going to cut the camera. But, get in quick, we don’t want them to catch on.” Margot executed the command on her keyboard. The camera feed that was showing them to her went black, and when it came back on, they were gone. “Goodluck.” Margot whispered. 

The moment Margot cut the cameras, Nell sprang forward from her hiding place, sparing a glance at Remmy to make sure they weren’t far behind. She sprinted the distance to the door as quickly as possible, thanking her natural speed as she went. Stopping at the door, she pressed a quick and urgent hand against the lock, muttering a spell under her breath as the door opened with a little click. Opening it, she ushered Remmy in behind her, closing it the next second. “Okay, we’re clear of the entrance,” she whispered into the modified AirPod Margot had made for her. “Do we know where the next camera is?” Already her heart was pounding, but it wasn’t from nerves. They were so close to what they’d been working towards ever since they’d been taken by the Ring, so close to finishing all of this once and for all. She could nearly taste it along with the knowledge that Roy was hopefully holed up here, ready for her to rip into him and make the piece of shit pay for all that he’d done. He wouldn’t be allowed to hurt her family, her friends, or herself any more.

Remmy followed close behind Nell. They were bred for this. Following, taking instructions, completing the mission, the task. They remembered how refined the world had been when they’d narrowed their focus down at the Ring. Too much had gone wrong there, they couldn’t let that happen here. So while they kept their focus on Nell, they let their eye wander around to take in their entire surroundings. No one was following, no one was up ahead. They pressed in close to Nell, crouched in the corner. Heard their voices clear through the speaker in their ear. Nell had her magic, Remmy had a taser they’d grabbed from Morgan’s drawer. If she knew what they were doing right now, she’d probably have their head. But they weren’t going to let Nell do this alone. There was no way. “The door is secure, there’s no one up ahead, either,” they muttered, turning to look down the hallway. “We know what room we’re heading for?”

Margot let out a deep breath. They were in. “There doesn’t seem to be a camera in the hall, not one on their servers anyway. You should be good to go.” Margot switched a few tabs on her computer. Squinting at the material she had pulled up. “Building plans I downloaded from city hall show a larger room through the corridor coming up on your right. Could be the place?” 

“Good,” was Nell’s simple answer to both Margot and Remmy, not seeing a reason to talk anymore than was necessary during a time like this. Carefully, she made her way up the hallway in the direction Margot had mentioned, barely daring to breathe as she crept towards the door on the right hand side. It wouldn’t do to have their cover blown so close to their prize. Every cell in Nell’s body seemed to be humming in anticipation, ready to catch the rats that were hopefully lurking on the other side of this door. “Do you wanna do this big or small?” She asked Remmy, knowing there were benefits to both ways. What she really was asking was whether they wanted to go in guns blazing or something more subtle. Whatever answer they may have, she didn’t hesitate to pull out one of her many hidden knives, tracing the tip of it along her thumb to create a pebble of blood. Wordlessly, she swiped it over one of her summoning tattoos along with a few mumble words of something that sounded vaguely demonic. In another instant, her three hellhounds she often called upon were assembled between herself and Remmy, ready for orders after being Summoned by her magic.

Margot’s voice was a comfort on the other end of the line. Knowing they weren’t going in blind helped calm Remmy’s nerves. They followed Nell down to the door that Margot pointed them to, stealing themself quietly against the wall when they stopped to gather themselves. They looked from Nell to the three dogs that had appeared, remembering them from the beach. Or, at least, what little they did remember from that day. That wasn’t something they wanted a repeat of. “If we go in big, there could be a fight. We should try and do this quiet. The less people caught in the crossfire, the better, right?” they suggested quietly. “And if things get out of hand, well..then we go big. Sound good?” A question doled out to both Nell and Margot, knowing it would be her responsibility to lead them out of here if things went sideways.

Once they had disappeared into the depths of the hallway, Margot had no visual on them. It seemed that this organisation had a habit of placing cameras sporadically and unplanned. This meant she did not see the curses that Nell had conjured up, or the three hounds that defied Margot’s rational beliefs. This was perhaps a relief; Nell and Remmy didn’t have time to catch her up at this moment. “Sounds good to me.” Margot spoke through her headset. She had her own plans if things went haywire, she just hoped the other two were as prepared. 

Scooby sniffed curiously at Remmy for a moment, as if wondering whether or not Nell had brought them the zombie as a snack. But the witch quickly gave the hellhound a stern look and shake of her head, and the pup was quickly back on task. As for less people caught in the crossfire...Nell didn’t entirely think that was a bad thing, but putting more deaths on Remmy’s conscious wasn’t something she was entirely willing to be responsible for...so a smaller entrance would have to do. “Sure...sounds good.” With another whispered spell, she unlocked the door separating them from their quarry, and inched it open. At first, there was no resistance, and as she stepped into the room with the dogs at her sides no one looked up from what they were doing, having no reason to think they’d been infiltrated. Most of the faces blurred past Nell’s eyes as she searched for one man in particular. The one she desperately wanted to rip limb from limb. “He’s not here,” she hissed, frustration getting the better of her as she found no familiar face. “Roy’s not fucking here.” 

He wasn’t there. They’d come all this way, and the one person they’d been looking for wasn’t there. Remmy could feel Nell’s frustration, her anger-- she’d wanted so desperately to punish the man that had poisoned her sister and her, and Remmy. They’d both wanted him to be there, and Remmy felt the pain of this loss after the realization hit. “Where is he!?” they asked, teeth grit, jaw clenched. None of the men had moved yet, pressed into staying where they were thanks to the three flaming dogs flanking them. “Where’s Roy? Why isn’t he here!?” they shouted, anger gnashing through their throat and onto their tongue. 

“He’s not there? I could swear—” Margot had been sure he would be there. She’d been watching camera footage for days measuring his comings and goings. Margot hadn’t seen him leave, but she supposed there could be some kind of back entrance she didn’t have eyes on. Her brow furrowed in annoyance and confusion.“Well, shit!” Margot threw up her hands. What were they doing all of this for if the ‘big bad’ wasn’t even there? Margot did what she could to recompose herself. “Is the plan still a go? Or is it over?”

“It’s not over,” Nell bit out into her modified comm through gritted teeth. It’s not fucking over. Nell’s own fury matched Remmy’s in an instant, and a frustrated growl was ripped from her throat as she advanced on the man that looked most frightened of the hellhounds. “Tell me where the fuck he is,” she began, tugging on the collar of his shirt to make him bow to her height. “Tell me where he is, and I might think twice about turning you into a dog snack for my friends here.” As if on cue, the hellhounds began to circle the man, nipping not so playfully at his heels. His body grew tense, and the effect of the demon dogs was instantaneous as he stammered out an answer. “I- I don’t know! I don’t know! He never tells us where he goes! Says it’s safer that way!”

Remmy watched Nell advance on the man that looked most afraid. She might’ve been small in size, but she was not small in stature. Her presence could fill an entire room. They kept their eye on the other two, who looked ready to run if the opportunity presented itself. One of them made to move, but Remmy sidled into their path, simply shaking their head, eyes sharp. They weren’t sure they’d hurt the man, but they would restrain him from leaving. They had to. They looked to Nell, feeling Margot’s frustration as well. “Now what?” they asked, ready to follow whatever instructions either doled out. “Do we just...go forward with the plan?”

Nell’s gaze burned into the man in front of her, jaw set in a stubborn and angry line that spoke of a determination that made her willing to do nearly anything when it came to getting what she wanted in a situation such as this. A sound of utter disgust was pulled from her lips as the man proved useless, and she released him from her iron tight grip. Then she spoke to Remmy, though the words were for the benefit of the whole room, a foreboding tone filling their syllables, letting the air of a threat fill the promise. “We go forward with the plan. Maybe they’ll be a little more willing to talk by the end of it. Just something to jog their memory” A snap of her fingers had an animal hide appearing in her open hand, summoning a curse she’d prepared at home specifically for this situation— it would only need the finishing touches. As she unfurled it, a circle drawn in blood came into focus, runes of all sorts filling it in a careful pattern. It was about the size of a bearskin when laid across the floor, and with the utterance of a commanding word in Latin, the nails on the edges of the skin drove it into the wooden floor beneath them, securing it in place.

“Now it’s your turn,” Nell said with a sharp grin to the man closest to her, roughly shoving him into the center of the set up and into the circle. “Don’t be shy,” she sweetly commented to the other few men in the room. “Go ahead and join your friend.” They didn’t have much of a choice as the hellhounds herded them onto the animal skin, snapping their teeth. Then began her chanting, more Latin repeated in a cycle as she circled the men like prey, watching them with hungry eyes. The hounds mirrored her in a counter-clockwise motion, making sure to deter anyone that might have been thinking about making a break for it. Once they were huddled neatly in the center, Nell drew the rest of the nails from her pockets, and went over to the last man who had stepped into the circle. Without skipping a beat, she stuck the very tip of a nail into each of the man’s shoes before straightening. Then, without hesitating, her own foot came down on the man’s left foot— her strong and fluid motion driving the nail clean through the flesh and sinew, effectively nailing him to the floor. A gasp and grunt of pain was wrenched from him, but Nell paid it no mind as she went on to the second of his feet, repeating the process. Then it was on to the next man, and then the third— each one growing more fearful as she went, their agony etched into their faces. They couldn’t move without forcefully pulling their feet from the ground along with the nails that had been hammered into them. They were trapped, unable to escape. Just like all those innocents had been underneath the Ring. Just like she had been along with Remmy. She couldn’t deny the perverse pleasure she got in knowing how thoroughly the tables had been turned, that they were now the ones welling with an overwhelming sense of powerlessness. Finally, she got to the last man, and the first one she’d approached after entering the room. 

“I said I might reconsider by the end of this. So are you going to tell me what I want or not?” Nell offered him the chance to save himself from a similar fate the others had faced. For a moment the adam’s apple of his throat wobbled, as if he were weighing his options. “I don’t know where he is- I promise, I don’t. But I know- I do know…” He hesitated, and Nell grew impatient, lining the nails up along the tops of his shoes, foot poised above them. “I’m waiting.” That was all the incentive he needed to continue with his train of thought. “Roy’s undead! I’m not even supposed to know, but I heard it by accident! That’s something you can use, right?” he asked desperately, hoping the revelation had saved him. “Sure is,” was all Nell smugly said before jamming the nails through his feet, a wail warbling forth from him as she finished the job. Men like him didn’t deserve second chances. Not after all they’d done, not after all the hurt and harm they’d brought to the world. 

Remmy flinched with each nail that was driven into the men’s feet. This needed to be done, they told themself, this needed to happen. They knew this wasn’t going to end without someone suffering, but the pain the men experienced felt like nothing compared to the pain Remmy had felt in the ring. When the gargoyle had ripped them in half, when Jax had driven them to the brink of starvation, when Remmy’s own hands had ripped through Ben’s flesh. They felt a burning in their chest, their eyes, the back of their throat. A raw anger that they could taste. The smell of blood filling their head. Even if Remmy never wanted to hurt someone again, these men deserved this pain. They looked away as Nell drove the last nails in, clenching their jaw. They pushed their mind to focus on something else, wondering what Margot, someone outside of all of this, thought of what was happening. If she would still think of Remmy the same after they got out of this. 

Finally, Nell paused. Remmy looked over at her. “Undead,” they repeated quietly, “like me?” It was the only thing they could think of to say. Was the man who had done all of this just like them? Or was he a vampire? Or even something else? Were there other undead species Remmy didn’t know about yet? They swallowed the questions. “Undead means...he can still be stopped,” they said with a quiet realization to Nell. “It’s not over.”

If Remmy hadn’t been here, the men would probably already be dead by Nell’s hand and the teeth of her hounds. But she knew they hadn’t wanted more death involved in this, though she wasn’t sure whether or not she agreed with them. It was more complicated to know what the right choice was with every day that passed. What she knew at the most base level was someone couldn’t do any more harm if they were dead. It didn’t matter, though. She’d already made the decision to work with Remmy’s preferences. All that was left to the curse now was the finishing touch. Her own sacrifice. Pulling one of her knives from its hiding place, she dragged it smoothly, evenly along the mottled scarring of her forearm making a cut large enough to procure a good helping of her blood. Letting it fall onto the tops of the shoes of the men she’d just nailed to the floor, and once again moving in a circle, she spoke a final chant, focusing her mind into a thin line when it came to her goal, and what it was that these men would be carrying with them so long as they continued to live. When the Latin was done, she spoke it once more for those in the circle. Not for their own benefit, but because she wanted to see the blood drain from their faces as she told them the news. “You’ll never take an unwilling prisoner or fighter ever again. You’ll never cause harm to those that don’t deserve it. And you’ll never profit from another’s misery. Or there’ll be hell to pay.” As if she’d said their names specifically, the hellhounds growled their affirmation, adding their own promise to the end of her’s. 

Now it was done. The blood from Nell’s arm sank into the men’s boots, as if it were being sucked through the tops of them, marking them, following them wherever they’d go. Coming out of the near trance-like state of magic she’d been in, she turned back to Remmy, wrapping her arm in a bandage she’d summoned from home. “I don’t know if he’s like you. But you’re right.” Another satisfied grin spread over his lips. “It means he can die just like you or me. And then all this will be over.”

Margot heard screams, and chanting, and pain. The three together made her ears ring. What had she been pulled into? It sounded like some kind of satanic ritual, but that could just be the connection. Margot was sure that was it. Her modification to the ear pieces had malfunctioned somehow and she was experiencing some kind of feedback. “Hello?” Margot called out a few times, testing the connection. “Can you guys still hear me?”

Despite Margot’s assurances to herself that this was some kind of technical issue, the words “undead”, and “like me”, were unmistakably spoken by Remmy. Margot wasn’t privy to whatever they were talking about, and that was something she wouldn’t settle for. Still, she knew this wasn’t the time for an interrogation, at least not for her to conduct. “What’s happening? Is it done?”

The ritual made Remmy’s stomach churn, but it was a lot better than having to watch these men die. There was already too much death, even if these men deserved it, Remmy didn’t want anymore death. They didn’t want anyone else implicated in these deaths. The ring had taken enough from them, it would not take the part of them that wanted to do better as well. They would not give in. They looked away when Nell started chanting, backing into the corner, watching the door behind them to make sure no one else was coming, though they supposed Margot would warn them. They wondered if she could hear the chanting, if she understood what was going on. Nell had she didn’t know if Margot knew about the supernatural, but it seemed as if she didn’t care at the moment. That she didn’t mind implicating someone in this. No-- Remmy shook the thought away. Whatever happened, they would protect Margot, as thanks for doing this. They were pulling her into a dangerous world, but Remmy silently vowed they would make sure she was safe, protected. They could do that. They wanted to do that. 

Finally, Nell was done, wrapping her arm up and looking back over at Remmy. Margot’s voice chimed in on their ear pieces. “It’s done,” they said quietly to her, to Nell. “We’re done.” 

[nelllraiser]

do not go gentle | remmy & nell

LOCATION: the ring. PARTIES: @nelllraiser​ and @whatsin-yourhead SUMMARY: nell and remmy make a break for it. CONTENT: death, some gore

There wasn’t exactly a set day they’d planned for their riot. After all, they couldn’t know when the lampade they kept sending to drain Nell of her magic might just be a little bit late, letting her gain enough of it back to set off the chain of events that needed to happen. It could be days, weeks, even months, until the Ring slipped up and gave them that window. But it seemed, against all odds, today was that day. She could feel the little kernel of magic gathered in the center of her body, the first taste of it she’d had in nearly a week— not that she had any concept of how much time had passed. They took Remmy out of fights now and then, but left her here, her cage door not having been opened since she’d been shut in the first time. But now that would change. That bone deep weakness that had been pulsing through her every day and night since they’d first slapped the bracelet on her was still here, but she knew she had just enough magic to get herself out, and once she was out of her cage and able to draw on the strength of others— the rest of the cage doors would be easy enough from there. “Remmy-” she whispered urgently to her friend. “Remmy, it’s here. I have the magic- they waited too long.” Finally.

The waiting was the worst part. Ben’s cell sat empty and Remmy’s sat full, still stained in blood. It shouldn’t have happened that way. He shouldn’t have made them do that. But it wasn’t Ben who Remmy blamed-- it was Jax. An anger stirring within them since the moment they’d gotten back. Now, finally, it was time. They had a plan. Wait for Nell’s magic, stage the riot, and take back their lives. With a few pit stops along the way. There was no point in escaping if the collars still had control over them, so they had to find the station and destroy it. Anyone they met along the way was fair game. Remmy looked across to Nell when she whispered to them and they craned their head around, looking through the bars. “Looks like we’re clear,” they said, then nodded to Nell’s two neighbors. “Everyone ready?” They looked at the brains they’d been supplied with for the night, but skipped. They need their strength for this next part. The starving feeling in their gut would remind them of what they were fighting for.

Nell looked around at the cages surrounding them, as the barely audible whisper seemed to travel across the lips of every creature down there with them. Are you ready? Remmy and Nell had done their best to recruit anyone and everyone that were sentient enough to understand the definition of prison break, and even the ones she’d captured before having been taken in herself seemed eager to assist. After all, they wanted to get out of her, too. Perhaps Nell would have preferred to let some of the more sinister ones still rot down here, but she knew they’d need every bit of firepower they could get. She looked to her right, the dark green of the pink-skinned nymph’s eyes that they’d made their memory based promises to looking back at her with a small nod. “Alright,” she breathed, readying herself for the magic. It would hurt. She knew that much from when she’d done magic before, while her and Remmy had been taken in. But she couldn’t make a sound when the pain would come, knowing it might give them away. Biting down on her lip, she let the magic flow through her, breaths coming heavier as every inch of her body felt like it was on literal fire. Her eyes squeezed shut, teeth grinding together as her jaw clenched, pain etched into her features as the mentally worked her way through opening the cage. And suddenly...a click went through the air. Release. The door to her cage popped open, and Nell was quick to crawl out towards Remmy, her legs feeling like noodles and not standing for an entire week. After all, there was no room for it in the cage. She’d used all her own magic on getting herself out, but now that she was outside the perimeter of her cage, and the spell that prevented her from sapping magic from others, she had a reservoir of energy at her fingertips with everyone down here. Drawing on that pool, again she gritted her teeth against the pain, undoing Remmy’s cage with another soft click. Then she was on to the next, and the next, and the next.

Remmy hated that Nell had to go through so much pain just to get them out, but as soon as they found the collar controllers, she wouldn’t have to hurt herself anymore. Remmy would take care of the rest. Remmy, and the other prisoners. This would need to be a joint effort, and they’d all need to work together to get out of here. Remmy could only hope that they all would. They helped her undo some of the cages, feeling that little prickle of pain every time they flexed their strength. Finally, it was time to move on. It was time to find the station. One of the other prisoners thought they knew where it was, but they needed to take out the guard at the door first. Remmy looked to the rest of them and gave the “be quiet” finger, before creeping over and glancing out. Then waved the nymph over. She was going to do...something. But they had to do it quick, and whatever abilities she had, subduing people was one of them. Remmy looked back at Nell. “Don’t push yourself too much,” they murmured, “I can’t do this without you.”

Nell helped lead the way to the controls, being familiar enough with the underground to know where everything was, even if she’d been idiotic enough to think that everyone capturing creatures had the same morals and rules for it that she did. It wasn’t long before the nymph had taken care of the guard, his gaze going hazy as she approached him, a dopey smile coming over his lips right before he sank to his knees. Nell nodded with a barely there smile at Remmy, simply saying, “It’s alright.” She had no qualms with pushing herself to the edge, but she knew having to be carried out of here would only slow them down, and it was hard enough to walk when her legs were still getting used to being upright again. “We’ve got this, though. Together.” Today they’d be escaping, but she’d already decided she’d make the Ring pay for what they’d done, one way or another. It just couldn’t be today. After some fiddling with the control panel of the collars, the panel of lights dimmed, and the energy source powering them went off, leaving everyone temporarily free to do whatever they pleased without consequence. “Alright,” she said, still keeping her voice down, making sure everyone was on the same page. “Time to raise some hell and make these dicks regret being alive in the first place.”

The process went smoothly and Remmy could feel that little trickle of hope beginning to spark inside of them. As soon as the light on the panel went off, Remmy raised their fist, and smashed it. Metal crumpled under their grip, sparking, sputtering, dying out. They reached onto the panel and began yanking out wires, trashing the entire station. Others joined in eventually, too, until the entire thing was destroyed, hardly recognizable. Remmy stood and turned to look at Nell when they were done. “Jax next,” they said, remembering their promise to make him pay for what he did to the creatures down here. Despite some of their cruelty and their natures, Remmy couldn’t help but feel akin to them. They were just like them, trapped and caged, forced to fight. This was no way to live, this was no way to die. They deserved as much dignity as everyone else and Jax had taken that away from all of them. They cast a glance at the others. “You don’t have to follow us, but I have to do this,” they said, watching as a few trickled off to make a quiet escape into the night. But not them. No, they were going out with a bang. They held their hand out to Nell. “Ready?”

“Jax next,” Nell repeated darkly, looking forward to giving that piece of shit a piece of her mind. “We’ll have to get him quick- before he really realizes what’s happening so he can’t use his pheromones on me again.” The memory of it still made her stomach twist in anger, her hands already balling at her sides, pulling her skin a little too taut and making her still healing arms protest. A week without any sort of medical attention hadn’t exactly been good for them, even after her first healing session. The places that hadn’t healed were ugly, raised bits that meshed together strangely with the surrounding, smoother skin. Then she addressed the bunch like Remmy had, “Get out quickly if you want. Or stay and fight and cause havoc. Either way- it’ll be a hit to the Ring.” Then she was reaching for Remmy’s hand to give it a tentative squeeze, not wanting to hurt herself again. “Let’s get this bastard, and get the fuck out of here.”

Back in the military, there was a certain mindset that they were taught to enter when going onto a battlefield. Remmy could remember clearly the breathing and mind exercises they had them do. Creating a tunnel vision of focus. As they did this now, their mind set on only one thing. Jax. On making him pay, on making him hurt. They wanted him to know exactly how they felt. “I’ll take care of that bit,” they said quietly before opening their eyes again and nodding to Nell. They slipped quietly out of the room with her, into the back halls. They remembered exactly where his office was. The chaos of the beasts could be heard echoing down the halls, pulling guards away from their posts and security down on the entire place. Alarms blared. People shouted. But Remmy heard none of it. They only saw the door to Jax’s office opening and out stepped the man himself. He had a fraught look on his face, hand still gripping the handle, when Remmy’s hands collided with the door, shoving it so hard back it slammed his arm between it and the threshold. A crack could be heard as bones broke and wood splintered. Eyes wide as he looked down and realized who it was, and what was happening. “Time to pay up,” they growled, their eyes already fading from focused to frothing. 

Nell savored that momentary look of fear on Jax’s face before Remmy crushed his arm, drinking it up as she knew exactly what he was feeling, that impending sense of doom before something bad happened. He was wrapped in the knowledge that he was out of his league now, that there was nothing he could do, and it warmed her very soul. She darted into the room after Remmy did their work, beelining for the ornate knife that was strapped to Jax’s waist to rob him of it while he cradled his injured arm. If they’d had the time, Nell would have loved to really show him what it felt like to be powerless, to painstakingly cut out that silver tongue of his and strip him of what it was that made him feel like he could steal people’s lives, their happiness, their autonomy. To make him feel like she had felt. But it wasn’t to be. They had to be in and out before someone else tried to capture them. She recognized the look in Remmy’s eyes, the bloodlust sprouting there, and a smirk came over her lips. No doubt her friend was hungry. With a simple move she marked an ‘X’ over Jax’s chest with his knife as if preparing the zombie’s meal, blood beginning to bleed through his clothes. “All your’s, Rem.”

Jax’s back hit his desk with a loud, painful thud. He cried out, gritting his teeth, fighting against it. “You think this is going to change anything?” he spat, glowering at Nell, wincing against the betrayal of his own blade. He’d always imagined his death more explosive, but he wasn’t going to show them that. Give them that satisfaction. Fighting against a zombie was useless, especially one starved and angry. He looked directly into the zombie’s eyes and saw all the pain and grief he’d caused them. He smiled despite the pain. “You can kill me, but it won’t change anything. You can’t fix anything,” he spat, “you can’t save anyone.” And those, unfortunately, were his last words.

Remmy, driven by the scent of the blood, the viscera, barreled forward. Hands tore straight into the man’s chest as they screamed. They cried out with all the pain and vengeance that had surged into their body the moment he’d made them destroy their own friend. Jax’s blood could never replace Ben’s on their hands, but it ran over them anyway. They wanted him so badly to hurt, to know, to understand, but he never would. He never could. Remmy screamed again at his last words, tired of seeing his stupid, smug face. Teeth clamped down on his neck as their eyes went black. Tore through the flesh, ripped out the bone. He choked, sputtered, and fell to the floor unmoving. Remmy heaved, blood coating their mouth, their neck, their chest, and spat out pieces of him. Was it enough to make up for all the pain he caused? Was it enough for all the people he’d hurt and destroyed? With unanswered questions still laying on the floor, Remmy turned back to look at Nell. They’d killed a man, with their own two hands, and they didn’t feel the guilty weight of it on their shoulders. Unsure if that made them a monster or not, Remmy stepped over his body and back over to Nell. “It’s over,” they said, not looking at her, “let’s get out of here.”

Nell simply watched as Remmy did what they came to do, Jax’s last words having no effect on her other than granting her amusement. It was futile, and stupid. Who cared what his last words were? Did he think they held any sort of meaning or power when the only ones to hear them were the people who hated him? Even now Jax was trying to regain that power they’d stolen from him, by making it seem as if he was just a cog in a machine that would keep on going and thriving. And perhaps he was, but that didn’t dampen the deep sense of satisfaction Nell got from watching him perish, watching him get what was coming to him. Certainly the Ring was bigger than Jax, but she wasn’t afraid of it, and she wouldn’t give Jax the satisfaction of a fleeting thought as the last of him was wiped from this world, now no more than a nearly unrecognizable corpse. She kept Jax’s knife in hand as she nodded to Remmy, giving Jax’s body a last, vindicated glance before nodding once again. “We’ll make them hurt. We’ll make them regret it,” she promised Remmy before going back into the hallway from whence they’d come, ready to rejoin the sounds of the riot, and ready to reclaim the freedom that was rightfully theirs.

[nelllraiser]

lessons learned | remmy & nell

LOCATION: the ring. PARTIES: @nelllraiser​ and @whatsin-yourhead SUMMARY: remmy and nell confront jax about remmy’s collar. CONTENT: non con (pheromones)

Remmy paced. This was happening. This was really happening. They were going to get this thing off. Lydia had helped them get rid of their promises to Jax, and it had felt like an entire ship of weight had lifted off their shoulders. Of course the first thing they’d done was tell Nell. And of course she wanted to help them get this stupid collar removed. Maybe she would even see this place for it truly was and quit as well. Maybe they could both just walk away from this after everything. Remmy could only hope. They wanted to be done with this part of their life. They wanted to never set foot inside that arena again. Their stomach still hurt sometimes, when they thought about it. They still saw it whenever they closed their eyes, felt it whenever pain spiked through their limbs. Hands clenched, they paced the road. Waiting for Nell. Kept their eyes on the alley that led to the entrance. She’d sounded angry, ready to barge in there and get this dealt with, and Remmy could only hope she wasn’t angry with them, for keeping this secret for so long, for not telling her. But she’d just dealt with everything with Bea, and her world was so different from theirs now. Finally, they saw her form appear down the road and they scurried towards her. “Y-your arms,” they noted, seeing them wrapped in bandages, “A-are you sure you wanna do this? W-we can wait.”

Nell probably shouldn’t be here. Even with some magical healing, her arms weren’t at one hundred percent, and seeing as she’d started with skin grafts before seeking out more supernatural assistance, there had been some complications to work around. So her injuries were still tender, though she could at least move with less pain now, as well as less chance of reopening the wounds. They’d told her she’d need to do healing sessions rather than it being a one and done because of all the energy it would take. But there wasn’t a question of whether or not she was going to come with Remmy to see Jax and whatever piece of shit might be in on this collar business. She didn’t entirely understand, as far as she knew- the Ring collars were meant for the disobedient monsters that were forcefully brought in my monster catchers like herself, the ones that were beyond redemption. So what was one doing around her friend’s neck? “Yes,” she said forcefully. “I’m sure. This needs to be fixed. If Jax thinks he can get away with this shit, he’s wrong.”

“I-- okay,” Remmy said. There was something more volatile about Nell-- Remmy didn’t know everything that had gone done or the entire story, but Luce had said that they brought Bea back, and after knowing how she died and that she died, they knew it couldn’t have been an easy thing. Hesitating just a moment, Remmy nodded. “Okay, let’s do this, then.” There could be no more hesitation. They’d have to do this quick, and corner him quickly, otherwise he would set off the collar’s defense and kill Remmy. Their skin prickled underneath it and they itched at it, the skin there raw and red, in a constant state of open wound, healing and reopening all the time. Keeping them weak, tired, hurt. They were ready to be done with it, with this place. They were ready to move on with their life. 

As they approached the entrance, they waved Nell around to the back. “We should probably go in this way,” they said, “in case there’s others up front. “ This was the way they usually headed in, when coming for a fight, anyway. It would look less conspicuous, probably. Hopefully. There weren’t too many people here, either, on a Sunday night. Sundays were usually reserved for the creature on creature fights, not as much fanfare, not as much excitement. It would be quick and quiet and hopefully Jax would just...listen to them. He had to, right? Right. This would all go smoothly. Remmy skirted over to the door that led to the back where they usually checked in with Jax and motioned to Nell. “This is it.”

Nell had always been a person of action, but Bea’s death had driven her even further down that path, no longer as willing to let things get to the point where someone might die. If threats could be dealt with, they needed to be addressed early on before things got out of hand. She wasn’t going to let anything even remotely similar happen to her friend, not when there was an obvious answer. Who the fuck did Jax even think he was, anyway? A glorified referee getting too big for his britches and throwing his weight around with Remmy? And exactly what had Ronald been doing on a peaceful farm? Trying to steal creatures? There were too many questions now surrounding the Ring for her not to have a word with Jax. She simply nodded, agreeing with Remmy before continuing on with purposeful strides, anger boiling in her stomach. When they got to the door, she didn’t hesitate, having no reason to. Without so much as pausing, she reached forward to jerk open the door, entering without so much as a warning to give Jax a piece of her mind. “What the fuck is Remmy doing with a collar around their neck?”

When Nell didn’t hesitate, Remmy felt their heart jump. The door flung open and they could see Jax inside, just around Nell’s figure. He was sitting at this desk, alone. And he didn’t even jump as the door slammed open. “Umm…” Remmy mumbled, glancing around, “Nell?” But Nell’s eyes were set on the man in front of them, lounging in his chair as if he owned the place. And he sorta did, this was his office after all. 

Jax smiled as the door swung open. He hadn’t been expecting Penelope to come as well, but a two for one was a good deal. Sitting forward in his chair, he shrugged. “I thought you understood the rules of the Ring, Nell,” he said simply. “If the creature disobeys, they get punished.” The door behind Remmy swung shut quickly and behind it was the red-eyed man, a vampire with little patience, just waiting. Jax gestured to Remmy. “The creature disobeyed,” he stated, then met Nell’s rage-filled glare. “Therefore, it gets punished.”

Nell had absolutely zero care for Remmy’s concern, knowing that it was well-placed, but her need to place this anger that was bubbling inside her was greater than a sense of potential self-preservation at the moment. Besides, she wasn’t scared of Jax. Recently, the Ring had been doing more than one thing she didn’t approve of, and she wanted answers. Both for Remmy, and for Jared’s farm. “Remmy is not a creature,” she spat, her arm jerking painfully towards the zombie. “Remmy wasn’t brought in by catchers, and has done nothing to warrant being treated like the ones I bring in. Remmy is not your fucking pet to punish as you please. I brought Remmy here of their own volition, and they will continue to fight or not fight of their own volition.”

“Oh, but my girl,” Jax said smoothly, coming around the table. He was holding something, fiddling with it in his hands. A bracelet-like object. “They are.” He had noted the tremble in Penelope’s arms, the bandages, the way she moved painfully. When his hand snaked out in a quick flurry, he had her by the wrist quickly. The vampire behind them moved forward in a flash, yanking Remmy back. All he had to do, then, was push one button on a small remote and Remmy was screaming, crumpling to the ground, as electricity poured through their collar. Jax pulled on Nell’s arm, knowing it would hurt, feeling her injured flesh below his grip. With bandages on, it was harder to push his influence onto her, but he could feel it seeping in, slowly, watching her body relaxing. “Calm down, child,” he said, his voice both venom and silk at once, “you’ll hurt yourself.” He moved, then, to secure the bracelet around her wrist. It vibrated and lit up, securing itself to her, digging into her skin, making sure it could not be removed. “That oughta do it.”

From the ground, Remmy looked up. The pain was still searing through their body. “Nell,” they huffed out, “Nell, what’s--” but the man behind them stepped on their head, pressed down. Remmy cried out again, feeling the pressure of his boot against their temple. He only stopped when Jax waved him off. He looked down at Remmy with sharp eyes, always so blue. 

“You brought this on yourself.”

Nell had never had reason to think Jax might use his pheromones on her, even if she knew he used them on others in his craft. So she was underprepared, in no way ready for the onslaught of them that quickly overrode her senses. As he drew closer, her body had initially tensed, as if ready for a fight, but that was quickly done away with as he spoke with that silver tongue, exerting the power over her. He was so...entrancing, wasn’t he? It was impossible to take her eyes off him, and she didn’t want to. But then came pain, and a strange bracelet locking onto her as she yelled out. Remmy? Remmy was in pain, too. Her brain was hazy, trying to work through the fog that Jax had put over her, but it was no use. Still, even if she was locked on Jax, she knew Remmy being hurt was that last thing she wanted. “Stop!” she called out, instinctively raising a hand to magic the vampire into submission. He wasn’t Jax, so she felt no inclination against harming him. But as the magic began to flow, more pain. It came from the bracelet, causing her to yell out once more. “Remmy? Remmy-” she looked between Jax’s shoe and her friend, caught in the throes of pheromones and her own brain, trying to battle for dominance. 

Jax liked the way the confusion clouded Nell’s eyes. Her friend was right there, crying out in pain, suffering, and all she could do was watch. This was his power. He reveled in it a moment before nodding to the vampire, who yanked Remmy to their feet. “Take ‘em to the cages,” he said, keeping his hand on Nell’s wrist to keep her calm, even as she tried to use her magic, watching it strike pain in her. He really loved these inhibitor rings. They worked for all occasions, even sapping magic. Another smile graced his face. “Now, are you gonna fight and need to be caged, too, or are you gonna be a good little witch and let this go?”

Remmy tried their best to look up at Nell, but tears clouded their vision. They needed to help her, this was all their fault. They had dragged her into this and now-- Jax had been right. Alain had been right. They were all right. Remmy was nothing but a danger and they had yet again put a friend in harm’s way. They slumped with their defeat, head bowed, and let the vampire drag them up, heading towards the door. “Please let her go,” they said, not bothering to look up, “please, Nell, just...please stop fighting.” Tried to look up at her once more, but the pain in their neck, the smell of burnt flesh, forced their head to come up no more than to be able to look at her waist, here bandaged hand hanging limply by her side. The other clasped in Jax’s grip. Remmy bit their lip. “I-I’m sorry,” they muttered, “I’m so sorry.”

The cages. Nell knew those all too well, often making her drop offs there when it came to monsters and whatnot. Perhaps in some world, it was poetic that she would find herself in one. Her utter rage still burned, but it was...far away, as if a blanket had been thrown over it and since she couldn’t see it, she couldn’t access it, couldn’t let it course through her veins to color her words and actions. Not when it came to Jax, at least. But fighting...that was something she’d done her entire life, something she’d never learned how to quit doing, even when it had been Montgomery looming over her, ready to strike a killing blow. She couldn’t fight Jax but...the vampire. There was still him, right? It had hurt last time, using her magic. And her arms weren’t up to par with hand to hand combat. Magic had always been the most effective for situations like this. She raised a hand to bite her thumb until it bled, magic piling up in her once more— she grit her teeth against the excruciating pain, not even realizing yet that it was draining her magic in the same breath. Reflexively, she swiped the blood against her arm. Nothing happened. She looked down, and she realized how stupid she’d been. Her summoning tattoos. They were gone, having peeled off with her skin. Fuck. She tried her best not to look at Jax, to ignore his questions and that shiny glow around him that made her want to please him, to make him happy. Again she yelled, loud and guttural as she reached for the magic she still barely understood, trying to bring the vampire to his knees. She felt like she was on fire as the bracelet sparked to life once more. If she could take one down, maybe they could find a way out of this? There had to be a way. There had to. She wouldn’t get her power taken away from her like it had been stolen with Montgomery. Not again. Not this soon. It worked, bridging the vampire to his knees as pain also erupted in his eyes. But it wasn’t enough. There was still Jax. Still the collar. Still the bracelet. And now her own knees were jelly, the bracelet having taken her magic from her. 

Remmy dropped from the vampires arms as he suddenly cried out in pain. Blood dripped from his eyes and he grabbed his head, screaming with his agony. But Remmy didn’t-- couldn’t-- move. Their limbs felt too heavy, their body too much. They looked up as they saw Nell collapse, too, to her knees. She was also bleeding, from her hand, on her arm. Remmy could smell it. “Nell, no,” they said weakly, reaching for her. “Nell, wait--” but it was no use. After a long moment, the vampire stopped screaming, and though his eyes still bled, he reached for them, kicking them, hard, before shoving their body through the door. Remmy coughed, sputtered, pain striking their stomach. “Wait, no, Nell-- wait. Wait! What are you-- where are you taking-- Nell!” they called out, trying to reach for her. But another push of a button, and their vision went black, and they slumped, unconscious for a moment, to the ground.

Jax frowned. “So that’s how it’s gonna be, huh?” He shook his head in disappointment. He had let her exhaust herself, let her use her magic, let her hurt herself. And when she was done, he tugged her back to her feet, no matter the weakness of her knees, and carried her out after Remmy, so she could watch. As the vampire dragged them away and towards the cages, he followed behind with Nell. Not too close, not too far. And when they reached the cages, he turned to the one across from Remmy’s and opened it, guiding Nell inside. “I hope you’ve learned your lesson, Nell,” he said firmly, before finally letting go and shutting the gate, “I really hope you have.”

The bracelet paired with Nell’s outburst of her magic was more than enough to have the world spinning, things making little sense as she felt Jax tug her upwards, even the pain of her arms feeling far away. Remmy...she was vaguely aware of her friend, and the fight that was still bubbling in her stomach despite being barely conscious. She had to get them out of this, they had to get to safety. But all too soon they were reaching the familiar cages beneath the ring, and Jax’s fuzzy words made their way to her before the gate closed behind him. Fuck you, she wanted to say, but her weaknes paired with the pheremones prevented any words from even beginning to fall from her. Powerless. Just as she’d been when Montgomery had been preparing to raise his blade. Not again, not now, not ever. But try as she might, and as stubborn as she was, her eyes drooped, closing as darkness took hold of her, passing out with a final thought. Exactly how were they going to get out of this?

[nelllraiser]

LGBeach part-T | remmy, nell, shiloh, skylar, & winn

LOCATION: cursed frozen beach of freezing chest fame. PARTIES: @whatsin-yourhead​, @nelllraiser​, @evanescentform​, @theskyeandsea​, @packsbeforesnacks​. RECCOMENDED LISTENING: [ 1 ] [ 2 ] THE BATTLE PLAN: [ by cal ] SUMMARY BELOW: 

calcifiresToday at 7:50: LGBeach par-T: Location: the beach Description: Ice-capades ensue. See video [Power of Love Video LInked] HellaHairFlipToday at 7:50 PM: the sailors go to the ice capades. moon crystal power. deusxmanichaToday at 7:51 PM: "HUNTERS, SELKIES, WEREWOLVES, WITCHES, & ZOMBIES: ON ICE!!!!!" envysaurus-rexToday at 7:51 PM: power of love is my otp song for shylar

For being such a small box, the Imperial-or-whatever box sure felt heavy in Remmy’s hands. It looked somehow both extremely delicate and extremely sturdy, held together with a network of pins and latches that Remmy itched to undo. Kinda like the box Ricky had have them solve. But it would have to wait. Whatever power this box had, Remmy wasn’t sure they could use it. In fact, they were almost positive of it. Cece had acted as if it held a great power, as if she could feel it, but Remmy felt nothing. Even as they made their way down to the beach-- despite Blanche’s protests-- Remmy couldn’t feel anything. Supposedly this thing had a connection to the chest, but how was someone undead and disconnected from the energies of the whatever ether supposed to feel that? 

The beach was empty. Of course it was, though. Remmy had chosen to go closer to night so that it would be. Nobody wandering by, either. Remmy could see well enough at night, anyway, and involving other people wasn’t a good idea this time. They had no idea what was going to happen with this, so it was best if people kept a distance. All they needed now was someone pure of heart. Blanche was supposedly sending someone their way. 

Remmy made their way down the beach tentatively, keeping an eye out for karkinoids. They’d mostly started to recede the past few weeks, lethargic and dwindled in numbers. The frozen snow and ice crunched beneath Remmy’s feet as they approached the chest carefully, wary of what might happen when the two boxes met. It was only when they were right in front of it that Remmy realized the little markings on the box in their hands seemed to match the ones on the chest. They didn’t know what that meant, other than that the two objects were clearly connected. Finally, Remmy came to a stop. It felt like there needed to be some big build up or drama or drum roll, but Remmy didn’t have time for that. So they just plopped the box onto the chest, and waited.

And nothing happened.

Well, one thing happened. Chittering. Karkinoids. Remmy would recognize the sound anywhere. Whirling, they turned on foot, picking up the rubber mallet they’d brought with them just in case. And it looked like that “just in case was” happening after all.

It had been weeks since Nell had encountered the mysterious zombie and the Garkain, having intended to do a tracking spell ages ago after she’d seen the draugr do it’s impressive work of annihilating the monster. But between everything that had happened between then and now, it had simply continued to slip her mind, more important things getting in the way such as keeping Remmy safe, making sure her house wasn’t destroyed by a demon, making sure Seth wasn’t destroyed by a demo, Winston’s name...It had just been one thing after another. However, it seemed that today had been the day the universe decided to give Penelope a moment of peace, and the knife the zombie had left behind that fateful night was finally given it’s moment to shine. 

The spell was easy enough, and she followed it’s pull towards the beach, the one where the chest had been deposited some time ago. Anticipation mounted as she felt the pull grow stronger, tighter as she neared her quarry. Clearing the last dune, she raised a hand to shield her eyes from the setting sun, squinting along the coastline. Where the hell was her zombie? Hold on. There was someone near the chest. Was this it then? FInally the end of her short-lived quest? The bad-ass zombie that was practically begging to be a fighter for the Ring with its impressive display was…”Remmy?” Holy shit. Had she ever been more blind in her entire life? As she walked towards her friend, she took out the little knife the zombie- Remmy had dropped, running her thumb over the letters on it one last time. R. M. Remmington McAllister. It had practically been slapping her in the face. “Buddy- I think this is your’s.”

This time, she called their name louder, raising an arm over her head in a wave. “Remmy! What are you doing out here?” It didn’t take long to walk closer, something even stronger than her tracking spell tugging her towards the chest. All she could focus on was the box for a few moments, the waves of magic pulsating off it nearly impossible to ignore. “What the hell is that? And where did you get it?” But instead of an answer coming from Remmy, it seemed the murderous lobsters were the ones who wanted to speak their mind on the matter. “Ahhh, shit.” Her boot dug into the ice beneath it, already knowing this was terrible terrain for a fight as she bent to pull her trusty dagger from its hiding spot. “Well, this should be fun.”

Time passed at the arcade - hours turned to minutes. Shiloh couldn’t have asked for a better person to spend time with than with Skylar. It started with the games they had in the front, pinball games, space invaders, donkey kong - this arcade had them all. Of course, not all of them were winners (they actually lost quite a few games) but Shiloh had never felt more like a winner that day.

It wasn’t until they finished up with a few matches of laser tag that they decided, hey maybe they should step outside and enjoy the rest of the day - only to find the sun had already begun to set. It still didn’t hinder their plans as they just decided to take a nice stroll for the remainder of the evening. It was turning out to be a very long date and honestly, Shiloh didn’t want it to end. The sunset was just a perfect end to a perfect date. Shiloh had even asked Skylar for a kiss when she heard something in the distance. It would have been easy to ignore - it should have been but Shiloh turned her head to the sound.

“Did you hear that? There’s something over there. C’mon.” She couldn’t even make out what she was hearing but knew as they got closer to the beach, she knew they were heading in the right direction. It sounded like scrapes on the ice.

As they arrived, what she saw stopped her in her tracks. Were those lobsters? Why was that one so big? That was way too big. Her eyes tore from the lobsters and she could see two people there - both which looked like they were heading over to the lobsters. That didn’t look safe. Shiloh took a step and realized it was slippery. She offered a hand for Skylar. “Careful, it’s slippery,” she gently warned and continued heading over there.

Something was pulling her to that chest and its pull was enough to make her overlook the gathering of weird looking lobsters. Maybe if she didn’t look at them, they weren't there…

Spending time with Shiloh was like a breath of fresh air to Skylar. Was she still incredibly nervous around the other woman, particularly after their prior date? Yes, and she probably always would be. But…spending time with someone outside of all the craziness she’d been dealing with and who wanted to hang out with her… it was nice. And Skylar could really use nice right now. Which is why the arcade had been so much fun. She’d never been to a place like that and, though she’d been a little worried, it had been a lot of fun. And when they’d exited the arcade, startled to find that night had begun to fall, she hadn’t wanted the date to end. So, a nice long walk it was, talking, holding hands, and a request for a kiss.

But when Shiloh paused, just before their lips met, Skylar blinked in confusion. Her ears straining, she frowned. What was she missing? “I don’t-- oh! Um, okay.” She nodded, following along behind Shiloh. As she realized that they were heading towards the beach, towards the ocean, a pit formed in her stomach. Sticking her hand in her jacket pocket, she instinctively reached for the case that she kept her hearing aids in. What was going on--

As they rounded the corner, Skylar nearly ran into Shiloh as the other woman came to a full halt. Wincing, Skylar saw a small horde of not at all small karkinoids surrounding-- “Remmy?! Nell?” She yelled, “What are you two doing, get away from there!” But even as she said that, she could feel a strange pull, drawing her towards the chest. Glancing over at Shiloh, she grimaced. Oh no. Oh no, no, no. This was the last thing she wanted to happen. For more of this supernatural bullshit to ruin her life. But, the sway continued and she found herself gingerly walking across the ice towards the chest.

Winn was running the Crypteens through remedial shooting drills — hey, practicin’ the basics was important — when his phone started buzzing in his back pocket. Not many people had his number, and twenty-two of them were within the Arena right now, so… That could be bad. But still. Commitments. He led the kids through the remainder of the drill, the sun hanging low in the sky outside of the Arena, before turning his coaching duties over to his assistant coach for the last hour of practice. Always eager to get her feet wet, even if — especially when — Winn requested it out of nowhere, Annetta clapped her hands together and smiled somethin’... a little evil, if Winn was bein’ honest.

His signal strength in the locker room was shit, but the message eventually popped and crackled into his ear: Blanche was a mess, sick and… crying (???), but his heightened hearing came to the rescue. He caught that Remmy was in trouble, and that it had somethin’ to do with that stupid chest on the beach. (In that moment, Winn regretted not askin’ Ricky or Blanche or Remmy to tell him more about it.) Listening again, he was able to parse a little more of what Blanche was saying… What the fuck did she mean “pure of heart”? No time to worry about that. He remembered, a fragment from a news report on the radio, that the chest was surrounded by ice. Well, he wouldn’t be caught with his tail out twice. He slung his stick on his back, grabbed a bag of pucks, and shoved his skates into his bag, ready to fight whatever fight needed fightin’.

The sun had set over the horizon by the time his bike started to approach the beach along the river, and— Shit, had he been blind? How had he avoided seeing this? He only barely recognized from this distance, thanks to his night vision, the form of Remmy and… a girl? Probably? Engaged with… Satan lobsters? Winn made a mental note to stay in the fuckin’ loop next time, what the shit were they? He’d grown up near the Bay, and the biggest lobster he’d ever seen had been torso-sized, not human-sized. Two figures, just far enough out of his vision even as he pulled aside on the road, were surrounding an object — probably the chest, right? Winn leapt off his bike, making his way to hide behind a — frosty, Christ — boulder at the edge of the ice. No one had noticed him yet, including the cursed crustaceans. He could hear the sounds of a struggle behind him, one that he needed to jump into. Quick. Sliding on his skates, he tried to think of a decent game plan… Eh, fuck it. He’d wing it.

Winn vaulted over the boulder and came face-to-face with a small army of salty seafood. The biggest fucker was right in his line of sight, obviously, to Winn’s adrenaline-brain at least, where he should direct his energy. Just needed to piss it off long enough for whoever the fuck was dealin’ with this situation to open the damn chest. The “pure of heart” or whatever. That phrase clicked somethin’ in his heart, a soft push towards where he figured the chest was. Weird, but Winn definitely wasn’t that. So, he firmly ignored the impulse, and did what any considerate jock would do: Gave a warning.

“HEAD’S UP!” he yelled at Remmy and the other person, lining up his shot and beaming a hockey puck with all of his wolf-enhanced strength straight at the eyes of the ugliest catch of the day he’d ever seen. Nothin’ to get your feet wet with the supernatural like a good ol’ wrestle, right? 

Remmy was a simple zombie. They didn’t really question things that happened, but five minutes ago, they had been alone on the beach, and now Nell was coming up behind them, lobsters were rushing the beach, and someone was shouting behind them. Remmy turned to look at who was calling out, recognizing the voice. “SKYLAR?” they called out. “No, get-- get out of here! It’s dangerous!” they shouted, lifting the mallet-- and sliding a little on the ice, zombie enhancements certainly didn’t help with that-- and swinging it towards a straggling lobster who thought being the quickest was the best idea. It wasn’t. He squelched and screamed as the mallet went through his shell, enhanced with slightly starved zombie strength. It was a risk, but Remmy had purposefully not eaten today, knowing they were coming here for this. Strength comes with starving, Deirdre had said. And she’d been right. Remmy’s thoughts were interrupted when another booming voice called across the ice. Looking up just in time to watch a hockey puck slam straight into the side of their head. It was weird, Remmy thought, as they nearly tumbled over, that this didn’t hurt. “I’m okay!” they called out when the dizziness stopped. “I’m good, just-- aim better, please!” 

Apparently, everyone had chosen this exact moment to show up for a nice game of beach ice hockey death lobster volleyball, and Nell wasn’t exactly pleased with it. Especially when a puck beamed Remmy in the head. “Do you mind?!” She called out after seeing that Remmy was alright, adrenaline making her have even less patience than usual. “It’s hard enough with the ice!” As if the universe was determined to make Nell feel the wrath of her words, she slipped as she tried to advance on one of the karkinoids, ending up eye-level with it. Thinking quickly, she jammed her dagger into its now easily accessible soft underbelly, and the thing joined the one Remmy had dispatched. Perhaps the ice was good for some things. She got back to her feet, and noticed the two other girls now hovering near them. “What are you all doing here? Get off the beach!” The last thing they needed was more people for lobsters to chomp on. 

Wait, was that Bea’s sister? And did Skylar know the other people here? Why were all of them coming closer to these huge lobsters. Shiloh was at a loss for words. “I don’t think we should be here,” she muttered more to herself than anything. Yet she didn’t move - at least not away, instead she moved closer, eyes moving from the chest to the two people trying to fight off the lobsters. “Guys, I’m not sure we should be fighting these things.” But who would? Who were you going to call for these giant lobsters? Shiloh had thought people were exaggerating but… no, these things were actually huge. Honestly, what the hell was happening right now? Shiloh was desperately trying to think things through but unfortunately, life doesn’t have a general reaction to seeing huge lobsters coming at you.

Skylar continued to walk forward, sliding slightly across the edge where ice met sand. Oh crap. This was terrible, there were giant freaking Karkinoids everywhere, and her friends were all here. Going to get sliced-- “REMMY!” She shrieked and turned around to look in the direction of the offending puck that had smacked them in the face. “What are you doing?!” Skylar asked, hands balling at her sides as she took in the sight of Winn, hockey stick in hand. Glancing over at Shiloh, she grimaced, the material of her veneers clicking together in a reminder of her secrets. She’d seen Ricky crush a Karkinoid’s shell in his teeth, but she wasn’t like him, she couldn’t do that, she wasn’t going to… out herself like that. “Shiloh’s right, why are you even here? Shouldn’t we be running?” She asked. But even as she said that, a sinking feeling of dread filled her. The karkinoids were only growing in numbers. Running wasn’t going to be an option for much longer.

“Shit,” Winn swore as the puck sliced, missing the slightly-larger-than-the-rest demonic decapod and knocking into Remmy’s jaw. Shit. Hope Remmy had a healing factor like he did. Winn knew he was strong. He called out a quick, “Sorry!” as his shoulder twinged in pain. Fuck. New moon was close, and his injury hadn’t fully healed up. (Why wasn’t it healing?) “Remmy!” he called out. “Blanche sent me! Who the hell is crackin’ this thing open?” A lobmonster skittered closer to him, and Winn skated around it, trying to draw its attention away from the humans standing over near the chest. It kept its eyes trained on him, but didn’t move closer once he hit the edge of the ice. That twinge in his heart flared up, and he glanced from the beast to the chest, and back. If it came after him, he could outskate it. But that wouldn’t help anyone. It was close enough now that… He dropped another puck to the ground, adjusting on the fly to make sure it didn’t fly into the dark and hit another poor asshole, and swung hard at the thing before him, hoping how close it was would make… Bullseye. The monster screamed and retreated back closer to the chest, giving Winn an opportunity to circle around it and closer to Remmy and their mystery friend, though he was still farther away than he’d like. Fuck. He shoulda brought more pucks.

This was very quickly turning into a situation Remmy was not comfortable with. All these people had showed up and were not heeding any warnings and coming closer to this instead. “Skylar, no!” Remmy called back out, reached up a quick hand to readjust their slightly askew jaw. “Go back!” They waved at her, wondering who the girl next to her was-- but now really wasn’t the time for that. More and more karkinoids were rising from the water, scuttling as quick as their gross, crustacean legs could carry them, towards Remmy, Nell, the chest, and the others heading for them. “I’m trying--” Remmy shouted back over their shoulder at Skylar, as they turned to face the onslaught with Nell-- “to open--” swung the mallet again, cracking one across the face. Reached down to yank Nell back to her feet-- “that stupid--” swung again at another one, harder this time-- “CHEST!” Eyes glowering red for a moment, the mallet smashing through and sending karkinoid guts everywhere. Winn was shouting something now, something about Blanche. She’d sent him? Well...that didn’t matter either. “THEN GET OVER HERE AND HELP!” they called, cleared their throat, “PLEASE?” Remmy glanced at Nell, giving her a worried look. “Anything uhh magic you got to help out here?”

For a second, Nell sent Remmy an absolutely bewildered look. They were trying to open the chest? What made them think they’d be able to- oh. The box full of magic they’d put on top of the chest when she’d waltzed up. “The box thing?” She asked, half-yelling over all the carnage that was beginning to unfold. “Is that what opens it?” Shit, this was a lot of karkinoids, though, far more than she’d seen gathered anywhere else in town. Five of them, and she didn’t have any clue about the others ability to fight. The odds didn’t look...great. Pointing blinding at Shiloh at Skylar for a split second, she simply called out, “Do something with the box and the chest!” Her hopes that such a thing would prove fruitful were...low after granting her very specific and stellar wisdom. As far as she knew, neither of the girls had any knowledge of magic. As far as magic went...she’d been trying her best not to use it in public spaces such as this, or in front of people she didn’t know. After all, there was a witch-hunter in town. “We’re fine, we’re fine! Maybe later!” she insisted, not wanting to resort to such measures yet. Instead, she continued to hack at the lobsters, dodging their deadly claws as she pulled another dagger from her boot, wielding in both hands while she dispatched as many as she could, moving from one to the next in fluid and practiced motions.

“Wait is their jaw -“ Shiloh started, weakly pointing off in their direction, wondering what the hell was going on? How can someone get hit like that and act like it was normal. Skylar… she knew that wasn’t normal, none of this was normal, right? Yet everyone was acting like this was just… something they had to do. She reached out for Skylar’s hand, not to pull her away but she needed something to comfort her and right now, Skylar was the only one who could do that. So what was the whole situation now? A bunch of lobsters. And a chest? Shiloh didn’t have to look far to find it. It was like her eyes were immediately drawn to it. “I think the chest will help get rid of the lobsters, Skye. We just have to go and open it.” Was it a bomb?? Who knows but if all they had to do was go open it to help them and the path was clear - they were going to do that. There was no need to put themselves in any danger. Shiloh could help these people without anyone having to get further injured even though that person with the broken jaw looked very injured but maybe she was just seeing things - yeah that was it. 

Did Nell just pull more daggers out of her shoes? How many did she have in there? Skylar blinked, shaking her head-- not the time to think about that. In the chaos of everything happening around, the shouting, and the very loud chittering of angry karkinoids, she was able to catch something about a box? But not the chest? What? As Shiloh grasped her hand, Skylar swallowed. Shit, shit, shit. There was too much sound, too much going on, too much pressure. “The chest? The chest… Okay, okay, but what about the box?” She asked, before glancing over at Winn. “You know about the box? Open it then! I’m not-- this wasn’t supposed to happen! None of this should be happening!” She yelled at him before jerking her leg back out of range from a karkinoid that had come dangerously close to snipping at her foot. 

“Hey, lady— Wait, shit, Skylar?” Winn’s eyes finally caught up with the rest of him as he got closer to the main fight… and to the chest. The pull of it was callin’ to him, a pull which he promptly ignored, thinking he was goin’ a little batshit in this extremely stressful situation. “Shit, dude! Terrible time for a first meetin’, but hope you enjoyed your gift!” Jokes. He could do jokes. The chest more firmly in his sight now, he saw that Remmy (presumably, it seemed like they knew what they were doin’) had put another box on top of the chest. “Now how the fuck do you open a box with a box, Remmy?” Winn hollered at them as the biggish seafood special, the one he’d previously tried to thwack with a puck, made its way to him. Alright, time for some acrobatics. He was grateful, at that moment, that he’d taken some of his hockey padding off, and that he had just enough space between him and the asshole with claws to build up some speed. Winn skated across the ice, blowing by Remmy and their friend, and leaped with the ease of years of experience on the ice. And his ma had said learnin’ proper ice skating would be a waste! He landed on its back, barely facin’ the right way for his plan, as it tried to buck him off, like the world’s most dangerous mechanical bull. “Fuckin’ hell,” he mumbled. Alright, these things needed to breathe, right? He yanked his stick underneath the thing’s head and pulled with both his arms. It kicked and it screamed, and Winn thought the stick might snap in half — it was his backup stick anyway — but its movements were getting sloppy. “Someone wanna stab this thing while I’ve got it distracted? PLEASE?” he yelled at the other combatants.

Remmy looked around just in time to watch Winn come skating across the ice and do a leap onto a karkinoid that would impress even professional bull riders. Not sure that was the safest tactic, but Winn looked like he could take care of himself. It was Skylar and the other girl with her that Remmy was worried about. “The box! It-- it um, folds out!” Remmy said, swinging again. A miss this time, but the lobster also seemed distracted and unable to claw them. Oh, right-- the bracelet. Remmy hoped it would work well enough as more started to surround them and they swung in a circle to clear a path. “It’s-- it holds the power! Or s-something.” They couldn’t remember everything Cece had told them. They should’ve just written it down, dammit. “Someone with-- pure heart has to open it! Hold it to the--” but they stopped, mid sentence, as a gargling noise and the sound of rushing water echoed around. And from the depths of the ocean, rose a claw, the size of a man. And then another claw. Followed by the body of something that Remmy was pretty sure that one horror dude wrote about. They swerved, bewildered, to look at Nell. “Now can you use magic??” 

Pure of heart? Holds the power? What the hell was Remmy even talking about? But Nell didn’t particularly have time to question it in the midst of trying not to completely eat it on the ice while she did her best to gut as many karikinoids as she could. Besides, she trusted Remmy. And yet...as the two girls grew closer to the chest, Nell could have sworn she heard the stereotypical boss music in every video game start to play. For a moment she was simply starstruck, a sharp smile beginning to spread across her lips. Oh, hell yeah. A karkinoid that looked like it could take the place of the RV in ‘We’re the Millers’? Sign her the fuck up. “We’re eating good tonight, guys!” she called out, rushing towards the giant thing. But the small lobsters kept getting in her way, deterring her progress. Nevertheless she took the appearance of the giant lobster to mean they were doing something right. After all, didn’t the boss always come out at the end? Maybe Remmy was right. “Okay, okay!” Time to stop messing with the little bait karkinoids so she could get to the big one. Rolling up a sleeve of her jacket, she revealed a tattoo she’d gotten some time ago, a summoning sigil that she chanted into for a moment, slicing her thumb open to pour some blood over it. In a few moments, a trio of hellhounds had appeared from misty darkness, waiting to do Nell’s bidding. “Dinner, boys,” she simply said before the shadowy beasts began to tear into the karkinoids, roasting some with fire from their maws while crushing others between hellishly strong jaws. 

Shiloh focused on that chest - if it could help them, that’s all that mattered. Everything was going well, all things considered until she felt a rumble at her feet and stopped in her tracks. She wished she didn’t look up because Really Huge Lobsters. That was a thing. And some guy thinking it was safe to ride one. Okay. Focus Shiloh. She kept heading over to the chest when a “small” lobster (compared to that huge mother of a lobster) scurried in front of her. Before she could even react, a… shadow? Dog? Ran right to it and snatched it up and ran. “Okay.” Was all Shiloh could say as she forgot how to breathe. The last thing she needed was to lose her cool in front of Skylar, even though there wasn’t a better situation to do it! All she wanted to do was open that chest and hopefully all this would end. Maybe it would all end up being a dream. It started off as such a nice one too. As she reached the chest, she knelt down, this thing didn’t seem to have any noticeable latches. She grabbed the box on top of it and turned it over. She looked over at Skylar. “What do we have to do?”

Struggling to make out Winn’s words over the yelling, screaming, lobster noises, and very sudden presence of the biggest freaking Karkinoid she’d ever seen in her life, Skylar squinted, trying to make out the sounds. “Lyft? What, is he a Lyft driver?” She mumbled under her breath before shaking her head. Before she could really figure out any sort of game plan though, Nell did some kind of weird gesture and then-- “No! No! NO!” She yelled, scrambling away from the three hell-dogs that had appeared from nowhere. “WHAT THE FUCK?!” Skylar shrieked as she attempted to continue to back away, only to run the back of her legs solidly into the chest. Dogs. Big fiery, scary, hell dogs with giant teeth. Skylar’s blood was pounding in her skull, but she forced herself to get a handle on the instinct that screamed at her to run away. She couldn’t run away, no matter how much she wanted to. “I--” She swallowed, still trying to process everything, “I-- Box. Something about a box? I can’t, I can’t hear over everything.” Skylar said. “Maybe we need to put the box inside the chest..?”

It occurred to Winn, as he continued to be bucked by the now second biggest bull at the County Fair, that he was going to have to deal with this the hard way. Well. They didn’t call it leg day for nothing. He substituted his stick for his legs as the monster’s attention was drawn towards its granddaddy from the deep, tugging tightly, tighter even than he’d been able to manage with the stick, and leaned forward, careful of the creature’s claws. They snapped over top of him, trying to get at Winn, belly down on the hard shell of the beast. Alright. Eat this, asshole. Winn pulled a puck from his pocket, and emergency back-up plan in case he needed one last-ditch effort, and smashed it against the creature’s mouth, forcing it in, wincing as the creature gnashed at his hand. Ah well. Healing factor for the win (ha). He hoped the puck was just big enough to… The bottom of his stick in his dominant hand as he held the puck in the dumb thing’s mouth, Winn shoved, hard, and kept pushing, and pushing, and pushing, until the puck, and the stick, were halfway down its gullet. Once it was lodged in there, Winn pulled up, and up, until he heard the slow crack of the wood, legs still tight around it, and shoved down. It wailed, screamed, gnashed, a horrible, gut-wrenching sound as Winn pushed the stick down and down, and out the bottom of the beast, through its underbelly. It fell slowly, twitched for a moment, and moved no more. Winn pulled his stick, holdin’ together, if only barely, out of the things mouth like a gooey Excalibur, before turning to the big fucker in the ocean. “Game plan, guys?” he called to the rest of his allies, chancing a glance to where Skylar and her lady friend were fiddling with the box and the chest. “I can do this all night.”

Not quite what Remmy had in mind for the magic, but it was better than nothing. It wasn’t like they really knew much about magic or how it worked, only that the bracelet around their wrist sure was a saving grace right now. Somehow, though, Remmy could feel it fading. It didn’t feel warm and heavy on their wrist so much anymore. “OPEN THE--” they started, then noticed Skylar struggling. “SKYLAR!” they shouted so that she’d at least know they were talking to her, and when she looked over, they signed ‘Open the smaller box to make it flat. Put on the chest. Hope something happens’. That’s what Cece had said. The Imperium would activate once the pure of heart part was there. Skylar was as pure as anyone got, to Remmy. Hopefully this would work. Suddenly, a sharp pain. Wow, Remmy hadn’t felt pain in a long time. What was that? They looked down, found a lobster claw sticking out of their stomach. Oh. Oh, that would do it. Without really knowing what to do now, Remmy screamed. They yanked away, the claw removing itself with a squelching noise, stumbling. Turned blindly with the mallet and swung, but claws grasped the handle and it was lost to their grip. It was a little surreal, having a hole in their stomach and not seeing blood. There was definitely something there, though, but Remmy didn’t want to look at it, for fear it was probably whatever organs were in that spot. It would heal, right? Hands caught a swiping claw. Eyes red and angry, that hunger growing inside of them again. Remmy’s hands tightened and the shell of the claw started to crack. With a loud yell, they pulled-- and ripped the claw right off. The karkinoid screeched and flopped away. Now for the big boy. Remmy’s eyes, still red, looked from Nell, to the big one. “Just...open the stupid chest,” they exhaled, stalking past Winn.

As far as opening magical chests went, Nell wished she had a little more clarity about exactly how this one was meant to work. All she’d gathered so far was that those pure of heart seemed to be the key. Thankfully, she trusted that at least Shiloh and Skylar were the most pure of those among them. Then there was the hockey man, Winn. How did he fit into all this? “Ahhh, fuck,” she cursed as a lobster ran Remmy through, not getting their in time to help with that situation. Well- no better time to be a zombie, right? “You good, Remmy?” she called out over the fray, figuring it still wasn’t exactly pleasant to be gutted by a karkinoid. But a quick look towards her friend made her realize just how close they were to zombie-ing out, and an idea formed in her head. “Remmy!” she called out again. “I can trigger you! Make you go full out!” There wasn’t really time to include the part of her plan that featured her being used as bait to guide Remmy on a lobster killing rampage. “Does that sound good?” She didn’t want to surprise them by forcing the change. But as soon as Remmy gave her a nod of confirmation, Nell was scooping up the brains of one of the lobsters her hellhounds had crushed open, flinging it straight into Remmy’s face. And then- she sloshed another handful of brains and viscera after it, just for good measure.  A moment later, she sliced a portion of her arm open, waving it high over her head as if that would carry the delicious scent of human to the hopefully hungry zombie. She didn’t wait to see if they would give chase as she flung herself over the back of a lobster putting it between her and Remmy as she blazed a trail towards the giant karkinoid, giving herself a bit of a magical speed boost to avoid being zombie dinner.

Despite not being her name, Shiloh picked her head up when she heard Skylar’s name being called. However, she wasn’t much use after that as the person started signing and Shiloh didn’t know sign language. Couldn’t pick a better time to be an idiot. Instead she looked over at Skylar, hoping she could make out what they were saying. Until then, Shiloh kept playing with the box, even trying to open the chest to put in but obviously there was no way it was going to open so this was tricky. As she messed with it she discovered she could open it flat and was a little startled when it happened - momentarily worried she’d broken it. It was really hard trying to focus with all the noise around her. So when she heard Skylar’s voice, it was welcomed and she turned to look at her. 

Head turning to the sound of her name, Skylar watched in confusion as Remmy signed at her. Open it flat? As she muddled through the information she was given, her eyes widened, “Rem! Behind--” And then Remmy was impaled, right before her eyes, a lobster claw protruding from their body. Horror and bile rose in the back of her throat as she quickly turned away. Remmy, they were a zombie. They were a zombie-- that sort of thing would be fine. They’d be totally fine. This was fine. Oh god, how was any of this fine?! Turning around to face the chest, she ran her hands over the surface, fingers brushing over the runes. Immediately, a sense of freezing cold washed over her, almost bringing her to her knees. “Don’t-- don’t touch the chest,” Skylar said through chattering teeth. “N-not with your hands.” Looking at the weird little box in Shiloh’s hands, she realized that she’d already figured out how to get the thing to lay flat. “I th-think you’ll be fine if you touch it with that though? Remmy said t-to open it and then put it on the chest?” Looking over at the three squaring up against Mr. Giant Freaking Lobster, she immediately wished she hadn’t. Nell was chucking lobster guts at Remmy for some reason and when she brought her knife up to her arm-- Nope! Looking back at Shiloh, she offered a nod. “I think they have it. Give it a sh-sh-shot?”

Winn scrambled backward on the ice as Remmy made their way past him, the tone in their voice raising the wolf’s hackles like not much else could. Winn knew, given what Blanche had told him, that Remmy was somethin’ that a Hunter would try and kill. And he knew, now, that being run through with a lobster claw would barely phase them. That was metal as fuck, if incredibly worrying. Jeez, at this rate, they’d both send Blanche gray before long. He had two pucks left, it was almost the new moon, and his hand was bleedin’ pretty badly from his stunt with the bull-lobster. Now, what was a werewolf to do? Remmy, the woman who’d just thrown viscera at Remmy, and three… dogs, he’d guess, were closin’ in on the boss. But there were still a couple of the smaller guys circling Skylar and her friend. He knew when to play defense. The werewolf whistled, loud as can be, at the monsters, waving his bloody hand and gesturing with his other at their dead sibling, hoping they could feel something beyond base instinct, and skated towards the edge of the ice towards the road, away from the boss and away from the chest. The lobmonsters followed him, eyeing him and his disgusting stick warily. “HURRY UP!” he yelled as loud as he could to the women at the chest, trying to piece together a plan. Their underbellies were less guarded, could he get under them in his human form? Dammit, he wish he had claws. Wait… He skated farther away — ignoring, once again, the tug from the chest, fuckin’ magic was so weird — and yanked off his skates, tossing his stick to the side and pulling them over his hands. His feet were a little cold now, and his traction was shit, but he’d survive. If all went to plan, he wouldn’t be on his feet for much longer anyway.

Remmy had to admit, in the moments before the dark hunger in their mind took over, that it felt kinda nice to let go. Fists flying through karkinoid shell, satisfying cracks. It was like all the anger and sadness they’d had pent up was flowing out of them through their hands and into each punch. And then the smell of fresh human blood hit their senses and eyes dimmed out, yellowed sclera and red irises turning on the source. Face grey and paled, veins highlighted through the thin flesh. Remmy’s head snapped up and turned. A karkinoid snapped at them but they caught the claw, one hand on each side, and pushed, turning the claw around backwards, before shoving through the thing, taking off at a speed not known to human. Each karkinoid that got in the way was met with yelling and fists, and teeth. But each slice they made stayed a little longer each time. Until Remmy was at the big one, trying to plow through one of its legs to get at Nell, not mindless yet, but not in control.

It’d been a moment since Nell had felt this alive, feet barely touching the ground as she sort of bounded across the ice, having discovered that worked better over the traditional style of running. This was the adrenaline she lived for, the delicious high she was constantly chasing in her everyday life. She didn’t bother to turn and see if Remmy was following her, able to hear it as they tore through karkinoids. Now faced with the monster of a karkinoid that had surfaced from the sea last, instinct made her fling some of her blood in Remmy’s direction, trying to get them as ravenous as she could to bring out their peak strength. Then, she whipped around the back of the big papa lobster, clambering up its tail and frantically climbing up the back of it as fast as she could, hoping the it’s enormous claws wouldn't be able to bend and reach her here. For a moment as she continued to ascend, she saw the entirety of the battlefield from above. The two girls fumbling with the chest, Winn looking like he was in the most avante-garde form of the Ice Capades she’d ever seen, and her hounds continuing to devour whatever they came in contact with. But the distraction cost her for a moment, stumbling over a raised part of the giant lobster’s shell, leaving her clinging to it to avoid falling back onto the ice.

“Are you okay?” Shiloh asked Skylar as she saw her start shivering. It was kind of cold given the ice and all but she could recall Skylar saying she ran warm. Shiloh wished she brought a jacket with her and struggled with what took more importance at the moment. Trying to figure out this damn chest or Skylar coming down with sudden chills. “Come here.” Shiloh put her arm around Skylar’s shoulder’s able to feel her trembling. What the hell happened? They needed to get out of here. But they couldn’t leave before all this stopped. Turning back to the chest, Shiloh reached out for it like Skylar had told her. The box was flat and she touched the chest with it. Nothing. A couple of more seconds that felt more like minutes? Still nothing. She touched the top. The side. Moved it around. “It’s not working, Skye. Are you sure that’s all we had to do? Am I doing something wrong? Do you want to try?”

“I-I-” Skylar teeth chattered as she struggled to fight through the chill that had suddenly set in. “It’s gonna be fine. We g-gotta get this chest open.” She said, but even as she spoke, Shiloh was already busy at work doing what Remmy told her. Were they supposed to like… stick it inside the chest? It wasn’t going to just slot in, there wasn’t anywhere that it would belong. When Shiloh offered the weird box to her, Skylar shook her head, “I’m n-n-not apart of this. This stuff, it’s not… I’m not going to t-t-t-touch it.” She said. She wanted no part of any of this magic, supernatural garbage. She wasn’t going to get into this. Looking up from the chest, she saw that Winn had taken off his skates and was-- “Winn, g-g-get out of there! You’re going to get freaking ch-chopped in half!” She yelled. What the heck was he thinking, smacking the karkinoids around with his hockey skates? As she looked at him, Skylar shivered as she tried to muddle through her curse-fogged brain. “Wait! You work out, right? M-m-maybe you can pull the chest open?” She asked. That had to be better than just, popping the dumb box thing on the evil Pirates of the Carribean chest, right?

As the demonic dog trainer repeated his bull maneuver with the Final Fantasy boss in the distance and Remmy, looking ravenous, chased after her, and as Skylar and someone who was real comfortable getting in Skylar’s personal space — were they on a date? good for them! sorta! — futzed with the chest, Winn turned his attention to his targets. He couldn’t let the wolf go fully loose, not here in front of all of these (mostly) people, but he could do what its — his — instincts were tellin’ him to do. Namely: Slice and dice. He ran forward towards the two monsters, chittering at him like they were the ones who had him cornered, instead of the other way around, used the frantic energy of him stumbling on the ice to propel him as fast as he could go on his human feet. At the last minute, right as their claws came out to make mince meat of him, he dropped to his knees, jamming his skates into the top of their exposed underbellies and sliding through, pulling his makeshift ‘claws’ down as he went, ice burning into his barely-protected knees. Distracted just enough by the pain, their screams loud, so loud, in Winn’s ears, they didn’t have time to react as Winn jerked his claws back towards him, pulling the twin wounds open as he did, pulling the meat out and letting their guts spill onto the ice. Eventually, when the screaming stopped and Winn was sure that he wasn’t about to get his head lopped off, he rose, discarding the gored skates on the ice-covered ground beside him. He looked between his two options. He, a new moon-adjacent werewolf in human form with no shoes on and a bleeding hand, could go try and tackle a monster. Or, maybe… There was that pull from the chest again, his heart soaring as he looked at it. Alright. Well. Never say Winn didn’t listen to Destiny… the third time, at least. 

Remmy was like a steam roller, crushing through karkinoids as they made their way towards the delicious smelling human blood. Fists and feet wrecking a path straight through, tackling one after the other, grabbing tails and throwing them aside, the satisfying crunch of their shells sounding as they fell back to the ground. The smell was climbing up the lobster, and Remmy’s instincts drove them straight to it, fists punching, punching, punching, until a leg snapped backwards, even as a giant claw grasped for them. It teetered and Remmy took the opportunity to claw up it, hands digging into its soft underbelly as they reached for Nell, so close, so close to that tantalizing smell. 

Shit, shit, shit. Nell could hear Remmy nearly on her, and today’s schedule did not include getting bitten by a zombie. In a scurried movement, she finally regained her footing, a next to insane idea popping into her head as she looked at her feet. She didn’t have a sword big enough to rip through this beast. But...she might have a person savage enough to. Not even having a moment to think about how utterly repulsive it might be, Nell let loose a raw blast of magic down into the karkinoid, launching herself into the hole it made, and praying Remmy would follow after her into the literal belly of the beast. If they couldn’t pierce through the exoskeleton all at once, might as well do this from the inside out, right? As soon as she was encased in the cavity she’d made, holding her last breath she’d taken from the outside world, she began to propel herself with blasts of her magic through the guts and who knew what else of the karkinoid, burrowing like a vole being chased by a marten. If the damage she was causing wasn’t enough to kill the thing, Remmy tearing after her certainly would be. Finally- she tunneled out of the other side, landing in an ungraceful and gooey pile beneath the monster.

“I thought you said not to touch it.” Shiloh asked, wondering how trying to break open the chest was going to fix it when they were supposed to use this other… flat box thing. “Can’t you help me?” Shiloh asked, not sure why Skylar wanted her to do this all alone. Her eyes looked up as she saw this guy coming up to them. She couldn’t recall ever seeing him before but supposed that didn’t matter. Maybe this guy was at least willing to try to help and open it. “Look, I tried putting this thing on the chest and it doesn’t do anything.” She told him, even offering him the box itself. “Can you try because I’m probably doing it wrong.”

“N-not with your hands. I’m… I got cursed. Th-this happened to Ricky.” Skylar explained through trembling lips, still very much freezing cold. “I-I’m not, this isn’t me. I’m just here.” As Winn neared the chest, Skylar let out a small sigh of relief though the gesture was ruined slightly by the shaking of her shoulders. “Winn. You, you’ve got to help us. They,” She swallowed, struggling to get her head out of the brain fog, “They said something about pure of heart and power? Y-you and Shiloh? M-m-maybe that’s what they need? This magic stuff. I’m not… I’m not a part of this. It’s not me.” She said shaking her head. She wasn’t a seal, she wasn’t magical at all. She was just a normal girl who’d gone on a normal date that had gotten ruined by giant freaking lobsters, blood magic, satan dogs, and one of her best friends turning into Zombie Hulk. None of this was her business. She’d just been dragged along for the ride. “You’ve got to help her. I c-c-can’t do this.” She pleaded.

Winn hated to be the voice of reason. Truly, he did. He didn’t mind, so much, talkin’ to people, tryin’ to get them to come to their own conclusions about things. But a conclusion wasn’t always reasonable. Sometimes, it was messy. Imprecise. Hurt like hell. There wasn’t room for a conclusion here, only reason. Only a step forward. He nodded at the girl, Shiloh, and started talking calmly, but clearly, to Skylar: “Skylar. I don’t know much about this magic stuff either, not really. I don’t really know what bein’ pure of heart means, and, by all of my accounts, I ain’t it. But magic is real fuckin’ stupid, I think. And it don’t much care whether or not you want it to be in your life or not, if it’s got its hooks into you, you’ve got a choice. You either go with the current, or you get crushed against the rocks. Maybe I’m not pure of heart, maybe you don’t want to be a part of this magic shit. But Shiloh here is maybe the smartest of the three of us, ‘cause she knows she has to just buckle down, and do it. You can do it, and we will do it. Together. Because we have to. There will be time, later, for fightin’ against fate. There will be time for questions. But now, all we can do, all the three of us have to do, is put a hand on this godforsaken chest, and hope like hell that we can fix somethin’ that’s broke.” He reached a hand towards Skye. “C’mon. I’m scared too. Scared as hell.” He nudged Shiloh to place her hand over his, both of them reaching out to Skylar, hands over the box. Hearts in tune. And, if only for one, indescribable moment, in that moment, Winn felt the magic.

Remmy’s target slipped right from their grasp and burrowed down into the giant monster. But that didn’t stop them. They scrambled and clawed their way up to the hole that had been made and tore a bigger one, ripping shell and muscle and meat away as they burrowed in, chasing after Nell. Hands tore at the inside guts, squelching in, ripping, tearing, pulling forward, until they were grabbing the inside of the karkinoid’s jaws, having lost the scent of blood, overwhelmed by karkinoid viscera. They pushed out, hearing its skeleton crack as they did, grasping to get out. The monster let out a scream and so did Remmy, before they finally pulled themself out, tearing jaws almost in half, and flopping onto the wet sand, covered in blood and guts. They stayed there for a long moment, somehow exhausted, blinking dazedly, cuts and scratches healing slower than normal, the hole in their stomach finally almost gone. For a moment, vision came back to Remmy, and from the ground, across the beach, they could see the three other people standing around the chest, hands all held together. And it felt...right. And then the smell of blood came back, and everything flooded red again.

Nell didn’t have time to rest as the monster voiced its death knell, knowing that underneath a humongous dying karkinoid was a very bad place to be. What goes up, must come down. Barely catching her breath, she darted out from beneath the thing as it finally found a resting place on the beach, an enormous thud emitting from the collision that she could have sworn had an echo. But as soon as she’d cleared the falling carcass, she knew there was still one more item to take care of. Remmy wasn’t just going to be all zen after tunneling through a massive amount of flesh and blood. As she stood her legs were shaky, the amount of sheer magic and energy she’d exerted rendering her uncertain of whether or not she’d be able to continue out-running a hungry zombie. She managed a few long strides before she stumbled onto the ice, a moment of panic flaring in her lest Remmy start to give chase again. But thankfully, the hellhounds were still picking at the leftover feast of karkinoids, and she summoned one to her, latching on its fur and sloppily clinging to its back as she urged it to run. But in the midst of all this, she chanced a glance towards the chest, and couldn’t help the flooding of relief that it seemed to finally be doing what it was supposed to. The magic around it was shifting, pooling amongst the three who’d gathered around the chest.

Shiloh listened to the guy, smiling as he seemed to be sensible enough minus the talk about magic. She’d rather choose not to think about that and instead focus on trying to convince Skylar that they should do this together. Which already relieved a good chunk of Shiloh’s stress that she didn’t have to open this weird chest all by herself. “Come on, Skye. Let’s do it together so we can all get out of here safely.” Shiloh at least hoped that the last part was true. It had to be. She had to have hope it would all be fine once they open the chest.

You either go with the current, or you get crushed against the rocks, Winn’s words struck a chord in Skylar. As she looked from him to Shiloh and to the flat box held between the two of them, she swallowed. “This… th-this is all real, isn’t it?” she mumbled, shaking her head. But, as much as she tried to deny it, as much as she tried to run away from the situation that bared down upon her, she couldn’t outrun this. She couldn’t just leave her friends here, she couldn’t just let them fight against this on their own. And… as much as she hated it, this was reality for her now. A world, previously unknown to her, had been revealed to her and she couldn’t escape its grasp. Swallowing, Skylar stared up at Winn, her bright blue eyes locking with his. “Y-you’re a good person, Winn. You c-came here and fought giant lobsters and tried to protect the town from this. You’re the most pure of heart out of us,” she said before reaching out and placing her hand alongside the other two. Glancing over at Shiloh, she offered a worried smile before focusing on the chest. There was no turning back now.

You’re the most pure of heart out of us. Winn fought back the flinch that rose up from within him. But Skylar didn’t know any better. It didn’t matter if he was, or he wasn’t. All that mattered was the chest. The moment Skylar’s hand touched his and Shiloh’s, all three hands were surrounded in warm light, which poured down from their hands like dancing fireflies and into the flattened box on top of the chest. As the light faded, the smaller, flatter box shuddered like an earthquake was rumbling it and only it, and flew off with such force that Shiloh, Skylar, and Winn were pushed back on the ice by the power of it, if only a little. Winn kept the girls’ hands clasped tightly in his own, unsure of the magical protocol here, but knowing that he, a reasonable man, really, really didn’t want to let go of the other two hands. Light, the same light that had encased their hands just seconds previous, rose from the chest, flittering upward like flecks of cinder and charcoal from a fire. Winn’s eyes took a moment to adjust to the return of the darkness, but when they did, he wished that he’d been blinded for a moment longer because he was staring face-to-uhh, eye with what was, by all accounts (and he might be going crazy, but he wasn’t that far gone) a sole, chest-sized, eyeball, flopping out and onto the remains of the ice. It stared at Winn, at Skylar, at Shiloh, making eye contact (ha) with them all, before taking its… uh, tail-lookin’ thing (Winn couldn’t remember biology at the moment, he was too freaked out, thanks) and slowly dragging itself towards the water. Winn watched it go with a sense of creeping dread and hysterical amusement. “What the fuck,” he said, slowly lowering, but not releasing, Skylar and Shiloh’s hands. “What the fuck was that? Why was it in the chest? Who? I? What the fuck.” He plopped down on the ice for a moment, gathering his bearings, his hand still held up above his head within Skylar’s and Shiloh’s, unwilling to let go quite yet.

Something was coming towards Remmy, and even in their tired, hungry state, all they wanted to do was catch it. And eat. They were so hungry. And so tired. And in pain. Pain wasn’t something they felt a lot anymore and it was heavy. Lobster claw marks lined their body and tore up their clothes, but they still lifted themself from the ground and stumbled after the moving thing. Whatever it was, it was moving and it was fresh and Remmy wanted it. Followed it straight into the ocean, waves beating at their face, choking and sputtering out of sheer reaction. Lungs didn’t need air, but the water still felt overwhelming. Moving until their feet couldn’t touch the ground anymore and water overtook them.

The chest opened, and everything seemed to paused for a moment. Nell stood stock still after slipping off the hound in her surprise, feeling as if the eye took a moment to make contact with each and every one of them before sloshing away. What the actual fuck? And then...a zombie was charging after it. “Ahhhh, fuck,” she cursed once more as Remmy went deeper and deeper into the tides. “Remmy! Remmy, no!” Why did she feel as if she was scolding some misbehaving dog who’d gone too far into the surf? “Remmy, get back here!” She used her best hellhound commanding voice, as she launched herself into the waves, a bit of lobster brain and guts she’d grabbed from the beach in hand. Adrenaline gave her another much needed boost, her tiredness melting away for a moment as the shock of the freezing water gripped her. Once she was close enough to Remmy, she reached out to grab them by the collar of their shirt, and carefully shove the bits of lobster down their mouth, avoiding any possible biting before dragging the two of them back through the waves the old fashioned way, finally finding safety on the beach.

Shiloh forcefully pulled her hand back from the other guy’s, despite one to be comforted by physical touch she didn’t know him and what she saw freaked her out way too much and she just wanted to be far away from him. When she got her hand free she crossed her arms, effectively closing herself off from whatever the hell just happened. An eye was in the chest and it just went into the water. Okay. That was a thing that happened now too. Whatever. Things were happening. In an effort to think of anything other than what just happened she looked over at Skylar. Reaching out gently to touch her in case she too was lost in thought. “Hey,” Are you okay what a stupid question. How did that even cross her mind? “- are you still cold? Do you wanna go?” She was just waiting for Skylar to give the okay for them to leave. She looked up to see the other two people safe so it was all fine they can go home now right? Shiloh didn’t want to be the first to leave (especially not without Skylar) but she didn’t want to stay around. She wanted to go home. She needed to get away from all this.

First, it had been beautiful-- the magic, the light, the warmth that filled her and erased the cold that had filled Skylar the moment she’d touched the chest. It had been beautiful. And then that giant fucking eyeball Cthulu-crawled out of the chest and ran into the ocean? Skylar jolted back in shock and horror, nearly tripping and falling over Winn’s form on the ice, his hand still tightly holding her own. But when Shiloh pulled away, arms folding tightly across her chest, Skylar slipped her hand out of Winn’s grasp gently, casting an apologetic look at him. “I meant what I said,” she mumbled, hoping that her words were clear enough for him to understand. The karkinoids were dead, their bodies littered around them on the ice, and the beach was silent save for the crashing of waves on the beach. Or rather, silent except for Nell yelling at Remmy. Glancing up, she watched as Nell yanked a delirious Remmy by the back of the shirt in the surf. “Oh jeez…” she muttered, rubbing her forehead. Before she could yell at the two of them to be careful, she felt a light touch on her arm and looked at Shiloh. “I’m okay now,” she said with a tired smile. Was she though? How was she okay with any of what had just happened? Reaching out, she offered her hand for Shiloh to take. “I… Yeah. Let’s go.” She nodded. As much as she tried to deny it, this was her life now. Magic seals and blood curses and evil demented eyeballs and all. But, that would be something to worry about in the morning. Tonight, she just wanted to live in that simpler world, where none of this had happened.

As Shiloh and Skylar let go of his hand, one slightly more roughly than the other, Winn felt a laugh pop out of his throat, sitting there. He laughed. Because this, well, this was his damn life now. And, alright, technically it had been since the day he’d stepped foot into the forest with Berto and his (then-future) packmates. But he’d never imagined this. Maybe he’d been foolish not to. And so he laughed, ‘cause really, when a giant eyeball falls out of a cursed chest and pulls its way through lobster monster guts to float into the river and towards the ocean, well… What could you do, but laugh? When he stopped, he felt boneless and tired, but… determined, in a way that he hadn’t felt in a while. There was one person he needed to message. Immediately. Wiping his hand on his pants, he pulled his cell out of his pocket and typed a quick message out to Ricky. They hadn’t spoken since… well. That didn’t matter. “Curse broken. Boom. You’re welcome,” he tapped out, waiting to hear the whoosh of it going through before turning his phone off and picking himself off of the already fading ice, which was seemingly being pulled back in towards the chest from whence it came. He had questions. A fuckload of them. But first. He stepped towards the chest, and looked down inside of it. Was that...? Coins. A lot of them, by the looks of it. Well, no way he was touchin’ them with his bare hands. “Hey! Magic lady!” he called, making an assumption since he knew those “dogs” hadn’t been there when he’d landed on the beach. “Somethin’ over here you might wanna do some magic on. ‘Cause I got questions, and I know a lot of other folks will too ‘fore long. Better safe than sorry, ya hear?” He unloosed the puck bag from his waistband, dumping the remaining pucks into the cold sand beneath his feet. Winn flipped it inside out and stuck his hand into the thick material, using it almost like a glove. He grabbed a small handful, and flipped the bag, carefully, back to its normal state. Winn didn’t want all of the coins — money wasn’t important to him, not in the slightest — but he did know a few people who might want to take a look at these. And ‘sides, he thought as he picked up the rest of his shit and walked away: He’d earned a damn souvenir.

[nelllraiser]

the ring-o was their name-o | remmy & nell

LOCATION: on their way home from smashing karkinoids. PARTIES: @whatsin-yourhead and @nelllraiser. SUMMARY: nell offers remmy a deal they can’t refuse a la godfather.

The single word that would sum Nell up after everything that had occured with the big papa lobster and Mister Eye was...exhausted. After her last spike of adrenaline had worn off as they got out of the ocean, she was ready to go home and sleep for hours. Still, she couldn’t deny that she’d reveled in a good fight. Finished with scooping a handful of the strange coins from the chest, she’d walked with Remmy away from the chest, the eye, and the beach. Hopefully she’d be able to unravel some of their mysteries when she had more of her magic readily available. The last thing she’d taken from the beach was a bit more of the lobster brains, just in case Remmy got peck-ish on the way home. “So-” she began nonchalantly. “You didn’t drop your knife again during the fight, right? Or in the ocean.” Nell didn’t have any particular desire to run into the tide in hot pursuit of any red-eyed zombie ever again.

Remmy felt a little dizzy, but after everything had started to heal back up, they didn’t feel any worse for the wear. They felt a little tingle in their arms, and somehow, their chest felt lighter. As if a weight had been lifted off it. For now. The slow trickling threat of their anger was still there, now just smeared across their knuckles as the only reminder left. They’d wiped some more of the guts off and used their now tarnished jacket as a towel for the rest, holding it out to Nell when they were done. “Oh, uh, no,” they said back, giving a little frown, “where um-- where did you even find it? I lost it awhile ago, I just assumed I’d never see it again.” They pulled said knife from their pocket, emblazoned with the army insignia on one side, their initials on the other. Darie had gotten it for them, when they’d been on their first leave from being posted overseas. They sighed with the memory, feeling that aching in their chest starting to come back. “And uh...sorry. About…” nodded back towards the beach. “But it uh-- it all worked out, right? I didn’t--” hurt anyone. The words left unspoken.

“Oh, thanks,” Nell said with a smile as she accepted the jacket. She was perhaps too drained to consider any possible magical cleaning at the moment. “I uhhhh-” How to broach this subject? “Well it actually kinda turns out- I’d met you even before the bracelet and Alain thing all happened. I didn’t know it was you, though. One time when you were zombie-d out. I’ve been looking for the zombie- er- you- ever since then.” She was glad to see they hadn’t lost the knife to the depths of the ocean, though. “Oh- don’t worry about it. If I was a zombie and I saw a giant eye...slop into the ocean, I’d probably try to run after it too. That’s like- probably a zombie dream or something.” But her grin grew wider as she didn’t hesitate to confirm. “The only thing you hurt were the karkinoids, Remmy. You were a goddamned superhero with your speed and strength!”

Remmy remembered those few days with a pang of guilt. They still weren’t sure what had happened during the black out, just like...just now, but that time was different. The last thing they’d seen was Blanche’s face, and then they woke up days later in alley covered in blood. “You saw me? I didn’t-- I didn’t like...hurt anyone that time, right?” They looked away. “That was um...I think the first time I’d really...lost control. I can’t remember anything.” They turned the knife over in their hands. “Oh, I-- I wouldn’t go that far. You like...summoned fire dogs! And, well-- I don’t remember much after that. I remember following you, though? And tunneling through that…” and glance over their shoulder, even though the beach was out of sight. “It felt kinda...nice.”

“No!” Nell said hurriedly, not wanting Remmy to worry. “I mean- you like decimated a Garkain. But it was super awesome! The thing didn’t stand a chance!” She could see that Remmy was still...acclimating to all this, and she tried her best to offer a moment of comfort. “But hey- now you know how to keep yourself from getting like that!” A small scoff filled the air, as if having super strength was not something to be underestimated. “I mean- I love my hellhounds but- like you could probably chuck a dumpster or something across a football field! That’s pretty damn cool.” But perhaps here was her in. “The...fighting? You know- that’s actually like- kinda the reason I was looking for the zombie that I didn’t know was you.”

“Garkain?” Remmy’s brow scrunched. “I don’t...know what that is.” It wasn’t important, though, because it wasn’t a person and that meant Remmy hadn’t hurt anyone because of their ignorance. It was like an entire sandbag was lifted from their shoulders in that moment. They let out a long sigh. “Yeah, yeah, I do. I’m trying my best.” They perked up a little. “You think so? A whole dumpster? Not that I would. That’s like...property damage or something, probably.” The next thing came as a bit of a surprise to Remmy. “What, really? Fighting? Why were you looking to fight a zombie?? Or, gerkin? Or….whatever it was called?”

“It’s like uhhh- a really big bat, kinda. A really big deadly bat that wants to eat people and other things. And you just totally went right in and completely made a meal of its brains. It was literally so cool.” Nell gave another encouraging smile in Remmy’s direction before saying, “Yeah! And you’re doing great!” The grin became perhaps the smallest bit more mischievous, as she pictured Remmy throwing a whole dumpster. “You know, we could try it. That’d be fun. We’ll just find like- some random dumpster no one cares about!” There was a slight hesitation as she tried to decide how best to put this, not wanting to mess up something that might actually be good for Remmy. “No, no! Well- kinda. I was looking to uh- capture the Garkain. I know I said I’m a bounty hunter but that’s not really...the bulk of my work. Also Blanche doesn’t know about this yet, so please don’t tell her. But here’s kind of like….an underground supernatural Fight Ring? I thought you’d be great in it. And if the beach felt good for you...imagine how good it could feel to do stuff like that all the time.”

“Woah, I…” Remmy had to pause a minute, take in what Nell was saying. “Wow.” was all they said. “You think so? I still feel sorta…” Angry? Upset? Confused? Remmy didn’t know the exact word, but what came out was, “uncomfortable.” But with what aspect, they weren’t sure. They let the thought peter off, though, enjoying the feel of the adrenaline rushing through them, and the stupid, dopey smile Nell had on her face that made Remmy smile, too. “I guess if no one got hurt, it could fun to try. I’d like to see like...how strong I could be, you know?” They paused again, stopped walking. Blinked. “Fighting ring?” Their immediate thought was that sounded dangerous. “Like...with people or more things like...the karkinoids? I- I don’t know if I’m really cut out to fight people. I’m-- but I mean…” they looked down at their hands. It had felt really good. To let go of everything and just let fists fly. And Remmy had been trained to fight. They flexed and unflexed their fingers. “What is it, exactly?”

Nell cocked her head to the side, not entirely certain what Remmy was getting at with their reaction. “Uncomfortable? Like- how so?” But her smile was quickly returning, glad to see that Remmy seemed to be enjoying this as well— at least on some level. “We’ll find a nice big open field! We can get tons of stuff to chuck around!” She tried her best to gauge their words, truly feeling that perhaps the Ring could help Remmy get a very good form of release. She still remembered how they’d talked about that anger inside them, and what better way to get it out than this? “There’s lots of things that fight there. Mostly supernatural, but some humans as well. I fight there, too! Not just work for them. I think you could be good at it. You’ve been great every time I’ve seen you so far.” Perhaps her and Remmy had a bit more in common than she’d originally thought, at least when it came to crushing things. “A lot of the time- it’s basically anything goes. There’s some different categories and things to fight in though, too. You can choose whatever you want to do. As for what you’re fighting, I only bring in the things that are causing too much trouble- things that deserve it.”

“It--” Remmy looked at Nell. “It’s nothing. Never mind.” Remmy nodded after a moment. “Yeah, okay! Sounds fun, actually. We used to line stuff up at camp and have shooting contests. It was fun.” They said, imitating holding up a rifle and taking a shot. “I was always pretty bad at it, but maybe I’ll be better at this.” It seemed like they could be, and the thought of actually being good at something made Remmy’s heart jump a little. They smiled. “You fight in it?” they asked, raising a brow. Well, if Nell did it, then it must be okay. Nell was a good person, and Remmy liked her a lot. Plus, Blanche trusted her. So, Remmy did as well. After a long moment, they nodded again. “I, uh-- I think I’d like to do it. It sounds…” they paused, looked down at their hands, “well, not fun, but maybe fun? It felt good doing that on the beach. It feels good, you know, knowing I’m good at something. But, um-- only monsters. I only wanna fight things like the karkinoids. If that’s okay?”

“That’ll be just like this! Except with more dumpsters and like- less guns. Though- if you want to bring a gun or something, that’s your prerogative.” But Remmy’s imitation brought a grin to Nell’s face, always feeling lighter by how pure they and their actions seemed. “And I have a feeling you’re going to be very good at dumpster throwing.” Then Nell was puffing out her chest in the slightest, a part of her glad that...she could finally have someone who knew about her and the Ring. Well- someone like Remmy. “Yeah! It’s super fun! I love it. A great way to just...feel alive, you know?” Like how she’d felt alive while fighting the karkinoid. “Really, though?” she asked, mildly surprised but also excited. “You want to try? It could be so fun! Maybe we could even fight together sometimes! We made a pretty kick-ass team on the beach, in my opinion. But for sure- only monsters,” she confirmed with a wave of her hand. “And you’re not just good, you’re great. Oh also-” How could she forget this part? “You get to keep your winnings- like if you win a fight. You get a cut of the money.”

“Oh, no,” Remmy said, shaking their head, “I don’t do guns anymore.” Not that they were entirely against guns, but they weren’t allowed to own one as a citizen, so it didn’t matter anyway. They looked over at Nell. The way she described fighting made Remmy feel warm. The things they’d felt weren’t weird or out of the ordinary. Someone else felt that way, too. And… “Feel alive…” they muttered. That was what they’d been chasing this whole time, wasn’t it? Wanting to feel alive. Not being able to be touched or hug someone or accept themself. It was because they didn’t feel alive anymore, whatever that truly meant. But this...this could be the solution to that. Remmy nodded. “I wanna try,” they confirmed again. “I’ve already got like...combat training and we had to do hand to hand stuff as well at boot camp, so I’m decent at it.” Not just good, but great. Nell’s words echoed in Remmy’s head again and they looked back down at their feet, smiling. “Money? Like, from bets?” The money was just a bonus, though it would be helpful. They hadn’t cashed their disability check since finding out they were undead, so that extra money could come in handy. Not that they needed the disability anymore. It almost felt like cheating the system. They stopped and turned to Nell. “Okay, yeah. Let’s do it. I’ll do it.”

“Oh,” Nell shrugged, not having realized that. “That’s cool, then. Just dumpsters.” But as Remmy looked at her...she couldn’t help but feel like they got it. They understood that need for the blood rushing through their veins, and the edge that fighting something brought. Her own smile grew a little softer, not entirely sure she’d ever seen that in someone before that wasn’t a Hunter. And even then— it was generally something that was trained. So it was nice that someone simply just understood. “For sure- you’ll be awesome, I already know. And we could also maybe work on your like- control over going Hulk and stuff, if you wanted to. That’d probably help in the Ring, too.” Remmy’s seemingly pleased reaction made her happy, though— happy that Remmy seemed happy. She still remembered...how it had been messaging her friend after everything with Alain, and the admission they’d made. “Yeah! Exactly! It’s a decent amount the more you fight, usually. Or the better the show you put on.” She couldn’t seem to stop grinning as she stuck out a hand to Remmy, as if meaning to have a handshake. “Let’s fucking do it.”

Shaking Nell’s hand felt good, in the moment. Remmy still couldn’t remember exactly what had happened on the beach, but they knew that, at some point, it had felt good. And if they could keep feeling good, then maybe things would start to get better. Maybe then they could really be good. They smiled, the thought settling in their stomach like a warm cup of tea. “Practice will probably be good,” they finally said, before they started walking again. They hooked their arm into Nell’s as they walked. “Also, um-- I don’t think I said it, but thanks for helping me out back there. Let me uh-- let me walk you home as a thanks?” They gave a shrug. “I’ll think of something better later. Promise.”

For a moment, Nell went in to change the handshake into a little die hug, a bit sheepish about it, but doing it nonetheless. A moment too late, she realized she’d only succeeded in globbing their mutual sliminess together, and pulled away with a bit of a chuckle. “Then we’ll practice,” she confirmed, eyes still proudly crinkled as a little glow settled into her heart, only bolstered by walking alongside Remmy arm in arm. “Thanks for helping me out, back there. And yeah- I think that’s a pretty good start. So chivalrous,” she teased as the last dregs of sunlight vanished below the horizon.

[nelllraiser]

grrr! arrgh! — remmy & nell

involved parties:@whatsin-yourhead contains: blood, guts, gore (oh my)

Remmy’s body had been moving mostly no instinct, following sounds and smells of blood and rotting flesh. They couldn’t help it. Small bouts of clarity blistered through every now and then, a blinking, blurry world coming into focus before a new smell would drive them back to the brink, to that dark place. They’d stumbled so far all night that they finally made it downtown, into a back alley. Down towards Amity Road, scittering through the back alleys, digging through bags and bins looking for anything to eat. The blood on their hands and face wasn’t enough. They needed flesh. A curious scent caught their attention. It smelled of rotting flesh. Just what they wanted. Their feet stumbled into each other as they searched for the smell, eyes darting around. Searching. Desperately. Finally, as they stumbled under a rather tall building with a rain roof hangover, the source became apparent. Glowing red slitted eyes started down at them. A screech. Wings spread, and the large, bat-like creature dropped down. Fangs bared. Remmy didn’t care. Screeching back, they lunged for it.

Tonight, Penelope was also on the prowl. She’d heard word of a Garkain lurking around these parts, and though they weren’t quite so sentient as to actively prey on certain humans— this one seemed to be taking an alarming amount of lifes. So she’d come to do her job. Catch the monster. Take it back to The Ring. Get paid. Easier said than done sometimes. Whatever. Nell had tracked the thing to its lair here in whatever this building was, waiting in wait while she figured out how to go about catching the damn thing. But something else caught her attention as she saw a vaguely humanoid creature advancing towards the thing’s perch, and she tried to call out a warning. “No, wait!” It seemed her words did nothing though, and her confusion grew as it actually seemed to appear as if the...thing had meant to attack the Garkain. Instinct drove Nell forwards to get a closer look, magic at the tips of her fingertips and at the ready should anything go sour.

The creature descended on Remmy, but they’d seen more than their fair share of combat. As muscular and strong as this creature was, Remmy was stronger. Like this, they were unstoppable. Crying out, Remmy drove a fist into the creatures face, unballing their fist once it made contact to dig fingers into its eyes. Clambered onto the creature, the delicious smelling creature, and started to tear at it with their other hand, as it screeched and tried to reach up and pull them off. Leaving scratches across their back. Cuts that seemed to heal themselves in seconds, right before anyone’s onlooking eyes. Remmy dug their other hand into the creature’s nose, hooking fingers and yanking until a piece of flesh ripped off. It cried out and reared, sending Remmy cascading to the ground loudly. They were instantly up on their feet again, clawing at the monster, punching harder and harder and harder, until their fist, broken itself, pushed through the creature’s skull, breaking bone and tearing flesh. There it was. That delicious brain. 

Nell hesitated as it rather seemed that this zombie had control of the situation. It had taken her a moment to figure them out in the dark lighting, but with the quick healing and seeming obsession to get at the brain, the signs pointed mostly to zombie. She’d come here seeking the Garkain as her prize for the Ring, but based off of how easily it had been taken down, it wouldn’t have been worth all that much anyway. Or maybe this zombie was simply that powerful. Penelope drew another step closer, ever so ginger with her steps in case the attacked should decide to try and attack her. After all, wouldn’t the person that took down the monster she’d been hunting be an even better addition to the Ring? She waited silently to see if they’re regain their normal consciousness after finishing with the brain, wanting to have a little chat with this particular person.

As Remmy dug into the creature’s head, it still struggled against them. Claws trying to tear them away, growing weaker by the minute. Remmy may not have looked it, but they were already strong. Add on their feral intent to eat after not eating for days, and it was a strength they’d never think they’d be able to possess. It was like holding a door to a room filling with water. Eventually, it would burst. Holding it all inside only made the explosion worse. The creature eventually stopped moving and Remmy shoveled fist fulls of brain out. Blood and viscera coating the front of their shirt, their nice jacket. The one Dario had given them when they’d first left for Afghanistan. A noise caught Remmy’s attention and their head whipped up, immediately turning to the source. A figure, across the street. Red eyes glowered at it. For a moment, it seemed as if they were going to change course to this new target, but instead, Remmy let out a loud wail, and bolted back down the alley, fistfulls of brain still in their hands.

Many would most likely look at an attack such as this but see nothing but a monster tearing apart another monster. But Nell saw survival, not to mention power. It was simply something of the food chain in action, and though she’d maybe have more qualms if it were a human getting attacked, she couldn’t be sure whether or not this was a zombie in control or not. Perhaps she should have exercised more caution as she grew closer, as she froze while the other person looked her way. One would think she’d have learned from her time being chased by a literal horde of zombies, but then again this wasn’t a horde. She waited for the zombie to charge, ready to strike at a moment’s notice. But the attack never came. Instead, her newest quarry was getting away, and she began to run after them in hot pursuit. It was no use. They had too much of a head start. Nell stomped on the ground in frustration, going back to the Garkain carnage to see if there was anything of use there. She almost overlooked it, but the glint of the polished knife caught her eye, and she picked up it to scrutinize. “R.M.” she mused aloud, reading the initials aloud. Nevermind the name though, this would be perfect for a tracking spell. After all, she wasn’t going to let this potential fighter get away.

[nelllraiser]

pinky promise | remmy & nell

LOCATION: the cages underneath ring. PARTIES: @nelllraiser​ and @whatsin-yourhead SUMMARY: nell and remmy get to know their neighbors.

Nell wasn’t sure how much time had passed when she woke again, still drained, but at least conscious. As for time passing after that, it wasn’t easy to track, either. With the windowless walls of the underground cages the Ring housed, it was impossible to tell what time of day it was, or how long she and Remmy had already been missing. Had someone noticed their absence, yet? But the outside world wasn’t something they should count on when it came to escape, not if they wanted to get out of here as soon as possible. Nell squinted into the low-lighting, making out Remmy’s shape across the way from her and waiting for the patrolling guards to be nowhere in sight to speak. “We gotta get out of here, Rem.” They’d been taking creatures to fight with the exception of Nell, apparently not trusting her to be in the Ring when they couldn’t slap something like a shifting collar on her. The bracelet was still a cursed fucking thing on her wrist, though. And yet...it didn’t seem that they were only people being taken to fight. She’d noticed some of them came back no worse off than they’d been before being yanked from their cages, albeit perhaps a bit more disoriented when they were returned. “They’re taking a couple other prisoners somewhere. Not the main ring. Have you seen that?”

Time just didn’t matter anymore. Remmy had no idea about the passage of it except for the aching hunger in their stomach. They’d dragged them off twice now and thrown them into the arena, where Remmy had mindlessly punched and kicked until the thing inside there with them was dead. They didn’t bother hosing them off after and now they sat, soaked in blood, slumped in the corner. There was no point in fighting it anymore. They’d taken everything from them. Their job, their house, their friends. Their life. What did fighting back matter anymore? What did fighting matter anymore? Remmy itched at the collar and didn’t move when Nell first spoke. They hadn’t noticed because they hadn’t been paying attention. The only thing that they saw was the arena, the crowd, the floor of their cell. The person next door, who looked ragged and worn as well. Remmy didn’t move when Nell spoke up again, but the person next to them-- a younger looking guy, who was pale with dim red eyes-- crawled to the edge of his cage and looked across to Nell. 

“They’re taking them to what we call the bug room,” he said in a raspy voice. “No one can figure out exactly what it is, though.”

To find herself in a cage, at first Nell had been furious to find herself held as a literal prisoner, stripped of any power she might have had. How dare they hole her up in here? Like they had the right to stick her down her, cuff her, and leave her powerless? It made her restless, ravenous for a way to gain back that control they’d stolen from her, and a way out. So though she was concerned when Remmy didn’t reply, she locked onto the person that had, meeting them with an intensity that spoke of little room for anything other than the discussion at hand. “The bug room? Why do they call it that? Have you been there?” More importantly, how could she have worked here and not known what the fuck a bug room was, or the fact the the Ring apparently had no qualms with taking  innocent creatures prisoner? In the back of her mind she was concerned for Remmy, but there was a razor sharp focus that wouldn’t let her let this kernel of potential knowledge escape from her grasp while they weren’t being watched. She’d have to talk to her friend after. 

The guy shifted. There hadn’t been much conversation to be had in the cages in a while, but this newcomer seemed eager. It’d go, with time, but for now, he was happy to indulge. He glanced over at the other one, her friend, before focusing back on her. “Cause they take you in there, strap you into this weird chair, and then bring out this strange bug creature. I’ve never seen anything like it before. But they put it on your and it like-- sucks your brain, or something. I always feel groggy as all hell after, and I can’t focus or remember a lot,” he explained. He gripped the bars of his cage and looked out across the way at her. “M’names Ben, by the by. How’d they get you in here?”

Remmy, meanwhile, stayed in their corner, knees tucked in. What did it matter what the bug room was or what they did in there? They were trapped here. They would die here. Well, Nell would probably die here. Remmy would die in the ring, when they finally decided they’d had enough fighting, when their arms became too heavy with blood and burden and souls. But when Ben said his name, they lifted their head just enough to look across the cages at Nell. They wondered what Nell would say, what Nell was thinking. If Nell hated them. 

Nell followed Ben’s gaze for a moment, letting it rest on Remmy for a quick moment with a sympathetic look. No, she had to focus. Get the plan while no one was here to listen, and then Remmy. Her eyes narrowed, trying to make sense of what Ben was saying through her exhaustion. They kept coming by to drain her magic, to make sure she wouldn’t have a lick of it to help her in any escape attempts, and it was keeping her weak, feeling constantly drained. “Bugs…like...biters?” Hadn’t Luce and Morgan just had a run in with them? “They’re taking the memories, then. But for what?” The more she thought about it, the more she realized it didn’t entirely matter why they were taking the memories, just that they were. “But I can’t- they can’t know about-” Jared’s farm. If they knew a treasure trove of monsters was just beyond their grasp, easily plucked, certainly they’d be all too eager to go after it like Ronald had. And didn’t Remmy say they’d threatened Blanche and Morgan, too? They had to hide them, to make sure the Ring couldn’t find them. “Remmy- Remmy they’re taking memories. We can’t let them have them, though. Not if we want our friends to be safe.” Ben. Thankfully, he didn’t look familiar in the same way her own neighbor did. He wasn’t one of the people or creatures she’d brought in. As for the siren next to her...the same could not be said. “I’m Nell,” she offered Ben before carrying on. “We...they set a trap for us, I guess. But we’re gonna get out of here. I’m sure we could use...help,” she began, giving Ben a meaningful look.

“Not sure what those are but,” Ben shrugged, “if you say so, I’m inclined to believe you.” He looked at Nell’s neighbor-- she’d been here for quite a while, and she came back every night looking worse. “As to what they’d need memories for, beats me. They nabbed me off the street after I got done dusting a few spawn that were trying to kill some kids in a cemetery. Guess they liked my strength or whatever.” He followed Nell’s gaze back to his new neighbor. They looked almost more defeated than the siren across from him, and they’d been here ages longer. “How would you even go about hiding memories? There’s no way to just...forget them.” 

As Remmy listened, they stayed still. Nell was fighting so hard, so why couldn’t they muster any strength to? Everything just felt...pointless. They’d tried so hard for so long and at every turn, things had only ever gotten worse. Ever since they’d bitten Morgan, ever since they’d remembered dying, ever since the beach. Remmy almost found themself wishing they’d never come to White Crest, but the thought of never meeting Blanche, never meeting Nell or Morgan or Luce or Skylar or any of the plethora of people they had now, stung too much. They looked across the way at Nell again. “Unless someone else takes them first, I guess…” they muttered. 

Ben looked back between the two. “Hey, if it’s help you need, I’m your guy. I was just tryna do some good in this place, with this curse,” he offered, shrugging. “And I want out of here, too. We all do.” 

Nell’s lips pursed as Ben described how he’d been taken, a new anger coursing through her to stoke the fire in her chest, the fight in her never able to rest. To think the Ring had taken a person that was helping rather than hurting- how could she have been so stupid so as to think the other monster hunters had the same morals she did? “Well- that’s good of you,” she simply said, not knowing what to say to a man she barely knew on the matter. But his question was something she’d already begun to consider. Magic wasn’t an option. She didn’t have an ounce of it left in her body, and even if she did...memory magic had proven not to be her strong suit. Of course, for her friends...she would have been willing to risk it. To potentially accidentally lose two years of her life to keep them safe...it was a trade she would have made thoughtlessly. Nell slouched against the bars of her cage, scanning the area for what must have been the millionth time since waking up for anything that might be of use. Finally, they settled on the hulking mass that was huddled inside her other neighboring cage. The jacket they’d been using to cover themselves had seemingly slipped in their sleep to reveal- were those...flowering branches coming out of their head? A nymph, maybe? “A promise,” she breathed suddenly, the thought coming to her all at once. “We’ll make a promise to forget...to protect them.” 

“Really, not so good for me,” Ben countered quietly, but left it at that. This witch was on a mission, obviously, and if she still had the gusto and the will to fight, he wasn’t going to take that away from her. No one else in the cages had ever listened to him. They’d all just...given up. Like the zombie in the cage next to him. It was miserable to watch. He’d seen a few neighbors come and go. Never released. They’re dead bodies dragged off god only knows where. “A promise? Wait, like-- to a fae?” His eyes fell on the slumbering form a little ways away from his cell. They’d been here ages, too, but for whatever reason, the nymph had never seemed to mind behind down here. Kept to themself, and never really spoke. “You really think that’ll work?”

Remmy stiffened at that. A cold chill ran through their unfeeling body and they jerked. “No!” they said suddenly, hands planting on the ground as they turned to face Nell. “I--I can’t. I won’t. Never again. I can’t-- I can’t do it.” Not even for Blanche. Or, well-- maybe for Blanche. But it made their stomach curdle and their head spin at the thought. “I...I can’t go through that again.”

“I just meant it’s decent of you,” Nell replied with a shrug, not knowing what to make of Ben’s small push back. Then she was nodding again, hands gripping the edges of her cage, wrapped around the bars as her vigor was renewed by the new plan on the horizon. It wasn’t a way out...yet. But it was something. A next step. The next right thing. She was always going to place that next foot in front of the other, looking for whatever the next move was. “Yes. Exactly like a promise to a fae.” She didn’t blame Remmy's apprehension, especially all they’d been through with Jax. Even if they hadn’t been through such dire straits, fae promises were nothing to blink at, and generally only entered into as a last resort. But what other choice did they have? They were working with limited time, and Nell would do anything to protect those she loved. “It'll have to work.” It could go horribly wrong, but if they chose their words carefully...it just might pay off. “Remmy- it won’t be like that. It won’t. We’ll be careful. And I know how to undo promises, remember?” Nell was certain she’d be able to undo any promise Remmy might make, but was...less certain of herself. Would it work to undo a fae promise that was affecting herself if it was one designed to make her forget? Whatever. If worse came to worse- she could ask Deirdre for help. After all, the banshee still owed her a favor. And she didn’t have the time to agonize over what ifs. “And we’ll remind each other- we won’t let each other forget about the promises. It’ll be alright, Remmy.” 

Here Nell was, just as drained and defeated as Remmy. And probably in pain, her arms didn’t look good at all. And she was trying so hard to figure a way out of this. Trying to figure out how to protect people who didn’t even know they needed protecting. And Remmy was just...useless. They didn’t know about any of this. They didn’t know anything, and that’s what’d gotten them into this mess in the first place, wasn’t it? Saying those things to Jax, coming here, thinking they could solve anything with violence. It wasn’t the answer. It couldn’t be. They didn’t want it to be anymore. Slouching back down, Remmy crawled over to the cage door and gripped the bars, looking through it over at Nell. What did they even have left to lose if this did go wrong? With a quiet nod, they said, “Okay...I trust you.” And followed her gaze over to the pink-skinned woman sleeping in the cell next to her. Would she agree? Three pairs of weary eyes glanced upon her, and wondered-- could she be their salvation for now?