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Post by Nari on Oct 14, 2023 1:08:38 GMT
As others chatted around him, Theo kept most of his focus on his friend in front of him and that Ripley guy. The man seemed to answer his question by gesturing to Laurie, giving him many obvious gestures of affection. He half expected the Dionysis boy to pull away, but he never did. Just accepted it all with casual indifference.
Laurie was his boyfriend? What the fuck. The realization of all that left his face frozen in place as he tried to process the facts of it all. None of it made any sense, and any conclusions he did make just left him with more concern about it all. The other boy expressed he was okay, and the only thing Theo was able to say to that was.
“Oh that’s nice.” A default response with a smile plastered on his face. Soon, he looked back at Ripley, who cooed phrases like a lothesome dove.
Words like honey but he knew the man stung. He had the same attitude during the phone call, when he threatened the others and hurt Echo. Even looking at his face had that same ‘wrong’ effect. He had the smile of a salesman, specifically the type that sold your organs back to you, which seemed complimented by the jagged scars across his face. The dude was the reddest flag he’d ever seen in his life.
But even with all of that, Theo knew he had to remain cordial while the meeting was going on. Any sign of aggression would likely just get Fenrir’s and… wait was the new girl wearing Pascal’s crown? Focus!
“You know…” Theo said, pulling his phone out of his pocket and holding it in one hand. He leaned back in his chair and crossed one leg over the other, continuing to stare at Ripley. “Should you really be texting other boys when you’re in a relationship? All the hearts and kisses, what do you think I’m supposed to make of this?”
His eyelashes seemed to flutter dramatically as he slowly shook his head, “I thought we had something.”
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Post by pallas on Oct 14, 2023 10:51:16 GMT
Lane didn’t respond to Styx’s words about Hermes and morality. Her answer would have been that Hermes had kept her alive knowing she could do some good, but even she had to acknowledge that even that had some cruelty in it. It was a sacrifice in a way, exchanging a quick death for fear, grieving for her own life, and possibly a far worse death in the end. A sacrifice Lane had never agreed to or had a say in.
But if she’d died on that road, she’d never have met her friends either. Daniel and the others. They had become so important to her since being chosen, and she had to recognise that the extra life was a gift as much as it was a curse.
She tensed as Styx looked around her to look at the messages, taunting her and insulting Haleema. Lane was generally an easygoing person, not easy to anger. So she was unaccustomed to the rage, the energy that felt like it was humming beneath her skin.
”You don’t get to talk about her.” Lane responded, not trying to keep the edge out of her voice. Or the pain. There was no universe in which Haleema could deserve that mocking.
But Styx was not done with the taunts. Oh, she went on. And every time she stepped on glass Lane’s muscles tensed. Every time she said one of their names her anger flared a little more.
”Keep their names out of your mouth.” Lane said darkly, ”You couldn’t deserve to say them if you lived a hundred lifetimes.”
She could tell Styx was goading her, and Lane was getting tired of trying not to rise to it completely. If Styx wanted a fight, a fight she would get.
The girl drew the small blade she was accustomed to carrying. It wasn’t much, but that was because her speed was her biggest weapon. A large, cumbersome sword or spear would only impede her ability to use her powers to their full potential. Besides, most of the time she wasn’t supposed to fight offensively. She was better suited for other roles. But this time? Oh this time she would do it.
This small blade would either be enough or it wouldn’t. Lane didn’t have very much to lose anymore. And fighting someone who had nothing to lose was a very dangerous business.
”Try and keep up.”
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CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Oct 14, 2023 17:29:56 GMT
Cleo watched the events around them with keen interest. A girl entered the room on the Exiled's side, and now they weren't only worried for Laurie, but Pascal too. Surely the girl wore his key to flaunt it as a trophy, Cleo had to admit it was a good strategy on the Exiled's part.
The girl in question glared right back at them, dark eyes seeming to give nothing away about her emotions. She was hard to get a read on, and Cleo bit their tongue to keep from questioning the Exiled about Pascal. At least, not yet.
There were more concerning things. Like Laurie cuddled up to Ripley (Cleo had never met him but it wasn't hard to tell who he was given his voice), and that sent a spike of fear straight to their chest. Plus, Atticus was greeting them, and the man absolutely butchered Dillon's name and slightly messed up there's.
"Clementine," They corrected, somewhat sharply.
"Gesundheit," Atticus replied, and Cleo raised an eyebrow at the man for the audacity, though he did seem kind of oblivious. It almost embarrassed them that the group currently holding their members hostage comprised of this guy as a leader.
"That's their name," The new girl said softly, glancing at Atticus in a way that indicated that she was probably used to this, "not a sneeze."
Atticus shrugged, scoffing at the girl and waving her off with a warning glare. It seemed Dillon and Gudrun were having their own banter. Atticus did clear his throat to get back on topic, and when Ripley cooed toward Laurie like the annoying French pest was a dove, Atticus felt his eye twitch in annoyance. From the other side of the table, Guinevere's shocked gasp came, betrayed and hurt. Cleo themselves had a look of disgust and shock on their face, and turned to glare at Laurie. But when he said he was good, their face shuttered a bit, shaking their head. Despite Laurie's warning, they glared at him, "you're lying!" They spat out, but remained calm still.
Something else drew their attention. It was 5'8" and relied on flirting as a defense strategy. With a sharp snap of their head, they glared at the boy and forced their voice to lower, "Theodore, now is not the time," they growled out, gesturing to the room, the psycho in front of them and Laurie leaning against him like a pet dog, "read the room!"
So...the status of their people, they had to know that. With eyes skittering between Fenrir, Laurie, and the new girl with the tiara, "Our people," they said, forcing the shakiness from their voice and staring right at Ripley, "That's why we are here. What is the status of our people?"
Atticus cleared his throat, and Cleo glanced back at them, he tutted a bit and threw his arms up slightly, "I sit right in the middle, you'd think you'd get the message," Atticus bit back, arms crossed, "Ripley over there isn't in charge. I am."
Cleo doubted that a bit, especially with the way Atticus seemed slightly irritated by Ripley's actions, the way he'd glance over. Atticus believed himself to be in charge, but Cleo doubted her really was.
"As for your people...welllllllll~" the Exiled leader began, smirking as bit as he leaned back, "I'm sure you can put the dots together Cleo. Laurie's ours," he said with slight distaste, "and Ripley, mind sharing the fate of their Leader?"
He grinned wickedly at the one, looking towards Ripley and deciding to let him have fun with that explanation.
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Post by Leo/ Clundy on Oct 14, 2023 19:21:34 GMT
Ripley's gaze slid to Cleo's at their calm outburst. He stayed there, watching them for a moment with his cocky smile unwavering. Then he turned to Laurie and kissed his temple. "Lam, why don't you go take a walk? Your friends are getting distracted by you. Bring me back something you find and like," Ripley muttered against his skin and spared a single glance at the occupants of the other side of the table. Then he let him go and crossed his arms over his chest.
Theo and his phone were the next thing to grab his attention. He raise his eyebrows and slightly angled his head one way as if realizing 'Oh that was you'. He chuckled and shrugged his shoulders. "Don't worry there is plenty of me to go around," He teased, with a wink at Theo. His smile grew wider as he turned his attention to the other man at his side.
Ripley shrugged again and shifted in his seat, doing his best to adjust his comfortability without the warm body that was just leaning against him. "Not much to say. Though Fenny might," He gestured with his thumb towards the giant dog behind them. Feverishly munching and tearing at bloody flesh. Giant paws holding the appendage down to get a better grip and angle on his snack. The wolf didn't bother to stop eating as he glared up at the mortals. "Or not. He's been focused on that part of her leg for a while now. The muscles are the usually the hardest to get through. Especially in the thigh and calf."
Ripley smiled at the wolf who growled in response. Turning away from the sight, Ripley tilted his chin up. Claiming he was the one in control right now. "The rest of your people, they're safe for the moment. But, hell your numbers are dwindling rapidly huh?" he asked. Set's champion gestured to all of the ascendents before him. Two leaders, and a gaggle of children still vastly unprepared for this world despite how they are acting. "Two leaders dead and got a lot of your underlings kidnapped. Like I said, uncoordinated and fascinating."
Griffin stiffened at the sight of Fenrir eating Haleema's leg. He had eaten Haleema. His grip on his crossed arms tightened and he forced himself to look calm. But at the mention of two leaders being dead he glanced at Guinevere. Who exactly did he think was the other person that was dead?
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Post by pallas on Oct 14, 2023 20:02:49 GMT
Dillon couldn’t quell the flash of rage he felt inside him at the revelation that Laurie was Ripley’s boyfriend. He couldn’t explain it, really. He was normally all about compassion, but the idea of this betrayal had him irrationally angry. Because he knew that really, he couldn’t know the whole story. Stuff like this didn’t just happen.
But Dillon cared deeply about loyalty, and it seemed that Hera had only intensified that tendency in him, his own anger and hers bleeding together in his chest.
He noted how when Ripley would show Laurie a new gesture of affection, Gudrun would look over at Atticus as if to try and check in on him. He didn’t know what that was about. He didn’t much care, his gaze flying back to the French boy.
Laurie continued to look indifferent, even casual about the whole thing, though there did seem to be a flash of pain in his eyes at the betrayal dawning in the faces of his friends. And then when Cleo said he was lying, he seemed to have a brief struggle with keeping his expression even. A flash of fear across his eyes, maybe, but it was mixed with a bit of hurt.
The Dionysus champion seemed to open his mouth as if to say something in return to Cleo, but he was distracted from doing so by a kiss on the temple from Ripley. The exiled second in command gave the boy instructions, and Laurie seemed only too happy to oblige and escape the meeting for a brief moment. He nodded, and rose to his feet. Laurie put a hand on Ripley’s shoulder, giving it a brief squeeze in a silent goodbye so as not to disrupt the meeting before disappearing out into the mall.
Only Chiara’s enhanced hearing could catch the exhale from the boy as he walked away.
The meeting conversation continued, and Dillon saw his Chiara went pale and then even slightly green when Ripley explained just what Fenrir was working on. Dillon’s own wave of nausea made him wonder if he looked the same.
But then Ripley began to talk about how their numbers were dwindling, two leaders dead…Two?
Chiara caught onto that a bear faster than he did apparently. She looked up from her notepad, her brow furrowed.
”Two?“ Chiara questioned, eyes settling on Ripley. At first she’d looked confused, but then a recognition washes over her. It took a moment longer for Dillon to realise what she’d realised. An image of River, River with that awful wound to his throat, flickered into his mind.
Chiara’s confusion was replaced with a calm expression, but it had a quality Dillon couldn’t quite understand. A quiet anger, perhaps on River’s behalf. But also a kind of triumph at being able to take a victory away from Ripley.
”Oh, you mean River,“ she said, tipping her head to the side. ”No, he’s alive.“ She inclined her head briefly toward Ripley, frowning, as she said ”Despite your best efforts.“
The blonde sat back, tapped her pen on the notepad a couple of times. ”Came back with a slit throat. In a lot of pain. But he’s not so easy to kill. Or maybe you’re just not as good as you thought.“
He was surprised at her boldness, but he supposed be shouldn’t have been. This was the girl who called Fenrir ‘Fluffy’.
But now that River had been mentioned, all Dillon could think about was how much this revelation about Laurie was going to hurt him.
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CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew |
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Oct 14, 2023 21:09:35 GMT
It was dark out, and Luka could feel the cold air on her skin. She could see flashes of red, bones, and she could see Theo and Chiara getting dragged away from her. Again and again, they screamed, dragged into the shadows. A thrashing tale and voice haunted Luka's mind as she tried to sleep.
"Theo! Chiara!?" She cried out, voice cracking on her words from the fear. She was alone. She hated being alone. Her skin prickled at it, realistically, Chiara and Theo couldn't keep appearing then disappearing. Sometimes it was her and Chiara fighting him.
"I like it when my food fights back," he'd say as one of them landed a hit, then he'd bite them. "This won't be the last we see of each other. Only the beginning for my revenge," his voice echoed as he ran off.
"I WILL STILL KILL YOUR PRECIOUS KING!"
His teeth flashed in the darkness, and his eyes gleamed red. He lunged from the shadows, and Luka froze as she saw behind him. Ariella was bleeding from her collar, Theodore and Chiara were bleeding out, Chiara's arm ripped from her body and Theo's eyes wide and on Luka as he bled out. Haleema's body was no where to be seen, but her blood sprinkled the area, her arm and leg by Fenrir's paws.
Fenrir looked at Luka in amusement, seeming to scan her. Words he's said before played again in her head.
"Recovered so soon? Good. That’s good. Means I have another chance.”
He lunged, and she woke up with a gasp. She had tried to nap after Theo and Chiara left to go to the mission. She was too exhausted to leave the couch, and in all honesty, she hadn't slept great the night before, even with her friends near. She was too scared for Theo and Chiara. She hated them leaving without her there. She didn't trust Cleo or Dillon to keep them safe. She knew her friends, and she knew they could both be self sacrificial.
She had hid when they left for the mission, pretending to sleep. She must have nodded off, and a quick glance at the nearby clock indicated that she hadn't napped very long at all.That was pretty typical.
She grabbed her phone from the counter before her, opening up her shared group chat with Chiara and Theodore. Her fingers glided across the screen.
Are you okay?
Her eyes narrowed at the words and she quickly deleted them, turning off her phone and curling back into the couch. She probably should have went to meet Lucien in the Leaders' room, but the residual pain and exhaustion she felt refused to let her get up. Instead, she glared at the TV before her, blank and dark now, and fished up the remote, mindlessly clicking through channels.
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Post by pallas on Oct 14, 2023 22:02:40 GMT
Lucien had spent most of the time before the meeting in an anxious haze. He hadn’t known what to do with himself, really. Unsure how to make himself useful. He’d checked the Medbay inventory again, even though he’d only done the inventory the day before the meeting. Helped with what preparation for the meeting he could help with. He’d sat in his room trying to clear his whirling head, and found that even trying to play a bit of his guitar was unable to silence the anxious chatter in his mind. Normally it could silence any worry. He’d gone to the training room and tried to burn some energy off, but ended up feeling tired but still just as anxious as before. Nothing was working.
He’d sat in the leaders’ room for a while once they left for the meeting, but the place felt cold and strange when it was empty. He couldn’t think in there, at least not about anything useful.
So he left to try and find Luka, because he was surprised she hadn’t come to the leaders’ room. He had a feeling she was hiding away somewhere. For obvious reasons she hadn’t been doing so well since facing Fenrir, and the meeting situation clearly wasn’t helping.
All he knew was she might need somebody, and he didn’t want to sit and wait for news alone. He’s drive himself insane.
He headed through the corridors, phone glued to his hand. Since the phone call and the texts it was never out of easy reach. Not to mention that the others could contact him during the meeting potentially.
Eventually Lucien heard muffled sounds from a TV, and followed the noise to find a tired and stressed-looking Luka flicking through channels on the TV. The boy put his phone in his pocket, approaching Luka and sitting next to her on the couch.
”Hey.” his tone was uncharacteristically gentle as he leaned forward slightly to get a better view of Luka’s face. ”Lukes. You okay?”
It was a stupid question, but he wanted to invite his friend to help him understand what was going on inside that head of hers. She seemed traumatised. By Fenrir, by everything. He was hoping she’d let him in. At least let him distract her while the meeting was happening.
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CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Oct 15, 2023 17:24:00 GMT
Styx stared coolly at Lane, her gleaming red eyes, a gift from Arke, seemed to fill with amusement at the girl's rising temper. When Lane drew her blade, Styx's smile only deepened, her gaze flickering to it, and her eyes focused back on Lane's, though she didn't induce her powers this time, "that's a cute dagger," she said, stretching out the words mockingly, "reminds me of Ripley," she said, conversationally, "you know, that's what he used to slice River's throat."
She grinned wickedly at Lane when the girl challenged her to keep up. At the words, she fished out her own weapon, it appeared first as a smaller scythe, but the handle did extend. With a flourish, the weapon extended to its full size, and she spun it slightly, testing its grip in her hands.
She didn't say anything more, she just stood at the ready. She was letting Lane have the first attack.
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Post by pallas on Oct 15, 2023 17:52:49 GMT
Styx’s taunting was about all Lane could take. Bringing up Haleema was devastating enough. Bringing up Daniel made her anger rise further, as well as the mentions of the others. Mentioning River and his awful injury pushed her over the edge.
Her grip tightened on the handle of the dagger, breathing becoming jagged. She knew she should hold back. Let Styx make the first move, because she would have a better chance of winning if she was on the defensive. Hermes was practically begging her to in her mind.
But she wasn’t fighting for her own life. She was fighting for a chance to help Daniel and the other kidnapped kids. To stop anyone else suffering the way Haleema had.
The sickening image on her phone was burned into her mind as she allowed it to properly sink in that Haleema was dead. That thought alone was enough to prompt her to make her move.
Before she even knew what was happening, she was rushing at Styx at full speed, a blur really. But she waited until after she was past Styx to make her strike, aiming a strike backwards and upwards into Styx’s back. Hopefully something Styx wouldn’t be expecting, with any luck.
Her instincts, her mind, were going to have to move as quickly as her body could if she was going to have a hope of winning this fight.
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CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Oct 15, 2023 18:39:58 GMT
Luka had settled on some channel playing a movie. It was some type of comedy that she didn't bother to learn the name of. It was just there to fill the empty space. To make her mind focus on anything other than the bad feeling permeating in her chest. She already missed Theo and Chiara, and they hadn't even been gone for an hour yet.
She picked on the sound of footsteps, and she narrowed down who it could be easily enough. Within a few seconds her suspicions were proven right, and she stayed pretty still as he sat down. When he asked if she was okay and leaned forward to see her face, she raised an eyebrow as if she was questioning how dumb he had to be to ask her that of all things.
"I'm great," she lied, not even trying to conceal the sarcasm there, "I'm really happy I get to sit around and watch TV while my friends go deal with psychopaths," she added, gesturing the the stupid show before them with a very sarcastic look.
"I'm sure you're doing great too, Sunshine," she added, obviously carrying over the sarcasm. She knew he was stressed too, and she wasn't going to waste her breath asking him if he was or not. They were past that part of the conversation.
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Post by pallas on Oct 15, 2023 19:06:46 GMT
Lucien sat back again at Luka’s sarcasm, exhaling as he did so, tipping his head back until it came into contact with the couch behind him.
”Okay, yeah, stupid question.” he conceded mildly, but the tiredness in his voice spoke volumes about how correct Luka was about him being stressed too.
Everyone was stressed and worried, though. He wasn’t alone in that, not the only one feeling aches from constant tension in his body. The only one not sleeping well at night.
”I know it’s shitty, Luka. To sit around and wait. Believe me.” the boy said. With his healing powers he’d been kept out of missions of late, especially after he came close to being prey for Styx. One of his thumbs brushed over the back of his opposite hand, moving over a small scar there where the arrow had passed through. One of the leftover marks reminding him of his encounter with Styx.
He inhaled, a small breath taken in through his nose and released through his mouth.
They had to get through this, was the thing. But he didn’t know how. He hadn’t figured out yet how to deal with the anxiety he himself felt when stuff like this was happening.
”What would help for you? Make it feel better?” he asked her.
Perhaps it could help them both.
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CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Oct 15, 2023 19:48:21 GMT
Luka's gaze focused on Lucien for a moment. It was strange, the effect this place had on her. Her eyes had become more green overtime, gaining more of this unnatural gleam when light hit them just the right way. It made some pictures interesting. Some of them had the normal glare on the eyes for the others, and this bright unnatural gleam of green to hers, like they were glowing. One such interesting one came from the last time everything was okay, the campfire. Laurie and herself stood side by side, smiling at the camera. Her eyes had such a creepy glow to them in the photo, and that's part of how she came to realize it.
It's also why Cleo demanded Luka carry around sunglasses anytime she went out on a grocery run or errand.
Her eyes narrowed, the slightest tip up to her lips that was a dead giveaway that she was plotting. She glanced away, at the TV, but her right hand tightened on her umbrella, "what would help?" she repeated, voice ticking up slightly.
She stood then, holding out her hand to Lucien, "what would help is to see what's happening. No one would even have to see us. We could just...make sure all is going well! And if anything goes wrong, we can help out!" She seemed entirely convinced that Lucien would agree, already standing up and walking out of the room without waiting for a reply, taking off in a run to retrieve her weapons from her room, expecting entirely for Lucien to follow her.
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Oct 15, 2023 19:59:23 GMT
Styx was very happy with herself, or as happy as one could get when most of their emotions were confusing and made up entirely by the desperation to live. Lane didn't have that same drive, and Styx planned entirely to rely on that. To use that self-sacrificial attitude against the blue brat.
As Lane's hand tightened, Styx arched one foot back, already reading that Lane was about to strike. The girl was much faster than Styx anticipated, and she had to entirely rely on instinct to fight back. She couldn't even see as Lane ran past her, she simply predicted that the girl would try to either run off or attack and preemptively held her weapon up to help her dodge.
Lane had run past and arched backwards to attack, and Styx couldn't have seen it coming. All that kept her from getting more than a cut from the attack as her action to raise the scythe, which caused most of Lane's attack to be thrown off.
"Nice try," Styx said, panting out a breath at the effort it took to mostly block the blow, "my turn."
She ran her hands over the handle of her weapon and twisted two components, a mechanism that activated the weapon to shrink. As soon as she did so, she swung out at her attacker, a bit blindly given Lane's speed. Her red eyes gleamed in amusement still.
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Post by pallas on Oct 15, 2023 20:24:05 GMT
Lucien should have known what Luka would suggest. Of course he should have. But he still let out a frustrated groan when Luka took off.
”Luka!” he tried to call after her as he followed, breaking out into a run when Luka did. He needed her to stop. Stop and actually think about this. Did she want to get them into trouble with both the ascendants and the exiled? Did she want to take them back to square one with Cleo and possibly risk the exiled hurting their friends?
He caught up to her, catching her by the arm before she could go and get all her weapons and go running into this without any regard for her own safety.
”Lukes, are you out of your tiny little mind?” he hissed. ”Have you thought about what would happen if you got caught? What they might do to the others, or you?”
Now, granted, he understood the impulse she was feeling. Hell, he’d almost run in to help Luka when she faced Fenrir with the others. But the exiled had made it more than clear that they were willing to hurt their friends if they stepped out of line.
Haleema was already dead. It would be an insult to her to take the exiled’s threat lightly.
”River is waiting back here too. And if he can wait knowing the exiled have Laurie, we can wait too.” Lucien pointed out. It must be killing River, to have to wait for news of his ex-boyfriend. The boy he had never stopped loving, and never would have hurt if he hadn’t been made to. ”And after Hallowe’en I don’t know how you could think about running off again. I’m certainly not doing that to River.”
He wasn’t trying to guilt her, he was just stating facts. This was irresponsible and after what had happened the last time they’d run off on their own he couldn’t do that again. Especially not when doing so only put his friends at more risk.
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CHARACTER PROFILE IMAGE CREDIT: ElenaA via Picrew
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Post by 𝕄𝕖𝕣𝕔𝕦𝕣𝕪 on Oct 15, 2023 20:49:52 GMT
(Accidentally deleted the content on this one when editing. Will likely have to go back rewrite. Oof.)
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