of smoke & bone by @wishbonetea · descent to the end
i just realised i never got around to posting the promo lmao but ch38 is up!
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“Allison! How’s it going with the new building?”
Allison thought back to Kevin’s reaction at Jeremy’s apparent interest in Jean, and wondered how Jeremy felt about the situation. “Kevin punched Neil,” she said.
“Why?”
Why, as if there could be a reason for hitting Neil, some kind of justification. It made Allison smile. Neil was an instigative bastard and the whole world knew it. But the answer to Jeremy’s question would have to come with an explanation about Kevin and Riko’s relationship, which wasn’t yet public. It was possible that Jeremy already knew, having spent a year at the same art school as them, but if Kevin had kept it hidden from the media, it was just as likely he could have kept it hidden from his friend. Allison knew that it would be better to rip off the bandaid and let the press frenzy over it for a couple months before getting bored and latching onto the next story, as holding off the inevitable would only make it worse, but she didn’t expect Kevin to be as smart as she was about these kinds of things. Kevin might have spent the last few years in the spotlight, but Allison had been bred for it, and she’d spent over twenty years hiding magic and monsters from the people of Earth. Not even the mafia could trump that.
Besides, she was in a rush and she didn’t think she could explain Kevin’s part in a yakuza family within a couple minutes.
So what Allison said was: “Neil doesn’t take Kevin’s arrogance too well, and he likes to fight with words.”
Jeremy smiled, like he knew exactly what Kevin had said to irritate Neil and thought on it with fondness.
Renee had told Allison how Jeremy had taken to Jean’s less than kind attitude, and wondered why Jeremy didn’t think of that as fondly. It was another clue to Jeremy and Kevin’s history, and Allison always liked to know as much as possible before placing her bets.
“I heard you met Jean Moreau,” she said.
Jeremy was well-practised at hiding his displeasure, but Allison was better practised at spotting someone hiding behind a mask. “Yes,” Jeremy said. “He came with Renee when we had lunch a couple weeks ago.”
“What did you think of him?”
“I wouldn’t be surprised if he was hired at The Foxhole Court,” Jeremy said, as if he were being interviewed by a vulture-like reporter. Allison supposed it wasn’t the strangest of comparisons. “He’s certainly a Fox.”
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