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dependent rp blog; please do not interact or follow unless part of asteria-rp

[laceysun]

mara-harper​:

**

She held out the bag for just a couple seconds more to allow her the opportunity to change her mind before placing it neatly back in her cart. “Mara,” she introduced herself. “I, uh, I suppose it’s been a while. I usually come back for the holidays, but everything gets so crazy then.” She’d never been the most outgoing person; people were far more likely to know her brothers, and then she’d be lucky to be noticed as a shadow. “But I grew up here. Townie, as they say. How long have you been here?” 

“Lacey Sun,” she introduced, still not taking the coffee until the other woman finally put it back in her cart. “Understandable.’ Holiday seasons were the only time Lacey had really been around Asteria as a child, so she hadn’t known any different until this year. “I’ve been here about ten months, but I spent a lot of time here when I was younger. My step-father’s family lived here so we would come for holidays and over the summer. Doesn’t seem to be many people that come here without some sort of connection to the place.” That was the nature of small towns.

[laceysun]

itssaintben​:

There weren’t too many people Ben checked in on to make sure they were okay after the hurricane. Among them were his family members, approximately three friends, the fire department, and… Lacey. It was a good thing no one knew that he’d run into her multiple times before. That way Ben didn’t have anyone asking why he suddenly had a soft spot for Lacey Sun because he didn’t know the answer to that question himself. For a town as small as Asteria where gossip spread like wildfire, Ben Angelo was typically safe considering he didn’t do very much to warrant watchful eyes on him at all times. Not really and not anymore. “Hey.” He thought about smiling, but ended up doing a little kick as he explained why he was there. “I stopped by to make sure you’re okay. Y’know, still kicking ass or whatever.” Ben returned to that unbothered look right away although he was questioning what made him think the kick was an appropriate reaction. 

If he had been someone more shy, he might have scratched at the nape of his neck but he relaxed his shoulders and moved on instead. “Tea sounds great. I don’t know a lot about them, but I used to have mint with my grandmother and always like it.” He stepped inside and took her in for the first time. There was a cast around her arm, but he couldn’t see how her stitches were healing. He too his blue eyes and looked down at his knuckles which were healed from the night they met.

The visit was a surprise, but not an unwelcome one. Lacey couldn’t help but wonder Ben’s motive. It wasn’t surprising that she had made an impression on him, though she wasn’t sure what kind of impression. The two times they had met he’d had to help her. Perhaps the third time they would be able to stay away from any trouble or physical injuries. Ben seemed like a good man, and she didn’t want him to think she was completely incompetent. She smiled at his little kick. It was kinda weird, but in a cute way. “Thanks. I don’t know if I would classify myself as ‘kicking ass’, but yeah, I’m doing alright. I can’t complain since the apartment isn’t banged up like a lot of other places around town.” It was always best to be positive where it was possible.

Lacey moved to let Ben inside the apartment, going past the living room into the kitchen. “Mint tea it is.” She opened the cabinet and searched through her teas. There were quite a few to go through. Finally she brought down a few small metal tins with loose leaf tea along with an extra tea strainer and box of tea biscuits. “The water will take a couple of minutes to boil. You can choose whichever you’d like, and feel free to have some tea biscuits if you want.” She filled up her teapot with hot water and put it on the stove. Without anything else to do, she leaned against the counter and looked to Ben. “Thank again, for patching me up. How are you doing? I imagine you much be pretty busy right now.” One more reason she wasn’t sure what to think about his visit.

[laceysun]

parkerpatterson​:

It wasn’t just the face that sounded familiar, as soon as the woman in front of her started talking, her voice rung a bit of a bell as well, and Parker kept racking her brain until Lacy finally introduced herself and it all came back down from the cloud above her head. “Oh yeah! That’s where- that’s why your face looks more familiar than most of the hurricane injuries, I’ve seen you around the cafeteria and like, common work spaces, probably the parking lot as well” She said with a big smile. Sighing at the state of thee woman’s face, Parker couldn’t help but sigh a little bit, but also, be crazy proud of the work her and the ER and trauma team were on. “You can just call me Parker, I’m sorry, it’s definitely been a crazy few weeks and not to mention I got here like two months ago, so there’s probably half the hospital staff I’ve yet to meet… What do you do in the psych unit?”

Lacey gave her a small smile and nodded. “Probably.” It wasn’t often they got new employees in or out of the hospital workplace, so it was easy for Lacey to remember most everyone after being there for over half a year. “No worries. I told you, I can’t blame anyone who might not recognize me. I’m not sure I would recognize me,” she joked. “Only two months? This must be quite the welcome gift for you, then. At least you’ve been able to help out.” Lacey couldn’t physically do anything for her patients of course, but she wasn’t happy she needed to take off work a bit. Parker had the chance to keep the people of Asteria safe during a major emergency. “Oh, I’m a therapist. Things have been oddly busy the past few months around the hospital, so I know how crazy it’s been just from that. I know you guys have been super swamped. And part of the hospital collapsing on top of it. I’m surprised you aren’t dead on your feet.”

[laceysun]

jonah-southwick​:

Jonah looked at the woman and let his eyes move from the tip of her toes up to her waist and then trail up until he met her eyes. It wasn’t the type of stare that nasty men used to eat women up, that wasn’t his intention. Ever since he could remember, Jonah was an observant person. It was what made him find so much detail in the world and allowed him to capture those small yet significant moments in his photography. She had a broken arm and although he assumed she was hurt during the hurricane, there was no way for him to know unless he asked. “I’m working.” He raised his camera for her to see after she took the lost item. “I’m with The Asteria Herald and we’re doing a piece on life post-hurricane.” It sounded as tacky as it was coming out of his mouth. There was a time when Jonah used to take photographs of what he loved, but his life hd taken an unexpected turn and now he was doomed to work for a newspaper for the time being. “I’m Jonah Southwick.”

“Are you a hobbyist?” For someone who wasn’t a fan of small talk, Jonah was making an effort. As far as he was concerned, the Herald hadn’t hired anyone new in the past couple of months. The tall guy looked around at the mess everywhere. It was a shocking difference to anyone who knew what the beach looked like beforehand. “It’s really sad, isn’t it? Asteria went from picturesque suburbia to this.” 

“Ah,” she said, nodding. “Well, you don’t have to look hard to find some pretty damaged areas. I imagine you’re getting a pretty decent view of how everyone is affected.” In a way their jobs were similar, at least when it came to the story they were trying to tell through their photos. There was no doubt in her mind that Jonah’s photos were much, much better, but still. “I’m Lacey Sun.”

She looked at him as he asked the question. “Oh, no. I’m doing a study on small town life. The hurricane is bound to be a part of it, so I thought I might as well get some pictures in. Can’t operate my regular camera right now, so unfortunately phone camera it is,” she said, holding up her smartphone and shrugging. “Yeah. As sad as it is, Asteria is a lot better off than a lot of places I’ve been. Lots of good people here. People will want to help out as much as they can.” Asteria had a large upper class population, which Lacey knew would make a world of difference. Queen’s Park had been hit the hardest, but the people that lived there were also the people that could afford to take the damage. Lacey was lucky in that she lived in Eris due to her study, not because of financial constraints. The people of Eris would have a much more difficult time recovering if they had been hit like Queen’s Park.

[laceysun]

murphyfreakinedwards​:

Walking through the store was slightly disappointing because everything was pretty much picked through and taken except for the gross stuff. He’d brought some things over rom the other town he’d gone too but Murphy needed food. There was only so much someone could hold in a shitty motel refrigerator. So while he expected things to be kind of barren, but not this bad. As he wandered around, he realized he had landed in the coffee section and - “Shit.” He cursed softly, noting the fact that it was decaf and sweet, gross stuff left. Like Cherry chocolate coffee? “The fuck is that?” He groaned to himself in his New York accent as a voice spoke up next to him. “Well, I haven’t been here all my life but every time I visit there’s a damn line outside that coffee shop so it doesn’t surprise me that the whole town’s addicted to coffee.” He said and began to search the shelves, looking through all of shelving, peeking into the back. “Oh shit!” the dark haired male exclaimed and produced a bad of regular coffee. “Aw fuck yeah, it was in the back, see?” He pointed and paused, before checking again, seeing no more. Was he really going to be a dick and take this? After consideration, he lifted the bag to her, lifting his unnaturally arched brows to her. “You want it?” Now that he was looking, he realized how pretty the girl was and fought back the urge to flirt with her. Maybe this wasn’t the right time for that, right?

His reaction made her laugh. “I take it you aren’t a fan of rocky road coffee?” Some flavors she preferred without coffee. “True. I don’t know if they could ask for much better business considering the population.” His accent made it clear he hadn’t lived there his whole life. Neither had she, so it wasn’t like she could judge. It was always interesting to meet people who hadn’t lived in Asteria their entire life. Most of the townspeople had been born there and never really left. If it weren’t for her step-family, Asteria wouldn’t have been high on her list of places to go either. The man searched through the shelves and brought out a bag of coffee, regular and caffeinated. His excitement was weirdly contagious. Despite his rough exterior, he was kind enough to offer the bag to her. Lacey smiled and shook her head. “No, it’s fine. Finders keepers. Honestly it’s probably for the best that I have a real excuse to start drinking decaf for a couple of weeks. Plus I have plenty of caffeinated tea. Thank you, though.” She wasn’t just saying it to be polite. All in all, it was best she didn’t get the coffee. Not to mention the immortal part of her that was dedicated to angering her family, making her the littlest bit attracted to the man whom her seemed like the sort of guy her family would never approve of.

[camillexrodriguez]

special deliver  - @laceysun​

Mason walked into the restaurant to pick up his to go order, knowing he was only going to take the bag and head home. His head turned over to see Lacey sitting at one of the tables, scrolling through something on her phone. He tapped his hands against the counter, muttering a thanks to the person who took his order before he walked over and slipped into the empty chair across from her. “Long time no see,” 

[laceysun]

Scrolling through her phone to look at work emails, Lacey paid little attention to her surroundings until someone was in the chair across from her. She was going stir-crazy at home and had decided to spend some time at the restaurant while she answered emails. To her surprise she found Mason Decker across from her. “Wow, Mason? It really is long time no see. The last time we saw each other was, what, a little after I graduated? How are you doing?” Of course she knew about Theodore’s death, but it wasn’t exactly the sort of thing one brought up right away. Perhaps if they came upon the topic she could give her condolences, despite it being so many years ago.

[laceysun]

itssaintben​:

Ben was looking at his hands when the vigilante comment made a smile break across his face. It was only for a moment but it happened nonetheless and that wasn’t the easiest reaction to pull from him. “As far as first meetings go, this wasn’t the worst one I’ve had.” He turned to look at her and gave her a nod. Lacey Sun, it was a name straight out of a book and he was sure people mentioned that before so he abstained from being repetitive. He straightened out in the seat and pulled his neck to the side until he herd a light crack. “They’re my coworkers.” He informed her with a shrug. “We work with the fire department in town.” He didn’t think he needed to explain what that entailed considering there was only one thing people who worked there did. “Most of them have families and kids and were getting ready to head out anyway.”

He looked out the window as the approached Eris and he wasn’t sure why it surprised him as much as it did to know that a woman like her lived in an area like that. Did she have pepper spray and a whistle? It wasn’t his place to ask and he knew he shouldn’t assume that just because she was a lot smaller than him that she didn’t know how to defend herself. Still, he wondered. The taxi driver stopped in front of a house and Ben pulled out his wallet, paying the man before Lacey could. It was he least he could do after the trouble he caused her. “You sure it’s okay if I come in?” There was still time to head home before the taxi guy grew impatient. 

“Good to know I didn’t make it quite that far on the list,” she laughed. He smiled for the first time. Lacey couldn’t help but think it was a nice smile. “Oh. You’re a firefighter?” The ‘work with’ made her think he might work tangentially with the fire department, perhaps an EMT or something. Either way, it explained the heroic rescue he had performed without a second thought. She felt a little better about her decision to go into a car with a stranger if he was a firefighter.

The taxi pulled in front of her house. Before Lacey could get the cash to pay the driver, Ben had already taken care of it. “Thanks.” It occurred to her that they were in the poorest part of town, and he might assume her own financial situation reflected that. It was an easy assumption to make. They were strangers, and it didn’t really matter what he thought correct or otherwise, but part of her wanted to tell him that she wasn’t here for the reasons everyone else was. “Yeah, sure. Come on in. My roommate is a heavy sleeper, as long as we don’t start screaming or anything it’ll be fine.” She walked up to the door and opened it, stepping aside to let him in. “Bathroom’s this way, we can get you patched up there.” She set down her bag and gestured for him to follow her down the hallway.

[laceysun]

Asteria was busier than ever as everyone scrambled to repair the damage from the hurricane. Lacey’s own damage was physical more than anything, though her car would be out of commission for a bit. She wasn’t in a huge rush to get it fixed since the mechanic had to be crammed with people needing to get their cars fixed. Thankfully she had most everything she needed to sit at home for a while, and her roommate could get anything if it came down to it. All in all, it could’ve been a lot worse. She wasn’t going to complain, especially now that the electricity was back up so she could use her computer and cell phone to do work plus entertain herself.

There was a knock on the door, and she perked up. She hadn’t been expecting any visitors. Her roommate was out for the moment. It wasn’t as if there was solicitors going around so soon. Wrapping her blanket snuggly cardigan around her, she got up and opened the door. To her surprise she was met with Ben’s face. For a second her heart sped up, wondering how he had gotten her address, before she remembered that she had invited him over the first night they had met. Duh. That didn’t explain why he was there, not that she minded the visit. “Hey, Ben,” she greeted, smiling. “I wasn’t expecting visitors. Is everything alright? You can come on in, it’s kinda chilly out there. We’re out of coffee but I have just about every kind of tea under the sun if you’d like something warm to drink. Or something else, of course.”

@itssaintben​

[laceysun]

parkerpatterson​:

After two weeks of almost basically living in the hospital, Parker had gone home last night, and was off for the next few days. She deserved it, she’d been working non stop since the hurricane hit, so that night she’d dropped straight down on her bed and slept until around two PM the next day. One of those ‘’What century is it” waking up experiences happened that afternoon, but when she went down ravenous for breakfast, or lunch, there was nothing there. Oh right. She hadn’t gone to the supermarket in two weeks. Getting a quick shower in, the brunette grabbed her phone, wallet and keys and drove over to the store. It was… Disastrous, what the hurricane had done. Walking inside, she made her way through the isles and found herself in a particularly similar situation to a stranger. “I know… And basic coffee drinkers too… I don’t think I want mint and eucalyptus infused coffee every day, where’s my black regular?” She asked with a small chuckle, turning her head to see the girl. It’d been lots of people coming and going from the ER and lots of discharges early to get more beds available, but she never forgot a face. “I’m… Sorry, have I met you before? I work at the trauma department at Asteria General and I guess I think I’ve treated you in the past few days, have I?”

Unsurprisingly, other people were in a similar situation. Lacey laughed at the comment and turned to the woman only to be greeted by a familiar face. “Yeah, can’t believe they would go with their regular when they could try something so new and exciting. And a steal at only half the original price,” she joked. It was most likely on clearance just so the shop could get rid of it and make way for product that would sell. The other woman recognized Lacey before she could say anything herself. “You have! I was staying there for a few days while I got patched up. Dr. Patterson, right? I actually work at Asteria General, so I think I’ve seen you around but I don’t believe we’ve ever run into each other. I work in the psychiatric unit, I don’t know if Lacey Sun rings a bell. I can’t blame you if all of this makes it a little harder to remember,” she said, gesturing to the whole situation going on with her face. With several bruises, lacerations, and the small nose brace across her nose, she wasn’t offended if it made it harder to recognize her.

[laceysun]

itssaintben​:

Ben hadn’t been in a fistfight in a while. He would like to say that he hadn’t been in one since high school, but that would be a lie because he’d had to punch a couple of people in the face for a multitude of reasons before. He wasn’t sure why her words brought a slight smirk to his features, but she was right and the drunk deserved more than what he got, so it was a good thing the bouncer showed up when he did. She was laughing and that also took Ben by surprise. After the bad experience inside, Ben wouldn’t have blamed her if she didn’t want to talk to another man that evening. Not that he wanted to push her to, or whatever. He looked down at his hand when she mentioned it and noticed the patches of broken skin by a couple knuckles. “I’m at the brick building by the gym Downtown.” Asteria was small and most people knew their way around town by landmarks like the flower shop and such. Downtown wasn’t too far from Eris, but he was hesitatnt nonetheless as the cab pulled up and he opened the door for her only to slide in after her. “Sure. I could use a drink and a bandaid.” He nodded after a moment and let her give the driver directions. He leaned forward and places his arms on his knees before he turned his head over to her. “I’m Ben Angelo. Don’t usualy go around punching people in the face.”

Part of Lacey was surprised he was so willing to go along with what she said, but she wasn’t complaining. Some guys could be so stubborn even when she was only trying to help. A tiny smirk graced his features. Gentlemanly and handsome. If he didn’t already have someone, he would have no trouble filling that spot. Lacey wasn’t one to sleep with random strangers, no matter how gentlemanly and handsome, but she could still appreciate the view.

They got in the car together and Lacey turned to him, smiling. “Good to know. Though I’m sure you could pull off the whole vigilante thing quite well if you wanted to. If nothing else it’s probably best for your hands.” She had no idea how much of a bad idea this was. On paper it seemed like a horrible one, but she didn’t feel like she was in any danger. “Ben. I’m Lacey Sun. Sorry if I broke up your party back there. I saw you were with friends. Thanks for standing up for me.” Not many guys would go out of their way to help out a stranger like that. The fact that he had been with friends made it even more unlikely. While she would like to think she had the situation under control, she was grateful for his help nonetheless.

[laceysun]

There had been few visitors throughout the hospital for most of the time Lacey had been staying. There wasn’t a single Asterian who had time to waste after the hurricane, and it was still difficult to get around town. Social visits were kept to a minimum. Lacey’s roommate had visited so they could get things settled since the cell towers were still down, but that had been it. Boredom had been awful. With the cell towers and electricity back up things were much better. It wasn’t the best, but she had her phone to keep her busy now. Owen had texted and offered to see her. It wasn’t like she had anything else to do, and she was keen to check in with her step-brother and see how he was doing.

She looked up when she heard the door opening, smiling when she saw Owen. “Hey!” Lacey put her phone down, nodding to a chair he could sit in. “I’m glad you could make it. How are you doing? Hopefully traffic wasn’t too bad getting here, I can’t imagine how chaotic things are outside right now. I saw the pictures in the Asteria Herald.”

@owen-ence​

[laceysun]

leannerhodes​:

“I knew it was wishful thinking, but I thought I’d check just Incase there might be one hiding somewhere…” Leanne sighed, a equal look of disappointment showing on her face as she looked at the nearly empty shelves. She’d come to rely on it heavily on coffee since the hurricane turned her family’s qaint little existence upside down. At first she guzzled it to keep her alert while her son was in ICU, but now she used coffee as means of fuel to keep her tired, sore body moving as they searched for those missing, and most recently to keep the nightmares away. She was haunted by the images of her son trapped beneath the large steal beam. “I feel like it’s become more of necessity these days rather than a drink of choice.” She shrugged, slowly turning towards the girl. Leanne looked like she’d just survived the first annual asteria purge. Her right wrist all wrapped her, her left foot in a walker boot, and the bruses around her forehead were still pretty nasty. “Well.. this is hopeless. What do you say we go on a hunt for the next best thing, tea?”

“Same here. I can’t really blame anyone but myself,” Lacey admitted, knowing she should’ve done better to prepare more for the hurricane. Maybe if she’d been better and hadn’t stayed so late at work she would’ve have been in her accident. The whole mess could’ve been avoided. It would be a little before electricity came back anyway. The woman next to her didn’t look much better than Lacey was sure she herself did, if not worse. Her heart went out to her. She knew that she was lucky. While she didn’t know how her nose would look after it healed, she had escaped any injury that wasn’t easily healed. Lacey laughed. Unfortunately the comment was a little too true. “No doubt about that. Looks like Asterians are determined to get their caffeine, electricity or no.” It was anyone’s guess as to when the coffee would be restocked, even when the electricity was back on. “I actually have quite a bit of tea at home. Maybe too much, in fact. My aunt loves sending me all the fancy teas she finds. You’re more than welcome to some of it if you’d like. I love it, but I don’t drink it nearly as much as her so it would take me a lifetime or two at this rate.”

[laceysun]

mara-harper​:

Maybe it was partly pity for the woman’s sorry state, but Mara felt compelled to help. “You can have mine,” she offered, holding out the bag of coffee grounds she’d just placed in her cart moments earlier. “I don’t even really like coffee. I don’t know why I keep drinking it…” That wasn’t entirely true, but she could just as easily substitute for tea and the woman looked like she needed a win. 

While Lacey suspected the younger woman might be fibbing a bit about not liking coffee, she appreciated the gesture. “Oh, I couldn’t. I’m just complaining. I promise I have more than enough tea at home. This gives me an excuse to drink more of it. Thank you, though.” Lacey had forgotten the state she was in, and she couldn’t imagine how other people saw her. One more reason to be miffed about her injuries. She hated people thinking she might be weak, though she imagined the other woman might be in a similar position with her sweet smile and stature. “I don’t think I’ve seen you in town before. I’m Lacey.”

[laceysun]

text | lacey and owen

owen: hey lace

owen: is it alright if I stop by and see you?

owen: or are you not feeling up to visitors rn?

owen: it's ok if you're not

Lacey: Hey :) Of course, I'd love if you stopped by! The cafeteria is still a bit crazy right now so I would just suggest not planning on any food here.

[laceysun]

Where & When: grocery store; a week or so post-hurricane With: @asteriastarters​

“Taking it easy” was not Lacey’s forte, as it turned out. Most of the time she was content staying at home and relaxing during her free time. It was a different story when she had been ordered to do it. She had already acquiesced by taking the week off work. It sucked to be unable to help with any recovery mission. If she wasn’t able to help, she could at least try and get out of the house. Lacey had been going on walks around the neighborhood, assessing the damage and talking to people about their experience. As horrible as it was, the hurricane provided a lot of information for her study. With her car out of commission, she had decided to walk to the grocery store and see what she could pick over. She had enough food to tide her over for a bit, but there were a couple of things she hadn’t thought to stock up on. Her large tin of coffee had decided to run out just as the storm hit. In the coffee aisle, it was clear her favorite brand was no where to be found. Lacey would’ve been fine settling for something else, except the only thing left was some weird-sounding flavors of decaf. “Dammit,” she sighed. “Who knew so many people in Asteria were coffee drinkers? I guess I can only blame myself.”

[peter-valentine]

near castle beach 

@asteriastarters​ .open.

Jonah had been in Asteria for two years and was yet to make any meaningful connections. He guessed that if he kept to himself then the better he would be off in the long run. By some unknown grace, he wasn’t one of the many affected by the hurricane in any severity. He spent the following days working overtime with the Herald to capture the magnitude of the damage. Castle beach was on today’s agenda and he walked towards the edge of the sand ready to take photographs of the damage with his camera at hand. Jonah spent the first part of the week taking pictures of people and looking into sad eyes for hours in the dark room where he developed them. There was beauty in destruction and the pain it brought, but he wasn’t fully a masochist. The tragedy affected him too, but it wasn’t why he was so private. “Hey.” He called to someone who walked ahead of him. “You dropped this.”

[laceysun]

It had been several days since Lacey had left the hospital. The doctors had been serious about taking things easy, something she wasn’t excited to do, but her body was still recovering so she had relented. She felt horrible taking the next week off work, but it was best all around. Her patients deserved someone who was 100% there. She was still available via text if there were any emergencies. Most people were too busy with the aftermath of the storm anyway. Thankfully her home in Eris hadn’t been damaged much at all, so her efforts would be spent relaxing and recovering after the crash. Her car was out of commission for the foreseeable future. Lacey was content staying at home for the most part, but she figured it wouldn’t hurt to do some walking. She could go to the beach and take a walk, looking at the damage and taking some photos for reference for her study. The only downside was her broken arm. It would be impossible to operate her professional camera, so her phone camera would have to suffice.

The smell of salt water and post-storm air cleared her head as she walked along the beach. The damage was heartbreaking. Lives had been lost, and it was impossible to know how long it would take for some people to recover. All in all she had been lucky. She looked up as she heard a voice behind her. He held out the sunscreen stick she had brought along. “Oh, thanks. Must’ve slipped out of my pocket.” Lacey almost put out her broken arm, but thought better of it before taking it from him with her other arm. “I didn’t think there was anyone else here. What brings you out here?” It wasn’t exactly the time for family-friendly fun. 

[laceysun]

itssaintben​:

The quickness to her voice worried Ben and he was suddenly realizing how he had made the situation worse than it had been. Who was he to assume the woman couldn’t protect herself, after all? Despite this, he knew there was a possibility that the night could have ended much worse than getting kicked out of a local dive. “We were just leaving.” Ben gave the bouncer who was a tall and burly man, a firm nod and assured the woman’s plea. It’s not like they had a say in the matter considering the bouncer was trailing behind them and practically shoved them out of the door. Ben gave a hard stare at the drunk man until he knew no one would bother her again, and watched him walk off while mumbling a bunch of nonsense and cruel slurs under his alcohol ridden breath. The firefighter finally turned to the woman. “I’m sorry about that.” His broad shoulders lost the tension they’d held inside. He should have kept to himself. Ben reached up and scratched the nape of his neck. “I didn’t mean to…” Ruin your night. That’s what he wanted to say, but didn’t want it to sound like any of it was either of their faults because it wasn’t, it was the drunk guy’s doing… mostly. “Aero has better drinks.” He looked to the empty street and then back to her. “Let me get you a cab.” He didn’t notice how hard he had punched the man until he felt his torn knuckles after reaching into his pocket for his phone.

The man nodded and relented. Lacey's shoulders relaxed and they went outside into the cool night air. If she wasn't already on edge she might've turned back to the bouncer and given him a piece of her mind. They were leaving, for Christ's sake. She was not going to be returning to this establishment. The door shut and she fell against the wall, exhausted. The man turned to her. She gave him a small smile. Despite how the evening had turned out, it could've been a lot worse and she knew he had only been trying to help. Intentions didn't mean everything, but in this case nothing too bad had happened. "It's alright. I know you were only trying to help. Thank you for that. I'm not sure I can condone punching him, but... he did kind of deserve it," she laughed quietly. "Noted. Although if I'm perfectly honest I might stick to making my own cocktails at home for a little while." If she did go out to a bar, it would not be alone. Before she could thank him for getting her a cab, she noticed the man's knuckles had not escaped unscathed. She made a noise of sympathy. "That looks painful. I don't have anything on me to clean it up, but if you want to come back to my place I can get it cleaned up for you. I live in Eris. I don't know if that would end up being to far away from your place, but it's the least I can do," she offered. It was almost definitely a horrible idea to invite a man she didn't know back to her place, but he had punched a guy for her. The least she could do was make sure the injury he had wasn't too bad and wouldn't get infected.