girl, you think you got it bad

S. BARNETT; born lycan. i've been at the mercy of men following orders. ⊰ NEVER AGAIN ⊱

[stellabcrnett]

DAVID;

The conversation was going towards dangerous territory, and David himself had brought it there. He poured himself another glass and downed it quickly, this time grateful for the burn of it. It was a nice distraction. “It might be a bit too late for that one,” he said, circling a finger around the rim of his glass. He had a bit more blood on his hands than he cared to admit, but he didn’t regret it. They had deserved it, and that was the end of it. No need to talk about it. He fell silent for a moment, an awkward pause in conversation that he decided to fill with more drinking. His head was starting to feel fuzzy, but he pressed on. It wasn’t like anything could actually kill him, anyways. “Let’s talk about something else,” he declared, tactless as always. “Something nicer. We did ceramics at Sebastian’s party. He made a ceramic penis for Dex as a wedding present. I don’t really know why.” 

Very few moments in life required a spit take, but when David mercifully switched topics she found herself choking on her drink. She let out a loud cough, trying to clear her throat and think of something she could possibly say without wanting to stab out her own eyes for a pleasant distraction. She didn’t think that David was clever enough to be saying this as a joke, no matter how much she wanted to give him an awkward laugh. “You know what, I don’t know why either.” It wasn’t up to her to explain everything to him, and really who was she to try and guess. If she was a lucky person, she would never have to see it or ask why it existed. “Somethings just never make any sense.” And then she leaned over the bar and grabbed the first bottle that she could get her hands on, not bothering to read the label before she poured herself another glass. “Tell me you made something else.”

[stellabcrnett]

SEB;

       The movements of preparing a pot of coffee were familiar, even though he barely ever drank the stuff. Sebastian had seen Dex do it nearly a thousand times, and he’d learned long ago how to make it exactly the way his fiancé liked it, bitter and black and disgusting. However much he disliked the smell of it, it still reminded him of Dex and was enough to calm him down. He didn’t bother taking the tea kettle off the stove though. For some reason the whole day had carried a lazy tiredness with it, and Sebastian could use some caffeine to keep the unabating yawning at bay. Sitting down on the couch next to Stella, he could feel it creep back up his shoulders again and he ran a hand over his face in an effort to wake himself up. “To tell you the truth, I’m worried about everything. The wedding, David, the council. And now it’s all in one place where I can’t avoid it.”

       He flung himself back on the couch cushions, staring up at the ceiling for a few moments before tilting his head to look at Stella. Most of the time she was still as closed off emotionally as she ever had been, but that didn’t stop Sebastian from taking advantage of her ability to listen. Sometimes it felt good just talking to someone who was family, even if they didn’t have much to say in return. “Sorry, I didn’t mean to throw that all on you as soon as you stepped through the door. How are you? Was your flight okay?”

“Worry less.” It wasn’t a whole lot of comfort, but she knew she wasn’t going to solve any of his problems by trying to offer advice about how to handle the next steps in his life. Wedding, kid, politics; those were all things that Sebastian would have to face without having her fully understand what he was going through. So she hadn’t made much progress with her life in sixty years, she didn’t think Seb actually expected her to have the answers. Given the proper response time she could make up an answer that sounded mature enough, but he was already moving on to the more mundane topics of conversation. Heavy stuff first, and then he could ask about her travels.

“My flight was fantastic.” She couldn’t help the immediate sarcastic reaction to his question, and immediately felt bad for not answering the question genuinely. “No sorry- It was fine, actually.” Nothing had happened that was worth an story. “I was in Copenhagen, so 4 hours of travel.” Denmark had always been her refuge, the one country that people habitually forgot about. Or mistook for Sweden, made her harder to track down. It was close enough that when the call came for Tromso, she could have hopped on a train if she really wanted to. “I’m looking forward to all the board room meetings. They were always such a good time from what I remember.”

[stellabcrnett]

DAVID;

David had never seen Dex drink, but it didn’t mean it was out of the realm of possibility. There was always the chance he just saved it for special occasions. Support his own relationship the day before the wedding, if Stella’s description of the reasons behind drinking was to be trusted. And so far, Stella hadn’t given him a reason for him to believe she’d lie to him. So he listened on, taking every single one of her words as if they were truth. “Why?” he asked, frowning slightly in confusion. Murder didn’t exactly seem like a fun party event, at least in his experience. “What’d they do to deserve it?” The question was asked in earnest, David not only accepting it without a fuss, but also assuming there was some justification to make the act moral. Relaxed by the drinks he had already had, David was driven towards uncharacteristic honesty on subjects he usually veered away from. “I don’t like killing strangers.” He started fiddling with the table cloth awkwardly, feeling a bit glad he hadn’t been invited to Dex’s party. It didn’t exactly sound fun, and he’d gotten a very mangled and misshapen pot out of Sebastian’s. “It’s… cruel. I’m not a fan.”

The look on his face made her laugh, the corners of her mouth turned up in what should have been the tip off that she was lying. There were ways to tell convincing lies, she knew all the different tricks, but this was the opposite. She knew David was gullible, but there was was part of her hoping that he would catch on. Instead he just kept on asking her questions about it. Questions that she really didn’t want to answer. The morality of murder wasn’t something that she really wanted to think about while doing shots at a wedding, and it wasn’t something that she was going to try and explain to him. “Well then you wouldn’t have liked the party.” The truth was far less exciting than that, but she didn’t think she could talk herself out of this downhill spiral. “Besides Dex and Seb would never let you get blood on your hands.” She poured another drink, wondering how quickly she could reach a level of intoxication that made the whole conversation easy to get out of. What people did to deserve to die, was absolutely not something that she could think through right now. “You’ve got impeccable morals David, but sometimes shit just happens.”

[stellabcrnett]

SEB;

       Sometimes it still struck Sebastian as odd, how close they’d become over the span of four years. Five years ago, he’d only ever allowed himself to dream of a family whose blood matched his own, matched his mother’s. Stella hadn’t turned out to be what he’d expected, but in some ways, that was better. She was real and he could see parts of himself reflected in her. “As much as I’m sure Dex would love to provide you with that opportunity, he’s out right now, so you’re safe.” Sebastian carried the duffel back towards the couch, gesturing for her to sit down as he set it on the floor. “Do you want some tea?”

       Sebastian had specifically requested a cabin with an open floorplan, so he had no trouble continuing to talk to Stella as he moved towards the kitchen and left her in the den to fill up their kettle with water and put it on the stove. “It’s mostly just been people settling in and getting used to all this darkness. David’s got a whole cabin to himself now too. I talked myself out of hiding a few baby monitors in his couch cushions because that would be creepy and invasive.” He paused, coming back into the den while the water boiled. “Right? That’s invasive and not necessary because he can take care of himself and I just need to give him space.” This was probably the fifth time he’d had this miniature freak out, but Dex had been his only audience all those other times. Stella was a fresh face. He plopped himself down on the couch beside her and sighed. “We’ll probably have it at the lodge so everyone can fit. Morrigan keeps using words like ‘rustic’ and ‘cozy’, so…”

“Do you have any coffee?” She answered his  first question with one of her own, although she assumed that the answer would have to be yes. Leaning heavily on coffee to get through jet lag was a skill that she’d learned flying back to the pacific timezone over and over again over the past few years. She could use the same skills to get back on track here in the middle of the sunless world. Seb had to know that from the way he casually mentioned everyone else getting used to the weather here. The cold was one thing, she’d lived in the UK her entire life, but this was paired with some of the most miserable conditions she’d yet to experience.

“I think rustic and cozy are the only compliments you can give this place, no offense kiddo.” She hadn’t actually been in the lodge yet, but if the cabins were any kind of a tip off, then there wasn’t anything to look forward to. Which didn’t mean that the wedding was going to be bad, it just meant it would be quaint. “But it’s a great way to kick off all the nice events coming.” She smiled even though she wasn’t sure Sebastian was even looking- it was the effort that counted. “And don’t worry about David. He’s at least twenty. That’s usually when kids can fend for themselves. It’s not like you’ve left him back in San Fransisco.” She never could understand why Sebastian asked her for advice, but she tried to live up to expectations every time. Didn’t everyone want their own space? The newlyweds got their own cabin, their practically adopted son also got one. It wasn’t like he was going to get into any trouble here. “If he needs anything, I’m sure you’ll be the first to know.”

[stellabcrnett]

DAVID;

“I’m not,” David replied, even though he had no way of knowing what type of drunk he would be. He wasn’t often described as sad, nor was he considered happy. Grumpy was more apt. He tended to stick to the edges of crowds, arms crossed and scowl facing the floor. He had never been the best at eye contact, and because of that, he always looked a bit shorter than he actually was. There was a rather large chance he’d get drunk and just start crying, but he was stubborn, and didn’t want to be what she obviously considered negative. “I guess that makes sense,” he poured himself some more, accepting her explanation. It did seem a bit odd that Sebastian and Dex would pay for an open bar if they hadn’t wanted people to drink from it, and he was just starting to feel the effects from what he already drank, which was making him considerably more agreeable. “What’d you do at Dex’s party?” he asked, moving on now that he was placated with her answers to his earlier questions. He drank the glass he just poured, more because he felt he had something to prove than anything else. 

“We did a few different things.” She shrugged, taking another drink and letting it sit for a moment. There was part of her that wanted to tell the boring truth, but if David was going to get drunk at the wedding, then she was going to have to poke a little bit of fun at him. “Started with going to a club, you know Dex is a very heavy drinker.” Which should be his first red flag that she’s telling a big fat lie, but she keeps going anyways. “Anyways, it ended up with us all killing a person.” She tried to keep a straight face, but knew that she was cracking, there was no way that they could have gotten away with something like that in this town. Not for a lack of practice on her and Dex’s part; but at least they’d reformed.  “Very dramatic, swore a blood oath and all.” Which again, would never happen. She wasn’t sure if she was testing David’s gullibility or how drunk he was, but she laughed at the absurd idea that they’d have done that all the night before a wedding. “You would have loved it.”

[stellabcrnett]

DEX;

     A lot had changed in four years, it was almost like Dex’s life did a complete one-eighty. Still, there was constants and it seemed Stella dropping by randomly at her own leisure would be one of them. It was a surprising comfort, he’d previously assumed that being around her would be as painful as being around the rest as Altolusso. But instead, they were sitting in Seb and Dex’s kitchen at an hour much too late to be drinking coffee, converse as if nothing changed. “A stripper,” Dex repeated, a confused look on his face. “Isn’t the point of a bachelor party to not have your fiance there? I mean, I don’t mind, but I’m pretty sure Ophelia already planned something for Seb’s.” He was being a dick, he knew Stella was decidedly not thinking of her nephew as a stripper. “Okay, another idea. Maybe something that doesn’t prematurely end my marriage.”

          “Thanks for that image.” She stuck her tongue out at the joke. It would have been easy enough to ignore, but she figured she owed it to him to give a disgusted face. “Besides, Sebastian’s party definitely involves arts and crafts,”  Pottery if she’d heard right. But she tried not to make a habit of eavesdropping on conversations that didn’t involve her, clearly. “He’d have a much better time here.” And then she made another face at her own morally depraved joke. She didn’t want the images of a stripper, she just wanted the humor. “And besides, I didn’t say you had to sleep with whoever I got. That sounds like your own problem.” She took another sip of  coffee, “But if you insist on something more tame, I guess we could just watch Bachelorette or something. Eat some salad, go to bed early.”

[stellabcrnett]

DAVID;

This time, when the bartender came back, David stopped him and asked, “may I please have a normal sized glass?” It made the man looked perplexed, but he fulfilled the request anyways. When he brought it back, David looked placated. The tiny glass was getting annoying to constantly refill, and Stella’s horror at his initial ignorance on how to drink from it made him despise the little glass more than was probably healthy.  He poured himself some of the vodka from the bottle, not filling the glass to the top, but still giving himself a good amount. He figured Stella would look disgusted again if he didn’t down the whole thing at once, and didn’t want to overdo it in the amount. It still burnt when he swallowed, and he had never been reassured it wasn’t poisoned. “So that’s just what everyone does?” he asked, confused. It seemed like an odd practice, but he didn’t know enough about weddings to dispute it. He downed his glass, once again careful to show no reaction. It was getting easier as he got used to it. “Weddings are weird.”

Her eyes widened as he drank a glass of vodka. Considering how he’d reacted to her correcting him last time, she figure that it was better to just let him go with this mistake. After all it would get him to the same goal as all the shots would have done. And if she wanted to see what he would do being drunk at a wedding, shoot her. It didn’t make her a bad person- just a curious one. “Yeah, you drink and it makes everyone have a better time. Unless you’re a sad drunk.” She quirked an eyebrow at the idea that David could be that kind of person; a few shots in and sobbing that they were never going to find love. He was too young for that. He would have to be a fun drunk. If they got there. “You go to them to show the people getting married that you support their relationship.” She was decidedly not enjoying explaining everything to David. She thought after so many questions she would just get used to it, but he kept asking ones that were deceptively complicated. “Good party, good relationship. Seb and Dex have a bar, so they want you to drink, ect.”

[stellabcrnett]

DAVID;

David sat back in his seat, arms crossed over his chest. He was still scowling, even more so now that she hadn’t risen to his bait. It wasn’t something he pointed at people often, but it usually worked to shut them up at least. Stella hadn’t reacted at all, and David didn’t quite know what to do with that. He hadn’t realized how comfortable he had gotten being coddled until someone reminded him of the alternative. “It was fine,” he replied, leaning back so his chair was only on two of its four legs. He fidgeted when he wasn’t comfortable, and he was about as out of his element as he could be with Sebastian’s aunt. Try as he might, he couldn’t see the resemblance between the two of them. “Why?” he asked, though he obediently downed the next shot when presented with it. Not reacting had become a matter of pride, so he stubbornly kept a straight face. “It tastes terrible and the glasses are tiny.”

“Why not.” She snapped, doing the shot almost immediately. After that she just told the bartender to leave the entire bottle on the counter for them. It was going to take more than a few quick drinks for them to achieve anything near the appropriate level of drunk for a wedding. She didn’t actually know what it took for a hybrid to get drunk, she hadn’t found herself in the company of one ever; it couldn’t worse than a human’s. “You do it to relax, I don’t know.” She found herself trying to return to his question anyways, giving somewhat of a more complete answer. But the more she thought about it, the worse it was to explain. There were some things that people just did. “Toast to good health and all that. It’s just supposed to show that you care.”

[stellabcrnett]

DAVID;

David scowled, trying to forcibly stop his face from heating up. It had just looked like a small glass to him, and he had treated it accordingly. It had made perfect sense at the time, but apparently he’d missed the mark enough to warrant the look Stella was currently giving him. “They didn’t have stupid little glasses in the facility. Sorry, maybe you should email them a customer service complaint for the future,” he grumbled, his words tinged with sarcasm. It wasn’t often he brought up his past in such a way, but he was feeling particularly annoyed in that moment. He picked up the shot glass, copying her exactly and downing it, not allowing his distaste at the burn of it going down his throat to show on his face. “Is that proper enough?”

She knew she was supposed to walk on eggshells around David, treat him a little bit gentler because he just didn’t know better. Even though he looked upset by the current situation, he’d done the shot properly so she wasn’t going to complain. “Yes. Was it that difficult?” Tough love worked, that’s all she’d learned from the experience. She wanted to feel more of something. It was clear David had only brought up his past to try and hit a nerve, make her remember that he needed to get coached through some situations. But he wasn’t her kid for fucks sake, she was just the babysitter du jour. The one who was teaching him to drink, but they couldn’t all be perfect. “You didn’t even wince that time. I’m very proud.” Her reaction didn’t give much away, instead she just motioned for the bar tender to come back over and refill their drinks. “It’s a rite of passage. You drink at weddings, make toasts and all that.”

[stellabcrnett]

DAVID;

It wasn’t David’s first time in a bar. They weren’t usually his favorite of venues, but the quiet atmosphere of the one Stella had brought him to was a bit more comfortable to him than the crowd and crowded nature of the previous venues he had attended. The fact that the workers seemed less suspicious of his legality than back in the states was also an added bonus. “What’s that entail, exactly?” he asked, taking the small glass from her and eyeing it for a second. He took a sip of it, drinking about half the liquid in the tiny glass before he put it back down, his face screwed up at the taste.  All of the other drinks he had tried had been fruity concoctions at bars, and one glass of wine he had tried out of curiosity. There was nothing pleasant about the taste of the shot, and it burnt his throat on the way down. “Does it mean you’re trying to poison me?”

The look on her face was horrified. He was actually sipping the shot. She knew that Seb and Dex kept a dry house, but had he really never even seen someone do a shot? “What the fuck are you doing?” She didn’t even bother to answer his question, bypassing the comment about alcohol. Of course it was bad at first, but he’d get used to it with any luck. That was the whole point of drinking “It’s not a Pepsi.” She pulled her own drink towards her and did the entire shot before slamming it on the bar. “That’s how you drink it.” And then for a moment she thought about the fact that she’d actually had to demonstrate how to do a shot. To a person over the age of twenty-one. “Can you do it properly, please.”

[stellabcrnett]

          ( @notdavidstea ) The bar was mostly empty, which made sense for a week night, but it didn’t mean that her night had to be just as dull. After all she was sitting with David, the one person that she found pretty damn fascinating. He hadn’t done anything, as far as she could tell.  And even though they’d spent some time together in San Fransisco, she didn’t know him as well as she wanted to. Any friend of Sebastian’s was supposed to be a friend of hers. That was the new rule she was trying out anyways. So she ordered shots and turned to her companion, holding one up for him to take. “I’ve got to be the bad influence in your life.” Not that there was any trouble to get into in fucking Tromso, but at least feeling like there was excitement to what they were doing would make the night bearable. “Don’t tell Sebastian.”

[stellabcrnett]

          ( @dexwxx ) There was one wedding tradition that she couldn’t let go- and that was the bachelor party. Sure, Dex had settled down, mellowed out, and he couldn’t keep up with any version of their old antics, which made a real party out of the question. Whatever the silver had done to him, she wasn’t going to pretend that he could bounce back. But she could still harass him about it all she wanted to. She sat at the kitchen table, a mug of coffee steaming on the table in front of her. There was fuck all to do in Tromso, so she found herself just continually stopping by the one cabin that she knew would always be willing to let her kill a few hours. “I’m going to throw out a few ideas, and you tell me what you think.” she said, assuming that he would catch up to the topic of conversation without her having to give much more detail. “Do you want a stripper?”

[stellabcrnett]

SEB;

       Sebastian had been napping on the couch, drifting off with a book splayed open on his chest as the combination of jet lag and the absence of sunlight dragged him under. He wasn’t sure he’d ever be able to reclaim the semi-normal sleep schedule he’d gotten used to in San Francisco when the only thing telling him that it was only a couple hours passed noon was the digital clock on his cellphone. But then there was a knock on the door and Sebastian jolted awake, his book falling to the wooden floors with a clatter as he wiped at his eyes with his palms.

       “Don’t lie, you love picking locks,” he called back, grinning as he went to the door and opened it for his aunt. He looked her over and saw the bags hiked up on her shoulder. “Wow, you really did just get in, huh?” Then he pulled her into a quick one armed hug and took the duffel from her. “I hope someone told you that you’re going to have your own cabin. You don’t actually have to crash here with me and Dex this time.” Having her around the first time had been awkward at first, the tension thick whenever all three of them were in the same room, but Sebastian had insisted they work through it and eventually a balance had been reached. Though, he still knew not to ask for too many details about what kind of past Dex and Stella shared.

          “You know me too well.” She smiled, hugging him back fiercely if only for a moment. Of course she knew she had her own place, but the familial tug in her chest made her want to see Sebastian first. She’d been fucking that up for thirty years, and given the chance to do things right she was going to try her best to show at least some support. Sure, it’d taken some warming up to the idea that the Dex who was now engaged (a still baffling thought) actually had her nephew’s best interests at heart. Maybe she was the only one who was inherently selfish to the core, and she’d misread him the entire time, but one thing had stuck with her. Loyalty was hard won, and he’d taken a damn bullet for Seb. She learned to live with the idea that if Sebastian was happy, then she should learn to be to. “Although I don’t want to walk in on anything.”

          But it looked like they were home alone from a quick glance around the cabin, so she took her shoes off and went to sit on the couch before being invited to go anywhere else. If the book was any indication, that’s where Seb had been anyways. “Have I missed anything in the past view months? I hate playing catch up but you’ve got to tell me.” She didn’t want to be in Tromso by any stretch of the imagination, but she certainly wasn’t going to be the last one to the party. Next time she’d just recommend that the party be in Jamaica, have the council take a vote or whatever it was they were all here for. “Picked a venue or anything charming?”

[stellabcrnett]

          ( @sebarnett ) She wished she could have stayed San Fransisco longer than a few months. It was the first time that she sat down and had a conversation- a real conversation, with Sebastian after everything. After Romulus, after Dex, after Paris. She’d gotten out of the city and slipped under the radar as fast as possible. Humans had been unaware of her antics for twenty years, she could keep a low profile now. Having council members in the same city might not have been a red flag for the humans, but when the last name was Barnett it attracted enough unwanted attention from others in their species. So, even as she finally got to know who her nephew was, she had to abandon him just as quickly. It was for his safety, for her safety. Worrying about that sort of thing was a new experience for her, but not an entirely unwelcome one.

          When her flight finally made it into Tromso she went straight to the cabins. Backpack still on her shoulders, duffle in one hand, the other knocking on the door that she was told belonged to her nephew. “Anyone home in there?” She knocked harder, “I’d hate to have to pick the lock, again.”

[basketcasemp3]

[stellabcrnett]

BILLY;

It didn’t take long before his fellow lycan was ready to go again, and he was relieved to not be the only ally unleashing rounds anymore. Despite him rarely ever really having people to rely on, it was nice to have some form of backup, even if he had only just learned her name. Stella. Cute. It seemed she had a knack for tossing out nicknames too–something Billy was clearly fond of. “Billy Branson, but ya can call me whatever ya like, darlin’.” His own introduction was thrown out over the chaos as he unleashed another expertly placed round down the hall at the charging enemy. Kneeling down on one knee, the lycan was quick to start reloading his own pair of guns, briefly taking a moment to look up at his new partner beside him. A good-looking woman holding a gun was a heavenly sight, and even in the midst of battle, Billy couldn’t keep a grin at bay. “It’s a good look for ya–them guns ‘n all,” he complimented as he tore his eyes from her to gaze down the hall to ensure he wasn’t caught off guard by any oncoming horde of leeches.

In fights like this, she should have counted herself lucky to run across a person who was competent enough to continually hit  their target, but then he continued to talk. There was a difference between the person who casually used pet names, and then one who pointedly padded them with compliments. Or maybe it was the overt leering that set off the alarm bells- really who could tell between gunshots. It was a difficult choice, but she figured that she could endure a few more attempts to charm her if we was going to keep hitting his targets. It might even be fun, messing around with him. “You know, I’ve always been more of a knife girl.” And besides, she had to admit that the conversation gave a nice bit of distance from the very real violence that was happening around them. “Something about getting up close and personal.” Partnered with a side-ways smile, she guessed it would be the exact answer this guy was looking for. “Although, if it’s not a good look, why bother?“

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[nofruitjustcookies-blog]

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