LARRISA (@mysteriousmissweems / @chromium-siren ) said “It’s a shame that you don’t dance ballet- we would have performed a beautiful pas de deux together.”
" A good plot Larrisa! It's good to spend time on the things you're good at but I think I spent too much time on them back in school when I should've been branching out." He laughs amicably. "I mean, isn't that what school is for!"
"Tomorrow's gonna be really long if we don't talk, Angel," Gomez says as he helps gather up some tools. They hadn't exactly been ignoring each other, but they hadn't gotten up to their usual back and forth. Not since last week. Things hand lingered uncomfortably between them, but Gomez skirted around any awkwardness with the distraction of building cabins. However, being in a watch tower together for twelve hours might test his ability to do so. "Unless you're gonna trade off with...Beau or someone." God, he hopes not, for many reasons but mostly because he can't listen to the wolf complain. "In which case, I can do wach alone," he adds with the slightest smile. @gloriouswhispers
When the war broke out in 2020, the Medina pack moved from Los Angeles. They were a pack of wolves who'd long since worked with the criminal underworld of LA. They had a front-of-house operation, running a club in downtown LA called The Palace. And back of house, doing an amalgamation of other criminal activities, but most dealing. Sometimes things got violent and they had people to handle that as well.
Matteo had been born into the Medina pack and eventually joined their criminal operations. He was, for the most part, a perfect face for the front of house operations. He'd always been extroverted and charming, able to read people quite well. And because of this, people trusted him. Which is something he used to his advantage time and again.
When the war broke out, they lost countless numbers as LA was one of the hardest hit cities to start. Making it out with half their numbers, the Medina pack headed north east, looking to get out of large metropolitan areas. By the time they ended up in Colorado, taking shelter in safe towns, they'd dwindled even more. Their resources had been lost in various altercations with the military and for the first time in a while, they had to rely on others. The safe town wasn't anyone's first choice but with wounded members, they had no recourse.
Throughout all their travels, they'd kept their past hidden, avoiding mention of their criminal activities after the first few mentions early on their journey had ended in fights and expulsion from towns. They stayed in a Colorado safe town for several weeks as they needed to plan and create a strategy. During this time, Matteo was plagued with the thought of what might have happened if they'd had other allies in LA, rather than just their own pack, so independent from others they'd had no back up when the fight came to their door. He never voiced these thoughts aloud, though, and when the time came for them to leave, they'd secured supplies and rations for the next weeks into December.
But eventually, trouble found them once more. In a bid to save themselves, they gave up the safe town that had just given them weeks-long shelter. Guilt ate at Matteo, especially when they weren't let go as promised. Instead, they were taken to a holding camp and moved north to a facility in Montana. They were liberated there by a group of witches who told them of several safe towns in Canada.
By the time they arrived in Hollow Cove near the end of 2021, their pack was at its all time smallest. But there was relief in being able to settle.
And Matteo might've seen it as a success until wolves showed up from one of the safe towns in Colorado. Just like that, the guilt was back, slowly eating at Matteo when their pack realized the others didn't suspect foul play. They were instructed to collectively keep the secret and there are days when Matteo forgets that he even has one to keep. Still, he throws himself into any task he can find, onto any shift with an opening because it keeps his guilt at bay and helps him focus his restless energy on something else entirely.
Over the years, he's become known as a good guy, one of the nicer members of his pack, and generally someone reliable in town. As much as he wishes it were all sincere, he knows that he needs to be strategic in who he befriends and keeps close. That way, if their secret every does come to light, they'll have the right people on their side.
this may well be the last time gomez did this for his daughter until she came back from school. the idea saddened him, but he intended to make this bonding time count. carefully, fingers twist her long raven locks into a braid, half of her head already done, strands skillfully threaded into one another. ‘ at least you will have thing there to keep this tradition alive, stellina, ’ fingers work slower than usual, perhaps to prolong the process this time. ‘ though i will miss these moments, too, ’ @mierco1es.