#kai: 03

[rydell-lafontaine]

Flashback || Friends Adjacent

Rydell didn’t really do the friends thing. There had never seemed to be a point; she had never really felt the need for them. From the time she was little the werewolf had prided herself on being independent and not depending on anyone. That, however, had never stopped her from social interaction. Most of the time it was filled with sharp words and sarcasm. Half of the time she wasn’t entirely sure why the people she spent time with even wanted to be around her. And yet…she somehow managed to find her own little social circle. Not friends, not really, but they were people that she spent her time with and she could at least say she didn’t entirely loathe. It wasn’t much but it was something.

And yet hanging out with that little group of people- friends adjacent as she liked to call them- often meant hanging out with Kai. Kai whose ridiculousness was as big as the warlock himself and who somehow had never learned to spell his own name despite being far too old to continue fucking that up. He definitely wasn’t the type of person Ry ever would have hung out with on her own. Too immature, too irresponsible, too oblivious to certain things. He was usually the type of person she went to great lengths to avoid given how biting she tended to be on a regular basis. And yet each time she was hanging out in the group she seemed to be unable to avoid him. Just her luck.

That particular night the group was out late having been barhopping throughout New Orleans and despite that none of them were particularly drunk. Still, at the end of their night they had made their way to the closest all night diner to commandeer a couple of booths and probably drive the late night waitress absolutely insane. One member of their group was doing his utmost to charm their waitress despite the growing annoyance her face that made it clear the woman had no desire to feed into any of their shenanigans and despite herself Rydell found herself smiling at the stupidity of it all. “I’m surprised that’s not you,” she mused, glancing at Kai with both dark eyebrows raised. “That kind of stupidity is usually your type of thing.” @malachai-dragoumis​

[baudos-blog]

@kaibrks

the aftermath of death was as unique as a fingerprint, and kai’s grief was the quietest sound lancy had ever heard, although it hadn’t started that way. they were sleeping now, on top of her covers with a throw tucked cautiously around them, a naive attempt at bandaging kai to keep them somewhat put together. it wasn’t working. even in sleep, they didn’t look peaceful, they looked undone. it was hard to look at them. it was even harder to look away. cautious not to make too much noise, lancy padded across the room with a mug -- aiden’s -- of green tree and settled herself into a spot behind them, tucking her feet under herself neatly. she tried not to think of another body she’d done this for, tried to keep his name out of her mouth. sometimes there were no words for grief; all you could do was sit through it and wait out the worst of it. sighing, lancy ran a hand over kai’s shoulders; they were still wretched, but their heart, undoubtedly, was even worse off. kai’s mother was dead. there wasn’t a remedy for that; no hope for the hurt eclipsing their sky.