I feel like they’d both flounder in different categories but Sloan would know enough to win after a long-drawn out game. Jyrda spent far too much time in the ocean and didn’t pay close enough attention to historical occurrences through the centuries to know enough. And her knowledge in science, entertainment, sports, and geography is laughable.
laughs when their partner trips on something
Jyrda. She’d comment on how Sloan must have lost more than just a leg.
would drop ice down the back of the other’s shirt as a joke
Both, most likely. But Jyrda does it more often because Sloan actually has a reaction. Even better if the gargoyle is altered in some fashion. Jyrda herself often ignores the cold and just enjoys that it’s water.
spoils the ending of books/movies
Sloan does it all the time just to rile Jyrda up. The siren throws huge fits about having things spoiled since she’s often watching or reading popular things for the first time that others have known of for ages.
always posts a picture of the other as their MCM or WCW
Jyrda does because she likes to feel she’s “in” with landdweller technologies and fads. Sloan complains about being her WCW every week, saying she wishes she never taught her how it worked, but secretly finds it endearing.
eats the last piece of cake in the fridge before the other can have it
Sloan, while having munchies. And just shrugs when Jyrda throws a trantrum about it.
obnoxiously celebrates Monday Punday every week
Jyrda never understands them and Sloan never stops throwing them at her just to watch her get incredibly confused and frustrated.
makes loving hack posts on the other’s
Loving would be used rather loosely as Sloan posts things to Jyrda’s media accounts that are both absurd and usually entirely too inappropriate.
Facebook/Instagram/Tumblr/Twitter etc
Sloan thinks she’s too good for them and Jyrda can’t get enough of them because she feels connected to land people and their culture.
has to beat their partner in every game
Jyrda believes as an immortal viking, she must best people in everything and will always push Sloan to compete with her. And get entirely put out when Sloan just doesn’t care.
keeps their partner up half the night talking about random stuff
I believe they both likely would. Jyrda doesn’t need sleep and Sloan would want to talk when she’s high and unable to sleep. However, Jyrda would bother Sloan when she was trying to sleep. Just because she can.
eats too much garlic and tries to kiss their partner anyway
Sloan does because Jyrda finds the taste rather repulsive.
Ruby slammed the car door shut, locking it and gripping the wheel with both hands as she tried to stop them from shaking. Her neck, dress, chest and left arm were covered in blood. Her blood. Her hair had been pulled down as she had struggled to get the vampire off her, her biggest fear becoming reality as he hadn't stopped when she called time. He had only clamped down harder, fangs piercing deeper into the flesh of her neck, draining twice what was normally allowed in one night. It was only her screams that had brought the wolves. It had taken four of them to subdue the immortal, his mouth and chin dripping with Ruby's unconsenting blood as he flailed like a wild animal. They threw him out, membership immediately revoked. So shaken was she, that Ruby only stopped long enough to get enough of Bella's blood in her so that she could walk to her car without passing out. She was still pale, her hair sticking to her where the blood was starting to clot. But she just wanted to go home. She made it there, dizziness sweeping across her as she walked towards the front door. She let herself in, dropping her keys and purse on the table by the door before stumbling back against it and sliding to the floor, her head falling into her hands as she finally let herself cry.
Ephram had been curled up in a corner of the sofa, re-reading an old paperback. His mind had been spinning so fast lately for various reasons that this simple comfort, revisiting a book he'd enjoyed, was a welcome relief. He heard Ruby come in -- couldn't miss it in the limited space of the trailer -- but he didn't look up until he heard her drop her stuff and slump back against the door. "Sweetheart?" Ephram said, tossing The Dark Tower aside and getting up to hasten over to Ruby. His heart stopped for a moment when he saw her covered in blood, and he didn't ask what had happened. He scooped her up and sat on the bed with Ruby's limp body cradled in his lap, finding the wound site, the fang punctures, and immediately bent to fit his mouth over the wound. Even before he made contact, there was cool green and silken gold threading from his mouth; it sunk into the ragged holes, spreading through Ruby's bloodstream to replenish it. Ephram's mouth worked against Ruby's throat, his tongue cleaning the caked blood as his magic healed her.
Ruby looked up as Ephram called her name, closing her eyes and looking away as he scooped her up and took her to the bed, ashamed for him to see her this way. "'M fine," she murmured, head rolling weakly against his shoulder as his magic moved through her, warming her cold limbs. She hadn't realized she was so cold until he'd picked her up. She coughed, grimacing slightly as the magic moved across her carotid. "Hurts.."
Ephram murmured against Ruby's throat, whatever reassuring words he'd intended getting lost against her slowly knitting flesh and the slick blood thinned with his own saliva as he patiently worked the clots free. He moved his hand to cup her head against his shoulder, then stiffened slightly; of all things, Ephram could feel himself getting hard, Ruby's damp weight against him, her breath faint against his neck. He continued his work, hoping to hell she wouldn't notice and be disgusted.
The vibration of his voice against the skin of her neck felt good. It grounded her, let her come back to rights, even only just a bit. She managed to slip an arm around his neck, holding him to her as she tried not to cry. Hot tears ran down her face and neck, mixing with her blood and his saliva. She didn't notice him pressed against her through the thin material of her dress, the black silk ruined with blood now. Even if she had, she wouldn't have held it against him. Her hand scrabbled slowly and desperately for purchase against his skin, finally twisting weakly in the neck of his shirt.
Ephram pulled back a touch, to catch his breath and gauge how Ruby was doing. "Any better, darlin'?" he panted softly, his lips gilded with gold, smeared with blots of blood. "I can heal you up more if it still hurts. You jes' tell me what it is you need, baby, Jesus Christ you coulda been killed, don't go to work no more, please, Scarlett, you can do what all else you got a hankerin' for but while this is goin' on, with the vampires, don't go in to work." The words spilled out before Ephram even knew what he was saying, but it left him breathless.
Ruby took a slow, deep breath. "Still hurts, but 's better." His words nearly overwhelmed her as she tried to sort them all out. Some she didn't catch, but the gist of it she got. It only made her cry harder. She could have been killed. At her job. Good God, what would happen to her if she was on the street? No wolves to protect her? None of Bella's blood or Ephram's magic to heal her? She choked back a sob.
Ephram was feeling none too steady either, but he stood up, Ruby in his arms, and made his way into the bathroom. "Don't go nowhere you're gonna get killed," Ephram moaned against Ruby's shoulder. "Don't do that to me, honey, I couldn't take it." Maybe those were selfish sentiments, but it was all Ephram could think about in his panicked state, was Ruby choosing her job over him, or anything else that she'd deem more important. He bundled them both into the shower, setting Ruby down so he could carefully rip the silk from her body. Tossing it outside, Ephram started to smooth soap over the bloody patches of her skin, concentrating on them to keep himself from losing it completely.
She hissed as the cold shower hit her skin where it was bare. Shivering as the cool air hit her skin, she pulled her legs up and let her head rest against the shower wall. His words tore at her heart, and instantly Ruby felt selfish for thinking about someone's business over someone's heart. She loved Bella, but she also loved Ephram. Reaching out, she stopped his hand where it was cleaning blood from her arm, his gaze hyperfocused on the movement of the soap. "Not ever gonna hurt you, baby," she said. "I'll stay. For you, I'll stay." She would never choose anything or anyone over him, and if she had know he was thinking that she would have done everything in her power to reassure him. She knew he wasn't used to being put first. "'M okay..." she breathed, closing her eyes again, her hand falling away.
It maybe wasn't appropriate, or gentlemanly or whatever, but Ephram's first instinct and the one he followed was to kiss Ruby again. Not with as much healing magic this time, although his mouth was still warm with the gold ley energy and her blood. After that he didn't speak, just concentrated on getting Ruby clean. When they got out of the shower he stripped off his own wet clothes and dried them both, letting Ruby get dressed on her own while he did too. "Your colour's comin' back," Ephram said with relief, watching her put on her clothes. "But don't do nothin' strenuous tonight. I'll keep an eye on you, and if you come over feelin' sick, tell me."
Ruby kissed him back, tasting her blood on his lips. They were so warm. She let him dry her off and slowly, she got dressed, pulling on the first t-shirt of his she could find laying across the bed. It fell to her knees, so she didn't bother with pajama bottoms. She steadied herself against the small dresser as she searched in her drawer for panties. "I will," she nodded. "Just wanna eat somethin' and go to bed." Finding some, she pulled them on slowly. "I'm sorry. For scarin' you."
Ephram reached over to stroke Ruby's hair, cupping her neck as he gave her a look that thanked her for her apology. "Could warm up some milk for you to put cornbread in," he offered. "That'll lull you to sleep right fast."
She smiled at him, taking his hand and kissing his wrist, letting the warmth of his hand linger against her cheek. "That'd be great. Thanks."
Sloan is still slightly hungover from the previous night; that is exactly what happens when you combine opiates with alcohol and then decide to become a meal on wheels to a siren. But, that gargoyle manages to pull herself together with plenty of time to make it to Ephram and Ruby’s trailer for dinner… and discussion of what to do about her drugs, and Ruby’s issue of dangerously underfed vampires. Sloan knocks on the door holding dinner in one hand. She is much happier to come here on these terms, and not by reason of fight or flight.
He finished pulling on his jeans and a t-shirt and leaned in to press his forehead against Ruby's, soaking in her nearness, before moving to the stove to heat up some milk for her. Ephram whistled idly -- some old CCR song -- and when the knock on the door came, he stared for a moment before remembering. "Shit, Sloan's bringin' us supper!" Ephram said, moving over to the door to open it. "Come on in," he said, stepping back to let Sloan enter. "I just got some milk on the stove, don't wanna let it scorch."
Ruby sat slowly at the small table, laying her head on her arms as she watched him at the stove. Her eyes closed as she listened to him whistle, smiling in idle sleepiness. Her neck still throbbed, but it didn't hurt anymore. Ruby looked towards the door when the knock came, face tensing. Her last visitor hadn't been very nice. "Shit," she mimicked. "I forgot. " She raised a hand in greeting as the gargoyle came in.
Sloan heard the boom of Ephram’s muffled voice from the other side of the door, it stopping as soon as it swings open to the man - hair still wet. Sloan entered, a small smirk, “Thanks. It is good to see the inside of the place. And I hope you like Chinese takeout. I got a ton of food.” She wasn’t quite sure what either of them liked, so she got a little bit of everything.
"Lord, I ain't had good Chinese food in ages," Ephram declared, already feeling his mouth start to water. He moved the saucepan off the burner, switching the stove off, and reached for Sloan's bag to set it on the counter. With the trailer being so small, the fold-up table only had two chairs, so Ephram took down plates and fixed one for Ruby, one for himself, before pulling a stool up to the outer side of the table and leaving the other chair for Sloan. "Thanks for bringin' this," he said, mouth already full of noodles.
Ruby took the plate she was offered, nodding her thanks to Sloan as well. She didn't dig right in like Ephram, instead taking her time and picking out a few pieces her and there. Now that food was on her stomach, she realized that she wasn't as hungry as she thought. But she ate anyway, not wanting to be rude.
Sloan took a chair next to Ruby, smiling softly at her friend as the plate was set before her, “Anytime, Eph.” It was odd to sit at a table and have a meal. Her and Shiloh would not dream of doing such a thing without their parents and brother; it would forever feel wrong. “Hey, Rubes. Rough day at work?” The human looked more than just a little exhausted. Sloan asked the question as she picked up one of the forks and dug into her own plate, though, not with as much gusto as Ephram.
Ephram's chewing slowed, and he looked over at Ruby after Sloan's question. Ruby 's fork paused, but she didn't look up from her plate. "Little bit," she said. "Nearly had my neck chewed off." There was no doubting the trace of bitterness in her voice.
Sloan noticed the hesitation, the pause in the sound of rapid-fire chewing from her left before Ruby answered. And it was everything Sloan didn’t want to hear. The question was meant to be more rhetoric than anything else. She stopped chewing, swallowing the food harshly, her fork dropping to the plate with a clatter. “Shit…” They were meant to discuss this tonight, to be proactive and preventative. It made her feel slightly ill. “What the fuck happened?”
"Some damn vamp got greedy and forgot the rules," Ruby said, stabbing a piece of broccoli.
"Please tell me that someone killed the prick..." Sloan says, perhaps a bit too harshly. Her gaze darts back and forth between Ruby and Ephram. Ephram swallowed painfully, not able to meet Sloan's eyes as she said sharply, "Please tell me you know who it is... so I can go kill him..."
"Nope. Got thrown out. Membership revoked." Ruby slid her foot across the linoleum, brushing Ephram's to let him know it was alright.
Sloan could hardly believe it. "Revoked membership... are they serious? That sounds like a way to piss a vamp off more, starve them more... not a solution..."
"Can't. Signed a confidentiality agreement."
Ephram rubbed his chin with the back of his hand. "She ain't goin' back to work till things get better." Ruby looked over at Ephram and gave him a small smile."I gotta tell Bella though."
Sloan growls, unwilling to push it any further. She could give a damn about the legal ramifications of breaking a contract, or even murder. It isn't until Ephram speaks that Sloan feels a sliver of relief. "Did- who healed you?"
"Got enough blood from work to make it here." Ruby pushed her food around her plate, frowning at it. "Ephram did the rest."
"Yup, it was me what did that, ma'am." Ephram reached over to stroke Ruby's shoulder, returning the smile. She blinked sleepily at him, rubbing the top of his foot with her own.
"That's handy." Sloan smiles, happy that Ephram was able to heal Ruby. "I'm still recovering from this whole incident," the gargoyle uses a hand to reference the greenish, yellow tint to her once black eye. The only way she could speed up her healing was to turn stone, and Sloan was nowhere near desperate to resort to that.
Ephram squinted at her. "Workin' off a shiner there, huh?" he said. "I could speed it along if you want, once we're done talkin' business."
"'S a good thing to have around, for sure. He could," Ruby agreed at Ephram's offer to heal her.
Sloan picks up her fork again and pokes at her food, taking a bite. "Nah. I'll hang on to it; it gives me street cred." Ruby smiled, shaking her head slightly. She picked at her food, frowning still. She was having trouble staying awake.
Ephram snickered. "Awright," he said affably. "So what's the deal with your drug trade in the town? Howcome you don't want my stock outright?"
Sloan liked that they were jumping straight to business. It was probably for the best as Ruby seemed to be nearly asleep at the table. "My drug trade... I sell a little bit of everything, mainly the things that are hard to come by. The drugs aimed for species outside of humans." Sloan shrugged easily, "And I don't want your stock outright because I have already lost a shipment..."
Ephram nudged Ruby a bit. "Honey, you can go to bed if you want," he suggested. "Or lie on the sofa and listen till you fall asleep." He leaned over to kiss her cheek, leaving Ruby to make up her mind as he went back to the business at hand. "I could keep hold of it," he said. "I got two warehouses I work out of. You could come git the stuff as you need it."
"I think I might," Ruby said apologetically, looking between the two of them. Sloan smiled at the interaction between the two. "Go, Rubes. Seriously. You look like you are going to fall over." The admission about the volume of drugs that Ephram had was shocking. And her shock was obvious by a slightly ajar mouth, "Two warehouses?"
Suddenly remembering something as Sloan spoke, Ruby pushed up from the table, holding out a hand to indicate she could manage, and went to the door where her purse still lay. She fumbled inside and pulled out a bottle of what looked like vitamins. Coming back, she sat down again and sat the bottle in the middle of the table. "That thing we were talking about?" she asked Sloan. "There's your solution. Odorless, colorless, tasteless. Take one. Let them drink your blood. Kills a vamp by killing its metabolism over a few days time. They starve to death. Some guy... last name Andrews... he made it."
Sloan looked up at Ruby as she came back over to the table with a question referencing the Neuro, a bottle in hand. A bottle and apparently, a solution.
"It ain't got a name, but he says it'll work," Ruby told Sloan. "Looks like a vitamin." Her eyes flicked to Ephram, wondering what he would think, especially after tonight.
"Oh, it ain't all drugs," Ephram hastened to assure Sloan, then stared at the bottle. "Where'd you git this?" he asked Ruby. "Andrews came and delivered it to you himself? You can't just go round poisoning and killing vampires, for fucksake! Neither of you!"
"But... If it kills them over a few days time... wouldn't that not help you... you'd be dead." Sloan didn't want to say the words, but she did.
"It only stays in the blood for an hour or two," Ruby explained, rubbing her temple. "Providing there's not a repeat of tonight. But I already said I ain't goin' back so... ain't up to me now. He... he wanted to bait them. I told him I couldn't. Said he'd back me up if they got viscious." "
"But if a vamp attacked you on the street?" Sloan asked, as Ephram growled, "--besides which them vamps never actually die unless you behead em or set em out in the sun when they ain't got a ring on."
Sloan nods rapidly at Ephram's wisdom. "Even gargoyle blood only makes them sick."
"Don't know about that. He just wanted to weaken them. Guess he mighta planned on killin' 'em later." Ruby was quiet for a moment. "It was... a really strange encounter."
Ephram's face grew thunderous as Ruby explained what Chris had wanted with her. He didn't say anything, but he got up from the table with his empty plate and started heading to the sink, only to halt halfway and fling it against the wall. The plate shattered and he punched the fridge, the whole trailer rattling from the force of it. "I'll fuckin' wring his fuckin' neck!" Ephram shouted, his face red, fists clenching. Ruby flinched as the plate shattered against the wall.
Sloan didn't like the way that the conversation was headed, nor the aggression displayed by the thrown plate. "Woah, Eph. Deep breaths and people words."
"I told him no!" Ruby said, voice shaking. "I did contact him... to see if I could help. And that's what he suggested. I had no idea. I said no."
Ephram took a few deep breaths, getting himself under control. He held up his hands, saying, "I ain't gonna hurt you, I ain't mad at you. I'm mad at /him/. We got ... history together, Chris Andrews and me."
Ruby got up and walked towards him, holding up her hands to placate him. "I know. I know you ain't. Jus'... if Idda known what it was gonna be Idda never gone. I swear." Ephram hugged Ruby tightly before walking her to the sofa that was only a few feet from the table, sitting Ruby down there with a kiss and returning to the table with Sloan. "Sorry bout that," he said. "Din't mean to startle you. Just -- been on edge what with everthing."
Sloan figured that this was a more personal matter, she remained seated, allowing the two of them to work it out. Ruby had warned her that Ephram wouldn't be happy with the idea of drugging any vampires who decided to get a little bite happy. And they seemed capable of diffusing the situation. "You didn't startle me, hon." Sloan replied honestly, taking a slow bite of her food, not too hungry any longer. She continued speaking with a full mouth, "don't see the point in getting worked up over something we can't fix now."
Ruby tried to protest as he took her to the couch, but the moment she sat down, exhaustion overwhelmed her. She looked up at him, apologizing again with her expression, before sliding down into the cushions and pulling the blanket off the back. She listened to the two of them talk for a bit, their voices finally lulling her into sleep. Her last thought as she slipped away was that as much as she had tried not to, she'd hurt Ephram. She'd promised never to hurt him and she'd done it. She tossed and turned, whimpering in her sleep for a long time before finally quieting.
Ephram snorted. "Believe me," he said, getting up to get beers from the fridge for Sloan and himself, "if we din't have more immediate things to discuss I'd be haulin' ass over to my brother-in-law's house to beat the shit out've him." Cracking open his bottle, Ephram said, "As I was sayin', I don't got /that/ much of a stash, just a few assorted favours."
Sloan takes the beer with a small thanks. It is a huge relief to have alcohol in hand. "Family seems like the root of most heartache. I'd be willing to join you for some ass kicking though if you would like some backup." The beer is perfectly chilled and goes down easy. "Define favours."
"Hah! I might just take you along. It'd be some sight watchin' you square off with Chris." Shaking his head in amusement, Ephram set that topi aside for the moment, rocking back slightly in his chair as he considered what he still had in stock. "Some kinda rock with violet insides that gargoyles get high off of," he started, "there's a belladonna hybrid that gets witches goofy, and for vamps there's these cloned blood samples from like, back in medieval times that bloodsuckers go crazy for? They look like lil red hard candies, called Crimsons."
Sloan joined in on the laughter with a chuckle, taking a long swig of the beer. "We can place bets. I do a bit of underground fighting, turn a good profit with betting." The drugs that Ephram was mentioning were rare, stuff that even Los Lobos were unable to get their paws on. "Shee-it, Eph," Sloan draws out the words, polishing them off with a low whistle. A few seconds pass before a seriousness overtakes her features. A business face. "Okay. So. Say I am interested, what would you want in return?"
Ephram raised his eyebrows, grinning. "Jes' so happens I do rounds in the Underground my own self," he drawled. "Nothin' lately, gotta wait out my time between fights. Maybe you'n me could square off sometime." He took a pull from his bottle before sitting forward, getting into serious mode as well. "Smugglin' business is good and gettin' better all the time," he said. "Not to sound boastful or nothin' but I doubled the ol' gargoyle's business even before he let me buy him out. And right now, I'm the only employee." Ephram scrunched half his face. "Startin' to get hard handlin' the special deliveries and the regular deliveries too. I could use some help, and you could drum up some more customers for yourself at the same time."
"We must be missing each other. I would be game to go a few rounds, might keep you spry between fights." Sloan smirked as she gave the verbal jab. "What exactly does smuggling involve? I'm only experienced in the customer service aspect of drug movement and I'm sure that Ned's Boys only make your job that much more difficult."
"Mostly the existing customers have special items they're interested in gettin' their hands on. My job is to ferret out where I can get em, manage to bring them in under the radar, and then get em to their destinations." Ephram turned his bottle against the table. "Panos the gargoyle who owned Hippios Shipping before me had already made a bunch of contacts, so I din't have to try and drum up new business. It just happened automatic-like."
The beach was empty, and for that small mercy Thea was grateful. As the sun set she looked at the nearly full moon. It was a ridiculous gesture, she could feel the moons phase in every fiber of her being, the full moon was coming. Her wolf howled for it’s release, knowing the time for it to run was near, and it’s constant presence made her groan as she dropped her head into her hands.
As a child the knowledge of her heritage, her wolf, had been a comfort; it meant she was stronger and faster. It gave her a freedom most young women can never feel, but then the accident had changed that, and, though she didn’t have to change as long as her amulet hung from her neck, she still felt the moon’s persistent draw. It used to be something she hardly noticed, but after that first shocking change, the draw had become much more persistent.
She took a breath and sighed, letting her eyes drift shut as she tried to focus on anything other than the tingling itch that vibrated under her skin. Letting out a frustrated growl she glanced down at her ball between her feet then rose and began to dribble it down the beach. Slowly, the constant growl and straining of the wolf inside her began to ebb.
Spinning, sand flew around her as she launched the ball in the air, she then headed it before juggling it from knee to knee. She had sworn after the accident that she wouldn’t ever play soccer again; it was too dangerous, too easy to accidentally hurt someone again. That was her penance for what had happened, but it didn’t mean she didn’t long for the feeling. Nights like this, let her pretend, for a moment, that she was that girl once again. She grinned and launched the ball in front her raising down the beach playing against invisible opponents in her mind.
