#ch:marley

[gleesource]

Marley Rose in Glee S04E01 “The New Rachel”

#ch:marley #me:show #t:gif #m:leah #usergiu #usercharisse #usercas #userkristiana #useremuh #userrisa #usercim #dailytvwomen #tusersonny #useralison #tuserheidi #userbbelcher #chewieblog #glee #gleeedit #userstream

[willcwthewisp]

next in line | marley & willow

LOCATION: willow’s workplace. PARTIES:  @detectivedreameater and @willcwthewisp. SUMMARY: marley has some questions for willow concerning a missing person from her work. CONTAINS: head trauma mentions.

Marley pinched the bridge of her nose as she fought back the wave of another headache. Her body felt like it was deflating, slowly, with each hour that passed. Her blackouts were getting worse as well, and maybe Erin had a point, maybe she should get Queenie to look at her head. Maybe the crash had done more damage than she thought. Still, she hesitated, because she felt as if something were different this time. Something had changed. She couldn’t put her finger on what, but for now, she would push it to the back of her mind. She was back at work, but only on interrogation terms. So, it was with three other officers, that she’d ended up at a call center where someone had been reported missing. Missing persons were so boring, it was the same ending every time. They were dead or no longer human. In rare occasions, under a fae promise or kept in a vampire’s basement for food. She rubbed her eyes as she went in to her first interview, with one Willow Finch. Her picture looked like she smiled too much, and Marley frowned as she walked in, unsurprised, but still disappointed, the woman matched the photo. She sat in the chair across from her. “Need any water?” she asked, motioning to the pitcher next to them. 

Getting questioned by the police was the absolute last place Willow wanted to be. Sure, they’d brought in literally everyone from the office, but she couldn’t help but feel as if she were the one under a magnifying glass, even if that wasn’t true in the least. They couldn’t have possibly come to ask about the man at her gallery, right? The one who’s arm she’d broken? After all, he said he wouldn’t press charges! But no matter what she told herself, Willow’s foot was still tapping anxiously against the office floor as the detective stood across from her. Detective… “Um- sorry- what did you say your name was?” Had the woman even said her name? She always felt at least a little better when she knew someone’s name. As for the water… “Oh- no thank you! I mean...maybe? Or...maybe not! Sorry- I just don’t know what the protocol is here. Which one’s the one that means you’re guilty again? Drinking the water or not drinking it?”

“Neither,” Marley said unenthusiastically as she watched the woman practically bounce in her chair. She talked a million miles an hour and Marley was tired. She poured herself a glass of water and then the other, scooting the extra glass towards the woman. “Neither means you’re guilty, I’m literally just offering you a glass of water.” And it was the truth, actually. Offering a glass of water was supposed to simply establish a baseline for behaviour, but this woman was so squirrelly, Marley knew immediately that wasn’t going to happen. “Stryder,” she announced sitting back and looking her over. She had big, brown eyes and shiny, blonde hair. She looked so unassuming, sitting across from her, almost an opposite to Marley’s all black outfit and her black hair and dark eyes. “So, first things first. I need you to state your name, age, how long you’ve been working here, and you daily schedule, please.” Maybe this would go better. She doubted it, but she could still hope, right?

“Neither?” Willow echoed with brief confusion, her mind working too quickly and anxiously to realize exactly what Marley meant. “But you can’t do neither- you can only take it or not take it?” How was she supposed to look innocent if neither action was the answer? It dawned on her too late what the detective had actually been getting around to. “Oh- you mean...nevermind…” Willow looked away in her embarrassment, cheeks already heating as a flush came over her cheeks. “Sorry I’m just ah- a little nervous. Not that I have anything to be nervous about!” She didn’t even really know the man that had gone missing due to mostly keeping to herself in the office. There was a reason she’d chosen a job as a telemarketer, and that reason was the exact opposite of any attempts to make friends. “Stryder?” Willow’s head titled quizzically to the side, the name ringing a bell. “You’re the woman who-” The medium glanced around as if making sure they were truly alone before leaning forward and lowering her voice. “-the woman who knows Nora?” Her back straightened against the chair as she prepared to answer the question, as if she were readying for a spelling bee at school. “Right- uh, Willow Finch. I’m 32, and I’ve been working here for…” She did a quick tabulation, grimacing when she realized how long her gallery had been closed. “About six months. Daily schedule like...work schedule or the entire day?”

Yeah, this was going to be a long day. Marley sighed and rubbed her head before setting the file down on the table and leaning forward. Oh, shit, this was that one chick from online? The one Nora had harassed? She almost groaned out loud. “Yeah, that’s me,” she said, tapping the papers, “guess I shoulda figured. Not too many Willows in a town like this.” It wasn’t an accurate commentary, really, just another dry joke. Marley’s specialty. She wrote down all the things Willow told her, watching the woman’s face closely. She wasn’t lying about any of it, not that she thought she would. But the straightened back and the momentary pauses between sentences helped establish a quick baseline, in case she did try to lie. “Like work schedule. I don’t need to know what you do with your free time, besides throw bear people around.”

Great. It wasn’t that Willow didn’t like Marley based on her first impressions online. It was just that the woman had seemed abrasive, somewhat aggressive, and a little dismissive. Okay...maybe she didn’t really like Detective Stryder. But the last thing she needed was for a police officer to know that. “Is there...not?” The medium blinked slowly, apparently not catching Marley’s dry humor in person in that same way it’d flown over her head on the forums. “Okay-” she began with a nod, this time looking as if she were getting ready for an oral examination in front of the class. “Well- I usually work five days a week. I’m full-time.” She’d needed to be to even begin to cover her bills. She’d bought her apartment in the prime of her gallery flourishing, and telemarketing wasn’t quite as profitable. “And uh- when I’m here I just...you know- call people and try and sell them things.” With the mention of bear people, Willow’s voice quieted. “I thought you said they’re called bugbears?”

Marley was just trying to drown the exhaustion out when something felt as if it were being lifted from her shoulders, and her body felt suddenly lighter. So light she almost thought she was standing up, but looked down at her hands and found herself in the same position as before. She blinked, looked around, then back at Willow. Though her head still hurt and her eyes still drooped, she no longer felt the extreme exhaustion she’d had since first waking up from her accident a few weeks ago. “Full time, got it,” she noted, picking up her pen slowly and writing that down, too. She’d completely missed Willow’s first question, but breezed right by it as if it had never been said. “When do you take your breaks? Same time every day?” she asked, glancing across the table to Willow and wondering if she was simply seeing things, or if that side of the room suddenly looked darked. “What? Oh, yeah, they are. It was just-- I just...joking.” 

A heaviness settled onto Willow as Marley spoke, suddenly feeling as if she were carrying more weight than she had been before. Rolling her shoulders, she tried to shake the sensation to no avail. Ugh, was this just another anxious symptom of being interrogated? Maybe she could just go straight to sleep after work, and shake the feeling of being drained by the sensation of being under a microscope. She didn’t feel the need to repeat the question Marley had skipped over concerning her name. The sooner she got out of her the better. “Usually I do. I like to keep a schedule and stuff.” It made it so she knew what to expect of the day. “Every now and then I’ll take it other times, though.” Why did her break schedule matter? Did they think she’d had something to do with the missing person on her breaks? Again she felt the feeling of nerves clawing up her throat, pressing her to ask her next question. “You don’t- you don’t think it was me, right? I mean honestly I would have confessed by now. I’m really bad at keeping secrets that make me feel guilty. You should ask my sister- I always ended up tattling on her, and Forest is a whole other story. Oh- Forest is my brother.” Gosh, that had been a lot of words, hadn’t it? Already it felt as if they were taking a toll on her. A lot of words meant a lot of energy.

“And what time are those breaks?” Marley asked, going down the routine list of questions. No, she didn’t think Willow had anything to do with it, of course she didn’t. The girl had accidentally confessed to hurting Nora like two seconds after finding out Marley was a cop, it was doubtful she could lie even to save her own life. Marley took in a breath and for the first time in ages, felt it reach all the way down to her toes. She couldn’t help but smile a little. “They’re just routine questions,” she told her, tapping the notebook with the pen, like children do when they have too much energy. “The faster you answer them, the faster you get outta here. I know you didn’t have anything to do with it, Willow. You’re a narc, you’d narc on yourself, proof being that you already did it once before.” She gave a smirk, shrugging as she sat back. “I really don’t need to know about your family dynamics right now. But if it turns out you did kidnap this dude, then you can tell me allll about them, sound like a deal?”

The time of the breaks? Willow didn’t understand why these were the questions being asked, and that only sent her a little further over the edge of trepidation. She didn’t know how to give a good answer without knowing what it was Marley was looking for. “Um- I usually take the half hour break first around 12:30 for lunch, and then the fifteen minute break around 3:30.” She liked her mornings longer, saving her break for later in the day when she was less fresh. Now the detective was smiling. Was that good or bad? “Okay...what are the other questions? Or is that all of them?” she asked hopefully, trying to remember if there was any more of the coffee she liked leftover in the breakroom. She wasn’t usually a big drinker of it, but the sudden drowsiness that had taken her over was inspiring her to think differently. A frown came over Willow’s lips, not entirely certain that she liked the way Marley said the words narc, and applied it to her. “What do you mean I did it once before?” Oh god, was Marley lying and she did think that Willow was the reason for the missing person? Had she accidentally somehow admitted to the crime? “I didn’t!” she insisted while her tone grew more worried. “I really didn’t I mean- I don’t even think I could fit a body in my car or anything!”

Marley noted the rest of Willow’s answers and compared them to the notes on when the man went missing, and just like she thought, none of it added up. The poor man had disappeared on the overnight shift, anyway, so interviewing the day shift seemed pointless. But the captain wanted to be thorough, and so they would be thorough. She etched a little note on the pad and closed it, looking up at Willow. “What? Oh, no-- that’s all the questions. You’re good to go.” Except Willow kept talking, rambling, worrying. If this had been ten minutes ago, Marley would have groaned out loud and walked away. But as it were, she was feeling better, so she stayed put. “You practically confessed to me about Nora, remember? You were all worried I was gonna arrest you or fine you or something.” Marley let out a loud chuckle. “Woah, hey, realx, it’s fine. I know you didn’t have anything to do with it. I’m kidding. You really, really need to learn how to read sarcasm.”

“Oh, really?” Willow managed to say once she’d finally processed that she was free to live another day, and the shackles of the man wouldn’t be clapping onto her wrists anytime soon. “Thank god,” she sighed while her shoulders sagged, still a little confused as to why the questions had left her feeling so heavy. Sure- she did poorly in situations where she thought she might be arrested, but her anxiety didn’t usually leave her this level of tired. “Oh right, Nora.” She hadn’t realized Marley had been talking about a time other than today, and it was true that Willow had been all too eager to ‘confess’ her crime of throwing Nora through a window despite the bugbear being the one to break in. Willow blinked while Marley made an attempt to calm her, somewhat surprised that the woman was trying to help in the first place. Maybe she was kinder in person than she was online. “I just...I kinda forget it exists when I’m worried,” Willow admitted sheepishly, generally fine with sarcasm if she wasn’t thinking about everything that could go wrong. “But um- I hope you find him. You know- the missing person.” She knew just as well as any other native White Crester that far more people tended to go missing than were found. It was practically a death sentence in a town such as this. Just the thought of it made her want to lie down.

#// :------------------) #head trauma tw #ch:marley #chatzy #next in line #wickedswriting #horse girl

[dariodanoite]

cat’s cradle | marley & dario

LOCATION: marley’s town house. PARTIES: @detectivedreameater​ and @dariodanoite. SUMMARY: a mara feeding on a traumatized balam goes just as well as you’d expect.  TRIGGERS: panic attack tw, sleep paralysis tw, family death tw.

Alright, Marley though idly, that was good. She was laying in her bed and next to her was the text she’d received at 1am. They both knew exactly what they wanted and exactly what this was, and that’s all it had been. Except, he didn’t know exactly what this was. While a nice late night romp in the sack was always great, Marley needed a good feeding. A good, real feeding. And then sex hair Dario had come crawling into her Tinder DMs and it was like a match made in heaven. Except that he, apparently, liked to cuddle. Marley hated cuddling. Well, alright-- hate was a strong word, but she wasn’t exactly comfortable with it. At all. She’d obliged because it made things easier, even as she laid tensely on his chest until he fell asleep. And finally, he was asleep. Slowly, she lifted herself, his arm sliding off her back. There was already something so enticing about him, she almost couldn’t put her finger on it. His face pulled into a furrow, as if he were stressed. Or having a nightmare. She wasn’t even touching him yet, though. Perhaps this was going to be less work than she thought. Reaching out, she placed her one good hand on his forehead, and was instantly filled with a wave of his fear. Rushing through her like a torrent. A delicious storm. One she wanted more of.

On the nights Dario lay awake in the middle of the night with little to fill his mind other than things her certainly did not want to think about, there was a very simple answer for his plight. Tinder. Sex. That warmth of another body, and a sensation that made it rather difficult to focus on anything other than the person (or sometimes people) he was sharing the evening with. For whatever reason, it was even easier to fall asleep with them. For when the nightmares came, at least there was some, something there or him to latch onto when he woke up in a cold sweat, another body breathing beside him to remind Dario that he wasn’t dead or dying, or hidden away in a small space of his head while the jaguar was out and about doing as it pleased. Tonight was no different, though it seemed nightmares had come anyway. It was often more prone to happen when he didn’t know the person as well quite yet, and wasn’t sure how safe they might actually be. It wasn’t unusual for them to take a darker turn as they were doing now, the raw fear he felt continuing to steadily grow as dream Dario ran through a dark forest with no shoes or shirt, a fire burning in the background. 

Fire. A forest. Marley’s eyes were open, but they didn’t see what was happening in front of them. Instead, they saw his nightmares, his memories. It was choking, almost, like walls closing in. Like if they didn’t move fast enough, the forest was going to swallow them whole. Dario ran along the forest floor, barefeet. He was looking for someone. Or was he being chased? She couldn’t tell. He was crying out for someone. Suddenly, the forest shifted and a house took its place. Smoke billowed from it enough for Marley to understand what had happened here. There were people on the ground. Her eyes followed him as he ran up to them. 

Back in the bedroom, Marley’s arm tensed. 

Fuck, the house. Dario had never actually seen it in it’s full, fiery glory after the Hunters had set it on fire, but his imagination had proved plenty proficient at recreating it for him. But hadn’t he just been running away from it? The dream, or rather, nightmare, didn’t seem to care about the laws of space and time, and now he was faced with the bodies of his family in the last places he’d seen them alive. His father, in the center of the foyer, his younger brother not too far from him. His mother— slain on the grand staircase that led upstairs with his little sister still in her arms. They were all charred black, blacker than the fur of the jaguars they turned into with the skin flaking off in places, revealing bone and muscle peeking out from beneath the places where skin had been burned to a crisp. He stood stock still, just as he had in those first few moments of the attack before his mother had bid him to run. However, the dead didn’t seem content to stay dead as they rose up from their own ashes, their eyes a stark white against the black of their burned skin. As they straightened themselves, they simply stared, and more horrors were revealed. Their skin hadn’t just charred, but their eyes were melting, running down the fronts of their face to leave empty, red sockets in their place. Fear was such a recurring character in his dreams that the terror he felt now wasn’t all that foreign as he watched with horror. 

Marley followed him into the house. She walked past his charred father on the floor. A few feet more was the body of a child. His dead mother on the stairs. The burnt girl in her arms. Enough, she thought to herself, as they rose from their spots and turned on him. Enough, she told herself, but she hadn’t fully fed yet, and her body craved for it. So she backed away and she watched. Their mouths hung open in slack-jawed horror as they tried to speak. Ash and smoke spewed from their mouths. Fire tore at their empty sockets. “Why didn’t you save us?” they asked Dario, falling at his feet. “Why didn’t you come back?” 

Whether Marley had been feeding or not probably wouldn’t have even made all that much of a difference, though the nightmares usually weren’t this bad when Dario slept over with someone. Had he been alone, though...this wasn’t all that uncommon, and the reason he tended to seek people out on Tinder in the middle of the night in the first place. Unfortunately, it seemed to have failed tonight. The dream avatar of himself stood stock still, as if he couldn’t move, his foot rooted to the spots they’d landed on as his family asked him their questions, sounding more like accusations on their blackened lips. He parted his lips to speak, but nothing came out as if he was muted in the dreams, unable to say anything that might defend himself. Or perhaps he simply didn’t wish to defend himself, thinking this is atonement for leaving them behind. But now they were advancing on him, jaguar claws sprouting from the ends of their fingers as they closed in. A moment later they were slashing, tearing, ripping the skin from him as his heart pounded in his chest, not entirely sure if he had stopped breathing all together, or if he was simply breathing so quickly that it was hard to tell where one breath stopped and the other began. Somewhere, outside of the dream realm, his own claws slipped out, presenting themselves in the face of the panicked state his dream self was in. As his skin was ripped away, it wasn’t sinew or flesh that lay beneath, but the jet-black fur of the jaguar that lived within him, and this was more terrifying to him than if he was actually being eviscerated. “No,” he finally spoke, “No, no, no, no, no!” was all he managed to say as he tried to fight it, to push the fur back from whence it came. “I’m fixing it! I’m trying to fix it!” He was trying to find the Hunters wasn’t he? To avenge his family? Of course...how would that fix that fact that his family had been burned down along with the house, not even given a final resting place?

Marley felt almost breathless. In a strange way, she felt responsible for what he was seeing. She’d pried into nightmares before, but nothing had ever been this visceral, this real. Did she care? Should she care? She watched them tear him apart, bit by bit, piece by piece. Flesh giving way to fur, his secrets laid bare and full for her. Secrets that she...didn’t want. Didn’t need. Dario was just a person, someone she’d slept with on a whim because she needed to get Anita out of her head. Because she liked having sex. He wasn’t a criminal, he wasn’t hurting anyone. Had desperation really driven her this far? Didn’t she have standards? Morals? Something sharp stung on her side. She looked down. Blood. In a blink, she was sucked from the dream world, a rejected infection.

“Fuck!” she hissed, wrenching away from him in the bed. Her side was bleeding slightly, four thin scratched along her hip. When she looked back at him, she saw the claws. She felt his fear still. He’d wake soon.

Someone cursed, shied away from him, and Dario woke with a start, already on edge from the nightmare he’d been having. He would have bolted up if he’d been able to, but instead he was stuck firmly in place, unable to move after apparently waking too quickly. Fuck, fuck, fuck. No matter how many times this happened, he couldn’t get used to it, and he couldn’t even tell if his eyes were open in the darkness or not. Was this still part of the dream? Was he actually awake? Panic continued to course through him, his breathing quick and shallow while he simply lay there, desperately willing his body to do anything. Then he saw her as plain as day, the woman he’d slept with no more than a few hours ago huddled on the bed, through her eyes glowed red in the night as they had before. Of course, now they only reminded him of the red behind his family’s melting eyes, and that fear renewed itself once more, feeling as if a hand was slowly closing around his throat. 

He was awake, and Marley didn’t know what to do. This had never really happened to her before. This was what she got for crossing her fun with her food. She usually didn’t do it, but with her injury, she’d figured why not. Well, this was why not. He was panicking, his breaths erratic. “Hey, uh-- c-calm down. You’re okay,” she tried to coax in a soft voice, hand on her side coming up to his arm, his chest. “Just breath,” she said, positioning herself so she was in his line of sight. “You’re awake. Just...let it come back slowly.” Glanced around the room, to the claws on his hands, to his face again. She didn’t know what else to say.

For a moment, Dario just saw a girl over him and another memory was triggered, the face of a blond who he’d brought home the night of his family’s death, and the girl who had tried to stab him once they’d gotten into his bed. But Marley wasn’t blond, he tried to forcefully remind himself, clinging to that fact for dear life as he stared at her hair. Somewhere, Marley was telling him to breath. Just breathe. But how was he supposed to do that when it felt like there was no air. His eyes screwed shut for a second, and it took him a moment to realize...he’d moved. At least in some small form. He wasn’t as lost as he’d been when the jaguar had taken over his body, or rather...when he’d let it. Dario’s hand tensed, ever so slowly curling into a fist. Something blue glashed at the end of his claws, god dammit his claws, but the confusion was at least something to break through the haze of panic for a split moment. Finally, words came, though it felt like he had to fight for each syllable. “Marley.” It wasn’t so much a question as confirmation, a reminder that this was the woman from Tinder, and not something else. “Marley,” he simply repeated, holding onto that singular anchor. “Fuck.” Finally he managed to ever so slowly raise his head, his leg shifting to try and touch a bit of her skin, to feel the warmth there that would tell him this was real, not the pictures still flashing in his mind’s eye.

Marley stayed tense as she simply watched. She’d watched people wake from their nightmares before, frozen in this paralysis. But she’d enjoyed it, then, because they’d been people who deserved it. But who was she, to feel sorry now? She wasn’t supposed to have feelings. She didn’t have feelings. Rule number one was she didn’t need anyone other than herself. Rule number two was no feelings. Swallowing, she let out a long breath as she watched him move small things at a time. First his eyes, then his hand-- shit, her blood was on it. Blue blood. She looked down at her side, little trails of blue falling from the cuts. Fuck. She wrapped the blanket around her midsection, turning back to him when he finally said her name. “Yeah, yep,” she answered, unsure, “That’s me.” Let out a long sigh when he was able to move, feeling him shift, reach for her. Tentatively, she met him halfway. The least she could do was keep up appearances, right? Should she say sorry? She didn’t know what to do here, the discomfort sitting in her stomach like a pit. This was supposed to make things easier, sleeping with other people was meant to remind her of who she was, not-- not this. “Are you...what happened?” she asked finally, feigning, wondering if he knew.

With the addition of Marley pressed up against him, Dario managed to take his panic another down another notch, his breaths still far from regular but- certainly improving from what they’d been. The sweat on his brow was already growing cold, and he lifted a hand to wipe it away. The claws? Had she seen them? Now that the immediate, perceived danger was gone he could worry about things such as that. The motion of her pulling the sheet caught his eye, and he noticed that the blue seeping through it was the same shade as what was on his hand. “Is that….blood?” What else would be coming out of a person? But why the fuck was it blue? He sittferend as she asked her own questions, never proud that he had these fucking ghosts haunting him. “A nightmare. It’s fine. It just happens sometimes.” More often than he liked to admit to a girl he’d just met on Tinder. 

“That seemed like a little more than a nightmare,” Marley immediately muttered, unable to stop herself before it came out. She paused, looked over at him. “You were...calling out in your sleep and then, uh--” she needed to divert attention from her slip up, and from her blood. “Well, your hands turned into claws.” She motioned to his hands, which were still stained slightly with her blood. “Fuck, here,” she reached over for the tissues she kept by her bedside and handed the box to him. “I just...does that happen often?” she asked, finding herself genuinely curious, wondering if it was truly out of curiosity or something else. Guilt, perhaps? No, not guilt. She didn’t feel guilty. She’d needed to feed, and if he had nightmares anyway, then this wasn’t her fault. “Or just sometimes?”

Dario simply shrugged, not even particularly knowing enough about the difference between nightmares, sleep paralysis, night terrors or other such things in the same vein to be able to put words to what he was feeling— even if he wanted to. And sharing the inside of his head wasn’t exactly something he wanted to do with a woman he’d just met, even if she was hot. After all, wasn’t the reason he was on Tinder in the middle of the night in the first place to avoid the ghosts of his past? “It is what it is.” Then his eyes went back to his hand, and he cursed silently that his stupid fucking claws had decided to betray him. “Yeah they uh- do that sometimes.” There was no use denying it when it was in plain sight. But the blue on his hand and then the tissue caught his eye once more. “Why’s it blue?” he asked, utter confusion on his face. “But thanks,” he said, glad that she at least wasn’t making this more embarrassing than it needed to be. “Uh-” he hesitated at her question, not entirely sure how specifically he wanted to answer it. “More often than I want it to. But then- who wants it in the first place, right?” That was vague enough, wasn’t itt?

Marley frowned. She wanted to push him about his claws-- werewolf, perhaps? Oh, god had she just slept with a werewolf?-- but she knew if she pushed too much, she’d have to give in return. And she wasn’t sure she wanted to do that. She’d given him enough tonight, letting him take the lead, letting him come over to her place, letting him cuddle-- she didn’t want to give anymore. So she didn’t push it. “I have a copper deficiency,” she said flatly, “from a rare blood disease. Don’t worry, it’s not contagious.” She sat up a little more, looking down at the sheets on the bed, stained a little with her blood, torn a little from his claws. She sighed. She knew she couldn’t just kick him out-- well, she could but that didn’t seem altogether like the right move here, even for someone as cold as she supposedly was-- but this night had taken a turn she wasn’t happy about. “No one,” she answered a little quietly, shifting to move from the bed. She didn’t bother putting any clothes on. “I’m going to go erm-- clean up. Do you...need anything?”

She didn’t ask more about the claws which he was...relatively grateful for. Dario didn’t think he needed to worry about someone knowing what he was on top of the anxiety still swishing in his stomach, trying to keep it down to a manageable level as best he could. “Copper...deficiency,” he echoed, not entirely sure whether that was an actual thing or not. But she’d let his claw thing go, hadn’t she? He could let the blue blood situation lie where it was as well. “As long as I don’t wake up looking like a smurf,” he decided to tease instead— trying his best to get them out of these strange waters they’d found themselves in post nightmare. For a moment fear gripped him once more as she mentioned leaving, not entirely trusting himself to be left alone with his thoughts after such a vivid nightmare. He felt...unstable, like he might easily slip back into the clutches of his panic, the anxiety in his stomach demanding his attention once more. “I- no. You go do that.” He wasn’t going to be clingy just because he was afraid of slipping back into that dark place. Dario would deal with it. “Maybe I’ll do the same after you, if it’s all the same.” A shower or something of that like felt like a nice, grounding experience— something to wash away the feeling of his dead family clawing away at his skin.

When Marley paused in the doorway to look back at him, she coulda sworn she saw the panic flash through his eyes again, as if her leaving was going to send him back to that place. She was, after all, an expert at reading body language, and he was screaming at her right now to not leave him alone. She was getting awful tired of this part of her that was clawing at her to reach out like this. To give people that out. To offer them this comfort. It wasn’t what she usually did. But this was-- he was like this because of her. Because of the monster she was, the monster world had made her. And maybe, just maybe, for a night, she could pretend to be something other than that. “Well, if you’re going to shower, why don’t you just join me?” she asked, letting the lightness come back into the conversation, latching onto his teasing words. “Unless you’re too tired for round two,” she shrugged, before turning and heading into the bathroom without waiting, knowing he would follow. Because she did, after all, understand his need to not be alone.

#chatzy #ch:marley #wickedswriting #cats cradle #panic attack tw #sleep paralysis tw #family death tw #death tw

[nelllraiser]

best served cold | group chatzy

LOCATION: pat’s place. SUMMARY: revenge is a dish, and pat’s is serving it up. PARTIES: @nelllraiser, @beatrice-blaze, @divineluce, @whatsin-yourhead, @humanmoodring, @themidnightfarmer, @seizethecarpe, @faecurious, @detective-keen, @sgtrolandhills, @normallee, @detectivedreameater, @chasseurdeloup, @theskyeandsea, @mor-beck-more-problems, @theshadowandvalleyaremine  CONTENTS: mass poisoning, food poisoning vomit (brief description)

Nell wasn't entirely sure why she'd been chosen to receive a VIP invite to the grand re-opening of Pat's Place, but she certainly wasn't complaining. After all, it meant she got an entirely free meal instead of only getting 20 percent off like the flyers around town were advertising, and she'd never say no to free food. Perhaps she should have been a little more suspicious about the invitation, but only hindsight is 20/20. And she was hungry. With Bea by her side, she presented her special invitation to the host at the door, who promptly showed Nell and her sister to the long row of food laid out on a table. But not before being presented with two free drink tickets. "Oh, hell ya." As others filtered in with the regular flyers, they were also shown to the large spread of Americana style food, tall tables meant for standing and eating scattered around the dining area after paying at the door with their discounted price. "Where should we even start?” Maybe she should have waited a bit with the truth serum still working its way through her system, but it would be fine...right?

Remmy was excited to be going out tonight. It'd been a while since they'd done something just for fun, and even better, they were there with someone who they'd recently made friends with. Nadia was nice, and fun to talk to. And she made Remmy stutter and ramble, like some other people could make them-- and though they felt a little guilty, still, Luce had made her position clear. They stepped up and pulled the door open for Nadia. "Ladies first," they said with a big grin, trying to push away the nerves and anxiety that trembled their fingers each time they left the house. But this would be fine, right? They were out with someone they trusted, and it was a big public place. Nothing bad would happen here. "Thanks again for inviting me," they said as they headed inside with her. "You'll have to introduce me to your friend so I can thank them sometime."

When she first got the invitation, Bea had assumed she had been given a VIP ticket because she was also a business owner. Turned out that she wasn't quite so special and her sister got one too. "Well, I want a free drink to start the night," The eldest Vural answered, finding herself moving to the bar without seeing if her sister was following. She placed her free drink ticket down and the bartender smirked at her before making her drink and sliding it to her. She turned to her sister, "That guy was weird."

Dave wandered in curiously. Hell, he was always down for a cheap meal. Circumstances of their reopening sounded fishy (seriously, a whale shark had crushed the place?) But with two free drink tickets he wasn't about to complain. Food smelled good too, although he was only hankering for the meat section. Not knowing anyone yet, he went right for the table, picking up a plate and starting to serve himself with the tongs by each option.

Skylar blinked at the flyer she'd found around town-- it seemed a little too good to be true, but a part of her was curious about Pat's Place. She'd heard about it, but never got a chance to go before the fish rain incident had taken out the roofing. She wondered if Shiloh had helped fix the restaurant and idly wondered what the other woman was doing. Maybe she'd bring her back something? As she entered, she saw the long buffet set up and shrugged. Ah. Maybe not. Oh well. As she took a plate from one end of the line, she glanced at the drink tickets that had been handed to her. "Oh-- I don't..." But she was left with the drink tickets all the same. Looking to the person next to her, she offered a slight smile. "Um... I'm not really a drinker. Do you want these?"

Jared was already inside. He wasn't adverse to cheap food and definitely wasn't deterred by the thought of eating alone. He was too busy loading up a plate with as much as he could get his hands on from the table to notice others filing in behind him. He only had eyes for the food. Jared only glanced over when someone else came close. "Great spread huh?" He commented to the bloke with a grin.

Morgan couldn't believe she'd let Remmy talk her into visiting a restaurant of all places. They were zombies. They didn't need to eat, there was nothing here for either of them but--oh. Morgan arched a brow as she saw her friend playing chivalrous with a pretty girl. Well, maybe there was something here for one of them, and she supposed she could play wingwoman if Remmy felt a little awkward. And maybe give them a tinsy bit of a hard time if they weren't. "Wow, and here I thought I was your date," she teased. "You guys really know how to pick a place. It's so packed, I think half the town is here." She scanned the room, looking for someone familiar, or at least unaccompanied in case the maybe lovebirds needed some privacy later.

Dave nodded at the guy talking to him. "Better taste as good as it looks. Did you go to this place before it had shut down?" He carefully balanced his plate on one hand to offer Jared his to shake. "I'm Dave."

With an easy grin on her face, Nadia let Remmy hold the door open for her as she walked into Pat's Place. "Why, thank you," she said with a wink. The place was pretty nice in kind of an old school kind of way. Nadia could definitely see a crime boss of some sort owning a joint like this. Definitely the kind of person that Tommy would work for. Speaking of... "I'd love to introduce you to him, some time. Don't see him around at the mo, though." Truthfully, she didn't expect to. Probably for the best. She didn't want him to get distracted. She looked over at the other woman that came up to her and Remmy, giving her a smile. "I wasn't expecting it to be this packed. Really hoping it lives up to the hype."

Nell followed her sister over to the bar, all too ready to get that started. After getting her own drink and taking the first sips, she made a mocking face at her sister before saying, "You think tons of people are weird. But now it's time for food, come on! I wanna be rolled out of here." Somehow...the truth serum had allowed her to say such a thing which meant it was, in fact...true?

Norma saw the flyers for a gathering. It was not taking place at the best restaurant in town, the Bottomless Booty, but she would hardly hold that against this Pat's Place place. And if she was lucky, perhaps a fight would break out and she would get some delicious chaos energy to feed on. For now she hopped inside and saw a bar and many tables full of food. None of it was necessary for her but where there was lots of human food, there was usually lots of humans to feed from. She took a plate and picked up many of the green leafy things on the platters to put on her plate on the way down. "Oh, you don't need water to survive?" she asked the woman in front of her who was brandishing her drink tickets. "That's rather unusual. I'm perfectly fine with my two tickets, however. Thank you! I'm Norma! Norma Lee," she said holding out her hand.

Luce had found a flyer hanging outside of Ink Inc after a particularly long shift and you know what? Fuck it. Why not. Pat's Place had been decent enough before it had been taken out by that fucked up fish rain bullshit. And if they were trying to get more people in the door, she couldn't blame them too much. Pushing open the door, she raised an eyebrow as she noticed that her sisters were already here, with Nell eyeing the buffet spread and Bea leaning against the bar. "Bitches." She muttered under her breath before freezing when she saw who else was inside. Remmy. They were here too? Why the fuck-- they didn't even need to eat. Catching sight of the woman next to them, Luce felt the color drain from her face. Fuck. Shit, fuck, fuck. Taking her drink tickets, Luce made a bee-line to the bar and glared at her sisters. "Whiskey. What are you guys doing here?"

Jared grinned and nodded. "Yeah, lived in town all my life. It's real tragic about Pat, but I'm glad the place could re-open." Shuffling his two plates into one hand he offered the other a free one to shake. "I'm Jared."

"Luce!" Nell exclaimed at the sight of her sister, before brandishing her VIP invitation by waving it in the elder girl's face. "I was invited. You weren't?" she teased the fire caster. "So was Bea."

Agatha was a big fan of the place before it shut down, but after having heard that the staff had died crushed under a whale (which sounded like bullshit, by the way), she was no longer sure that the restaurant would ever be worth it ever again. But none of this mattered anymore, Agatha had spotted the buffet spread, and all she could think about right now was food. Some people were more interested in the bar? Their loss. Her plate full, she made her way to an empty table. She did not come with company, but it was fine. Nothing unusual for her.

"Tons of people are weird. Do I have to remind you of the man at the Stacked Deck or that lady in the grocery store? They were all weird." Bea frowned at her sister before taking a drink. She raised an eyebrow at the middle Vural. "We're VIPs." She said with a little smirk. "Did your VIP ticket get lost in the mail?"

Q was a bit over his head here, but he had promised his dad that he'd try to get out more and not lock himself away in the laboratory until he had a white beard. Everyone seemed friendly enough, even if that familiar feeling crawled under his skin. He moved with a small plate towards the woman sitting alone. "Hey, I didn't realize this would be so busy. Can I sit with you?"

Luce raised an eyebrow at her sisters, waving at them with the drink that was slid her way. "Bitches. Both of you. And yeah, I guess it did. Worked out for me, though, I found a flier next to work so I decided to pop by cuz it's apparently pretty popular." She said, bending her head to hide behind Bea's taller form. "Knowing Nell, she probably tossed my invite in the trash." She replied.

"Jared, nice to meet ya," Dave said with a grin, taking the kid's hand. Working hands, at that - this wasn't a guy with some office job. Then again, considering the long narrow scars that stretched along Dave's face and hands, nor did he. "Yeah, I heard. Sounds real shitty, what happened here. Did you know the staff at all?"

Skylar was a little confused by the woman's response and her head cocked slightly. Had she misheard her? There was a lot of noise happening around her, but... "Um, I mean, I do need water. But these are for beer or alcohol or other things?" She said, looking at the little tickets closer. Mhm, yeah, that's what they were for. At the woman's introduction, Skylar awkwardly shifted her empty plate from one hand to the other and smiled. "Nice to meet you, Norma. I'm Skylar. McKay." She said and nodded. "Did you find a flyer too?"

Tilting her head at her sister, Bea looked over to Nell, "Nellie, does it seem like Lulu is hiding from something or is it just me?" Over the last few weeks, it had gotten easier to be outside and in crowds. She was growing more confident every day, finally feeling like maybe her paranoia could ease up a bit.

Morgan snorted. "Aww, you're Nadia? That's so amazing, we talked so much when we first moved here! I didn't realize you knew Remmy. They are, I gotta say, one of the best people in town I've ever met. I'm sure they've got an amazing night planned out for you." She side-eyed Remmy and lowered her voice. "Does she know you don't need to...you know?" This might be more awkward than she wanted in her night. The loner tables in the back were starting to look a lot more cozy.

Agatha, her cheeks filled with food, raised her eyebrows as a young man approached her to get a seat. She glanced around her. Yeah, he was talking to her. "Mmmh," she nodded, wiping her mouth clean. "You know, you could have gotten more food?"

"I probably will, I was feeling indecisive at all the choices and didn't want to seem greedy," Q shrugged, but he did notice her plate. "Not saying that you were greedy-- maybe you have the appropriate amount. I’ll know for next time." He grinned and sat down. "I was at this place before, why is it so popular?"

"Oh definitely, Bibi. Poor Lulu, looks too upset to not be hiding anything." Nell knew it was only a matter of time now until Luce decided to take a swipe at either one of her sisters, so Nell took another gulp of her drink while she still could. "Sure you found a flyer, but did you get in free?"

Jared began to say, "Likewise bud." Taking both his plates back in a more steady grip the nymph shrugged one shoulder. "Knew of them, Pat was the knowable one if you get me? Always happy to chat to the customers. Wasn't here for the funeral or I woulda gone, he was a cool guy."

Norma's brow furrowed. Had she said something incorrect once more? "Oh, why would they call them drink tickets if they were meant for alcohol? That's odd," she said as she tossed one of the garnishes back over her shoulder. She had seen that's how children ""ate"" their broccoli, she assumed it would work here, too. "Nice to meet you too, Skylar! And yes, I did find the flyer. I work at Bottomless Booty, you know. I needed to check out the competition." Her eyes scanned the food table. 'Tell me, is any of this worth consuming?"

"That's me!" Nadia said, though mentally she was trying to figure out what the hell was going on. Fuck Nadia for talking to people. "Yeah, Remmy and I are new friends. I took a bit of a fall, and they were there to help me out. Totally agree with you, though. They're the fucking best." She gave them a smirk. It was strange, that both of the people around her were complete emotional and literal dead zones. She looked over to the bar, watching as people took their drinks. Huh. Well, there was one familiar face, and she didn't look too happy.

Bea took another long sip of her drink before half choking as her sister called her Bibi. God, she hadn't been called that in a long time. "Do you think you got in for free because they know you're broke, Nellie?"

Remmy couldn't help but blush. "Morgan," they muttered, "shut up." But then Nadia was agreeing and they sort of wished they could sink into the floor. Clearing their throat, they pointed towards the bar, not even noticing the familiar faces by it yet. "Anyone want a drink? I'm gonna go get us drinks," they said with a squeak, getting ready to head off.

Dave walked them over to a standing table, mouthing back Jared's words to make sure internally he'd gotten them all right. "Right, that sorta guy. I hear it was some sorta freak weather event. Anyhow, you probably don't want to dredge all this back up." Dave picked a chicken drumstick, and took a big bite. He hated eating with his teeth caps on, but needs must and all. "So, Jared, what do you do? You a student, working?"

Luce clenched her hand around the whiskey, the glass heating slightly in her fingers. "Yarrağımı ye, both of you." She gestured to the two of them. "You can both fuck off. I'm not hiding from anyone. You're hiding from someone." She growled. Leave it to Nell and Bea to make shit even worse. Christ. As she glanced around the restaurant, Luce froze as she caught sight of Nadia staring at her. And fuck. Remmy was coming up to the bar. "You've gotta be fucking kidding me." She mumbled, leaning against the bar, head ducked low.

Nell's shit-eating grin she'd been wearing for the roasting of Luce quickly disappeared at Bea's words. Hold on. That wasn't fair. They were supposed to be going after Luce right now. "If I'm broke, so are you!" Apparently hospital bills did that to a person when they didn’t have insurance. So caught up was she with Bea's betrayal, that she didn't realize Luce slipping even further down. "Your’s is probably just a pity invite, anyway."

"I was invited because business owners support business owners," Bea sniffed. "I am not broke. I just have less money than I did before." She patted Luce's back. "Do you need me to distract someone if they notice you?"

Morgan pulled Remmy back. "No, I'm good. I don't really drink much these days, you know? I'm on this great all protein diet and don't really wanna mess up my insides. I'm gonna check out who else is here but--" she kissed her fingers and reached to smush them into Remmy's cheek. "You two kids have fun. I'm sure we'll circle back after the line gets less long. I definitely want to spend more time with you, Nadia, when I get back." Pleased to have thoroughly embarrassed her friend, she slid away from the entrance and sidled up to the back by the more empty tables. There was a woman and what looked to be a college kid sitting together, plates piled high. "I gotta respect people who have their priorities in line. Does it taste any good?"

Jared nodded. He'd heard the same, despite not being in town. Fish rain had been a particularly interesting story to hear. Stuffing a whole wing in his mouth Jared nodded. "Farmer. Own a farm just in town. So not devoted enough to be a student or anything like that. Sounds like too much school to me." he laughed. "What do you do, bud?"

Skylar shook her head apologetically. "It's a little weird, right? I've never really worked in food service, but I think it's because of the cost of alcohol?" She offered helpfully. But, she was only more confused when Norma tossed one of the lettuce garnishes onto the ground. "Um, I don't think--" She said, but was too caught off guard by the woman's words to do anything other than flounder. "Ah-- I mean, I think the ribs look nice? And the fried chicken smells nice too." Skylar said as she put a few pieces of each on her plate. "Bottomless Booty? I've heard of them, that's the pirate restaurant, right?" She asked, a little confused how Pat's would have any kind of competition from the kitschy themed restaurant.

"...Dude, people are going to get food, and you'll be left with the stuff no one likes," she eyed at the vegetables, then back at Quintin. "I'm Agatha by the way," she didn't take notice of his comments. She did not mind being called greedy if it was about food. Being greedy about good things was not a sin. Or maybe the exact definition of a sin. Sin sucked. "I don't know, maybe because for one, there's no mimes here?"

"Oh I'm with ya. Just about scraped my GED, and that was enough for me," Dave replied with a rough laugh. "You got animals or crops on your farm? Oh, I'm a fisher, deep sea angling. Keeps me busy and fed, and the van working."

Norma nodded and then grabbed some of everything Skylar pointed out. That was perfectly normal, she was sure of it, asking for recommendations and then taking them with no questions asked. "Oh yes, it is perfectly pirate themed. I wear a hat when working there. Where do you work?"

Skylar nodded at Norma's words. She didn't really understand what she meant about the hat thing-- did she mean a pirate hat? She couldn't really imagine that Norma meant she showed up wearing a ball cap or something. Wandering down the line, Skylar picked out a few more meat based items before adding a couple vegetables just for appearances sake. She didn't really want anyone to ask any questions about what she was eating. "I work for the school district. I'm not a teacher," She added quickly, trying to avoid that particular rabbit hole. "I do interpretation."

Jared "Got one up on me there, I didn't manage to graduate." He laughed heartily. Looking up at the other man and spotting a congregation of people at the bar he knew. He smiled and then refocused. "Animals. A small greenhouse for flowers though. Oh a sea dog huh? Sounds pretty rad. Got a boat and everything of your own?"

Norma could not imagine working with children. Normal mortals were far too young to have anything in common with as it was. "You do interpretation? Of what? Ancient languages?" She didn't quite understand why small children would need to know demonic languages but that did make some sort of sense given their nature as tiny agents of chaos. "I'm going to go get an alcoholic beverage with my drink ticket, would you like some water of which you need to survive?"

"Q, or Quintin--" Q responded, happily munching on his plate as he never enjoyed enough good food. "So you are on team 'no mimes'." He air quoted, glancing up towards a few other people. All, he didn't know. "Do you know anyone else here?"

Luce rolled her eyes at Nell and Bea. "Broke. Both of you. At least I own my cabin outright." She muttered, head still bent low. For the first time in her life, she wished that her tattoos didn't make her stand out so much. She'd probably be able to blend into the background and just slip out the door if it wasn't for them. But, Nadia had already seen her. "I really don't think that will work. But thanks for everything, Bibi." She shook her head.

Jared took a water from a passing waiter.

It was kind of amusing to watch Luce sink away from the way Nadia watched, but she wasn't super focused on the witch. When Morgan left, Nadia gave a slight wave. "Looking forward to it." She watched Remmy walk away as well, enjoying the blush on their cheeks while she could. Then, she opened her phone and checked the time. She made eye contact with one of the bartenders.

"Cool, what sorta animals? Not at the moment," Dave replied, polishing off the last of the meat on his plate. He eyed the buffet table, that was beginning to look somewhat crowded. Eh, he was a grown man, he could wait for a bit. "Used to have a pretty little ship, but I had to move inland for a while, so now I'm boatless. If I end up staying here long enough I'll get a new one, but for now I'm renting."

The thing Bea had started to notice about herself was sometimes she didn't need anything to make her feel unsafe for her body to begin to react. Tonight, apparently, was one of those nights. Her heart had begun to pound. She put her drink down, the sharp click of it against the bar ringing in her ears. She took a deep breath, far too aware of how fast she was breathing now. "I'm... I'm just going to go to the bathroom for a second okay?" She slipped away from her sisters then and only made it so far before bumping into someone as she tried to walk fast to the bathroom. She wasn't going to freak out in front of all these people. "Excuse me. I didn't mean to hit you." She swallowed hard, trying to control her breathing, but couldn't seem to make it regulate. "I'm just- I have to... I'm just running to the bathroom."

Nell wasn't entirely sure what to make of Bea's quick departure, but she knew that her sister didn't seem quite as social as she'd once been in situations like these ever since she’d been resurrected. Maybe she just needed some air? Still, she wanted to make sure that the eldest Vural was doing alright, and took a quick step after her. One step in, and her head was spinning. What the hell? She'd barely had half her drink at this point. Dizziness wasn't something she should be feeling this early on in the night. Another step forwards, and she had to clutch the end of the bar to steady herself.

For what felt like the third time in as many minutes, Skylar blinked in confusion. "Ancient languages? Like... Latin?" She guessed, not sure what the other woman was talking about. She didn't think that ancient languages were part of the White Crest curriculum. "I-- No, I'm a sign language interpreter." She said before shaking her head. "Oh, no, I'm good. Thank you for the offer, really. I'm okay." She said before wandering away from the buffet. As she wandered through the crowd, her face went slightly pale as she saw Jared and Dave talking to one another. Two people who knew what she was? Mmmmmm, nope, nope nope. Hurrying away, she settled into a booth at the back, sighing as she relaxed into the seat.

"Q? That's funny, my other name is 007," Agatha deadpanned, although a smile soon followed. As much as she liked chit-chat, she was no longer eating. When he asked about mimes, her mouth was, thank God, full again. The food was alright, but there were really too many people in here. Another person had approached the table, and Agatha glanced at her with her eyebrows raised. Nice. "I really think you should hurry to get a plate if you ever want to find that out by yourself," she replied with a smile. "But to answer your question, it's pretty good, yeah."

Remmy swatted at Morgan. "I hate you," they mumbled at her before she left and they headed to the bar to get a drink for Nadia. On their way over, they felt a slight pang in their stomach. That was weird, they shouldn't be hungry? They'd eaten before Nadia came over. "Two whiskeys," they said to the bartender when they arrive, ignoring the feeling. They glanced idly around, noticing just down the bar were two familiar faces. "Luce?" they said. Two drinks were set down in front of them and it echoed loudly in their ears, glass clinking. Remmy shook their head, went to grab a glass. "Nell, are yo--" they started, but the glass suddenly fell from their grip and shattered on the floor. Remmy blinked, looking down. The world swayed under their feet. "S-sorry..." they mumbled as someone came around to clean up the mess. They looked at Luce again, went to say words, and found their throat too dry.

Jared blinked rapidly. His heart sped up and his head started to spin a little. It was faint at first but was building rapidly. He leaned his elbows on the table, taking a larger drink of the water he'd gotten, finishing the glass in the hopes it'd help. "Some cattle mostly." He lied in answer to Dave. He thought he spotted Skylar whiz past behind Dave but couldn't be sure as he got more dizzy. "Renting hah right..."

Norma thought that Skylar girl was rather odd, but nice. Once she got her drink, a tea from a long island, though she was unaware of which one, and took a sip. As she did, she felt a familiar sensation. It was like a pit dropped into her stomach and churned and turned it. The room started spinning and she gripped to the edge of the bar to try and hold herself up. "Fucking bounty hunters, not again!" she growled as she felt herself falling and tumbled to the floor, her heart pounding in her chest and the world starting to go black around the edges of her vision. Why these idiot hunters thought this could take down a fury, she'd never understand.

Quintin laughed. "That's awesome, do you have the scars to prove it?" The question didn't need an answer, clearly he was also playing along. "Hello," he said to the person who plopped at their table. "You alright?"

Jared's face grew a little slack, his eyes unfocusing as he leant heavily against the table. Dave's brow creased, leaning in concern. "You alright, kid?"

Morgan was bumped not once but twice on her way to the booths. One couple rose, spilling their drinks, and as she sidled down the aisle, one more person ran into her so hard she slipped and had to brace herself on the nearest table. There was something...off about all this. "Uh, I am, but I'm not sure if everyone else here is," she said to the young man. "Are you?"

Jared shook his head before realizing that made everything worse. His legs grew wobbly and he closed his eyes firmly hoping the feeling would pass. That was until his attention caught someone to his left falling to the floor. "Something is wrong."

The second Remmy dropped the glasses, Nadia moved over to where they were at the bar. Some poor fuck dropped their glass and stumbled in front of her, but she side stepped them, eyes on her target and concern in her eyes. "Remmy?" she asked as soon as she approached. "Hey, are you alright?" She completely ignored Luce, not seeing any sort of reason to pay attention to her. She wasn't getting paid to watch over Luce.

There was a tightness in her chest that seemed like it was set to stay, and no amount of air that Nell drew seemed to be enough. He hand slipped off the end of the bar as weakness gripped her, and she didn't even notice the floor coming up to meet her as her knees gave way. One second she was standing, and the next she was simply...not standing, trying to scramble to all fours on the ground. "Remmy? Luce? Bea?" Where did her sister go? Was she still here? Her brain was trying to connect dots, but the fuzziness around its edges was making it hard to understand.

Luce stared in confusion as Bea wandered away from the bar, her face pale. And then Nell-- she seemed to be holding tightly onto the bar. "Are you--" Before she could finish her words, Remmy was next to her, equally startled and just as out of sorts as Nell. Looking from her sister to Remmy, Luce slid her untouched whiskey away from her, glaring at the bartender for a moment before reaching out to steady Nell. "Nellie, are you okay?" She asked. In a moment, Nadia was there. Glancing over to the other woman, her eyes narrowed for a moment at the way she seemed to ignore her. "Are they okay?" She asked.

"Yeah, no shit," Dave replied, putting his hand on Jared's back. He looked around, eyes narrowing, as people staggered, looking green in the gills and falling over. Food poisoning usually took a whole lot longer, but... this was a lotta sick people. Could be a spell, could be, well, real poison. Shit. He smacked Jared's drink away. "Don't drink anymore of that. Don't eat. Hold tight kid. Think there's something in the food."

Bea pushed her way through the crowd, trying to get out of the thick of it. She found herself leaning close to the entrance, head beginning to pound as she slid down to the ground. This wasn't just a panic attack. No something was really wrong. "My sisters," She called out. "I need help finding my sisters."

Skylar quietly ate at her table, idly looking around as she ate. The dining room was quite crowded and, now that she was out of the fray, she could see that there were quite a few people that she recognized. Besides Jared and Dave, she could see that Nadia was there-- she hadn't seen her in ages, Skylar idly wondered if the woman had been keeping up on her ASL-- and then, Morgan. That was a little surprising, given.... Morgan's new situation. She didn't think that zombies could eat normal foods. But, the more she looked, the more she realized that things weren't quite right. People seemed to be stumbling around, people were rushing away from the bar? Glancing down at her plate of food, Skylar pushed it away before wandering towards where Morgan was standing, "I, um, hi Morgan." She said before dropping her voice slightly, "I-- Are things off to you too?"

The world was getting sluggish, fuzzy. So were Remmy's arms. And legs. And mouth and tongue. They blinked, heavy lead eyelids, and looked over at Nadia. Nell had collapsed, Luce was on the floor with her, asking if she was okay. If they were okay. Remmy stumbled backwards a little. A jarring pain ripped through their stomach and they jerked, keeling over a little. Wide eyes looked up at Nadia. "S-somethings wrong," they muttered, barely able to get the words out. "I'm not-- supposed to feel--" but another jolt of pain made them jerk wildly again, this time lower down in their stomach. They collapsed to the ground, hands digging so hard into the counter the wood gave way under their fingers.

Morgan tried to wave the woman’s attention away. “No, I’m good. I’m good, really.” But then she was off, darting into an increasingly unstable crowd. Then she saw another familiar face. “Skylar! No, I’m okay, just knocked around. Are you—?” She looked between her and the other kid at the table. “Are either of you okay? Are y’all seeing this?”

Jared was shaking, his knees knocking together like he was some sort of scared cartoon character, but there was nothing he could do. But he could hear voices he knew and he forced himself to move. "In the food? Pats would never." he whisper yelled stumbling towards a nearby table and almost toppling over someone on the floor, crashing to his knees next to the woman. "Fu-dge."

"Hey, I've got you," Nadia told Remmy soothingly. She slipped herself under their arm and wrapped her own arm around their waist, supporting their weight against her. "I've got you." She looked at Luce long enough to shoot her a look that said Not now. Then she pulled Remmy away from the bar. "Gotta be a fuckin' bathroom around here somewhere."

Things had gone to shit real fucking quick. Luce gently patted Nell's face, resting her hand on her sister's head for a moment before glancing over at Remmy, who seemed to be in an equally bad state. What the fuck? How could something be affecting them? They were a zombie this-- Watching as Nadia held onto Remmy, Luce felt a wave of emotion-- jealousy? Relief? Confusion? She couldn't fucking tell-- wash over her. Whatever was going on... it didn't matter. She needed to make sure Nell was okay. "Nellie? Nell, hey, what's going on. Talk to me."

"What the fuck is happening," Q frowned, standing up to catch a guy falling down to their knees. Was someone killing these people? Could he really not have a normal time anywhere? "I'm okay," he said to the woman asking. He didn't know how to help them.

"Pats ain't here kid, and new management don't seem too friendly," Dave said, and tried to catch Jared as he stumbled to the ground, the kid just slipping out his grip. "Shit!" He yelled, pulling out his phone to dial emergency service. "Got a whole lot of people suddenly sick at Pat's Place. Haven't been going long enough for it to be alcohol." He frowned as the call operator said there were already people on route, but was grateful someone had made the call before him. Putting his phone away, he knelt beside Jared. "Keep talking to me, kid."

Skylar's eyes darted around the room as she tried to make sense of what was going on. All around her, people were doubling over, some of them stumbling into tables, others of them just dropping where they stood. What was going on? She swallowed and nodded. "I-- I'm okay. This, there's--" She struggled with words as she caught sight of a familiar form falling to the ground. Remmy. And Nadia, she was carrying them away. "Remmy-- they're here too? They don't, I don't think they're doing alright." She said, her fingers instinctively signing the words as she spoke.

 “Good! Okay is good!” Morgan said. “Maybe don’t touch anything on your plate to make sure it stays that way huh? I mean it’s gotta be the food, right?”

Roland rushed out of the station as quickly as the police had received the tip. On the way over to Pat's Place, he radioed paramedics and a good deal of the officers who worked under him to make sure they could get to the bottom of this. His team was still tracing the tip, but they'd been told a special strain of cyanide was planned to be used at this event. Worry was evident in his features as he rushed over. He didn't bother with parking in an actual space and sirens were still blaring when he arrived with a slew of cop caps and ambulances behind him. He ran into the restaurant and it seemed people were already starting to feel the effects of the poison. "Everyone, remain calm and don't eat or drink anything else." Medics were already rushing over to those obviously affected.

Norma tried to talk but her words were slurred. "H-hey, wa-watch it!" she said as someone tumbled over her. The world went black. She fucking hated poison. Why poison? It was so slow. A stab to the heart was so much easier. She could simply pull out the knife and walk away then, but poison. What a trip. Ugh she would have to wait a bit until she could wake up again.

Back with a glass of water, Agatha felt like this was not going to be much of a help. What a mess. The sound of sirens stopped her in her tracks and she put the glass of water down on the table, heading toward the Sergeant hurriedly. "Hey, do you have any idea of what is going on?"

Jared mumbled an apology to the woman he'd fallen over, looking back at Dave as he reminded Jared that Pat was gone and something was definitely in the food. He squinted up at the new face as well. "Who're you, soft landing." he mumbled incoherently before looking back to Dave. "What if I stop? Will I die? This is far too early for that right?"

Roland looked to Agatha with a worried look on her face and immediately asked, "Do you feel okay?" He examined her for any sign of illness before he finally explained, "We received an anonymous tip that a special strain of cyanide was supplied for the reopening. Paramedics are on the scene and ready to treat anyone affected. Police are looking for whoever is in charge of this shindig."

Morgan barely heard Skylar over the noise of panic and sickness. But she caught her signing out of the corner of her eye and followed her gaze. “That...shouldn’t be happening,” she said. “C’mon. We gotta go.” She took the girl by the hand so they wouldn’t get separated but turned quickly back to the boy. “Hey, I mean it about not eating anything else weird. I’ll check on you later if I can.”

Kaden had planned to stay at home until the stripes were gone completely, he would use up all his sick days at work and then some if he had to. But when he got the call, the tip of a mass poisoning, all hands on deck, he couldn't let his vanity outweigh the risk of human lives lost. Putain. He grabbed gloves and made sure to wear long sleeves. His face and neck were harder to cover, but Regan could be mad about his attempts at using her makeup later. It wasn't great, but a least it hid most of the fucking face paint as he ran out the door and sped directly to Pat's Place, bursting in right behind Sarge and the rest of the crew from the station. The place was pure chaos. Fuck, he didn't even know where to start. Then his eyes landed on a familiar face by the door. "Bea!" No, no, no, she looked bad. But she couldn't die again. She couldn't. No. He ripped an antidote kit out of someone's hand, he didn't see whose. "Bea, talk to me!"

Nell was only slightly aware of Luce, only able to focus on her breathing and the fact that she felt like the world was quickly fading. Was there someone yelling about poison? Who the fuck would poison an entire restaurant? Whoever the hell thought they could get away with poisoning was in for a rude awakening when she was done with them. Luce was hard to make out, the edge of everything blurring. But wait. What about Bea? Was Bea poisoned? she wanted to ask. But instead when she parted her lips, there was nothing. Only the sound of her gasping for air and coughing. 

Marley had gotten the call while she was out on patrol. It was an emergency broadcast, which meant Jane had gotten the call, too. By the time Marley arrived, the place was in disarray. She had her kit in hand and rushed in, ignoring the swells of fear she felt as she waded through the crowd to the closest person passed out on the ground. Sarge was talking to Agatha, Kaden was with Bea-- Kaden knew Bea? Ugh, small towns-- and other officers were filling in behind her. She came to a man, collapsed on a table, an older gentleman helping him. "Is he sick?" she asked the man who didn't look like he was about to collapse.

Q's skin crawled in that familiar, warning way from the weight of the other. "Just listen to him," Q said to the one in his arms, talking wasn't the worst thing to keep doing when the threat of closing your eyes forever was the other option. "The cops are here, it will be fine." Though the words were stale on his tongue if this was supernatural related and not human.

"Medical's here," Dave replied, ignoring Jared's question about death entirely as he looked up as police and paramedics came up. A woman approached her, holding a kit, and Dave couldn't help breathe a sigh of relief. "Yeah, he is. Started about five minutes ago. What is this, you know?"

Remmy watched the floor slide by them as Nadia carried them off somewhere. Where were they going? Why couldn't they move? At some point, they'd stopped moving. Remmy slid to the floor, barely able to keep themself upright. "Nadia...what's..." they muttered, looking around for her, reaching out to try and grasp her as the world went fuzzy, dark, then sprung back to life again. They gripped their stomach in agony, trembling. "What's happening?"

Norma couldn't tell how long she had been asleep, or dead, it was hard to say, she never really knew, but her eyes flew open and she sat up and then turned to her side, the contents of her stomach spilling out on the floor beside her. Disgusting. She looked around and saw there was a man halfway fallen on top of her and another man helping him. And what she presumed was a medic. Oh no. Should she have played dead? "Wow, I must have eaten something horrible. Oh no, so tragic. How is it going here?"

Skylar let Morgan slip her hand into hers before offering an apologetic grimace to the two people the other woman had been talking to. "I'm sorry-- I--" She managed before hurrying away with Morgan towards where she'd last seen Remmy. They'd been by the bar, she'd seen them with Nadia. Where had they gone? And then, she saw that the two of them, Remmy's arm flung over Nadia's shoulder. "Morgan, over there." She said, tilting her head towards where she'd seen the two hurry off.

Bea looked up at Kaden's face, dizziness making it hard to focus on him. "Why do you look like that?" She asked, voice a bit choked. She coughed and the reality of what was happening began to hit her. She couldn't control the tears that started to leak from her. "I don't want to die again, Kaden, I can't die again," She told him, not even able to attempt to control how panicked she sounded. She grabbed his arm suddenly, looking back into the crowd. "My sisters are here," She wheezed out to him. She didn't want to die again, the thought terrified her in ways she couldn't even begin to understand, but her sisters couldn't experience what she had. She had told the truth when she said that she was willing to die for them again. She tried to push him toward the crowd. "Please."

Luce glanced around her as police began to flood the room, paramedics following close behind them. As Nell began to gasp and cough, Luce scooped her younger sister up in her arms. No. Not today. She'd resurrected Bea, summoned lightning for Nell, blown up a building and murdered countless people for her sisters. She wasn't going to let fucking Pat's Place hurt her family. Not today. Hurrying towards the entrance, she noticed Kaden kneeling over Bea, her sister saying words she couldn't quite hear, "Grab her and get her out of here." She growled at the man before pushing past him out of the building. She needed to get Nell to the ambulances outside, needed to make sure she was safe.

Jared's vision swam as yet another person arrived. He tried to raise his hand to show a peace sign but all he managed was a weird sort of wave at the newcomer, his arm falling heavily back into the guy holding him up. "Dave the fisherperson is a hero, I'm naming my next kid after you Dave." he decided his mind full of cotton.

There weren't supposed to be cops here. That was all Nadia could think about as she dragged Remmy away from the chaos. She flinched as they reached out to her, though she tried not to let it show. "It's going to be fine. It's going to be fine," she kept muttering over and over, though it was more for her benefit than Remmy's. When she got somewhere less crowded, she set them against the wall and leaned down in front of them. "I don't know what's going on," she said, glancing worriedly back as the cops all filed in, "but it's going to be okay, alright? I'm gonna get you some help."

Agatha 's eyes grew wide. She knew that her belly was more than full and her nervous smile, that probably looked like a freaky grimace told exactly that. "Never better, Sarge, never better," either way, she would have to do her job, anyway. "I'll go gather the staff in the kitchen." And with those words, she turned her back on the sergeant and crossed the restaurant countless times, each and every time with the same strict directions.

Marley took the dizzy man by the arm and shuffled around him. "I need you to open your mouth for me," she said, that firmness to her voice. When he obliged, she popped in the breathalyzer antidote before motioning over to a paramedic to administer the IV. "He'll be okay," she said to the older man, "we've been told it was cyanide. The EMTs will know more. Are you okay, sir? Not feeling any symptoms?"

Nell's heartbeat was growing weaker by the second, her head lolling uselessly as Luce carried her to...to...where were they going? Was she floating? Something felt wrong. Where were they going? There were so many people yelling. There were people in danger. She wanted to stay and help, but the thought was faint as her body continued to shut down, and finally the world faded away as a whole.

Morgan followed Skylar’s lead, all the way up to Remmy, not fleeing the place so much as being dragged away by Nadia. "This is not supposed to be happening, this is definitely not supposed to be happening, flipping universe, this just not..." Chaos was erupting around her. Out of the corner of her eye she thought she saw the Vural sisters in similar distress, but she couldn't split her attention right now. She grimaced, pulled Skylar along until they were outside with Nadia and Remmy. "What happened?" She asked Nadia, voice shrill. "How long have they been like this?" She dropped to her knees to examine Remmy, though for what, she wasn't sure. "What happened to Remmy?"

Roland was relieved to hear Agatha hadn't been poisoned though he did notice Luce rushing outside with someone in her arms. He'd have to check in on her later. Right now, it was imperative to find whoever was behind this before they got away. Agatha made her way toward the kitchen and he decided to check out the bar first. Not everyone was sick and this was a buffet. There was a chance the beverages were behind this. He walked up to the bar and demanded, "I need to see whoever is in charge of your bar immediately."

Kaden scrambled to get the antidote kit open. This wasn't going to happen, she wasn't going to fucking die again. Once was more than enough. "Open your mouth, you're not fucking dying, Bea, you're--" Her sisters? And then she was up and trying to move. Fuck, he grabbed her and pulled her back, maybe harder than he had to. Just then Luce brushed past cradling Nell. "They're okay, they're fine." He pushed the breathalyzer antidote towards her and called for a medic. "You're not dying. Nell's not dying. Neither is Luce. Now sit still and where the fuck is a medic?" One finally ran over to administer an IV at his second shout.

Dave shifted backward on his knees as Marley leant over Jared, giving him the antidote. "I feel right as rain. Guessing whatever it was wasn't in the meat, that's all I'd eaten so far, and hadn't got to drinking yet." He eyed Jared in concern, rubbing his jaw in concern. "Don't name no one after me, kid. Just keep talking. You already got kids?"

Remmy wanted to cry out, it hurt so bad. Pain torn through the stomach, like swallowed lava. A burning so deep inside they wanted to tear their chest open and rip it out. "Get it out," they muttered, clawing at their chest, "g-get it out. Morgan, get..." they could barely see now, the world spinning around them so fast it made them fall over, even as they were sitting up. Someone's hands caught them. They couldn't see who it was, only hear familiar voices. "Make it stop," they gurgled, feeling something rising in their stomach, their chest, their throat, "make it stop."

Luce made her way out of the building and blocked the path of a passing paramedic, her eyes burning with enough anger and fear to stop them in their tracks. "You're going to save my sister, right fucking now." She snarled as she lay Nell down on the ground. Without a word, the paramedic bent over her sister and opened up the antidote kit. She gripped her sister's hand, holding it tightly as she looked around. So many people were in the same state as her sister, so many people were hurting. "You better fucking save her." She said. "You better fucking save her."

Q let the medic help the person near him, and after setting them down, stood up to aid anyone else to get over towards the medics so there wasn't delay in their care.

Marley patted the younger man on the shoulder. "You're gonna be okay," she said, as the EMT arrived to take over her spot. She gave a glance to the older man, nodding. "We're not sure yet. Count yourself lucky, though," she said, turning to head off to the next person, but-- finding that she was already up and alright. Marley eyed her warily, and the pool of wet next to her. "Everything okay, ma'am?"

Bea fall against Kaden, looking at him with wide, panicked eyes. She finally opened her mouth at Kaden's instruction. He said that her sisters will be okay. She had to believe him. He'd take care of them or make sure they were being taken care of. She knew he would. Her friends took care of her family, she had to trust that. As the medic administered her IV, she realized how hard she was shaking. Through gasping breaths, she asked Kaden and the medic, "What's happening?"

"Get what? Get what out, Remmy! I don't know what you mean!" Morgan shrieked, hands fluttering everywhere and nowhere at once. "Did you actually eat something, Remmy?" She looked helplessly over at Nadia. "I don't understand! Did you see anything?”

Agatha stood in the kitchen with the restaurant's staff. "Everyone here?" She watched them look at each other else before nodding. "Alright. I'm going to need whoever was in charge of food to go over here, and whoever works at the bar to go over here." She had not had anything to drink, so clearly, there was something in the water.

Jared "Got tons of kids. Farm full of 'em." he told Dave. "Don't have a Dave yet so it's perfect." He winced at the IV going into his arm and make a face at Dave. "Feels like a movie, no one gets poisoned in real life do they?"

"I don't know," Nadia said, her tone matching Morgan's. She began to back away, her hands shaking as she watched the two undead. "I--" she needed to get out of there and fast. But there were too many fucking people around. She couldn't be suspicious. Inwardly, she willed herself to calm down, while outwardly she put all of her effort into looking concerned and panicked and horribly inept at handling this situation. "I'm going to get help," she said, backing into the main room. On the way, she saw a discarded drink tray. Fuck, she didn't sign up for this. As slyly as she could, she downed the drink and headed back into the main room, hoping the effects hit quickly. In the mean time, she pretended to look for someone to help Remmy. Not that they could. Zombie poison really was a real bitch.

Skylar followed behind Morgan, doing her best to dodge the people who were between them and Remmy. Before she knew it, Skylar was staring at Remmy, their hands pulling at their chest, their body wracked with pain. Her eyes widened, memories of the last time she'd seen them in pain coming rushing back to her. The way they'd been ripped in half, the way their insides-- "No, no, no, no, no." She mumbled, frozen in fear. She shook her head, trying to force away the memories. She didn't-- they didn't-- she couldn't handle seeing them like this. "Help! Someone, someone help!" Skylar yelled, not knowing what else she could do. She just knew she needed to get Remmy help, and fast. They were in so much pain.

Dave nodded as the officer walked away, turning back to Jared with a bemused smile that didn't quite mask his worry. "Right, your cows're your kids," he agreed, looking around. "Pretty shitty movie, if you ask me. Whoever made that first call saved a fuckload of lives."

Roland gave the timid looking assistant bar manager a harsh look. "Are you the one in charge here?" His words had a bite to them and he was frustrated. A mass poisoning was horrific and he couldn't even begin to wrap his mind around it. The younger man stuttered, "Oh, I-I- I don't know what happened. I was walking a-around seeing if everyone enjoyed their meals. I'm nn-not sure where the bartenders ran off too or what's making everyone sick." Roland narrowed his eyes. It was hard to tell if the nerves were because he was lying or because of the utter chaos ensuring around them. "I'm going to need you to come back to the station with me and answer some questions."

Kaden could feel Bea shaking, closer to death than she had any right to be right after just coming back to life. "Got a call about a poisoning. Breathe, I need you to breathe." Because if she stopped fucking breathing, it would all be for nothing. He couldn't handle that, not again. And he knew Luce and Nell couldn't even begin to handle that. "Luce looked okay. She had Nell. There are medics everywhere, I'm sure she's okay." God fucking help him if he was lying to her right now. He'd never live it down. But he couldn't leave her to go check. He had to trust that Luce would kill someone to keep Nell safe. Had to admit, that wasn't a stretch to believe.

"Get it out, it burns!" Remmy nearly screamed, tearing at their clothes. Sweat was beading on their head, pooling under their shirt. Their arms felt stiff, slow. Their entire body heavy. They sank to the floor, curling up. Exhaustion rushing into them. "It burns, everything burns, it--" they choked on their words, shaking. Wished that the darkness would just take them over, wish they could slip into that release, too. "Please, please," they begged.

"Ma'am-- I need you to--- Ma'am! Get out of here!" The medic yelled and Luce found herself being pulled away from her sister. "Alright! Alright! But, you better fucking, you better save her!" She swore as she stumbled down the pavement. Breathing hard, Luce stared up at the restaurant again, saw Kaden next to Bea, watching over her while the medic administered the treatment. Hurrying back towards them, she glanced around and stopped dead in her tracks. Through the doorway, she caught sight of Nadia... Saw the glass in her hand. What the fuck? What the fuck? Her eyes widened in horror as she watched Nadia drain the glass dry.

Morgan tried to reach out for Nadia before she backed away. "NO, no, you have to tell me what they did! Fucking--Nadia!" But the girl was gone. Yeah, she definitely didn't know that much about her date if she thought the paramedics were going to have anything to help a zombie in distress. Skylar, nearby, was feeling some distress too. "Hey," she said, her voice firm with determination. "We're gonna figure this out, okay? Just not here, and not with the help of human cops. I'm going to take Remmy back to my place. Can you cover for us, Skylar?" She heaved her arms under Remmy's body and picked them up. It was awkward with their difference in size, but she was going to make it work. "If Nadia comes back, tell her we're okay, make sure she doesn't ask any questions?" She tried to lock eyes with the young selkie. Tried to sound as confident as she wished she was. "We're gonna handle this, and we're gonna be fine."

"That's right." Jared’s head still felt wrong, but the cotton was clearing a little as the medic monitoring the IV in his arm gave a nod to someone to help Jared to his feet. "The worst movie I've ever seen bud." he agreed, being hauled into a chair to be moved. "Coming for the ride in the ambulance? A cyanide come down is a great way to meet new friends."

Norma tried to stand up, but still felt weak. The poison was no longer killing her, but the effects always lasted far longer than she would like. It was unfortunate that someone had noticed her fall. She glanced around her, every other mortal who had fallen was being given intense medical care. Gods, how could she explain this one? Hopefully this human approaching her was very stupid. "Oh, yes, I'm fine. I think the poison just didn't stick. It's a miracle! Praise your deity of choice!"

Instead of looking for someone to help Remmy, Nadia immediately went over to the EMTs, stumbling by the time she got to one of them. "I think-- Fuck." Fucking cyanide. Fucking cops. She wasn't getting paid enough to poison herself. She groaned and allowed the EMT to help her out. Tommy was going to be getting some choice words after all of this.

Poison. Some fucking bastard poisoned her and her sisters. Bea was going to fucking kill them. She was going to burn... No, not burn anymore, but she was going destroy whoever fucking did this. Her tears started to clear as she was worked on and she looked up at Kaden, face set in rage, "I'm going to kill them." She looked to the side, trying to find her sisters and saw Luce. Reaching out to her, she called to Luce, voice rough. "Luce!"

Skylar focused on Morgan's words, doing her best to hold herself together, though her shoulders were shaking violently. "Mhm, mhm,. I can-- I can do that. Just, make sure they're okay. Please, please make sure they're safe." Skylar glanced down at Remmy, watched as they screamed and cried, and curled on the ground. Tears burned in the corners of her eyes as she nodded. "It's all going to be okay, it's gonna be okay." She said, more to herself than to Morgan. It had to be okay.

With the sergeant handling this, Agatha left the kitchen, passing a woman who was thanking God instead of medicine with a judgemental look on her face. Yeah, no, no time to argue. Besides it looked like someone was taking care of her. It seemed things were getting slowly under control. But time would tell how bad this truly was.

Marley eyed the woman carefully. "Didn't stick, huh?" she said with a low voice, glancing around them before leaning in, "sounds pretty...supernatural to me." Before leaning away. She didn't exactly have time for this, there were more people who needed poison kits. She backed away from the strange woman, smiling, gave a wave, before heading off to another sick person. This town sure was strange sometimes.

Roy Chambers couldn’t wipe the grin off of his face if he tried. What was there to be upset about? The day had been good to him. Another day with the sun warming his skin was a good one, in his book. Coupled with the sound of ambulance sirens cutting through the air? Oh, that tickled him in more ways than most people could properly understand. What did it mean? What was going on? That was probably what most people were thinking. Roy, however, knew exactly what it meant. It meant success. It meant his plan had gone off without a hitch. As he neared the restaurant—Pat’s Place—he watched the chaos from the sidewalk. No way this place was going to pick back up after a catastrophe like this. Shame. They had the best cheesesteaks in the area. With the mess unfolding, everyone was far too consumed with the sick and dying to notice him. He halted at the sight of a familiar face. Remmington McAllister. 30. One of the parties to blame for the Ring explosion. He was sure Penelope Vural was around here somewhere. Preferably dead. Remmington didn’t look too far from it themself. He caught their gaze, lowering his sunglasses to fully take in the picture. Phew, boy. Looked like that hurt. He winked, his grin spreading wider across his features. Tucked his hands into his pockets and carried on down the road, a melodic whistle on his lips and a pep in his step. The day had been very good to him indeed.

#chatzy #vomit tw #wickedswriting #best served cold #ch:bea #ch:luce #ch:remmy #ch:nadia #ch:agatha #ch:jared #ch:q #ch:roland #ch:norma #ch:marley #ch:kaden #ch:skylar #ch:morgan #ch:roy #mass poisoning tw #food poisoning tw

[valkyrierrps]

[MSG]: I see you'll flirt with just about anyone.

[MSG]: I see you'll flirt with just about anyone.

Marls-Eli: What is it to you?Marls-eli: We both know that I can’t stand by and keep on crying over Cal.Marls-eli: I need to move on from him, you know this. Please support this, please.

@adamlambertwrites

#ch:marley #brotp:marls & eli #dani-camp

[nelllraiser]

jailbreak | marley & nell

LOCATION: the wcpd precinct.  PARTIES: @detectivedreameater​ and @nelllraiser. SUMMARY: nell and marley show travis who’s boss.

Being found in the back of a police cruiser wasn’t exactly a foreign experience for Nell, especially when it was either Red or Bo’s. This evening, it had been Red’s and she’d been caught trespassing. Honestly at this point, it was somewhat amusing for her, and she didn’t even really try to run anymore at times. After all, if she ran she wouldn’t get to harass Red from the back of their police car. Still, it was a little inconvenient to be trapped in the holding cell after being brought in, just waiting to be let loose. But...she was fairly tired of waiting, patience having never been a virtue of her’s. Thus was how she’d ended up half hanging out the ground level window that was in the very top corner of the cell, a good nine feet in the air with nothing around it to climb on. It was one of those basement windows that were far too small to ever be considered an escape route, but here was Nell with her shoulders already through, trying to pull herself the rest of the way out, taking this moment to thank her small stature for once in her life. 

Smoking was bad, and Marley had heard it enough times to have picked out a few spots in the alley where no one would see her. Finishing off the last drag, she flicked the butt away spritzed herself with whatever spray she had swiped off Jane’s desk the other day so that she didn’t immediately smell of nicotine. But as she rounded the corner from her little secret alcove, she spotted something she had never expected to see, even here in White Crest. Someone was crawling out of one of the holding cell windows. Which was truly amazing for several reasons, one of which being that they were at least 8 feet off the ground, and another being the bars of pure steel that lined the window. “Hello there,” she said, striding up in front of the girl, not bothering to crouch, “can I help you with something?” Crossed her arms in a way that let her jacket ride up a bit, displaying the badge on her hip.

The bars had certainly proved to be a little inconvenient, but after using just a bit of magic, it was easy enough to slide a couple of them out of place, and sneak between the minuscule opening she’d made. The crunch of boots was unmistakable, and hard to miss, but it was already too late when Nell heard a voice from above, and all she could think to say for a moment was, “God? Is that you?” The shit-eating grin on her lips probably wasn’t the best way to sell the question, but she didn’t think the woman with the police badge would have fallen for it either way. It was more meant as a troll-like move, anyway. She should probably say something else, though. “No, I’m good. Thanks, though. But I think I could definitely help you. Do you see these bars? Very unstable. Unsturdy, even. Pretty much anyone could get out of here. You’re lucky I caught it when I did.”

Arms still crossed, Marley just raised a brow. “Uh-huh,” she said flatly, tilting her head as she looked at the girl. No older than 25 probably. She’d seen her around the precinct before, but never bothered with it. Domestic issues weren’t her department. “Well, thanks so much for letting me know, but I think the window bars inspection was scheduled for tomorrow actually.” She took a step back so she could see her better and leaned against the dumpster. “But please, do continue,” motioned with her good hand, “I’d love to hear what other excuses you can come up with.”

Nell hadn’t really expected the woman to believe her story, but it was still far too fun to go along with it as she spoke once more. “Huh- no, no, it was definitely meant to be today.” In tandem, she looked at the wrist of one of the arms she’d freed from the window, no watch in sight for her to possibly consult. “Honestly I’m insulted that you would think- that I would- me, of all people, could possibly be doing something that isn’t what I say I’m doing.” Of course, the other woman had absolutely no reason to believe anything of Nell either way, this having been the beginning of a previously clean slate. “Who are you, anyway? I thought I knew most of the cops.”

Marley had to admit, it took guts to continue a bold-faced lie to a cop while you were sticking out of a precinct window, half stuck. And, admittedly, it made her like this girl even more. Smirking, she quirked a brow. “Oh, my bad,” was all she said, shrugging. She didn’t admit the fault in her ruse, but the next question came anyway. “Detective Stryder. I don’t uh-- usually stick around the office all that much,” she said, tilting her head. Red eyes watched the girl from behind sunglasses. “So are you gonna tell me how you scaled an eight foot wall with no holds or steps or should I just start guessing, Houdini?”

Thankfully, this didn’t seem like one of those stick up their asses, rulebook thumping cops that got off on flexing their perceived power on any mere mortal they might come across. And this Detective Stryder didn’t particularly seem to mind that Nell was hanging out of a holding cell window. “Detective? That’s an odd thing to name a child. No offense.” It wasn’t a stretch to say that one of Nell’s favorite past times was poking fun at any member or affiliate of the WCPD she met, Winston included. “Why aren’t you in the office much, though?” Even now, halfway through a window, it seemed that Nell’s nosiness was alive and well. She shrugged as much as her position could allow before going on to say, “I’m really good at gymnastics. Even went to state a few times.” Nevertheless, the Houdini comment earned an uptick of the corners of her mouth, amused that Stryder was unknowingly rather close to the truth.

“My parents were horribly unimaginitive,” Marley said with an exaggerated frown and wave of her hand. “Too bad I turned out to be a professional balloon artist. Really confuses people when I introduce myself.” Whoever this window child was, Marley was amused. She’d needed some fun in her life, after being stuck on desk duty for so long. And she still had so many desk days ahead of her. Plus, the witty banter helped. Reminded her a little of herself as a teenager, though Marley had never gotten stuck in a window. Intangibility helped with that, though. “Because it’s boring as fuck in there,” she said, rolling her eyes, “all those stuck up officers. I’m not exactly the most liked member of the squad.” She admitted through clenched teeth and a dull shrug. “A gymnastics star? Are you saying I’m in the presence of a famous athlete? Oh, please, can I have your autograph?” 

“I mean- it’s original to say the least,” she quipped back, rather amused with this banter. “So are you just some sort of self fulfilling prophecy then? You said well my parents named me this, so I guess this is what I’ll be?” Nell acted as if she were heavily involved in the conversation, like her words weren’t solely a means of finding amusement. The woman’s explanation seemed valid enough, though, and Nell simply placed her chin in her hands, still hanging through the window, but looking as if she were simply shooting the breeze at a bar top. “Ah well- half of them are little shits, anyway. Fuck them, amirite? Who wants to fit in with a bunch of narcs, anyway?” Maybe it wasn’t the smartest thing to essentially say ‘fuck cops and the law’ to a detective but...here she was. What were they going to do, anyway? Put her in a holding cell? But she quickly brightened, taking on her next personality without so much as blinking. “Oh, you know me,” she said with an award winning smile, “anything for my fans,” and proceeded to hold out her arms as if looking for a pen and paper. 

“Don’t give them credit for my name,” Marley said, as if offended, “we were supposed to agree that it’s a terrible name. We were bonding over this.” She was enjoying watching the girl act nonchalant, as if this were totally normal and like this was a completely okay thing. She decided in that moment that she was going to help her out once she felt like it, and let her go. She definitely deserved the credit. “Mmmm, you said it. I can’t actually say it, something about like--” held up her hands in quotes-- “‘unprofessional conduct’. But pretend I did say it and that I do agree.” After all, Marley hadn’t become a cop to be a stickler or a boot licker, as Online Butch liked to call her. She’d done it because she was good at it and she was one of the only ones out there who could control the supernatural gone awry. And although this girl was probably something along those categories, she didn’t much care to find out what or why. She liked this, instead. “Oh, really? Gosh, you’re just the greatest,” she said, reaching into her pocket and pulling out a pen. She came over to her finally and bent down, holding out her hand. “Right here, right next to the sling so people see it.” Too busy keeping up the witty banter to notice someone coming around the corner.

“I didn’t say it was good!” Nell said with added passion to her tone. “I think Mikayleigh is an original name and so does the Susan who named her, but that doesn’t mean I think it’s good.” But then, that teasing smirk was back, the glint reignited in her eyes. “Oh, we’re bonding now? I didn’t know you were so soft, Stryder.” Her eye roll was quick to follow, sharing very much the same feelings on people who thought certain ‘conducts’ weren’t appropriate. Honestly, Nisa probably could have made a terrific police officer. “Who cares about conduct if you get shit done.” It was true, wasn’t it? What did the means matter if you caught the bad guy? “I won’t rat on you, though. I’m not a cop,” she offered in dry sarcasm, apparently still far too ready to poke some fun at Marley’s profession. “But I know, right?” she began, offering that lofty tone once more. “All my fans say that about me. I’m so glad you saw it, too.” Nell didn’t hesitate to sign the woman’s arm, not actually entirely foreign to the concept. There were some people at the Ring who loved to have signatures, and well— Nisa had made all of them practice signatures when they’d been young, no doubt preparing them for their lucrative career as stage magicians. Once she was done, the voice of a man rang out. “What the- who let the Vural girl out?” Nell’s frown along with a disapproving and dismissive look was quick to find the newly appeared cop as she simply said, “Keep moving, Travis.”

“Uugh, Susan,” Marley scoffed. “I hate Susan and her vegan family rights and Mikayleigh who’s in the honor roll and choir.” They all knew someone like that, didn’t they? Experience really was universal, in that way, though Marley doubted individual experience was anything like that. She shrugged. “Must be all the pain meds I’m on. Or that you just don’t know me, considering we just met, Houdini.” She looked at the signature once it was done-- noticed the practiced hand at it, and wondered if perhaps this girl really was the next Houdini-- before turning to look at the newcomer. “Yeah, Travis,” she said, “keep moving. I let her out because I needed help with checking out this window. Someone said it was accessible from the inside and I wanted to make sure before I told Sarge. And, well, lookit that!” she pointed at Nell, still stuck in the window, “it is! Cool, great. Thanks for your concern, but you can leave now. I’ve got this.”

Nell’s own face was a rather accurate representation of the slanted face emoticon she so often used online when she said, “Um, vegans have rights, too,” in the most valley-girl accent she could muster. “And you’re forgetting she’s also captain of the volleyball team.” At the mention of pain meds, Nell’s gaze went back to the injured arm, curiosity striking once again. “What happened? To your arm, I mean.” Meanwhile, Travic paused at the edge of the scene, as if uncertain whether or not he wanted to tangle with either of the girls today. Nell quickly stretched out her arms into the dirt, as if trying to grab purchase there. Slowly, but surely, she inch-wormed her way out of the window and onto the ground, straightening herself to stand next to Marley. “Lookit that!” she echoed, her arms posed in a sort of ta-da motion. “Good thing we caught that, isn’t it?” Travis didn’t seem all that sold on the concept, but decided that he’d rather not deal with whatever was happening here, today. “Whatever,” he replied grumpily. “Just don’t make me do the paperwork for it. And I’m throwing you under the bus if this comes back to bite me in the ass.”

Marley frowned, turning to look at Travis. “No you won’t, Travis,” she said flatly, glaring at him from behind her aviators. “Because I know,” she nodded at the cup in his hands, tapping an invisible one in the air, “what you’ve really got in that cup.” At that, Travis clammed up, looked around, then backed away. “Fucking hell,” he said, before turning, “fine.” And bolting. Marley nodded to herself before turning to look back at Houdini. “You know, there’s a lot less of you than I thought there would be,” she said out loud, turning to face her fully. “But I gotta hand it to you, that was one neat trick. Where’d you learn to do that? For real?” She looked down at her arm, tired of having to explain she was attacked by a fucking zombie mime of all things and just muttered, “I hate mimes.” 

Nell grinned as Travis fled, always enjoying a cop on the run— especially after he’d been told off by another girl cop in badass leather boots. But that amusement quickly turned to indignance, arms crossing over her chest. “What’s that supposed to mean?!” she asked, brows drawn together. “Only tall people can escape holding cells?” As for the secret to her escape….well— she couldn’t give that up so easily with Miriam still skulking around. So she shrugged, seemingly more serious about her words than she’d been about her previous, joking excuses. “They really were loose. And I really am good at climbing shit. So you’re welcome for the free check-up.” But if the mimes had been to blame for the woman’s injury...well there was obviously something supernatural about the fuckers, so the detective had to at least know there was something not normal going on in town, right? “Was it one of those uh- have you heard of all the people running around talking about clone mimes or something?”

Marley just shrugged at the girl’s indignance. “I dunno, just thought you’d be taller,” she said, waving her hand in a flat line at the approximate height she’d assumed. “Guess you do kinda have short girl energy, though. All that sass in one little body.” She grinned. She’d gone through something similar, having always been a small child, even through her teenage years. She’d really only reached her peak in her early twenties, and the boots helped, too. “Ah, sure, sure. I’m sure they were magically loose in the one cell you happened to be in,” she said, putting emphasis on the word magic. It was a more likely explanation than this girl being the Hulk. The bars weren’t bent, after all, so superstrength was out of the picture. “Anyway, please don’t remind me of the mimes. I had to deal with reports about them and them specifically on three different occasions in one week and in that week one of them broke my arm.” She glanced at the watch on her wrist. “You may also wanna scoot along here soon, I believe the shift change is coming, right?”

“Short girl energy?!” Nell burst out once more, indigence on her face. “My energy is the furthest thing from short! Or you know what- if being a badass means you have short girl energy— I guess you’re right.” She couldn’t deny the comment about sass in a small body, though. After all...was that not her to a tee? Nell simply let vague uncertainty cross over her features, as if she weren’t sure what Marley were trying to get at. After a lifetime of pretending like she didn’t have magic when it mattered, Nell was rather adept at playing the part. A shrug tugged at her shoulders before she went on to say, “I don’t know- they weren’t loose the last time I was in the last time I was in there. Not that I….come here often...or check them often.” It was pretty obvious she was in the clear with Marley, so Nell didn’t mind adding the last bit in to corroborate her story. “The mimes are literal pieces of shit, and I wouldn’t be mad if they were wiped off the face of White Crest. But sure- I’ll see you around, then.” Nell didn’t need another officer with more backbone than Travis to come by. With a wave, she sauntered off, glad to know that there was at least another decently cool cop on the force.

Marley chuckled, shaking her head. “I said what I said,” was her only response to Nell’s rebuttal. And though she could sense the fib in her words, or lackthereof, she decided to let it go for now. Nell could keep her secrets. Marley could at least understand the danger in telling them to anyone who asked. But she was bound to figure it out, anyway. Instead, as Nell backed away, she just gave a wave. “See you around, Houdini,” she called after her, before turning to look back at the window that still had missing bars. She was no spellcaster, so instead, she just took a trash can lid and stuck in front of the window for now. She’d tell Sarge about it later, with some egregious explanation so he wouldn’t think too much of it in an attempt to get her to stop saying weird things. It always worked. And then she stood up and headed back inside for another round of paperwork-- damn, she really shoulda asked Houdini if she was as good at fixing things as she was at breaking them.

#chatzy #ch:Marley #jailbreak #wickedswriting