Home 25: Still making mortgage payments

[Shadowcaller]

[Bansford House]

The refrigerator is surprisingly well stocked.

Meals are organized by weekdays, with little notes stuck onto each lid.

Each note consists of the name of the meal, as well as an inspirational quote of some sort. It's all written in Billie's handwriting. There's a shelf within the fridge containing several mason jars of crimson fluid. Each elixir sparkles as if magical. They all seem quite similar.

"Not a guest," the orc mutters, "my dad."

[Bansford House]

Ava smiles awkwardly, but it doesn't look like she thinks its a laughing matter unless she was the one to be laughed at.
"Ah." Is her only reply as seems to be trying to rummage around in the fridge as quietly as possible. Only giving the items small pushes to see if the one she was looking for was hidden behind the others. "What does the manson jar look like?"

[Lord Magtok]

155 Hastings Lane

Fidelia spends a moment to give the ghoul's midsection an affectionate squeeze, trying to comfort Jenette by holding her closer and resting her head on her shoulders. It's as tactical a maneuver as it is sincere - words are difficult, and Fi needs a second to figure out just how she wants to word her response.

"I...I don't want to see you stop doing something that gives you purpose, something that makes you happy, because your parents disapprove. But- but you shouldn't abandon them." She breathes in. "I don't know parents very well, but - people like your mom, they worry. They always do. A-and she'll worry even more if you never come back again. If she sees you- if you keep coming back no matter what kind of danger you keep throwing yourself into, maybe she'll start to come around a bit."

"Besides, you're strong as heck. Y-you've dealt with all this stuff for so long, and you've even dealt with my stuff on top of it. And you'll still be strong, even if you do get cured. Maybe even stronger. I-it's one of the things I love you for. A-and it doesn't matter if your mom doesn't see it like your dad does, you always will be. Fidelia nuzzles up against Jenette and gives her a warm smile, too caught up in being heartfelt and supportive to start fretting about how badly she's wearing her emotions on her sleeve.

"What if I slay a dragon?" Jenette asks, trying to find one of Fidelia's hands so she can hold it in her own. I'm uhh...I'm not sure if she's serious with that question. I mean, it sounds kinda dumb to me. "Like, a really big, really evil dragon. And everyone hears about it, and people know I was the one who saved everybody from its evil plans to attack? It doesn't even have to be a dragon; it could just be some catastrophic doom that Saint Lazarus saves the world from. That would be enough to get her to stop worrying, right?"

It wouldn't. Not even close. I don't know why Jenette would suggest anything so foolish and optimistic. Even if she could prove that Saint Lazarus is the best and bravest fighter in the entire Nexus, that wouldn't change her mom's mind overnight.

[5a Violista]

[June's Place] (at the BDD)

Minerva
...
...
...
came back to herhis room with a butter knife.

And some string. String in the right hand, knife in the left.

With things in both hands, he obviously can't lock the door behind him as he comes in, so he just uses his foot to close it. He goes over to the table next to the bed, and puts the string down on it.
He reaches over to the bed and grabs the desiccated hand, so he can move it to the table as well.
"Wait, chop?" Minerva asks. "Not drill a hole?" Butterknives are awful for chopping! Except for very specific things.

Wait, what's he supposed to chop, anyway? Obviously not his own hand, that's ridiculous: it's impossible to 'be quick about it' when chopping still-living flesh, with a butter knife. Unless it's brain matter. But that's different. There's no brain matter here.
Jerky, though...Minerva supposes, if you press hard enough, it'd be possible to chop. Huge waste, though.
"...okay, if you say so," he says, unsure about doing this. It's a good thing that this is such a very good idea, because he wouldn't be able to chop through such a cool-looking hand otherwise.

Can't chop through the palm for obvious reasons.
Going to have to settle for thumb.
Minerva lines up the butterknife on top of the desiccated talking hand's thumb, between the joints, then places both hands on the butter knife, and then
hops
up to push his whole body weight on to the knife at the hand's thumb on the way back
d o w n.


across? town

June doesn't stop running, even as she frantically thinks through possibly the most important thing going on right now. This is exactly why she was so determined to find a way to fight against mind control. This is why she chose to drink vampire blood, in spite of all the risks. This is why she's done everything she has done since getting a job.
No time to worry about how it's done.
No time to think it through.
No time to worry about messing up.
Just do it.
Just...The Dancer. June the athlete.
She thinks back of all the athletic events, activities, and everything that she's done in her life and everything that she associates with being fast. There's a lot. Trying to find a unifying theme, to pull from.

Playing sports all her life: playing mid, and having to run the most out of the whole team. Other sports. Sprinting in gym class to pull ahead of everyone. Taking weight lifting classes even though everyone else in the class was in entirely different weight classes. All the times getting praised for outrunning everyone. Chasing down escaped dogs. Carrying her sister on her back while running down a mountain. Tripping over a rattlesnake getting that huge gash in her knee, but still going. The competitiveness against her brothers. Climbing and jumping down trees, walking along fences. Cats. Dances. Taking dozens of dance classes. Hiking. Stick fighting on fallen trees. Jumping from rock to rock. Fencing, and the abrupt explosive movements. Still going on through injuries. The martial arts, with its deception and its athletics and its dancing and its rhythm and its malandragem and its malicia and its mandinga, and its music and its false-dancing and all of it. The name she gained from doing it: Florete, the Lost, the only name she earned even more recently than Minerva June.
She doesn't know when enough is enough, so she looks through all of it, trying to find the underlying threads. Using her latest name as a foundation simplifies it and gives a good base to start.

Suddenly, June feels incredibly exhausted, drained. Running largely on adrenaline.
But her speed also vastly increases.
She'll have to get used to this.
But not right now: she has to get back to the Black Dragon's Den right now.


For unrelated reasons,
June smirks.

[Recaiden]

Oh, well, marriage is an important pact, right? A lot of changes. Maybe you celebrate your old life.
The weaver expects it will be a lengthy task.
Making a proper wedding dress takes time. All those folds, and ribbons, not to mention the embroidery.
Even with supernatural powers, it won't get done today.

[bc56]

Sekhmet gives an affirmative to the Weaver and starts putting her clothes back on. If it's not going to be done soon, she'll have to leave and come back. "I, uh, get it. A sort of, uh, last night of being, uh, a, uh, bachelorette. Right?"

[Arkhosia]

Spoiler

Show

"What if I slay a dragon?" Jenette asks, trying to find one of Fidelia's hands so she can hold it in her own. I'm uhh...I'm not sure if she's serious with that question. I mean, it sounds kinda dumb to me. "Like, a really big, really evil dragon. And everyone hears about it, and people know I was the one who saved everybody from its evil plans to attack? It doesn't even have to be a dragon; it could just be some catastrophic doom that Saint Lazarus saves the world from. That would be enough to get her to stop worrying, right?"

It wouldn't. Not even close. I don't know why Jenette would suggest anything so foolish and optimistic. Even if she could prove that Saint Lazarus is the best and bravest fighter in the entire Nexus, that wouldn't change her mom's mind overnight.

155 Hastings Lane

"I think it'd take a few dragons." Fidelia responds with a slight glow in her cheeks as Jenette clasps her hand, returning the gesture. "Not, uh, necessarily really big and scary ones, but maybe after a few times of coming out fine from danger." She squeezes the other girl's hand. "But no matter how much she still worries, when you pull your sword out of the thing and hop on down, you'll still get as big a hug from her as you will from me."

[Earl of Purple]

Prumathe's Flat

Then it looks like they're having frozen pizza, possibly in a while because I have no idea if it should be defrosted before it's put in the oven.

Prumathe will give any advice, because he knows if the pizza needs defrosting before it goes in the oven.

Abi's House

"Oh, you know nothing about me. Threatening the family pet? What pet? We don't have one." With that, Abi sticks her- the- tongue out and picks the knife up again. She's looking quite determined, but that might not last long.

[Gullara]

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