MOON MOON [1x1 wyndi]

[Mini]

News broke in the morning about a local college student who had been found dead - cut open with a rib bone removed. She hadn’t felt it or them being hurt, so it must have been done while they were asleep. Whoever had done it must have made sure they /stayed/ asleep, she thought to herself as she dug her nails in to her skin of one hand while gripping her coffee in the other as she walked from her apartment to the main campus buildings. Food was needed, she figured. Plus she’d have to tell everyone in her pack about this - make sure they were aware and stayed away from anything or anyone suspicious. Just the way to start the semester off, she growled to herself as she texted those in her pack about possibly meeting up later today to discuss the news.

As she entered the dining hall to grab some breakfast, some familiar faces showed up. Zacharie was entering the building as she was. “Hey,” He said quietly. He was never all that effusive with emotions and always seemed to be hiding something that she could never put her finger on. He was nice enough, at least. She gave him a hello as they fell in stride. “Did you hear the news last night?” He asked. “Yes!” She yelled somewhat angrily. “He was...he was one of mine.” Her hands tightened around the coffee cup she was holding. “Oh, woah. I’m sorry, Aurelie.” He said as he placed a hand on her shoulder. Zach was never the best with this and he knew it, but he still tried. He hoped Aurelie appreciated it, and she seemed to soften a bit. “I just...how the fuck could it happen? We’re always so careful! I tell them not to get in to any suspicious situations, I didn’t even sense it.” She continued on, getting faster and slightly louder. “Hey, you might want to keep it down a little bit. You know most people aren’t aware of, well, you know.” Zach said quietly. He knew that she knew that, but she did tend to get loud and fast when she was angry. He didn’t want any added attention drawn to them. One could never know who was on their side and who wasn’t. Aurelie nodded in agreement as the two of them made their way to a table that was outside. “I mean, they must have gotten them while they were sleeping. That’s all I can think...still...I can’t let it happen again or what sort of pack leader would I be?” She said in between bites of her breakfast as Zach picked at his plate. “You’re a great pack leader. It wasn’t your fault. There’s no way you could have known. They’ll all tell you the same thing.” She responded to his reassurance with a noncommittal shrug. Aurelie knew Zach had the best intentions of helping calm her down and making sure she knew it was out of her control.

“I’m sure your two boyfriends will be able to comfort you better.” Zach joked after a while, which caused Aurelie to playfully shove him. “Stoopppp. I’m sure I’ll hear from them on this later. We’ll see them in class this afternoon anyways.” The two of them had finished their breakfast and Aurelie had finished her coffee, minimal claw marks digging in to the paper cup. The two of them started making their way to class as they did their best to put this morning’s news to the back of their minds right now.

Of course, this death was just the beginning without anyone in their town realizing it.

[Wyndi]

Nicoletta Silvera, née Pirelli, tapped sharply twice on the door of her first and only son. It was only eight in the morning, but Nicoletta knew Pell was already up: there'd been a fresh pot of coffee waiting for her in the kitchen, and steam from an early morning shower still lingered in the bathroom.

She didn't have to wait long for Pell to open the door. Her son's features were sharpened by his usual mix of irritation and impatience, and he wasted no time in asking, "Is this about Rosabella and Violetta's visit?" The unspoken again hung in the air like a curse, condemning what was coming next.

"Buondì to you too," Nicoletta said, sighing. "And yes, it is. It may not mean very much to you, but I would like to make their first trip to the U.S. a smooth one. Which means you're responsible for making sure Al comes to dinner tonight - I know he still hasn't made amends with Oria, but we can seat them on opposite ends of the table and be done with it."

Pell leaned against the doorframe. "I'll call Al. What else?"

"It might be worth asking your nonna to call him too," Nicoletta said grimly, knowing full well how stubborn her nephew could get. "Besides that - the police found a dead body last night near the woods. Werewolf. College-age. The police have already ruled it a homicide.

"Not one of us," Nicoletta hastened to add, seeing Pell's eyes narrow. "We don't kill without reason, not even Oria, and we certainly don't take trophies." She handed Pell the photo of the corpse that her contact within the police force had passed on to her. The torso was a mess of blood, both dried and fresh, and on the left side, a sizable chunk of flesh had been torn out to reveal the bone underneath. "Whoever killed the werewolf took one of his ribs with them."

---

When Sela came to, she found herself sitting somewhere grey and unfamiliar. Still disoriented, it took her a few minutes to register that she was in the back of what appeared to be a police car - and then she snapped into panic mode, because it'd happened again, hadn't it, and now she was probably being arrested for walking right into a crime scene -

Except she wasn't handcuffed, and the door next to her stood wide open. Someone had even taken the time to drape a coat over her shoulders, no doubt pitying the thin tee and pants she'd worn to bed the night before. And there was something small and flat still in her left pocket: her phone.

"Oh, good to see you awake!" said someone outside the car. A curly-haired officer with pale brown skin was leaning against the door, peering down at Sela. "Just in time, too - I was about to head back to the station. What's your name, dear? I'm Carmen."

"...Sela. Where...am I?" All she could see outside the car were slowly shifting blobs in varying shades of green and brown, though Sela doubted she would've recognized where she was even with her glasses. "What happened?"

"We're at the eastern edge of the woods. You were sleepwalking - gave us all a fright when you showed up out of nowhere, especially when we'd just found - well, you don't need to know, and you'll probably find out later anyway." Carmen stretched and stifled a yawn. "Hey, Sela, I'm just going to check in with my partner, and then I'll take you home, okay? Where do you live?"

Sela shook her head. "I'm a student at the college. I live on campus."

Carmen froze, staring at Sela in disbelief. "That's six miles from here. God," she added, almost to herself, "no wonder you were near turning blue when we saw you. Does this happen often?"

Only when there are dead bodies waiting to be discovered, Sela thought. Out loud, she merely said, "It's sporadic. But it's been a little worse lately."

"Well, maybe you should start wearing a coat to bed in case this happens again," Carmen said, only half joking. "Or some shoes. You got lucky this time, but there's all sorts of unsavory things you could be stepping on in the dark. Anyway, let's get you back to campus ASAP. Hey, Noone! I'm going to drive our guest back to the college, okay?"

Several feet away, another officer in a tight blond ponytail turned around and gave Carmen a stiff nod. Carmen waved to her partner as she put the keys in the ignition, and Sela took advantage of the break in conversation to text someone she kept on hoping to never have to text again.

Ava Stark
xxx-xxxx-xxxx

It happened again.
Someone died near the eastern border of the woods last night.

[Mini]

The tell-tale sound of a text message buzzed Ava’s phone on the nightstand next to her, waking her up as soft light filtered through the windows. Untangling herself from Mitch and the sheets she reached over to her phone to check and see who had texted her.

Sela Qing
It happened again.
Someone died near the eastern border of the woods last night.

Ava Stark
Thought I felt a vibe last night.
Where are you? Need me to come pick you up?
We can talk about it over breakfast...or lunch? What time is it.

She reached over from her phone to lightly nudge Mitch’s shoulder. “Hey” she said quietly, voice still thick with sleep. “Remember when I said someone was going to die last night? I was right.” She said as she pulled herself up to a sitting position as she dropped her phone on the covers on top of her to rub the sleep from her eyes. “Sela just texted me.” It wasn’t long before she flopped back down in their bed with a groan as she cuddled up against Mitch again, not fully wanting to be awake at whatever hour it was. True she had just woken Mitch up and she’d pull herself up soon, but she’d wait for a response from Sela to see if she needed her to pick her up wherever the body was. Ava was all too familiar with waking or ending up in strange places - always where death happened or was bound to happen. It all came as part of the territory being a banshee. On the plus side, it made her quiet comfortable around death and didn’t fear it. Death was a natural part of life, though when someone’s life was cut short before their time, that always got to her.

Her phone buzzed again, this time Zach had texted her.

Zach Flores
Hey did u hear the news

She’d since gotten herself out of bed just in case Sela texted back saying she needed a ride. Even if she didn’t, Ava was going to get herself out to get some coffee anyways. It was needed.

Ava Stark
Yeah. Well sorta.
Knew something was gonna happen. Turned out I was right.

She always was.

Pulling on a shirt that had once belonged to her boyfriend but she had commandeered and turned in to a crop top and shorts, she threw long dark hair in to a messy ponytail. “C’mon babe it’s time for us to get some coffee."

[Wyndi]

"Noooooooo," Mitch whined, his face still half-buried in a crushed pillow. He rolled over into the warm imprint Ava had left behind on their bed, mumbled something that might've been "Too early," and promptly fell asleep again -

Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeep.

- only to be jolted awake by his phone alarm going off.

Beep. Beep. Beeeeeeep.

There was a muffled curse, followed by a thump as Mitch blindly fumbled for his phone and ended up punching the headboard instead. Mitch swore again, reaching over to the other side of the bed. His hand found the edge of the nightstand, and from there it was only a few inches more to his phone.

The silence that fell when he finally turned the infernal alarm off was a relief. With that ordeal over, Mitch was tempted to roll over again and go back to sleep...but his groggy brain vaguely remembered something about death and coffee. He sat up and yawned. Okay - coffee first and death second. Actually, no, wait, shower first, then coffee and death. He said as much to Ava as he grabbed the nearest towel and jumped into the shower.

Only when the hot water had started clearing his head a bit did Mitch fully realize what Ava had said.

Someone had died last night.

Again.

Well, sh*t.

--

Sela barely had to wait for Ava to text back, which was a small mercy. Squinting at the screen, she responded:

Sela Qing
I'm fine. The police are taking me back to campus.
Let's meet at lunch.

There was no time for breakfast - her first class of the day started in a little under an hour, and Sela fully intended on making it there on time, clean and alert and ready. She might be a supernatural corpse detector, and a new and untrained one at that, but that was no excuse not to ace her social cognition seminar.

--

Pell took another sip of his coffee and pinned the photo of the corpse up on the board. 10/22/20xx, he wrote under it, leaving a space for the time of death, and stepped back to take in the entire board again.

The photo was but one of many hanging on the whiteboard. Most of the smooth, glossy surface was wallpapered in crime scene photos and highlighted news articles, and what little space was left was covered in Pell's sharp, slanted handwriting in black and red.

He was certain that the incidents were all connected. The modus operandi was always the same: the victim was always one supernatural being, the murders always took place at night and in isolated locations, and (most condemningly of all) the murderer always took one piece of the victim with them. A lock of hair, a finger, an eye - it didn't seem to matter what was taken, so long as it was taken in the first place.

But beyond that, there was no pattern. The last murder before yesterday's had taken place in July, in the next town over. The murder before that had been in January, in a city twenty miles away. And on it went, with the murders (that Pell knew of, anyway) dating back to early 2014. So he had no leads, no brilliant ideas - only the couple of months before this murder and the next, and the thought frustrated him like nothing else.

Fortunately, this time, he wouldn't have to wait that long.

[Mini]

When Sela texted her back, Ava felt her body relax. She didn’t realize that she had been clenching her shoulders in anticipation, but knowing that Sela was not stranded out in the woods somewhere and was safe made her feel better.

Ava Stark
Ok cool.
See you at lunch.

With that text, she let herself lay back down across their bed while Mitch was in the shower. She had groaned a small protest when he wanted to shower before going to get coffee since that delicious dark drink was always her priority, but she’d let the boy shower. She’d do that later. Her eyes closed once more as the sound of the water running lured her back in to a soft sleep.

Ava had woken back up after Mitch had finished showering. “Coffee tiiimmmeee.” She said softly before throwing on a pair of sunglasses as the two of them headed out the door. It wasn’t long before the two of them were at Starbucks with their favorite drinks in hand. Her venti red eye with simple syrup and milk was everything she ever wanted in the world as she kissed her cup before she started to down it. “Much better...” She sighed happily. Now she could really get down to business when it came to talking about the news that was on everyone’s lips and help Sela out over lunch.

___

“Ava got a vibe last night apparently.” Zach said as the two of them reached their classroom, grabbing Aurelie’s arm before she entered so they could talk without being heard for another moment. “Fuck, really.” She said as her eyes rolled and she let out an aggravated sigh. It wasn’t as if there was anything the two of them could do - there wasn’t anything Ava could have done either. A banshee can only predict so much, and they were all still young. Plus, deaths like these weren’t common around here so it wasn’t like she had a ton of practice.

“Yeah, I texted her to see if she’d heard the news.” He said quietly as someone walked by them and in to class. Looking at Aurelie, he knew that this conversation wasn’t going to go any further at the moment. “It’ll probably be the talk of the town, unfortunately.” She said with a shrug. “Let’s go. I have to suffer through the same exact questions all day so I might as well get it over with.” She said before going in and taking her seat. It’d all be about the news, and depending on who there would be the typical follow-up questions or statements - neither of which she wanted to deal with right now. What she really wanted to do was hunt down whoever did it and rip their throat out, but that might be difficult since there was no way to get his scent. The body had been found and was no doubt in the morgue already. Maybe this was an isolated incident...maybe this would be the only death and it would fade in to the backgrounds of everyone’s minds.

[Wyndi]

Sela stirred her mug of ginger tea, her eyes distant. A small plate of plain cucumber slices sat untouched beside her, along with a peeled clementine that had been picked clean of its pith - the lightest fare Sela could find in the dining hall, and yet she still couldn't seem to bring herself to actually eat any of it. Now that she was no longer being distracted by her professor's lecture or a group discussion, the gruesome image of the body seemed to have branded itself into the insides of her eyelids, searing itself red-hot into her mind every time she blinked.

Next time, it could be you, her fear whispered, and for an instant Sela saw her own corpse sprawled on the ground, her eyes blank and her skin pale. How long until it will be you?

"How're you holding up?"

Sela clung to the voice like a lifeline, forcing her mind back to shore. No dead bodies here - only an overwhelming number of college students who felt like they might die if they had to wait any longer in line for food. No dead bodies, Sela repeated to herself in a firmer tone, and looked up.

In front of her stood Aline, Ava's best friend, with concern creasing her usually composed face. In a quieter voice, she continued, "Ava told me what happened last night. I'm sorry you had to be the one to find the body."

Sela didn't deign to respond, realizing too late what Aline's presence meant. So much for a private conversation with Ava. Then again, considering the number of supernaturals Ava was friends with, she likely found a group chat far more efficient. Sela couldn't fault her for that: they were banshees, not automated news broadcasts.

"May I?" Aline asked, indicating the chair she was standing behind.

Sela wondered - briefly - what Aline would do if she told her to fuck off. Then, stirring her now cold tea, she gave the other girl a half shrug. "Misery loves company."

[Mini]

“You should at least eat some of it, you know.” Ava said quietly as she slid in to the seat across from Sela. Surely that wasn’t what she wanted to hear, but Ava knew how much worse she felt on those days when she didn’t eat after one of her episodes. Thankfully her mother had done her best once Ava started waking up in strange places and finding her way to dead bodies to teach her all about her heritage and make sure she knew what she was up against. She tried to do the same for Sela, but she was a tough nut to crack. Lots of people were uncomfortable around death, and when your entire existence starts to revolve around it, that can wear on a person. A lot of the times Banshees ended up taking their own lives since all the death and despair drives them mad, but Ava figured she’d have a long time before that happened. She’d been keeping pretty good control over her powers and not trying to suppress them. Having the exposure to the supernatural world definitely helped, though.

“I know that’s not what you want to hear, either.” She said sensing the other’s response. Her fingers wrapped around her Starbucks cup - freshly refilled with coffee from the dining hall. Aline had found their way to the table, and it wouldn’t be long until Mitch arrived. Yes it was more of a group chat than a private conversation, but Ava hated having the same conversation more times than was completely necessary. She had a tendency to leave mid-conversation anyways if it wasn’t interesting to her, but with a group it was easier to stay focused and interested. Plus whenever it dealt with their supernatural b.s. it was even easier. The fewer times she repeated herself the better.

Aurelie and Zach arrived not long after and they all took their seats with their lunches. The tables near them weren’t too crowded as it was a little on the later side for lunch and the rush had passed. “So we all know that there was a dead body found in the woods last night. It’s been all over the news so that’s not new...what’s weird about it is that it was one of our own and they had a rib taken from them.” Ava started. “I had a vibe last night that someone was going to die, but I get those a lot. Sela texted me this morning saying that she sleepwalked to where the body was found.” With that she turned her attention to Sela. “Do you want to talk about it?” If her answer was no, that wasn’t a big deal. They could talk about other things.

“I hope it’s just an isolated incident.” Aurelie said pointedly. “True, there hasn’t been a death like this here in a while, so it could just be a one time weird thing and we’ll forget about it in time.” Ava agreed, but deep in her bones she knew that wasn’t the case. Every inch of her shivered and said more deaths were coming. Her eyes went to Sela and seemed to say the same. You know this isn’t it.

[Wyndi]

Sela reluctantly sectioned her clementine into slices, nibbling on one as the rest of the group arrived. Mitch Kimura, Aurelie Beaumont, Zach Flores - they were all Ava's friends, not hers, and her willingness to discuss the gory details evaporated a little more with each newcomer. Then again, Sela thought, if it were up to her, she'd never have to talk about the whole banshee package at all. If it were up to her, she'd take a few sleeping pills, find some way of locking herself in, and call it a day (or night, rather).

So when Ava asked her if she wanted to recount her latest supernatural escapade, Sela said dryly, "I don't want to. But I don't have to." She took out her phone, opened her camera gallery, and slid the slim black device across the table to Ava. "Apparently I had enough presence of mind to take some photos." There were about twenty, all zoomed in on the corpse as much as possible; she'd probably taken them from the safety of some tree or shrubbery cover to avoid being caught by the earliest handful of police officers. Thank god Carmen hadn't checked Sela's phone: if she had, no doubt a prime slot in the suspect list would've been reserved for her.

"Oh man, that's brutal," Mitch muttered. Despite his revolt, he leaned over to get a better look. "Jesus. His rib? Really?" He glanced over at Aurelie, his face torn between sympathy and anger. "Any time you want to start hunting down the psycho that did this, you let us know."

Aline reached for the phone next. "Why a rib in particular, though?" she mused. "Do any of you know any legends about lycanthrope bones being used for anything?"

"Hey, you're the druid," Mitch retorted.

"Yes, and druids generally work with living werewolves, not dead ones," Aline replied, sounding placid as ever. "It might be helpful for someone with both forensic and supernatural expertise to examine the body: we may be able to learn something from an autopsy. We'd also be able to find out if this was an isolated event, assuming the culprit has killed someone in a similar fashion before. None of us have police contacts, unfortunately, but the Pirelli family..." She drifted off, giving Aurelie a meaningful look.

Aline hadn't missed the look Ava and Sela were exchanging either. Doom and gloom were coming, and she had a feeling that was exactly what had jumpstarted Sela's abilities in the first place. "We should prepare for the worst regardless. Though it's no fault of our own, we've been letting our defenses fall out of shape since this town has been fairly safe so far as supernatural business has been concerned. But we can alert our contacts, especially those with medical knowledge, and with some effort, we could even re-establish some of the old safehouses. In the meantime, Ava and Sela should let us know every time they sense something."

Out of the corner of her eye, Aline saw Sela tense, saw her lips slightly part as if she wanted to say something. But it mattered little: if they wanted to prevent any more homicides, Sela needed to contribute her gifts one way or another. As a banshee, it was her responsibility, like it or not - and if she managed to save someone's life, then wasn't it worth it?

[Mini]

“I’ll hunt him down and rip his throat out if I had the slightest trace of his scent.” Aurelie said with furrowed brows as she passed looking at the photos. She didn’t need to see any more than what was shown on the news. “Whoever did this to Felix deserves no mercy.” Aurelie said almost in a low growl, digging her nails in to her palms under the table. After Aline had looked, Zach took the phone to look at the photos. “I can always call Yulia and see if she has any druid-ly insights.” He said before handing the phone back to Ava who passed it on to Sela. “I’ve never heard her talk of a werewolf rib being used for any specific purpose, though.” He said more under his breath, still not great with dealing with a large group of people. Sure they were all friendly, and he could hear his aunt telling him to try and open up, let them in, but he still felt his defenses raise a little more when he wasn’t with close friends or a small group.

Aurelie caught Aline’s glance and she mirrored the look. “I’m sure I’ll hear from Al at some point today.” She said, silently acknowledging that she would press him for information when the time came. She’d already blasted her pack with a text message about meeting up to discuss what had happened later tonight. This wasn’t a matter of another pack sending a message to her, she wasn’t that kind of alpha to step on anyone’s toes anyways. The only reason she was one was because her father passed away a few years ago during a hunting accident. She was the natural choice in the family, considering her mother was human.

Ava listened to her best friend give them the information that they needed, hands still gripping her coffee as she sunk down in her seat and leaned her head on Mitch’s shoulder. “Yeah.” She said when she heard her name. Her eyes went to Sela, saying ‘Call me when you need me at any point. Zach caught the look on both the banshees faces and knew that this wasn’t going to be the end of it. He noticed Aline got that sense too. “We’ll all be on guard.” Aurelie said after a moment. “If anyone notices anything out of the ordinary, let the others know. We can’t let anything like this happen again.”

[Wyndi]

Easier said than done. Sela methodically dissected her last clementine slice, keeping her eyes lowered. If only all of you could sense a fraction of what Ava and I can. Maybe the others were determined to stay and fight and allow themselves to be tangled up in the oncoming storm, but Sela didn't have to: she wasn't a werewolf with claws and fangs; she wasn't a kitsune with fire and swords. All she had was her tiny 4'10" self, frequent visions of death, and some sort of supernatural scream that she hadn't even tapped into yet.

"I wish you all the best of luck," she said stiffly. "But I'd like to stay out of this."

Mitch stared at her like she'd offered to cut her own head off.

"Are you certain?" Aline asked. Her voice was still quiet, still calm, yet everyone at the table could hear the confusion, the sudden swell of fury, buried deep below.

"You already have a banshee," Sela pointed out, matching Aline's level tone. "Ava's much more experienced than I am as well. You hardly need me - or my abilities."

"But you're a banshee. Your powers could be the single determining factor between one death and many. You could help save who knows how many lives." Aline's eyes softened. "I know Ava can be a bit abrasive, but she's been through all of this before. She'll help you get your powers under control - "

"I don't care!" The words shot out of her before Sela could help herself, and she hated herself for the way they sounded, childish and panicked and resentful. Reining herself in, she hissed, "Ava isn't the problem. I don't want to be a banshee, I didn't ask to become some part of a supernatural amateur detective team - and I have a music theory class in twenty minutes." She stood up, shaking; she tried to gather herself, gather the remnants of her poor excuse for a lunch. Her trembling hands knocked over her mug, still half full of now stone-cold tea. The grey ceramic cracked in two as it hit the floor tiles.

Sela clamped down on a scream of frustration, pressing her lips into a thin line, and knelt to pick up the broken pieces of her mug out of the puddle of tea.

--

"But we have a pack meeting tonight," Al protested. Despite the fact that it was well past noon, his voice sounded groggy, as if he'd just awoken - which he probably had, knowing Al. "Come on, it's about that murder that happened last night. That's way more important."

Pell put his cousin on speakerphone, returning to perusing the bookshelves of the Pirelli family library. "The only meeting 'we' have tonight is an obligatory family dinner. Besides," he added dryly, "I suspect your absence would give our family motive to commit a murder of their own."

"Who cares. They'd have to get in line behind Mom anyways." There was a muffled thump on Al's side of the line, followed by a yelp that sounded oddly like "Quinn!" "Hold on, give me a second." There was another thump, then the rustling sounds of Al flopping back down on his bed. "Fine, I'll go. What're their names again?"

"Rosabella and Violetta."

Clack clack - probably Al typing away, trying to find them on Facebook. "Oh, wow. I thought they were older."

"Rosabella's twenty-fifth birthday was last month." Pell paused, tilting his head to read a title on one of the higher shelves. "Violetta is six years younger."

"They don't look it. Actually, Rosa's kind of h - "

"Al."

"No compliments for the second cousins, got it." More clacking. "Hey, did your mom ever say why they decided to come in the first place? 'Cause it's getting kind of late to do all the tourist-y fall stuff. Unless they really like Halloween."

"They're here on business," Pell said absentmindedly.

Ice slid down Al's spine. "...What kind of business? The kind where you make money, or the kind where you make dead werewolves?"

For once, Pell could not answer.

[Mini]

Zach wasn’t surprised at Sela’s reaction. He himself was somewhat reluctant to be involved in this whole supernatural life. Though he was this way for as long as he could remember, her powers were developing much more recently and it was awfully early for her to decide to embrace them and jump on board. He watched as Ava lifted her head off Mitch’s shoulder and placed her hands on the table somewhat harshly, looking like she was going to say something that she’d regret before Aline spoke.

“None of us asked for this.” Zach said, somewhat cold and harsh towards Sela - the way he was used to addressing these situations. “Yet here we are.” He said as he made a sweeping gesture to the rest of the table. The sound of the cup hitting the floor and breaking causing shivers to run up and down his spine and he couldn’t make out why.

In reality, Ava was trying to deal with a myriad of emotions. She wanted to shout to Sela that denying it would just make it worse, she just wanted to help someone and didn’t want to see her drive herself to craziness. She didn’t want Sela to end up alone and in a mental hospital. Ava’s mother warned her from the beginning and made sure she knew to embrace it. It helped her stay sane and would help her stay sane. Watching Sela this way made knots form in her stomach. There was really nothing that she could say that would reach the other at this point that hadn’t been said already. It’d just be falling on deaf ears at this point and Ava knew when to call it quits. She stood as Sela yelled and strode away from the table and out of the cafeteria, hearing the mug shatter as it hit the ground as she was headed outside.

As the cup broke, the cafeteria erupted in cheers, ‘oooooh’s and clapping in typical dining hall fashion. Zach bent down and helped Sela pick up the pieces while Aurelie sighed. There’d already been enough of a scene at their table and this was the cherry on the cake. “I’ll go get some napkins.” She said getting up, glancing down at her palms as she pulled her claws back in, palms still bleeding from her digging them deeper and deeper. Luckily they didn’t take long before they started to heal, but this was nothing she wanted to deal with. The more she thought about it the more she was all for skipping her afternoon class and going out for a walk in the woods to clear her head. Still, she returned to the table with napkins not long after and then excused herself from the discussion, since there wasn’t much more to say. Too many eyes and ears on them anyways.

[Wyndi]

"Maybe it's just me, but a Spider-Man tie seems kind of...informal for this kind of thing."

Al held the bow tie up to the mirror, grimaced, and whipped around to chuck the offending garment at Quinn. "Maybe it's just me, but are you literally the least qualified person on this planet to be giving people advice on dressing formally?"

Quinn grinned, letting the spiderweb-patterned tie hit and slide off him. "Hey, just because I don't wear a suit all the time doesn't mean I don't know what looks nice. Just go with one of your space ones. Looks kind of casual if you really think about it, but it's unusual enough that people will compliment you on it instead."

"Not sure if I really want compliments from two cousins with a potential penchant for werewolf murder, thanks," Al drawled. Nonetheless, he picked up one of his nebula-print ties and held it against the inky blackness of his button-up, studying the colors for a moment. No clashing there, he decided, and looped the dark purple tie around his collar with a swiftness born of practice. "How do I look?"

Quinn snorted. "It's crooked, you nerd. Here, let me get it for you." He reached over to straighten the knot in the tie, giving it a pat as if to seal it into place. "There."

"Quinn," Al began, his tone perfectly serious, "I need to know. Is this the first time you've touched a tie? Do we need to crack open some champagne to mark this momentous occasion?"

The Spider-Man tie smacked Al in the face.

--

An hour later, Al found himself wishing he'd kept the Spider-Man tie on hand, if only all the better to strangle himself with. Across the Pirellis' antique dining table, Rosabella and Violetta had been prattling away for the past quarter of an hour in Italian and occasionally accented English. Al's Italian was just enough to help him get the very, very general gist of what they talking about, but there was no Google Translate for the spoken word (god damn it, Google), and he couldn't do much more than feign polite interest. Plus, the way that his mother was looking at the women....Probably wishes they were her children instead of me. What else is new.

His only consolation was the fact that he was seated next to Pell, who was all too willing to indulge his need for subtly exchanged looks of disdain and impatience. Though Pell's movements and expression were carefully arranged into a display of receptiveness, Al knew that Pell's mind was brewing away behind that mask. How much longer must this dinner last, he could practically hear Pell say. I have more important business to attend to.

As if sensing Pell and Al's thoughts, Violetta turned away from her sister to smile at them. It was unnerving how similar to them both she and Rosa looked, every inch a Pirelli: the striking dark brown hair, the sharp dark eyes that missed little, the stubborn little tilt of their mouths.

"So, Alessandro" - Al inwardly cringed - "is what your mother said true? That you are seeing two different people at the same time?"

Jesus Christ, had his mother been gossiping? And why the fuck was she gossiping about that in particular? All right, Mom, casually shit on every other part of my life, but don't forget to use my love life as your "story of the day." But out loud, he could only say, "Yeah, I guess I am."

Violetta laughed, covering her mouth with her hand. "I will not ask how that works; I was just curious. It is a little strange, but there have been more scandalous arrangements before in the history of humankind, I'm sure. Now, your mother also said that you could point out a few events we should attend on Halloween?"

Al carefully kept his face blank, but his conversation with Pell earlier on that day invaded his mind in full force at the mention of Halloween. The kind that makes dead werewolves. No matter how friendly Violetta had seemed so far, she was still a hunter of the Pirelli family, and she was here on business. Most likely the family business, no less.

"Sure. How much time do you have for this kind of thing?"

"Not as much as I would like," Violetta said, wistful. "We are here for a technical business trip, after all. But once we've piloted the - well, I should save it for Rosa's big reveal, but I do not know how long this dinner will take, and it is my right as much as hers." She lowered her voice, sneaking a cautious side glance at Rosabella. "The two of us - we've been working for the past few years on a cure for lycanthropy. And we think we've finally succeeded."

[Mini]

*earlier that same day*

It was a quiet day in the shop, which was the usual for a weekday. A shop like his was more of a niche market anyways - people didn’t wander in here to kill time, they came in for a purpose. Whether it was for flowers, plants, herbal remedies or trinkets, everyone came shopping for something. There were even those looking for certain less-known things that were typically used in defense against the supernatural. The only customers that had come by were two young ladies who were definitely not local with their accents, but he’d at least had a good conversation with them. Ben had various appointments later with all sorts of clients dealing with not so completely legal business. He was a very busy man and liked to keep himself busy with all his appearances and personas for whatever awaited him.

A jingle at the door meant a customer, as Ben moved from the back room back to the counter. “Welcome to What in Carnation. What brings you in today?” He asked in his smooth, customer voice as always, flashing a smile at the skeptic young man who walked in. He didn’t say much except for a somewhat forced hello, but Benjamin knew he was in here for something. Nobody came in here without reason. Little did he know that Vaughn, the young man who had just walked in, had no desire to let on to why he was there. He’d heard Aren talk about this place a few times and he’d wanted to scope it out. See what was so great about it. Vaughn didn’t see anything totally out of the ordinary, nothing incredibly exciting. He did find some wolfsbane among the rows and rows of plants and herbs...clearly this wasn’t a run of the mill shop. Aren had to like this place just because of the name of the shop, now that Vaughn thought about it. Aren was a sucker for puns.

“Finding everything alright?” Ben asked, keeping his eyes on Vaughn the entire time. “Hm? Oh...yeah I suppose. I’m just looking.” He said. “Everyone’s always looking for something.” Ben said as a sly smile spread on his lips. Vaughn looked at him and narrowed his eyes - something about this guy rubbed him wrong. “Yeahhhh...I’m all set, thanks.” He said and quickly left the shop, not wanting to get trapped in what seemed to be leading to a strange and uncomfortable conversation.

“A strange fellow.” Ben said to himself as he pulled himself out from behind the counter and grabbed a watering can, heading in to the greenhouse section of the store to water the plants, listening for the bell if anyone came in the store. Looking at the time, it was about when one of his regulars stopped in.

[Wyndi]

Barely ten minutes had passed before Aren bounced in, singing under his breath.

"When there's trouble, you know who to call
Teen Titans!
From their tower, they can see it all
Teen Titans!
When there's evil on the attack
You can rest knowing they got your back
'Cause when the world needs heroes on patrol
Teen Titans, go!

"With their superpowers they unite
Teen Titans!
Never met a villain that they liked
Teen Titans!
They've got the bad guys on the run
They never stop 'til the job is done
'Cause when the world is losing all control
Teen Titans, go!

"Ben, are you here?" he called out once the bell above the door had stopped ringing its welcome. "I brought apple turnovers!" There were six of them altogether, carefully wrapped in leaf-patterned napkins and stacked in the Tupperware container under Aren's arm. Six beautiful golden-brown, flaky turnovers, with an equally beautiful sweet-tart, cinnamon-flecked filling, just begging to be devoured....

His mouth starting to water, Aren promptly spun to face the nearest cluster of plants in an attempt to distract himself. The dense, small, pink and white flowers that greeted him had become all too familiar to him over the past several months: valerian, a medicinal herb with proven sedative properties. Aren'd been told the effects extended to werewolves and kitsune too, but on that, he'd had to take Ben's word for it: curious he might be, but Aren wasn't about to go and test some mystical plant on his boyfriend and his best friends.

"Ben?" Aren wandered over to the greenhouse section, pausing now and then to snap a picture of a particularly eye-catching plant.

---

"...We're still finalizing the formula, of course, but all twenty-five of the werewolves in our trials have shown significant reductions in superhuman speed, strength, and senses. It sounds like they're getting the short end of the stick," Rosa with a laugh, "but it also means they're no longer running wild on the full moon. They no longer pose a threat to others - or to themselves."

The reactions around the table could not be more mixed. Oria, Al's mother, was nodding in approval, while Nonna, the reigning head of the Pirelli family, wore a slight frown. Al's father and Pell's own mother looked skeptical, and something defiant glinted in Al's dark eyes. As for Pell himself, he felt nothing short of repulsed by the idea. To have a core part of your identity forcibly ripped from you for the cause of the "greater good"? Unacceptable.

"What if they never pose a threat in the first place?" Nicoletta finally asked. "I don't mean to dismiss your hard work, and certainly there are dangerous werewolves out there, but the local packs have always kept their own under control. There've been no human casualties for years."

Vi took a sip of her wine, swirling it around in her glass as she spoke. "It may be that nothing has happened so far. But pack dynamics and pack leadership change as swiftly as the wind. It is better to be prepared."

"Have you forgotten the code of the hunters, Zia?" Rosa challenged. "We hunt those who hunt us. We do not stand idly by in hopes that peace continues - "

"Watch what you say, Rosabella," Nicoletta warned, switching to her native Italian. "Family or not, you and Violetta are here as our guests. Whatever your relationships with the wolves back in Italy, you cannot project them on to the wolves here. When you have lived here for decades, then you can decide how to proceed with the local packs. Otherwise, kindly defer to our experience."

Rosa looked as if she were trying to fight back a sharp retort. When she finally found her words, however, her tone was surprisingly civil. "Of course. No cures here, then. Regardless, it might not even matter, given the fact that we still need time to finish perfecting the formula."

[Mini]

Tending to the flowers, Ben heard the tell-tale signs of one of his regulars coming to visit. The time, the ringing alerting him to a customer, and the faint sounds of that certain someone calling out and announcing they had brought baked goods, as always. Ben’s appetite was never all that big for food, but he appreciated the gestures either way - though admittedly the first time Aren had brought around food he thought the boy was trying to drug him or something akin to that. Ben never underestimated anyone that walked through the door of his shop - everyone had some sort of motive. He’d poisoned someone before - it happened in his various lines of business. He had plenty of deadly plants growing just begging to be used when someone didn’t pay their dues. Not that the police would ever link it back to him. Ben had a good relationship with the local police. They didn’t know that he had a section deep in his greenhouse devoted to poisonous plants. He was just a small business owner to them.

“Aren, Hello! I’ll be right there.” He shouted from the back of the greenhouse, finishing watering a small winter daphne. It didn’t serve much purpose in the supernatural world, but it had a lovely bloom and its berries were deadly...so it had its usefulness. He made his way through the rows before finding Aren snapping some pictures of his newly-sprouted agave plants. “You like those? I’m thinking of foraying in to the food business myself. Trying to grow some agave to make either syrup or tequila. We’ll see how well that goes.” He smiled and finished with a soft laugh. “Of course, this little guy has a long way to go before I even think of attempting that.” His eyes went to the container in Aren’s hand, peering in. “What have you brought for me today?”