The Villa Is Open

[shipwreck_light]

Zephyr had a plan. "We are gonna make you the best electric milkshake that ever was!"

"Or will be!" Pip joined in, clapping her hands over her head as she danced along before him and Roa and generally got in the way of where they were trying to walk.

This gave Zephyr plenty of excuse to pause at the end of the hall and make himself a sweeping gesture. "In the historya... ah..." one that should have ended with him banging his hand on the wall.

Except for the part where the applicable wall had disappeared and not in the usual behold the busted drywall kind of way. It was just gone. Likewise, the hallway and the entirety of Sky Plaza.

Zephyr stood on some low, sweeping stone steps. That happened to be outside, while just a moment before been /inside/ and headed to the kitchen. "OK, what the hell?"

Roa took in the sudden sky all golden up the flanks of the villa before them and held her finger to her lips in curiosity. "I don't know, actually." Then, she attempted to walk down the way they had come. This got her over the steps and almost to the spray from the fountain in the drive before it became quite apparent merely turning around wasn't going to accomplish much besides dampening her shoes. Back up she went. "This *looks* like where they held the last Court of the Manor."

"You dunno?" his next sound was an odd one, not a moan and not a laugh, and awfully feline besides. "Yeah, that's not freakin me out or nothin. Dun you know everythin?"

"Zephyyyr. Same to you."

"You guys," interjected Pip, her bare toes rapping on the stone. "Think this's kinda the same thing happened to Seb."

"Hm?" Zephyr craned himself her way, and their hands tangled together, wires all a-flash.

"Mm!"

"Mnhn."

"Nnn~."

"Well, I like your theory so far," Roa nodded. Mostly, she wasn't being silly right back at their latest ridiculous display. Mostly. "Happened to Siebenkas...?"

"Yeah, he had this dream," the elder of the two evokers almost began to explain, digits working.

Whatever he meant to coax out of the recollections between them, Pip took over, swaying as she did. "He thinks was a dream, but is totally notta dream. I know. I touched him thinkin about it an it was all wrong fora dream. Still didn't make any sense, but not the same kinda way dreams do."

"Also, Seb never dreams he's nekkid. Fun fact."

("So useful, too," Roa remarked, quite to herself.)

"But, he walked outta his bathroom an alla a sudden, he was in this bar in Old New York an there were all these other people an he was almost kinda sorta mebbe flirtin with this mob boss lady over gin an tonic and then there was this real cute muddy guy. Seb didn't think he was so cute, but I did. He got way more distracted by the other lady evoked with her eyes and the booze was good an there were pretty blond polyamourous peeps bonkin in the restroom an... an... an..."

Her not so little description might have gone on another few hours, except that Zephyr reached around with his unoccupied hand and tickled her. The way they'd tangled up together, she must have known it was coming.

Which left Roa to conclude Pip wanted tickled more than she wanted to discuss any washroom adventures. "On one hand, that sounds very much like a dream to me. On the other, if there's some sort of precedent for people in our manor suddenly disobeying all known laws of physics. And you're not playing some sort of elaborate prank."

"Hey! I had my heart set on givin you your first electric milkshake an that's not somethin I'd go back on for any money." Next thing she did know with any certainty, Zephyr had play staggered over, clutching at his shirt, "'m so disappointed it /huuurts/."

"Well, you can make it up to me when the universe goes back to normal."

Grin for the time being, too.

"It is going to go back to normal?"

"Did last time. 's why we still gotta Seb an notta portal to someplace called Dan's," said Pip.

"Alright, so why don't we...?"

"Make the besta it?"

"Yes!" Roa swung from Zephyr's grasp. He only then reached for her, trying to find that place in her moments where the best meant [concrete] he could play after and with her. As it was, he missed her as she skipped the villa steps instead, swirling her skirt in her hands and calling back after: "We're going to get company, right?"

"Woul, that'd be nice, but if not," he shrugged. "We get blitzed an watch the stars come out." A quick little sigh and a pop of his shoulder after, he followed.

Pip watched the space in the sky where the clouds should have been. The end of her nose twitched. "We're so gettin company. Can smell it, almost. Somethin's zactly not right out there." Laughing then, she blew past them both and straight through the doors.



Stuff you actually need to know available in this direction:
http://rainbowlounge.dreamwidth.org/18653.html

Have fun!

ETA: This post has not been up thirty-six hours and we officially have more than 500 comments. SO I SUPPOSE THIS ISN'T FUN AT ALL AMMIRITE? XD

ETA II: I am really, really touched that everyone wants to take care of the deceased fellow in the pool. I'm sure he appreciates it (he didn't even have a name in the story where he first appeared ;_;). But, alas, there was only one of him and he's currently being handled. He may be installed in a bedroom shortly, and should that happen, I will give him his own thread for poking purposes.

Comments

[bookblather]

Jack rubbed his hands across his face, and shrugged. "Yeah, I think he must have. I mean, Mama and Dad had enough trouble balancing us and their work."

[sarcasticsra]

"I can't even imagine how I'd manage it. I doubt I could. One boyfriend at a time is enough for me," she said, then considered. "Not that the last one I had seemed to agree with that whole one-on-one thing. Which, hey, that's fine, but let a girl know ahead of time, right?" She shrugged. "Oh well, at least he's out of my life."

Well. Out of everyone's life, technically.

[bookblather]

"Ouch," Jack said, wincing in sympathy. "Yeah, fuck cheaters. I've done the poly thing but everybody knew about it ahead of time, you know?" He drew himself up in his best prim imitation of Charlotte. "Honesty is always the best policy. You might not get laid, but nobody will get hurt."

[sarcasticsra]

"Seriously," she said, nodding. "I've got nothing against the poly thing--I mean, I kinda entirely owe my existence to it, after all--but everyone should be on board from the beginning."

[bookblather]

"That's it exactly," Jack said, giving her a finger-gun and a wink. "I don't lie about what I want, means I get what I want more often than not, and nobody gets hurt." Samantha flashed across his mind briefly. "Almost nobody."

[sarcasticsra]

"Sometimes it can't be avoided, even if you're honest," Marietta conceded. "That's life, though."

[bookblather]

Jack turned sharply to look at her, hoping his expression wasn't as desperately hopeful as it felt like. "You think so?"

[sarcasticsra]

"Well, sure," Marietta said. "I mean, you get involved with someone, it's not an exact science, it's people, and people aren't always predictable. Whenever feelings get in the mix, there's always a chance someone's going to get hurt, even if it's nobody's fault." She shrugged. "Which sucks, sure. But it's worth it, in the end. Or at least that's the idea, right? Why we try?"

[bookblather]

"In theory, anyway," Jack said, but it was the same thing that Miranda and Charlotte and Felix had all been telling him, day after day. "Yeah. I guess. You reach for something, and if you don't get it, well... at least you tried."

[sarcasticsra]

"Yeah. Exactly," Marietta said, shooting him a reassuring smile. He seemed to need it.

[bookblather]

She smiled at him, friendly and open, and it helped a little bit. Jack smiled back, and added, "My sister Charlotte, she just got married. Someday I hope I get to stand where she was, you know? But I'm sort of fucked up about relationships so I don't know if..." He trailed off, and shook his head with a little laugh. "Sorry, I'm going on about myself. Didn't mean to."

[sarcasticsra]

"Oh, it's totally cool," Marietta said, sincerely. "Relationships can be tough, that's for sure."

[bookblather]

"Yeah," he said. "And even if they weren't, I can't seem to form any meaningful or lasting ones. Outside my sisters." He paused, then said, "And Felix. But they don't count."

[sarcasticsra]

"I don't know. I think that sorta counts," Marietta said. "Just being family doesn't necessarily mean you're going to get along or be friends. Believe me, I know. I have a lot of family." She smiled wryly.

[bookblather]

Jack huffed out a laugh and ran a hand through his hair. "Yeah, well, in this case it doesn't, because my sisters are amazing and fabulous people and they'd love me anyway. And Felix is... Felix." He had no other words for how incredible Felix was.

[sarcasticsra]

"Felix is a...friend?" Marietta asked, unsure. The way he said his name, it sounded like more than just that.

[bookblather]

"Felix is..." Jack paused again. How did one define one's best friend whom one happened to be ridiculously in love with? "He's a friend, yeah. My best friend."

[sarcasticsra]

"But there's more to it than that, right?" Marietta asked, and then shook her head, giving him an apologetic look. "Sorry, I shouldn't have--that's your personal stuff. It's none of my business."

[bookblather]

"No, it's okay," Jack said, and decided suddenly and recklessly to say something. "I'm in love with him. Fuck, that feels good to say out loud."

[sarcasticsra]

Marietta smiled. "It's a good step to take," she said. "How does he feel? Any idea?"

[bookblather]

Jack ran a hand through his hair. "I don't know. He doesn't love me like that, but he does love me... he's put up with enough bullshit from me that he has to. I mean. He's my best friend and that's just it, you know? That's all, and I gotta deal with that."

[sarcasticsra]

Marietta nodded slowly. "And you're sure? That he doesn't love you like that, I mean?" she asked him.

[bookblather]

"Yes," he said, and snorted, a little bit of bitterness rising up. "I was such a fuckup. I'm still such a fuckup. I'm lucky he still even wants to be my friend."

[sarcasticsra]

Marietta was struck by the overwhelming urge to reach over and pat him on the arm sympathetically, while saying, 'There, there.' She resisted.

"Well," she said, after a moment. "I obviously don't know you that well, or this friend of yours, but in my experience, people who stick around like that are worth their weight in gold. Even if he does only love you as a friend, that's still a hell of a lot, you know? A lot of people don't even have that much." She gave him a sympathetic look. "Which probably doesn't help emotionally, since emotions aren't rational, but hopefully it's something?"

[bookblather]

"It is something," Jack said, "and I'm not... I'm not that broken up about it, not really. He's my friend, he loves me, he's still in my life. I can be happy with that. It's just... it's just not being able to talk about it. My family knows him, and they'd probably tell him, just because they want me to be happy. Ordinarily I'd tell my best friend but that's Felix." He inhaled, stretched up towards the ceiling. "Just saying it... it makes me feel better."