A Little Day Drinking

[Nesrin Aziz]

Oh darling I think it’s love.

How genuine he was she didn’t know, though she supposed she’d find out.

Meanwhile, the talk around the table seemed to have fallen to flowers. Cade was sweet, but he also seemed to have no edge. Fresh from the mundanities of suburbia and with such a sensitive little heart, Moscow was simply going to eat him alive – or have a lot of fun corrupting him. It was a game she might have toyed with, except if he really was Nox’s brother he was not exactly on the table for throw-away fun.

Nesrin twisted the flower stem between her fingers, purely amused. Not for the gift so much as the curious way the petals had perked. She rose from her chair enough to be able to lean across the table, and reached to hook the bloom behind Cade’s ear instead. “I’m sure boys like flowers too,” she said with an easy grin.

Her glass clinked along with the others as she sat back down. “To new friends,” she agreed. She didn’t say anything about Elyse’s woes at all since the woman wanted to forget whatever was bothering her, though the entire time Elyse had been absent Anna had looked as though she was desperate to ask about whatever this really bad thing was. At least until Cade’s flower had distracted her into a smitten smile. Nesrin had forgotten how tedious it could be when you were trying to be nice to people. After a deep swallow of tequila, she lifted her glass again, though by her innocently mischievous smile it was not to propose another toast.

“I was raised in a brothel. I’ve met the Ascendancy. I can speak Arabic.” Then, in case it wasn’t clear, she laughed and added. “Two truths and a lie.”

[Cade]

The tender fingers placing the flower behind his ear made him smile and they were pulled immediately into a game of two truths and a lie. He hated that game, he was such a crappy liar. But it was a good distraction for Elyse and a way to get to know the new found friends, though Cade wasn't sure how much they'd be his friends, this was his half-brother's crowd and he w ouldn't stick around if Nox were unaccepting. Or found him to be a liar. Not that Cade didn't beleive. His father hadn't denied the picture resembled his mother. But he didn't comment on it much more than that either.

It was hard being left.

"I'm going to go with you don't speak Arabic, Nes." Not that if she started spouting a foreign language that he'd be able to tell it for truth or lie. Most people could fake it for a little while, if no one else knew. Or even mimic a few words they picked up elsewhere. Cade beleived some people made up stories to look bigger stronger and others hid the truth in plain sight.

Cade thought about his two truths. He could have easily give them things they already knew. Things they could have found out. Cade added his to the mix. "I graduated highschool a year early. I saw the monster that took my mother. And I was once charged with resisting arrest"

[Sage]

Sage laughed and glad it was innocent and mostly business though there was something that drew him towards her. Not so much attraction but something. Not like his attraction to Nox and certainly not his attraction to Aiden. Which to be fair weren't too far apart, if things had gone differently, if Nox hadn't taken Cruz to the gala, Sage and Aiden likely would never have really met. At least not then. This wasn't that, and he was a little concerned. But not enough to end it. He was too intrigued, too much fun poking around her life. He'd figure out her secrets, he liked secrets.

Let's not Tell my Rockstar. Though he already told Aiden everything. They'd had a good conversation about the girl who did something to him. It was the only explanation to why Sage would do what he did. And it was a fucked up night. The Emissary knew his name. Knew Jaxen's name. Knew everything. Not a good thing at all.

[Anna]

Anna smiled as she took the flower Cade offered, and as it touched the skin of her hands a thought came unbidden to her mind. She had no idea where it came from. She suddenly wanted more flowers - enough to make a crown.

A crown of flowers. Why did that seem important?

Taken out of thought by the start of the game, Anna hadn't noticed that Nes had put her flower in Cade's hair. Anna took a note from Elyse and looped hers in her own hair. It wasn't enough for a crown though. Why did she want a crown? It was such a weird thought.

Two truths and one lie was a fun enough game to get to know people, and Anna felt like she was good enough at it at least with reading others. Not so much at the lying herself. In fact, she was sure Cade was wrong with his guess.

"No, no, no, you are wrong mister!" she said, the smile on her face saying she was teasing. "She mentioned earlier her sexy dance skills and being from Egypt. She hasn't met the Ascendancy! And you..." she looked him in the eyes, her own eyes narrowing, trying to read him. "No way you were convicted of resisting arrest!"

Now for her turn. This was the part she sucked at. She actually began to feel nervous trying to come up with something, and well, she needed the practice, so she embraced the power while she felt the nerves, not planning on doing anything with it. "Two truths and one lie, let's see," she said, looking up, then smiled. "I'm one of these channelers. I earned a full ride to the dance program at the Julliard School of Dance. Along with English and Spanish, I'm also fluent in French."

[Sage]

Elyse had given him permission to play with her father. It was a nice thought, but hacking a moving target wasn't so easy specially when you had no way of knowing which one was his. Atharim were alot harder to track than they were to fuck with. Even with all his inside knowledge he couldn't just do that. If it were Nox in the car then he could, but only cause he had unfetted acess to anything Nox connected to.

But he replied to Elyse. Anna's clean. Good person. Cade is to my knowledge what he says he is, nothing I can find can deny it. As for the other lovely lady, well that's harder. For now you can trust her. We see eye to eye.

[Elyse]

Elyse checked her wallet again as it beeped. Satisfied with the information in it, she put her wallet down without responding She could check in with him later. He didn't need a response and at this point she was more concerned with hearing from Mae, but Mae would respond when she did. It didn't matter at this time.

The game was going and people were making guesses about lies and truths. Elyse had never actually played this game before, but it was easy enough to figure out. She could handle this. "To be contrary - I don't think that Nes was raised in a brothel, but I agree with Anna on Cade - you don't strike me as a bad boy." She also didn't want to think of monsters right now, when one was heading towards her. "And I actually know Anna's so I'll just not respond to that one." She gave Anna a grin.

Anna mentioned her channeling, so her Wolfy abilities could be one of hers, but she didn't want to bring that up. Now wasn't the time. "Let's see...um....I'm a good shot with a pistol. I'm a decent hacker. I have a deerskin coat that I sewed myself. Two truths, one lie." She finished her drink.

[Nesrin Aziz]

As they settled into the silliness the mood finally lightened as intended. Nesrin rolled the cool side of the glass along her lip as she listened, all smiles and easy laughter at the banter. It was less about sussing the lie and more about gathering useful information and loosening guards – a shortcut to friendship. Even the things people chose to lie about said something about them. Though technically Nesrin herself had cheated; the only lie she’d told was that she’d told one. Not that she was going to admit it.

"Je ne pense pas que tu parles français,” she said to Anna with a wink. The soft glow which had enveloped the other woman before she spoke had made it a 50/50, and most people wouldn’t have known what ghawazi was. Not the sort of thing they taught about in elite dance schools, she’d warrant, but also not the kind of thing an uneducated dancer in a strip club would have known. It didn’t entirely surprise Nesrin to discover her to be a channeler; she’d heard the rumours about Kallisti and the people who called it home. But she was surprised Anna was so free with the revelation. It wasn’t one Nesrin shared about herself in kind.

“But you’re right about mine, Anna. My father was absent or drunk when I was a kid, so those women were the closest thing I had to family. And Arabic is my mother tongue. We don’t all speak English outside of the Custody. ” The latter was said to Cade in amusement, though not unkindly. There was little trace of it in her accent unless she chose to let it colour her words; a legacy of the Asquith’s education and her own efforts to blend in. Afterwards she glanced between him and Elyse, laughing. “You two really thought I’d met the Ascendancy??”

As she turned to her own guesses, Cade received a mischievous look. “You’ve definitely been arrested,” she said slyly. A white knight scenario of some kind she could well imagine. Something principled rather than something fun. “But did you really see that monster?”

Elyse’s was harder to guess; she was the most reserved of the three. But it was the mention of being a hacker that gave Nesrin pause. She chewed her lip thoughtfully, like she was thinking, but inside she was uneasy. For a moment she felt it like ice in her gut; that little prickly feeling which just said time to run. Elyse could have been at that party, hidden behind a mask. The Emissary himself had been strange, and the stories about him always said he wore the mask – it was exactly why she’d tried to coax it from his face. But she’d never met Zigzag in the flesh, and had no idea if the m’Antinomian’s devotees would just be ordinary people.

“You’re not a hacker,” she said eventually. “A hunter maybe.” Being a good shot and making a deerskin coat might be the hallmarks of a hunter. It was the logical conclusion. But as her pulse calmed she realised it’d be stupid for anyone who meant her harm to reveal themselves like that, and Wicked surely would have said something, even if only as easy proof of his trustworthiness.

[Cade]

Cade chuckled. "Meeting the Ascendancy didn't seem too far-fetched. No more so than growing up in a brothel. Same two extremes."

As for Elyse and Anna, well he was pretty sure Elyse wasn't a hacker, and Anna well he already knew she was one of the channelers, almost all of the at his brother's so-called burlesque touted some sort of skill. He was still amazed that his brother could do those fantastical things -- must be nice. He said as much. "I'm pretty sure Elyse isn't a hacker. And Anna can't speak that many languages. I already know the secret of Kallisti's dancers -- I did my research on my brother."

"But I have been arrested, just not for resisting arrest. I went peaceably when our protest got out of hand. Laney dragged me to one of the Free America protests while we were in college. There were riot police and everything. I got charged with disorderly conduct along with the rest of us who got caught." He shrugged about the monster. "I was five when my mother went missing. My therapist and my dad said it was just a dream, but I've seen things, things that I hope my brother will tell me are false. I dreamt of my mother's disappearance, a creepy woman with blood red lips took her, it was the scariest dream I'd ever had until I saw my mother die again later by some big black dark dog that mauled her to death. Seen a few other morbid things, things I can't explain." Cade downed the last of his tequilla sunrise. "If that won't bring down the mood, I think we all need another drink."

[Anna]

Anna shuddered a bit. Nightmares weren’t something she dealt with much, but she knew they tended to stick with you vividly. It surprised Anna that Cade had been arrested though. He didn’t seem the type for that. But anything can get out of hand - especially protests.

”Elyse, we suck at this game!” she said with a chuckle, and polished off her drink. ”Next round is on me.” she as on her feet before anyone could object, ordered four more and took the tray back. She could still feel the power within her as she embraced it.

She handed out the drinks. ”You know, not all of us can channel - some can’t. I haven’t even used my ability on stage yet, I thought I had a good lie! Monsters - that sounds scary though.” she sighed as she sat back down, only slightly closer to Cade, not enough that it would look deliberate or get too much in his personal space. Anna knew she was developing a crush on this guy. Even so, she doubted he’d be the type to go in with an exotic dancer.

[Elyse]

Elyse listened to both Nes and Cade’s stories. ”I couldn’t tell at all with you,” Elyse said, a smile on her face. ”So I just guessed the option they didn’t pick.”

Cade’s story really caught her attention though, and it wasn’t the story of arrest. He definitely described a drakaina and hellhound attack. He saw those in his own dreams. Whether or not they were in the Dream or not, Elyse didn’t know, it she was reminded of her time with nightmares, and knew Nox struggled with them too. It made Elyse wonder if he had some other abilities besides singing. Maybe a dream walker, or perhaps he actually saw his mother killed and that memory was repressed. But he hoped they weren’t real, and Elyse wasn’t sure she was the person to tell him that monsters were real. She thought she would need to leave it to Nox - it was part of why Cade seemed to be searching for him. Still it wouldn’t hurt if his dreams could be guarded or shielded somehow. Elyse would check with the wolves. Maybe something was after him and a nightmare would potentially see him as a target.

Anna made a quip that elicited laughter out of Elyse and she left to refill their drinks. Elyse turned to Cade ”I used to have nightmares. You have my sympathies.”Q Elyse’s nightmares of course were very real and could have killed her.