As a late morning came to the four, the sound of sizzling woke them all gently, along with Layla getting a particular kneading from Soupy.
It took the more skittish pair some time to really digest that they were in fact free still, that no boogeyman had come in the night or that their sweet new friend was secretly a double agent, they were safe and secure still. The more energetic two leaped at the smell of delicious buttery food, as Fitri rolled his sore back off of the futon, while Myeong-Suk sprung like a blooming flower.
"Good mornin Evie!" Myeong-Suk said, rounding into the kitchen.
"Oh! Good morning everyone! I hope you all got some good sleep in, here, I'm making some pancakes."
"Ay, do you need any help cookin' Evie?" Fitri popped his head in.
"Not at all! I got everything in the apartment tagged for my aura sensing, so while I can't see a lot of exact details, I can "see" enough to get by. Although, the pancakes might be a little crispy, I have to cook them by smell." She giggled sheepishly while presenting a plate of only slightly burnt pancakes.
"Well, let us take care of servin' at least!" Myeong-Suk and Fitri got into action, as she got Layla and Mackenzie's portion plated and topped while Fitri did the more active portion of getting the futons and bedding put away neatly. By the time they were done, their own servings were ready, as Evie finished up her own, and they all sat in the living room.
"Man, these taste real damn good, sorry this place is probably going to be a bit musty, Evie. We haven't exactly had a change of clothes." Mackenzie apologized.
"Ah nothing some fresh air and incense can't fix. Oh! That reminds me though, one of Gervais' friends came by last night!" She put her plate aside and gave a careful jog to her room.
"They did!? How the hell did we not notice?" Layla exclaimed.
"I guess you were just really tired!" Evie shouted from her room.
She rolled out a mint-green suitcase, and carried a large duffel bag, as Fitri and Mackenzie lit up like christmas trees. "MY STUFF!" They shouted in unison.
"But, I got grabbed at a bus stop in the dead of night! I was sure my stuff was gonna be passed around town like a bad flu!" Mackenzie questioned, nearly in tears.
"Yeah and I thought my stuff got chucked!"
"Guess you both were in for a spot of good luck~! They mentioned that after hearing your guy's stories, one of Gervais' allies was able to track some tech stuff that led them to your things!" Evie explained.
"Okay I am going to change and spray myself in deodorant, pardon me!" Mackenzie rushed to the bathroom in the blink of an eye, coming back out in black sweatpants, a comfy sweater, and smelling of overly chemical flowers.
"Hell yeah, nothin' even missing!" Fitri exclaimed as he looked through the duffel bag, while Mackenzie made it far enough to land into another bean bag as he rejoiced in having fresh clothes.
"I guess we should start heading to my place here soon. Wait, Myeong-Suk, you have a place too, right?" Layla said, quickly finishing her food.
"Ah, I got a dorm at UWT, but the quarter is almost done anyways, I can figure it out~! I'd much rather room with my new magic besties! After I pick up a change of clothes myself, I might be serving but it's, like, November 3rd now or something, I need to get out of this Halloween costume." She giggled shyly.
"Is there anything else you guys need right now?" Evie asked, as Soupy returned to her side.
"Unless you have a car, not really, and no offense but I assume you don't." Layla responded.
"Sadly no, aura sensing doesn't 'load' fast enough to keep up with cars." She said with a touch of genuine defeat. "Oh! But that does remind me of two things before you go! First, I was thinking of what'd be best to get you all started on finding your crafts, and I have a friend in the Verbena who loves helping new mages out! I should have her number somewhere around here," Evie began, buzzing around the apartment chasing her various aura tags. Luckily, she found it quickly scrawled on an old bar receipt that ended up in a file cabinet.
After handing it over to Mackenzie this time, she took a step back. "And the second thing, I wanted to give you all a quick lesson!"
"Alright, what's the subject, Professor Brand!" Myeong-Suk asked cheerfully, earning an embarrassed blush from the teacher.
"Ah geez, making it sound so formal and all. But, I just wanted to give you all proper expectations for how your powers will probably grow." That caught all fours attentions.
"Aside from Myeong-Suk, who has shown some real unique growth in a short time, the rest of you will start out only really being able to affect small areas in small ways. For example, Mackenzie, you could probably heal a small cut, and Layla you could probably destroy weak materials. But, at this stage, the most common upper limit is magick based on perception, scoping out things related to your Spheres. Weak spots, biological information, the flow of Quintessence, active clouds of thoughts, things like that."
"So, until we get a better handle on things, we're fancy radar scanners?" Layla pessimistically summarized.
"And small range magick users! Luckily, once you get into your crafts, getting to the stage where you begin actually manipulating stuff won't be hard, and you'll most likely pick up a second Sphere specialty while you're at it! The important things are to find your own path, avoid pushing your magick too far, and foster a good relationship with yourself and your Avatar." Evie instructed, adding some optimism back into it.
"And once we do, we're gonna take the fight to those vampire bastards." Fitri enthusiastically said, with a shonen cracking of his knuckles.
"Oh! I wonder if I can use my telepathy to keep an ear out over the city?" Myeong-Suk asked, putting her fingers to her temples.
"THAT is a higher power thing that would be really bad to try and do right now!" Evie panicked, flapping her arms in opposition.
"Phooey, guess it's regular rumor scanning for now, gang!"
"But, you all seem really gung-ho about fighting the Circulatory System. Don't they, I dunno, scare you right now?" Evie asked, regaining her composure.
"Are you kidding? They're fuckin' terrifying!" Mackenzie began, shivering from the thought. "But there's other people at risk too, people without powers, people without someone to guide them like Teddy, Gervais, or you. If we got the means to stop these guys, stop them from attacking our home, why wouldn't we?"
"And even without that, I'm not going to hide away from them. I'm getting payback." Layla added on with a look sharper than her usual apathetic sort-of-glare.
Evie Brand sees the world primarily in color. Not the actual colors of reality, but auras littered throughout reality like bursts of spray paint hanging in the air. Even animals, plants, spirits, and locations can have auras, and so it serves her well, and has provided her a keen look at the emotions, thoughts, and impulses of all things.
Right now, the four young adults in front of her, only a few years younger, were radiating with all sorts of emotions. Fear, curiosity, anger, regret, you name it. But, despite any other colors which might've muddled it, they were also shining with a unified ambition. The radiance of determination, of sheer willpower, was illuminating all four of them, no matter what other emotions they felt. It almost brought a tear to her eye.
"With that much conviction, I believe in you four! Here's my number, I'll make sure to stay in touch, and you all can call me anytime!" She handed each of them a small notecard, with a cute chibi of her bespectacled face in the corner.
"Will do! And, when it comes time to learn the culty craft, we wanna learn it from you!" Myeong-Suk said.
"Yeah do you get like a membership bonus if we sign on? What're the benefits like?" Mackenzie joked, with both comments making her blush once more.
"IT'S NOT-UGH! Just call it Ecstatic, pleaaaase!" She wailed as they headed out the door.
With a series of waves with varying enthusiasm, with Layla waving the hardest not at Evie, but instead Soupy, the four of them left the historic apartment, feeling the chill of the early November wind as they stepped outside.
"Alright gang, it's time for our next job." Myeong-Suk began to say, standing dramatically in the wind as if the breeze wasn't showing the bottom quarter of her derriere in her costume.
"We're breaking into UW."
"Wait, why do we need to break in, isn't it your do-"
"We're in!" Myeong-Suk said, equally dramatically, as she unlocked her dorm door.
"Okay so it is your dorm, why did you say we were breaking in?" Layla continued to question.
"Just sounds like a more dramatic transition that way." The exciteable girl said with a shrug.
"Transi-y'know what I'm just gonna drop it." The gloomy one conceded as they all entered the small dorm room. They all found it surprisingly bare. Each had their own ideas of what it would be, the commonalities being a lot of mess, alternative lights aplomb, and maybe with an intense odor of weed, but it turned out to be a very plain and understated white dorm room.
It even, apparently, fit in the space of a single large piece of luggage, as Myeong-Suk first changed out of her Halloween costume, seemingly not caring that the others were present. Fitri still averted his eyes out of respect, Mackenzie out of nervousness, and Layla was far too confused at the disparity between the room and the individual.
She tied her hair up in a high ponytail and donned a fluffy sweater and cute pair of bell-bottom jeans with pink boots before whisking all around the room to gather her things.
”Clothes, books, my laptop, photos, alright that should be everything!” She lugged it off of her bed with a thump.
”You…have very little here.” Layla pointed, donning the super heroic title of Captain Obvious.
”Hehe, yeah, I didn’t really spend much time here outside of sleeping, between classes, homework at the library, and all the fun times on the town! Being cooped up in this room would just be such a bore!”
”Not even a poster, girl?” Fitri questioned.
”Well, y’know, some folks can be real strict about what kinda stuff you have in the room.” She awkwardly claimed.
”Damn, RA’s are that strict huh?” Layla questioned, still looking around.
”Ah, yeah, y’know how it is.” She said, unconvincingly. “Well, anyways, I don’t have food here or anything, so we’re all good to get to Casa de Layla!” She said with much more conviction and pep.
“Alright, alright, c’mon ducklings.” Layla said, leading them out.
”Wait, can you just…leave?” Mackenzie asked, gesturing to the whole bare apartment.
”I don’t see why not! If there’s any fine details, I’ll handle it once we get settled in!” Myeong-Suk replied without looking back.
”I…you…okay.” Rubbing his temples, the easily stressed Mackenzie leaves well enough alone, and the four of them make their way to the north end of Tacoma.
With how late they slept in at Evie’s, plus the time bus transportation took, the sun was beginning to set, not helped by the fall season. Eventually, after only a small bit of walking, the quartet came to a modest dark-blue painted house amidst many other fanciful and certainly expensive homes.
”Wow, is this your place Layla?” Fitri asked, dazzled.
”Couldn’t think of a nickname this time, huh?”
”Don’t worry, I’ll find something!”
”Joy. Anyways, yeah this is my place.”
”Damn, your folks got money huh?” Mackenzie said, paired with an impressed whistle.
”I mean yeah, I suppose, but it ain’t a mansion. Now, where did I leave that key?” She dug around a small planter full of rocks to the side of the door, digging out a spare key after a few seconds.
”Wait, the vampires don’t have your main keys, do they?” Mackenzie worried.
”Luckily, no. I left my full key ring here the night I was taken ‘cause I was carpooling with my frien…classmates. Good thing too, cause that means I didn’t lose my car keys either.”
She opened the door and let them all into the main living room, they found the whole space calm and homey, but a bit drab as most of the appliances and furniture were in dark blues or blacks. Then again, it was Layla’s house, so it tracked.
”There’s only two bedrooms, so you guys will probably have to room up, but they both have their own bathrooms, and the kitchen is free game.” She lackadaisically instructed as she set her hoodie down on the L-shaped couch splitting the living room from the dining room.
”Ah, I don’t wanna make you guys do that, I-I can just take a couch or, like I got my sleeping bag back so even the floor could work!” Fitri said.
”Dude, I’m not making you sleep on the fucking floor.” Layla said with a look of disbelief.
”You can room with me, man,” Mackenzie began with a shoulder tap. “I’ve been sharing a room my whole life, honestly it’d be weird to be alone.”
”Then I get to room with Layla~!” Myeong-Suk said, jumping to warp her arms around the gloomy gal.
”Eh, fine, but we’re all showering first.” Layla said, as the quartet did a communal sniff check, nearly retching in response.
As the weight settled off of all their shoulders, electronics were plugged in, clothes were unpacked, and turns were taken as water ran, with filth, odor, and fear washed off their backs in droves. By the time it was all finished, the sun had gone to rest behind dark violet clouds.
”Hey, Layla, random question,” Mackenzie began as they wrung the water out of their dreadlocks with a towel. “How do you afford this place if you live on your own? You don’t, like, hack into banks or something do you? Cause I cannot have my name on an FBI list.”
”We’re dealing with a secret society of vampire human traffickers and that’s what you’re worried about? Anyways, no. I have an…arrangement with my mom. Let’s just leave it there.” The cold edge in her voice cut the conversation at the nub, with Mackenzie thinking about the rest of it on his own volition.
”Ay, Layla, where can I toss the towels?” Fitri said, stepping out of the second bedroom.
”Oh there should be a hamper in the-WOAH!” She exclaimed, as he walked out shirtless with just pajama pants. “Dude you are SHREDDED!”
”Huh? Ah man, I guess so!” Fitri said, awkwardly scratching the back of his head, exposing his abs and flexing his arm just enough to make the muscles obvious, while stretching his pecs as well. “I guess I never thought about how much I’ve done lately.”
”How do you not think about it!? Is that not intentional?” Layla shouted.
”Layla your shampoo selection is amaz-GODDAMN WHO ORDERED THE BEEF!?” Myeong-Suk said, stepping out of her shower.
”Ah, man, now you guys are making me embarrassed!” He blushed, still smiling from the compliments. “I don’t, like, work out to look hot or anything. A while ago I got enough money for a month membership at a gym, and I just planned on using the showers and lockers for a bit, but it came with some free classes and stuff as well, so I just kinda got in the habit of doing a little bit of exercise when I need to burn some energy!” He said, flexing his arms a bit intentionally at the end.
”Well, good job.” Layla said passively. “Hey, Mackenzie, you doing okay?” She asked, as the person in question had been wringing the same dread for the entire conversation, staring forward with a slightly agape mouth.
As the night continued, the four of them all wound down, their bodies crashing for the second time in so many nights. “Shit, I’m gonna have a lot of work to catch up on tomorrow, I know it.” Layla said, her head hitting one of the couches throw pillows.
”What do you do for work?” Myeong-Suk asked.
”Not bank hacking, I already asked that one!” Mackenzie chimed in.
”Eh, short version, designer? I do freelance graphic design and some website coding too. It’s gotten me some pretty consistent gigs lately, and it works with school too.” She said with a shrug.
“Ugh, God, I do not wanna even open my phone right now.” Mackenzie said, hanging his own head. “I’m gonna have a million missed calls from my little siblings.”
”Yeah, my buddies in the shelter are gonna be wooorieeeed!” Fitri joined in. The three of them looked towards Myeong-Suk to finish the chain, but she just shrugged her shoulders.
”I‘m all good!” She said with a cheerful chirp.
”Well, it’s an early night, but I’m gonna turn in. Starting tomorrow, we deal with magic crap.” Layla said with a heavy yawn.
The other three gave various yawns and groans of affirmation as they all began to shuffle to the two rooms.
“Do you mind if I play some ambient sound? It helps me stay asleep.” Layla asked as she got into her baggy pajamas.
”Not at all! I can go to sleep anywhere with anything!” Myeong-Suk answered, wearing her own golden silk nightgown.
”But not anyone?” Layla asked with a smirk.
”Well I didn’t wanna sound easy~!” She gave a wink and a faux-punch to the shoulder in response before wriggling under the thick comforter.
”Y’know, this might be weird to say, but I’m glad I got kidnapped with you guys.” She said with the tone of a child content with a day at an amusement park.
”It would be weirder if you didn’t add ‘with you guys’, I gotta be real. But, all things considered, we were really lucky for things to end up the way they did, weren’t we?”
Layla looked down at her hands, the same ones that she used to rot the metal of the cages, a bit of that metallic grip still echoing into her senses, and her fears from the night previous returned.
”Something up?” Myeong-Suk asked.
”You readin’ my mind?” Layla didn’t turn around.
”No, I don’t wanna be rude or anything~. But, you seem tense. Well, tenser than usual.”
”It…It’s nothing. Just acclimating to being with…people, and my whole magic thing. It’s…a lot.”
”Then it’s a good thing you’re ’with people’ who can help! We’ll all be helping each other adjust and find our next steps, yeah? We’re gonna be the Three Musketeers! Uh, Four Musketeers?” Myeong-Suk said, while leaping onto Layla’s back to wrap her in a warm hug.
This made the sardonic one chuckle. “There already are four musketeers in the book.”
”There are!? Why’s it called the Three Musketeers then!?”
”Well with the fourth one he isn’t-” She began to explain in depth.
“You sure about this, man? I-I really don’t mind, this is a new bag it’s nice and hole-free!” Fitri said.
”Bro stop being a bitch and get in the bed.” Mackenzie replied, putting his hair into a large bonnet.
“A-Alright, I just don’t wanna weird you out or anything cause…y’know…” Fitri began to blush a little.
”Cause you’re gay? Or bi you said? Boy I am too, and even if I wasn’t I’m not that weird and macho about stuff. I’m not gonna make you lose out on comfort just cause of that.” He replied with an exhausted face.
”O-Oh! That-that’s cool! Alright, if you say so.” Fitri finally got into the bed, doing his best to not take up too much space to the point he was nearly hanging off the edge.
Rolling their eyes, Mackenzie grabbed Fitri’s arm and pulled it over themselves, pulling him closer in the same breadth. Now there was plenty of room for them on either side, and only an inch or two between them.
”This fine?” Mackenzie said, with a tone that Fitri found very smooth.
”I-I-I guess, if it’s fine with you! Um…you aren’t…looking to like…y’know, are you?” His face was growing redder than his hair at this point.
”Dude you’re an 11/10 but no, I am not trying to seduce you.” Mackenzie said, with a giggle to make it light-hearted.
”Not yet anyways, but Jesus we’ll see where this goes.” He thought as a soft, inviting bicep cushioned the right side of his face as he little-spooned himself closer to Fitri.
”Haven’t you ever just, cuddled close platonically?”
”I mean, yeah, I’ve had a few friends who I’ve slept next to, and sometimes we’d huddle to stay warm, but anytime someone’s invited me to bed has just been because they’ve, well, invited me to bed. I-If ya catch my drift.”
There was an unspoken implication, one that Fitri did not mean to include, but one that Mackenzie picked up on nonetheless, and his heart ached ever so slightly.
”Well, don’t worry. I’m not expecting us to do anything, and you don’t gotta do anything you don’t want to in order to, I dunno, earn this affection? Comfort? Whatever you wanna call it.”
”Oh, yeah, okay. T-Thanks.” Fitri said, averting his eyes, even though Mackenzie was already turned away from his face.
“No problem, man. Sleep well.”
”You too.”
As the night settled, Mackenzie would pretend not to hear any of Fitri’s sobs. Myeong-Suk, meanwhile, would toss and turn as Layla put on a podcast describing an endless amount of horrifying monsters and supernatural murders, all voiced exceedingly British-ly.
