Oceana Aftermath {open}

[DesperateDark]

Aras, Ofelia and Aurelia after they got away from Oceana.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~

"I never got your name," Arthur (Aras?) said in a quiet tone, probably not wanting to draw the attention of the two women from the bar.

"Eh... Aurelia Locke." She answered in an equally hushed expression, glancing over her shoulder to make sure they weren't being followed. The duo back there were absolutely insane, and that was saying something since she knew how crazy Reyes could get. Besides, Ofelia had gripped onto her shoulder and she doubted she would be letting go any time soon. There was no choice anyways, they were already beginning to head out.

Opening up a visual map in her head, Aurelia realized they were heading towards an area with a few apartment buildings that were recently built. That was where both of them were living, probably. Separately or together was beyond her guess anyways. Taking the main street would take a little longer then heading into one of the alleys that formed a web through the town, but it was definitely safer. Since she mostly lived outdoors, she knew most, if not all, of the shortcuts and passages within the vicinity of the place.

The air was being charged with discomfort and a hint of tension. Aurelia really needed a nice cup of tea and some sleep, maybe squeeze in a few hours of reading before more of her valuable brain cells were killed off my the sheer insanity of the town. The place was a hotbed of talismans; Hunters, Innocents and Seekers alike. There seemed to be nobody in this town who could have kept their wits about them, from Reyes to the crazy woman who kept 28 cats living next to him.

"So," small talk to get past the awkward silence. "That was pleasant."

Her free hand made it's way to the side of her face, outlining the little, crescent shaped scar. It was a habit of hers, like how some people bit their nails or chewed on a pencil. She remembered pretty well how she had gotten it and, despite not liking to hold grudges, found herself still angry about it. Oh well, she was only human after all... Albeit an odd human who could change into a giant lizard, but a human none the less.

[Aras|Ofelia]

The stillness of the streets was hardly unwelcome after the pandemonium of a few minutes ago, but silence was a bit unnerving nonetheless. So when the girl helping him--Aurelia--looked over her shoulder to confirm that trouble hadn't followed them out of Oceana, Aras reflexively glanced backwards as well. Thankfully, the bartender and her friend had turned into a different street. They would probably cross paths again--as always, it was nearly inevitable in a town of Noatak's size--but hopefully that wouldn't be for a while yet.

Ofelia's weight on his shoulder made walking somewhat uncomfortable, but she seemed to be functioning a lot better than he thought she would. She wasn't tripping over her own feet every couple of steps, at any rate, and it was easy enough to steady her when she occasionally stumbled. She was going to have one hell of a hangover in the morning, he thought dismally; hopefully, he wouldn't have to deal with her tomorrow.

"So." Aurelia's voice broke the silence that had until then been punctuated only by their footsteps. "That was pleasant."

He gave her a grin, wry but with a touch of resentment. "Even so, let's not do that again anytime soon." Or ever again. "Remind me to never agree to do Ofelia a favor before I find out what it is."

Without lifting her head, said woman muttered something that clearly contained the words 'your own fault,' then lapsed back into her undignified sulk.

Reaching into his pocket, Aras found the slip of paper on which Ofelia had written her address--only to discover that written on the paper was not her address, but a phone number. There was a flicker of recognition, and he made an uncharacteristic face. The bartender's friend--they hadn't even exchanged names, but she was already prepared to exchange numbers.

[DesperateDark]

"Even so, let's not do that again anytime soon." pause. "Remind me to never agree to do Ofelia a favor before I find out what it is."

She decided that it'd be in her best interest to make a mental note of this as well, she never knew when Ofelia would have asked her for something. She knew now to do her own small investigation before agreeing to anything. Ofelia was going to have a major hangover the next morning, so Aurelia could only hope that she was well away from the vicinity when that happened. She felt sort of sorry for Aras at this point; poor man might have to deal with it instead.

Speaking of Aras, she looked over to him in time to see him take a piece of paper out of his pocket and pull a face. Sharp eyes came with the komodo, so she could make out a string of digits that was, predictably, a phone number. It must've been one of the two back there at the bar, probably the bartender's friend. She could only press her lips into a thin line and say nothing, it wasn't exactly her business anyways.

The apartment was up ahead, one of the newly built ones that were freakishly expensive and had a maintenance fee that you wouldn't believe. A few of the lights were switched on and it illuminated parts of the building. It was only a few notches up from living in the forest, eh? Which reminded her, she needed to find a place to hole up at before the full blast of winter came around and it started to snow.

[Aras|Ofelia]

Quickly returning the offending slip of paper back to his pocket--really, Ofelia had been quite accurate in describing the woman as 'desperate'--Aras exchanged it for the one he had been looking for. At the moment, it was difficult to believe that the impeccable handwriting belonged to the barely-lucid woman who would have had trouble remaining upright without help. He had to wonder why she had even allowed herself to reach such a state; until now, his impression of her had been of a woman who made a point to be keenly aware of her surroundings. She'd obviously gone in knowing she would emerge intoxicated, or she would not have asked him to keep an eye on her. But why she even considered letting alcohol dull her senses was a mystery to him, and he knew better than to ask.

They stopped in front of one of the more modern-looking buildings, waiting patiently while Ofelia rummaged through her pockets for the keys. She looked dubiously at the keyhole for a moment, then, figuring she did not possess the requisite hand-eye coordination, handed her keys to Aras.

Stairs being out of the question, they took the elevator to the fifth floor and brought Ofelia into her apartment, all without a word spoken between them. The flip of a switch revealed a moderately-sized living space, unsurprisingly clean, with a rather Oriental edge to the decor. Though the walls were a solid white, they were graced with paper cuts and hanging watercolors. A few origami figures perched on the edge of a bookshelf, lined with books whose spines bore both English and Chinese titles.

"...think I can make it to my bedroom without help. Lock the door behind you." With that, Ofelia staggered into an adjacent room and slammed shut the door, leaving the two of them alone in her living room.

Holding back a sigh of relief (though it probably showed on his face), Aras turned to Aurelia. "I can walk you home," he offered. It was mostly out of politeness; he had the feeling she was capable of taking care of herself.

[DesperateDark]

Ofelia's condo was clean, as expected, and elegantly decorated. She didn't get much more of a glance around at first as Ofelia mentioned something about locking the door before disappearing into her room, slamming the door shut behind her. It also became obvious that Ofelia never mentioned her before to Aras because next thing, he offered to walk her home. That would've been real nice and all, except for the fact that her main 'home' was anywhere the sky covered.

Aurelia was uncertain for a moment, not knowing if it would have been rude to reject his offer. Well, she figured she might as well have that talk with Reyes today anyways, if she ever wanted him to stop bugging her about it. Though he could be as annoying as hell sometimes, especially when he had one of this moments, Reyes could be a really nice guy if he wanted to be.

"Uh... Sure." She nodded in his direction. "I need to see somebody. Here's the address," Aurelia flipped open her phone and scrolled through her contacts until she reached one that said This Is Insanity. Underneath was a phone number along with an address and a few other things. "It's on Deer Creek Road. You know that place?"

[Aras|Ofelia]

That Aurelia's answer was uncertain was not what he found strange; it was that rather than leading the way, she showed him an address and asked if he knew the place. Still, he didn't question her. With some help from the vulture, Aras visualized a map of the town's residential areas in his head. Having a bird's-eye-view was useful, without a doubt. While he couldn't pinpoint the exact location, he knew the general area to which they were headed.

"I think so. It's not too far from here, right?" he asked, still a bit puzzled. Was she expecting him to lead her home? It was an odd notion, and Aurelia hadn't struck him as the type to act on weird whims. That was more Reyes' area of expertise, not this serious, taciturn young woman's.

Locking the door as Ofelia had instructed, they took the stairs to the street below. Perhaps it was an aftereffect of the brawl in the enclosed space of the club, or perhaps it was because the cloying scent of alcohol had filled every corner of the tiny space almost immediately, but the elevator had made Aras feel a tad claustrophobic. And he would rather walk, anyway--it was better for clearing the head.

This time, instead of being a welcome relief, the breath of cold air that met them outside bit to the bone and made him shiver. He hesitated a moment, then set off in the direction of Deer Creek Road.

[DesperateDark]

They took the stairs instead of the elevator, which might or might not have been a good call. It wasn't so much of a walk from only the fifth floor, so she dealt with it and she didn't have too much trouble keeping up with Aras' longer gait. The second they stepped foot outside, however, it was a whole different story. Aras only shivered once or twice before heading off in the direction of Deer Creek, but the effect the cold had on Aurelia was more like being beat with a crowbar.

She froze to the spot, stunned and dazed for a minute when the cold snapped at her. Oh crap, so this was the first feeling of this years winter she got, and being a reptilian talisman too. Her komodo recoiled as if he had been shot at, and when Aras was nearly at the gates, she had only managed a few steps forward. Aurelia lagged horribly behind Aras the whole way to Deer Creek, and she suddenly felt very sleepy. The cold could do that to lizard, you see.

Looking down the road, she could immediately tell which house was Reyes'. It was the one with a perfectly manicured front lawn and hedges and garden, which was unexpected from a guy like him. But that bit wasn't giving his house away, it was the sign out front that said "Beware: Caribou and Ninjas" that Reyes had made himself as a joke, but ended up liking it so much he stuck it on his front lawn. There were also some other tell-tale signs that this was definitely Reyes' house like some weird statues and signs and oh, let's not forget the shark sticking out of his roof. Yes, he actually went there.

It looked like a freakin' shark fell out of the sky and bashed itself through his roof, it's tail sticking out into the air at a slight angle... And this wasn't a bit of a shark's fin here, it was the whole body past the front fins that was sticking out. It was a statue that Reyes wanted to build, but found no other place to build it but his roof because it had enough space -- that alone earning a big WTF. After he was finished, he liked it so much that he made it a permanent installation, even bashing in parts of the roof to make it look more 'real'.

Aurelia hoped against all hopes that Aras wouldn't notice the giant shark jutting out of the roof, but that was highly unlikely. As she approached the house, she decided that at least the guy deserved a slight warning. "Hey, Aras..? Thanks for walking me here. If you want to keep the slightest bit of your sanity, I suggest you stand back or leave all together." Yeah, it was a bit radical, but it was completely true.

I mean, just look at the roof!

[Aras|Ofelia]

If he thought that Aurelia following him to her 'home' was weird, the house at which they stopped gave the word an entirely new definition. It wasn't the well-kept grass and impeccably-trimmed hedges. It wasn't even the statues and signs (one of which warned about caribous and ninjas) that only someone more than a tad eccentric would stick on her front lawn. It was the shark, in all its toothy glory, grimacing down at all passerby.

Down. From the roof. Fins and tail askew, it looked for all the world as if some Titan and taken it into his mind to make shark-javelin a sport and hadn't given a thought to collateral damage.

Aras gaped. He had suspected that something was a bit off before, but now he was entirely certain that this was not Aurelia's house to which he had taken her. Unless she had an extremely well-hidden wild side, but he somehow sincerely doubted that. Why he had never even heard about this place before was a mystery to him as well, but he didn't want to try and puzzle that out at this time of night.

Remembering his manners, he wrenched his eyes away from the spectacle (which took quite a bit of effort). With a guilty start, he saw that Aurelia was faring pretty terribly in the cold, lagging further behind than he'd realized. She was dragging her feet when she caught up to him--but she still apparently had the presence of mind to issue a warning.

"Hey, Aras..?" At least she'd gotten his name right this time, he thought wryly. Or perhaps it was the vulture thinking that, it was getting hard to tell as the night wore on--"Thanks for walking me here. If you want to keep the slightest bit of your sanity, I suggest you stand back or leave all together."

He'd brought her this far already; besides, he already felt rather guilty about allowing her to fall so far behind. "No harm in taking you to the door, is there?"

He was completely unaware of how hard the gods of irony were laughing at his expense.

[DesperateDark]

"No harm in taking you to the door, is there?"

She tried not to laugh at his remark, but all that came out was a big of a cough. It had taken him a bit of time to answer, so she was guessing that he was busy gawking at the shark on the roof. She didn't blame him, that's what nearly everybody did when they first passed by his house. Shivering again, she reached out and knocked on the door (painted bright red) and waited for somebody to answer. Aras had walked up and now stood beside her, and all she could do was hope that Reyes wasn't doing something stupid.

At first there was no answer, so she knocked again. When there was still no answer, she let out a big sigh and grabbed a keychain from her pocket, sorting through them until she found the correct one. Unlocking the house and swinging open the front door, the first thing she smelled was cookies. Her face went pale for a second and she turned to Aras, quickly saying, "I really, really think you should-" Too late.

Reyes poked his head out from the kitchen, and he grinned before yelling; "Aurelia! And Aras too!" Aurelia actually cringed upon hearing his voice, because she knew what was about to happen. The next thing she knew, both of them had been each picked up in one arm and given a crushing hug that could break a small person's ribs. But it wasn't exactly that she was worried about.

"Reyes, can you please go-" She didn't get to finish her sentence before she was placed down and the man's full attention focused on Aras. Reyes had wrapped both arms around the smaller man and was giving him a crushing hug, grinning ear-to-ear and seeming to be overly happy with his presence. And it seemed like Reyes know Aras too... She would figure that out later.

"Aras, I'm so glad to see you!" Reyes then proceeded to plant a big kiss on Aras' lips before setting him down, then another happy kiss on the lips. Aurelia could only watch with an expression that said 'why me?' loud and clear.

"Reyes, that's nice and all but... But can you please go and put on some pants?" The thing was, Reyes was the kind of guy to walk around his house with no clothes on. She was very thankful at this point that he was cooking, because when he cooked, he always wore an apron. And right now, he was wearing an apron... Only, an apron, and he was hugging and kissing Aras on the porch, which turned into one of the most awkward things every. She could only hope the neighbours didn't happen to have their blinds open tonight.

"Why?" Reyes only gave her a curious look, giving Aras another big hug. "It's not like he's a stranger or anything, I know him!"

Aurelia could only throw her hands up, defeated, and walked into the house, taking off her shoes on the way. Adding to her list of people she owed, she put Aras on top of that list. She owed him much, much more then that Ryan guy any day.

[Aras|Ofelia]

An uncomfortable cough was the only answer he got from Aurelia. Aras wasn't sure whether to take that as a positive sign or not. He followed her to the door anyway, and they waited, shivering, for someone to answer the (shockingly bright red) door.

No answer. Aurelia knocked again.

Finally running out of patience, she fished a keyring from her pocket and opened the door herself. A pleasant wave of warm air washed over them, bringing with it the smell of—oddly enough—cookies. (Who baked at this time of night?) However, it seemed to cause Aurelia not a small amount of distress. She blanched, turning to give him a second warning—

A shout, and the next thing he knew, Reyes of all people had him in a smothering, rib-cracking bear hug. Aurelia hadn't been spared, either, but she got off lucky; before long, the taller man had set her down and focused all his energy on him instead.

He shot her a look that clearly said a little help would be appreciated! That was as far as he got before he was subject to a replay of the conclusion of his last meeting with Reyes. Twice. And on the porch to boot, for all the neighbors to see. Aras could only hope that the neighbors were used to this sort of thing and had not bothered to roll out of bed to see what all the commotion was about.

Struggling to speak—it was more difficult than one would think, especially with a pair of arms belonging to an all-too-enthusiastic man taller than he was constricting one’s lungs—he managed to force out something half-intelligible. In his desperation, he’d meant to blurt something along the lines of ‘I don’t swing that way,’ but what came out was more like “Don—‘wing—th’way!” with what sounded like a vague “sorry” tacked to the end.

Of course, it could only get worse. Until Aurelia mentioned it, he had not noticed that besides an apron, Reyes was wearing nothing more than his birthday suit. Aras would really have preferred to have remained ignorant of that fact, but it was too late now. At Reyes’ cheerful insistence that they weren’t strangers, Aras simply gave up and hoped Aurelia was kind enough to come and save him.

But Aurelia gave up, exasperated, and retreated into the safety (well, that probably wasn't the right word) of the house. It was all Aras could do not to call plaintively after her, 'Don't leave me alone with this crackhead!' His dignity had taken enough of a beating already.

[DesperateDark]

“Don—‘wing—th’way!”

"What?" Reyes pet Aras' hair, that trademark grin still on his face. He was quite pleased to see the smaller man had somehow tagged along with Aurelia. "Hey Aurelia, did you bite him or something? He looks a bit pale."

"No, I didn't bite anybody," Her voice floated in from the kitchen before she peered around the corner to shoot a glare at Reyes and a slightly apologetic, 'I owe you' look to Aras. "Now can you guys please come in before the neighbours think there's something going on? I don't want to deal with that again."

Reyes nodded happily and dragged Aras into the house without much effort since he was bigger, smiling and giggling like a school girl the whole way. She could only shake her head; poor, poor Aras, but she warned him and he didn't listen. She often made herself at home at Reyes' house, especially on colder winters, so she learned to half tune him out. It also helped that she was half deaf already; a komodo's ears weren't the greatest.

The Japanese man plopped Aras down on the couch, that cheeky grin never being wiped off his face. Ever. Which was bad, in some cases. Most of the furniture in his house he had made himself, or at least the pieces made of wood or other organic material. The couch he had just dropped the other man on was made of bits of driftwood put together and pillows, mostly.

"Eh, Reyes, whatever you have in the oven is done, I think." Aurelia called the taller man from the kitchen. A long pause, and then; "Is that bacon or something? What the hell are you baking!?"

"Yay, cookies are done!" Reyes said gleefully and skipped off to the kitchen, shooing his female friend and telling her to keep Aras busy so he wouldn't run away. Aurelia looked back and forth between the door and the young man being held captive, possibly against his will, in her best friend's living room. Letting the awkward tension hang between them for a moment, she finally approached Aras and sunk onto the homemade driftwood couch next to him.

"I would bow to you right now, but I have too much dignity for that. I owe you a major one." She turned slightly to look at Aras, at least she could make some eye contact with him when she spoke, she owed him that much at least. "So, you've met the guy before? You're his new boyfriend or something?" She added the last bit as a half-serious joke, since Reyes rarely kept anything from her... Like the shark on the roof, but that was besides the point.

[Aras|Ofelia]

Aras didn't even bother to hide his despairing look when Reyes happily demonstrated that he had not understood a word Aras had said and continued to cling onto him. He supposed that he should be thankful that Aurelia had gotten them off the porch and out of plain sight--though the way she had said 'again' didn't offer him any consolation. If this was an everyday occurrence in Reyes' house, it probably would be a good idea to get out of here before he lost his already-slipping hold on sanity.

Unceremoniously dragged indoors and plopped on a surprisingly comfortable couch (taking what it was made of--driftwood and cushions--into consideration), he could only stare helplessly as Reyes bounded off into the kitchen. This, of course, included an unsolicited look at his bare behind. Ignoring the view, Aras had the sinking feeling that whatever was coming out of the oven would not be considered a cookie by the general population. He hoped that these 'cookies' would not be forced upon him, but he seriously doubted he was going to get away without having eaten at least three of them.

On second thought, delving into the merrily bubbling pool of insanity in which Reyes apparently skinny-dipped every morning might not be such a bad idea after all.

"I would bow to you right now, but I have too much dignity for that. I owe you a major one." Aurelia had sat down next to him, pivoting so she could face him while she talked. Her next question caught him completely off-guard, even though it really, really shouldn't have. "So, you've met the guy before? You're his new boyfriend or something?"

To stop himself from sputtering, Aras forced out an awkward-sounding cough, trying to decide whether she was joking or not. That the vulture was enjoying this way too much did not help matters. It would have been rolling on the floor in its glee, had it been able to. As it was, it was cackling joyfully, every feather trembling in its laughter. Thanks for the help. It only laughed harder.

"No." It took quite some effort to keep his voice low enough that it wouldn't reach the kitchen. "We've met only once before." Once!

He didn't know what was worse--dragging Ofelia out of the Oceana melee, or this. "If you get me out of here with my sanity intact, we'll call it even, all right?"

[DesperateDark]

Aurelia took a bit of time to survey her surroundings, taking note of all the new little pieces and miscellaneous items that had appeared since her last visit. Reyes was into odd trinkets and decorations, and it showed in how he chose to decorate the interior (and exterior) of his house. Instead of a TV in front of the driftwood and cushion couch, there was a fireplace he had, predictably, built himself too; each brick painted with Japanese kanji of different meanings. Just over the fireplace hung an uchiwa; a large fan made of iron used in feudal Japanese warfare. The only wall decorations were shelves littered with stacks of paper or little figurines or whatever else that caught the man's fancy, and scrolls with writing and traditional Japanese watercolor paintings. Some of them he had painted himself, and others he had brought when he came to Noatak. In the corner was his tenor saxophone and acoustic guitar on it's stand, the area around it littered with sheet music and blank pages.

The living room was the most normal of all his rooms, and the basement/recreational room was possibly the weirdest enclosed space you will ever see, and what Aurelia normally called 'nightmare fuel'.

Aras kept his voice low as he told her that no, he wasn't Reyes' boyfriend and that he had only met the taller man once before. Only once. She made no effort to conceal an amused chuckle; poor, poor Aras. "Trust me, sometimes once is enough." He might have gotten a vague idea of what he was getting into when he saw the shark on the roof, but she guessed that Aras had never been prepared for this, or what demon from hell was coming out of the oven anyways.

"If you get me out of here with my sanity intact, we'll call it even, all right?"

She gave another amused snicker at his comment, smiling. "Easier said then done," she pointed towards the kitchen. "He's not that bad, really, that's just how he goes. I've known him for years, and I think I'm still alright." Aurelia had added that last part as a bit of a joke, to keep things light, but her lips pressed into a thin line of uncertainty for a moment. "Well, I at least owe you a coffee. I'll buy you one at the Nine Muses Cafe or something." It was the least she could do after having lead him into this insanity, after all.

It was unexpected, and Aurelia flinched when she heard a sizzling sound coming from the kitchen. It sounded as if he had dropped water onto a hot frying pan. She slowly sat back on the driftwood couch, her hand clutched on one of the armrests. Whatever Reyes did in that kitchen, she was sure it wasn't even safe to live in the same neighbourhood as him, lest something went up in flames. His cooking itself wasn't that bad, just stuff that you would never, ever expect. Of course, whatever stuff he had in the oven at the moment would inevitably be forced on her and Aras.

"You want some tea, guys?" Reyes poked his head out from the kitchen again, that wide smile on his face even at this time of night. Aurelia had no idea what sort of pills he took to make him cheerful all the time, but she would need some of those.

"Uh... Yeah, sure. Just..." she rubbed her face with her hands for a second, only now realizing how tired she really was. "Just don't put anything weird in it."

Reyes smiled again and nodded with a simple "Uh-huh." and disappeared again into the kitchen. Only a few minutes later, the tall man reappeared with a traditional Asian tea set, setting it down on the wood and glass coffee table and disappeared back into the kitchen to continue whatever mad experiments he was conducting. Aurelia took off the lid of the pot, sniffed it and turned to Aras, a trying-to-be reassuring smile upon her features. "You're lucky, he didn't put anything in it this time."

[Aras|Ofelia]

Aurelia's reaction was to simply laugh and tell him that one encounter was enough for Reyes. As if that weren't clear enough already. And at the end of their last meeting, Aras had naively thought that it couldn't get any weirder. Despite all the warning signs--namely, the shark in the roof and Aurelia's blatant words of caution--he had still insisted on coming. The blame could only be placed on himself, he thought forlornly, and that wasn't encouraging at all.

Another chuckle, and the corners of Aurelia's lips tilted upwards into an amused smile, the first he had seen tonight. Though that didn't bode well for his sanity, it was nice to see that someone (besides Reyes and the vulture--they didn't count) could find some entertainment in this altogether too bizarre night. The offer of coffee managed to elicit a grin from Aras as well. She sounded sincerely apologetic. "Coffee sounds great. As long as you don't let Reyes know," he said. He'd spoken in a lighthearted manner, but he earnestly hoped the man wouldn't find out and take it into his head to tag along. "I don't think I could handle this in a public place."

After taking a few moments to gather the scattered remains of his composure, he finally took a good look at the living room. It was... unique, to say the least, though far from unattractive. Much of the decor looked handmade, perhaps even by Reyes' own hands. Like Ofelia, Reyes surrounded himself and his guests with reminders of his Asian heritage. In the corner, with pages of sheet music scattered about, stood a saxophone and guitar. Somehow, Aras was not surprised at the idea of Reyes being a musician.

An unexpected sizzling came from the direction of the kitchen, and both of them flinched. How Aurelia felt safe living in the same neighborhood as Reyes and his cooking, much less the same house, was entirely beyond him. He wasn't even sure if he felt safe living in the same town as the Japanese man.

"You want some tea, guys?" Reyes asked, too full of energy for the wee hours of the morning. Before Aras had the chance to say anything, Aurelia had sent the man off again with the wise request that he put nothing weird in their tea.

Reyes returned a few minutes later with the promised tea and was immediately off again to resume his adventures in the kitchen. Deciding that he didn't want to know what one could possibly put in tea besides lemons, milk, and sugar, Aras tried not to look too skeptical when Aurelia reassured that the tea did not, in fact, contain sardines or something of the sort. Apprehensive, he poured two cupfuls. It didn't look abnormal, nor did it smell of anything unpalatable. He took a cautious sip--and found, to his surprise, that it was nothing more than green tea.

"Apparently not." While he preferred coffee, the tea soothed his frazzled nerves. "I guess hoping his cookies are this normal is out of the question?"

[DesperateDark]

“Sure thing,” she nodded, understanding Aras’ request to not let Reyes know about her bringing him out for some coffee. Though Reyes and she went out in public a whole lot, he was actually pretty calm around other people. He was polite and acting normally, it was just when he got excited or were around people he knew did he go into crazy nut mode. “Here,” Aurelia took a pen and bit of paper from one of the drawers in the coffee table and began to write her own cell phone number down, but stopped at three numbers, looking back at Aras. “Eh… If you want it, of course.”

Aras had been polite enough to pour them both a cup of green tea, and she took a sip of it, her eyes on the kitchen door. Normal food coming out of that oven? There was a slim to none chance of that, and getting Aras’ hopes up weren’t going to help their survival rate any. The shook her head and said, “I wouldn’t bet my money on that. Just be prepared for anything and everything when they come out.” Of course, whatever their imaginations could conjure up, it would be quickly thrown out the window once Reyes showed them what he had.

The smell was what she caught first. The smell was something she couldn’t quite describe. It wasn’t unpleasant, but not something she would want to be around every day either. The smell of cookies in the house just moments ago was replaced by the new sweet, almost greasy smell. She took a glance at Aras and was about to reassure him that he wasn’t going to die, but once again, she was too late.

The plate of baked whatever in Reyes’ hand looked normal enough from afar. They actually looked like chocolate cookies from where he stood in the kitchen threshold, but as Reyes placed the plate of baked goods on the coffee table, Aurelia immediately knew something was wrong about them. First, they were almost completely black, as if he somehow burned them horribly. But knowing Reyes, he never burned anything, so it must’ve been something else.

As Aurelia picked one up between two fingers to inspect it, Reyes in turn looked at the couch and realized there was no room for him to sit down. A pause, and then he simply strolled over to the side Aras was sitting on and said; “Don’t spill the tea.” The taller man then picked up Aras under his arms and sat down on the couch before plopping said man back on his lap with a triumphant, cheeky smile.