Gwen Rose ★ (starringme) wrote in asperarp, @ 2024-04-12 17:01:00 |
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Entry tags: | #day 076, ford, gwen |
Who: Gwen & Ford
When: Afternoon-ish
Where: Ford's room
Day two. Fucking assholes.
Ford had spent the morning calming his own nerves and Yasiel’s much the same way as they had the day before, but he wasn’t feeling particularly inclined to stay in bed for another day. Blindness was now a project, one he couldn’t exactly fix, but he sure as hell could make a little easier on them both. Talking all the while so that Yasiel knew where he was every step of the adventure, he navigated into the closet and promptly tripped over a computer chair that wasn’t supposed to be in there. When had that moved?
He returned with candles, his own supply of non-roommate fragrances, two at a time, setting a handful of them around the room as unlit scent markers to tell his vampire senses where he was if he got turned around. Hamster Cage for the bedroom area, because nest. Ocean for the shelf by the bathroom, because water. Laundry detergent next to the tub, after only falling in on accident once, because clean. Fruity Pebbles by the closet because that was where the food lived. Campfire by one end of the couch, s’mores on the other to indicate where all the free, safe space was after he’d scooted the coffee table into the corner near the fish bowl. Dill Pickles near the fish to make sure he stayed away. The last thing he wanted was to knock anything over and not be able to find the kids in time to save them. Better to just stay away.
The end result wasn’t perfect, but it did lead to Ford more confidently flouncing around the room, and feeling secure enough that not only could he lead Yasiel around if needed, but he could actually prepare to invite company. The curtains were closed (he checked twice), all loose furniture was stashed out of the way for sure, despite the fact that he’d somehow tripped over the computer chair again on his way out of the bathroom, and he realized it kind of didn’t matter what clothes he pulled out of the closet to shove on today. Though maybe his shirt was somehow inside out, he couldn’t quite tell if that was true or just how the garment was made.
Getting down to the elevators to collect Gwen and leaving the safety of their nest proved to be an entirely different animal. He recalled the warnings of slides, but they weren’t going from one floor to another. It was probably fine, right? As long as they went slow, it would be fine.
He was surprised to hear Marco along with Gwen as the elevator doors dinged open, pausing for a moment to converse with someone who could actually see, and express genuine gratitude to one of the only seven people who was actually doing something helpful with it. And someone who was willing to tell him that his shirt was, in fact, inside out.
Returning to the room as a herd and helping Gwen along was easier than the initial journey had been. They’d spent a few minutes getting everyone situated upon their return. Yasiel on the couch for what Ford could already tell was going to be a rapidly approaching nap now that they were back in the comfort of their room. By the time Ford had settled in the makeshift nest of pillows and blankets on the floor and finished chipperly explaining the method to his madness with the candles, he could already hear the faintest of snores. The witch’s nerves were likely so shot from the last two days that it wasn’t surprising. There was a comfort Ford more than understood of just existing in a room while other people did their own thing, resting but not alone. He liked letting the din of activity lull him to sleep, knowing that if he wanted to call out someone would be there.
Currently he had his guitar in-hand, strumming slowly and gently, giving his anxious fingers something to vent his excess energy on now that blindness has knocked his ability to doodle or take notes away. “So, Secret Santa set up first, definitely. And I want to say we should do it entirely on a volunteer basis, but I think it might also be a nice gesture to maybe do a little something for the people who don’t want to get involved. Like, hey, you’re a butthole but the holidays are for everybody, blah blah blah.” Except Ari. Fuck Ari.
“Well isn’t that what the party’s for?” Gwen replied as she settled into her seat. She’d made her own accommodations for the blind challenge that was now going on Day 2. Mainly, she’d found a broom and unscrewed the pole from the brush, and had taken to using it the same way she’d seen actual blind people navigate around the city. If people could live like that and still make it around New York, she could at least make it around the tower, she hoped. It all would have been easier if everything in her room hadn’t been shifted around, but in hindsight, she should have expected that. At least she didn’t injure herself too badly. A bruised shin she could survive.
This was all easier with company, and even though Yasiel had instantly conked out, the constant noise of Ford’s strumming was a comfort, and she preferred having to talk over it than it not being there at all.
Though no one could see it, Gwen’s gestures remained large as she spoke. Crashing her hand into something was an afterthought, but she couldn’t remember anything that would put her in danger of that in this room anyway. “I don’t see the holiday party as specifically for the Secret Santa group, so we can put out little treats for everyone there, things that aren’t personal but that is cute and that people might take. Goodie bags. I don’t have that figured out yet, though. But we should figure out the actual Secret Santa first, yes, so this way maybe we can set the rules, and then figure out something for everyone with minimal overlap.” Of course, all that would be easier if vampires could eat real food, then they could just wrap up some overly flavored cookies and call it a day.
“So, yes, Secret santa should be opt-in, and I think we should expect as organizers to have to put together one extra gift, maybe two, because there’s probably going to be someone being miserable and cheating the system. I don’t want anyone who signs up to not get a gift,” she explained. “And I think it should be something hand-made, because we all have access to the same stuff, but I don’t think that hand-made specifically should mean a thing. Like someone could write or perform a song, someone could write a person some poetry. You could agree to give someone a massage. Things like that.”
"Or maybe the Secret Santa could be an overnight thing. Like...people drop off their sealed presents at one of our rooms and we do an overnight delivery thing so recipients can find and open them when they wake up. The shindig can totally be that same day to keep the holiday momentum going, but they'll still be two separate things," Ford offered with a shrug. "And, if we do the distribution, we don't have to worry about anybody not following through on time. If someone lags behind," or, worst case scenario that he wasn't going to mention out loud, if someone was removed, "we can make up the difference ourselves before we go out and deliver."
He marinated on the idea of hand-made items, perking up a little. "So, when Shay had her birthday, we made her coupons for things she might like to do with us. Maybe if someone wanted to offer something like that, like...if Linds wanted to offer a free meal, or someone wanted to do a massage, like you said, we could offer to make fancy, sparkly coupons or something if that person isn't feeling all that artistically....artistic. Or if someone wants the present to be personal, maybe we could make a few prettied up blank ones that they can fill in with whatever they want before they give them back to us sealed.”
Gwen’s head quirked to the side, and though she couldn’t actually see Ford looking at her, and vice versa, she hoped that her confusion was apparent in her voice. “Well we can’t deliver a song, and if a person wanted to give someone a coupon, why wouldn’t we just let them do it? I think we should make a couple extra coupons in case someone wants to play the system and get a gift without giving one, so the person who they got doesn’t get left out, but I’m not going to deliver gifts. Part of the fun is finding out who got you a gift, and seeing what the person you got a gift for thinks of it. I don’t want to make gifts for everybody. I’m not artistic.”
Had Ford just never done a Secret Santa before? She didn’t really want to fully tear his idea apart, but he’d immediately gone off on an idea that, in Gwen’s opinion, really defeated the purpose of the exchange, and wasn’t what she had envisioned at all. “Besides, if we’re planning to do a party too, why would we take the energy away from that?” she pointed out. “We’ll probably have to grab decorations off the buildings in town, and set them up in here, if we want to be fancy. Which, you know, I always do.”
She paused a moment, chewing on her bottom lip before adding, “I wonder if it’s easier to pull off a Secret Santa or a White Elephant exchange here. All this would be easier if we could shop.”
"I'm not saying we should make everyone gifts. And, I mean, if someone is going to deliver a song, are they going to want to do it in front of a group of people?" Ford asked, not entirely sure if they were thinking of the same thing, or were somehow misunderstanding each other. "Or, if it's not gonna be in a group, how are we going to know who didn't get presents until they just don't have anything?" How awkward would it be to be that person, watching everyone else get gifts and just have nothing for yourself until someone gives you a pity gift.
"What's the difference between a Secret Santa and a White Elephant exchange?" he asked, wondering if they were on the same page with anything, especially considering what little they'd already talked about in regards to the shindig on the network. Wires crossed everywhere, apparently. Still, the Secret Santa thing had mostly been her idea, so he was willing to go along with whatever she decided.
Gwen was even more convinced that Ford had never done a Secret Santa before, though she supposed that specifically performing a song in front of people was something she hadn’t considered because it didn't bother her. “Well no, it should be in a group. I figured it would happen at the party, and if anyone at the party hadn’t opted in they could just keep drinking or they could just watch. I don’t really know what to do if people don’t want to perform their song too, but that assumes that anyone other than the two of us would even think about writing or performing a song for someone. And even then, I think we’d be two of very few people who would like to receive a song, so let’s not pay attention to that part right now anyway.” While Ford was worrying about the person being embarrassed to not get a gift from their person, Gwen was considering how well shame worked as a motivator to keep that from happening, which made the crowd part important.
She absently reached a hand up to adjust sunglasses that weren’t there, her brain momentarily tricking her into thinking that was where the dark nothingness came from. If they still couldn’t see by Christmas, or whenever they decided that Christmas would be, this all would be pointless, anyway.
She was grateful for the distraction from her blindness thoughts when he asked about white elephants. “Oh! Well, I think there are a few different ways people do White Elephant, but basically, Secret Santa everybody gets the name of a person that they’ll be giving a gift to, and White Elephant everyone just brings a generic gift, and at the gift exchange everyone draws numbers and that’s the order you go up and choose the gifts in. But the gifts are all wrapped until they get picked, and then there’s rules about stealing gifts. I don’t know, I do love a White Elephant but it does seem a little more difficult and a little less personal. Pros and cons, you know.” She shrugged, then added, “Should I tell you if I’m shrugging? I just shrugged. Adorably.”
Ford might have been one of the people most likely to write a song for someone else, but like hell would he actually perform it for everyone else if he did.
"I have to keep telling Yasiel when I'm waggling my eyebrows," he laughed, his fingers pausing for a moment as he tilted his head towards the couch just to hear the gentle snoozing behind him. He wasn't terribly surprised when he heard gentle mumbling amidst the breathing, Yasiel likely responding to the sound of his own name. "The White elephant one actually sounds pretty fun. Turning it into a game, I mean. We'd probably get more takers if it was more interactive like that. And it seems like there would be less pressure to specifically make something someone else would for sure like, and there's nothing stopping people from giving each other personal gifts on their own."
“I don’t think there’s anything stopping people from giving out personal gifts to their friends anyway. I’m going to give you a gift, even though I haven’t figured it out yet. I have my cherished people,” Gwen made clear. She wasn’t looking for something back, though it definitely would be nice, but she didn’t want Ford to think that she was using this exchange to avoid showering her friends with gifts. It was the lack of shopping that was keeping her from doing that.
“I do like a White Elephant exchange, but those are so much more fun when there’s actual stuff to exchange, and not our cobbled together gifts,” she said, then went quiet for a beat before letting out a loud exaggerated sigh. “Ford, I’m a rich person, I don’t know if all of this gift exchange stuff is any good, I usually just spend a day in Soho with Dad’s credit card. I’m just bored, and miss the big tree. And working. All I have to look forward to is the fireworks that Ravi’s making. I want to wear a cute dress and watch fireworks. Now imagine me pouting.” Needlessly, she pouted.
"We should probably set a day for official gift giving like that too," Ford mused by way of agreeing with that sentiment, and knowing full-well she was getting a pile of them too. "Just so that if everyone has to make presents for multiple people, or multiple presents for one person or whatever they have plenty of time."
He also agreed with the fact that they were both rich, on top of the fact that Ford hadn't really gone shopping for anyone besides the band since Bess had died. "I can imagine, it's heart-wrenching," he sympathized playfully, reaching a hand back towards Yasiel as another faint murmur sounded. He felt the material of a shirt and followed it up to the expanse of neck, lightly resting his fingers there, feeling the pulse.
"We'll, maybe we should do what we'd normally do if we had money to burn and a party to organize. Get a professional involved," he said finally. "Sabina loves parties and she's really fucking good with them. I'm not saying we can do it ourselves, but having her on board would be a great idea. And...honestly, maybe she could use the distraction with everything else going on." Maybe throwing a party when she was mourning a friend was a little in bad taste, but who knew. "And she probably has a much better idea of what kind of stuff we have around the tower. Like that karaoke machine we may or may not actually have."
“Yeah,” Gwen sighed, slumping in her seat for a moment, but quickly scooting back into her good posture just because slumping felt wrong. “I don’t want to throw a lot of stuff at her, otherwise, no offense, but I would have gone to her before I came to you. I know she’s good at a party,” she agreed. “I think what we should do, and you’re right, is that we should pick a day, and we’ll designate that Christmas. At least until the powers that be throw in their monkey wrench. But we should pick, maybe five days, maybe eight days, and then that’s going to be Christmas for the tower. No one else has yet, and I think that it’ll be good for everyone. Once we can see again, anyway.”
She shrugged again, this time forgetting to announce it. “But I do like the idea of doing it sooner, because I think the blindness thing is bringing everyone down. We could use some drinking and holiday Pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey or something.”
“No offense taken. I have no fucking clue what I’m doing,” Ford laughed, letting his fingers toy lightly with the hair at the nape of Yasiel’s neck before drawing back to slid the guitar back into his hands.
“How about an even week from whenever our eyes stop being fucked up," Ford offered with a shrug that she couldn't see, wondering if he should let her know that it was happening for a brief second before deciding it wasn't worth it, instead letting his fingers play the first few notes of We Wish You a Merry Christmas. "One week for Christmas, then maybe planning the shindig for three days from eyeball freedom would give people enough time to figure out who they're getting, what they want to make and if they want to bring or do anything for the party. And time for touching base with Sabina. Or we could touch base with Sabina first and see what see suggests, but keep that time frame as a backup.”
“You don’t want to have the party on Christmas day?” Gwen asked. “It’s not like anyone’s heading off to go see family, so we can just recreate that awkwardness here by picking fights with the weird ones here.” She chuckled, but quickly added, “I actually don’t ever really see family on Christmas, there’s almost always a concert or a show so we just have a big party when we can. So I don’t know why I asked, is what I’m saying. But like… It’s a big party.”
She doubted that even with a pro like Sabina, anything that they did could come close to the big, professionally dressed parties in hotel penthouses that she’d been to. It would have made her sadder if current circumstances weren’t already so weird. She thought that in company she was handling the blindness thing pretty well, but the day before, before she’d found a walking stick, she’d been feeling real rough. She listened to him strum on his guitar for another moment before asking “Can you do Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas?”
"Most Christmas parties aren't on the holiday," Ford pointed out as he changes tunes to respect her request. While that was true, it was mostly because, no, he didn't really want to spend the holiday itself with everyone at the tower. He wanted to give his real gifts, and maybe decorate the room, and chill out with the people who actually gave a shit about him without any obligations to be around twenty-something other people. Not that he had anything against most of them, but he didn't want to give up Christmas to put in the work for them. Not anymore.
"Not to be that old guy, but I think I kind of would like sort of a chill, quiet thing on the holiday itself. I haven't had that in decades," he said instead, because that was true enough. "I mean, I have more family here than I did out there." Still, he didn't want to put a damper on all the holiday fun. "What about having the party on Christmas Eve? We actually had a tradition when I was a kid that we had the big meal that night, and we all got new pajamas on Christmas Eve to wear into Christmas Day. It was the one present we got to open early. Not that I'm suggesting we turn the shindig into a pajama party or something. Just a fun memory."
Getting his people pajamas wouldn't be hard, he considered. Just a little extra thing he could maybe sneak into a few rooms when they were at the party.
“Yeah I’m not wearing pajamas to a party, don’t you dare take my chance to fancy-dress away from me,” Gwen replied, chuckling a little so Ford would know that it was a playful threat. “So do you want to make Christmas Eve in a week, or actual Christmas? I vote Christmas Eve. I think. I don’t know, I still might bounce everything off of Sabina before I try to make any sort of official ruling. I like the idea of a Christmas Eve party for sure, though. That part sounds perfect.” And having settled one thing, couldn’t they push the rest of the planning onto other people?
“Really, we should plan a little thing for every night until Christmas. Rotate the guest lists. Make it feel as busy as the season actually feels,” she joked. She took a moment to hum along with the song, but didn’t sing, worrying she might wake Yasiel. God, it was nice to hear live music, though, and she sighed happily to convey that. “What's your favorite Christmas carol?” she asked, momentarily derailing the conversation.
"A week from Christmas Eve sounds great," Ford replied with a nod, before considering. "There's a whole bunch of other holidays around that time of the year. We could always poke the network, see who celebrates what and if they do anything special for it, or if they want to do something special for it."
It took him a second to recall the question and he hummed to let her know he was thinking about it, his answer predicated with a thoughtful click of his tongue. "Feliz Navidad I think is the most peppy and fun to sing, but I'm a sucker for O Holy Night. Oh, shit, and Coventry Carol. We sang that one in choir when I was in high school and it's so fucking dark for a Christmas song, but it's beautiful." His fingers plucked a quiet, slow, simple rendition of the haunting tune, making him realize he'd never actually played it before. He'd never played much Christmas music in general, even when his family was alive, and he wasn't entirely sure why that was.
"Oh," he chirped, the burgeoning smile in his tone evident as he switched to You're a Mean One, Mr. Grinch. "I wish I knew all the lyrics to this one, but I'm counting it. Great movie."
“You don’t know all the words to You’re a Mean One, Mr. Grinch?!” Gwen gasped, leaning forward in her chair, though she wasn’t entirely sure that she was leaning in the right direction. “We learn that one in elementary school! You’re old enough that you’ve had plenty of time to learn all the verses, it’s not that hard. And Thurl Ravenscroft has that beautiful bass voice, it’s just catchy perfection.” Now music she could talk to Ford about, and pick on him playfully. That was their domain. She knew that there was plenty that she didn’t know that he could pick on, and vice versa. Hell, if he handed her the guitar, whatever she tried to do would be a disaster.
But he’d just named the song as one of his favorites, so of course she could feign offense. Quietly. Again, Yasiel was sleeping.
She let out a playful exasperated sigh, before letting him know, “good choices, though. I like those.” She could have gone on to say her own, but went back to his previous statement. “I like the idea of making sure everyone’s included, checking in on the network. I’d be surprised if I’m the only one who celebrates Hanukkah, and I know Ravi said that he celebrated Diwali, and he’s making the fireworks for that, so many festivals of light. Candlenights, and such. And I bet other people have non-religious traditions, like your pajama one, so we could celebrate everyone’s thing! This is actually really fun, we have nothing else to do so we can all get a winter tradition sample platter.”
"That wasn't really something I could watch on repeat when I was a kid. It came on TV once a year at the end of the 60s. We didn't have any of your fancy YouTubes or Netflixes," Ford quipped in a weathered, crotchety voice he supposed was more appropriate for his age.
The mention of Ravi caused a faint wave of uncomfortable concern to wash through him, knowing that if anyone could use a pick-me-up, or to feel seen or appreciated after what had happened, it was probably him. But, understandably, who knew exactly how Ravi was feeling about vampires right now, and Ford didn't want to push that before he knew whether or not Ravi would be comfortable with his involvement. He supposed the easiest thing to do would be just to ask. When he could see.
"You talk to him pretty recently? Is he doing okay?" he asked. He hadn't gotten much information out of Yasiel other than the offers of self defense and medical assistance, and Ford offering up himself as a vampire test dummy if they needed it.
Ford’s old man voice earned a surprised, amused laughed, before Gwen blindly swatted at the air between them, trying to playfully slap at his shoulder or arm or something, but hitting nothing. “Don’t you treat me like a young whippersnapper, old man. You had sheet music back then. Also you’ve had internet since the ‘90s.”
She wasn’t surprised that Ford was asking about Ravi now that she’d brought him up again. She’d asked Ford for answers about Ravi in the first place, so sharing information didn’t seem out of line, and really, the only thing they’d talked about that Gwen might feel weird about sharing was their declaration of friendship, which was nice in broad strokes but maybe a little personal in the details. “Yeah, we were chatting yesterday, before the blindness thing. He seems… Nervous. Understandably. But definitely more social than he was, we had a nice little back and forth. We didn’t talk about what happened, I mostly just wanted to make sure that he was eating, and then we talked about holiday stuff. He’s very sweet. I hope he’s okay now…” In hindsight, maybe she should have reached out again after the blindness set in, but she’d had her own little meltdown the day before. There were a few people she probably should have messaged, come to think of it. Oops.
“How’s Mr. Sleepy doing with this?” she asked, remembering that Yasiel had had an issue with the recent blackout, too.
"Yeah, he's a really good guy," Ford agreed, nibbling lightly at his lower lip. He knew that Ravi probably wasn't okay. A little better, maybe, but having someone try to kill you wasn't really something he could imagine was all that easy to let roll off. He realized he didn't really know how well Ravi actually knew Hunter, or if it could have been planned somehow.
But speculating, assuming things, letting his brain get caught up in details he had no way of knowing, had gotten him into trouble more times than he wanted to count or think about. The shift to Yasiel wasn't any more comfortable, but at least it was familiar.
"He's...having trouble," Ford replied, his fingers quieting again as he turned his head a little to find himself focusing on that heartbeat, that breathing even as his own voice quieted another octave. "Today was a little easier than yesterday, but the dark freaks him out. The fact that I can't see either, and I'm not exactly all that chill with it either really doesn't help, but it's kind of a...pick your battles sort of thing. I don't think I've been in a position where I couldn't see like this since I was human. Even when the lights would go out, vamp eyes are crazy. Having nothing is just...wild."
And then, with a note of optimism. "It's kind of a neat learning experience, though. Obviously I'd rather have had a choice, but workshopping ways to get around has been kind of neat. Pretty proud of the candle thing. Not that it helps anybody who doesn't have a super schnoz, but it's something. And it kind of feels like I'm a step ahead if it happens again."
“It’s a clever idea,” Gwen agreed, though she could only smell them when she was already standing over them, and even then it was only the strong ones. She preferred it that way, though, because if they were all lit she imagined it would give her a headache.
“But yeah, I think everyone’s having a rough time with this. Everyone’s being really quiet about it, even with the network… thing. The voice-to-text. It gives the impression that everyone is wallowing, which I guess I understand. I don’t know, I don’t think this is even on my top ten of crazy things that have happened since we got here. Maybe Yasiel has the right idea, and we should all just nap until it’s done.” She really didn’t hate that idea, actually, even if it had just been an off the cuff comment. She didn’t think that Ford would offer a cuddle session with him and Yasiel, because she wasn’t part of that little family group that had formed with him and whoever else. She definitely didn’t feel like she liked Yasiel enough to cuddle with him anyway. Tease? Sure. Cuddle? Weird.
But she could go back to her room and nap, she supposed. It wasn’t like they were putting that much work into planning anymore anyway. She really needed Sabina.
“Though now I am wondering what my top ten actually is,” she said with a small chuckle. “Is this more or less weird than a Rainforest Cafe appearing overnight?”
"Don't let this fool you, it's not because he's blind, he just a napper. Almost any time a movie is on, he’s out," Ford replied with a quiet, affectionate snort. In truth, he knew a lot of it was because of the blindness. They'd both been high strung and worn out from the whole ordeal, but Yasiel especially. At least if he was asleep he could see in his dreams.
"Hmmm," he grunted, feeling his face pull into a frown before he nodded. "I think this might be a little more weird, maybe? Don't get me wrong, The Rainforest Cafe was weird, but it wasn't the first huge thing they've popped into town. If we're voting on that, I'm putting the carnival by the coast as number one. Not just because they popped it in, but how they popped it back out again like it was never there." A pause, and then, "the train was pretty weird, too. Not so much the first time, they probably just locked us into some kind of weird ride for a few days, but when I got trapped in there the second time, and everyone was there but frozen? Really fucking weird. And all the doorway bullshit they kept doing. Fuck that."
Of course, neither of those instances had actually turned out all that bad. Being stuck in Theo's room had been terrifying, mostly because of the prospect of being alone, but popping into the barbershop hadn't been awful. Cal had been nice enough, and reasonable.
"What's the weirdest test thing they've made you do so far?" he found himself asking, knowing he'd only gone through a couple of his own. He'd spent weeks free and clear while everyone else got shoved into trash rooms and whatever else, though he told himself having to eat that gross as hell blood more than made up for it.
Gwen interjected with an enthusiastic “Yes!” here and there as Ford recalled the train, which was probably one of the strangest experiences she recalled. She had to stop and think about her answer when questioned about her weirdest challenge, and she wasn’t all that upset that it took a minute. “I actually don’t get picked a lot for the crazy challenges? Plenty of the stuff we’ve all been put through was bad, I think both occasions with the weres getting mistreated tops my badness list, but as far as the more individual challenges, or the small group things? I think it’s just been the parade float and the foot thing. I wasn’t a fan of either, though the parade float thing could have been better under different circumstances.” She still didn’t get along with Maya, and she imagined she never would. That was fine.
She considered for a moment longer, then let out a little hum. “Actually, the weirdest one was the three-legged race day with Jesse. Were you part of that one? We got somehow magically attached from like toe-to-hip? All day. He was an absolute gentleman about it, but we couldn’t pull apart, there was nothing holding us but magic, it was just really strange,” she settled on. “This place is so strange. I could come up with a better word, but no. It’s strange..”
"Yeah, it was me and Maya. We woke up in town and I just kind of scooped her up and got her back here. It wasn't so bad. We just came back here and watched movies and Yasiel did what he's doing now." Definitely not the worst weird shit that had happened.
"Jesse seems like a cool dude too," Ford added a second later. "I feel a little bad. He seems like he might be the most chill vamp here and I don't know all that much about him. Probably the only reason I'm a little sad that the whole vampire council thing turned into such a shitshow. We didn't get to actually know each other any better." Then again, it didn't really seem like many of them wanted to get to know each other. Frankly, it didn't seem like some of them had been worth knowing anyway, and the ones that were, he had. Except Jesse.
Strong mental note to self, hang out with Jesse. And Linds. And Maya. And Gable.
Maybe they could do a vampire group thing that was closer to what Gwen had been trying to do with the Feytouched. Just hanging out, doing fun vampire stuff. Linds could try out vampire recipes and show how kickass she was, Gable could get some nice social interactions and maybe feel a little more comfortable in group settings, Maya could learn a thing or two and make more vampire friends, they could all learn a little more about Jesse, and fuck Ari and Cal. Or maybe just fuck Ari. Cal, at least, could probably be chill enough to exist for a while even if he'd likely be a stick in the mud, and maybe he'd loosen up a little. The only benefit to adding Ari would be that if the little troll was with them, he wasn't out trying to stalk Yasiel.
Or not. It was all probably unrealistic. Chances were he could probably get Linds, Jesse and Maya on board for a vampire hangout session, but Gable would likely bow out politely right out of the gate, and honestly, he didn't want to fucking talk to Cal.
"I think the best one was that first real challenge? The one where I had to be quiet all day to win shit and someone started teaching me sign language?" he hedged, sliding a leg out and missing the first time, successfully nudging her on the second. "That was a good day."
“Yeah, that sounds familiar,” Gwen sighed, thinking about how her fey court had a high failure rate. She didn’t want to talk about that more, though. It was depressing. “But yeah, Jesse seems nice. He offered to sit with me on the night of the freak-moon, but you were already on the way over. It’s not his fault that that was a weird one. We hung out in the sauna for a little bit, it was nice.”
She almost jumped when something touched her, but context told her it was Ford, and the appreciative giggle that she let out was tinged with nervous relief. “I liked that one,” she agreed. “God, it feels so long ago already.”
"I wouldn't have minded him coming over too. He was probably as freaked out as anybody else," Ford replied, though maybe that wasn’t exactly true. Vampires were vampires, and clearly could mostly go toe-to-toe if need be. Still, that didn’t mean they wanted to, or wouldn’t be freaked out if they weren’t used to that kind of confrontation. Still, the new information that Jesse had been so willing to help out solidified the fact that he was getting friends whether he liked it or not. The three of them were going to damn well do something together.
"I need more lessons," he laughed, pointing to his own face even though she couldn't see it. "Obviously not right now, but at some point. Maybe we could make flashcards or something. It would probably be a good way for me to learn, drawing them out. I bet the library has some books. The real library, not the one in here."
He supposed they could ask Theo, but he realized he didn't know whether or not Theo actually went to the library anymore after what had happened. "I don't remember if I asked, have you been to the top floor of that place? With all the flowers?"
Gwen frowned a little, and was glad that Ford couldn’t see it. She probably should have asked Jesse to come over anyway, yeah. “I was so frazzled that night, I wish I’d thought to tell him to join. You know how it was, I was focused on trying to get people to reply to me on the network. I’d like to say I just didn’t want to make more than one of you wander the halls, but honestly that wasn’t it, I just wasn’t thinking about it.”
She’d hardly been in the library, she realized, so she had no idea if there were sign language dictionaries in there. If there were, she’d definitely want to grab it so she could brush up on her own before she started doing lessons. “I like the flash card idea,” she agreed. “I didn’t know there was a garden up there, no. I’ve only walked around the first floor a little. Why?”
"Nah, I'm sure he got that. And it makes sense. We didn't really have any sort of scale of what was going on that night. It was probably the right call." And having fewer vampires out and about, given what had happened and how it could have gone, was likely also a good thing.
"Just that it's really pretty," Ford replied on the topic of the second floor with a shrug. "If we want to go book hunting at some point we could hit two birds with one stone. Probably not this time around considering it means walking through a winter wonderland, but it might be cool to host something there at some point as long as Birdie doesn't mind. I think it's technically hers."
Before he could stop them, his fingers began toying out the tune to In the meadow we can build a snowman and laughed. "I'm gonna have this shit stuck in my head for days."
Ford was probably right about it being the right call, but Gwen still regretted not asking one of the vampires to try to find Sabina. She still felt bad that her friend had been trapped in town, hiding and scared, while she had two vampires offering to sit with her. Sabina seemed to be bouncing back, though, so that was okay.
“Oh, yeah, we should go sometime! When we can see again, obviously,” she agreed. “I love a good garden, and frolicking through, being my best fairy self. We should go.” She liked the idea of hosting something there, maybe a Fey Court gathering, but, “Let’s plan one thing at a time. If we start suggesting multiple parties, people will lose their mind. I always thought there would be more parties and debauchery at the end of the world.”
She chucked at Ford’s realization that he’d have Christmas songs stuck in his head. “Yeah, well, that’s just part of the holidays, right? He’ll say ‘Are you married?’ You’ll say ‘No, man! But you can do the job while you’re in town!’”
Ford nearly pointed out that there was plenty of debauchery if you knew where to find it, but at the last second he realized that was a little too much like rubbing it in, even if that wasn't the intent. He knew Gwen had been lonely, and prospects were mixed at best around here. Maybe they should try to find some mistletoe for the shindig.
"One thing at a time," he agreed instead, shifting to following along with the tune on the guitar.