The Good Life Who: Gabe and Trip Where: The car - Trip's house to the park When: Afternoon
As he only had a couple of days before he started working, Gabe wanted to make the best of them. With Clarissa at work, he decided to stop by Trip's house and see what he was up to, if he could talk him into playing video games or out onto the basketball court. Unless he was busy with a girl, Gabe was willing to bet he could succeed. Parking out in front of his house, he hurried up the front walk and rang the doorbell. If he wasn't home, he'd text him to see where he was and what he was up to.
As it would happen, Trip was home, bored out of his ever loving mind and just sort of vegging out in front of the big screen TV taking in a Dexter marathon via 'on demand'. As entertaining as witnessing new and interesting ways to get victims their ultimate payback, Trip would much rather be hanging out with his friends or occupying himself with a hot blonde or two. However, it seemed with the recent demon attacks he'd found himself hanging around the house more and more to keep his mother from doing that annoying over protective thing she seemed to save up for whenever there was some major world disaster that screamed 'end of days'. It had been just easier to fuck about at home than have to text the woman every five seconds. The ring at the doorbell was a welcome break from the morbidity of the television show, he did hit pause however, if it was just a salesman or something he'd soon be planting his ass right back on the leather sofa soon enough. He was still annoyed the 'hired help' still wasn't back from their 'vacations', annoying Demons.
Trip made the long jog to the front door in good time though and threw open the door and smirked upon seeing Gabe standing on the front porch. "I love how I don't even have to bother with texts anymore these days, you guys just keep showing up all on your own just at the right time, before I slit my wrists from the mind numbing boredom."
"It's a planned attack," Gabe laughed as Trip opened the door. "We've timed it so you get close to the edge, can see over into the land of doom, but don't fall in. Either that, or we're wired the same. I can only play Halo by myself for so long before I wanna throw the controller. Wanna kill me on the basketball court? I'm sick of being inside." He wasn't allowed to go out after dark, not unless he had to, and his mom was equally paranoid about him wandering around alone, even during daylight. Gabe supposed she had a reason to be; he'd already been bitten by a werewolf and now demons were running rampant.
There were reasons that Trip and Gabe were friends, they were all too similar in a lot of ways. It was nice to know there were still some similarities there after all the recent events changing so many things. "I'm gonna go with the latter there, seeing as I've already thrown the damn thing across the room myself." Trip snorted a laugh. "Hell yes, a little blood on the outside court is definitely needed. And if any Demons rear their ugly mugs, you can always do that shifting thing and rip their heads off... right?" Okay, it was an assumption that Gabe had any sort of control to do such things, but it would be kind of fucking cool to see.
Gabe twirled his car keys in his hand as he stepped back, waiting for Trip to follow him back out to the car. Basketball wasn't his best game, but he could keep up with Trip, even if he couldn't beat him. At least he'd put on a good show. "I don't know," Gabe said, cringing slightly. "I know if I'm threatened, I'll shift to defend myself, but I don't know what kind of control I have. I've never forced a shift to my battle form." He liked "battle form" better than "monster form". It made him feel like a little less of a freak. "I do think I'm huge and scary when I shift, though, so maybe ripping heads off demons is possible. I'd have to ask Clarissa, since she's seen me shift."
Trip quickly grabbed his keys off the table in the entry that had been sitting there for days, and the ball that just happened to be sitting by the door as if Trip had been expecting to actually have a pick up game today, and was out the door like a shot - locking it behind him. "Huge and scary is good, likely a little more imposing than say, attempting to launch random objects at said Demon's head..." he shrugged, furrowing his brow just a bit at the thought of how lame that kind of battle would be, he'd be a dead man for sure. "Dude, you shifted with Clarissa there? Little... dangerous, dont'cha think?" he queried, following his friend toward the car. "And fuck my life, my mom is gonna kill me for taking off with no notice... oh well, what's she gonna do, more house arrest?"
"You could always learn magic," Gabe suggested. "I don't know much about it, but best guess is it's more effective than throwing rocks and basketballs." He'd been curious lately, wondering what all there was to learn. Before the Light of May, he'd not even believed that magic existed, but these days anything seemed possible. "I was in my cage," Gabe said with a little smirk and a laugh as he led the way to the car, clicking unlock so they could both jump in. "I'm not stupid enough to put her in danger like that. And why don't you just text her? Then when she starts yelling, you can point out that you did leave her a message. Doesn't matter if she doesn't know how to read it; it's the thought that counts, right?"
"Yeah, but that would require effort on my part," Trip quipped, smirking. "I dunno, maybe... I've thought about it, haven't really looked into it though. So seems for today at least, we've got your bruit strength and my ability to launch random possibly sharp objects. Go us?" Trip jumped into Gabe's car, shaking his head at the mention of a cage, the whole 'Gabe is a WEREWOLF that needs to be caged once a month' thing was seriously going to take some getting used to. "The cage thing is still weird, dude, just sayin', and I'll text her... unfortunately she is tech savvy, but maybe the text will get lost among the sea of client texts and she won't expect a text every minute and a half to make sure I'm still breathing. Seriously, man, she's driving me nuts, I may need to look for my own place if this sudden mother henning stuff doesn't come to an end soon. I haven't gotten laid since we got home. Not cool, dude, not cool."
"I don't have a lot of other options," Gabe pointed out as he started the car. "I'd rather lock myself up than have them put some law in place that forces it. That makes me feel like the subject of some animal control law." Just the thought of that kind of public enforcement made him sick to his stomach. It was bad enough that he had to shift once a month, but to have it on public record? No way in hell. "You know, Clarissa and I were originally planning on living with Madock. We've got a couple extra rooms," Gabe said, then paused. This really wasn't the kind of thing he should offer until he'd talked to Clarissa about it. They'd been avoiding the subject of her brother lately, but Gabe knew that couldn't go on forever. The plan had been to share the house, which would cut down on the rent for all of them. Plus, the idea of living just the two of them was still a little intimidating. He liked the idea of keeping his friends as close as possible. "I've gotta talk to her about it. I don't know that she'll be all that thrilled, so I really shouldn't offer until I do."
"Yeah, that is a disturbing thought. It's not like the existence of Were's, born or bitten hasn't been known about by the government forever... why the sudden need to compile a list? I don't like it, nothing good can come from it." Trip added his own two cents in on the subject. "They'll start with one race and move on to the rest of us, soon you have genocide and it'll end up playing out like a bad syfy channel original movie ending with the apocalypse. No thanks." Trip shook his head, his parents had been talking a lot about the subject of late as they'd been having lots of anon calls to their firms in regards to supernatural rights laws and with the demons entering in, it seemed everyone of a supernatural race was somewhat in panic mode. "Normally, I'd make a joke about how whipped you are, but valid point. Don't wanna go upsetting the little lady in areas of the home unless you want to be sleeping in one of those extra rooms or the couch... and what's the deal with you and Madock? I mean I can take a wild guess, but I'd rather not just assume."
"There are some perks that come with being whipped," Gabe grinned. "Like, when's the last time you showered with a girl?" Bragging made him feel more comfortable about the situation, a reminder that he had no need to be nervous about such a big step in his life. "Madock?" Sometimes Gabe managed to forget that Trip had his own supernatural quirk, which was weird considering how major it seemed other times. Trip wasn't someone he could easily hide things from, even if he wasn't actively listening in, and so Gabe rarely tried. With the practice in place for so long, it tended to surprise him when Trip didn't know something. "When's the last time you talked to him? I could tell you, but it includes some things that aren't really my secrets to tell." He was pretty sure Trip would find out eventually, but Gabe didn't want to be the one to tell what wasn't his to share.
Trip raised an annoyed eyebrow at that, totally unfair play there, hitting below the belt and all. "Weeks ago, shut up... that's only cause of the whole mom choking me with apron strings lately. Kind of hard to bring a girl home when you barely get out... and shut up!" Trip responded, trying to cut Gabe off from adding in something about how if he had a steady girlfriend she could just come over and it wouldn't be an issue, he didn't even need to read his mind to know that. "He stopped by the other day, asked how his summer was going and got the details, so my two best friends are Werewolves and both "mated for life"... I swear, I go away a few weeks and y'all lose your fucking minds... not even cool."
"Yeah, well, that's what I had issue with," Gabe sighed. "Not the mating part, since that's really his own business, but getting his ass bitten? Not the smartest move in the book." Time had let Gabe calm down substantially. Once he'd removed himself from the issue, since it didn't really effect him, he was able to roll his eyes and shake his head. If Madock had just taken a bit more time to consider his options, if he'd spoken to Gabe at least once, then maybe he wouldn't have made such a life changing mistake. But what's done was done. Gabe wasn't helping things by alienating Madock when he needed him. "I got pissy over it. I didn't really have a choice in the matter, you know? It fucked up my life. And Madock went out and asked for it. It was just so fuckin' stupid, I lost my temper. I need to talk to him, though. Moon's coming up and he needs to know what to expect."
"I gave him some hell for choosing it, I can honestly say I don't get it. He seemed a bit defensive, so I just let it drop... I just... yeah, I don't get it. Pretty girl or not..." Trip too shook his head, he was worried about his friend's well being; unlike Gabe, however, he didn't have personal experience with the whole Werewolf... thing. "He seemed pretty worried that I was gonna hate him too... I get why you'd get pissed, can't blame you under the circumstances. But yeah... I think he could use a little guidance here. I don't know if he really gets the full gravity of what he's taken on. If you're mad at him, that's fine, be mad, but he's still your friend and I know you'd feel pretty fucked up if something happened to him... or, God forbid, someone else should he not be fully prepared for the whole... shifting thing you guys do..." Trip didn't have to mention any names of possible parties that could end up harmed if something went terribly, horribly wrong. They both knew full well if Clarissa got a feeling something was wrong with her brother she'd go running to help him; the thought made even Trip go a little white.
"I need to talk to him," Gabe agreed. "I've just been putting it off cause... yeah." It had been easier to avoid the situation than to work through it, but now that the full moon was sneaking up on them, Gabe had to get off his ass and do something about it. Madock didn't need to go into that blindly. Gabe wasn't an expert by any means, but he could at least share what he'd learned thus far. If Madock was willing to listen, he could even take some precaution to make sure nothing bad happened. It worried Gabe that he was putting Clarissa in danger himself, and now Madock was a risk too. Maybe it would be a good idea to invest in some tranquilizer guns. "I'll give him a call. I know Jess has told him a lot, but she's a born were and that's a bit different. Though I guess it does mean they can have wild werewolf sex," Gabe said with a twist of his lips. He couldn't quite imagine it, but he was pretty sure it was doggy style.
Trip and Gabe seemed to be on the same page as far as the need for the two friends to put away their issues with each other for the greater good for everyone. It obviously was a hard thing for Gabe, but it had to be even harder on Clarissa, Trip could relate a little, both his best friends now being Werewolves, but for Clarissa it was her boyfriend and her brother -- that had to be rough, the two men closest to her now being a danger to her life if anything went bad. Trip's train of thought was interrupted by the words 'wild. werewolf. sex' and ouch, that hurt his brain, those words should never ever ever go together and said aloud. Ever. "Dude! Too much information... no, just no... ugh..."
"Don't tell me you're not curious," Gabe snickered. "That's one thing I can't complain about. Everything that was good before got ten times better after I was bitten. It's kinda like being high, but not." His senses were amped so high that it was a bit of an overload: he could hear Clarissa's heartbeat as she got turned on, scent her arousal, taste her skin. He supposed it would sound kind of crazy to someone who wasn't a werewolf, but didn't Trip have his own crazy things, being able to hear inside a girl's head? "Just no biting, at least on my end," Gabe smirked as he pulled the car into a space at the park.
"Lalalalala, not listening!" Trip said, reverting to his ten year old self complete with sticking his fingers in his ears and shaking his head, he was also concentrating on not picking up any of Gabe's thought projections. He didn't need to be thinking about such things, he tried to be respectful of his friend's girlfriends... er... mates, and never think of them in a sexual context... well, nearly never, cause let's face it, Trip was an eighteen year old male and... yeah. "Lalalalala... basketball... lalalalala... Annabelle Marrok in a bikini... lalalala..."
"How is thinking about Annabelle Marrok in a bikini not making you think about sex?" Gabe asked with a laugh. The girl was crazy hot and Trip had had a thing for her as long as Gabe had known him. She did seem a bit unattainable, though Gabe would never discourage his friend. "She doesn't really seem like someone who'd been willing to get her hands dirty," Gabe said as he hopped out of the car, then grabbed the basketball from the back seat. "Anyone else you got your eye on?"
"Because she's a beautiful human woman, and then I don't have to think about... Werewolf sex, which is the whole point here. Plus, Annabelle in a bikini is a great mental image for washing away the unwanted imagery, thank you very much." Trip mock glared at his friend. Yeah, he'd had a thing for the current Miss Michigan pretty much from the time he'd discovered girls weren't icky and carriers of the cooties. Unfortunately for Trip, she was older and completely out of his and pretty much everyone in Scarlet Oak's league. "Dude, she's dating Jackson Lowell... it would seem she isn't above slumming it..." He didn't mean it as a total knock of the Lowell lad, he didn't really know Jackson other than brief run ins at the bookstore, that and just the knowledge that he was Blake Lowell's older brother was pretty much enough for him to form a less than stellar opinion of the guy, as unfair as that probably was. Trip hopped out of the car and followed Gabe toward the basketball court. "Again, been cooped up of late... so that's a no. I'm going back to work soon, maybe I'll find the next miss 'right now' at the restaurant..."
"It was a curiosity, not a suggestion," Gabe snickered. He certainly wouldn't be having werewolf sex with Clarissa. That would just be wrong. "Since when are we considered slumming it?" he asked. Should he be offended by that? Gabe liked to think he could score Annabelle if he wanted her; he just didn't. He had Clarissa and she was more than he could ever ask for. "You'll meet someone," Gabe grinned, bouncing the basketball as he moved towards the court. "And even if you can't take her back home, you can take her to the back of your car."
"Dude, we aren't slumming it. Her current boyfriend, and I say current cause I don't see how that's gonna last. Annabelle Marrok is too much woman for a babe in the woods like Jackson Lowell... 'sall I'm sayin'." he shrugged, tapping the ball out of Gabe's hands, rushing down the asphalt court with it, and with a quick layup the ball swished through the basket and back into Trip's grip. "Of course I'll meet someone, like that's ever a worry? I'm Trip fucking Banks, I do what and who I want, whenever and where ever I want... so we gonna do more of the girl talk, or man up and play some ball?"
"You get variety, but I'm the one actually gettin' some tail," Gabe laughed. "In the shower, the woods, the car-- Not that I'm bragging or anything." He chased after Trip, determined not to let that be the last time he'd actually have control of the ball. This might be Trip's game, but Gabe would put up a hell of a fight, or at least make a fool of himself trying.