Ophelia McCarthy (breatheoutside) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2019-08-31 19:05:00 |
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Entry tags: | #december 2017, greg, greg x ophelia, ophelia |
Who: Greg and Phee
When: afternoon, Friday, Dec 29th
Where: the McCarthy house
Status: complete
Greg had spent entirely too much time with family at this point and after his mother saw a large shadow out in the fog, spending time alone in his private area of the house had stopped being an option. No, everyone had to stay together which meant he was stuck with his parents and aunt Holly for two damn days. He was going stir crazy, unable to call Phee and Bash, unable to just run down the street to check on them because not only was the fog thick and freezing, something was in it. When the power came back on and they finally could listen to the news, not much was reported. Jessica wanted to call the police just to get answers but Henry coolly pointed out they would be stressed with actual emergencies so they would sit tight until someone somewhere made an announcement.
That... really wasn't good enough for Greg. He was going crazy and watching as the fog started disappearing, he grabbed his phone and retreated to the den, not quite alone but at least a bit away from family. He was mindful of the time, it was only five in the morning, but he needed to know his girl was okay, that his best friend was okay, so he texted Phee.
Are you okay? Before sending he added little emojis, a fretful one and a few hearts plus a panda - because why the fuck not.
Phe was not okay, though she was asleep when Greg’s text came through. After what they’d caught a glimpse of on the drone camera, the power going out had been absolutely terrifying. She would look back and be surprised that all of them didn’t crawl out of their skin, even though they had light and heat around one of the fireplaces. They’d all piled together to keep warm as the house got colder and the night got longer and they heard bad, slithery sounds here and there. It had been an ordeal, but Phee had managed to drift off shortly before dawn.
She’d kept her phone close just in case it got reconnected, and the sound of it buzzing near her head startled her awake. Phee saw immediately that the lights in the kitchen were back on, and the air outside her blanket was starting to warm up. She scrambled to grab her phone, her heart beating hard as she sat up. It was a text from Greg, and she almost started crying already. Everyone else was sleeping, so she got up and hurried to another room, hitting the button to call him. Her fingers were too shaky to text.
Greg was staring at his phone and he had really been hoping she would call instead of texting so a grateful smile curled his lips when his phone started chiming and Phee's picture popped up on his screen. "Phee," he more sighed than said after he'd swiped to reply, sagging down in the seat with relief. "Are you okay? Where are you?" The urge to run to her house just got stronger now and he knew waiting until it was safe was going to be a pain in the ass but just hearing her voice was going to make a world of difference.
Phee covered her mouth to muffle an involuntary noise of relief. She put her back to the door she’d just closed and slid down until she was sitting, that hand moving to cover her eyes as emotion overwhelmed her. Yet again, ugh, she hated being such a crybaby. Greg was alive and well enough to text her and talk, that ought to give her happy reactions, not more tears. She tried to speak, couldn’t, and took a few very audible watery breaths. “I’m okay, yeah,” she got out, aware that it sure as hell didn’t sound like she was. “I’m home, we’re h-home. My m-mom got hurt. Where are you?”
Greg's heart broke hearing her and that urge to go over there got more intense to the point where he was already on his feet and moving toward the window just to see if it was safe yet. "Your mom's hurt? Shit. I'm at home, everyone's okay here we're just going crazy. What happened to your mom? Is it bad? Do you guys need help?" Fuck. "Is Bash there too?" It was too many questions and he stopped himself from asking even more, frowning out at the darkness. The fog was going away but not fast enough and it was still dark so those things could still be out there without him seeing them.
Absolutely selfishly, Phee wanted him there with her right then so he could hold her while she cried into his chest. At the same time, she didn’t want him to leave his house ver again, because what if the monsters were still out there? She tried to get a hold of herself so she could speak without sounding like she’d been orphaned or something. “She’s -- she’s okay, I think, but she needs a d-doctor,” Phee told him. “She w-went outside and got scratched by one of those things. Have you seen the things? Ohmygod, Greg, I’m so glad you’re ok-kay.” She had to stop to cry a little for a second, sniffling and holding back stronger sobs. “Bash’s here, Jen’s here, but my d-dad’s not and we didn’t know what to d-do. Is it over yet? Can you see anything outside?”
Greg didn't reply right away because he could hear her crying and his words would be lost, so he just listened, frowning softly and wishing he could be there with her, let her cry on his shoulder and hold onto her. "The fog's clearing," he told her when her sobbing stilled a little and he felt calmer now, maybe because he felt like he needed to be calm to balance out how upset she was feeling. "But it's still dark and we're waiting for some news. I saw... something. I don't even know what it was." Her mom had been attacked by that thing, it was insane and a little hard to process because it had been gigantic. How was she even okay? "It should be okay to go to the hospital soon but if you can wait then that's safer. I can come over then and drive you guys."
It was still dark and somewhat foggy, so that meant the outside was still scary. Phee didn’t want Greg to go out there until they knew it was safe, even in a car. “Should we call 911?” she asked, her voice still wavery and unsteady. It was nice of Greg to offer, but what if they couldn’t get there? What if the roads were too messed up? “They’re probably busy though,” Phee added in a mumble. She wiped at her face and swallowed hard, trying to push her emotions down. For the millionth time, she wished her father was home. “I think she’ll be okay to wait a while, she’s sleeping now. There’s not been like, any fever or anything. But who the hell knows what it even was ... all we saw was scales and teeth on the uh, on the drone. We sent the drone you gave Bash outside to try and look at it,” she added as explanation, aware she wasn’t exactly filling him in chronologically.
"Whoa you got pictures?" Greg asked and now he wished even more he'd been there because that sounded amazing. Only the using the drone part, everything else still sucked but damn it. His phone buzzed and he peeked quickly to see it was a text from Sebastian. It made him want to get them both on the phone but Phee sounded so upset and scared, his best friend would understand if he called him a little later. "Okay hold up, scales?" That didn't sound right for Maine in the dead of winter but none of this had felt right, the sheer size of the shadow he saw had been insane and he'd tried to rationalize that it was just shadow-play and weird lighting. "Call 911 if your mom is hurt. You can tell them exactly what's going on and they'll prioritize but at least they'll know about you guys and come get you when it's safe." He was going to be a firefighter one day, he really should be able to make it down the street to his girlfriend's house to be useful and he felt even more trapped now, frustrated as hell.
Phee just shook her head to his question about scales, even though he couldn’t see her. She knew what she’d seen, what all three of them had seen, but she couldn’t begin to explain it to Greg. It had just been a glimpse, something she could’ve chalked up to her terrified imagination, but it was still burned into her brain, and there’d been the sense that there was so much more to see. Phee focused on Greg’s solid, rational advice instead. Call 911, get in line, at least. She didn’t want to, she wanted someone to take over responsibility for everything and take care of it, but it was her mom, and she was the only one awake, as far as she knew. “Okay, I will,” she said, her voice still small. “I guess ... I guess I better do that now, and I’ll ... let you know? Like what’s going on and when we’re back?” Phee was dying to see him, but she knew her mom needed medical attention and she would probably end up at the hospital with her, and it was all just overwhelming.
"Okay listen," Greg said softly and he was trying really hard to be both the voice of reason and comfort because it sounded like she needed it. "Your brother's awake, go out and find him. Call 911. They probably won't stay on the line with you since it's not like a huge emergency so call me right back when they tell you to hang up. I'll be right here, babe. It's all gonna be over soon and I'll come see you when it's safe." He was more than fine with staying on the phone with her for hours if he needed to, the electricity was back on so he could charge his phone now.
Part of her wanted to ask how he knew Sebastian was awake, but it was so good to hear clear, decisive instructions, Phee didn’t bother. All of that made sense, and she could do that. “Okay, yeah, okay,” she murmured gratefully as she got herself to her feet again. “Yeah I wanna -- ... yeah, I’ll call you back.” Phee wanted to talk to him for as long as she possibly could, and to see him as soon as they could make that happen, but they did need to take care of her mom first. And Phee needed to plug in her phone. “Okay ... bye for now.” That felt dumb and awkward, but oh well.
"Bye for now," Greg echoed and it didn't seem dumb or awkward to him at all. He texted Sebastian back and then waited for either of the McCarthys to call him back, trying not to pace, he was feeling so restless. It wasn't often that he actually felt seventeen. His parents let him get away with almost anything and that was in big part thanks to the fact he had never let them down. Today was different. There was something terrifying happening and there was no way they were letting him leave the house. It didn't matter that there were cars in the streets again, that an ambulance came to pick up Brianna McCarthy, that it was getting light out. Greg was willing to bet he could have left by now if his dad hadn't been home but it was what it was and all he could do was have Phee call him over and over again whenever she could. He wanted to go to the hospital and meet her there, be a rock, be the best boyfriend but he was only seventeen and his parents apparently loved him too damn much and didn't want to risk him getting attacked which... Yeah, it was fair but he could still be pissed about it.
It was almost noon when they finally relented. Phee and Sebastian were back home with their mom and there were clean-up efforts going on all around town. As Greg put it - if someone was gonna get attacked it was more likely to be someone walking around in a bright yellow vest than someone driving a short distance in a silver wrangler. He texted Phee that he was coming over (finally), not even questioning whether she actually wanted him there or not.
Even though the danger was over, the ordeal hadn’t been, and Phee felt like being in that overcrowded hospital was a whole new fresh hell. The doctors took care of Brianna though, and tried to be reassuring that everything would be fine and she would heal. However, Phee knew that they probably didn’t know what they were dealing with. Nobody did. But being around authority figures and then eventually her father when he showed up made her feel somewhat better.
It felt like an eternity before they got home, and Phee had gone up to her room to take a shower and collapse into bed for a while. She didn’t sleep, just laid still and tried to let it all sink in. Her phone got her attention, and she sat up straight again when she read Greg’s message. Phee hurried to get up and get dressed, sending him a confirmation that she would be ready when he got there. She hurried downstairs to the door, wanting to let him in as quietly as possible. Phee didn’t have nearly the same amount of freedom as Greg did at his house, but she wanted to stake out some privacy and have him to herself for a while.
It felt almost silly to drive until Greg stepped outside, then it just felt smart, even if Phee and Bash lived so close by he was used to just footing it. It was so cold even with the fog gone and Greg kind of automatically pushed his way inside as soon as Phee opened the door. Another thing that came automatically was pulling her into a tight hug and he nudged the door closed with his foot, barely thinking about it. She was so soft and she smelled so clean and she was safe though clearly shaken and tired. He wanted to hold her forever, or until she lit up again with that smile he loved so much. "God I missed you," he whispered, reluctant to let her go just yet.
Phee didn’t mind the way Greg came inside like a gentle force of nature himself, and she was more than ready for that hug. She wrapped her arms tightly around him, not caring about how cold his coat was from outside, and buried her face in the crook of his neck. It was such a relief to see him and hold him and smell him, it made her want to cry all over again. “I missed you too,” she said, though it was muffled into Greg’s collar bone. She sniffled and clung for another minute or two, then pulled back so she could look at him. Phee didn’t want any parents happening by to make him go home yet, so she took his hand and started toward the basement. “Come on ... I think everybody’s in their own rooms, but just in case, let’s hang out downstairs.”
Greg followed, looking around for a second as he considered where Sebastian might be. He wanted to check up on him too, pretty sure he'd been freaking the hell out during all of this since he had his issues with feeling trapped. It could wait a bit, Phee looked really upset too and at least it was over for now. "Is Bash home?" he asked when they were half way down the stairs. He didn't really need to ask, he couldn't imagine any of them being out and about right now, even the claustrophobic ones. If Bash wanted to go out, his parents wouldn't let him. It was pretty much a guarantee that if Greg's parents said no to something, the McCarthys did too - tenfold.
Phee knew she was being selfish, she could’ve let Greg go find Bash and check in, but she wanted her boyfriend to herself for at least a little while. She needed a cry and someone who would snuggle her while she did it. Sebastian hadn’t handled everything well though, and Phee was feeling guilty by the time they reached the bottom of the stairs. “As far as I know, yeah,” she murmured, turning to look at Greg. She tried to keep her expression neutral, but she wasn’t great at that, so her brow was furrowed some and she looked a little pained. “Do you ... wanna go up and talk to him?”
"In a little bit, yeah," Greg replied but she looked so sad and small that he felt like he had to stay with her first. They could go see Sebastian together when she was feeling a little better. "No rush," he added warmly, rubbing her hand with his thumb before tugging her with him over to the den. He'd spent enough time here that the place felt like a second home to him and he didn't feel at all awkward there. "Is your dad home yet?" he asked as he sat down and pulled Phee with him and onto his lap. Closeness felt vital right now, more so than usual.
Phee let herself be tugged toward the comfy furniture, guilty and grateful at once that Greg wanted to put off talking to Sebastian. She settled into his lap easily, draping her arms around his shoulders and snuggling in close. “Yeah, he showed up at the hospital,” she murmured. “I haven’t gotten a chance to yell at him for not being here yet.” She didn’t know if she would actually yell, it would probably be more like a pout, but Phee did plan to make sure he knew exactly what they’d gone through. She was going to insist on being taught useful magic. Which reminded her of the weird spell Bash had pulled out of his ass to help with their mom’s scratches ... but Phee wanted to talk to him directly about that first. “And everybody on your side’s okay?” she asked Greg in the meantime.
"I wish my dad hadn't been here," Greg sighed but he still understood why Phee would want her dad around. He was a powerful witch and not just a boring grumpy-head. "But yeah, everyone's okay. Mom's freaking out, my aunt Holly has a whole new book's worth of conspiracy theories so... That's still normal at least. Mom called Spence as soon as the phones worked again." He was idly stroking her back as he talked and he wasn't going to say everything he was thinking because some of it was damn morbid; things like how many of their schoolmates had died in this madness, how many people they knew but didn't really interact with every day. No, it was better to focus on the people closest to them and be grateful while they still could.
“At least you knew where he was,” she pointed out softly. Greg’s dad wouldn’t have been as useful as Phee’s could’ve been, had he been there. She was still going to fuss at James, but she was sure that her mom would put in some words of her own. They couldn’t lay all the blame at his feet, because nobody could have predicted this, and Brianna had gone outside of her own free will, but still. “Glad they’re all okay,” she murmured to her boyfriend and let her head rest against his shoulder. The position was comforting, and Greg’s gentle rubbing was making her feel better. She assumed that if Spence hadn’t been okay, Greg would’ve said so by now, so that was good. “And you,” Phee added, nuzzling him a bit more. “I worried about you like, the whole time.”
"I worried about you the whole time," Greg countered. He wished he could tell her that she never had to worry about him but they both knew he was prone to doing stupid shit. Even he realized it - he just usually either didn't realize at the time or the stupid shit was totally worth the risk. "It was crazy knowing you were probably just down the street and still it felt like you could have been like... on the other side of the planet or something. Like I couldn't reach you. I mean it was bad enough not to have the internet and phone, that alone felt like... being in the dark ages. Send a raven to my lady, tell her I shall return shortly." He put up a badly mangled English accent for that last bit, grinning slightly before kissing Phee's hair. "I don't know how people survived that shit."
The bad accent made Phee smile at least, and she turned her face up to get a kiss from his lips too. “I don’t know either,” she said. There had been fast and constant communication available ever since she could remember, pretty much. It was annoying enough when the internet went down occasionally, but being completely cut off had been a nightmare. A smaller nightmare than the teeth in the fog, but still bad. “Maybe we need like ... high powered walkie talkies or to really train carrier pigeons or something,” she murmured, gazing up at Greg’s handsome face. “Zania’s boyfriend can talk to animals, maybe it could come in handy.” That was likely a pipe dream, but Phee just knew she didn’t want to be cut off like that from him ever again. She kissed the side of Greg’s neck and murmured, “I missed you.”
Greg was about to agree that walkie talkies were actually a solid idea - especially since he never would have sent an animal out into that horror - but then she mentioned the bit about Zania's boyfriend and his eyes went wide. "I missed you too but hold up. He can talk to animals? And they talk back?" Could animals talk? Did they have a language? What was he missing here? His mom's dog had seen a lot of embarrassing shit go down at that house so Greg just hoped that talking to animals was more of a conveying emotion thing and not full fledged chatter like a damn Disney movie. "Man, I wish I could talk to animals, that sounds way cool."
Phee had to smile at that. It was such a Greg thing to get fixated on. Though she’d had much the same reaction when she and Zan had been chatting about it. “It’s more like he knows their thoughts, I don’t think they have like, conversations. But she said he can make most of them do what he wants, it’s pretty awesome. I haven’t met him yet.” She really wanted to, though. Phee didn’t know another earth witch, and even if their specialities were different, it would be cool to talk to hm. Phee lifted her head to gaze at Greg and toyed idly with the back of his hair. “Bash did something weird,” she murmured after a pause. “When Mom got hurt. Has he like ... talked about learning magic from anybody else?”
Greg was still fixating a little, smirking at the idea that hearing a dog's thoughts would probably be like some joke he saw ages ago and it would just be 'feed me' on loop or 'am I a good boy' or something like that. It'd probably get old fast if it was actual words he heard, like talking to toddlers. His amusement faded when Phee spoke again and he frowned softly, tilting his head to look back at her. "Weird how?" To be fair, Bash had been doing a lot of weird things this year. Coming out of the closet as gay, coming out of the closet as a witch (broom closet, maybe?), fighting actual demons and doing blood rituals... Weird was becoming somewhat abstract when it came to Greg's best friend.
“Like ... he knew a spell, just like, off the top of his head,” she said, her own brow furrowing a bit as she thought about it. “He made this salve for her scratch just out of shit in the kitchen, and it actually worked and like, helped with her pain and stuff. And Dad hasn’t taught us anything like that yet. Has he said anything?” she asked again, looking at him curiously. Phee was pretty sure the answer would be no, she knew that Sebastian and Greg didn’t talk much about magic things, but Phee knew somebody had to have taught him. “I haven’t asked him yet, I dunno. It was like, the lowest on the totem pole of Weird Shit in the past couple of days, but I keep thinking about it.”
"He hasn't talked about anything like that, no," Greg said even as he racked his brain to try and figure out if he was forgetting some important stuff Bash might have told him. That was a flaw of his, without any malicious intent he still tended to zone out when people talked to him. Granted, magic was really interesting but it was still one of those things that he had nothing to do with personally so it wasn't that unlikely that Bash might have told him something and he just... forgot. Wow, that probably made him a shitty friend. "I'm glad it worked though, for real. Maybe he read about it somewhere?"
“Yeah maybe,” Phee murmured uncertainly. If Sebastian had some access to resources for that kind of magic, she wished he would share them with her. She had definitely planned on letting him in on anything useful she learned from Zania. She guessed she wouldn’t know until she talked to him about it. Sighing, Phee cuddled in closer to Greg again, vaguely hoping she wasn’t squishing him too much. She just wanted to crawl inside his clothes with him and stay there. “Maybe he’s just a natural genius at healing magic or something, I dunno,” she said. “I’ll ask him. I’m glad it worked though too. I don’t think like, I’ve ever seen my mom in so much pain.”
Greg winced at the thought. He couldn't imagine how he'd feel if his mom had gotten hurt out there and he just wished he could have been there with Phee to support and comfort her through all that bullshit. It gave him some very weird feelings about how they should all live together, him and his best friends and girlfriend, all huddled up in some mansion with shit tons of rooms and private places but still together. Or have secret tunnels between their houses - that would actually be even cooler. "She's gonna be okay though," he murmured. "That's what matters. I bet your dad will teach you more cool magic now, I mean he's gotta."
Phee damn sure hoped her mother would be okay, but who really knew? Her anxiety had been grinding on the possibility that she could get sick or infected or something and things could get worse. She knew there wasn’t much she could do about that personally, and now that her dad was home, if he could do anything to help her, he would. “I hope so,” she murmured and let out a soft sigh. “I felt super useless, it sucked. And if he still won’t, I’m definitely getting some medicine and healing spells from Zania.” It was possible that she wouldn’t be able to perform them yet, but Phee still wanted to have them. “And we’re getting walkie talkies,” she added, nudging her face a little against Greg’s.
"Walkie talkies and more drones," Greg agreed. "Only the best walkie talkies too, the kind that reach really far. I wish we could just put like a landline between our houses so we had a phone working all the time." It said a lot about their lives that none of these things were bad ideas, they might even save their lives one day or something. "It was so lame going to sleep without talking to you, I've gotten too used to it - I was totally taking it for granted." It was like a bedtime ritual by now, saying goodnight to Phee, not doing it had made him feel like something was seriously wrong even outside of all the fog nonsense.
Phee was nodding solemnly, because she thought those all were good ideas. Putting in a dedicated landline couldn’t be that hard, right? Her dad would hire someone to do it. The rest of what Greg said melted all of that seriousness away and made her feel all warm inside. She smiled and kissed his cheek. “It was totally lame,” Phee agreed. “So like, we’ll have to make up for it and talk like twice as long every night. At least until we have to go back to school.” Even when she got to spend time with him during the day, snuggling down at night with Greg on the phone was one of Phee’s favorite parts of the day. It was so sweetly intimate, the closest they could get to going to bed together. Phee ran her fingers through his hair. “I’m just so glad you’re okay,” she murmured.
"Me too," Greg said, closing his eyes for a moment just to enjoy the sensation of her touches. If there was anything nicer than a girl playing with his hair - outside of sex at least - he couldn't name it. "I figured you would be, you know? You're smart and capable but I didn't really know where you were. I just hoped you were at home, you guys got a good setup like us. It would have been so much easier if I could have just fucking called you." He opened his eyes to look at her, smiling again and letting that momentary frustration go away. He hadn't been able to call her, but he was here now and she was safe. "Walkie talkies. I'm ordering them today. I'm not joking around."
Phee knew intellectually that they’d been lucky. They’d been inside, first of all -- she was sure some people had gotten caught in their cars. They’d had company and entertainment. They had fireplaces when the power went out. They had a big house where they could stay away from the windows. Most of the family had been together. But it had still been awful, especially after her mother got hurt. Phee was just so relieved that Greg had been fine too; it all made her very aware of how vulnerable he was. He didn’t even have any magic instinct to fall back on if he needed it. She didn’t know that she could magically defend herself in a pinch, but she knew that Greg definitely couldn’t. So she gave him a warm smile and nodded. “Do it. Get like, the best ones. Maybe we need some of those ... what do they call them? The old-timey radios where you can talk to each other?”
"What, like amateur radio? HAM?" Greg guessed, not sure what else she could mean. Those amateur radios played an important role when disaster struck was all he really knew about them, it always seemed like an entirely too nerdy activity, even for him. It could probably come in handy having one if shit really hit the fan so he knew himself well enough to know he was at least going to look into it. "I still want tunnels between our houses. How cool would that be." Of course horrible things could hide in tunnels so it probably wouldn't be that cool in practice but he could still dream. "It'd weird out whoever buys those houses in the far future."
“Yeah those,” she confirmed, pleased that he knew what she was talking about. It was because they were so perfect for each other and in sync, obviously. She laughed a bit at the idea of tunnels between their houses, but had to admit it was an appealing idea. “It would be fucking awesome,” Phee agreed. She gave Greg a grin that was a little more wicked. “Maybe when I learn more earth magic I’ll be able to do it without like, bringing the whole neighborhood down.” She didn’t even know if that was possible, but if it was, she totally wanted to do it. And not tell their parents about it. “Then I could come see you whenever I wanted,” she murmured, still grinning, and kissed him again.
Greg went a bit starry eyed at the thought. "Whoa," he murmured and he didn't care how improbable it was, the idea of it was amazing. "My powerful earth witch," he all but purred before her lips met his and then he was content not to talk for a while. He wound his arms around her more tightly, drinking in the feel and taste of her, making up for the long-ass time he hadn't been able to touch her. If Phee ever became that powerful they could meet anytime they wanted, no matter what the weather was like outside there'd be safe passage between houses and wasn't that a dream come true? He wished it could really happen but even if it was something she could train to do, she probably wouldn't be capable until they'd already moved out. It just seemed like something that would take years to master, unlike the super unrealistic timeline of Luke Skywalker training on Dagobah. If it took a week though? That'd be amazing.
Part of Phee wanted to remind him that she wasn’t very powerful yet, she was just getting started, but why dull her own shine like that? With the right training, she got the feeling she could be as powerful as she wanted to be. How could she not, with two magical parents? It was all that untapped potential parents always talked about, only it was about magic rather than just her brain. In any case, Phee’s mouth was currently otherwise occupied and she was more than fine with that. Greg’s arms felt strong and supportive around her, and she leaned into him even more, getting happily lost in how his mouth felt on hers and how he tasted, her fingers clenching here and there in his hair. It made her lower belly feel warmer than it had in days, and she started to kind of wish they were at Greg’s house instead of hers. Gods she’d missed him.
If she had dulled her shine, Greg would have argued that she was powerful. She could heal plants and make things grow, that was some Poison Ivy superpower shit. He wanted to take her home with him tonight, he'd never wanted her to spend the night as much as he did now and he was pretty sure that this fog bullshit had ruined whatever tiny possibility there was that her parents would ever let her sleep over. "Do you think your parents will like ever let you leave the house again?" he mumbled against her lips a little sulkily. He was afraid they wouldn't and it wasn't even an irrational fear when Jessica of all people had been reluctant to let him leave.
Phee didn’t want to think about her parents at the moment, she just wanted to keep making out with her boyfriend until she wanted to climb inside his clothes with him. It didn’t usually take much, but her body didn’t seem to quite be out of fear-and-stress mode yet. She didn’t pull back far when he spoke, but enough to sigh and crack her eyes open to look into his. “They’d better,” she murmured with a little pout. “They might be shitty about me staying out late for a while, but I mean ... they can’t keep me locked up forever. I’m gonna try to convince daddy that teaching us more real magic would be the most useful thing, you know?” Phee nuzzled her nose against Greg’s a bit. “And I’m gonna see you no matter what,” she added softly.
"That's my girl," Greg replied even if he didn't think for a second Phee would really rebel against her parents if they decided she needed to be locked away and kept safe. He was just going to have to keep convincing them he was a good influence and ready to die to keep her out of harm's way, then maybe they would make an exception for him and let him spend more time with her. He didn't even dare to dream about spending nights but that was the ultimate dream anyway. "I should go check on your brother, I can ask him about that weird thing he did with the wound if you want. Then I'll come right back down here and stay until your parents like physically and forcefully kick me out."
She tried not to pout, because she did care that Greg and Sebastian were best friends and needed to see each other and talk, but it was hard. Phee just wanted to cling to Greg as much as possible, that was all. She didn’t want to make him feel guilty about it though, so she smoothed out her expression pretty quickly and kissed him one more time. “Nah, don’t ... I mean, if he brings it up, ask him about it, but I kinda wanna talk to him first. Or like, don’t want him to think I’m like, down here whispering behind his back or something.” Technically she had been, but Phee did plan to talk to him about it. “He got really claustrophobic and stressed though, I know he’d love to see you, take your time. Think I’ll go check on Mom, see if she needs anything.” Reluctantly, she started to climb off of Greg’s lap and stand up.
Greg was well aware of Sebastian's claustrophobia and how it wasn't always strictly to do with small spaces. Being trapped was an issue for his best friend and it was one of the reasons why Greg felt like he had to go check up on him. "I won't be gone long," he said as he got up and for a moment he considered taking Phee upstairs with him. They could all lounge and talk for a while but something told him maybe he should talk to Sebastian alone. "I won't leave until your parents straight up kick me out."
Phee didn’t want Bash to feel like she was butting in or something, and she didn’t have much to say to him herself anyway ... at least not in front of Greg. They were best friends but Sebastian might not want to talk about how he’d learned that spell to anyone else. It could wait. She gave Greg a little grin. “I’ll be sure not to mention that to Mom, maybe she’ll be too polite to actually do it,” she said. At least until it was time for bed or something. Phee wanted to hang out with her boyfriend as long as she possibly could. She bent in to kiss him one more time, then started for the stairs.