Devlin Molony (deva) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2023-03-05 14:48:00 |
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Entry tags: | #july 2018, devlin, devlin x rost, rost, ty |
Who: Dev and Rost, cameo by Ty
Where: Main Street Art Market
When: Friday July 13th
Days like these were the best for bringing in extra money so there was no way Point Pleasant's most bohemian throuple was missing out on the art festival. They all dressed up in their quirkiest and prettiest clothes then brought along their instruments for art, music and hustling, ready to both help and deceive in equal measures. It was such a lovely day too, the Main Street was packed with people, locals and tourists alike. Booths lined the sidewalks and the smell of greasy food permeated the air.
Dev purposefully had his gloves off today. He'd taken the morning to prepare himself as best as he could, smoked a little weed to mellow out and meditated to keep himself centered. It had always seemed like such a dumb thing to do, but after Greer had come back, he'd gotten in the habit and found it helped. He wasn't so much looking to make money off his visions today so much as he was hunting for answers. People and objects were easier to touch in a crowd like this and maybe he'd find out something interesting that could help Greer.
For now he was playing guitar with Rost, a joyous old Romani song his lover had taught him that sounded just amazing with two guitars. Greer was off to the side, reading someone's fortune and Dev's heart felt full as he gazed from one lover to the other, grateful for moments like these.
It was a beautiful day and a beautiful setting, and it made Rost’s heart soar to be in the thick of it making beautiful music. He and Dev played together like they’d been doing it for years. It wasn’t just their natural talent -- while Greer had been gone, sometimes picking up their guitars was the only thing that kept them from falling apart completely. And most of the people seemed to be enjoying it, small crowds would gather and then disperse as they went through their repertoire. Rost could see plenty of folding money in the guitar case they’d set out for tips. Counting it before the day was done was bad luck, but hopefully they’d have a nice boost to their finances this month between busking and Greer’s readings.
Rost leaned back with his guitar, neck pointed to the sky as he strummed and his voice held the last note of the song. There was some scattered applause and the loose knot of people broke up to go on their way. He looked over at Dev and grinned, a little breathless. “Ten minute break?” he suggested. Rost was thirsty, and they’d already attracted a line of a few people waiting for their turn with Greer, so he figured they could rest for a few.
"Yeah, you want me to go grab you a beer?" Dev asked cheerfully and of course he did not mean go buy one, but rather grab one from the cooler they had in their booth. Why pay for expensive festival beverages when they could bring their own? He didn't even wait for a reply but set his guitar aside and jogged over to where Greer was, giving her a quick smooch because he couldn't resist, even if she was busy. Then he returned with inconspicuous looking plastic cups, offering one to Rost. "I keep meaning to start touching people, you know? I was kinda hoping some of the other people she was with would show up but in this town, maybe some random stranger holds an answer, you know?" The odds of actually finding that answer were about as good as finding a missing hairbrush in a jungle, but Dev believed in fate and that could carry a man far.
He set his own instrument down and stretched his fingers a bit before Dev returned with drinks. Rost cracked his open and nodded a bit, letting his gaze scan the people walking past for a moment. Fate was rarely obvious, but it was hard to feel hopeful that the answer would just stumble into Dev’s hands, so to speak. Strange things happened though, he knew that better than most. “It is hard to touch when you’re making music,” Rost said as he lifted the beer for a quick sip. “Shall we take a walk? Stretch our legs? Perhaps get some food for our girl?” The beer was overpriced but the hot dogs weren’t bad, and it would give them an excuse to wander around a bit and see if fate led them anywhere.
Dev hesitated for a second as that old familiar fear of leaving Greer alone resurfaced. He felt like there should always be someone keeping an eye on her but he recognized it as an unhelpful feeling. Greer wouldn't like it if they stalked her everywhere she went and they were out here in broad daylight, surrounded by people. He had to let go and unfortunately, letting go was not a one time thing. He nodded at Rost and put on a brave face, then mimed over to Greer that they'd be back with food. It was one of those days where he wished summer was forever but he also remembered getting kind of bored with the lack of seasons in California so he supposed there just was no pleasing him. Live in the moment, enjoy whatever little pleasure each day had to offer - that was the only real plan he had. "I don't know where I'm going with this," he admitted as they headed towards the food trucks. "But I'm ready."
Rost didn’t miss the worried hesitation, and he knew the feeling well. Losing Greer again would be a complete nightmare, but whether it happened or not was out of their hands. They couldn’t cage her up like a bird just to try to keep her safe. He fell into step next to Dev, letting their shoulders bump gently together. He loved Greer intensely, but he wondered if he would ever be closer to another human being than he was to Dev now. Shared grief could be a powerful bond. They’d truly been through hell together. “We will go wherever it leads,” Rost said easily enough. Putting too much pressure on it would only chase it away, or make them see it where it didn’t actually exist. This might not even be the day, but maybe if they did this often enough, they’d be receptive at the right time. “Tell me if I can do anything.”
That reminded Dev of exactly the one thing he would hopefully not need Rost to do but better safe than sorry. "Ooh," he exclaimed, stopping for a second as he patted down his pockets and then brought out a small bottle, handing it to Rost. "If I space out too hard or get a little weird? Open this and stick it under my nose, yeah?" His dark eyes scanned the crowd around them before he moved in closer to Rost, giving him a reassuring smile because that hadn't sounded too promising, had it? "Should be right as rain, just a precaution. It's been a while. It's.. It's grounding, you know?" Smell really was the sense with the strongest link to emotions and that could be used to his advantage and admittedly, it had been a long time since he willingly touched a lot of people and things in a short span of time. If he was honest, it had been a long time since he touched anyone but his lovers and familiar things without gloves on.
Rost took the little bottle without hesitation, nodding a bit as Dev explained. Having something to actively do made him feel better about all of it, even if it ended up being unnecessary. There wasn’t much he could do to help, but if Dev needed some psychic smelling salts, that’s what he would get. “I will be ready,” he assured his man. Rost tucked the bottle into his pocket and took a swallow of beer, glancing around them again. He didn’t have the same kinds of gifts that his lovers did, but Rost still tried to stay open minded, and he silently told the universe he was open to getting an instinct about someone himself.
Dev would have argued that Rost did have gifts, his mind was open and other worldly things were drawn to him, he had a little bit of magic himself and he had that very special something not everyone did, that spark that Dev recognized in people and was drawn in by. Then again he would always elevate his lovers in every way he could. He was trying to think of this stint today as a practice run, there would be a whole lot of normal people here, he'd probably get a lot of insignificant little whispers like where someone's lost keys were. If he did meet any of Greer's companions from the other side, well... He might think twice whether he'd touch them if he knew who they were, not wanting to be obvious or intrusive. Maybe they would let him after Greer met with them all. They kept walking and Dev slipped his gloves off as he stepped into line for some food, giving Rost a sidelong glance before he rested his palm briefly against the purse of the woman standing in front of him. He felt like he was stealing and suddenly realized just how hard it was to touch strangers without good reason. He felt nothing but the faux-leather and made a little face at Rost as he shrugged. This didn't feel like the right place at all. Maybe it was better to go by the booths and actually chat with people.
Rost tried to angle his body to make what Dev was doing less visible to the people behind them, because it did kind of look like Dev was pickpocketing. He wasn’t surprised that it didn’t turn up anything, since it was the first try on a random woman, and he gave Dev a wan smile back. They would just keep trying. It took a few more minutes for them to pay for their food, and then the two of them were walking again. Even though they’d gotten food for Greer as well, Rost quietly suggested they take a loop around the festival before returning to their booth, and Dev agreed. He ate his own hot dog as they ambled past a few booths, then stopped to linger around one of them that was selling jewelry. Rost gazed through the big glass case to browse the rings while Dev casually bumped into another patron -- a man apparently looking for the cheapest engagement ring possible to propose to a woman he’d knocked up, as Dev muttered to him when they walked away.
The booths were perfect for it, a lot of the things for sale were used and handling them was no big deal since a potential client was allowed to look at the merchandise. Dev didn't get much out of it though, a glimpse of a former owner of one of the necklaces, faint music from a bracelet. Still, it was good to start with the small things and he was starting to feel a little heady as different realities began clashing together like that. So many lives, so many people and on so many levels; the physical, spiritual and time all overlapping in this one man. The music at least faded pretty fast and he used the chance to touch another woman by the booths, lightly patting her arm as he told her that the necklace she was looking at would look great on her. He managed to keep his smile in place even as the world around him filled with fog for a few seconds and he barely heard her and the salesman talk to him, laughing. He backed up and nodded, blinking as the fog cleared, remains of it slowly slipping off the counter in front of him. It was probably not weird, a lot of people had scars - both physical and mental - from the fog but it hadn't quite felt like the same fog, which probably didn't make sense. "Ooph, let's get this food back to Greer," he muttered to Rost. "I'm getting lightheaded."
Rost stayed casually close to Dev while they made their way around the booth, glancing at his lover’s face every few moments, hunting for any sign that he was getting overwhelmed, or seeing something completely horrible. He felt so bad for both of his loves, burdened with knowledge no one should have to have. He was right there when Dev hit his limit, putting a light hand on his arm as they turned to walk away from the booth. “Did you see anything interesting?” he asked once they were several steps removed from the other people. Rost didn’t expect Dev to have seen anything actually useful to their situation, so he opted for interest instead.
It was the first year in quite a while that Ty wasn’t working the art festival, and it was both weird and nice to participate as a citizen instead. He had the afternoon off and his head was full of buzzing plans for their house, and since he couldn’t really pick out paint and furniture yet, going to the festival to find a few pieces of art of some kind -- or to at least browse around for inspiration -- was the next best thing. He was strolling along in the opposite direction as Rost and Dev, idly scratching in his beard as he eyed a booth selling pretty glass vases.
"Not really," Dev replied and was about to take a bite of his food when he spotted Ty Solomon. He didn't know all the people Greer had been stuck with by name, but she talked to Ty more than the others and it was hard not to kind of love the guy for all he did to keep Greer safe on the other side. He kind of wished his hands were free but maybe touching one of the actual fog people without permission and maybe even a warning wasn't a good idea anyway. He slowed down and nudged Rost before smiling at Ty as soon as he caught his eye. "Ty Solomon," he said warmly. "One of our few household saints here in the flesh." They didn't so much know each other as much as they knew of each other, but Rost had spoken with Ty many times before and Dev had run into him once or twice so introductions weren't really necessary.
Ty hadn’t been paying much attention to the faces around him, so many of them familiar but not anymore in a weird way. It was strange to feel so disconnected from a community he’d lived in his whole life. When his gaze happened to drift to Dev and Rost, it locked onto Dev’s and stayed blank for a couple of seconds until recognition kicked in. Ty was very familiar with Rost from his days as a cop, less so with Dev, but he’d certainly heard enough about the both of them from Greer. He smiled at the greeting, coming to a stop in front of them. “Gentlemen,” he answered in an upbeat tone. Ty may have felt removed from a lot of the other people in town, but he was more closely connected to these two. He chuckled at Dev’s description and shook his head a little. “Try telling my mother I’m a saint. Good to see you both, how are things?”
Rost had always had a pretty good rapport with Officer Solomon, the cops in this town knew he was weird and that he sold weed, but none of them ever hassled him much. He’d always been grateful for that. And now he had a much more intense reason to be grateful to Ty. He smiled and gave Ty a nod of greeting. “We are doing well,” he said, glancing over at Dev with a bit of curiosity. Touching random people likely wouldn’t give them much insight into anything about the fog, but touching Ty was maybe a different story.
"Get me in a room with her and I'll sing your praises," Dev said with an easy grin though he doubted Ty's mother would take his word for it above anyone else's. "And yes, we're doing great. Beautiful day, a lot to see. Greer's around here doing readings if you want to support the arts." He was thinking much along the same lines as Rost, his palms practically itching against the food containers he was holding. And yet... He remembered the things he'd felt when he tried touching Greer in her darkest hours and while those days were behind them and she felt different now, it was hard to shake the apprehension. His hesitation was valid and he also couldn't help but feel like he needed permission - but trying to explain all that to Ty wasn't going to be easy out here in a crowd of people. He shifted the food around enough that he could hold out one hand to Ty. "Let me shake your hand at least, sinner to saint?" Did he sound nervous? Rost would pick up on it for sure, but Ty didn't know him well enough so that should slide. He just hoped he wouldn't see or feel something that'd have him spilling his food before he even got to eat it.
Something about the offer struck Ty as a tiny bit odd, but he didn’t overthink it too much. The pair of men in front of him were pretty odd already. It wasn’t a bad thing. He gave a quizzical little grin and reached out to shake Dev’s hand. “Saint Tyrone does kinda have a ring to it,” he said, giving a low chuckle. He didn’t feel like he’d done anything saintly over there in the fog land. Training and the compulsion to do something had taken over, and he’d stepped up to lead as his own coping mechanism. He probably would’ve completely lost his shit if he hadn’t had people to take care of.
Rost could definitely hear the note of nerves in Dev’s voice, and it gave his stomach an uneasy twist. He shifted his position to face Dev a bit more, shifting his grip on his own food container to one hand so he could be ready to try and catch Dev’s if he needed to. He tried to keep his expression neutral, not wanting to tip Ty off to anything strange if he could help it.
Dev had braced himself for horrors, monsters in the mist, some underlying pain Ty was unaware of - because yes of course Greer had told them how Ty was special - or really anything awful-bad. Instead he got a rush of knowledge about something that had nothing to do with the fog or anything bad. It was a welcoming feeling, a coming home sort of feeling, a 'you will be taken care of' feeling. "Oh, you're buying a house?" he blurted out before he could think about it. There was something in it, something shadowy and small but it wasn't unkind so Dev didn't think it warranted a warning. Most houses were a little haunted, if not with ghosts then with memories. "You'll be happy there," he said and as he pulled his hand back he wasn't sure if he was relieved or disappointed that this was all he got. It wasn't like he was expecting actual answers from the cosmos, but clues would be nice. Maybe in knowing Ty could be happy he could hope for the same for Greer, but there was no telling how long this happiness was going to last.
Ty’s brows rose in surprise, his gaze ticking between Dev and Rost as his hand dropped down to his side again. He hadn’t even told Greer that was happening yet, so it was a bit of a shock to hear Dev say it, even if maybe it shouldn’t have been. All three members of this little bohemian family seemed to be some kind of psychic, he’d just never seen the most blatant proof of it before. “Yeah ... how’d you know that?” Ty asked with a huffed little laugh. The skeptical part of his mind was trying to explain it -- had he mentioned it and just forgotten? -- but someone having psychic powers was honestly on the tame side of things he believed in now. It was good to hear that there was happiness to be found in that house though, maybe that would reassure Jared a bit too.
Dev never kept his gift a secret, hell he sometimes made money off it, but he still felt a little sheepish blurting it out like that to Ty. "Well, you know. Little birds and all. Small places." He rearranged the food in his arms and figured that Ty had seen - and felt - stranger things than a little bit of a psychic peek into his future. It was also entirely up to him if he believed it or not. "I hear you're not a cop anymore, that puts you up higher on my good list, gotta admit." He'd always thought he could do some good helping the cops with unsolved cases but there wasn't exactly a place on the payroll for psychics. Still, if Ty was still working there he'd help him for free, he figured he owed him that much. Too bad his gift was unreliable at best.
Ty knew it was more likely something supernatural happening in Dev’s brain as opposed to any town gossip going around, and he wanted to believe it was true, so he was going to choose to do so. He and Jared deserved some happiness, some peace in their new home. He knew nothing was guaranteed to last, but if anyone could appreciate a quiet time period like that, it would be them. Instead of pushing Dev for a more explicit answer, Ty just laughed a bit at what he said. “I’m sure you’re not the only one. But yeah, I’m just not ready to go back to all that yet. We’ll see about the future. But until then, if you need a good word ... I know the man in charge really well.” Ty offered them both a grin.
“Of all the police I have met and disliked, you were one of the better ones,” Rost chimed in, giving Ty a lopsided sort of grin. None of them were overly fond of law enforcement for various reasons, but the Point Pleasant police department had never given him too much trouble, when they probably could have. A lot of others had in the past.
Dev let out a little giggle because it sure sounded like Rost had disliked Ty as much as any other cop but it was pretty obviously a joke. "Nah, you're good, love," he said with a bright smile, eyes crinkling. "But even better without the badge." Still, he had a feeling that being a cop had helped Ty keep some semblance of order on the other side. People looked up to authority and he might have as well, in a situation like that. "Your husband's still a copper tho, eh?" he asked, putting a delighted little emphasis on 'husband'. That was another thing that made Ty one of the good ones in his mind, a bit more of a kin to them in that they were all queer in some way or another. Ty might be monogamous and pretty straight-laced despite being gay, but he was a step closer to being Like Them than a straight man ever could be. "We'll try not to abuse the connection but put in a good word for us, yeah?"
Hearing Dev call Jared a ‘copper’ made him titter a bit himself, it just sounded so quaint with the accent and all. Ty was willing to bet he could charm the pants off of most anyone with that grin and that voice, and from what Greer had told him, they were pretty open to that kind of thing. Ty wasn’t so married that he’d stopped recognizing attractive men, but he knew any group sex ideas were going to stay firmly in the spank bank and that was all. He wouldn’t even know how to begin bringing that up to Jared, especially with a woman involved in the mix. Ty didn’t think that was on any of their minds, of course, but it made him feel warmly secure that it was something he could vaguely ponder and decide that he was totally happy and satisfied with what he already had. “You boys just go light and easy on the crime and I’ve got you covered,” Ty said with a grin. He moved to step around them to continue in the direction he was heading. “Good to see you, I’m gonna do another lap and then I’ll pop by to say hi to Greer.” He was a man on a home decor mission, and he felt even more inspired now with psychic confirmation that it was going to be a good home for them.
"We'll see you then," Dev said warmly and turned his head to watch Ty walk away before he moved to do the same, giving Rost a knowing little look. "His house is haunted," he said and squinted with one eye, his nose wrinkling. "Nothing bad, I don't think. Something small. A cat, maybe?" He paused, eyes narrowing. "Don't say leprechaun." He gave Rost a little side eye and kept walking, smothering a smirk because he knew a leprechaun probably hadn't even been on his mind. "More likely a cat or raccoon sorta creature. Don't think it'll give them any trouble though." Of course his visions were very limited and this one had been brief, but the feeling he got from it was more important than anything he'd seen and it was the kind of feeling that made him a little bit homesick for his childhood home.
Rost’s brows lifted, and then he laughed a bit. “You think me so full of stereotypes?” he asked with mock offense. While he believed in the fae to some degree, leprechauns didn’t regularly run through his thoughts, and over here in the States they mostly seemed like just a way to subtly mock Irish people. Dev knew better than to expect that sort of thing out of Rost, especially as a fellow immigrant. “Do cats and raccoons turn into ghosts?” If anyone around them would know, it would be Devlin, he supposed. Rost would never forget how Dev had so briefly put him in touch with Delle, and he could never thank him enough. “I would be surprised if any houses in this town were not haunted, at least a little.” Hopefully Dev was right and Ty and his husband weren’t purchasing a house with some small-but-wild poltergeist in it or anything.
"This whole town is just one big haunted house," Dev agreed. "A raccoon or a cat would be the least problematic of the lot. And you know, ghosts aren't always sentient things. Sometimes they're just memories, some time glitch, echoes of emotions and dreams." He didn't claim to understand it, but he was privy to seeing and feeling a lot of it so he probably came closer than most. "Our place isn't haunted as far as I know," he added. "So either we did a hell of a job cleansing it or it's just been very uneventful there in the past." He suspected the only thing haunting it now was memories of their grief when Greer had gone missing but they'd gotten her back and they were healing so that made a big difference.
While Greer had been gone, Rost had definitely felt a lingering darkness hanging over them and their dwelling, like the grief and depression and the lack of Greer’s specific light was manifesting as a physical thing. Rost hadn’t felt in his right mind in those days though, so what did he know? If he and Dev had sunk further, maybe their sadness would’ve turned into ghosts. “Maybe both,” Rost said. He gave Dev a wan smile and bumped their shoulders together. “Or we are just too happy to see the glitches and echoes. I like to think our joy keeps it balanced, at least.” Maybe that wasn’t how any of it worked, maybe he was way off base, but it was a nice thought. Rost grinned a bit to see more people in line for Greer’s services as they approached their tent, stepping around them to enter through the side so they could feed their woman.
"Look at our little celebrity," Dev said happily once they were out of earshot. He loved days like these where people were infected with the market vibes and felt more adventurous than they usually did - especially when that meant they were willing to spend money on trinkets and psychics. Greer had so much charisma, it definitely helped when she was working a crowd and Dev couldn't blame anyone for standing in line to see her but he had a feeling word had gotten out she was good and that made him happy. It did look like it might be a while before she actually had time to eat so that was a downside to the whole thing. She did see they were there so maybe she'd take a break as soon as she could to join them, Dev hoped so. "Maybe I'll take advantage of her line," he murmured as he settled down. "Meet and greet with a little prodding for information."
Greer had a way with people that Rost felt like he’d never mastered. He could work a crowd with a guitar in his hands and a song in his throat, but that was the extent of where he felt most comfortable with attention from the public. The people in this town hadn’t ever really ostracized him, but he was the weirdo at the cemetery to a good number of them. Good for selling weed and weird stories. At least he had been, before Greer and Dev. They had really turned so much around for him, inside and out. Rost leaned back in the camping chair he’d brought and gave Dev a little grin. “Nothing wrong with a little crowd survey,” he said. “You should eat first though.” Rost opened his box of food to start doing the same. He wasn’t expending psychic energy like his lovers, but busking was hungry work. “You want an escort?” he asked Dev, his tone light.
Rost was right of course and Dev settled in to take his time for food, not wanting to be completely knackered before the day was even half in. He tittered at the offer and gave Rost a playful smile. "Sure! We'll be prancing around like her private security, patting people down," he joked and it was harder to see Greer from here but he could see enough to not fret about her. It occurred to him this was kind of pointless, poking at random strangers, many of whom were tourists, but he had already prepared to do this and he found that life could be full of surprises. "It'd probably be good though," he tacked on in more seriousness. "You might know someone I don't, let me know who to avoid." He knew plenty of people's faces by now after taking that part time job bartending, but Rost had lived here longer and two minds were more powerful than one.
They did everything as a team anyway, that was how their multi-layered relationship worked, so Rost was more than good with that idea. He didn’t think there were a ton of locals in line to see Greer, but if he did get a bead on someone Dev shouldn’t touch, he was more than happy to shield his lover from witnessing unnecessary trauma if he could. “I have your back,” Rost told Dev with a lopsided grin. He was sure Dev knew that already, but it still felt worth saying. He started to dig into his food to get that part out of the way, so they could both approach this with a little more energy, while Greer did her thing.
Dev just gave him a warm smile at that, because of course he already knew, but just like 'I love you' there were lots of things he never got tired of hearing; affirmations of love. They took care of each other, the three of them, in ways that made it clear that even if the lust ever faded, the love would remain. He'd known that with Greer for a long time, but it had been seriously tested with Rost when Greer disappeared. At this point they had quite literally gone through hell together, a maelstrom of rage and grief and yet they hadn't left each other. It was so easy to love his people on a day like this and it was even easier since he knew they could withstand a storm. He focused on his food for now, enjoying the greasy goodness far more than he did his flat beer. After some make-shift washing of his hands using a water bottle and some tissues, he got up and stretched a little. "You see anyone dodgy out there, love?"
Having food in his stomach improved his mood even further and Rost was feeling pretty lovely as he stood up to look down along the line of patrons waiting for Greer. Some of the faces he didn’t recognize at all and he assumed those were tourists, people in town just for the fair weather and festivals, folks enjoying their summer. He spotted a few locals in line as well, and one of their faces caught his eye. He let out a low grunt and nudged Dev’s arm, nodding toward an older woman clutching her purse about halfway up the line. “She lost a husband,” he said. “Gruesome accident, about six months ago. I have heard she is not doing well.” If Dev wanted to avoid seeing something horrible, he might want to skip her. “Other than that ... I either do not know them or do not know any of their secrets.” He couldn’t guarantee there was nothing dodgy about the Point Pleasant citizens in line, considering they lived in Point Pleasant, but Rost didn’t really know any of the others.
Strangely the warning just made Dev want to go touch the woman, just in case he could tell her something reassuring about her husband's death. Dev wasn't above conning people, filling in the gaps that his psychic abilities left open, but he didn't always take money for it. Some people were so desperate and so hurting that taking their money felt filthy to him and he knew his lovers were the same. Greer probably didn't need a warning from them, she had good insight into people, much more so than Dev did at times, but Dev half wanted to tell her as well, just so she knew. "So many tourists," he sighed. "I see a couple of guys from the bar though, so those are definitely locals.”
Since the widow was in line to get a tarot reading, it stood to reason that she was looking for some comfort or reassurance about her dead husband, but Rost also felt sure that Greer would pick up on that on her own. Both of his partners were incredibly gifted people-readers, even beyond their psychic abilities. He just hoped she was continuing to be careful with her hands -- he could only imagine how taxing it was to risk seeing someone else’s death every few minutes as the line moved along. “So are you going to go molest them?” Rost asked him with a wan little smile. It wasn’t an easy thing to make light of, and maybe he shouldn’t, but their lives had to have some levity to them, didn’t they?
"Nah, I only wanna molest you," Dev said cheerfully as he let his hands wander playfully over Rost's torso for a few seconds, then laughed softly. "But yeah, I'll go take a quick gander, see if I pick up on anything." He reached around to give Rost's butt a little pinch, then sashayed on out of the tent again, tucking his hair behind his ears. The line wasn't too long but he still headed to the end of it and greeted the people there and offered them a free palm reading while they waited, something light and fun and hopefully informative for him. It was comforting to know Rost was right there with him, ready to get him grounded if he needed it but so far nothing bad seemed to jump out at him. The people he was touching might have trauma but it wasn't close to the surface today. He took his time, letting the widow Rost warned him about make it to Greer so he didn't need to talk to her or touch her. Palm reading was easy, even when he got nothing from the person psychically, he could read some lines and cold-read their personality enough to make sense to them. It wasn't until he took the hand of a man who just arrived that he actually saw and felt something that made him feel a little chilly. Fog again, ghostly wisps of it curling around their ankles. It didn't hit him as strongly as the first time it had happened but it made his breath catch a bit. He didn't need the bottle he'd given Rost though, quick to gather his composure and tell the man something he wanted to hear. He pulled Rost aside after that, shaking his head. "I feel like something is coming," he said quietly. "I keep seeing the fog... Or a fog. I don't think it's a memory."
After the brief groping, Rost had grabbed his guitar to follow Devlin out of the tent, providing a bit of background music to the palm readings for atmosphere, plucking out little melodies to match the vibe of Dev’s words. It was all part of the collective crowd work they’d all gotten so good at providing for each other while they were out doing things like this. He kept an eye on Dev, ready to step in and pull him away if he seemed in distress. Rost’s fingers kept plinking and plucking as he caught the brief look of distress on Dev’s face when he took the man’s hand, but his lover recovered quickly enough. Once they were off to the side, he frowned softly at Dev’s words, his brow furrowing with concern. “Something like the fog before?” he asked, though he was sure Dev didn’t fully know. He was only getting glimpses of fleeing spiritual things, nothing solid or self-explanatory. That was how it was with the spiritual world.
"It doesn't feel like the same kind," Dev said though it was hard to explain or even fully comprehend. Spiritual things could be like dreams, so clear in the moment and then fading so fast when the moment had passed. "It might not even mean actual fog, it might be something else, symbolism." He rolled his eyes at that because if this was meant as a message then would it kill the powers that be to be a little clearer? "With the lady earlier it was kind of like that fog they use at clubs, floating all over the counter. This time it was on the ground, it reached up to my calves, no higher than that. I still got this-" he trailed off and waved his hands around as if he could draw his meaning into the air between them. "Like it was everywhere. Like I was trapped in it, but not."
That was indeed the problem with these kinds of things, all of the ambiguity and up-for-interpretation nature of it all. It could be literal, especially in this town, or it could mean something completely different, but in general it sounded bad. Rost nodded at Dev’s description and nibbled on his bottom lip for a thoughtful moment. Without any specifics, they couldn’t even really prepare for disaster beyond ‘something else bad might be coming.’ “We will stay watchful,” Rost murmured, reaching out to squeeze Dev’s arm. “And hope we have time before whatever it is comes along.” What else could they do?
Dev knew they couldn't stay closely huddled all the time, there was work and the simple need for solitude every so often, but he still had a feeling they would be okay this time around. Like their Big Thing had already happened and fate couldn't be so cruel as to inflict more so soon. He knew that was gobshite, fate didn't work that way, but sometimes gobshite was all a man had to hold onto. "It didn't feel urgent," he said, though at this point he was reading more into what he'd seen than what was really there. "And I didn't feel sad, so that's something, right?" He raised his arm to grasp Rost's arm as well, linking them together in a tight grip that was more intimate than it looked to the people around them. "We'll weather this storm just fine."
The lack of a sense of urgency was a bit reassuring, and Rost gave him a smile with more strength behind it. “Just like all the others,” he agreed. There had really only been one major storm in their time together so far, but it had been big enough and bad enough that it seemed like dozens of them. And they’d come through it. They’d gotten extremely lucky that Greer had come back, but they’d gotten through it anyway. He dipped in to kiss Dev’s cheek, then squeezed his arm once more before he let go. “Come, let us drum up some more business on this fine afternoon.” There was money to be made, and if there was more foggy darkness coming for them, they needed to enjoy the sunshine while they could.