Overview

Oh so many mixed emotions x3 but good to hear

I think at this point, I'd say let's table option 1 for now. Velvet has Robin on that string, so she's open to exploring more with Velvet even if they don't go do something right now. And Robin wouldn't object to Velvet stopping off to pick something up.

There is 2 potential stops actually (sorry for lateness, 4 hours away from home due to work trip bleeehhhg) One is a potential moment where velvet pulls robin to the side somewhere not infront of the twins home, and helps her explore a little bit of this... new line of thought Two... well velvet forgot something she needs to grab before the party One is optional, two is... a little more "needs to be addressed IC"

Selene intends on arriving with Charlotte as well if possible, if only to at least make sure she gets there safe and sound! Unless Charlotte ditches her which is also both entirely possible and possibly on brand for Selene.

Gotcha. Yeah, Robin doesn't have anywhere to stop. She might anxiously check her phone since she still hasn't heard from Charlotte, but she wouldn't stop off anywhere. I'll let @DreamsnThings chime in if she has an idea.

Well, if you're stopping somewhere it would be the next scene. Otherwise the next scene is at the party.

Originally, yes. Velvet planned on stopping off somewhere with Robin, but I think we ended up chewing the scene a bit longer on the heart (which I love) and haven't gotten there. @DreamsnThings I'm happy to follow your lead here, if you still want to do a little something in the Hotness thread before we get to the party. Otherwise, I think we could show up looking hot and bad and with 'an energy' between Robin and Velvet that hasn't fully resolved yet.

Selene is just going to her place really quick to get changed, and then going to the party!

I haven't quite figured it out either. If I don't, Dylan mopes in the basement for tonight. I'm sure they'll sneak over to Playland tomorrow, if only because they're out of fingers.

Hmm. I'm not sure how to compel Dylan to join the party. I guess we'll have to get back to them at some point. Are Velvet and Robin going to somewhere before the party? Is Selene doing anything before the party?

*unnerving cello slowly plays behind silent cuts between Dylan in the basement, Selene's mounting worry, and Velvet and Robin's intense closeness. The only sound is the dull strike of the chisel hitting the table, growing faster with each moan from the cello*

Well, I think Dylan just did the most Hollow shit ever. Sorry.

TW: Self harm I'm not sure how Dylan ended up their darkest self here, but it's where we are, I guess. Dylan slunk home, consumed by their inability to act like a normal person. Billy was right. Freak. They wanted to see Robin, but freaks don't go to parties. They wait in basements until the people who have uses for them show up and give them purpose and value. The shadows were lengthening as the sun dropped slowly toward the horizon, sating the light orange and washing the tree line road to the empty house in amber. Dylan felt like an insect preserved in that amber - a creature, not quite dead, but frozen, waiting for - 'What?' they asked themself as they climbed the weather beaten wooden stairs. Dylan regarding the faded, peeling paint of the door and smiled. 'For someone to have some use for you.' The door pleased them - it was beaten, worn and stuck rather than locked, Perfect house for a freak. They forced it open, dropped their bag of new clothes on the floor and wrestled the door closed behind them before disappearing down the stairs to the quiet dark of the basement. There were more of them stored in drawers. They never moved. Each slightly different, but all wore Dylan's face. They pulled open the drawer and thought about getting in but didn't. Instead, they took another eXstasy and sat on the work bench and started playing with a chisel -stabbing it into the bench between her outstretched fingers. Eventually, they'd miss and the hurt would make sense again.

I'm cool with moving forward!

Go? Selene's attention turned towards Dylan. She had mostly managed to wipe away the tears by the time she'd faced them. Somehow they looked to be in even worse condition than she was, and for some reason the sight of her companion's trembling hand stabbed at her heart with guilt. If she had not asked Dylan to join her then things might not have turned out so poorly for them. Her greed for more friends had caused this, at least to some degree. "It's not" she whispered, taking a moment then to clear her throat before speaking again with the tiny shred of confidence remaining within her body. "It's not your fault, Dylan. I really appreciate what you've done for me." Meth was not something to mess with. Her books had made that clear, at least the very few times it was referenced. Why Dylan wanted any of that stuff was a mystery to her, but at the moment she was too worn down mentally to pursue her curiosity. Besides, Dylan deserved some privacy after everything they'd gone through. Sorry? With a confused wave Selene bid her companion farewell. "Um. I hope to see you at the party!" she added before turning her attention back towards Charlotte. The almost naked Charlotte. A hint of pink returned to her face, but she was still a bit out of it following the slap, and it was enough to at least let her focus on other tings in the moment. Not that she didn't take a brief glance over the girl's form, her curiosity was still quite the powerful force, but one could misconstrue it for a reaction following Charlotte's mention of needing new clothes. For a few moments Selene awkwardly waited, letting Charlotte get herself dressed. Dark orbs darted about the room, seeking out any item that might have belonged to Billy, anything important enough, small enough, and close enough that she might be able to snatch it up without being noticed. Something deep within her urged her to repay Billy for the words he'd levied upon her new possible friend. Fingers nervously rubbed together within clasped hands as she did her very best to ignore those thoughts. When Charlotte returned and offered an apology Selene, who had by now mostly calmed down, managed to put on a smile. "It is okay. You didn't do anything wrong. And Robin was just worried. I think that is normal for family. Not that I have a sibling myself." Billy was in the wrong. But she understood that it was possible to feel guilty by association. "It's just the drugs anyways, right? A-and he didn't really hurt me that much. It's okay." If nothing else she could at least try to convince herself that he wasn't a terrible person, the sort of person she didn't mind hexing. "I should go though. I need to get ready for the party too. We can go together if you'd like, I just need to stop at home really quick to change!"

Hmm. Seems like we're arrive at a new scene transition. I need to read through the b thread, but I think the next scene is the party.

She lets out an exasperated sigh and puts her hands on her hips. She didn't have time to put on any bottoms, though her oversized shirt covered her well enough. "Robin sent you!? I can't believe it. I've been sleeping over at Billy's. It no big deal." After another dramatic sigh she says: "I need clean clothes anyways." She heads into the bedroom to get dressed. There was a bus leaving in a little bit and she didn't really want to stick around until Billy returned. She hated it when he was grumpy. After changing she again apologized to Selene "Again I'm sorry. He's not always like that."

Patune's thick twist of tentacles twisted and pulsed inside Magda, as his blood lust boiled. She felt herself slipping into his primal need to dominate, joining in his excitement. She felt the mass driver fail to reload and sent a thought to a bundle of muscles that supported the mechanism to flex, inching the steel mass past the snag. Patune could feel Magda's excitement, the pleasure of his coiling interface on her naked skin and it flooded him with the drive to prove his dominance. He roared and lumbered forward. The mass driver meant nothing to him. His instinct was to fend and tear. he lowered his gait, putting the mass and strength of his legs low and behind him, ready to drive into and through the kaiju. Magda was his. His thick tentacles slithered over her, squeezing protectively and possessively, Inside her he writhed, reminding her of how exquisite his presence was. Magda opened her mouth, drawing another tendril in with a gentle suck, She triggered the rail gun as Patune's foot dug into the earth and drove them forward. With Scylla free to help Patches, the pair broke the last of the drone's signal defenses. They had control. //Kaiju, rolled 2 using 1d6. Target (1-4 Patune, 5 Scylla, 6 Granite). Just for fun, would you like to take a turn with the kaiju attacking Patune?

Robin listened, her lips pinching together against the waves of emotion rocking between the two girls as her pale eyes glimmered in the starlight. Velvet's cool had collapsed, and now, in a state more vulnerable than she'd ever seen her, Robin heard the honest admission of how Velvet had expected this to fail... how she'd expected Robin to run away. And it broke her heart. Reaching up tenderly, Robin's thumb caressed the black tear trailing mascara down Velvet's cheek, stopping it and wiping it away and drying it with a little dab of white jacket sleeve, the dark makeup blossoming in a penny-sized stain on the cuff. In a whisper meant only for the other girl's ears, Robin said, "No matter what happens, I will always be your friend." And sliding her arms over Velvet's shoulders, Robin sank into an hug, pulling Velvet against her and squeezing, her fingers bunching the white T-shirt at the back before releasing it to rest her open palms against her instead. She lay in that hug long enough to feel the chill of the night breeze on her legs again—despite the summer heat, the wind off the sea always held a touch of the cold depths behind it. And as Robin hugged Velvet tightly, she began to rub the other girl's back. But it seemed as much as she held her and caressed her, she couldn't get the other girl warm. Robin didn't know what this meant or where it was going—not really. She knew that she'd been so terrified of being seen as a lesbian that she'd never stopped to consider whether she may actually be one. She knew she liked boys. She knew her feelings about Derek and the way she thought about Dylan while lying in her bed were real. But so was this. These feelings clinging to Velvet, feeling her softness and kindness... feeling the expression of the other girl's affection against her skin... this was all real too. Didn't she owe it to Velvet to at least... see...? It wasn't like she was actually with anyone else... not right now. The God she had believed in loved the world... didn't she at least have enough love to spare for Velvet? It was confusing, but Robin decided in that moment, no matter how confusing it was, she wasn't going to run from her friend. She wouldn't hide or turn her back on Velvet. Not for anything. Slowly releasing the hug, Robin smiled and pushed a bit of Velvet's dark hair out from her eyes, admiring the way the purple dye caught the moonlight. "Do you... still feel like going to the party?" Robin asked shyly. "I-if you wanted to... maybe talk...? Maybe talk a little more, I'd be ok with that. We can be a little late. But I think we should get out of Sam and Lizzie's driveway."

As Billy sped off Dylan was glad they hadn't run away. Instead they hurried to Selene's side. They reached to touch the smaller woman but stopped short. The freak label strong in their mind and uncertain if they would get it on Selene. "Lene," they began, voice shaking and hand trembling, "I- I- I'm sorry. That was my fault. I should go - " At Charlotte's offer of meth, Dylan cut themself off and looked over their shoulder to the lot Billy had just sped away from. "Seems to make people mean. Maybe not so good for a party, but I could use some. I can't pay you though." Dylan turned to the door and headed out, "Tell Robin I'm sorry."

awkwardly clears throat well looking away

Aww, thanks! And I love the Velvet panic, it's incredibly cute and the underlying tension of whatever her arrangement is with Mr. Ascars is just winding in the background like this rubberband I'm expecting to snap back at any second. ❤

ok, your post was so good I had a hard time following it up. but I have replied, and velvet has panick, with a hard K

one... two.. three... four... five..... second after second passed in quiet silence after velvet finished her impromptu confession, her face slowly turning from pale pink, to pink, to a deep pink, to mild red, to a full on cherry like hue. as she marinated in her own admission of affection she frankly had planned to ignore well taking care of what she had to do tonight. But fuck... if robin was not the antithesis of what velvets "dark master" was... a simple, mortal, Christian girl who just wanted to worry about which boy she liked, school, and the occasional douch bag.... whom typically made for an easy target to guiltlessly remove from the town more recently... hell the only reason Derek hasn't met mr ascars was because robin was way too obvious that she saw... something in that jerk... and his name was not expressly on the list... which was why when velvet saw robins name... well that was all besides the point. back to robin, her cute habits, her sweet pure mindset, and her adorable naivety velvet felt like she only had this... one shot to say what she wanted to, to who she wanted to, before things got... complicated... To velvets surprise, it... actually worked? she did not think she would get this far, as velvets lips unexpectedly locked with robins.. the gothic girl seemed to freeze in her pose, nervous and a little panicked as she hesitantly wrapped the good Christian girl in a tender hug. robin.. has not really seen velvet like this before, more often than not she portrayed herself as calm and collected, vocalizing her own mindset to "do what makes you happy, even if it doesnt fit in a specific niche... maybe that was it, the reason she was popular, even at a surface level, is because she seemed to absolutely not care about fitting in, despite trying to make a connection everywhere... velvet just wanted people to embrace what made people unique... and part of what made velvet unique... was that she liked robin, so even though she knew she was going to get shot down by the hetero Christian cutie, she wanded to embrace it and get it out of the way... so how did she end up with her own lips slowly, gingerly, meshing with robins.. this wasnt the same eager, exploring, teasing kiss from inside the twins room. this was hesitant, careful, nervous... almost like velvet was holding a baby bird rather than kissing her crush. her eyes wide, all of her confidence gone in a puff of smoke.. she was able to wantonly kiss her earlier because she knew where things were going, and despite her wants she knew it wouldnt go anywhere... but velvet told robin that she liked her... loved her even. and robin decided to kiss her. this was real now. suddenly it felt like robin was the one with more experience now, with velvet not seeming to know where to put her hands. not knowing what to do as all her prior experience seemed to fly out the window. as robin broke the kiss, a soft sad noise leaving velvet before robin spoke... her words sweet as honey as velvet looked like a deer caught in the headlights, a few beats passing as she seemed completely lost for words, finally collecting herself she chimed in "hun, no uhm... robin... I can honestly say that.... what I mean is... oh screw it" velvet used one hand to hide her own face, taking a few quick breaths as she tried to calm down, getting her thoughts out all in one breath "robin-you-are-really-really-cute-wonderful-awesome-sweet-and-really-really-great,-I... Really did not expect A positive response I was hopeful to even stay friends after that, if im being honest." a tired laugh left her lips, a little mascara running down her cheek as one of the tears that was hidden in the shadows of her... eyeshadow slipped free. velvet... had no idea what she was going to do now... and she could not be happier about it.

Perhaps she should have listened to Dylan. Heeded their warning. Not the freak part, because she didn't really think that it was true, but the part about stopping? Dylan knew better than she did. Billy's reaction to her approach was both unexpected and, due to this, far too quick for her to react to. A single loud slap of flesh against flesh instantly gave way to sharp ringing and a searing heat across her face. Selene wasn't very strong, at least not physically, and found herself off balance from the strike, stumbling until she thankfully managed to get a blind grip against a nearby chair. It was enough to keep her on her feet, to recover at least enough that she could remain standing. Tears welled up within her eyes, blurring her vision, both from the shock and the pain. She kept her head down to protect herself from another anticipated blow, but also out of shame. Shame for her tears. Shame for her failure to help Dylan. Shame for her crumbling confidence. Selene didn't want to look at anyone, nor did she want anyone looking at her. Failing this badly, let alone getting hit for it, was not something that she was used to. I don't think he is a nice person. His words stung almost as sharply as the slap. It wasn't the first time that she had been called a freak, but paired with the physical assault? That hurt quite a bit. It was not something that she could get used to, but given the reactions today that others had to Dylan, she had to imagine that they were far more used to it. Or, at least, more familiar with it. Dylan was certainly stronger than she was. As footsteps approached Selene lifted an arm, wiping it across her face. It helped to clear tears, to dull the pain in her face if even just a little bit, but most importantly it kept her hidden. All she wanted to do in the moment was curl up in her secret spot and be alone. Unfortunately that wasn't possible. There were things to do and she did not know any sort of hex that might allow her to simply teleport away from where she was now. With a sniffle and a hushed whimper the witch rubbed her face with her arm, cleared away what she could, and then lowered it to her side. "I-it's okay" she lied, mostly to herself. Charlotte's words were enough to cheer her up somewhat, as her presence meant that they had at least been successful. They had located her, and she was safe! And now she was offering to sell them drugs. Probably. It wasn't really anything that she expected. She lifted her gaze to meet with Charlotte's, eyes blinking in order to clear away more of the tears that were trying to form. The ringing was starting to clear away. Something urged her to go with. Not to look at drugs, but to look for something that she could take. Something belonging to Billy. For the moment she resisted, if only for Charlotte's sake. She didn't want to steal something and get her into trouble for it. "I've never done drugs" Selene replied, a hint ashamed at the answer. Both Charlotte and Dylan had. Was she the only one who hadn't? Would there be drugs at the party? At the moment she could focus on other things. A slight smile returned to her lips. "I'm glad to see you are okay though. Robin was worried about you."