Stranger Still [Satine]

[Every]

Jayden had told her about Satine before she’d seen the woman with her own eyes, the idea of Velveteen having a twin sister had been laughed off that the male was delusional. In the years that Every had known Vel, she’d never heard any mention of it. But, that had changed when she’d entered Pandemonium one evening to find her sire and step-sire amongst an argument about the fact Micah’d turned Velveteen’s twin sister - not that it had been outright said. A new sibling. It wasn’t something that surprised the woman after maintaining the family tree for so long, watching the line itself developing.

The only thing that really had bothered Every was the fact she’d owed Jayden an apology.

Apologies, though they were becoming common to her lips, weren’t something that Every enjoyed giving out, but she’d found a compromise - rather than vocalizing it, she’d just written it on a taco pizza using hot sauce. It hadn’t been too creative, but he was a guy and he liked food. It worked.

But, it still took Every a while to get to the point where she was ready to properly meet her sibling.

After the Auction, the idea had been playing in her mind for a bit. She figured it was about time and after getting the address to Wonderland from Jayden, the brunette asked Cody to watch after Apparition before leaving. Making her way to one of the unoccupied shops in the Clocktower, Every removed the piece of paper from her pocket and focused on the address - a quick look through her wraith’s eyes told her that the area was empty. It took her less than a minute to teleport there.

Clubs were something that Every was familiar with. She’d gone out dancing when she wasn’t studying, it had been something she’d enjoyed with Lia in the past and even now, she still would make her way out to the Metronome when she felt like it. She expected loud music, a line of customers. What she didn’t expect to see was the door hanging sideways - the familarity of it, a sigh escaping past her lips as she reached underneath the hem of her shirt, her fingertips moving to brush against the belt loops of her jeans and collected her favorite blade.

The further she went inside, the further Every recognized the scents around her. Micah, the smell of blood, his blood, the very blood that had given her another chance at life - only because the man himself had ended her first one to begin with. The second scent was something she was familiar with - gunpowder and as the sole of her boot touched something, Every took a step back and crouched down to recognize a shell casing.

It was definitely her sire’s work.

Her hazel eyes took in the damage around her from the bullet holes in the wall to the blood splattered across the blue and black floor, lifting to the ceiling as she heard a squeaking sound to find that even the light fixture hanging. She could only shake her head when her eyes finally found the body lying on the ground. Months ago, she would have been worried at the recognition. It would have started a panicked sentence directed at her sire that would sent the man into a violent rage, but as Every crouched down beside the woman, she knew it wasn’t who she would have thought it to be. With her forearms on her thighs, she frowned.

“Do I even want to ask what you did to piss him off?”

[Satine]

Sometimes what seems like a great idea turns out to be anything but that when the smoke finally clears. The sounds of metal working back and forth in a way that it wasn’t meant to was the only sign that something had to give and was going to ready or not. The sound of air parting under the force of dead weight dropping through was the last clue when the lighting fixture above the dance floor had held on as long as it could. The crash of it’s mass to the too blue flooring sent the shattering shards of glass back into the air like shimmering confetti. Silver orbs fighting to blink watched the floating pieces land around her. Her mind and her mouth still had no reliable connection and what was meant to be something close to ‘Holy **** I think I am dying’ came out as far from that as possible.

“Ditch choo! Sip!”

A soft clink next to her ear told her that she just lost one of her teeth with her bizarre words. Despite the obvious physical damage done she still knew it was a good idea to close her lips and keep what she had left. Which she quickly did.

Every single part of her body was on fire with pain that she couldn’t see any sort of end to. In fact, when she tried to move she was aware of just how many single hair follicles she actually had on her whole head. With the path of the bullet that was likely lodged somewhere too deep to reach she was feeling air in places she shouldn’t. It was getting really old. Being a storm chaser was starting to cost her a little more every time she stood in the path of the merciless eye of Hurricane Andras.

Her hand floated around awhile and finally made a landing over her face. She was too weak to even stop the stream of air floating into her skull with the power of self-healing. All her energy went to fighting Mr. Crab ***. Her body lifted and twisted as much as she could manage with part of her back blown all to hell. That was about as far as she got before other parts of her body decided against her wishes and it all went back to where it was before she started.

The battle worn necromancer figured if she rode out the next twenty four or more hours perhaps Bugs, Furious George, Juice or Percy would peel her *** off the dance floor while sweeping the place up. If not then someone was damn well losing their blow torch. A series of steps approaching caught her frayed attention but she was screwed if she was expected to react. A voice broke through as the scent of cool vampire she couldn’t recall meeting lingered over the space blocking her view of the shattered ceiling above her.

Piss him off was it? Oh she had a few words to say about that.

“Pits tish!”

With that announced she moved painfully slow but determined. Satine was damned that anyone she didn’t know beforehand was going to get to see her down and out on her back like she lost, which she really did. Her body lifted up to sit and her legs pulled forward until she felt she had enough surface beneath her questionable feet to stand on. A tip forward and she felt weaker than ever yet stronger just for rising to brace the ground in front of her with the her open palms. Her fingers inched closer together until her fingertips propped her up a little more. She pushed down and rose to her feet. A little dizzy and predictably wobbly the petite bloody headed necro was ready to face who walked in. She had next to nothing left to offer in another confrontation but what the hell. Not like that ever stopped her before.

[Every]

It was certainly a comfort, to have a sibling that was a bigger **** up than she was. At least, that was how Every felt when she had learned about the volatile relationship that Micah had with Satine being worse than the one she herself shared with the man on occasion. The brunette felt this thought register through her mind a second time as she took in the damage that had gone through the club. But, it was also a refreshing scene - Every couldn’t help but think that while Satine was a dumbass for how she must have gone about to bring out the beast, she had earned her respect. There was an obvious fight, and there weren’t many that could dish it out and take it, too.

Her eyebrow lifted at the response given to her by the necromancer. “What the **** is pish tits?”

It wasn’t as if she hadn’t felt the brunt of her sire’s fury, but it usually ended up with migraines and long periods of silence. Not confusion. Appraising the other woman’s wounds, Every gave a soft shake of her head. A click of her tongue. “I’m going to assume you just told me to piss off. And if that were the case, **** you. Jayd sent me.” Straightening up, Every rolled her shoulders. Her weight was shifted from one foot to the other, pushing out one hip as she moved her hands to settle on them. Had she been closer in distance to Satine, she would have moved to help the other stand up, but instead, it was easier to observe her sibling.

Mentally, she couldn’t help but think how eerie it was that while she looked like Vel, their taste in style was different. It was a bit of a relief, a stronger reassurance that her sire’s wife certainly hadn’t gotten attacked while the faction was clueless to the act. “Micah did a doozy on your venue, but blood is easy enough to wash out. Bullet holes are easy to hide with shadows.” Her hazel eyes went from Satine to the walls, the smears across the flooring and back. She fixed the woman with a pointed smirk, clearly amused. “I remember when they found out about you. They argued in front of me, and I called Jayden crazy. Interesting, however, as it is to properly meet you, I doubt you know me.” As she spoke, the shadow checked to see if any humans lingered in the area before she begun to summon a few spirits.

Afterwards, she stepped forward and held up her hands to show she meant no harm. “I’m Every, or Eve. Every Andras.”

[Satine]

Satine had a hard time standing straight when her legs felt like she was trying to rely on jelly to keep her *** off the floor. What was it going to take? She gave the woman the focus of her good eye while the other twitched and finally rolled back leaving a white show for what was surprisingly hanging on in it’s socket.

**** her? Well, **** her too.

The damaged vampiress let the thoughts stay right where they were. Chances are with the way her luck was going they would seep out of her ear canal or a bleeding nostril anyways. Her unusually pale hand found its way after a few flips and flops on the way up to her nose. One her fingers were cool with a coating of her own blood she wiped the evidence on the back of her skirt.

She boldly leaned over and after a long series of pinch and fumble attempts she corrected her stance to have the majority of her petite body teetering on her right foot. The tooth that had dropped out of her mouth was held gingerly as her busted fingers tried several times to slip it into the micro pocket at the front waistline of her black a-line pencil skirt. A skirt that had become something that given it’s condition would likely be used for rags or just burned altogether. Once A cracked nail caught on the material the other fingers somehow managed to stuff the pearly white down into the pocket.

“Sisni goot bifs.” Her attempt to say that the place would be good as new and hopefully quash any reports back to the unstable Hurricane Andras came out once again like she had a mouth full of marbles to work around. “Fut!”

While adjusting her shreds of blood saturated top over her bruised stiff shoulders she winced the eye that she had left to rely on. What was that? Her mind was in the processing department but she hears something that stuck hard and clear. Jayd. It was so difficult for her to refrain from repeating his name. A whisper came out instead as she stood there nearly defenseless to the effects of what she was unprepared for. Like something good had found a way to reach her and touch those places she hid really deep.

Could it be true? Even after the distance, the conflict and inner wars between her sister, her sire and the family that Jayd risked coming to her aid and did what the woman claimed? He sent the woman she was staring at, or at least giving her one eyed best effort at doing. Her silver orb tracked the hands that were lifted up to reveal no immediate threat. Not that she could do anything about it if there was. Spirits appeared and still she waited. No move was made towards the one source she had learned could give her just enough strength to repair what was in dire need on her body.

Every Andras.

Satine's tender jaw knotted up when the woman said it. It was announced with the tone that left no question she was proud to say it. She felt the ditance and it was suddenly colder to be standing where she was. It seemed like a universe away from where she should be. Or was it really?

Finally she made an effort to get hold of the one thing that gave her strength that was still currently in the club. A series of random clicks and groans from her lips she covered an impressive yard, give or take a few feet to where her custom weapon was still in one piece. A relief filled her that could only be topped by her body being wound free. Her left hand took hold of the ax that Micah had given to her. Chester. A bloody hand held on to the gift that would keep on giving. Just as soon as kings people residing in her twisted version of Wonderland came and put her humpty dumpty *** back together again.

“Saps.” She held it up her ax and lifted the opposite arm until she felt a mind blowing sharp pain jolt up from the movement to her brain which she was starting to feel. Her hands went up further to show she was not making any moves. Another spasm.“Fut!”

[Every]

Her eyebrow lifted as she watched Satine. She couldn’t remember the last time that she had irritated Micah along the lines of physical assault. But then again, it wasn’t irregular for the petite shadow to end up with some sort of wound in her body - gunshots, gashes from swords. Occasionally, she would find herself with a missing limb; for sometime, it was always her arm. It was part of the reason she’d learned to heal herself from the mystic path. She’d gotten tired of always being covered in holes.

As the woman spoke, Every was reminded of Sims. The video game, and how the characters spoke in jibberish. In some ways, it was amusing. In other ways, particularly in the way that Every was trying to socialize with her ‘sibling’, it was a rightful pain in her ***.  

“You’re going to hurt yourself worse.” She mused, watching Satine’s actions. She glanced around Wonderland again and mentally shook her head. If her sire did that to her studio… well, needless to say he would be paying for every broken square inch of the place - and likely rebuilding it too. “You do realize I don’t understand a single word you’ve said, yes? He likely caught you in the side of the brain that functions with speech.”

It wouldn’t be the first time, nor the last. “He’s got the tendency to rage.”

Her hands gestured with a ‘rawr’ clawed motion. Her head inclined as she caught the sound of the whisper, but missed what had been said. Every didn’t know much about this woman, but she did know that Jayden was fond of her. And when Jayden was fond of someone, sans the insanity that she had to save him from regularly, Every knew they had to be a good person at heart. But, anyone that could irritate Micah on a regular note was also someone that she found interesting enough to hold a conversation with.

“I told you that you were going to hurt yourself more.” She stated and gave a shake of her head, holding out her palm. “Here, let me help you.”