The Buzz [Hive Interactions]

[Adley Reed]

* Adley Reed returned from yet another job, and another romp through the sewers to find a wilder kind of meal. Sometimes, the jobs Adley went to were like crime scenes out of a Tarantino movie - so much blood, and Adley had to try to resist giving in to his frenzy until later. At least the denizens in the sewers provided him with a struggle - a way to kill them, afterwards, in order to sate the uncanny lust that always resided within him. When he walked through the door, his hair was splattered with grime, as was the rest of him. He had to pause just inside the front door to remove his shoes and jacket, so as not to bring his filth further into The Hive.


* Indigo was just finished with the dishes and glanced at the door while she rubbed lotion into her hands. The scent of honey and vanilla was subtle as her hands worked back and forth. Catching sight of Adley confirmed he had been out and about busy doing whatever he did when he was working. She didn't ask at that particular moment what it was this time. Instead she gave him his space and smiled. "Welcome back." She crossed the space between them eyeing the pit of pillows in the center of the room.


* Adley Reed didn't miss doing the dishes - even if he did sometimes do them to keep himself busy while the other ate. Most of the time, however, he had no need to use any dishes. He offered a gleaming smile to Indigo as she welcomed him, proceeding to remove his jeans, too, so that he could bundle the dirtiest clothes into a ball, ready to be tossed into the washing machine. They needed a nice, long, hot wash if they were going to be salvaged. In the end, he stood in only his boxers and a white tank top. He sauntered past Indigo, blowing gently into her ear as he passed, headed for the kitchen and the detergent that would help to release the rest of the grime from his skin. "How's your night been?" He’d seen the way she had eyed the pillows; but it was just the two of them, and Adley resisted.


* Indigo moved towards the pillows and a kiss in the air found her just before her cloud of curls hit the lumps of fabric beneath her. A flop of her long limbs had her popping back up to watch Adley make his way in his boxers and tank top with the clothes bundled up that he needed to clean. "Good. Had the fun task of covering up the mirrors and filling out applications, went shopping for once instead of leaving it for Kaspar." She called out as he disappeared from view. "How about you?" Her eyes followed her fingers as she played with the tassels on the pillow next to her.


* Adley Reed didn't rush to clean himself, but nor did he dawdle. "Mmm. There was another shooting, in Stag Heath. I got some good shots. Sold them," he said. He didn't tell her about the sewers, or what he got up to down there. If she asked, he might tell her. He might reveal to her how hard it was the night he'd met her - how the scent of her blood had driven him near madness. The dirty clothes were swiftly taken to the machine, and when Adley came back he was wearing a slightly concerned expression. "Kaspar left in a hurry. I haven't seen him in two nights. He left that note... have you heard from him?"


* Indigo looked to the ceiling as she listened and thought about shots when they were mentioned. She needed to get a new portfolio whipped up. Perhaps Adley would be free to take the pictures. Nothing huge but it would make it easier than searching for a photographer that wouldn't charge her and arm or a leg. Shootings were frequent. Obviously the guys were like Superman and could handle a speeding bullet. "No." She figured with the mention of Kaspar being MIA for a couple nights that he had been with the wife and son or working as well. She certainly wasn't going to invade his space and ask for details she didn't need to know. "Maybe the wife and son had a thing going on they needed him for?" Indigo looked to Adley as he reappeared and noticed his expression. "Why? You worried about him or...?"


* Adley Reed shrugged his shoulders. He was eyeing those cushions like they were heaven and he was barred, just outside the gates. Rather than make himself comfortable in the pile of softness, he wandered over to the kitchen bench and took one of the stools, half sitting half leaning, one foot up on the rung and the other stretched out in front of him. He could still talk to Indigo this way. "Maybe. He just seemed a bit off, recently. I'm sure he'll be back soon," he said with another small shrug.


* Indigo propped up on her elbows and stared across the space into the kitchen where Adley was choosing to sit instead of on the white chaise that Kaspar likely wouldn't mind him using or the long sectional sofa behind her or perhaps even the hundred other pillows in the pit that had no contact with her. "I am confident he will to. Don't worry, Adley. Kaspar talks when he is ready. He has never had a problem saying what is on his mind." She inhaled deep and held it then pinned her gaze back on him. "So, how about what is on your mind. You seem heavy with thought."


* Adley Reed had no idea what she was talking about, at first. Whatever concern was in his expression shifted to confusion, before the confusion abated. He chewed on the inside of his lip as he considered what to say - if anything. Although Kaspar and Jameson met his needs in so many ways, there was always that one thing that he couldn't have, and it was the thing he wanted the most. It was sitting right in front of him, and yet it was so far away. Adley had never been too good at saying what was on his mind, however. So instead of saying anything, he just smiled. A broad smile, one that even touched his eyes. "Nothing is on my mind, Bee," he said. But he knew exactly how to appease her. "I just sold my apartment. The tiny little shoebox I was in before coming here. I need to sort some things out. Move my stuff..."


* Indigo sat up and folded her arms over her knees when they came towards her chest. Once he smiled it was like it was contagious. Her lips felt the lift at the corners of her mouth and she smiled even more when he called her Bee. The news that followed was even better. "If you need help I am happy to do what I can. Cleaning or whatever. Just let me know and I can find some time to be there." Perhaps he didn't do well with change and that could be what she sensed or perhaps like Kaspar he had his own plate full with the issues that inevitably would be present given the hot and cold blood combo they were working into cohabitating under one roof. "Promise you will ask if you need me for anything? I can pack like a pro."


* Kaspar chose that particular moment to step into the house, quiet as a ghost, letting the door creak shut behind him. The man lowered his guitar case as he walked towards the bathroom, discarding it. He saw Indigo amongst the cushions as per usual, the talk of packing intriguing him but not enough to stay and question it. His lips brushed her forehead on the way by, and a wave given in Adley's direction. "Shower." He grumbled. A second look at him might show the man had blood around a cut in his pant leg, and more splatters of dark red against his torso, the material looking singed around the opening in it. His step had the slightest limp as he disappeared around the corner, tossing his bag into room and beginning to undress. The shower was calling like a siren.


* Adley Reed nodded, enthusiastically. Packing was always better when there was company - though it wasn't exactly the packing he needed help with, but the decisions on what to keep and what to discard. Women were good at the kind of thing, weren't they? Or was he being sexist and presumptive? He could change the topic entirely and ask Indigo about his maybe-sexism, however - in came the very devil they had been speaking off, looking like he'd come right from the scene Adley had just photographed. Whatever Adley had been about to say died on his tongue, and he stared after Kasper before turning back to Indigo, a very clear should we follow him written as a question across his brow.


* Indigo eyes Kaspar as he appears as if on cue. It was no surprise since Kaspar had been pretty much like that since the moment she met him. Her indigo orbs shifted back to Adley who watched him curiously as well. Adley had pretty much been the same. Appearing out of nowhere at the right moment. Was her life suddenly scripted like some movie in constant filming and she was unaware? It would seem like it if she gave it anymore thought. Instead she cocked her head as the sounds of Kaspar likely undressing were faint but distinguishable from where she currently held reign of the pillows. "And welcome back, Boo." Indigo focused on Adley while she said it. "You two hanging in the same spot and didn't notice each other or what?" Indigo could ask, could pry but really wasn't it obvious?


* Kaspar heard her words, of course he heard them but he wasn't really in a position to respond. He didn't know where Adley had been, potentially nearby. Kas had gotten caught up in a shooting, a big one and he was wearing the wounds he'd suffered for it. Idiots with guns, this town was full of them. He kicked away his destroyed clothing, perhaps a little more violently than deserved before he stepped into the shower and turned it on up high and hot, putting his head under the water and letting the sound drown things out for a while. Already his wounds were healing, but he winced loudly at the sting, "Dummkopf! ****, idiot."


* Adley Reed had been willing to stay right where he was. "He's not dead, so he's not the guy I went after," he said, cocking his head in the direction of the shower. He even laughed as the shower started, before that laughter faltered. Was Indigo aware of what they got up to, sometimes? Maybe he shouldn't be so flippant with the 'D' word. He was about to explain - that the guy he'd killed had deserved it, or some such thing. But then he heard Kaspar cursing. He clearly was not in a good mood. Adley stood, and sauntered toward the open door of the bathroom. "Everything okay, Kas?" he asked, arms crossed over his chest as he leaned against the door.


* Indigo blinked. Really it was more than blinking, it was her brain registering more of that reality that continued to settle in. Death was everywhere and it was a reminder that she was a breath away from the very same possibility every moment she existed as she was. Adley killed a man tonight or did he takes shots that would be nice glossies of the work of another? Kaspar seemed to be less than pleased with the events that brought him home looking like he was in the middle of a bloody rumble. "Can I get him anything?" Indigo found her way out of the pillow cloud beneath her and made her way down the hall.


* Kaspar hissed out a breath, throwing his head back sending an arc of water splashing against the shower glass. "You two coming to stare at my ***? Don't worry, it's intact." His eyes peeked open, Kas attempting a smile which only lifted the left side of his mouth. "Hunters, Ad. Bullet went right through, at least... I think. Look for me?" He spoke the words through gritted teeth, reluctant to ask for help.


* Adley Reed peered over his shoulder at Indigo. He didn't know whether Kaspar needed anything, but given his wounds... well. He might have suggested blood, but that was one of Adley's specialties. He stepped into the bathroom and let his eyes graze over Kaspar; yeah, he was beaten up. But, that was Kaspar's MO recently, wasn't it? Adley wanted to laugh, but Kaspar seemed so cut up about it. He reached out; it would look like he was trying to get Kaspar to stand still, but instead he was infusing the other man with that peculiar, healing magic. He might not need it. But it might make him feel better regardless. "You'll be fine, Kas. What do you keep doing to make them hate you so much? Are you sure that's all...?"


* Indigo had already seen his *** plenty of times so that wasn't the first thought on her mind. She was actually concerned even if he likely had some ability to make it all better on his own effort. She felt pretty useless in that regard so she left Adley to do the vampire triage while she went and made him a drink. He could likely enjoy one and perhaps that would give adley time to enjoy one as well. She was getting the hang of it and felt confident while pouring the black label fluid in the glass. Once the bottle was returned where it belonged she made her way into the open door of the bathroom and set it on the vanity. The condensation left her hand wet and she wiped it off on the hand towel as she passed. "How do these hunters know who or what you are?" She figured it was worth knowing.


* Kaspar let the man touch him, shuddering as he felt exactly what he was doing, feeling the strange sensation of his skin knitting together faster. Energy levels rose, too, like when the doctor gives you a booster shot when your iron is shot to **** for some reason or other. His hand reached out, snatching hold of Adley, finally looking at the man properly as he tugged him into the shower. "You're dirty, arschloch. Come here." He pushed him under the spray, Kaspar himself slouching against the slick wall of the shower, eyes meeting Indigo's. "Mmm? I don't know, I think these ones were special. They have markings, and are more powerful."


* Indigo had never seen a place with more ink on its city dwellers skin than in Harper Rock. Everyone it seemed had some sort of markings. Lots of ink shops were listed in the directories. "So they are like a gang?" Davion came to mind. He found his place in one that had him returning briefly with tattoos on his neck that Phineas told her made him look like branded cattle. They owned him and the markings said as much if you looked close enough. Sadly, she didn't have the chance because her uncle kicked him back out of the door.


* Adley Reed wasn't expecting to be pulled into the shower. He gave a shout as he felt himself stumble over the edge of the tub, catching himself and balancing himself just in time. The water felt good, and he might have shoved at Kaspar if he weren't already leaned against the wall. Rather than shower in his tank and boxers, he removed those too, using the tank to scrub at the dried grit in his hair. Kaspar hadn't answered Adley; or didn't want to talk about whatever else might have been going on in his life, and Adley let it slide. He washed himself, as Kaspar and Indigo had their conversation about hunters. Adley didn't know much about them, except that they were assholes who attacked without provocation.


* Kaspar laughed, it was genuine but brief, as Adley shouted but let himself be tugged into the shower. "Don't fuss." He muttered, his attention returning to Indigo as she spoke. "I guess? Yeah, they weren't like these." He gestured down at his body, eyes looking at the tattoos he could see. Hel was covered in them, two on his chest, both upper arms, a forearm and bicep. His hands, back of the legs and most recently his thigh where he'd gotten his dagger. "They wore the same marks." Distraction came in the form of a wet Adley, Kas reaching around the man to grab a bar of soap, lathering it up and aiding the man in scrubbing the grime from his back and arms. "The **** have you been, man? Hmm?"


* Indigo was finding when one of her questions was answered she was developing more based on the information she was given. Now she figured it was time to ask what anyone would in her position. "Can a vampire be killed permanently?" She eyed both of them in all their bare glory through the steamed up glass and realized they had to have weakness beyond the few she already had been privy to. Each had their own unique needs but could something end them?

[Kaspar]

* Adley Reed wasn't fussing. He didn't have too many dirty spots on him - it was all on his clothes, which he'd tossed unceremoniously into the washing machine. He snatched the soap from Kaspar with a barely heard tsk; he could clean himself perfectly fine. He turned toward Indigo, one eye squeezed shut against the spray of water, the other bright blue focused on her. "I don't know. I mean, I came back?" he said. It wasn't such a struggle to talk about anymore.


* Indigo looked at both and finally stirred from the spot she had been holding down with her presence. She pulled out two towels and pressed her open hand to the glass and smiled a bit as she stepped out of the bathroom. The two had been through hell. So it wasn't always about being fallen angels and gods. It was far from perfect or fail proof. They weren't invincible. She was finally seeing the complexity that was within each of them. She still wanted to protect them but she also could see just how they in turn were likely protecting her from what they already knew all too well and at obvious costs.


* Kaspar took the towel gratefully, beginning to dry himself off. "Thank you, my Caramel." He called after her, hoping she was not upset but perhaps just giving them a moment. He turned his gaze on Adley, studying him a moment. "I'm sorry. I needed to get out, this week has been a little rough. I went to Eva, her husband has a farm and gave me some space to clear my head." He bowed his head, rubbing the towel against his hair, effectively hiding his face beneath it. "I got some hard truth put on me by the Wife... ****. Hey, I think the bleeding is done but can you slap a bandage on? Just in case?" He let the towel slip, to drape over his shoulders and grabbed the glass of liquor she'd poured for him, sipping it, "God love a good woman, right?" He murmured.


* Adley Reed watched as Indigo left - no more questions, and nothing more to say. He, too, wondered if they'd upset her somehow, and he wanted nothing more than to go after her. Some nights he just wanted to follow Indigo around like some kind of lost puppy. But he didn't. Because that would be pathetic. He swiped the stray drops of water from his body and wrapped the towel around his waist, securing it there. Kaspar asked for a bandage, but Adley was already reaching for the first aid. He knew exactly where it was. "Hard truth?" Adley asked. Clearly, Kaspar needed to talk about it.


* Indigo didn't want to press her luck. Not since the long overdue talk with Kaspar. He had told her what she failed to see before and it was on her mind ever since then. She was able to leave the room with a few more answers and of course more than a few more questions that would wait. She had patience, respect for timing. Each of them were worth it. In the kitchen she retrieved a bottle of water and a fresh peach. Taking a bite became a luxury she appreciated even more because Adley couldn't do something so simple. Another reminder of loss that stuck in her mind as she chewed slowly out of view of the wet duo.


* Kaspar pursed his lips in consideration, giving Adley a once over. "She worried I'll be forever searching for something, that I'm trying to... No, **** it, no never mind. I made a mistake, she called me on it and she's not entirely wrong. I need to pull my head in, just slow it down. Focus." His jaw was held tense as he stopped speaking, the man moving to perch on the edge of the tub, his muscles taut as he tried to swallow back frustration. He shouldn't have said a word.


* Adley Reed wasn't any good at being an adviser. Kaspar was clearly frustrated about something but Adley didn't know where to start, nor how to comfort. He chewed at his bottom lip as he glanced toward the open door; Indigo had a tenderness about her, and she'd probably be able to ask the right questions and say the right things. But she'd left Adley in there alone. Adley had initiated the exit from the shower because he'd wanted to go somewhere more comfortable, and yet here was Kas, perched on the edge of the bath. Maybe he didn't want Indigo to hear. Adley sighed and scratched at the back of his head. "You obviously need to get it off your chest, Kas, so get it off your chest. You'll feel better..." he said. As if Adley could speak. His chest was bursting with all the things he never said.


* Kaspar gave a joyless little laugh, his eyes rolling towards the sky. "No, not now man, please. I'm gonna go to the bedroom, I want to get on something comfortable and curl up. Don't worry, I'm not your responsibility." He shrugged, moving to his feet once more, careful not to pull at the closing wounds. He swallowed the last of the alcohol, abandoning the glass on the counter top. He chucked the towel over a hook and left the bathroom, looking for Indigo. "Caramel? If you have more questions, best come ask them. Oh, and thank you. For the mirrors." He murmured the last part, feeling discomfort of having had to ask for it. The bedroom was a welcome sight, even the bouncy golden retriever that came at him, "Bucket, not now." He whined, the dog licking at his hands enthusiastically as tried to shoo him.


* Indigo found her way back after tossing the pit of the consumed peach in the waste basket as she passed it by. She had some questions as soon as she spotted Adley and hoped at least one wouldn't be out of line. "What do you miss most Adley...Kaspar? What was not worth giving up even though you were forced to? Tell me why I shouldn't want it." Her eyes found Bucket and a smile bloomed across her lips.


* Adley Reed had expressed concern, even if not in the gentlest of ways. Adley wasn't accustomed to caring so much about people - he was trying. He wanted to be able to help Kaspar, but his offer had just been thrown back in his face. Kaspar, who seemed to want to lean on Adley, was now pissed off. Indigo would be far better for him, in this situation. On the way out of the bathroom they split - where Kas headed for the bedroom, Adley was making his way to the lounge room. Adley scuffed to a halt as Indigo asked her question, and he could barely keep the words from tumbling from his lips. He didn't even have to think about it. "I miss what I never had to begin with. That I can't touch you," he said. There were plenty of other things he could have thought of. The touch of the sun tanning his skin, the feel of hot sand between his toes. The beach in the middle of summer, that's what he missed. But it was all eclipsed. That didn't answer her second question, so much. But he couldn't redact, now. So he just grunted and shrugged his shoulders, turning again toward the lounge.


* Indigo barely had swallowed the air in her mouth after asking when Adley parted the path he had been sharing towards the bedroom with Kaspar's steps. As soon as Adley said the words of all things a line from a song crashed through her mind when she really had not expected such. Something about giving up forever to touch. Goo-Goo Dolls wasn't it? She follwed the back of Adley with her eyes and felt her gut form into a dull aching knot. She looked at Kaspar and as much as he continuously shined she felt the very small poke of longing to feel what he could. The pleasure that Adley was to touch, to hold, to taste. The sweet peach she still had lingering in her mouth suddenly was bland as a stale piece of bread. Her eyes shifted to Kaspar as if to ask him what he missed.


* Kaspar loosed a string of curse words, most of them muffled by hands that pressed to his face in frustration. He hadn't meant it, he didn't want to send Adley away but he didn't want to admit maybe he wanted him, that even if wasn't sure how to talk it out the offer was appreciated. He too was trying, very trying and he knew it. The man grabbed a pair of comfortable black pants, stepping into them, converting himself. On his way back out to the living room his arms captured Indigo around the waist, tucking her cautiously to his side. "Heat, warmth. The ease of travelling where I want, the ability to be fully honest about myself. I miss my future being open, my dreams not having a time limit because I won't age as I should. I miss my heart beating in my ears, I miss sweating on stage... I miss the sun. I hate that MY son won't see his dad grow older, won't get to tease me over my hair growing grey." When they reached Adley he fell silent, but only for a moment. "I'm lucky, I'm so lucky and I'm not ungrateful for what I did get to keep, Adley... I'm a bear, forgive me?"


* Indigo was in the path with Kaspar that Adley had just left and now they were all once again together. Jay was missing and hopefully he would return to enjoy the moment. She leaned in and kissed Kaspar as he apologized. She was glad that the two were working out whatever was going on between them. "You two are amazing. And I honestly couldn't imagine you ever gray or old, Boo. Really. Just being honest." She looked to Adley. He was timeless no matter what. His eyes were like beautiful portholes to an endless abyss she was only permitted to indulge in so far. She stepped away from Kaspar and took her seat and sprawled out on the sofa.


* Adley Reed had flopped down onto the couch still with the towel wrapped around his waist. Damp as it was, it was still better than being dirty and putting sewer grime all over everything. The remote control was already in his hand, the TV flickering to life in front of him, sending an eerie, dancing glow over the scene. The sound was on so low it could be muted. He wasn't listening. He was still listening to the conversation the other two were having, which meandered its way out to him. He glanced up to see the two of them together, so happy in each other's arms. He begrudged them less than he used to, but it was still there. Kaspar coming out to apologise but holding the one thing Adley had just admitted to wanting the most. But it was petty, wasn't it? To think that way. Adley shook his head, that smile ready on his lips. "It's okay, Kas. I'm not great at deep and meaningfuls. I was giving you some space with Indie - you shouldn't bottle things in, if they're so obviously on your mind. It's not healthy. And if you can't tell me, I thought you might be able to tell her."


* Indigo looked to Kaspar. "Are you spreading yourself too thin?"


* Kaspar returned the kiss quickly, he wouldn't deny her but he did feel a vague suggestion of guilt doing so in front of Adley. His arms released the woman, his attention focusing in on those pale eyes that watched on, listening to the man. "It's not that I can't tell you, but man you didn't..." He was unsure why he was finding it so difficult to express himself, perhaps it was pride, perhaps it was he was yet to fully yield to Adley. Did he have to? Could they not exist on an even playing field? He risked rejection, but words were failing him for once. Kaspar took a few steps in towards Adley, one knee pressing in to rest upon the couch at Adley’s thigh, supporting Kaspar’s weight while hand gripped blindly for the back of the couch, holding the top of it in a white knuckle grip. It would no doubt be considered bold, invasive to a man that seemed to require his space, but that didn’t stop Kas’s lean in towards his sometimes companion. Curious fingers tips reached out to touch his side with feather light pressure, letting it build as his hand crept forward so that by the time his palm was flat against the ridge of a hip he held him firmly, kneading in against muscle and thumb smoothing a path over the edge of tempting definition. Another tentative slip forward of the knee had his body hovering closer, there was still space for Adley to escape, he was by no means trapped but the position created the illusion of intimacy between them. It was them, just them here and Kaspar’s expression begged the man to stay with him and listen. "I'm trying, alright? But that's just not something I'm fully prepared to address. I'm wounded, weary and struggling to get my head around her words. Mortality, it's a question of mortality Ad's and what I have to give up with it. I can't. I don't want to, you know? I want to put it off indefinitely, and that’s a luxury we no longer have." Indigo spoke, but he hoped his words would answer the question if she still listened. The unspoken answer? Yes, yes he was. "It cut man. Do you know how hard it is to shake me? She did it, she shook me to my ******* core with a few simple words."


* Adley Reed remained where he was as Kaspar came closer; as he leaned in against Adley as if the physical contact could soothe whatever hurt had previously transpired. Adley didn't need the intimacy, but he wouldn't deny it, either. He settled beneath Kas, shaking his head. "You don't have to explain. If you don't want to talk about it... I wasn't going to push you, That's all," he said. He was backtracking. He had overreacted. He had to concede - Kaspar had a lot going on in his life that Adley didn't. He had a lot of connections to his old life that Adley didn't. The smile he gave them was testament to his good will. "It's hard for you, Kas. Harder than for me or Jay. You don't have to apologise for anything."


* Indigo listened as the two interacted and stretched at the same time. She felt like she had it far easier. So far she had given up nothing. Not to say that she had not lost because she had. Phineas was no where to be found and likely never would be. Davion was likely in the same boat or in some scattered bones somewhere. The sting of both very likely possibilities really didn't disturb her. If that is what happened their suffering ended long ago. Her being upset over it wouldn't bring them back and in Davion's case perhaps it was for the best. She curled up and pulled the red blanket over her and tucked a pillow under her head and faced the guys. Their contacft was soothing to her whether it was meant to be or not.

* Kaspar lowered enough to press a kiss to Adley's forehead, not sure why he did it, it wasn't something he would normal force upon the man. "No, I think we all have our issues to work through, I don't think mine trump yours, or yours trump mine. Our own stuff is just more important to us, yes? Mmm. Whatever." He pulled away entirely, dropping his weight onto the floor so he could stretch out his long legs, head resting back to the couch. "Indie... Questions. You got them?"


* Adley Reed let the subject drop. The kiss to the forehead was strange; Adley couldn't remember the last time someone had kissed him on the forehead. Strangely, it reminded him of his mother. He still missed her, even though it'd been twelve years since she died. There was a quip on the tip of his tongue - an agreement, about their own stuff being more important to them, but Adley didn't want it to be taken the wrong way. So he remained silent, and waited for these questions that Indigo might have.

[Indigo]

* Indigo had made it a ideal pleasurable process in her head in the past but once the truth of it all came to light of course she had a lot more questions. "Are you able to use your powers anywhere?" That would be handy. No wonder Kaspar could keep up the pace he did with work, a family and still hang with them at the hive as much as he did. And the predictable questions that made her sound oblivious but she was getting to ask the real deals next to her. "Wooden stakes? Obviously garlic isn't the issue they make it to be in the movies. I add it to breakfast omelets."


* Kaspar cleared his throat, eyeing Indie a moment. "Do you know what our... Abilities... Are?" His head tilted to narrow a look an Adley, wondering exactly what the pair had told her, he hadn't actually gotten around to asking how much detail they'd gone into. Not much, it seemed on certain topics. "Most weapons still hurt like a *****? They make us bleed. I guess being stabbed through the hurt with wood would heart, I dunno, haven't tried it."


* Indigo winced and looked at Adley. "Well, they showed me how you drink I guess and how it healed up right away. Your wounds don't stay long. I heard there are abilities. What are yours?" She glanced between the two.


* Adley Reed laughed. "No one's ever come at me with a wooden stake before. As far as I know, the only thing that kills us is persistence," he said. "Took five of them to kill me, five wounds near bled me dry before..." he shuddered involuntarily. "Normally though, I can produce my own blood. Like... I don't need to feed, it's just an urge. I can give it to others, too, reducing their need to feed. Helped Kas a few times with these hunter wounds of his," he said, nudging at Kas with his foot. "I can raise zombies. I can curse people from afar. I can... see spirits," he said. And a couple of other things, too, that he could do in battle - and yet he hadn't tried them much, and wasn't too sure how to explain them.

* Indigo didn't even blink as she heard what Adley could do. He didn't even need blood unless he lost it. "How do you pass your blood to others?" The bit about raising zombies left her stunned. He could see spirits. "Could you see dead people spirits or call to specific ones?" Could he see or speak to her parents?


* Kaspar nipped at the thigh of the man in response to the foot nudge, looking somewhat grumpy. "Yeah, you have helped. Arschloch." Though he couldn't help but smirk shortly after. "Mmm. I can't do that, my abilities lay in uh... Other areas." He considered how to continue, but figured he would get away with it for a while when Adley had to explain his.


* Adley Reed shrugged. "I don't know how I do it. I just do. It's like a transferal of energy," he said. "As for the spirits - they don't really have faces. Or... they don't really speak to me. We need them, to... fuel the magical energy," he said, though his face twisted. He sucked at this explaining thing. Magic? It sounded ludicrous.

* Indigo face sort of scrunched up in confusion. It was like one of those books that Marina used to read about some brothers and being in a daggerhood thing. She shrugged. "Can I see you two do whatever it is you can do?" It was a fair question.


* Kaspar winced, loudly. "You've seen me drink and eat... I mean, that's something I can do." Evasive, very.


* Indigo could see that was a no go then. She nodded and let it go.


* Adley Reed nudged at Kaspar. Why was he being so elusive? He shrugged. "I would. But not right here? The other things I can do are kind of damaging. The rest you can't really see..." he said. He didn't want to try the other powers on either Kas or Indigo. He didn't want to hurt them.


* Kaspar tsk'ed, clicking his tongue impatiently at the nudge even if it was deserved. "It's just that I can't exactly show you without causing mischief, or enthralling one of you. Which isn't so nice. I can intimidate, confuse, or inspire others beyond human ability. It's hard to explain? When I sing, I can sort of, mmm, hypnotise I guess? Like a pied piper, the damn rats follow. I have to be careful." He shifted his gaze once more to his fellow vampire, "Convincing people to do my bidding, giving me discounts and just looking generally more human. Useful, maybe, but I think healing people and devouring spirits trumps that ****. Jay is stronger, he gets people to mob and go crazy, I'm almost there... And then Eva was telling me how to pick up other abilities. I want to walk in the sun, like the murdering types or heal like you."


* Indigo was impressed. Perhaps she should take him shopping next time she went. Clothing was outrageously expensive and a discount was better than full price. Especially for the brands she preferred.


* Adley Reed blinked over at Kaspar. ".. pick up other abilities? There's a way to go about it?" he asked. Clearly, he had no clue. "...I kind of just, accidentally figured out what I could do," he said.


* Indigo listened because now she had company in not knowing what was being talked about.


* Kaspar didn't mind the spotlight, he sat up straighter as he explained. "Apparently some of these "spirits" are like guides? I think that is what she said, and they can open up something in you that allows you to learn abilities of other..." He gestured towards Adley, "Types? Their are abilities that link them, and so you have to be able to do those first. We grow stronger, more in touch with whatever the **** it is that drives our bodies. Crazy, ja?" His concentration had his brow furrowing, "It costs us though, we might be weaker briefly but I hear it's worth it."


* Adley Reed took a deep breath. He didn't need it, but it expanded in his lungs, and he did't feel tired. He didn't feel exhausted. He didn't feel any kind of fatigue. He hummed. "It can be pretty great," he said. "This... energy," he said. "It's like the potential never goes away. It's exponential, the things that we can learn, the things we can do. I think I'd choose it. Loss of mortality and all."


* Indigo found her questions answered. Adley would still choose it all over again. "I would think it would be liberating in a way. Being free from the restrictions of illness, time and the needs of being alive in general. You certainly get all the time in the world to make amends, learn from mistakes if you call them that and the freedom to work at whatever you want and enjoy the benefits and rewards of that effort decades or centuries later.' She looked to Kaspar. "You will see your family in generations that you wouldn't be able to otherwise. THat has to be exciting."


* Kaspar exhaled sharply, his expression turning from concentrating to frustrated in seconds. "I'm not sure... I've been sort of trying to address that, and coming up short of answers. Yes on one hand it's brilliant, but it comes with a whole other set of restrictions. I have maximum 10 years of performing left, maybe I can use makeup when leaving the house to age myself but otherwise that's it. Then I need to figure out how to disappear... Or I stop now." There, there it was, his second hardest decision.



* Indigo didn't think about that until he mentioned the obvious that she should have caught on to. Everyone is expected to age. Keith Richards was sort of an exception. He would always look the same. Kaspar had it a bit harder than Jay or Adley perhaps. He was in the public eye. People would recognize him all over and in time he would be standing out for the lack of aging. "I can see you will have a problem with that. They will be looking for you to slow down, wrinkle, lose your stamina."


* Kaspar smirks, "How do I stay young? Work out, eat well, sleep a lot oh and the sex. Lots of good sex... It will work a while, but eventually it becomes a problem. It has to. I heard those like me can alter their appearance, age more or less but it's not based on choice, it's a reflection of how you.... Feel. It might be ********, I dunno."


* Indigo deadpanned. "Well maybe if you give up sex for awhile we can find out? See if you start looking rough? Can always pick it back up if your hair starts falling out or your teeth?" She pinched her bottom lip between her teeth so she didn't laugh in case he would find the humor in it. Not that she had much to laugh about. She WAS going to be losing her teeth, flawless skin and hair. Now that sucked.


* Adley Reed was listening to the conversation in silence. These were not things that he could relate to. He was not famous and he didn't have to deal with the public eye. He snorted as Indigo suggested that Kaspar give up sex - as if that was going to happen. He enjoyed listening to the two of them talk; he always enjoyed listening to all of them talk. This was his place. This was where he belonged. He narrowed his eyes on Kaspar, wondering how he would take the suggestion.


* Kaspar nodded solemnly, bowing his head to hide his expression as he smoothed it into a serious mask. "You must learn to resist me, I need to be... Celibate. Don't cry, Adley, you'll be ok!" He turned to face the man some more, turning over so he kneeled beside the couch, hand reaching out to stroke over Adley's leg. "We must deny our desires, Adley! For science!" It was easier to joke, to play along and pretend he wasn't filled with warring feelings, everything felt slightly deeper since his turning and yet detached. Empathy lacking, though he tried.


* Indigo pressed her face into the pillow. The fact Kaspar was even trying to make such an attempt at sounding genuine which actually was coming off as very convincing. She giggled into the pillow because the idea of Kaspar being celibate was impossible really. She imagined that would be his worst hell...or one of the top five if he were to be sentenced to it. Poor Adley was going to be missing out. She laughed more and didn't dare show her face.


* Adley Reed could see Indigo's body shaking with her laughter. Adley could only reach out to gently stroke Kaspar's face, as if he were really feeling for the predicament. He even managed half a pouted smile, though the concerned crease of his brow wasn't completely fake. "I will be okay, Kas. You know I have no trouble getting sex when I need it..."


* Indigo was in an instant fit of laughter beneath the pillow.* Kaspar gasped loudly, throwing himself dramatically over the man's lap, his face precariously placed close to areas that were currently very relevant to the topic. "How could you!? I thought we had something special! Who is he!?" His hands pawed, one curling into a fist to beat lightly over Adley's chest. "You ********!" He began mock weeping, giving a convincing great, shuddering sigh of heartbreak.


* Adley Reed petted Kaspar's head adoringly. "He, she. How many names do you want, darling one?" he asked, still smirking, his eyes alight with humour.


* Indigo continues laughing. "Yes, drum roll and list please." She used the back of her hand to wipe away the tears from laughing so hard.


* Kaspar began shaking, laughing now but he managed to make it sound more dramatic, closer to his previous faked sobs. "You cheat! Tell me all their names, I thought I was enough! I was your first, you said I was!" He buried his face once more in against the man's inner thigh, teeth nipping playfully over a tempting artery that towel was failing to cover thanks to Kas's dramatics.


* Adley Reed 's body shook with the laughter that overtook him, his knee swinging wide to accommodate the flailing male. "There are no names," he said, giving up the ruse. "I don't get any satisfaction outside this house," he added, glancing over at Indigo. Not as much as he might like, but it was enough. Sex wasn't everything.


* Indigo tossed the pillow she was holding at Adley. "Awww, Kaspar you have not lost your touch. You are legend." Her stomach hurt but it was great to laugh. At least that was something one didn't have to give up. She had heard that dead men couldn't laugh. It appeared that was hardly the case. "Feel better now?"


* Kaspar laughed in earnest, pulling himself into the couch into the space allowed by Adley's movements. He nestled in, fitting his slightly taller frame around the other man as he rode the wave of laughter. Once it has died down to a dull echo in his ears, merely a light chuckle he spoke. "Well then I hope you're kept close enough to satisfied." He knew Adley wouldn't be entirely happy until he could have Indigo, have her completely body and mind. "You know if you ever want to..." He didn't know how to present the offer, his head tipping lazily to watch Indigo, thinking of how Adley made his demands, had them be his hands, his mouth. "Mmmm, oh... Yes, much. Thank you, my sweet Caramel."


* Indigo propped up on her elbow listening to Kaspar. "Yes, if you need an audience or some support you two just let me know. I was actually a cheerleader and don't make me regret admitting that."


* Adley Reed arched a brow. "... I think that would just be far too distracting," he said, imagining Indigo cheering from the side of the bed as Kaspar continued to show Adley the ropes of the intricacies of man on man lovemaking. "I'm not sure that's what he's talking about though, Bee. In his scenario, you're not the one watching..."


* Indigo felt shot down. She quickly tossed another pillow at the two. "Fine but I will expect details at the very least later. Pretty sure Jay will tell me if he gets to watch. If not then you all suck." She gave a pout. She wondered if she had a **** she could get in on it.


* Kaspar looked her over, "I could see that... Not sure if I preferred the cheerleaders or jocks." His hand shifted, slipping over the back of his skull, "OK I think jocks, but never again. I'll have my cheerleader, instead... Adley is quite correct, Honey Bee. I'm offering to be his stinger." Callous? Crude? Probably, but Kaspar was slipping into a defensive mood, a primitive and careless attitude would surely follow. "Indigo... Sometimes you do miss the point."


* Indigo figured a stinger she was missing. "You know how to up the penis envy you know that? I get you got one. Seen it. Pretty sure I know where it goes. I haven't missed any point."


* Kaspar gave a long suffering sigh, easing himself up into a seated position. "Remember the night after the shower? Remember Adley getting all mouthy? Jay and I meeting his every whim... Ja? Hm?"


* Indigo nodded. "Of course I do. Who can forget that?"


* Adley Reed mouthed the word. Mouthy. He shook his head, as if he could never be this 'mouthy' that Kaspar described.


* Kaspar elbowed Adley, "Yes. Ok, THAT is what I was offering. God damn it, must I be blunt? Obtuse? Must you deny me wordplay? Want to fool around?" He grumbled.


* Indigo eyes widened realizing what he was getting at. "You are silly, Boo. Could have saved a lot of confusion by saying just that." Her eyes fixed on them. It was great watching them all together but it was even better when she was included. Indigo stood up and winked and made her way back to the bedroom peeling off her clothing as she did.


* Kaspar groaned heartily, "Woman, you will be the death of me." Kas turned to Adley, trying ascertain what the man might want, if he were alright with it. "Bandages first... Then, I'll do what YOU want. If that's to leave you two to stare at each other, then I can do that too."


* Adley Reed stared after Indigo, unsure himself what he wanted to do. Eventually he pulled himself up off the couch to follow them; to be there, to be close, even if he weren't physically participating. First, he would deal with Kaspar's wounds so they wouldn't accidentally bleed all over the sheets and quilts and inspire a lust in Adley that he'd have to go sate elsewhere. "Let's go have some fun," he said with a wink.

* Kaspar didn't need to be asked twice, looping an arm over the man's shoulders as they left the couch, following after the Queen Bee, fun or distraction, it was what Kaspar needed. That was the beauty of the Hive, eventually it all came full circle, always someone to scratch an itch or start one.


* Indigo slid into the bed and worked her way up. Was Kaspar going to be the link between them? Would she see the pleasure in adley's eyes while hers were filled with the same. Kaspar would be doing double duty. Was he up to it? Still she wanted to feel what Kaspar got to. To have Adley on her lips, in her head and body. She leaned back on her elbows and waited for the men to arrive.

[Adley Reed]

* Adley Reed stretched as he wandered into the building, grumbling about having run out of ammo too soon. The catacombs were the kind of maze you wanted to spend hours in, because it was such a hike to get in and out. To have to leave so soon because he couldn't kill the shambling idiots that hindered his movements without a gun was just... plain annoying. But, he did end up with some usable parts, and wandering into the midst of the people he loved most was a reward nonetheless. He went directly to the forge, where he started to unpack, only now really gauging the quality of the parts he'd collected. It was something to work toward - better parts, and better swords. A way to make money, aside from his photography.


* Kaspar was leaning upon a bench, frowning at an open file in front of him, a pen occasionally circling, crossing out or re-writing over sections. "Adley." He smirked, listening to the man's grumbling and the clattering of items as he arrived. "Rough night?"


* Adley Reed didn't even have to look up. He wasn't surprised that Kas was there, and he could easily recognise the voice. It was a hard voice not to recognise. "Ran out of ammo for the Third Leg," he said, chortling to himself. It was such a ******* ridiculous name for a gun, but that was the reason, right? The innuendo, when he said he ran out of ammo. "Silver linings, though," he said, holding up a hilt. "This one has got to be about an eleven. If I don't **** it up, I could improve it," he said, sorting the item into the 'to keep' pile.


* Kaspar shoved the glasses he wore up on top of his head, collecting up stray locks of blonde along with them. He took a moment to close his eyes, pressing fingers into them and smoothing over his brow. He didn't need the glasses anymore really, nor did he experience the same eye strain or headaches he would after hours of staring at pages but it seemed a wired in response to stress, to feel that strange throb at the back of his eyes. "Mmm, shame that." He too couldn't help but a give a small snort of laughter to the gun name, it was a good one. Abandoning the file with a decided close he strolled over to the man, clapping a hand against his shoulder as he leaned around to check out the part. "Looks good, maybe you can make me something epic to show off. I'm sure you can even come up with a name of ridiculously loaded as Jamie's guns."


* Adley Reed finally turned to Kas as the contact was initiated. He glanced from the man's face, to the glasses, and then over his shoulder at the file that remained on the surface that Kaspar had just vacated. Adley didn't know how Kaspar lived the life he did. It all seemed so complicated. Adley preferred his own life. There was less stress, even if there were things that bothered him every now and again; the memories of things he wasn't sure whether he should regret or not. The faces of friends who were no longer around. He just nodded. "I'll think of something clever," he said with a wink.


* Kaspar rolled his eyes, giving the guy a one armed hug before releasing him, "Yes I know, i'm working again." He sighed, pouting somewhat as he moved to grabbed one of the seats that was in the place, tugging it over closer to Adley and dropping into it. "Look... Sorry i've not been around so much, i'm trying. I just think i've taken on too much, all at once. Things are crazy, ja? I mean, guess you and Indie have been getting more alone time hm?"


* Adley Reed laughed as he pulled up a seat, too. It wasn't that he was tired - that was the glory of being what they were. The energy sometimes seemed endless. But it was nice to sit, regardless, after a couple of hours hiking around beneath the city. "We aren't a ball and chain, Kas. You're allowed your freedom," he said affectionately. He had noticed Kas's absences, but the guy was busy. Adley understood. "She helped me move my stuff. I sold my apartment. I figure I don't need it anymore. It's just rent I don't need to pay," he said with a shrug.


* Kaspar nodded a bit, waving his hand as if to say he understood. "I get it, I know but I still want to be there for you guys. We all know how Indie worries, and I feel like i've been neglecting my duties a little with her." He laughed, giving him a wink. "Ah, so you're an OFFICIAL one house man, congrats. You're right, it makes sense to get rid of it. Man, you know how tempted I am to just buy some giant *** old warehouse and convert it? It would be sweet, everyone could move in." The thought made his smile slip slightly, "everyone" was getting to a little much these days.


* Adley Reed gestured around the building they currently stood in. Although it was a business, and looked like it in some aspects, it was still kind of like a warehouse in parts. It was still comfortable. "Isn't that the point of this place?" he asked, arching a brow. "What's wrong with Hive? Not big enough for you rich boy? Famous guy? Need more, eh?" he teased.


* Kaspar scoffed, kicking one of his long legs to knock a boot against Adley's foot, "Har har, oh ja you're SO funny, arschloch. This place will be amazing, but also for public use not just us. The Hive is brilliant for us four, but I can't really..." He sighed, groaning loudly as his head rolled on his neck, tilting back, hands coming up to catching it with bent elbows. Frustration clear in the lines of his frame as he adjusted into the new sitting position. "I've got my family, too, and stuff... And seriously, rich boy? Rude. You know I always need more, Adley, i'm a growing boy." That was a blatant lie, he wasn't growing at all, he was quite happily preserved.


* Adley Reed snorted. Adley had an ego - one that matched Kaspar's, but which manifested in an entirely different way. Adley's was a silent ego, a confident ego. Something that sat there in the background; he never got defensive, was always so sure of himself, and his decisions, and how he thought others perceived him. Kaspar, however, was rather blatant - whether he intended to be or not. "So you would like to build your empire. Somewhere you can keep all your glories," he said, a smile still resting on his lips. He was still teasing.


* Kaspar raised a brow, "My glories? Are you attempting to call yourself glorious? That's a bit of a stretch, Ads, don't you think?" He poked his tongue out defiantly, "No I just wish I wasn't bouncing from place to place. I'm taking less gigs, but don't want to drop off the grid entirely. My time with Sig and Will is fairly easy to maintain, but even then i've found myself responding to emails, or writing things down when i'm with them. Then I have to rush over to the studio, or to some damn club and then maybe have an hour for just me before I have to go back to check in on Will or visit one of guys. He's getting better at sleeping through, most nights he does so i've started going back just before dawn when he wakes, spending the day sleeping there." He sighed, glancing at Adley. "Something has to give."

[Kaspar]

* Adley Reed didn't want to say the things that were on his mind. Kaspar was already aware of them. Wasn't he? He'd already voiced his concerns about mortality. Eventually, he was going to have to give up his humanity. At least the names of the Hive were kept off Kaspar's list, otherwise Adley might have laughingly apologised for being such a chore. Instead of saying anything that might unduly upset Kaspar, Adley just shrugged. "The only one who can control how busy you are is you. If you're stressed, you have to pick the least important thing and drop it. That'll be the thing that gives."


* Kaspar narrowed his eyes again, but nodded, he couldn't argue against that. "So... What about you? Has more time with Indie paid off? Do we need to have that fade baby talk again?" He grinned, "Sorry... Had to. Seriously though, what's the deal there? Is she poking you about immortality yet? I figured she might get impatient soon enough."


* Adley Reed clammed up, jaw tense as he shook his head. It wasn't a serious question, but Adley snapped his response anyway. "No. The fade baby talk is not required because you may or may not have noticed, we can't get that ******* far," he said. It shouldn't bother him as much as it did. But it did. He hadn't fully realised, yet, that it was about more than just the sex. He sighed and rubbed at his jaw. "She's still asking her questions. I'm not going to rush her."


* Kaspar tilted his head, watching that jaw tense, wanting to reach out and press his fingers into the muscle, massage it until he relaxed. "Hey... Serious question..." He leaned forwards, arms falling to rest atop his knees, "Are you in love with her? I know that seems like a **** question, considering, but... Are you?"


* Adley Reed laughed. It was almost delirious, the kind of laughter one issues only when trying to avoid something. Or when they were nervous. Nervous wasn't something Adley was. It was unfamiliar. So he laughed. "What's not to love? She's got so much optimism it's like she's got her very own sun, shining from inside of her," he said, his jaw slack and his eyes glazed as he held up his hands, shaking the air as if he had Indigo in his grasp. Watching the sun shine from her eyes. But it was a blase, off-hand answer to a serious question. Love? Adley wasn't sure he'd ever felt it before. What the **** was love, anyway?


* Kaspar wasn't entirely sure what to say to the man's reaction, though he figured it was similar to the way he felt around these people. He spent as much of his time with them as he could, he felt at home with them and yet... Love? He could tell them he adored them, shower them in cases but love was a feeling he struggled to grasp. "Yeah, yeah I get it. Maybe she'll teach you how..."


* Adley Reed coughed, as if he had something stuck in his throat but there was nothing there. He was still thinking about the question and all the possible answers he could have given. He was thinking about Indigo, and his eyes even glazed over, his movements distracted and a little off-balance. “It seems strange to really be in love with someone when you’ve never actually slept with them,” he said, finally narrowing his eyes at Kaspar thoughtfully. “But maybe it’s not so strange. Right? Those religious no-sex-before-marriage people do it all the time…” He was thinking out loud, basically.


* Kaspar The sharpness of his laughter cut through the quiet conversation, it wasn’t unkind, more disbelieving than anything. “Dummkopf.” He scoffed, eyes rolling up at the man’s assessment. “Sex isn’t love, the two are mutually exclusive. I can **** someone and not even like them all that much beyond a physical attraction. Look, I am the first to admit that love and I aren’t highly compatible. There are four people I can say “I love you” to and mean it, and that is largely familial love not this concept of romantic love. They are mine, and so I love them. I suppose I love Indigo, I love Jay, I love YOU even… But that I would not say I am “in” love by the typical description.”
There was a touch of disappointment to his voice, like it frustrated him to have something beyond his grasp. In truth, it did, for Kaspar it was an unusual feeling. “Love is supposed to be selfless, ja? But we as people are by definition utterly selfish, even when we perform a kind act or are charitable we do it because it makes us feel good. We get reward for what we give, even if it is not tangible. I give you affection, and you return it. Hm? It is basically a bartering system.” It was a cold assessment, calculated but that was how Kaspar viewed the world. You gave to receive, whether you meant to or not. “I would fight for you, I give parts of myself to ensure your happiness and safety. It is love, yes, but it is different. I don’t like at her the way you do, Adley, it is something I can not describe.” A kick to the chair Adley sat upon, hand reaching to punch to the shoulder to distract from the admission.

Kaspar was sure Adley was IN love. He just didn’t really know what that meant.


* Adley Reed didn’t even flinch. He couldn’t knock Kaspar’s philosophy; it was one that Adley himself lived by. Most of the time he didn’t find it hard to find those willing to give to him, who didn’t demand anything in return. Kaspar was the first one to have done so - which was probably why the two of them had a rocky start. It was unfamiliar territory.

“That’s kind of what I’m worried about, though. I mean. What if what I feel for Indigo is nothing more than unrequited pleasure…?” he asked, but even as he asked the question he shook his head, leaning back and away from that punch to the shoulder.

“No. I gave up on a job to pick her up from the roadside and controlled myself when I had to clean up all her bloodied cuts. I…” he sighed, more of a huff than a sigh. He shook his head again - he’d stop trying to convince himself of something he wasn’t sure of. He’d just wait and see. Instead, he echoed Kaspar’s punch to the shoulder before standing, and sauntering toward the dark room. There was at least a door there that could be locked. Or not.

“No, shutup. Don’t answer that. Let’s participate in some of that give and take, yeah? It’s been a while…”


* Kaspar There was about half a second of pause, blink and you’d miss it. The temptation to argue, to push the issue swelled and crested just as quickly. It crashed against his insides, dying away as a rush of breath left him. Kaspar acted wounded, letting the punch rock him, pretending to tip back in his chair only to right it once more. “Shut up? Make me, arschloch.” There was no malice there, just a playful challenge. “Again? Adley you treat me like your dirty little secret, I'm thoroughly wounded!” Kas pushed his glasses back into place, mostly so he didn't lose them when he stood. “Speaking of wounded…” He caught up in a few easy strides, tucking a casual arm over Adley’s shoulders. “It's your turn, remember?” The words purred forth, smugly referencing the night he'd spilled his history forth beneath the sheets. It was Adley’s turn to open up his veins for Kaspar, to let him bathe in his life force. To take a piece.

He’d drink deep, every drop of information, until the fount dried up and they were spent in each other’s arms. Tonight he’d give, because he wanted to take. Love be damned.

[Adley Reed]

* Indigo looked up from the canvas she was currently looking at and spotted Adley. Indigo orbs followed him as he moved and the canvas in her hand slowly dropped to rest on the temporary industrial shop table that had numerous sizes of canvas resting against the side of it waiting to be reviewed and placed somewhere for display and possible sale. "How goes the night?" She finally broke the silence when she couldn't watch him any longer without being quiet and appearing odd.


* Adley Reed knew that he couldn't be lonely with the people he had surrounding him, but if not lonely, Adley felt somewhat bereft. If only over the last couple of weeks. Kaspar had been busy, running around to take care of his many people, doing whatever it was that Kaspar did, and Jameson was probably off doing the same thing. Adley found himself coming to the Apiary more and more often just because he knew there was a greater chance that Indigo would be there, and it was a greater chance of finding someone to be around. Even if it was bereft of intimacy, or touch. It was no good hanging around in an empty Hive with a dog he couldn't even cuddle. And when he was at the Apiary, he worked on his forging, teaching himself new skills so that he might one day be able to make swords to rival the best of the best. That was what he focused on, when not out photographing the gore of the city. Tonight he wandered into the Apiary with more sword parts; when Indigo greeted him, he was sorting them out. "The night is a fickle thing. It changes lovers like it changes underwear," he said with a softly gleaming grin. Obviously, Adley was in a mischievous mood. "What about you? Need any help with anything?"


* Indigo his words were not lost on her. She captured each one that formed his message and looked at him curiously. The night, changing lovers and being a fickle thing. A small lift at the corners of her mouth signaled she was at full attention. It was an interesting response as was his expression on his captivating face. "Do tell. You recently change your unmentionables or just feeling a bit displaced?" Indigo smirked as she made her way to him and placed her lips on his cheek. It was so worth that predictable high it left her with. all calm and full of the unique scent of Adley she stepped back and looked at him from head to toe.


* Adley Reed allowed the small kisses that Indigo always bestowed upon him. They never did last long enough to have a noticeably adverse effect, and he enjoyed the wave of warmth. Whenever she stepped close he'd inhale deeply, capturing the unique scent that belonged only to Indigo. While her gaze swept him from head to toe, Adley only admired the curves of Indigo's face. "Displaced? No. I'm right where I'm meant to be..."


* Indigo smiled as her focus came back to his face. It was hard to take her eyes of those pools of green that were unlike the hues of any she had taken in before. She saw them at her darkest, weakest moment and had been drowning in them ever since. There was a huge power that came with each meeting. an exchange or shift, never a loss. She inhaled deep and felt her bottom lip pull from the pinch of her teeth. "Me too." Her skin felt warm across her cheekbones and she looked around. "I can use a lot of help..." Eyes found him once more. "If you have the time that is."


* Adley Reed watched as she bit at her bottom lip; subconsciously, he did the same thing. Where his eyes were focused on the pout of her lip pinched by her perfect teeth, he pinched his own lower pout between his teeth, imaging that it was not his own lip, but hers. Oh, how his lips wanted to explore hers, to discover the way they moved. And yet, now was not the time for it. Again, he smiled that gleaming smile and shook his head. "I have all the time in the world. Unlike Kas I don't have other obligations. I have here. I have you. Put me to work, please. Keep me occupied..." he said, glancing around. He could be the brawn.


* Indigo watched him. She nodded slowly then tilted her head. "Can we talk?" She pulled up a stool that looked identical to the one next to her and placed it close to the table supporting the numerous canvas. Adley had an eye for what could capture the attention of a viewer. Various works of art should be a great place to start. What would look good where would be a lot easier to decide with his input. "Has Kaspar being out with others more often upset you?"


* Adley Reed had expected to be put to work lifting things. Moving things. Rearranging furniture into numerous different positions until the right Feng Shui was garnered. And yet, he found himself reaching for a stool to sit with Indigo as her tone suddenly turned serious. More questions. Of course she should have them. And yet, when she asked her question it had nothing to do with immortality or what it might mean, or what she might be capable of. Adley blinked, the question catching him off guard. But he did appear to think about it before he shook his head. "No. He has other people who rely on him more than we do. He has a life that existed before we came into it. He's a free man," Adley laughed. "It bothers me more that I haven't seen Jay in... it's gotta be two weeks. Have you heard from him?"


* Indigo looked at the canvas at the level of her hip and pulled it up and set it gently on the flat surface in front of them. Her eyes moved slowly across the patterns of the oil based hard lines made by strokes that were now dry and motionless. The hues of vibrant colors that formed a De Stijl style. Open, organized, spacious. She felt free within the lines beneath her. Her eyes lifted to find Adley beside her. "We all had lives, Adley, before we came together. We still do. None is more important than the other. Fan base doesn't equate into the true value of who each of us is. And yes, he is free and will always be. We all are." She slid the canvas a bit to the side so it was more beneath him for viewing. "Jay." She eyes the colors of the lines, their position and the power each presented to the display overall. She remembered the paint on his hand when she first met him, the story of stealing ferris wheels and the way she felt the world was never big enough while he was present. Yes, she missed him a lot. "No." She wished she could say yes. "I have not."


* Adley Reed wondered, as he looked at the canvas that Indigo had placed in front of them, whether he should start trying to work with mixed media. Up until that point he'd worked only in photography, playing with light and angles in the real world, with things already given to him, rather than trying to manipulate the images in any other way. He wondered whether he'd even be any good with the paint, too clumsy to capture what the world could already give to the camera lens. He shook his head. "I didn't," he said, lifting his eyes to Indigo. He'd never really opened up to any of them. "I'd lost everyone before I met Jameson, and you shortly afterwards. My best friend - you saw her once, at that club - refused to help me when I needed her the most. I had no one. I died, and I came back, and I had no one. You all saved me," he said, quietly. Jameson, first. And where was he now?


* Indigo pulled up another canvas and put it next to the one beside the other. It was visually different right off the bat. It was soft, neutral. It lacked the harsh lines and the structure. Pastel strokes were so soft they appeared to have been light in their application. Like feathers that dropped effortlessly and drifted on. Collectively the contact of paint to canvas formed an impressionistic style of a summer field that appeared endless. "You saved me, Adley." And she meant it because really he had. "Jameson is out there. If he needs time he will get it. And as for your friend..." She turned and looked at him instead of the art in front of them. "Tell me about her?"


* Adley Reed 's eyes, though they swept over the soft pastel of the new canvas, continued to drift back to what he could see of the harsh lines on the canvas beneath. It was that one, subconsciously, that he liked best. That spoke to him, on a mental level. "Zaleski. We met at school. She was younger than me. I think I was a bad influence..." he said, but then shrugged. Probably not. Zaleski didn't need a bad influence. She was a bad influence on herself. "Abelle - my sire - she disappeared, and I spent most of my time with Zaleski. She was new to being a vampire, too - except she progressed in leaps and bounds where I didn't. Soon she was talking to me like I was some kind of child who didn't know what he was doing. She warned me but I didn't listen," he shrugged again, not looking at Indigo. He kept his eyes on the canvases, fingers splayed across the surface of one, enjoying the roughness of it. "Turns out her sire was one of the ones who helped to kill me. He and his faction. It was a harsh lesson, but I figured if I could feed from people I knew and trusted, I'd be fine. She was the only person I knew and trusted, but she wouldn't let me. Because of her sire. I haven't spoken to her since. Except at the club..."


* Indigo watched his fingers as they moved. Studied them as if they were creating something new to be revealed. She felt a hunger for that. something more to him and she was savoring it as it came through his words. Betrayal perhaps? Loss? It bothered him and left him feeling alone. He wasn't though. Not now and she didn't want him to question if that would change. "Will I need to feed from other vampires?" She blinked slowly. "If I will, if, will you feed me? Because I would never leave you thirsty...if that sounds right?" She wasn't sure how to express it. Indigo then added. "As for friendships there is always risk and it stings when they are lost for whatever reason. I believe though there is a reason for everything. Davion left, Phineas is lost as well as Marina but look what I found in their absence." She winked at Adley.


* Adley Reed lifted his gaze to Indigo, immediately captured by the warmth of her. Thinking about Zaleski had left him feeling cold inside, but Indigo was the opposite. She was the embodiment of warmth, and not just because she was human. She had lost people too, and yet she was looking at the silver linings. He couldn't help but smile, and nod. "It's true. If I hadn't lost Zaleski I wouldn't have gone looking for someone else. I wouldn't have found Jameson - maybe I'd have been doing something else the night you were stumbling back to the city on the side of the road. I might never have met you," he said, with such gravity. The thought was horrendous. "And, you don't have to feed on vampires, no. I started on humans. I was a blood thief before though, yeah? It's a choice..."


* Indigo gave it thought. "Is there a craving for it perhaps like..." She wondered was it like a preference for dry versus sweet wine? Rocky road vs vanilla? and the desire, need for it. What was it like to be immortal and thirsty or hungry for it. Blood. She wanted to know how it felt, the longing for it. What it felt like when the line of want versus need was crossed. What did it do to him then? "Ice cream or wine? Steak or burgers? Or even deeper? Like being on top because you can’t imagine being on the bottom?" She smiled to hopefully add some measure of being serious and genuine about what she asked. How deep was this preference ingrained?


* Adley Reed scratched at a stray itch at the back of his head. He was glad that the topic had changed, but he noted that Indigo had a habit of asking tough questions. It wasn't that he didn't have an answer, it was just that he had never thought about it before. He did laugh, though. "Hey, I like being on the bottom as much as I like being on the top. It just depends on my mood," he said. "As for human versus vampire - I suppose to my palette, vampire blood had more... heft to it. More of a zing, whereas human blood was bland. Like fries without any salt or sauce," he said. "Whatever the case, I don't have a choice now. I didn't know that, the first time I tried vampire blood. I didn't know that it was frowned on by most of the vampiric society, and I didn't know that it was irreversible. Of course if it was something you chose I'd help you, but then I'd have to take double from Kas..."


* Indigo laughed with him. "Kas is a giver. He is all too happy to indulge another but will get his in return. I appreciate how open you all are about telling me what to expect. Fries without the salt and something to dip in? Would have to be one hell of a tasty potato to sell me on going at them bare." She eyed him a bit. The brief flashes of Kaspar in her mind went quickly then she shrugged. "However I turn out I hope not a whole lot will change and have you looking at me like a bag of stale chips or something. That would suck." Indigo shifted in her chair when Adley joined those images of Kaspar. It was not the time to see what her mind was coming up with. A tug of her fingers on the art in front of her distracted her until they passed.


* Adley Reed laughed. "Oh, bee. You could never be a stale bag of chips. Right now? I might not crave your blood but I still crave you. When...if you turn, I'll just crave all of you. I could bite you the same way I do them," he said, cocking his head in the direction of the non-existent men, though his eyes never stray from Indigo. "And much more," he said. He noticed the way she had shifted - he wanted to know what was going on in her head.


* Indigo found Adley coming across with what she was curious about. Was the desire equal, the same between them for the other? "I will say that there is a hunger that will never be sated no matter how much of you I get." Was it forward? No more than what he just said. She was being honest. "I think about you a lot, Adley." Of course she thought about them all. There was this feeling of want that went beyond something that was currently unattainable when it came to him. She felt something she was finding difficult to pinpoint because it was big and it was growing. When their eyes locked she wanted to burn through that wall of denial that kept them apart and sink deep inside. She wanted to explore him from the deepest parts of who he was, what made him tick and immerse in the pleasure that she felt in the breathless contact that always came to her when they touched. She wanted to taste him unlike anything else she had ever known. Once it started she knew she wouldn't be able to stop. And that was her secret, her sin to bear when or if he permitted it to happen.


* Adley Reed 's laughter ceased. He'd never really wondered what Indigo felt for him; he knew that she wanted to be able to touch him because for so long, she kept trying. Lately, less so - as if she'd realised how difficult it was for him. And yet, he wondered if he didn't prefer it the other way around. The risk. Just so that he could touch her. But now that she said it out loud, now that she admitted to... what? It went beyond mere touch, didn't it? He remembered the question Kaspar had asked him only the other night, and Adley watched Indigo with a new, avid curiosity, gaze burning into her as if he wanted to read her mind, her heart. Or perhaps only so that he could read his own. His breath hitched, at first. The question came out of nowhere, but he asked it anyway. "Have you ever been in love, Bee?"


* Indigo eyes froze on his when he caught her by surprise. She felt like she was shrinking beneath his gaze. She had loved and lost her family, some friends but she was on the outside looking in now that he asked. She had never been 'in love' in the way she was assuming he was asking. Honesty was the best policy. She couldn't think of saying anything different. Not even some grand story of a tragic love that would make her seem more aware, deeper than her sense of there was always something more grand in the scheme of life to come along even on the darkest days. No. She could not say she was ever in that love people described. Could she? She felt something as she looked at him. It was strange, deep. That familiar ache of sorts began to surface again like it always did when she looked into his eyes and was this close to him."No. Have you?"

Indigo wondered why she felt on fire now that he asked. Impulsive even and she had to glue herself mentally to her seat just to stay still. Her breath held as she waited for him to tell of being in love with someone and she would listen closely, fully. Surely he had been in love, been loved. She knew how easy it was to feel such for him.


* Adley Reed shook his head, but it was a slow, thoughtful shake. He felt that by saying no he was lying to himself, which was odd in and of itself. When he thought back to all the women he'd been with over the years, love was not something he would or could describe feeling for them. Lust, yes, but as soon as that faded, so too did the flimsy relationships. They never lasted long. Whether or not he'd broken a few hearts along the way, he was entirely oblivious. "You can't tell me what it feels like, then," he said. "Like... how does a person know?" And this was Adley, in a nutshell. Talking about love, about how to identify it, with the woman he thought he might be falling for.


* Indigo felt the warm exhale of air released between her parted lips. The anticipation was so big, bigger than the space around them as she waited to hear him tell her what she couldn't yet describe because she had not known of it first hand. The flutter of her heart picked up in it's rhythm. It was hard, beating deeper and seemed to pause altogether when she was given a chance to tell him so that he could know. "I am not sure but from what I heard, what I am finding out..." She swallowed at the words coming out. "It has you dreaming. You think a lot of someone in particular and you are inspired from the simple moments. Nothing has to happen and it is seems epic, ya know?" She laughed a little No, he said he didn't know. She said she didn't either. "You want that person happy and you look forward to seeing them more than you did the time before. You feel great when you see them smile? It is even better when you had something to do with it? There is a lot of examples I have heard but if it is anything compared to what ..." She caught her words and swallowed them. Why would she find taking another roll in that car she was in before he found her less frightening than what was going inside her now? "Maybe we could ask someone else...both find out together?" Did she really just suggest such a thing? She knew. Now that she thought about it she knew she was deeper than she really ever admitted. Way to go Indigo. She smiled a little because what else was there to do while she felt like she just melted beneath another's focus. "Promise to tell me if you find out?"


* Adley Reed felt the twitch of a smile. He wondered if she knew. Did she know that he could hear it? Her heart. It thundered in her chest, the rhythm like some kind of jungle drum luring him in. And yet, it wasn't alluring because of the blood it pumped, but more the attending emotion that it promised. Nerves. She was nervous. Or excited. One of the two. Maybe both. She seemed to be buckling beneath the question, answering in such a way, with a few choice words that had Adley thinking these were not things she had just heard. The stool swiveled, Adley pondering his response as he turned in a complete circle, his back to Indigo for all of five seconds. When he was facing her again, it was only to slide forward, long legs either side of Indigo's stool as he reached for the seat to swivel it so that she was facing him. So that he could lean toward her still without touching her, his hands hooked around the stool either side of her hips. They were within breathing distance of each other. "I think I already found out..." he said. Cool. Calm. Collected. Far too confident.


* Indigo in that moment that he turned away she felt like the world stopped spinning while he did. She was hanging on watching, waiting for nothing but the next glimpse of his eyes. He leaned forward when he arrived and she felt like she was pulled closer. She sensed the answer in his movements, his lips holding back something she was about to learn for the first time. Something new, the unexpected or perhaps his agreement. He would tell her when he knew, when he discovered it because she was holding back something for the first time. That she, yes. He beat her to it. "And?" Did it feel as amazing as she felt while her body felt the increased closeness to him. The distance was dissolving and something else was filling the limited space between them. It was like she could breathe him in deep and hold him there. Only for the briefest of moments that an inhale took she could feel him everywhere within he couldn't otherwise touch. Even that, something so limited, was everything she imagined it could be and more. That feeling. It was there to stay and it would never be forgotten. No matter what he said next she knew. Knew what it all meant as she looked deeper than she had before into his eyes. “Tell me.” Her voice was a whisper that was followed by the holding of her breath. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to breathe again.


* Adley Reed didn’t have to close his eyes to be able to conjure the feeling that Indigo was asking him to describe. It swelled beneath his ribs just as he looked at her, as he breathed her in. It twitched in his fingertips as the urge remained; to pull her into his arms, to show her how he felt rather than to tell her. But he knew that would, somehow, contradict his words. Instead, he wet his lips before he summoned the words. “I think it is a unique devotion. A giving over of part of oneself, a willingness to…” he inhaled, eyes dropping to Indigo’s lips before rising to her eyes again. They were part of a hive where they gave themselves to everyone. They shared. If they admitted this kind of feeling for each other, would any of that change? “...to stay. To not stray beyond a particular set of boundaries, but it’s not something that’s asked,” he said. He didn’t know whether he was making any sense. Adley hadn’t slept with, hadn’t touched anyone outside of the Hive for… how long had it been? It was almost like he was saving himself. He laughed lightly, before he shook the thought away. “And sex isn’t a requirement, to feel love,” he breathed, trying to focus. This was the part that astounded him the most. “It’s… feeling bereft, somehow, when you are apart. So you always just gravitate back…” he said. He wasn’t quite as eloquent as Indigo. But even as he explained, he became more aware. More certain. They had all drifted over the past couple of weeks; Jameson seemed to have disappeared and Kaspar was busy. But it wasn’t the men that Adley needed to find. He adored their company, and was elated when Kaspar found his way back to them. But in the absence of company, it was Indigo he found first. It was Indigo he gravitated toward. He could not help it.

[Indigo]

* Indigo eyes widened with the sound of his voice explaining in different words what she felt but had yet to fully accept until that moment. Now it was shared, confirmed that, yes, this was what it was about. The being distant was there. She felt some sort of of emptiness she didn’t find entirely pleasant as the time took over and increased the time between seeing the three she lived with but she believed in freedom, following one's own desires and meeting their individual needs without need for explanation as to when it didn’t include the others. There was no slight, no sense of feeling abandoned or jealous. Yet, there she was looking at Adley and there was something a little different. Something growing that went beyond the bounds of little to no physical contact they were forced to accept. She could look at him a thousand times and she found something new each time. The movement of his lips, the edges twitching just a little different than before. His eyes. The found her in unique ways each time she was close, even now while she was dangerously close. He could see the truth. Did she need to admit it? “Every time you gravitate back, Adley, I feel an ache of sorts that grows when you aren’t around.” She glanced down to his hands at her sides on the chair then as if it seemed the perfect moment she looked at him. “I love you.” So she said it. Now if she didn’t have to breathe for the duration of while he was sitting there so unbelievably close to her she may be able to stand up when he drifted off and she could walk in another direction on her own two feet. Saving grace was it? Or maybe it would be entirely different?


* Adley Reed heard the words, and held onto them. The silence stretched as he relished them, as he revelled in them, as he took measures to remember them, and every detail about this moment. Whatever he thought he had felt swelled ten-fold. And he knew exactly what it was that drew him to Indigo; it wasn’t just her warmth, her welcoming kindness, her selfless kind of love for those she cared about, but it was her boundless optimism. She embraced life, she loved every second of it, or so it seemed. She always had a smile to offer, or a positive solution. Adley couldn’t feel sad when she was around - though he did sometimes feel the envy, the jealousy that he could not touch her, and the others could. Sometimes, when it got to be too much. Now, however, was not one of those times. “Kaspar--” he said, though his voice cracked, heavy with something he could not name. He had to clear it before he continued. “--he asked me whether I was in love with you. I couldn’t answer him,” Adley explained. “But because he asked, I started to think about it. To focus on the...nuances of my mood, when I was with you, and when I wasn’t. You helped me--this conversation helped me--I do. Love you, too,” he said, finally. Grinning, radiant. They were close enough now that their noses could touch, his head canted to the side, hoping for that kiss that he knew he shouldn’t initiate, but which he still felt the urge to give.

* Indigo felt like her world just opened up like a tight defiant bud she had been waiting to bloom. Kaspar was mentioned first and it could have shocked her more to hear the name mentioned if she had not been open to the thought to begin with. Indigo loved Kaspar, too. And Jay. It was sort of a given since they were a family of sorts and somewhat a unique one. But ‘in love’ was digging a little deeper and while the chance was always there for that to happen to all there was something from the very beginning that anchored her particular focus on Adley. Perhaps it could have been the whole thing about him rescuing her from that wreck. But if it was it would have faded over the time they had spent together. So much time. Now, so much later, in the Apiary while she sat a breath away she realized what it was. It wouldn’t stay undetermined. Not anymore. It had been decided whether she was ready or not. Her heart made a choice. As the tip of her nose brushed his she stared into his welcoming eyes and smiled slowly. No matter what she felt, no matter what happened later she wanted to touch him. Her head tilted as she surrendered into that heat that filled her head to toe. The glorious, invincible feeling that at that very moment everything was perfect, everything was possible and nothing could keep her from him. The warmth of her slow exhale danced across his cheek as she passed it. At the base of his ear she parted her lips so moist. Each skimmed the coolness of his neck releasing the warmth of life against his skin. The heat of the tip of her tongue traced the spot just beneath his jawline where a pulse would have been if she was searching for one. It didn’t matter that is was absent. It was there that she placed her mouth and delivered the fire of her first kiss after telling him she loved him.


* Adley Reed knew that he shouldn’t be encouraging this. He knew that he should gently push Indigo away, remind her that touch wasn’t such a great idea, and go back to whatever work they had started. Which, he assumed, was deciding on artwork for the walls. And yet, he felt the heat of her breath traveling over his skin, the soft pillows of her lips caressing his skin, and all sense of reason and propriety flew out the window. He hooked his feet around the legs of Indigo’s stool and, with the help of his feet on the seat behind her backside, he dragged her closer, stool and all. The curls of Indigo’s hair tickled Adley’s cheek, his neck; he lifted his hand to push his fingers through it, to push it out of his way so his teeth could nip at the corner of her jaw. His fingers hooked around the back of neck, grabbing hold so he could pull back. No, he shouldn’t be doing this. He repeated the reprimand over and over, as if it might convince him to stop. And yet he didn’t. And yet, he didn’t rush. This was far too good a moment, far too good a revelation to rush. His tongue swiped at her lips, the kiss slow and yet engulfing. Just one. One slow kiss couldn’t do her any harm, right? Maybe she wouldn’t be quite so energetic for all the work she had hoped to get done, but it would be worth it. Words were one thing, actions were another. Adley’s arm slipped around Indigo’s waist. He wanted to hold her close, as close as he could without crushing her. It was wrong, and yet it felt so right. How could it not?


* Indigo was higher than she could ever remember being...with or without Adley. It felt too good to ignore and impossible to ignore. The motion of her body coming even closer to his took away the breath she had left to exhale. The contrast of coolness to the fire burning across her lips left her eyes wide and her lids heavy. Just before her body gave in they closed and there where she always saw him in her dreams she felt something different as the taste of his mouth came to her own. The contact that was physical was absent when she dreamed. It was how she knew even in the depths of the sedation he could deliver her to, that it was just that...a dream, vivid yes, but a dream none the less. This time it was finally real and she could taste him, feel him against her. Where his arms and hands took hold she comfortably mirrored each movement. Her fingers pressed at their tips and brought him closer if it was possible and wherever it wasn’t she leaned in more. She wanted no space, no barriers. The weight of the fabric on her body was too cumbersome and the clothing he wore she cursed as her palm felt it's annoying presence. While the effects of his kiss took her higher and the pull of possible sedation increased she delved her tongue deeper as if she could intertwine with his and stay inside him defying the curse that kept them otherwise a breath apart.


* Adley Reed knew that this could go too far. Now that they had started, and the further they went, the harder it was going to be to stop. As annoying as the clothes were, as much as Adley wanted to help Indigo remove every scrap of it so that he could carry her to whatever soft (or hard) flat surface they could find, he refrained. His fingers dug into the cloth, though; he caressed her as much as he could through their bindings, kiss deepening until he could feel that passion and that fire building to a near irresistible pitch. And yet, he exerted willpower. After a good minute he broke the kiss. He pulled away. It was hard, and yet he succeeded. He sucked in one long breath before he released it with a rugged harshness. A low laugh rumbled in his throat as he shook his head. “No, no. If you plan on getting any more work done, we have to stop,” he said. “We have to stop because I’d prefer to keep talking to you. As much as I enjoy watching you sleep,” he paused. He had watched her sleep on so many occasions; there were even some photographs, somewhere, taken in the dim lighting, artistic in their angle, romantic in their style. It was kind of creepy, really, so he didn’t tell her. Not yet. Maybe he’d show her at some later date. He glanced down at the canvases on the tabletop, doing his best to put at least a little distance between himself and the human he loved. “Are we deciding on how to decorate the walls?”


* Indigo was light as a feather, free as one dropping from a branch high above the ground and floating weightlessly at the mercy and route of the summer night wind. Adley took her so many places with a single touch, delivered her to so many states of being. The curse was part of it but hardly entirely responsible. She licked her lips, the pulsing portions of flesh that framed her mouth. He was there, inside and out as well as at the tip of her tongue. She smiled as her eyelids felt like they were heavy with a new challenge to stay open no matter how high she was sitting next to him. “I agree.” She breathed out, trying to compose herself to focus on the work still at hand. Her eyes deviated from the canvas in front of them and took in his profile. That smile softened and she pondered his question. Yes, they were supposed to do that. “For now perhaps temporary placement perhaps?” Good thing she wasn’t going far. It would be awhile before she feel her feet. Each one locked on the base of the stool beneath to keep her from swiveling. “You need to help me with the dark room and the room for whatever you photographers do.” There was a lot to be done and she was glad that he was willing to help.


* Adley Reed had initiated the change in topic and the chance in action, but now he regretted it. Going back to talking about ordinary things was such a jolt when he knew he’d prefer to be doing other things - but there had been a reason. He had to remember that reason. He cleared his throat and nodded. “Yes, let me do the heavy lifting. I’ll hold things up against walls while you stand back and make sure it looks right,” he said. Though, she looked like she were wilting already. Already, they had gone too far. He cursed himself, inwardly. Outwardly, he laughed. “We photographers don’t need much. The room doesn’t have to be too large - but no windows. And red bulbs. A couple of benches. Some sinks. Hooks in the walls so we can string up some wire to pin the wet photos on. We’re simple creatures,” he said with a light smile. Most photographers, these days, didn’t use the dark rooms. They used their computers and digital photo manipulation. Sometimes, though, Adley enjoyed the darkness and the silence. He enjoyed the motions, the requirement of concentration, of perfect lighting. Staring at a computer screen all day could be quite taxing.


* Indigo had been in front of the camera lense and really never behind it. Behind it of course is where the work was truly at. She was glad that he didn’t want windows. There were none to be had. Red bulbs were doable as well as everything else that he mentioned. Benches would be easy to find, negative cutting tables if those were a thing and a couple computers for the editing. She knew that much about her past photo shoots. All work was usually reviewable while the shoot was taking place. Come to think of it she wondered why he was never in front of the camera. If they had the time she would really like to turn the lense on him.

“So, it is no secret that you are just too good to be true and I can’t take my eyes off of you…” She laughed because even she realized it sounded so cheesy even she couldn’t finish the words. So she just asked the question it was heading towards while she lifted her body off the stool that was beneath it. “You ever been approached about modeling?” Yes, she had some plans and wondered how open Adley would be about them.


* Adley Reed had tried plenty of things in his past. All teenagers (or most) go through the same kind of indecision. What would they do with the rest of their life? Though, sometimes circumstance comes into it, too. Some careers are unachievable not due to lack of talent or want, but due to lack of money. Adley nodded. For five minutes, he’d worked hard at being on a stage; he was often seen by those who liked pretty things. He had been approached. But he’d already decided that he preferred to be on the other side of the lens.

And anyway, that wasn’t a talent he’d shared with anyone, yet. They’d been out dancing with him. They knew he had some kind of rhythm. They didn’t need to know anything else. He shrugged.

“I’m sure I have a few shots out there in the world somewhere. It just wasn’t something I pursued,” he said. He followed Indigo with his eyes, wondering why she had asked. What, exactly, did she have in mind?


* Indigo had plans to put him in front of the lense, to experiment with his craft with him as the center of her focus but his words left her more intrigued than the prospect of capturing the images of a face, a body she could only get as close to as a camera lense or the all too brief contact that left her high. Not that she was ready to complain. Just as they had agreed sex was not the point, even if it could be great-it wasn’t at all a requirement. She was happier than she had ever been right there. But she was caught by his admittance to a few shots out there. Something had not pursued. This was a window opening to see, learn perhaps, about a part of Adley she had not heard of before. Her attempts at getting him to pose would wait. Her curiosity as to what he had hidden was overriding her.

“What shots? Hmmm?” She was focusing on him like the room went black and the only visible presence within was him.


* Adley Reed’s lips broadened into a mischievous grin, lower lip tucked between his teeth as his gaze drifted. He knew where the shots were. He had copies - could even find them on the internet, if he really wanted to.

“What if I like to keep my mystery?” he said. There were plenty of things neither Kaspar or Indigo knew. Not because Adley was particularly ashamed, but because it had never come up in conversation, and he had realised early on that mystery worked well for him. It was an aspect that women were drawn to. Men, too, it would seem. Keeping his past to himself wasn’t about modesty, it was just another ploy. And yet, he could feel himself opening up to Indigo.

Which made him realise - Indigo didn’t really know much about Adley, and yet she claimed to love him, like he did her. He had to wonder why. It was a passing curiosity - one that he might ask answers of later. For now, he was happy to tease.


* Indigo was not getting anywhere with the question she asked. Not anywhere as far as answers went. He wasn’t offering up any and really he had no obligation or reason to. She asked once because of course she was going to be interested. It was Adley. Wouldn’t he bite the same hook she did if the roles were reversed?

“Fair enough.” Her smile surfaced and she filed away the curiosity where it belonged. “So, if I am not privy to that how about you tell me something else about you that I have wondered. You have siblings? I am second in birth order. Some people think that determines a lot.”

Indigo had her eyes settling on his face. Expressions said even more than who was born first.


* Adley Reed hadn’t expected Inidgo to give in so easily. He’d expected her to poke and prod until she got the answers she wanted, but then - that wasn’t Indigo’s way. He knew that. Hadn’t he already witnessed her walking away when she felt she was asking questions that he and Kas seemed reluctant to answer? She was so selfless that she would back out if she ever felt she was intruding further than wanted.

Adley enjoyed the curiosity, however; he didn’t want her to back away completely, and so he had to concede on something. He released a breath, as well as his lower lip, and shook his head.

“No siblings that I know of. My Dad liked to sleep around, though, and I was the result of one of his dalliances, so who knows?” he said. “Technically, I was raised as an only child. But - my mother was a… well it’s complicated. It was a close community. I felt like I had a lot of siblings even if technically we weren’t related by blood,” he said with a shrug. It was a long time ago. He had flashes of memories, but most of them were dim, now. Like dreams, rather than fact.


* Indigo listened and inhaled once and sort of held it. It was like a gift hearing about his life prior which ultimately answered several of those questions that was an endless list so it seemed in her head. So many ways one could be considered family and now she could see why Adley was comfortable within their Hive as they referred to it. It wasn’t just the house itself, but their collective state of minds when it came to their bonds to one another. It was comfortable, natural, solid. Family.

“I can respect that. Were you a result of a dalliance, Adley, or from a beautiful moment meant to be?” She wasn’t one to question origins, moments of creation. So much was invested in such...Will was an example. “I have one sibling. You were fortunate to have a village worth. Hard to feel alone in such a setting I would imagine. Where there is love there is no complications unless you invite them in or permit them.”

Indigo was in her twenties but felt like she had seen the world from the core outward as well as the diversity of those who inhabited it. It came to her without any expectations and for that little to no disappointment. Perhaps it kicked in with the passing of her parents, or when Davion closed the door and left going back to the streets that seemed to have swallowed him up and left no trace. She felt the burn of hope nearly reduced to ashes until Phineas gave her insight through his presence, his guidance and helped her shape her persepctive on how she saw things. Maybe she had found out what being in love was for the first time recently but she knew love in general, family bonds and deep enough she appreciated them most with the way she viewed them.

“Are your parents still alive?” Another question that was asked but could easily be left unanswered and she would understand.


* Adley Reed narrowed his eyes but laughed, nodding, giving Indigo her point. Adley had never really been bitter about it, but the fact that his father, though he’d known about Adley’s existence, hadn’t acknowledged it had only set up the basics of what their relationship would be like. William Reed had only taken Adley under his wing when he knew there was no other choice, though even at nine years of age Adley had been so sure that his ‘family’ in Nigeria would take care of him. The truth of the matter, however, was that no one could really afford to. No one really had the space. And with his father there to take him away, no one could argue otherwise regardless - even though they would have tried, if it had been left to them to try.

“No. The first nine years of my life I never felt alone. Sometimes I think they were the best nine years of my life,” he admitted. “I never knew what it was like to be truly alone until my father brought me back here. I was different. I didn’t really fit in. So I built my shield and when I grew up, I realised I could use my looks to get ahead,” he said, lifting his gaze with a gleaming grin.

“And that kind of answers the last question. I was brought here to live with my father because my mother died when I was nine. Cancer, incurable. William’s still around, somewhere. He’s a travel journalist, freelance. Trained anthropologist. He’s overseas more than he’s home,” he said with a shrug. He and his father had never really been all that close - the distance meant nothing to Adley.

“Do you get along with your one sibling or was that bitterness?” he asked.


* Indigo couldn’t help but look at the smile that found Adley’s face. It brought out a brief one that spread across her lips. She stood out for the way she looked as well in certain situations. Sometimes it was a positive and other times it was a negative. She was not incredibly unique. It was how she met him to begin with. She was mistaken for someone else and ended up on the furthest thing from a joy ride that she never imagined. She had faced the odd comments, rude even. Being too light, being too blonde.”

“My father was a pilot. Career military. Came over from Jamaica. Mom was an airline stewardess. They loved their careers more than each other. Both are gone. My mother was in the Trade Towers in the 9-11 attack. My Dad died a couple years after. As you know my uncle, his brother, won the role of surrogate father. My brother, Davion, is likely dead if he isn’t still on the streets.”

She missed what she never got to have. It was like there was something unresolved, which there was. She was young the last time she saw him. Phineas sent him out the door because he couldn’t get clean or leave the gang he ran with. He was larger than life, always made her laugh. No matter how much his habits changed how he looked he was beautiful. She was too young to know why he was gaunt, skinny and far more pale than he should be. He was her older brother and that is all she knew.

“He was like my Peter Pan.” She rolled her eyes with a brief laugh. “He made it seem like everything was possible. He would hang with me before I fell asleep at night then would sneak out my window and disappear for days or even weeks. I would find him in Phineas drawers taking things when he came back.” She shrugged. “We all have those we love I guess who find the greatest battle is learning to love themselves. He has his demons.”

Indigo looked around at the space they were currently in. It was comfortable but it seemed too far suddenly from what she considered home. Whatever was left to do, which was still a lot of work, could be done later. She would much rather hear more from adley if he was willing to share and there was of course Bucket who likely was needing to be fed and let outside.

“Care to take a break and stop back at the house?” It was up to Adley if he stayed or went with. “I know a dog that is likely plotting chewing on something if he doesn’t get his bowl filled with food soon.”

[Kaspar]

A Family Affair

<Kaspar> It had been a few days since Kaspar had been to the Hive, the others knew he was busy and understood that his schedule was tight so hadn’t pushed. The business deal he was working on, gigs, recording and his son had taken up most of his spare time. In reality he also had to admit to himself, and the residents of the Hive if they asked, that he’d also been trying to spare time in his busy days for catching up with Grey. Of course he’d made a point of stopping by the Apiary, a place his beautiful Indigo was working on, offering advice and bringing her sweet treats to help her get through the long days.

Running a business wasn’t easy, starting one was hellish.

To this end he had decided he owed the woman a surprise, and had been promising she could meet his son since she’d found out about him. He pulled up in a sleek sedan, definitely not his normal jeep, and went about unbuckling the carrier that held his little bundle of joy. The sleeping blonde child gave a little yawn, opening wide blue eyes that were a damn close match to his father’s to give a “why are you waking me?” look. Kaspar laughed, lifting the sleepy seven month old into his arms, cradling him in one side so that his other hand was free to grab the carrier. He hip checked the door to shut it and approached the door. “You’re going to meet a very special lady, please try your best not to puke down her top, hm?” He grinned, pressing a kiss to the boy’s head and inhaling, that baby smell did him in every time.

With carrier hooked over his wrist he was free to push his key into the lock, twisting and opening the door to the tune of, “Honey, i’m home… Honey’s?” He queried, never quite sure who meet be in residence. “Indigo, we have a house guest, please make sure pants are on!” He murmured into the room, entering and closing the door behind him, discarding the carrier so he could with both hands adjust the hold he had on his son.

* Indigo If there was one thing that Phineas Knight was great at it was making things look easy. Indigo watched him juggle his career as an artist while raising her and Davion with little effort. He had to put a few options on hold and outside relocating to Toronto it seemed he was able to balance everything with the compromise of living in her parents home until she had finished high school. And, of course, until Davion graduated from petty theft and breaking curfew to wearing permanent ink tears under his eye proving he did more than steal someone's bike. That was the sign that he was more than ready to be kicked out of the family nest.

Once that was accomplished Phineas packed up and headed back to Harper Rock and Indigo was never far behind between her modeling/dancing jobs. Once he went missing it was harder to leave. It after all was the last place she saw Davion or Phineas who were currently missing in action with signs of ever returning now that she knew what was out there after the sun went down. Outside the present company, of course that was calling out from the front of the house.

Boo it would appear was returning to the Hive. She dropped what was in her hands and looked down at what she was wearing as soon as she heard that she should be clothed. Yes, she was clothed. The other ‘honeys’ mentioned, Adley and Jay, were out there somewhere but not currently home. Unlike the nightwalkers out in full swing these particular men, beauties of the night, she had no concern for potential harm. They were examples of how it was nearly impossible to believe such a thing as vampires truly existed. She made her way down the hall fully clothed and spotted Kaspar looking entirely different than she ever expected to witness.

There had been discussion of bringing home baby and the wife but so far that had been all it was. Until the moment she paused in her steps and saw something that couldn’t be captured in any pictures that Kaspar had generously and proudly shared. The intimacy that was impossible to miss between a father and his child and a child in the security of his father’s protective hold was there before her eyes. A light was visible in those powerful blue orbs Kaspar possessed that were framed by a halo of silken gold. Another layer, a whole new depth she had not discovered until that moment was in front of her and all she could do was smile and feel the warmth it generated within her.

If Kaspar was beautiful, unattainable and godlike before...well he just took the place of the brightest star defying all in the sky just outside the front door that could never quite compete. He was shining unlike she had ever seen him do before. Her eyes fixed on the inspiration. She couldn’t imagine seeing deeper into a man’s soul than looking into his only child’s eyes. Yes, it was Kaspar’s son. So much of them in each set of their uncanny breathtaking endless blue eyes.

“Kaspar…” She was speechless. Her feet failed to move any closer to him. “He is…” She was again at a loss for words. “Precious.” There was no other word really. He was unlike any other baby she ever set eyes on. He belonged to Boo. His flesh and blood.

<Kaspar> The wait for Indigo to emerge seemed to stretch forever, Kaspar feeling oddly nervous as he brought to her his most prized possession, the one thing in this world he devoted himself to entirely. If Will needed him Kaspar would and had in the past dropped everything to go to him, any pain or sadness his child experienced was felt by him in turn. He’d asked Sig to accompany them, though Indie and the woman had already met when his dad was in town, but she was absorbed in some task or other and admitted she wouldn’t mind the alone time. It was part of why their partnership worked, his darling Wife enjoyed her time and let Kaspar have his, while they shared a lot they felt no need to spend every second with each other. Sometimes he did feel there was more he could give her, more he could do but she rarely complained.

The scent of his sweet caramel, his precious Indigo hit him before his eyes fell on her. She was radiant as ever, enjoying her home and those who chose to inhabit it when they returned to her. If he was being honest it wasn’t just time that kept him absent lately, the dynamics in the household felt as if they were shifting with Jay being distant, and he decided it would be best to allow it to happen. Indigo and Adley both wanted more than they could have physically, but emotionally? He’d asked Adley if he loved her and the guy hadn’t been able to answer, but Kaspar suspected he would be able to in the very near future. It wasn’t that he wouldn’t to give them up, but it had come up more than once of late and he was beginning to consider the implications of Adley and Indigo’s growing affections.

Her eyes were on him, wide indigo oceans of wonder and awe as she let them fall upon the precious bundle in his arms. Kas had turned his son to face the room, so that as she entered he stared right back. Will was wriggling, Kas bouncing him gently as he took a measured step towards her, the nervous energy that had filled him seeming to ease and be replaced with a warmth. It touched his smile, the corners of his mouth curving into a genuine expression of adoration. When he glanced to his son, it was love that shone from him. “Indigo, I would like for you to meet my son, this is Niklaus Wilhelm Grube… My Will.” His lips touched the top of the child’s head, taking a brief inhale, nose brushing against the soft downy blonde hair. “He’s my reason for, well, everything.”

Kaspar closed the distance between himself and Indigo as the woman stayed frozen, inviting her with his relaxed body posture to reach out to them. “I’m sorry it took so long, Caramel, can you forgive me?” Will was bounced, Kas lowering his cheek to press to his son’s with a pout aiming for adorable.

<Indigo> The wiggling ball of baby boy danced in the air as Kaspar held him up proudly. Her eyes locked on Will, Boo’s adorable child. Tears lined the lower rims of her eyes. It was impossible to stop them from forming. Her heart swelled at the way Kaspar looked, his hands securely supporting this tiny angelic being between them. Death had not taken anything that truly was important from him and this introduction was proof. He loved Will so much so that she could feel the power of the energy that flowed in the space between them as she closed it. He was a Daddy and it was like a pool of wonderment that she couldn’t help but dive into.

“Look at you…” She cooed softly, her face so busy with a grin that she felt it all the way into the corners of her eyes, her brows and forehead. Her hands lifted and made contact with the warmth in the healthy full cheeks that lifted as soon as she did. The pleased carefree smile that blossomed across the little ones face was all it took for the tears to drop. “Kaspar, he is so beautiful.”

Indigo leaned in so that the warmth of Will was shared between them. She wrapped her arm around the small of Kaspar’s back and gently sandwiched the energetic baby between them. The scent of innocence, pure and precious childlike only a baby could smell filled her nose as she kissed his head. Her lips found Kaspar’s cheek and she whispered to both of them.

“Welcome home my sweet men.” A tiny ball of constantly moving flesh danced by her face as Will tried to make sense of the cloud of caramel-blonde ringlets that were attached to her head. A quick grasp and tug said he figured out that she would make a squeak in response. He pulled again giggling. “Oh my, he’s Daddy’s boy!”


<Kaspar> He watched the tears make her eyes turn glassy, wondering if she would be able to stop them from falling, if she would bother to. He hadn’t wanted her to cry, and now that she looked she might he wasn’t sure what to do. Was she happy? She seemed to be, he hoped it hadn’t made her sad. He reached out as they did fall, catching them on his fingertips and brushing them away, “Hush now, Caramel, don’t you cry.” He tucked an arm around the woman as she stepped in closer, letting her press towards the pair, keeping both secure in his embrace. “Thank you, so are you.” His lips fell to her forehead, brushing a soft kiss, one lowered to her nose before he leaned back to watch her interact with his son.

It was a strange thing for him, when different parts of his life came together. It’s not that he specifically tried to keep them separate, just that they were. He couldn’t imagine handing his bouncing baby boy into the waiting arms of Jameson, he doubted the guy would be hugely interested or Adley for that matter. Grey’s reaction had been interesting, he hadn’t shied from it, he’d simply said that he thought fatherhood suited Kaspar. The way the guy was with animals, the way he seemed to ache to nurture those he cared for made Kas wonder whether he might not actually enjoy hanging out with kids, having someone to care for. Well, his charming Wife had wanted the guy invited around, eager to meet him so he might just find out one day.

Her lips in his cheek brought him back into the moment, the sweet warmth that came from those little bits of honey their queen bee offered them made him shiver. He was content, happy with her arms around him with finger tips laced behind his back. Her words brought forth a grin, Kaspar laughing gently as his lips sought hers, interrupted before he was able to kiss her by his son’s hands, sinking amongst the curls and giving a tug that caused a squeak. “Nein, Niklaus Wilhelm, lass den quatsch!” He tutted the reprimand, asking his son to cut it out as his fingertips found the boys, disentangling them from her hair and bringing them to his lips. He nipped at them playfully, followed by a little kiss that had the baby giggling, turning towards his father. “Mmm, ja, he is like his Papa. Poor Sigrid, two of us on her hands.” He teased, referring to his partner he called Wife. “Shall we sit?”

He finally got the kiss he had wanted, savouring her lips briefly before stepping around her towards the chaise, seating himself and scooping Will’s legs to get him to sit. “Would you like to hold him? He’s got a wiggle on at the moment, but he’ll settle soon enough, he was fast asleep in the car.” He groaned softly, pressing a hand to his face. “It means he’ll demand the motion before he goes back to sleep tonight.” He explained, pulling a face at his son.

* Indigo The press of Kaspar’s lips were like silken flames caressing her skin. She didn’t feel cold as in temperature when he touched her. The warmth was there despite the reality that the man was lacking true body heat. It always had been. She felt it, had it present in her mind as she did with Adley and Jameson. She stopped recognizing tactile cold when the trio first appeared several months back. Some were known to be able to light up a room...well, the men she adored had their own magic that she felt as soon as she set eyes on them. Messy bed heads, grumpy moods, sour dispositions and even when beaten bloody and for lack of a better way to describe- the walking dead, it mattered not. The heat was always on.

Once the tiny fingers were splayed and her blonde locks of hair were released from their captor she wrinkled up the bridge of her nose and made a face at Will then giggled. It was such a sight to witness. Kaspar was the doting father, attentive, focused and visibly outshone by his own blood and he loved it. The rock star was a number one devoted fan of Will and she now was able to see why. He stole Kaspar’s spotlight. Likely the only one who could get away with it. Once the two settled into the white chaise she realized she fit right in once her body folded and found space to claim. She instantly was a fan of the duo and gave each a slow soft caress of her fingers through their hair.

“I don’t know about poor, Boo.” She commented on Kaspar referring to Sigrid being burdened by the two. “I think she has a lot more than most. From what I see and know it is hardly anything to consider her poor.”

Indigo stuck out her hand and curled the length of her fingers inward to her palm. Only her index finger remained extended and she grinned when Will proved he was strong enough to hold on as his sweet fingers took hold. While she played a gentle game of tug back and forth with him she looked to Kaspar. She wondered how he could manage to protect him in the environment that growing in the city. The immortal one.

“Aren’t you scared to bring him out...to have him around here?” She hated to ask but she knew that they could talk about anything. Will’s ears were obviously far too young to register the risk that she was speaking of and how it applied to him in particular. The Hive and those who lived there were not an issue in the least. But the city in general was her point. Kaspar came home shot up numerous times as well as the other two. “What if someone shot at you while you have him?”

[Indigo]

<Kaspar> Tucking Indigo against his side was as natural as breathing, no hesitation in the gesture and not really acknowledging it either other than adjusting the hold on his wriggling son who was once more trying to reach for the cloud of curls. He tutted sternly, but Indigo solved the issue at hand by extending her finger to let the child wrap his chubby fingers around it which he did with glee. Kaspar relaxed into the cushions, lips brushing across her temple, “Yes I suppose she does consider herself lucky, even if we can be a handful at times. She is good that way, very patient, very considerate. We are both lucky, I mean look at what we made together. Isn’t that amazing?” His eyes once more found his son, watching him with a doting sort of smile, one that spoke of how important he was.

Kaspar and Sigrid had formed a strong partnership, a lifelong partnership that while now centred around their child was built on friendship, on trust and understanding. They loved each other, that was the truth of it, she was one of the few people in this world who he said “I love you” to. They had years of history, and their policy of honesty and sharing meant that whether they were together or apart they were aware of what the other was doing. There was rarely any need for jealousy, and if it occurred it was solved with a simple conversation or request for more time and attention. If she needed him she knew that all she had to do was ask, and Kaspar would come running. There was few people in the world like his Wife, the man knew it would not be wise to took that for granted. “We are lucky.” He repeated aloud, letting Indigo in on his thoughts before the woman voiced her darker concerns.

Yes. Kaspar worried often. “Well, I drove.” He spoke it dryly, deadpan. Kaspar stared off into the distance, frowning as he tried to form a better response. “Yes, Indie, I worry desperately and regret frequently our decision to stay here. I tried to convince her then, before I even knew. Gang activity was up and that was more than enough for me to be concerned about. Sigrid argued against it, we both had started building opportunities here, even though my plans were to travel back and forth. My…” Death, “change in condition cemented it, I can’t go even if I want to and she won’t without me. She won’t take him away. We’ve argued over it a few times now, Indie. I don’t want to separated from my son, of course I don’t, but if it means he’ll be safer than I can handle it. I can.” His head shook, heavy with the doubts. “Look, he’s far safer than I am. We just need to be smart, easier said than done I know.”

There were moments where regret and pain covered him, if only he’d made them leave, then he wouldn’t be what he was and they would all be alive far, far away. Could he fully regret it? No, if that were the case he wouldn’t have the other people in his life who he had grown to care for, who were part of his family whether he was able to voice that or not. “One day I might find out how to get around my particular issue, to be able to leave here and not get brought straight back at sundown every day. Maybe one day I can drag all of you to see MY home. I would like that, to show the people who are important to me where I came from. Mmm… Speaking of people who are important to me… Where is our boy Adley? Was hoping he might be home.”

Shoulders hitched in a shrug, not stressing over it clearly. “Ah well. Mmm, I think Will wants to visit with his Aunt Indie.” Kas smirked, pulling his arm free of Indigo’s shoulders so he could have both hands to reposition his child, easing him over into her lap. He guided her hands, ensuring she had a good hold before letting go. Subtly he tugged out his phone, opening the camera app and snapping a photo before she had time to protest. The device was kept handy, though his free hand hovering nearby, protective yet not defensive.

He trusted her, trusted her with the only thing he loved more than his own self.

* Indigo She blinked as Kaspar mentioned that he drove home. Her first thought was that bullets moved faster than cars, break through glass and could bury deep into a body before it knew what hit them. Second was the memory of Phineas flipping out over the holes in the rear of his new car that he allowed Davion to drive for the first time. He was going out on a date supposedly. Instead he took the vehicle loaded with his friends and did a little target practice that landed him in jail. Will was a visual reminder of how unpredictable the world around them could be. There were a lot of Davion’s who had no grip on life in general and had a gun in their hand.

Indigo should feel just at risk but she didn’t. Fear didn’t seem to be present for her own well being. She identified with the way Will seemed to be all too happy right where he was tugging on her finger. She felt concern for Kaspar’s child though. Increasingly so now that she felt his warmth around her finger, the scent of him shared between his father and her. Perhaps it was the fact Will an infant. Or it could be that she felt like she lived more than a lifetime already. Tumbling out of a flying car lit up by gunfire was impactful. Just as it would be to most who took it for the near death, senseless violent episode it was.

But Will was like a promise, a wiggling bundle of hope that had yet to see its potential in an otherwise dying world. He needed that protection, preservation for what would be there twenty, thirty years from now. He needed to grow, be prepared. Just when she could feel the sinking of concern for all the what-ifs that could take place she found Kaspar’s eyes with her own. He would do whatever it took to make sure that Will and Sigrid were safe. His words conveyed that and so did acknowledgment of how he tried to get her to go and high tail it with Will in tow. She had a whole new level of respect for Sigrid. The woman was committed to the nearly impossible tasks of keeping Will safe and being at Kaspar’s side while they did it together.

“Yes, I suppose you are right.” Her lips brushed the material on his chest taking the risk of dangling a curtain of blonde ringlets in easy reach of the healthy little mit on Will that had proven it was a quick catch. “I will do whatever I can to help too. You know that.” Her lips left Kaspar and found Will’s constantly turning head. “Sigrid can ask, call, arrive day or night and I will be there for them, for you.” Her hand found his and lifted it so she could press the seal of a kiss in promise across the knuckles that formed. “And I would love to see your home, Boo.”

The weight of Will found her her lap and despite her initial apprehension at holding him it was like hand and glove. The scent of baby beneath her nose was so perfect that she had to lean in and inhale even deeper while her lips kissed Will yet again on the silken wisps of hair beneath her. There was something magical about Kaspar that transcended what she knew prior and she was starting to feel it.

Phineas never had any kids so Indigo was usually around adults growing up fast more often than not in studios, museums flying between Europe and Toronto when she was too young to be left behind.. Her aunts and uncles were back Jamaica which meant her cousins were as well. There was way too much of the world her uncle wanted her to see beyond the island he and her father struggled to leave behind. She would hopefully get back someday, but maybe it wouldn’t be. She had more right where she was and she smiled.

“How do you find the ability to let go of him?”

The cellphone in Kaspar’s hand was all the hint she needed and she pulled Will in like he was meant to be that close to her and smiled. That of course was the moment Will found her hair again and gave it another healthy tug and twist. She reached for his hand which started a chase of ninja like moves she was hardly prepared for. Will was an absolute delight and her laughter could not be contained as she wrestled with his hand and her hair.

<Kaspar> He was enjoying watching them together, laughing at the game of keep-away with Indie’s hair, chastising in a stern voice. “Niklaus, nein!” When his little fingers got a decent hold. The blue eyes that met his were surprise, then all cheek, the giggles of the baby bringing on his own laughter. Tutting softly he once more disentangled her hair, gently prying away his boy’s hand. “Ok, ok, here.” Kaspar got up to grab at the designer diaper bag, rummaging in it to pull out a plastic teething ring and a stuffed bear, waggling them both in Will’s direction. He offered both, watching as Will snatched up the bear, promptly sticking it’s ear into his mouth, suckling happily and gripping at the body. Shrugging the man placed the other back in the bag, settling it close to them.

When she asked how he let go Kaspar he stilled, studying them both, considering. “It is difficult. Even when he is being a fussy, when he is crying and basically making me want to pull my hair out I don’t want to leave him. Sometimes I find myself putting him down to sleep and hovering, or letting him stay asleep on my chest longer because he just looks so sweet, and… I hate leaving him.” He shrugged, “But you have to.” He rummaged once more, pulling out a small pouch with a bottle of milk inside, taking it to put in the fridge. They probably wouldn’t stay overly long, he wasn’t sure, but the lad might decide he was hungry again.

Strolling back in the phone was out, capturing a sneaky candid photo, grinning like an idiot. “Oh, be careful by the way. He is still breastfeeding, so he uh… Well, he’s usually pretty aware of Mama’s boobs, but if he’s sleepy and hungry he might not distinguish.” There was a cringeworthy moment where he hoped she didn’t make a “like father, like son” joke, slumping once more onto the chaise, lowering his lips to Will’s cheek and blowing a raspberry there. “Cheeky. So, Indie… How are things going? I’m sure i’ve missed something exciting.”

He was about to ask after Bucket when the dopey blonde appeared, head ducking around the hallway, “Uh oh…” He had time to mumble before the dog was bounding towards him, paws flying up to press at his chest, tongue eagerly trying to lap at his face as Kaspar pushed him down. “Ok, oh god, down Bucky! Buck, no! Gentle… Careful.” He convinced the dog to sit, stroking over his head and back as he wiggled enthusiastically with the force of his tail. “Children and dogs, never work with either.”

* Indigo bit her bottom lip as Kaspar pointed out that Will was breastfed. She may not have been around babies as much as most her age but she had not missed the general memos that went out to the general public about such things as lactation and the bond of a breastfeeding mother and child. Will was such a momma’s boy. Not an Indigo seeker. Besides she had nothing to offer and she was confident the little guy wasn’t going to be searching. Will was pivoted to face towards his Daddy in her lap just in case while she wiggled the toy he had a firm grip and bite on.

Bucket bounced in and made sure he wasn’t left out on the visitation. She giggled as the two made up for lost time and her face once again was able to perch on the top of sweet Will’s head. The silken fine hair at the surface slid beneath her lips and she pressed them down. If only the scent of the littlest Prince could be bottled. She sighed and brushed her cheek as she tilted her head to rest her face lightly on the top where a crown should be. He was perfect.

“Hmmm…” She adjusted Will on her lap as she settled back to sink into the position that Kaspar was known to be in whenever in the chaise that she now held down with the stretch of her long bare legs like he did. Will wiggled a bit but soon he was using her chest for a firm head rest. Her long fingers brushed lightly at the top of his forehead and caressed back. The motion was repeated. “Haven’t heard from Jay in a while. Hope Chuck didn’t catch up with him. I am kind of worried about him.” Her eyes drifted down to Bucket while she danced the tip of her nose on Will’s head. It was an understatement. Jameson. Her nose itched and her eyes blinked quickly when their dryness grew suddenly moist. “The Apiary is growing. Happy to say that the walls and floor now have color as well as places to sit and work. Honey Gate Studios has been given a series of grants and will be non profit as well as privately funded thanks to Phineas’ detailed wishes left legally long before he disappeared.”

Will was bouncing with increased interest in getting at Bucket. His tiny beefy arm cut the air back and forth before the chubby little fingers holding the bear shaped hand toy sent it at Bucket but thankfully far enough from the target that the toy bounced on the ground next to the dog instead. Bucket knew a great lesson to deliver when he saw it. He snatched the baby toy and bolted off to the bedroom where he always hid out under the bed when he scored something he more often than not shouldn’t have.

“Good luck getting that back.” Indigo chuckled and slid Will up into her arms as she leaned forward. “Think it will take both of us to grab it back or think you can handle it?”

[Kaspar]

<Kaspar> Kas had crouched down to sink his fingertips into Bucket’s fur, stroking and petting at the excited dog, pressing his face in against the silken fur and giving the ditzy blonde a hug as Indigo mentioned her concerns over Jamie’s whereabouts. Yeah, she wasn’t the only one. The guy had been absent for a while, and that in itself wouldn’t be too surprising or alarming, not at first, but the fact that he’d left his dog behind was. He couldn’t exactly imagine Jay, for all his faults, abandoning Bucket. Kaspar had been trying hard to avoid getting involved with the criminal element beyond what was necessary, and thus while he knew he should probably head to the slums and start asking around he’d been putting it off.

Having his own niggling concerns confirmed by another’s just compacted them, made it more apparent how much he really did need to address the issue. They’d have to look for him, they’d have to try and find out if anyone had seen him. The MC would be a good place to start, and he made a mental note to try and get in contact with the woman he’d met briefly in a bar who was notoriously a part of the very same club. Maybe she’d have an idea about his last known whereabouts. None of the Hive seemed to have a clue beyond “he was here, and now he’s not”. The one downside of not avidly interfering in each other’s lives beyond that which they were welcomed into. Kaspar missed him, he did and he hoped that the guy was in one piece wherever he was. As mad as they might be it would be a relief to have him slink in the door, looking smug about snatching some exciting relic, or announcing the hilarious new gun name he’d thought of.

His lips had pursed, stuck together to hold in response merely giving a nod in acknowledgement of her fears. It was with relief that he sighed, releasing the pressure on his mouth when she moved on to discussing the Apiary. “That’s brilliant, Queenie, it is… “ Kaspar would’ve said more but his son’s enthusiastic flinging the toy he’d only recently been given, the vampire in the room watching with dismay as Bucket proceeded to promptly pounce on it. He was too struck by the frustrating scenario that his brain was sluggish to catch up, to alert his body to the need to move. He lunged, but fell short, fingertips scraping over silken fur as he wiggled away proudly to hide his new treasure. “FICK!” He cussed loudly, a string of ranting following in his native tongue as the man hauled himself to his feet, slinking off.

From the bedroom Indigo would no doubt hear the sharp commands, a practiced tone that Kaspar had clearly used before. “Nein, Bucket. Komm her!” After a few moments the man emerged, teddy in hand and a sheepish looking Bucket trailing behind, attempt to press his nuzzle beneath the man’s free hand for the affection he’d been denied for his bad behaviour. Kaspar tutted, pointing to one of Bucket’s mats he’d bought to encourage the dog not to constantly take up space on the furniture. He slunk over, curling up obediently though the wagging tail started again moments after, the dog clearly not done acting up. Kas discarded the teddy bear atop a higher shelf out of dog reach, rejoining the two on the couch. “He's quick, for a dumb blonde. I'm trying to improve his training, both he and Stoker respond well to German, maybe I do sound scarier speaking it… Nope. You two want to curl up and watch a movie?”