adventureic | the game is now open! 🥳

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the game is now open! 🥳

welcome!

OOC Note: Please check the PCal for more opening day info if you haven't already!

After initial arrivals, new adventurers get settled in their quarters before attending a mandatory welcome dinner with their new boss.

Cadmus Scantlebury is in high spirits, sitting at the head of a very long table laid out with place settings for all of guests. Regardless of where a new adventurer sits, they will find a meal perfectly suited to their tastes and preferences beneath the ornate cloche covering their dish.

SHARONA CARTER tests this out by swapping places with MAYA RUTKOWSKI, only to find their plate reappear in their new spot.

At some point, Cadmus decides to give a 'small' speech, because who's going to stop him? It goes on for far too long and contains many tangents, but the gist of it is:

"Welcome, new employees, new associates, and broskis of all genders! While I've invested my riches in many worthy endeavours over the years—that hotel for dogs, that all-skeleton breakdancing crew, that piano made of frogs—I always come back to my first love and my favourite-est of them all, the Adventure Society. Together we will travel the globe, make new discoveries, and search for treasure... although maybe (hee hee hee!) the real treasure will be the friends we make along the way."

After their meal, all attendees may unwrap the party favour in front of them: a snow globe containing a tiny illusion of something that brings them joy (eg. an adorable sea otter, their hometown, their crush). BRACKEN HEMMING quickly hides theirs because it reveals something deeply personal—how the heck did anyone know what theirs would be?

PEONY J PEONIES accidentally drops their snowglobe and it bursts like a bubble. When they get back to their apartment, they'll find a new, slightly more ominous(?) one waiting for them.

CATCH SEAVER attempts to bag up their leftovers for later, and is delighted to discover that they now have a magically never-ending doggie bag. Score!

It's been an eventful evening for everyone and most folks are happy to retire to their quarters before the sun rises. Rest up!

(CODE)

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

There have been various moments where Briar swore he had caught the scent of Bracken, but he had quickly dismissed it because... well, the logical part of him knew it was very possible, but the childish part of him refused to accept it. He's in a much better place than when they'd parted ways, but that doesn't mean he's ready to see the twin brother he had essentially abandoned; he just wants to get through the night and get adjusted to this new, somewhat strange situation he's found himself in. So he'd spent his time trying to brush off the discomfort the thought of his brother had bubbled up in him, and once Briar heads down to dinner, he's feeling a little more even.

Unfortunately, the universe doesn't have a quiet evening in the cards for him. As he's looking for two seats together for himself and Nazikeda, he smells, unmistakably, Bracken. And when he looks up, he's just there, across the table. Looking so, so old.

"The fuck." Somehow, this comes out as a sentence and a question, directed at himself, the universe, and Bracken.

Bracken's attempts at grounding himself hadn't gone much better, seeing as his only attempt at making a buddy or two did nothing but get him on some goddamn werecop's shitlist for not remembering what kind of aftershave he slaps on every morning. And unlike Briar and his rational line of reasoning, Bracken's spent the day convincing himself that Briar definitely isn't here. Because why would he be. He's probably—no, definitely—living it up in ~~Los Ange~~ somewhere Bracken totally doesn't know about. And it's just the whole vibe of the day that's thrown him off.

All he's hoping for is a seat away from Sharona, and Maya, and–

Okay, all he's hoping for is to not have to be at this Mandatory Work Dinner.

He's sure as shit not hoping for Briar, but just like he knows the scent of the person he'd grown up beside, even after twenty years, he knows the cadence of his curses and that very particular shape of his disappointment.

"The fu–" Realizing he's about to repeat Briar's words back at him, he reverses, redirects, and settles for an under-the-breath "Shit."

For some reason, the moment Briar makes eye contact with Bracken he's mad, a sort of unbridled anger he hasn't felt in a long time. Later he'll have to dissect that, but for now he just has to stop himself from vaulting over the table so he can grab his twin and shake him. Why couldn't they have run into each other in a less public place?

There's a long stretch of silence as Briar tries to think through the cacophony of feelings going on in him right now. He jerks his thumb to the side, towards the closest end of the table which feels like it's miles away right now. "You, there, now."

To anyone but a werewolf, Bracken running his fingertips along the table's edge reads like he's just considering the command; to someone who knows what's up, though, the way he drags his fingers over the tablecloth and the utensils' handles, leaving a little trail of scent shouting 'BRACKEN WAS HERE', is a pretty overt claim to the place setting. He might as well be licking the plate and pissing on the chair leg. (Yes, it's childish, and no, he doesn't care.)

He could follow. He could do what Briar wants, what Briar expects, because that's the treatment he always got. And because Bracken hasn't heard that tone in a long time his body almost turns to comply involuntarily, but beneath the confusion and the heartache, he's feeling petty as hell — and it intensifies when Briar's frown deepens, so instead he turns the opposite way and stalks off to the far end and beyond. If Briar wants to talk so bad all of a sudden, he can work for it.

Still immature, is the only thing that gets through Briar's fussy feelings before Bracken just... walks away. Not where he'd told him to go. For some reason Briar had just assumed he would immediately comply, that they would slip back into who they were when they'd last seen each other, and so the defiance just makes him even angrier. He puts one hand on the table, honestly about to just jump over, but he remembers they're surrounded by coworkers and pulls back his hand sharply before quickly following Bracken's trajectory.

"Bracken!" he hisses after him, quickening his pace so he can hopefully round the end of the table before his brother can. He has no idea what he's going to do once he catches him, but that's a problem for the (incredibly near) future.

Once they're out of the crush, Bracken finally turns on his heel an punctuates it with a "What." that's a bit more harsh than he intended, but also, what the fuck. What the fuck! Oh, and: "Why."

Briar comes to an abrupt stop, clenched hands resisting, for now, the urge to grab Bracken's shoulders and... shake him around? Hug him? Shove him to the ground? It's a mixed bag.

"Why what, idiot?" He should say more, and he nearly asks him what he's doing there, but it's fairly obvious. So he settles on an accusation. "You were just going to run away from me?"

"You–" He jerks his thumb to the side just like Briar had done, "so I–" and he repeats the action, albeit in the direction they'd fled. "Ain't runnin' away, dumbass."

"Oh, so you're just being contrary? Mature." Briar's hands clench and unclench as he finally takes the time to look Bracken over, his brows tightly knit enough that he's already starting to get a headache.

"Why the fuck do you look so old? Don't you know how to take care of yourself yet?" He knows they haven't seen each other in twenty years, but he's convinced he's aged better than Bracken has.

Bracken stops, slack-jawed. Twenty years after reading him the riot act and Briar opens by telling him he looks like shit? Really? Never mind that it's a whole can of worms he's not keen to get into — Well, y'know how Momma used to tell us if we spent too long in fur we'd get stuck like that is an awful contender for catching up.

But. Of course. If Bracken hasn't learned how to take care of himself yet, then apparently Briar hasn't learned how to judging his every goddamn move. And, of course, Briar looks great. Because he's the one with his shit together.

"Ain't been your business for a while," he replies as he pushes his fingers through his hair because the alternative's making little whiny baby fists like Briar is, and he'll be damned if he mirrors his brother. "Or'd you come here just to tell me what I been doin' wrong?"

Not his business. Bracken is right, maybe, sort of, except that even after leaving and coming to terms with parting ways, Briar has never really been able to let go of his brother feeling like his responsibility.

"I don't care what you've been 'doin' wrong'," he replies sharply, a complete lie. He crosses his arms tightly across his chest to ward off the temptation to punch Bracken. But without that outlet, Briar isn't exactly sure what to do, and he scrambles mentally for something to say.

"But we're going to talk about that later when we're not in the middle of a stupid ass work dinner, you hear me?"

Edited (sorry he talks like a disappointed dad) 2024-01-15 23:23 (UTC)

He's supposed to be here to Help and Do and Maybe Even Make A Friend Or Two (But Probably Only One Because He's Bracken), not to get lectured. Not to sit through Briar's disappointment. Not fall short, again, even after twenty years of chances to pull himself back together.

Jaw tight and lips screwed tighter, Bracken's indignant huff is just as good as a Yeah no I'll pass.

"We're talking later," Briar repeats, because Bracken needs to know he's not going to back down. Maybe later he'll know what to actually say, instead of just being lost in his mixed up feelings.

"You got something else you want to say? Or you just going to huff at me?"

Bracken snorts without humour and, digging the toe of his boot into the floor (maybe if he does it hard enough it'll bore a bottomless hole he can fall though), grunts. None of this was done in the affirmative.

Lord, how Briar wants to punch Bracken in the face.

"Fine, be a child, but you better fucking have something to say later."

He wants to leave, but also doesn't want to back down, which he realizes, even in the moment, is deeply stupid.

Lord, how much Bracken wishes Briar would.

But since they apparently aren't going to solve their problems like adults (read: werewolves), he crosses his arms and raises a brow at his brother because he'll loom as long as he damn well needs to.

Briar is going to do it. He's going to just punch Bracken, and then... no, he can only imagine what a mess getting in a brawl on the first day of work would cause, and it would complicate things for Nazikeda, too.

"I'm going to kick your ass after we talk," he finally grumbles, deeply frustrated with having to be a good, responsible employee. He shoves his hands into his pockets, where he finds his crumpled up name tag. He throws it at Bracken's face as a consolation prize for himself before turning to walk away.

Once he's confident Briar's far enough away, Bracken picks up the tag under the pretence of fighting litter and pops it into his pocket. But when he passes a trash can he doesn't throw it out.

Stalking off without looking back, Briar makes his way to Nazikeda, not even bothering to hide his irritated expression. She'll know, anyways, regardless of what she did or didn't see of his interaction with Bracken.

"D'you think they'd get pissed if we just immediately quit?"

Who can really say if it coincidence or design that Nazikeda has settled herself at a perfect angle to sit and watch whatever that was like someone settled in front of a particularly riveting sports event?

(One can easily say. It was by design.)

"Hello, hayatım." She doesn't so much as look up from where her fingers are curled very snugly around a mug of something steaming and cinnamon-topped. This is also by design. "May I ask why we are immediately quitting?"

"Don't pretend you don't know," Briar huffs, hovering for a moment, as though he is going to demand that they both quit and leave instantly, before he settles down in the seat next to her.

"Why'd he have to be here? Aren't there other stupid supernatural societies." He knows he sounds petulant, but he's having a hard time caring at this point.

Edited 2024-01-16 03:10 (UTC)

"I am not pretending," Nazikeda clarifies, index finger extended as she takes a long and humming sip of her drink. (It is, to be clear, very good.) "To know would imply that I had eavesdropped, whereas I merely observed."

As he settles, her gaze finally cuts up in his direction, sly and bemused and terribly fond. "Perhaps he wanted a job. Perhaps he was discontent puttering around at home. I feel as though you did not ask."

The look Briar gives her is one she's seen before - deeply annoyed and unamused, though it eases into something akin to a pout after a moment. She could at least pretend to be on his side a little. Of course, the most annoying part of this is that he knows she is on his side, which means that she's probably being somewhat reasonable whereas he is probably not.

"Of course I didn't ask him, he was being a pain in the ass." He huffs again, after a moment reaching for Nazikeda's drink in an attempt to be just a little annoying in retribution.

Glancing up to find that particular expression looking back at her makes a grin spread across her face. Nazikeda makes a valiant attempt to stopper it against the ceramic for a moment, but it really is of little use. It's been days since she's been on the other end of this level of impatience.

Her drink is relinquished with nothing more than a huff of air through her nose. It's only fair. "And how did he have time for that? He did not say very many words."

Getting Nazikeda's drink isn't all that satisfying when she's grinning like she is, but Briar will take what he can get. He takes a sip, finding the drink pleasant enough to hold onto for now.

"Don't have to say things to be a pain in the ass. He wouldn't listen to me." He takes another sip. "You're a pain in the ass too, you know. Stop looking so pleased with yourself."

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Bracken

DINNER: Briar and Nazikeda

DINNER: Briar and Nazikeda

DINNER: Briar and Nazikeda

DINNER: Briar and Nazikeda

DINNER: Briar and Nazikeda

DINNER: Briar and Nazikeda

DINNER: Briar and Nazikeda