Chapter 47: Sociable Attempts And Preparations

--- Harper Everette ---

Berry’s howls echoed through their apartment as she tried to calm her usually good boi down, not entirely sure why he was going so crazy tonight.

“Hey, calm down boy. Everything’s okay.” She assured the dog as she pet him along his side. “I really need you to calm down for me before the landlord gets mad.”

Which was a legitimate concern given how she was kind of bending the rules by having Berry in her apartment, having just barely gotten him in as a puppy by saying he was a mini rather than the monster he’d grown into. (Though to be fair I didn’t realize he’d get this big when I adopted him.)

“Come on Berry, tonight isn’t the night to do this…” She frowned, not wanting to cancel her date with Aurelio.

Her bestest boi paused his howling to stare at her curiously.

“This is my first date in… forever, and I really want it to go well.” Maybe not as well as Fred was hoping for, but definitely well enough for a second one at the very least. “So please can you be mama’s good boy tonight and stay quiet?”

Berry seemed to shift around before making his way towards the doggy bed in her living room and curling up on it while giving her a sad look.

“Oh, don’t look at me like that…” She moaned, starting to feel guilty. “Look you’ll be alright by yourself, it’s not like it’s storming outside or anything. It’s been a rough couple of weeks and I could really use a good night tonight.”

Her good boi stared at her for a moment before rolling over belly up.

She couldn’t help but roll her eyes as she made her way back to her bathroom to give herself another once over in the mirror, where she wore the simple sleeveless black dress she’d decided on. Given the more casual nature of her date, she felt that doing much more than this and maybe straightening her hair out would be too much which is why she was avoiding the temptation to put on any actual makeup.

(Well that and the fact that makeup was one of the few things Rey didn’t teach me when he fostered me. Pretty sure I’ll just end up looking like a clown if I tried that…)

She slapped her cheeks. “Nope, no doubts tonight, just confidence!”

(Tonight is going to go right no matter what I do!) She told herself as she gave her reflection a determined nod.

--- Aurelio Hermenez ---

“Okay, I have to make sure that tonight goes right no matter what!” He told himself as he frantically moved about the kitchen, checking the oven for the third time to make sure he hadn’t burnt anything. (Like the first three times I made this.)

“You are extremely nervous about this.” Geraldine noted from where she sat on the counter kicking her legs back and forth while in her more humanoid shape. His personal poltergeist having insisted that he continue to train his magic until she could remain so indefinitely.

“Well this is my first date since leaving… home.” Not that he considered that house his home. “I want it to go better than my last.”

“And how did your last attempt at courting go?” Jerry asked.

He froze, with the oven open, his mind shooting towards the person he thought his best friend… (You really thought I’d be interested in a fa-)

He slammed the oven shut before his mind could start to really recount those memories. “I don’t want to talk about it.”

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

“I see…” Geraldine frowned, a sense of concern pouring over the connection that he was pretty sure she was actively pushing towards him given how rarely she bled emotion across over the last week.

After a moment the vampiress seemed to puff herself up, “Well… regardless of how poorly your previous courting attempt went, I’ll do all that I can to help you with your current one.”

“Yeah, don’t take this the wrong way but I doubt the dating game is the same as it was a hundred years ago.” He told her dryly as he leaned against a counter himself. “Especially the way men and women interact since… women's suffrage and the sexual revolution.”

“Sexual revolution?” Jerry repeated sounding equal parts confused, amused, and intrigued.

“Uh, it was a whole thing during the sixties -I think- that challenged a bunch of stuff about society and sex.” He tried to explain before shrugging. “I don’t really know much about it just that gays quit hiding as much and feminism became mainstream… It was far enough back that I don’t really know how much it changed things, beyond some old time-y stuff like the pride and the prejudice.”

“A classic to be sure.” Geraldine nodded, her mind seemingly somewhere else. “Though on the subject of literature, I do request you get me more books on this ‘sexual revolution’ at some point.”

“Sure, we can hit up a library or something later.” He promised, thinking that a few history lessons on the last century should help them both out given their age difference. “But right now I’m more focused on Harper and giving her a good night.”

“Don’t worry.” Jerry told him before fading back into his shadow. (With me advising you, I assure you she’ll have a very good night~)

He inhaled before exhaling. “That is not what I meant and you know it.”

Geraldine manifested in her feminine form in front of him -very closely in front of him- while walking her fingers up his chest. “Would you say ‘No.’ if my advice got you that far.”

He couldn’t answer that question while maintaining his self respect.

Jerry gave him a sinful smile as she bopped his nose. “That’s what I thought.”

--- Max Miller ---

“Well that was a waste of time that went nowhere.” She groaned, starting towards the bus station rather than getting a lift home when her dad finally called this disaster.

“Come on, it wasn't that bad.” Coraline told her, with a weak smile.

“All we did was sit around for three hours while our dads tried to find something for us to do.” Admittedly that wasn’t what she’d been doing -having spent that time combing the station’s database for anything of value- but it was what everyone thought she’d been doing. “Which like I said, was a waste of time.”

“That’s…” The other girl sighed. “They tried their best…”

(I know that…) She frowned to herself, before running a frustrated hand through her hair. “They also jumped the gun with all of this too. With the sky cracking they’re trying to keep an eye on us rather than trusting us to be on our own at home.”

She understood that it was just her dad’s way of caring, but given how often he chose the station over her, she didn’t really want to spend any more time than she had to there. (Especially since he’s expecting me to follow in his footsteps and become an investigator or some shit…)

“Well… you have to admit that the streets are more dangerous lately.” Coraline reluctantly reminded her.

“At night, and that’s only if you’re stupid enough to wander at night.” She argued, having seen the exact statistics for everything while scouring her father’s computer. “Even if it’s harder to tell the exact time with those lights glowing all day and night, it doesn’t change the fact that the worst of the crime and Creeps are coming out at night.”

That statement of course completely disregarded the fact that there were several dead zones as far as law enforcement went, but she was more concerned with winning the argument than giving Coraline proof that she might be right. (Besides, it's not like either of us live in those danger zones.)

Something she was only aware of due to checking out the station’s files on the Hawkins when she’d started to grow bored of combing the database for Deviant activity and found she still had another hour left. (Eh, privacy is a myth with how much big brother and uncle sam are watching. Might as well learn what you can about who you’re dealing with.)

The fact that Coraline’s dad was a magic cop, and that girl was likely a practitioner herself had definitely made putting up with this whole thing more tolerable. Even if she doubted the other teen knew what kind of Deviant Max was herself.

“Speaking of… we’ve still got a couple of hours until sundown.” She noted looking up at the sky, and just barely making out where the sun was behind the cracks in the sky. “Did you want to do something or…?”

“O-oh!” Coraline blinked, clearly surprised by the offer. (Which is… fair…)

She was more than aware she wasn’t the most sociable of sort, but she was willing to put up with people if it got her what she wanted. (And what I want is to know more about the city’s Deviant scene.)

“U-uh, sure. We can hangout!” The other teen smiled at her with enough joy that she had to keep from grimacing. (The things I do for knowledge…)