because the lives of the wicked should be made brief

[somanyadjectives]

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[strippername]

I don't know everything.

[He knows external things. Facts that don't always add up to who Hope is as a person. He's not digging around for her deep dark secrets. But that's not the point.]

Vampire blood heals you, but if you die within 24 hours of having it you go into transition. I don't think we're not planning to do anything after this beyond Hope asking me a lot of questions about how I know what I know so you'll probably be safe, but it's a risk.

[brujos]

( He takes the information in, evaluating, still bleeding everything. )

Hope's a vampire?

( "Hope's a little of everything, and standing right here. Do you want the quick fix or weeks of recovery and plastic surgery?" )

Okay. Yes. I want it. Your -- vampire blood.

( "Okay. This is going to seem gross. But, remember. The ends justify the means." Her fangs drop, eyes darkening as she takes a bite out of her wrist. She steps close to cradle his neck and presents her wrist. "Drink." He eyes Colm before doing just that. )

[strippername]

[Colm crosses his arms in front of his chest, waiting for the bit with the blood drinking to finish. Josie steps up, matching his stance as she eyes him.

"How do you know what you know?"]

Ma's a Watcher. So is my brother. He's also the new leader of the human faction in New Orleans. But Ma taught us from a young age how to protect ourselves.

[bereavements]

Your brother is Beck Ford.

( She talks to her mother and she stays apprised of local politics. When in town, anyway. She'd lost track when she was in school. Now, it matters. And. What a smaller and smaller world. )

Watcher, as in, slayer?

( She never asked Mia who her watcher was. Or, if they just ... watch. )

You should tell you mom they need new branding.

[strippername]

It's a job that was made up by stuff old British white men that essentially added up to monitoring a teenage girl until she died doing a job they were too chickenshit to do themselves. I don't think they deserve to get better branding.

[It's part of the reason why the job never appealed to him.]

They don't do that anymore, though. Now they're mostly just nerds who know a lot of supernatural shit.

[bereavements]

Like about Hope Mikaelson. And witches.

( Like, in general.

"More," Ivan says, flexing his newly restored nose, making faces. Weird it was destroyed moments ago. "He knows more." )

[strippername]

[And with that, Colm's mouth snaps shut, looking over at his roommate as though to say hey, you don't see him spilling any secrets people don't already know. He does not want to talk about that, but Josie is like a dog with a bone, and she's not about to let it go.

"How'd you guys know we were in trouble?"

Colm, fortunately, has an answer for that.]

The screaming kind of gave you away.

[Now he just Hope doesn't sell him out.]

[bereavements]

( Ivan recovers. "Like he said, he's bred. Royally. He's a Ford. Means something to my grandmother and aunts," he contributes, trying to sidestep any mental abilities. )

You're a prince?

( "You're basically a princess, aren't you? INO." In name only. )

Well, thanks, for the assist. And getting me.

( She eyes Colm, because she didn't hear any screaming. And she would've. )

Your highness.

[strippername]

I'm not a -

[Colm huffs as he rubs a hand over his face, frustration building because it's not really a royalty thing, and he can tell from the look on Josie's face she's really not going to let this go, so he sighs.]

My family has these ... abilities. You get 'em when you turn twenty and everyone's are different, but that's it. No other magical talent really. Mine just popped up and I can hear people's surface thoughts. Everywhere. All the time. I'm still figuring out how to control it because I literally just turned twenty before Thanksgiving, but I can't like go digging for secrets or any of that shit. I just hear things people are thinking about. So sometimes - with permission - I'll find people with nice thought patterns to hang out in.

[He gestures to Ivan with a shrug.]

Ivan's one of them. He was freaking out, so I went to go try and find out was wrong.

[bereavements]

Oh.

( That's not what she expected, and she feels bad he had to let it all out like that. )

That's gotta take its' toll.

[strippername]

Yeah.

[To put it mildly. He does relax some now that he's not keeping it to himself anymore, but it's still a lot to tell people.]

It's not that I don't think you all can keep a secret it's just ... weird to talk about.

[bereavements]

Obviously, Ivan can't.

( But, Ivan is still testing out his new nose, retrieves his boa from the ground and straightens himself back up in his heels. )

I know why you didn't tell us. But. Take it from me, living with something like that alone. It's isolating and it does more harm than good. So, I'm happy you have loose-lips over here.

[strippername]

[He shrugs.]

I'm not totally alone.

[A beat.]

Honestly, I'm almost incapable of being alone. I have seven brothers. But ... I appreciate the thought.

[And since he doesn't want to be talking about this anymore, he claps his hands together to distract.]

Do we want to get snacks and head back to the dorm to make sure this one is in the least amount of danger possible?

[bereavements]

Is this one Josie or Ivan?

( Just one more tease. Maybe now things will cool? He's supernatural. Not a bad thing, Jose. )

[polydeukes]

[Josie flashes her girlfriend a mild look at that, because she was doing just fine without being a damsel in distress, thank you very much. But she glances over at Ivan sympathetically.]

Maybe we can stream the movie instead? I know it's not the same but ...

[At least she'll have seen it.]

[bereavements]

I'm hearing movie night.

( Which she is for. And she didn't mean it like that! She was making sure Colm didn't mean it like that! )

Believe it or not, I've never seen this... Picture Show? Sounds old. But, I'm in.

[strippername]

[Colm glances at the two of them, before shrugging and turning in Ivan's direction.]

They had me at snacks.

[brujos]

( Colm accompanies Ivan to their room to change and gather what snacks they have. Well, Ivan just doesn't want to be alone, he asks out loud in a punk way, saving some face from Hope, daughter of Klaus, Mikaelson and the badass Josie. Colm hears everything. Doesn't give him shit.

Back at their dorm, he knows he should be feeling more sore, and at the student center. But, Hope generously donated.

As he works at wiping his make-up off, what a waste, he glances to Colm in the mirror's image. )

Guess there's a first time for everything. You ever need vampire blood before?

[strippername]

[Colm shakes his head as he sorts through his things, looking for where he hid the good (read: his brother smuggled them back from Europe for him) snacks.]

Nah. Though the vamps my Ma usually deals with, you don't want to be drinking their blood. It doesn't have the same healing benefits.

[brujos]

Sounds like it doesn't have any benefits.

( He examines his nose in the mirror, a la Grease 2, making faces along the way. )

Should I feel any different?

[strippername]

I dunno.

[He's never actually talked to someone dosed with vampire blood before. He's just aware of how it works.]

Do you feel different?

[bereavements]

( They decide to meet in the main room on the girl's floor, so Josie and Hope beat the other two there just by proximity. And, someone has to get the popcorn going. She closes the microwave door and debates "POPCORN" or 5 minutes and listening to the pops. )

I know it wasn't your magic to have, but, Dennis came in hot and I was this close to making him regret that.

[polydeukes]

Me too, apparently.

[Josie makes a face as she begins to build a blanket and pillow nest near the couch and gets ready to settle in.]

She hasn't been that close to the surface in a while.

[bereavements]

( POPCORN wins out because they need to have this conversation. She leaves the microwave to work it's electric magic and takes one of the pillows in her hand, fidgeting with it. )

Not since school?

[polydeukes]

[Josie nods.]

Usually she's just the small, petty voice in the back of my head, you know? The one that tells you what could be really fun to do to get back at someone who pissed you off? But it's never been enough to make me change.

[She makes a face.]

But I also thought that he was going to take everything for a minute there. Not just the magic I was holding but my magic entirely. Maybe even kill me or Ivan and ... I panicked.