Pins and Needles [Kiyoshi]

[Laura Vida]

Laura was thankful for two things: Trevor's unyielding belief that everyone's foul mood was to blame on their evening thus far, and that Andrew had the grace to bring the car back to the Hollow when he'd arrived at the scene five minutes too late. Trevor wasn't stupid, but he seemed to be letting a lot of bullshit go unsaid based simply on the fact that their night had been left pissing upwind. Thank fuck he lacked psychic ability. Sometimes she wished he had it solely based on what they did as a profession/hobby, but times like tonight when Lance wanted to throw his tantrums, she was so glad his mind was so unreceptive it was almost cloudy to try and read for someone who wanted to probe around.

She had been watching Lance ride ahead of them, and he was driving like an utter asshole. Seriously. He was cutting people off, running lights, and in general it appeared he was trying to get himself killed - while Trevor had only seen Lance arrive or depart, he'd never actually ridden with him in traffic, and Laura had. She knew he was driving like a fucking toolshed on purpose, and it was pissing her off the more she watched it. When she finally tuned into the conversation, it was obvious she'd missed something. She situated herself against the door and seat, turning to see Tyler and Trevor more fully.

Trevor had just given Tyler the entire walk-through of the car, from start to finish, bragging about how it had been hand-restored and blah blah expensive blah blah perfect. She rolled her eyes with a smile on her face, having heard it a thousand times. Cars didn't impress her, but she'd seen Trevor pick up his fair share of bitches with it.

Tyler, on the other hand, was very impressed by the car, and aside from that, happy that Trevor wasn't giving him the evil eye or suspicious of him (at least not outwardly). He listened intently to what Trevor said, asking little questions and making comments where appropriate. He couldn't help but notice Laura seemed to be focused on her brother driving ahead of them, and his eyes bugged out at a few of the moves Lance was pulling. He did notice Trevor didn't comment at all, simply gliding through traffic with ease.

"Dude, does your brother always drive like this?" he finally asked.

Laura shrugged, nodding to Trevor. "We all go a little apeshit some days," she said. It was a carefully diplomatic answer, and didn't really explain anything, but it was all Tyler would get. "We're going to be turning a few lights up," she told Trevor preemptively, only because she wasn't interested in sliding sideways through an intersection when Lance decided his blinker became an unnecessary stop on the tour.

Tyler just nodded. "So, where are we going, anyways?" he asked, sitting up a little to see both of them more fully. "Do you know these people well? Who are they?" Tyler was particularly worried that he'd end up locked in a basement, somewhere, honestly.

"They're like family," she answered him. "Bianca is a little younger than you, but I think Fiona is your age. They're the daughters - damn near twins. Kind of like you two, except less of an age difference," she said with a laugh. Now Laura was beginning to realize how much everyone she knew looked like everyone else. It was kind of Twilight Zone. She'd have to sit down later and make a chart of who could be related for fun - since it wasn't like she'd be doing anything else now. "They're a very special family," she promised. She was hesitant to dump the entire concept of the Children of Macht on them just yet - she'd have to explain sooner or later, but she honestly would rather have let them ask their own questions when they got there.

"Bianca and Fiona," Tyler repeated to himself. Evidently, it was the only part of her speech he'd focused on.

"Yeah. You two are definitely related," Laura spat, looking at Trevor with a grin.

[Ash Leone]

Ash nodded to Danielle's answer, finding the gender of the child to be unsurprising, though he wasn't sure why.  It could have been that he just figured that a boy was likely, just because all of the other recent babies he'd seen had been girls, but it was more likely because he'd been so very involved with the child's survival.  Either he'd picked up on the gender while he was pumping life into it, or he'd affected its gender, he wasn't sure.  It was young enough that gender wasn't definite except in an essence about it, and if Ash had messed that up, he was sorry.  He could hardly be surprised if his subconscious fell back on outdated beliefs in boy children being preferred (stronger, more capable and able to carry the family name back in the day), but he definitely wasn't mentioning it.  First off, he didn't know if it was his fault, and second, there wasn't a snowball's chance in hell that he was doing anything about it if it was. 

Besides, he had other things to worry about, like the father's impending arrival, Chloe, and everything else that was falling down around his ears.  On top of it all, he'd been so drained that even when he pulled from Chloe, he hadn't gotten enough.  He was still weary and hungry, so there was that nagging feeling in the back of his mind like he hadn't eaten in days despite the fact that he was functioning.  He would ignore it, but it didn't change the fact that he wanted more.  If it wasn't so crucial that he didn't, he might have asked Anthony for a 'donation', but not tonight, not when he needed the muscle that the young wolf offered more.  Anthony was protection for the other people here, and just all-around useful; weakening him was a bad idea. 

"Anthony, let Chloe rest there for a little while, then take her to one of the beds upstairs when she's up to moving.  In the meantime, Heather's husband should be here momentarily.  Make sure you and your father intercept him, don't stop him from seeing her, and let him know that she's going to be fine.  We won't be long," he instructed, and though Anthony shot Chloe a look that made it seem like he was uncertain that he wanted to leave her, he nodded, squeezed her shoulder and then grabbed her a handful of napkins from nearby before following Ash's instructions.  The triste didn't mind the hesitation, nor did he disagree with Chloe's decision not to heal anyone else that night.  Whether Dani had warned her not to touch the witches or not, he didn't like that he'd nearly 'broken her', as Dani had said, and he didn't see it as being her fault.  He didn't want her to strain herself any further. 

He glanced at Danielle, his guilt over Chloe stuffed down deep for the time being, and rolled his shoulders back.  They just didn't have time for this kind of situation.  "We need to get Andrew and think up a plan.  With the firestone I've laid into this place, it should be safe even if my rules that it's neutral ground are ignored, but we need to know what we're doing before anything gets worse."

Really, he wouldn't have been surprised if hunters, and just those who were afraid for their safety, started to arrive.  The Hollow had a reputation for being a safe haven, and Ash intended to make that the case even now.  He just wanted to know what the hell they were going to do before potential casualties started arriving. 

[Trevor Browning]

Trevor actually noticed a hell of a lot more than he seemed to get credit for, and he thought a lot more was bullshit or suspicious than he let on, but he wasn't the sort to make waves.  After growing up with Colton and their father's disagreements (probably because the two of them were practically the same goddamned person), he'd learned how to let things go in favor of ensuring everyone's comfort.  He may or may not bring it all up later, when things weren't so ridiculous and everyone was calmer, but it was part of why he'd gone on about the car for most of the ride so far; it was an excellent distraction, and it was an easy one for him to provide.  Especially when the alternative was commenting on Lance's driving skills.

Or lack thereof.

Trevor wasn't a stranger to motorcycles.  Really, he could drive anything he could snag the keys to, and he could drive it well, which was probably the only reason why he was keeping up with Lance without getting them all killed.  He managed speed and traffic with a grace that was completely unexpected if you watched him move.  Not that he was a clumsy oaf on foot, but he was no graceful flower, either.  He was a dude, he moved like a dude, and it was all hard-won experience and practiced reflexes.  His car was a lady, and she was a graceful one under his hands.  The fact that Tyler seemed to appreciate her only made him like the kid more.

The fact that Laura opted to warn him before Lance made a stupid turn without a signal made him like her more, while he was at it, especially since that's exactly what Lance went and did.  It was getting to the point that if the night hadn't been so ridiculous already, he would have given up any attempts at keeping his mouth shut in favor of asking Lance where the fuck he'd gotten his license, but not tonight.  Tonight, he kept his trap shut, he listened when Laura explained where they were going and who he was leaving his little brother with, and he tried not to let her realize that his brain did a crazy little somersault over her comparing these girls who were 'damn near twins' to him and Tyler.  Yeah, there was the fact that they'd been practically identical at some point in each of their lives, but they weren't currently, were they?  Christ, looking in the rearview mirror at Tyler made him reconsider.  He had to actually THINK about not gripping the steering wheel hard enough to turn his knuckles white, and he kept reminding himself that keeping Tyler in his line of sight until the world stopped being crazy just wasn't a smart thing to do.  He couldn't, but he wanted to.  

"What?"  When Laura decided that they were 'definitely' related, Trevor glanced over at her, blinking for a moment, then shooting his eyes back to Lance and his next retarded move.  It took him a moment to realize what the hell she was finding so funny, since he hadn't thought it was odd that Tyler repeated the names of the daughters.  He'd done it in his head, just because she'd given him names to remember (and yes, because they were girls, but that was secondary tonight and Laura was more on his mind than these girls whose names he'd just learned).  "Oh.  Okay, you're a comedian tonight, that's awesome.  Are they hot?"

That was intentional, by the way.