St Patty's Day 1

[Lance Vida]

 "I want you to know how much of this I disagree with," Lance told his sister as he slipped his motorcycle helmet off. He ran his hands through his spiked blond hair and pointedly ignored the angry look she gave him. Nearly his twin in every way, and yet two years younger than him; Laura was ever a puzzle even to Lance.

"Which part? The part where Trevor and Tyler come along or the part where Trevor comes along?" she asked bluntly, leaning forward on the tank of her own bike. They were pulled off to the side of the Lounge; Lance was standing and readying himself while Laura had removed her own helmet but made no further motions to dismount her motorcycle.

Lance glared at her for a moment, pausing his movements to show her just how ridiculous that statement was. "I don't dislike Trevor," he insisted. "I like him just fine. I just don't think this going out and getting hammered is a good idea. We have stuff we could be doing," he pressed.

"You sound like Andrew," she said with a wry smile.

That ticked him off a little, and she knew it did by the way her fingers brushed her lips as she didn't bother to hide her grin. "No," he said firmly, "but remember Valentine's day? You came home with a burrito, got into bed with it and passed out. That drunk. Bad things happen when you drink."

Laura sat back a little, brows perking. "Trevor sent me photos of when you managed to get most of the bar naked the week after," she said. "So you can get off the high horse. Look, they're pulling in now. Try not to be an asshole. Tyler's bringing Fiona and she's bringing Bianca, so it isn't like you don't know anyone." She slid off of the bike finally, securing her helmet to the back of it. As if an afterthought, she approached him, putting her hands firmly on the collar of his shirt and straightening it.

"Try to have a good time?" she said, searching his eyes for some sign of accord.

Lance sighed. As long as she could do that, she'd always win every argument they ever had - ever. "Okay. I will." He brushed the top of her hand with his own, but only for a moment as the voices of Tyler and Fiona poured in around them.

"Hey!" Tyler said. "This place was a bitch to find. Of course, I wrote the directions down wrong..." he trailed off, rubbing the back of his neck.

Lance grinned a little. "Yeah? I bet Trevor loved that."

[Trevor Browning]

"Oh, Trevor fucking loved it," the hunter in question joined in, pocketing his keys after deciding that he was confident that his beloved car wouldn't get destroyed where it was parked and clapping his younger brother on the back a little harder than was necessary.  He didn't sound happy about it, but other than being a little irritated, he didn't really sound angry, either.  "This kid couldn't find his way out of a paper bag if you shouted step-by-step directions to him."

It was obviously an exaggeration, but Trevor didn't really think it was much of one.  That Tyler had found him, especially in the midst of a freakin' war between Midnight and everyone else, utterly baffled him and made him feel like a total failure as a hunter.  He'd been more careful about covering any new tracks since then, but the fact that he was staying in one place wasn't helping his case.

Neither was pissing Lance off by showing any interest whatsoever in Laura, but he was doing that, too.  Oops. 

"Sup, Lance?" he offered, opting to give the older Vida 'twin' attention first, as if that would draw attention away from the way his irritation had dissolved into a pleased grin at seeing Laura, or how he gave her a fairly light shove when he walked up.  "What're you up to, trouble?"

Yep.  Because shoving and other aggressive motions translated into affection between them.  It was likely that he still hadn't figured out that they were well past the 'first date' point because of their patrols, but how was he supposed to know that they were in some crazy hunter/witch violent mating dance that might land one of them dead?  Exactly. 

[Laura Vida]

Tyler snerked a little. "I'll let that slide," he said, puffing his chest up. Fiona cocked her head to the left, hard, pretty eyes wide in surprise.

"Who are you kidding?" she snapped, then reached out with two fingers and poked him in the ribs. "You're lucky you're so cute or I might have to knock you down a peg or two." She fluffed her glossy brown hair and then nodded for the door. Bianca gave them a lingering look and then followed her sister in, and Tyler waved and went right behind them.

"Not much dude, you ready to go get shitfaced?" Lance volunteered, ignoring the playful shove Trevor gave his sister. Laura took it and smiled broadly to Lance.

"Now you're speaking my language. Also, I don't know if trouble is an appropriate nickname for me. You seem to attract a lot more of it than I do," she said to Trevor, sliding her arm through his. She reached out and brought Lance up by force by linking her arm and locking her elbow into his, pulling him up to stand beside her. If Trevor read between the lines, he'd see that Laura had just made a double-entendre: he'd called her Trouble, she said he attracted it... Of course, Trevor was as dense as early morning fog in the harbor, so, you know. It might have whizzed right by him.

She lead her two men (lol) into the Lounge, ignoring how dark it was until she felt Lance stumble on the short steps that brought them into the sunken area of the main room. She let him go so he could adjust himself on his own terms and got behind Trevor, putting two palms on his back and steering him like a shopping cart towards the table that the other half of their party was at.

"Man, this place is fucking packed," Lance said, walking a few paces behind his sister and their friend. "Hey Trevor, you think I can get everyone down to their skivvies again?"

From the table, Bianca's head snapped up. "What?" she asked, brows arching.

[Trevor Browning]

Trevor might have been forced to react to Tyler's 'decision' to let his comment 'slide', but Fiona had it so under control that he heard it, glanced that way, laughed and let it go.  He was getting the same impression Bianca seemed to be getting, judging by the look she gave her sister and Tyler, and that was that Fiona liked Tyler.  Obviously, there was no solid proof, but he couldn't deny that he hoped so, for multiple reasons.  It'd be cool for Tyler to have that, especially since his circle of friends here was already so small and consisted mostly of dangerous people who were way out of his league, and Trevor would absolutely love it if Tyler's crush on Laura was directed elsewhere.  Yeah, Trev was dense, but not nearly as much so as people thought he was.  He noticed a lot, had a habit of second-guessing himself, and was more than capable of letting things go.  He had absolutely noticed Tyler's interest in Laura.

He'd also noticed his own interest in her.

This was a source of confusion for him.  She didn't behave at all like any kind of girl he'd ever known, which may have been part of the attraction, honestly.  He'd thought she was incredibly hot from the moment he met her, but she'd gotten more beautiful the longer he'd hunted with her, and that actually worried him about himself; that he could find her so beautiful when she was covered in blood and brandishing weapons had to say something about his psyche.  Still, it was the truth, and while he hadn't been able to determine if their patrols were dates and their aggression towards each other actually flirting and relationship building, he knew that there was something.  It was something he couldn't say he understood, just like he didn't quite understand the violent mating dance between a hunter and a Vida, but on a deeper, more instinctual level, he got it.  

Trevor had gotten over the worry that making a move might blow up in his face after he and Laura had both been splattered all over the pavement by that blonde vampire, but that didn't mean it was any less careful and strange of a dance.  Neither of them had been blatant or entirely open about it, but there had been little things that were a little more noticeable to him, at least.  Like his shoving her and her comment about him attracting trouble.  Now that he was paying more attention, he didn't miss the double meaning, and though he had no idea if she meant it, he certainly hoped she was trouble and he attracted it.  

"'Ready' doesn't quite cover it," he said by way of agreement with both Lance and Laura, though he didn't add much to it once they hit the darkness of the Lounge and his eyes took their time in adjusting.  It was a good thing that Laura seemed to have a grip on their surroundings, since he didn't stumble, but he definitely let her take point on that one.  He had to just move and trust her not to run him into anything, especially in those first moments.  He didn't know that Tyler had done essentially the same thing with Fiona.

They all made it to the table with no real incident, which was a good start, but made no promises for the rest of the night.  Lance's question was perfect proof of that, enough so that Trevor busted out laughing just at the memory and only laughed harder when Bianca reacted.  

"I still don't know how exactly you did that, dude!  I'm game for a repeat if you can do it," he offered with a casual kind of shrug despite the almost challenging tone of his voice and the cocky half-smirk that he offered with it.  He'd been there for Lance's first success, but it didn't make a whole lot of sense to him that it had happened.  He sure as hell hadn't been complaining, though.

[Laura Vida]

Laura went right for the table, which Dez and another blonde girl were already sitting at. Seriously, was everyone that they knew blonde? Laura dropped into a chair next to the two Smoke girls. She was thankful that the table was big enough for all of them; this Lounge place definitely knew how to cater to crowds. When a waitress came by she turned her head to table, her hand up.

"Okay, so how many Mojo Juices?" she called out over the commotion. When all of the supernatural folk with the exception of Bianca raised their hands, she looked back up. "Okay, four Mojo Juices, one Sprite, and three Jack and Cokes, double tall."

"Jack and Coke?" Tyler parroted. "I can't d-"

"You can, and you will," Lance threatened, not even looking over at the younger of the two brothers. Instead, he glanced across at Dez. "So, who's your friend?" he asked casually. He didn't read anything off of her, so he knew she was human, but Dez had never mentioned her before. The girl already had an empty glass of ice and remnants of whatever in front of her - and so did Dez, actually, so they must have been talking for at least a few minutes while they held the table.

"Julia," she said, full lips curling into a smile. She held her hand out to him, shaking it firmly. "My brother is over there with some friends from work," she said, pointing with a finger at a good-looking man at the bar with what Lance could tell was a shapeshifter.

"Work," he repeated. He looked at Dez.

Julia pursed her lips. "I'm in Crimson," she said, after a slight nod from the cat. "I'm just a trainee, for now."

Tyler started. "You look like Buffy!" he blurted, which received him a sharp cuff from Laura - which almost knocked him out of his chair. "Hey!" he protested, looking to Trevor for help. "I didn't mean anything by it!"

"And this is why you would never, ever last in my world, squirt," Laura told him, before smiling broadly at her brother and clenching her gum between her teeth.