2.25 Sparklers

"You don't have to leave," Meela tells Junpei, quiet as a shade.

"I'm sorry about... all this," he mumbles. The gutted house that was her childhood home. The vase, overturned and sad and empty, sitting in the grass outside near its smashed kin. Finley. Sorry about Finley. "I'm sorry about your parents."

"Why? They tried to kill you."

 "Because you loved them, and you didn't want to see them go so far."

Meela directs Junpei to sit. He finds it surreal to see the remains of what was a well-kept living area of the Feld place, considering all he saw of these grounds before was a subterranean dungeon straight from the realm of cheesy horror cinema. Everything up here was so posh and nice. Or it used to be.

Meela talks about magic. The fairy's magic that sent them to different places. Questions Junpei cannot answer, other than to recall Loki's cryptic words: Larkspur's dust takes things where they need to go. Then she inquires about how his mage abilities have been progressing, and this, he can tell her, in detail. He can go on for as long as she wants, or doesn't want, about theories, and about minor accomplishments such as the creation of Finley's bracelet, one of the devices that stops his twin from knowing everything out of the ordinary that happens to him.

"I had no idea your connection was that strong." Meela stares at him for a long moment, trying to imagine it. "That must have been vexing."

"It was." He decides to change the subject; not a skill he was ever any good at. "Are you doing okay, in Shang-Simla?" She must be. She intends to go back. "Your ancestors were chased out..."

"Yes, they were, but their absence caused considerable consternation among the other prominent vampire families." This must sound so stupid, to a human, she thinks. "They were pleased to have an heir to our household returned to them. You see, there were things the Feld clan left behind, guarded by hexes so only we could access them. It's not only about having my genetics back in their precious shrinking gene pool. It's not only about my age and protecting me as if I'm a child to be coddled... it's about power, and holding onto it."

There's that bitter tone again. Junpei frowns, not sure what to make of it.

"They want to see me paired up with someone," Meela explains.

 
 
"Insinuating you have no choice but to go along with that...?"

"You don't understand." Meela stares blankly at the opposite wall. "Our kind must stick together. For survival."

"And that means strategic alliances like medieval royalty or something?"

"It means not alienating myself from the community by behaving like a child and not taking my place."

"You just seem... stressed out."

"It's emotionally taxing, to be here. Bridgeport was such a different life."

"Better? Worse?"

"It is my childhood, and my childhood is gone. In this city, society at large treated me as though I were a dangerous element. It was difficult to not internalize that, and make it part of myself. In my new home, I'm... I'm... treated with respect. However, the vampires of Shang Simla avoid the humans of the city. We have servants who go out for us."

"The servants aren't human?"

"Don't be pedantic."

"Sorry."

"The vampires there are old blood. Undiluted by centuries of breeding with humans that've been turned. I am expected to become well-versed in the arcane... and it's alright. I needed something to take my mind off of everything that happened."

 

There is some deep cultural reason Bridgeport has an entire week-long festival dedicated... to hot dogs.

Though hot dogs are the main focus, all varieties of junk food and face-stuffing are promoted. Reve is especially excited about the rainbow snowcone. How do they get the colors so perfect?!

 Some games to burn calories or whatever in between the gluttony.

 The eating contests have a kids' hour.

 Finley isn't sure she approves, and Junpei would probably have an aneurysm if he saw this, but peer pressure indicates she should cheer along with the other parents and hot dog enthusiasts.

Victory!

Kinda!

The competition congratulates Reve on his victory.

"I like your face," Reve blurts.

The girl giggles. "The painting booth is over there."

While Reve takes forever getting his face painted, Finley has some kind of transcendental experience tripping out on what is obviously a drug-laden snowcone.

"This is like fireworks in my mouth."

Reve intended to get the pirate theme painted on his face, but at the last second changed his mind to "super awesome radical surfer".

TO THE SWINGS.

Because the nausea from the hot dogs has already worn off.

"You wouldn't believe me if I told you," Junpei says, when Meela asks him if any significance came of the visions Chet caused.

"Why are you so sure?" 

Junpei shakes his head, at a loss for where to even begin to explain.

"Chet was someone I looked up to," Meela tells him. "A strong personality. I was confused, to think she'd harmed you. There were more pressing concerns at the time, but since then I've often thought of you, and those violent thoughts she put in your head."

"She didn't mean any harm," Junpei says, though he knows it is a lie.

Chet was ready to accept that Junpei could die; a small price to pay for stopping the end of civilization.

"Those people in your nightmares. They were your family, weren't they? You had figured out that much." Meela tilts her head, like a confused puppy. "Did Miss Chet want revenge on you, for some reason?"

"It wasn't like that at all. She needed my help, and my sister's."

"Did you find her? Where is she now?"

"The one place." Junpei shrugs. "Where the moon fell."

"Oh. You have been there?"

"I want to put that episode of my life behind me," Junpei complains.

One moment Reve was enjoying himself at the festival. The next he just lost it. It. That tenuous division between being caught up in one's own self, and being lost in an ocean of everyone else.

Ididn'tknow.It'sthelittlethingsyoumissthemost.Isshelookingatme?Don'tworryabout
it.I'vegottogethomebeforethedogpeesallovereverything.Don'ttouchthat! 
Iwishyouwouldjustdie.Stopcomparingthesethings.You'rewrong!Everythingiswrong!
There'snothingIcando.Whatisshethinking?It'sbroken.Funnelcakeorsnowcones?
Ifeelempty.Heywaitup!We'reallgoingtodieoneday.I'mfailingschool.
Idon'twanttobehere.Helookssooooawkward.I thinkI'mhappy, 
foronceI'mhappy!Imisshersomuch.Holdmyhandplease.Nobodyeverseesme.
Theyarefightingagain.HowcanIdothis?Whywon'tyouanswerme?
Don'tgiveup,don'tevergiveup.Youcan'ttellmewhattodo.Whyareyoufollowingme?
Heelslikethatwhatthefuck?Whydoesyourmomhateme?CanIborrowfive?Someday.
Doesthisshirtmakemelookfat?You'reskinandbones.Idon'tcareifthere'saholeinit.
Thereisnowayanyonewouldevergetmeintoahotdogcostume.
Taxi!Cutyourhair.ThisishowI'msupposedtobe.IfIcouldjustgetoutofthisplace.
It'sover.Winterpromises.Iloveyou.Idon'tremember.Athousandtimes.Where
didyouputthekeys?IfIhadclawsI'dscratchyoureyesoutlikeascratchcardonanisland
intherainonarooftopwhilewewaitforrescueandwe'redying.Don'tsneezedon't
sneezedon'tsneeze.Thathatissoterrible.Whodoyouthinkyouare?

Reve is overtaken with the urge to run away.

So he does. He runs from the park, and thinks he might see how far this long, straight street goes on before ending; it's so different from the winding mountain roads in Hidden Springs.

Reve slows to a walk after what feels like a long time. This street must go on forever.

His mother is soon there to give him a sharp glare. Her psychic senses allow her to track her child with efficiency.

"You frightened me! Why did you run off like that?"

"Because... I wanted to," Reve stammers.

"What's the matter?" Her son is trying to hide something from her. She can sense the embarrassment, but is unable to get through the swirl of apprehension clouding his mind.

"Leave me alone!" Reve snarls. He's not going to just admit he can't handle being around so many strangers. "I just wanted to take a walk, that's all! Grandma said I could see the world if I wanted to."

...

"That is not a card you get to play," Finley scolds, after mentally counting to ten. "I miss your grandmother too. I doubt she ever told you you were ready to go running off unsupervised when we're so far from home."

"If anyone were going to kidnap me, I'd know, and I'd just run away from them," Reve sulks. "Nothing can touch me."

"There are people out there who have much scarier and much stronger mental powers than yours."

"I bet there's NOT."

"Why are you acting this way?"

Instead of answering, Reve bursts into tears. Maybe he had no answer and he's embarrassed, maybe he's upset because his mother is so angry with him, maybe he's ashamed of his behavior, maybe he just misses his grandmother, hell, maybe he's even learned how to fake tears.

"It's not going to hurt forever," Finley promises, though she's not one-hundred-percent sure what it is that she refers to. These only felt like the right words. "We're going to get through this."

"But you're not going to let me act like a brat or put myself in danger," Reve mumbles, saying the words so he doesn't have to hear her finish stringing them together in her head and doesn't have to hear her say them.

Everything will be fine. Finley only has to believe that for it to be true, right?

Meela flops down against Junpei, and takes his face in her hands and runs her fingers through his hair. She tells him she was almost too shy to speak to him when she first met him, because he was a mage, but he caught her off guard because he was a 'good person' and she shushes him before he can ask what the heck that means because it should be obvious, shouldn't it? Their psychic powers differ but at the basest level they can still read each other, and if two such people want to be honest and have nothing to hide it's not too difficult at all, and she tells him his face is turning completely red, and he won't remember what order these events happened in. She promises she's not plotting to use powers of mesmerism, she just wants to ask if he's still the same person as before. It seems so long ago, but she hasn't aged at all and she still remembers and she still puts significance on a few kind words he said to her, because there have been so few sincerely kind words said to her over the span of her entire life.

It was just a little crush, amplified by how meeting this human saved her twice, but she can't deny how she felt something for him when she looked into his mind, and she didn't think she'd have the chance to mention it, any further than it was made clear by the kiss taken at an inappropriate time. She was sure she'd never see him again.

This is going to sound strange, Meela informs him, but you were the first person I ever loved. 

But we barely know each other. Junpei traces his index fingers down her jawline because he'd like to and she knows it so why bother pretending otherwise. She's idealistic and a little bit strange and silly where her background should have produced someone bitter and mean, and he likes that. She's beautiful to him in the only way that matters. And yet still he thinks he shouldn't be here.

"I'm sorry I invaded your dreams without permission," she says softly. "But if people can hate me without even knowing me, surely I can love someone after I merged with their subconscious."

 Reve wanted to stay for the fireworks, so that's what ended up happening, despite his misbehavior. As the sun begins to set, the sparklers come out, and Finley can't resist using some of her own making.

Hot dog costume dude has never seen sparklers like that, but he is totally digging it.




______________________________________________
Etc.: Bet you wanted... a different kind of hot dog festival & fireworks. *bdum-psssh*

The "blizzard" snowcone flavor is not available to children or teens. It has those weird sparkly effects, and an amusing moodlet, so I think it's totally drugs.

I'm just breaking this 'homemade' rule all over the place, aren't I? Shame on me. Shame, shame. I may just take it off my rolls in the future since I've done it so many times in the past I don't even CARE about it anymore and it's become an inconvenience to the story.