#Nevermind that none of these are bitties

[theriverpersonshadow]

Lamia Drama (Part 2)

See previous post for warnings and general info.

Credit for the lamia species (or at least the specific species, not lamia in general) goes to @vex-bittys

Keith decides to give this new girl a chance and introduces another lamia! DnD shall come whether Hux likes it or not. Coral boy is jealous.

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           Keith and Hux had just been talking DnD with each other when a girl with short, wavy blonde hair walked into the back. Keith’s flickering tongue caught the taste of sweat, dirt, and a variety of plants. Real plants, not like the fake trees, though he could identify some of the smells as the foliage they could keep here. His soul leaped in his chest, he could feel it immediately, they were meant to be.

           … According to who? Or what? Some bred in biological imperitive? It was just there to make him easier to adopt, right? But it felt real…

           No.

           He wasn’t going to leave Hux and the others behind. The woman didn’t seem to have even noticed anyways, so maybe he was just imagining it. Heck, he probably was. Then again, if anything was going to seduce him – something he felt was pretty impossible, he’d just never been interested – it’d probably be someone bringing their own books and homemade fucking cookies. Yes please. They smelled like chocolate and peanut butter – questionably healthy at best, but he’d take it!

           … He should probably answer the question, huh?

           “Yeah, nice to meet ya. Name’s Keith, I’m the DM,” Keith said, slithering down to her level.

           “So, you think you have what it takes to play with the big boys?” Hux said. “Heh. How’d you even find out about that?”

           “There was a sign,” the woman said. “My friends are busy with college stuff right now – I’m on break, doing work in a greenhouse and all – but my evenings are totally free. Kinda have to leave early though, have to be up before the sun. I love the job, but that part sucks.”

           Keith chuckled, “I feel you there.” He’d stay snuggled in a nesting mound half the day if you let him. What? Blankets are soft, and it’s not like he had to leave to read things. Beds and blankets make reading better if anything. Prime coziness.

           “I think you should look somewhere else,” Hux said. “We go until, like, two in the morning sometimes.”

           Before Keith could stop himself, he found himself saying, “Eh, we can end early for a little while. Or hey, maybe have a side campaign with you or something.”

           “What?!” Hux said, standing high as he could on his tail with his arms thrown out. “Dude! We’re halfway through Pipsqueak’s character arc or whatever! Can’t just push him aside…”

Pipsqueak was Trousle’s (a bitty Papython) mousefolk bard; he’d been looking for pieces of the Worldsong, a song that, once played, was supposed to give the musician power over all things. Pipsqueak had managed to get half of it and was facing down with Caterwaul, the Tabaxi bard, who had the other half. It was looking like Pipsqueak was questioning whether the song should be played by any. However it played out was going to be awesome, though it might or might not be the end of the campaign depending on how Trousle played it.

           Since when did Hux care so much about that though? He wasn’t exactly a roleplayer type…

           “I mean, if you guys are full or in the middle of something, I can just… not?” the woman said.

           “Nah, don’t mind Hux. It’s alright, uh… What’s your name?”

           “Oh! My bad. Call me Alex. You said it’s, uh… Key?”

           “Keith,” Hux said, unimpressed.

           “I am the actual worst at names,” Alex said, sighing.

           “Eh, it happens. But I bet we can work something out.”

           “We don’t need to work things out,” Hux grumbled, curling into a ball on the floor and sulking, hiding his skeleton half under a ball of black and red scales.

           Keith rolled his eyes. Hux never liked change and didn’t seem too fond of people. He was tolerant of the people running the place, but no one else. That said, it was no excuse to be a dick. “Hux, be nice. Sorry about him, he’ll warm up to ya. Why don’t I take you to meet the others? We can work something out. Not like we’re going anywhere…” And that was fine by him. Home was here with his own batch of misfits. “Get Liam, will ya Hux?”

           “Ugh, why do I have to?”

           “ ‘Cause you can never find Trousle.”

           “Why don’t I go looking for Oozy?”

           “I’ll bet you a week’s snacks that Oozy’s in his hammock.”

           Hux huffed and crossed his arms with an adorable blush on his face, flustered. He was, apparently, not willing to take that bet. As much as Keith liked to stay curled up all cozy, he had nothing on Oozy. It wouldn’t be the first time they had to carry him in the hammock to DnD night. Hecking cornies.

           “Thought so,” Keith said, chuckling. “I’ll go get Nikolai. Hope you don’t mind kiddos, Lex.”

           “Is Nikolai a kid?”

           “Nope,” Keith said. “Follow me.” He slithered past the jungle of fake plants, real plants, and various toys and hiding holes that made up the dim room he liked to call the “Chilling Room.” It was a little cool in here, but mostly he called it that ‘cause this area tended to be more quiet, lacking the toys and people-chairs that littered the rest of the back. Sometimes you just need a place to be a Snake and stalk your friends for a little while, or somewhere to just hide in a hole and listen to the same song until it was playing through your dreams in utter bliss. That second one seemed unique to him.

           “… I’m not gonna remember any of these names,” Alex whispered to herself. She stopped to pull some dead foliage from some of the plants, fingers working fast with practice. For a moment she paused then put a leaf in her mouth. “Stevia leaves the weirdest after taste. Not bad though. Also, why do you have stevia?”

           “Is that what that is? I think the Honeybos like to chew on it.”

           “Is that why they’re Honeybos? ‘Cause they’re full of sweet?”

           “I mean, maybe! Never bitten into one.”

           “Not even licked one?” Pause. “That’s a weird thing to ask, huh?”

           “I mean, I smell with that y’know. But some of them do smell kinda sweet.” He had the oddest urge to nibble a snake now. Logically he knew they were not just little slithering sweets, but a little voice in the back of his head whispered but what if they do taste like honey buns?

           Keith really hoped that voice wasn’t Alex’s. That’s just a weird thing to think. Even weirder if you aren’t a snake. “Do you stick a lot of random stuff in your mouth?”

           Alex kinda went quiet, staring at the floor, and Keith tried to stifle a laugh, stopping in his tracks to look at her behind him. “Oh my god. You have, haven’t you? What’s the weirdest thing?”

           “Probably either crickets, an agar plate – one of those things they grow bacteria on – or my salt lamp.”

           “Can confirm, those are salty.”

           “You too?”

           “Nope. But Trousle dared Liam to once and he swallowed the whole thing. We had to pull it out by the chord.”

           “That… That’s both amazing and dangerous.”

           Keith nodded, “Yep. Never dare a Mamba to do something unless you want to face the consequences.” Looking around, he brought out his phone and showed some pictures of Liam – a full sized Mamba – with light streaming from his mouth and tail as Hux and Nikolai (a King) tried desperately to pull the lamp out. Trousle was on the table, shouting encouragement but too small to actually help. “That’s why we’re not allowed to have salt lamps anymore.”

           Alex was snorting as she laughed, hand over her mouth and eyes crinkled behind glasses. “Oh my goodness. Reminds me of when I caught a baby rabbit and found out they can scream. I almost dropped it.”

           “Oh no!”

           “It tried to escape! But I caught it midair. And then it just stared at me, judging. Relatedly, gardening gloves have multiple uses. One of them is bunny catching. They have claws and will kick the shit out of you.”

           He’s tempted to mention that’s why he just eats them, but gets the feeling that won’t go over well. Since when does he care? He’s a snake, she should know this. It’s natural.

           “You like cute? C’mon,” Keith said. It was a short slither to the very back room. Alex stopped, staring at the “Staff Only” sign, but Keith gently tugged her through, “It’s fine.” The door opened up to a humid room with multiple little lamps scattered over eggs and newborns. The nursery. They were greeted with a variety of hisses and chirps from little baby snakes and a much louder hiss from Nikolai. The King’s hood flared upon seeing the stranger and he stood as tall as he could, clutching three squirming baby Pygmy (full sized, but still so small) to his chest protectively.

           Alex froze up, face going blank as she stared at the sight of King’s hood and fangs, venom dripping from them. Maybe Keith should’ve warned Nikolai first, but better late than never?

           “Alex, this is Nikolai. The most broody bastard you’ll ever meet. Nikolai, Alex. She wants to play DnD. And probably to also hold some kiddos, but who am I to judge?”

           Nikolai narrowed his eyes, somehow keeping hold of the Pygmy as all three attempted to go in different directions, unfazed by one of them trying to put his hands in Nikolai’s eyesockets. “Keith. We need to talk.”

[lazyliars]

So c!Slimecicle and c!Quackity's relationship is specifically engineered to kill me, specifically.

How DARE they give Quackity a morality pet. This is unacceptable and it will unarguably break my heart into little itty bitty pieces.

It's almost comical how hamfisted their dynamic is to lend a softer, sweeter facet to Q when all of his other relationships are darkening so severely, but it works.

cc!Charlie is playing the childish newcomer SO WELL and c!Quackity doesn't feel out of character when he's so proud and excited to show him capitalism and gambling, and how genuinely scared he seems when Charlie was on the ledge.

Seriously, he was offering to lessen Charlie's debts and PAY HIM not to endanger himself.

His promise to protect Charlie? Reads wholly sincere. And Charlie responding that he would protect Q too, like everything else he says, is also devastatingly honest.

"I take care of the people who take care of me."

Yeah. Yeah.

But on the other hand, this is also kind of horrible.

It's unclear how much of an "adult" c!Charlie is - it's implied that he's hundreds of years old(?) and the form he's taken isn't childish. But his understanding of human beings, and humanity in general, is so limited and not fully formed yet.

While I don't want to infantalize him, I think it's also worth keeping in mind that his agency in this situation is... tenuous. He has his own logic and understanding of the world, but it's not one shared by others.

Further more, Quackity directly refers to him as "not old enough" and Connor seems to view him as younger when he humors him - not in an insulting way, but in the way you might if a child was helping their parent at work and trying to be independent.

All of this means that the power imbalance present in their dynamic is dangerous, for both of them.

Quackity is spiraling hard right now, and it bodes very badly for him that the person he vocally describes as his "best friend" is a slimeguy he met a week ago at most, who is, among other things, deeply impressionable.

Now, we've only had two proper lore interactions, so I ask this next theory be taken with a grain of salt...

But in thinking on it, the relationship between c!Quackity and c!Slimecicle could be leading into a parallel to c!Tommy and c!Dream in exile.

Now, I know that seems waaaaaaay off, I really do. And Quackity hasn't done anything to hurt Charlie, and nothing that he has done to him reads to me like abuse. I am not saying that I think anything in the situations are morally or even physically equivalent, because they aren't.

The worst Quackity does is put Charlie into debt, which we'll get to-- But it doesn't have the same tone as any of exile - it's not treated in the text as "bad" in the same way.

But when I say "parallel" I mean that it echoes certain qualities. Quackity is already having an arc that parallels Dream's in some ways - cutting out/losing attachments, doing darker and darker things for reasons that are esoteric to the viewers, and manipulating multiple people who are in dark places.

And in that vein, one thing that Dream was always adamant about was that he and Tommy were friends. He went so far as to say that Tommy was his only attachment.

In watching Quackity and Slimecicle have this funny, sweet friendship, it's easy to forget that Charlie isn't just his best friend, he's his only friend. Quackity has lost or privatized all of his meaningful connections to other people.

And that's hardly fair to Charlie, who is brand new to humanity and doesn't have the tools to recognize the drastic power imbalance between them, or the support network necessary to help him if he loses Quackity. Quackity is also the only thing that Charlie has.

And Quackity happily putting Charlie into debt so that he can make him work for him, I'm sure was originally a purely practical idea to net him a useful pawn, now reads as more desperate; the actions of a man who was painfully reminded of what friendship feels like and wants to keep this one little connection he's made.

If Charlie is in debt, he has to work for Quackity, which means he has to stay. He can't leave him, like everyone else. (Nevermind the fact that Charlie would have definitely said "yes" to helping Quackity without any debts or payment involved.)

Through this lens (and again, we only have two interactions, so grain of salt--) it does mirror Dream viewing Tommy as his "friend" to the point that he wanted them to become "immortal" together.

While Quackity has sunk pretty low, I don't think he'd ever sink that low, and even if this parallel IS the direction they're going, I don't think they'll take it there entirely - I feel like it would be more likely that Charlie might be the thing that pulls Quackity back from the edge, if he does indeed hurt him and realizes it soon enough.

All of that is just my personal impressions as to where the story might be going. It could be completely different from what I'm expecting, I really don't know.

And none of this is to say that the relationship developing isn't genuine - I think it really, really is, and that's what is so heartbreaking about this; Quackity is still on his villain arc, he's still spiraling, but now we have this stark reminder of the caring person he used to be-- and still is, deep down.

This is going to hurt so fucking bad. I'm hype.

[deputyrhiannonhale]

Nodus Tollens Chap 3

(ooc) here is the third installment of my story! Same general tags apply, especially canon-game violence and strong language.

chapter 1 chapter 2

tagging: @ja-crispea @dieguzguz @f0xyboxes @shelliechen @returnofthepd3 @deputy-janai @deputyjessicaquinn @xbaebsae @veinereastath @sharky-broshaw @shallow-gravy @ec-10 @hopecountygazette @ramadiiiisme

~~

Rhi was on an ATV flying down the road putting as much distance as she could between herself and the Holland Valley. She was well aware that if John wants her there, he’s definitely got a way to get her there. Tom was nice enough to tell her the way off Dutch’s island, but said he would rather stay back and make sure Dutch stays covered. Rhi thanked him for his help and made her departure.

Her hazel eyes were now searching the sides of the road for any dangers, animal or otherwise when she spotted another person on their knees in front of a cult member. She pulled out her gun, firing a warning shot before skidding to a stop nearby. Gunshots whizzed by near her head and she cursed as she tumbled off the ATV and she hid behind the tree, taking deep breaths. A warning shot was the wrong method to use, she realized now, it’s becoming glaringly obvious that she is going to have to shoot to kill everytime and that epiphany caused Rhi to sigh heavily. 

Rhi peeked around the trunk in time to see the woman she was trying to save sweep the legs of the cult woman out from under her and she crashed to the ground hard. Rhi took the moment to run over and finish her off with a single shot to her head. Rhi then doubled over, she really hadn’t been prepared for this kind of buffoonery when she transferred here from Billings. She hadn’t even had to use a weapon until she got here.

“I can see you’re working through an existential thing, but could you give me a hand here?” The lady on the ground inquired, rolling onto her side to reveal her hands were bound. Rhi let out a surprised noise, brushing her brown hair from her face.

“Fuck, I am so sorry!” She exclaimed while moving to kneel beside her and deftly untie her wrists, the woman laughed good naturedly.

“It’s ok...it’s an odd situation here.” She conceded while rubbing her wrists and standing up and taking the rifle off of the cult woman. “She ain’t gonna need this anymore.” 

“Odd is an fucking understatment.” Rhi agreed, searching the body for handgun ammo, and cursing when she found none, and the woman laughed again, nodding.

“Oh, if you’re needing any assistance, that Boshaw fellow is close by. When he found out what was going on he started laughing like a crazy man.” Rhi looked up from her knelt place on the ground, hazel eyes wide and her heart rate sped up when she heard Boshaw. As in Sharky Boshaw? Rhi knew she would probably have to face him again eventually, but she was caught off guard that it would be so soon. “Grabbed a propane tank and ran towards the Moonflower Trailer Park...what? You ok? Looks like you just saw a ghost.” The woman asked, and Rhi half nodded, waving her hand dismissively.

“I’m great...just...stunned.” She partially lied, standing to her full height and brushing off her knees, and gave the lady a weary smile. “The trailer park you say. Right up that road there?” Rhi asked, thumbing over her shoulder at the dirt road off to the left, and she nodded affirmation. Rhi groaned inwardly, how would seeing Sharky again after all these years be?

Rhi sighed, as she dismounted her ATV, looking at the trailer park in front of her, placing her hands on her hips. She was not ready to go in here, meeting Sharky again after so many years was sure to be...eventful, to say the least.

After their first and only interaction when she was 16, Sharky actually helped mold her future, not that he knows that. But little rebellious Rhi meeting someone who actually was a badass and witnessed what kind of trouble it gets, made her realize that not all attention is great.

It's when she really started looking up to Earl and the profession he is in, and guided her to be on this side of the law.

Dust came up in little puffs as she walked deeper into the abandoned park, hearing Sharky up on top of one of the trailers, she came to a stop near it, looking him over, her hands still resting on her hips. She chewed on her bottom lip, before making an exasperated noise, looking up at the sky in an aggravated manner and climbing up the nearby ladder.

"Hey, get the fuck outta here, Johnny-law. I know my fuckin’ rights." Is what Sharky greeted Rhi with once she stood to her full height on the trailers roof. She scoffed and rolled her eyes, before stepping towards him, he still sounded the same. Maybe a little more gruffness in his voice from what she guessed was years of smoking.

"Oh, so you know that setting fire to things with a flamethrower is still technically illegal?" Rhi asked, sarcastically, shoving her hands into the back pockets of her jeans, shifting her weight to her right leg, tilting her head back to look at Sharky in the eyes. She was surprised to see that there was no recognition in his blue eyes for her, she was just another cop to him at this point.

She shouldn't be surprised, though, as she didn't have that much of an impact on his life as a whole as he had hers.

"Hey, I come out here and I'm not botherin' nobody." He swept his arm in a gesture over the trailer park grounds, pointing at different speakers set up. "I play some of the best music and just let loose here. In a pants free, consequence free environment." Rhi blinked at the speakers as he spoke, before her eyes travelled back to him and trailed down to see he was definitely still wearing pants and she couldn't help but laugh slightly.

"Uh, Sharky-" He gave her a confused look, and she tilted her head in question and then it dawned on her. He wants to know how she knows his name already. 

"I know, ya wanna know why I'm still wearin' pants. No one knows what the next few minutes hold." He stated, moving over to some pedals he has mounted on the roof. Ok, so maybe he didn't catch that she called him Sharky. "By the way, my name is Charlemagne Victor Boshaw but if you require a little brevity in your day to day life you can just call me-"

"Sharky, I know." Rhi finished for him and this time he gave her a more suspicious look and she folded her arms over her chest. Why does the fact he doesn't remember her nettle her so much?

"How in the fuck do ya know that? Don't think I've ever seen ya around here, little girl." Rhi's nostrils flared slightly at the way he said "little girl" it sounded so much like when they were all in the police station all those years ago. So condescending, almost like he could never take her seriously.

Rhi made a "tch" sound, clucking her tongue, her jaw setting in her rising anger and she looked at him out of the corner of her eye and in a deadpan voice, responded:

"Man, fuck you." And with that, it was as if a light bulb lit up blindingly in a dark room. Sharky's blue eyes widened and his mouth fell slightly agape as she watched it slowly come to him who she was.

"No fuckin' way. Bitty Rhi?" It was Rhi's turn to give him a confused look, only Hurk Jr ever called her that. Does that mean he talked to Sharky about her off and on throughout the years? "Should have fuckin' known, of course you'd become a cop. You've been a snitch from the beginning." Rhi's anger exploded at that accusation, she never got over that he always thought she was spying on him and Hurk that day.

"Silencio fucker. I never ratted on you two that day. I had just rolled into town. Besides, who do you think convinced Earl to let you go?" They were both snarling at each either, but Sharky was the one to back down, his anger reducing to surprise. 

"That was you?" His voice was a lot softer than she had ever heard, and she nodded, her eyes looking away from him and back to him quickly as if to say "uh, yeah". The two stared at each other in silence, sizing each other up, before Sharky finally scoffed and folded his arms over his chest. “Doesn’t change the fact that you’re a cop now.” It was Rhi’s turn to scoff and she turned her face to the sky, shaking her tiny fists in frustration.

“Of fucking course a hillbilly ass like yourself wouldn’t fucking change. Outsiders are the devil.” She ended her sentence mimicking his accent, while simultaneously walking back to the ladder to gingerly climb down, still mouthing. “I was gonna ask if you wanted to help me kick this cults ass, but you know what...nevermind.” She called, walking backwards away from the trailers, throwing her hands up in the air before looking back up to where he had been to point at him. Rhi became surprised when she saw that he was following her down the ladder, and her arm dropped back to her side. “Why are you following me?” Her anger had deflated to confusion.

“I can’t have ya runnin’ around like a crazy woman, Dep. Ya might hurt someone...or yourself.” Sharky teased, and Rhi’s eyes narrowed at him, before her index finger came up to poke him in the chest.

“I’ll have you know I can take care of myself.” She promised and he chuckled, holding up his hands in a defeated manner.

“No doubt, Munchkin, but still you’ll need someone to show ya around.” Sharky pointed out and Rhi considered it. He did have a point, sure she had spent a few summers here, but she hadn’t gone everywhere during that time. Her hazel eyes looked him up and down before she scoffed again, giving him a small but sardonic smirk.

“Fine. But I’m driving, Charlemagne.” She mocked, causing him to grimace as she turned and walked back to where she parked the ATV.

“Hey!” Rhi shouted over her shoulder as she and Sharky were taking a break and stretching, they had saved numerous people along the road, and Rhi needed a breather. Sharky made a noise as he dropped a cigarette butt and snuffed it out with the toe of his shoe. “Hurk Jr around, I haven’t seen him in ages.” Sharky turned to face her, about to answer when he saw the orange glow of the sunset catching Rhi’s face just right as she ran her fingers through her hair trying to brush out tangles, and his mouth fell agape instead.

“Uh…” Was all Sharky managed to get out and Rhi looked over at him, her right eyebrow raised, and then she turned to look behind her to see what had Sharky so enraptured, but there was nothing. She had begun to get nervous, thinking it was a bear, but it was literally just a drop off to the Henbane River below. She shrugged and looked back at him.

“Sharkster...ya alright?” Rhi stepped towards him, snapping her fingers in his face, and it broke the trance and he shook his head to clear it.

“Huh? Yeah, I’m great. Hurk is stayin’ at his dad’s up in the Whitetail Mountains.” He answered, motioning in the direction of the mountains and Rhi gave him a quizzical look before nodding, chewing on the inside of her cheek.

“Right…” She turned to go back to the ATV, but turned back to Sharky after a couple of steps. “You sure you’re ok. You looked weird-” Her words were cut off when he walked into her, she stumbled back but his hand shot, grabbing her elbow to steady her, pulling her against him, and she blushed. “Didn’t realize you were right up my ass, Charlemagne.” She tried to sound teasing, but it came out rather defensively, and she broke free from his hold, taking a few steps back from him, her tone catching him off guard.

"Didn't think ya were gonna turn on me either." His tone however did come out his intended way of just being playful. He wasn't sure how to take Rhi, sometimes she seemed rather friendly, but then it was like she realized she was being open and a wall slammed down behind her eyes, blocking everyone from her innermost thoughts. They had spent nearly a whole day together now, and everytime he thinks they are getting friendly, Rhi pushes him back an arms length away again.

Rhi’s eyes studied him suspiciously, had what he said been a tease or was it being passive aggressive about their past again? Sharky then gave her a soft almost puppy innocent smile and Rhi’s eyes widened, a slight blush tinted her pale cheeks, and her defenses melted away. She wanted to slap herself, because, sure, when she was 16 she had found him attractive enough on their first sighting, but that was the rebellious part of her...right? That part of her that was like ‘oh, Step-Ass would absolutely hate you bringing someone like him home’.

Rhi shook her head slightly to clear it before giving Sharky a smile small in return. “Sorry, I guess I’m embarrassed I nearly fell down…” She lied, laughing nervously, before climbing back onto the quad, and patting the area behind her, and Sharky quickly joined her.

“Hey, Dep, ya know who I’d bet would be happy to see ya?” Sharky asked, leaning down to speak into Rhi’s ear as she sped down the road, and a small shiver ran down her spine as his facial hair tickled her earlobe.

“Who’s that Sharky?” She replied, turning her head towards him slightly to make sure he heard her. She was just hoping her talking while driving this fast didn’t have her eating bugs.

“My auntie.” Of course! Addie! Rhi had missed her so much and hadn’t really visited much two years ago while she had been recovering, she just talked to her on the phone more than anything...having been so preoccupied with John. Feeling her anger rising again, she cleared her throat.

“Abso-fucking-lutely! Let’s go see Addie!”

Slowing to a stop close to the Drubman Marina, Rhi vacated the quad after she was sure Sharky was off, she sighed. Of course the cult was here too, she thought to herself as she ran her fingers through her hair in a very frustrated manner. She was just beginning to walk up the slight incline to gain the higher ground when her radio beeped. She froze, it was nighttime now, so the noise seemed like it resounded loudly. She grabbed it quickly, nearly dropping it in her hurry, she juggled it for a couple of beats before finally getting a good grasp on it.

“Deputy...I hope I didn’t wake you.” John again, and Rhi cursed lowly, rolling her eyes, and giving Sharky a motion of hanging herself and he chuckled.

“Not at all, asshole, Sharky here has been keeping me company.” Rhi knew that would ruffle John’s peacock feathers. “The hell do you want? Y’know, since this is Faith’s region afterall…” Rhi pointed out, smirking to herself, and she heard John scoff bitterly.

“Ah yes, Charlemagne. Not sure he is going to be the best fit for you my dear.” Rhi blinked, confused by that answer and she shot Sharky a quick look, but he seemed to not be paying full attention to the conversation at hand, his face cast upwards looking at the stars.

“Oh? And you are?” She asked, turning her back to Sharky and walking back towards the quad, not wanting him to overhear anymore.

“Do you remember that night before you left for Billings?” Rhi’s jaw muscles bunched and flexed, her free hand clenching into a tight fist. Of course she did.

“The night that it was clear you were hiding something from me but I was too stupid to acknowledge it?” She hissed through her teeth, and John was quiet for a few beats.

“Yes, that night.” John agreed and Rhi stared down at the radio as if she couldn’t believe he just brushed off what she said. 

What she didn’t realize was, on John’s end, he had placed the radio on his forehead. He hated that he had to lie to her back then, it had been at Joseph’s request that John reach out to her, being certain Rhi needed to be brought into their loving family. He had gotten close to her during the handful of months she was there, and before he knew it, Rhi was leaving Hope County altogether.

“We watched the stars that night.” He continued, standing out on one of his balconies, looking up at the stars, he couldn’t help but think about that night. Rhi’s mind flashed back to her and John sitting on the waters edge, as she pointed out the different constellations, John leaned close to her, one arm draped around her shoulders. How could this be the same person, he acted so different back then. She sighed, looking up at the stars too. 

“We did…” Her tone was soft as she remembered it all. “What happened to you…?” It was a bitter question, rhetorical because she was sure he wouldn’t answer such a question, to him, he was probably always the same him. To her, he was two faced.

“You thought I was a perfect fit back then.” His voice was back to being cocky and she growled, she hated that he could switch on a dime like that. “I’m at my home, if you want me to prove how perfect of a fit I am.” The sultry tone of his suggestion caused a hot feeling to run to her core, and Rhi’s face turned blood red at her body’s reaction. Unsure of how to even respond to such a statement, she let out a shaky laugh.

“Oh, John.” Came the weakest comeback she’s ever done in her life, and she knew she had to do better. “I’m not that easy, you’ll have to work for it.” She tried to sound as seductive as she could, not being used to flirting, especially like this, before replacing the radio onto her belt.

“Watch your back then, Deputy.” It was a warning that should have scared her, yet it had sent an inexplicable thrill through her entire body, and she smirked, she was ready for him and whatever he sent her way.