What Wolf was doing was probably illegal, not that he cared too much about it. All he wanted was to find Nathan and make sure he was at least, alive. And after the nurses ignored his plead –– an actual plead! –– so they could reveal if his friend was there or not, he just went on and went room by room until he found him. The room he entered... Yeah, that was definitely not Nathan’s. A woman’s voice spoke to him, and truth be told... He didn’t know what to do. “Uh, no, I don’t have food. I do have a flask with tequila, but I don’t think you should even consider drinking right now. Uh... bad moment, probably. But do you know Nathan Kindell?”

“Well this certainly was not how imagined making my homecoming.” Lexa muttered tiredly, the effect of the morphine still wearing strong her. After a nine hour surgery Lexa had spent 24 hours in a medical induced coma only to wake up and find the world had gone to hell. At least that was what she was getting from all the news reports and nurses gossiping. She’d escaped from her bed once and tried to make a break for it with one old man in tow before the nurses had caught them both and forced Lexa back to bed. She’d been anxious to get out of bed ever since, if it wasn’t for the morphine this would be the longest stretch she’d had sober in years. More than anything she wanted to make sure the people she’d once called friends were all okay.  Hearing a noise Lexa perked up, “Please tell me you come bearing food other than, lime jello? Unless of course that lime jello has tequila in it, in which case I’ll happily take that.”

“It’s fucking disgusting, man.” Honestly, Wolf wasn’t planning on paying anyone a hospital visit since he got released –– after all his wounds hadn’t gone further than a dislocated finger and a bunch of bruises scattered all over his body. The only reason he was still hanging around was because he had to find Nathan; he hadn’t seen his roommate since the beginning of the fucking gala, and for all he knew the guy was dead. So Wolf’s task was to walk, room by room, searching for his friend… But he walked into –– the guy from the bar! “Okay, I’m sure I can sneak something inside if you’d like me… But I’m going to ask for something in return. You down?”

“You would think the hospital in the south would have better food…” he said out loud not realizing someone had walked in the room. Dylan was more concentrated on the weird looking mush that was presented to him. If only he could get out of this bed and get some Subway…

"Why yes, a doll. You look stunning in that dress.” Luckily for him, the anonymous vibe the mask gave him... would either prevent or encourage having her throwing her drink at his face ––but yes, luckily, if she decided to, the mask would take most of the impact as he was an expert calculating when exactly to shut his eyes in this sorts of situations. “I’m not being disrespectful, I’m just stating a fact.” If he had a point, he might as well prove it. Wait, she was only drinking water? Well.... people who didn’t drink still existed, apparently. “Water, huh? Is their filtering alright?”

Slightly confused her brow creased as she looked up at him the glass of water finding its way back to the safety of the bar as she tried to grapple with what she had just heard. “Doll?” she echoed the crease turning towards the sky as she fought the urge to laugh at him. Who was this guy kidding she thought, tongue moving out from behind her teeth as she wet her berry stained lips. Elizabeth didn’t like his emotionless gaze—or perhaps she just didn’t trust it but who could be sure in that moment. “Oh it’s only water, I’m good and thanks I think…”

Okay, Wolf wasn’t completely sure wether she was speaking to him, to someone else, or to herself. But either way, it wasn’t very nice to leave her hanging, right? Especially if she was talking to him, even if he couldn’t quite tell. Well, he’d have to take the risk, then. “If it makes you feel any better, they kept me here as well, even if I’m technically intact. But if we’re lucky, they might let us go today –– back to our respective beds.”

“You’d think that the doctors would focus on patients that actually need it. But no, they decide to keep me, someone who is totally fine, over night.” Talking to herself, Hallie shrugged at the fact that she was still stuck in this place. All she wanted was to get home, but apparently that was too much to ask for. In her opinion, she was fine - but after being stuck in a basement for an entire weekend, then going through a bomb explosion meant she had no choice but to stay for check ups. “All I want is my damn bed..” She said, sitting up on the hospital bed.

Oh shit. Wolf knew for sure how good his luck was, but it didn’t mean everyone else’s was the same. While he could almost feel the exact places where bruises would form later on and he could see his jacket ripped on the side, but when he saw it, he couldn’t just hold it in. “Oh shit,” he mumbled out loud now: how, when had that door landed? “Shit, Eliza. I got you, I got you.” His hand gripped the arm that wasn’t holding onto him, to give her full reassurance that he actually was going to help her, though he hoped she knew how much he cared. He swallowed hard several times, trying to pop the buzz of his ears, that annoying static noise that reminded him too much of old televisions. His eyesight was blurred by the smoke as well as his nose burned and his lungs did, too. As used as they both were to the smell of smoke, this was just too much. Without more hesitation, she helped her kick away the rest of the door from her injured leg, both his arms holding onto her. “Shit!” He exclaimed as another piece of ceiling fell just too close to them, the fire grazing his jacket by only a few millimeters. “It’s okay, Eliza, I got you.” One of his hands now steading her waist and the other squeezing her elbow, he stood up in a single movement, pulling her up with him. Apologies for discretion should have been in place, but there was no time for that –– he was sure she wouldn’t mind, for they were already quite intimate. He slid a hand under her behind and picked her off her feet, the sight of her fresh blood too bright, but he didn’t flinch.  They couldn’t waste more time if they wanted to live! “Hold on tight, close your eyes. Try not to breathe too deeply, or you’re going to throw up. I’ll get you out of here.” His eyes looked down to meet her pretty and sightly bloody face, then he looked back up, aiming to focus the door he had spotted only a few moments before –– there it was. Wolf was absolutely sure it was the kitchen, he had seen waiters come in and out of it, plus it said STAFF ONLY in big red letters. Squinting his eyes to stop the smoke from coming in, he sprinted towards it, little Eliza almost weightless in his arms, his long legs made the trip shorter. Lucky for them, the door was unlocked. To pull the little lever down he had to press Eliza’s body against the door itself, but he was glad the entrance decided to help them. Of course, the kitchen hadn’t come out intact after the explosion, but it wasn’t as bad as the hall. There was a wide table in the middle of the room but it had a lot of dust and rubble, so setting Eliza on the floor next to the exit door was what he thought most logical answer. “Does it hurt? Your leg. Don’t think about it, don’t look at it. We’re getting out of here and I’m taking you to the ER, okay?” He moved over to the door and he tried to open it, but of course, it was locked. From the fucking outside. How fucking brilliant! There had to be something he could open the door with, there had to. “Okay, I don’t mean to make you panic, but this door is locked. Any ideas of what I could use to open it? ...... Where are the knives?” And how would she know? He ran back to the door they had entered the room from... He couldn’t fucking open it! Something from the outside was blocking it. This was almost cynical, psychotic... If it were only himself, he would have loved it. But Eliza... He had to get her out. At least it wasn’t all too bad in there... Wolf walked back to where she was as he took off his jacket, placed it around her shoulders, they would come up with something. He took a deep breath, and there was something odd about it. A weird smell, like gas and burnt metal. “What’s that smell?” He asked the brunette –– because there was no way the kitchen was on fire, was it?

Sparks Fly → Wolf & Eliza

The last time that Eliza had been in a situation like this, she had shut down. Gone into complete shock and as much as she wanted to say that the same thing wasn’t happening again. She could feel it coming, could slowly feel herself shutting down and the harder she tried to fight off the panic, the faster it seemed to come. She almost let out a scream as she felt an hand gripping her arm and pulling her closer. Fighting to get out of the person’s grip before turning around and realizing that it was Wolf. Her ears were still ringing from whatever that explosion was. But with Wolf now located the brunette felt a little better. Grabbing enough of her wits to realize that the sides of her face felt wet. With tentative hands she reached up to find herself bleeding nears the ears. Was she going deaf now? The thought was enough to send another wave of a panic through her until she heard Wolf speaking to her. Heard, If she could hear him that meant she wasn’t deaf right? She didn’t have time to put too much thought into it with Wolf demanding that she get up. Gently pulling on her arm and Eliza took a deep breath, forgetting that the air around them wasn’t fresh and coughing up a storm as she struggled to get up. She had managed to get on to her left knee before she felt the shooting pain in her right leg. 

In the dim lighting she couldn’t really see much but it was enough to realize that something had fallen on to her leg when she had fell. How hadn’t she felt that before? She must have been too busy panicking to realize that she was hurt but now that she had realized, it took all her will power not to scream out from the pain.There were plenty of screaming people around them, she didn’t need to add to the deafening noise. Not to mention that Wolf was trying to get them to safety, the least she could do was try not to be baby about it. Snap out of it Elizabeth Montgomery. The brunette kept chanting to herself in her head, as she pushed off the edge of the heavy wooden door that had fallen on her. Using Wolf’s arm to pull herself up while wrapping an arm around him. Clinging on to his shoulder. “My leg, it’s, I think it’s broken. I can still walk though, I just, don’t let go okay?”  A part of Eliza wanted to scream, she felt so weak, so out of place, so out of control and she hated this. She wasn’t some damsel in distress, she was a fighter. So why, why oh why couldn’t she power through this? Why did she feel like the world was closing around her and like every breathe was getting harder and harder to breathe in. Elizabeth Montgomery, get your shit together.

If he was going to be honest with himself, the only reason why he had come to the party was the free booze and the free food. He had bought the mask he was wearing from Party City for five dollars, his suit was brand new and he had no intentions to wear it ever again. The party’s atmosphere in the party was strange, but the word to describe it wouldn’t come to him, so he gave up on the thought and focused on what was really important: free drinks. By the time he had drunk his third glass of the Canadian whiskey one particular waiter was offering he had already lost Nathan in the sea of people, so perhaps that was his cue to go outside and smoke. However, when he heard his voice in a familiar voice, he knew it just wasn’t happening. It was pretty obvious how drunk Eliza was, Wolf found it really entertaining, even if it meant he couldn’t possibly  find a way to not dance. And no, it wasn’t that he didn’t want to dance with her, he just wasn’t a good dancer at all; his legs were too long and a little too clumsy to adjust to a rhythm. But if there was one thing he wasn’t expecting at all was the BOOM that broke everything. The music, the lights, the dresses and suits and ridiculous masks were all only smoke. Rubble and concrete fell all around him, and for a moment what he felt was pure adrenaline. He was alive, he was intact... but where was Eliza? Oh shit. Was she okay? “Liza?” he called, breathing in the smoke that caused him to begin coughing, his lungs fighting to eliminate it from his system. “I’m here, I’m here!” He yelled back once he heard her voice, the panic in her tone made his body shiver. So that was what adrenaline was, the real deal. Wolf crawled towards her, his hands burying into the pieces of ceiling and walls that had crashed into everything. As soon as he was able to reach her, he pulled her into him with one arm and with the other he was preparing a mental exit route. Would they make it out? Of course not. Everything around them was destroyed, and he couldn’t find any visible exit behind all the smoke. But then he saw it, a door to the kitchen, on the exact opposite side of the room. Perfect, that was the best luck, considering kitchen doors usually had a door that led outside. “Come on, Eliza, can you get up? Come on, we have to go there. We’ll be fine. Are you hurt?”

Sparks Fly → Wolf & Eliza

The night had already been a blur to the ridiculously drunk brunette. She had attended the function in an distraught mood, her best friend having been missing for days now. She had wanted to continue to help look for her but as always Eliza had been side lined. Told to man the fort and her cellphone just in case Hallie came home or made contact, but she couldn’t be expected to do nothing at all. It only made sense for her to come to the party. And once here it had somehow made sense for her to drink………a lot. As if it’d somehow bring Hallie back and make everything better, but instead it had only managed to make Eliza Montgomery, completely and utterly wasted. A state of which she was in when she had found Wolf, convincing him to dance. One second the brunette had been giddily dragging the taller man to the dance floor against his will and the next there was a BANG and she was hitting the floor. 

Whether she had blacked out of or not, she couldn’t have told anyone. Peeling her eyes open what felt like only moments later to find the room not only ruined but ablaze with fire. People were freaking out and injured everywhere and Eliza was flashbacked to the party in Washington. The earthquake, her mind playing tricks on her as the scene of the earthquake and the scene in front of her began to blur. Grabbing her head Eliza fought the urge to cry, “Wolf.” She called trying to scan the people around her for him, her voice too hoarse to yell properly. “Wolf!” She called against trying her best not to panic as her breathe came in short gasps. She wasn’t going to break down, she wasn’t. She refused to. “Wolf!” The brunette called more hysteric now, god she was going to break down wasn’t? Her heart beating a million miles per second in her chest. Where the hell was he? He was just with her a second ago. God, was he hurt? What if it was worse? What if he was dead? “WOLF!”

→ The Canevas:

Jack Caneva: 41, mechanic, father. In jail. Evelyn Jean Caneva: née Cosentino, 39, secretary, mother. Josiah Caneva: 24, self. Elsie Caneva: 4, kindergartener, baby sister.

→ Questionnaire

What are your parents full names? Jack and Evelyn Caneva.

Were you raised by them? Yeah, and it was pretty cool at first. My mom would be with me all the damn time and well, for a kid, that was amazing. My dad taught me to fix stuff, mostly cars. So yeah, it was fun.

What do your parents do for a living? My ma is some rich dude’s secretary still, trust me, it’s a surprise to me as it is to everyone else –– and my dad is a mechanic. Was, he’s in jail now.

How do you get along with your parents? Well... Fucking terrible. After my dad called me to bail him out of jail and I said I had no idea who he was, yeah, I suppose he’s not very fond of me anymore. My mom’s okay, I guess. I don’t talk to her that often anymore.

Do you have any siblings? Yes, one. She’s the queen of my heart.

If so how many and what are their names? Little Elsie, she’s the best little girl there is. Whoever disagrees can fight me.

Do you have a notorious or celebrated ancestor? If so, what did this person do to become famous or infamous? Uh, I have no fucking clue. I don’t know who my grandparents are, and as far as I know I have no uncles or aunts or shit. Basically all I have is my parents and my sister. Unless my mom’s stunt of sleeping with her rich boss counts as celebration?

Have you begun your own family? Hell no.

If not, do you ever want to have a family of your own someday? HELL NO.

What a boring party, boring place, too. Truth be told, Wolf was only there because his best friend would, too –– perhaps if he hadn’t lost Nathan in the crowd he’d feel slightly less grumpy, but then again who knew? –– and because he was told the bar was free, meaning he could get smashed out of his mind for free. For free! That was the best news, the best combination of words in a sentence. After two glasses of scotch, one of rum and a martini, Wolf’s body felt lighter and more relaxed as he walked back to the bar since there was where the good stuff came from, the waiters were only carrying scotch, wine and champagne, after all. He felt so good after those few drinks that the body that hit him did not bother him in the slightest, something that wouldn’t have happened if he had been in his senses, and he was only a little happy. Who knew, perhaps the night would end up being fun. “ ‘Sokay, doll, don’t worry about it, I kinda was on your way there. What’re you drinking? Nice dress, by the way.” Might have been hard to believe him, his face was just as expressionless as usual, but he meant it. Another perk of being at this stupid party –– hot girls in revealing dresses. Score.

Chewing on her bottom lip she entered that ball room her heart pounding against her chest as she moved nearly unseen amongst that sea of people. In truth she hadn’t wanted to come and yet the dress her mother’s cousin had thrown at her, that beautiful thing was too hard to resist. She felt like Grace Kelly in that little black thing. She felt pretty. Pulling her shoulders back and faking a smile Elizabeth’s eyes moved through the sea of masks before her and although she knew no one she couldn’t help but feel as if she belonged for unlike the any other day within that town Elizabeth could blend in here. At this event they were all supposed to be strangers—no one was supposed to know. Her smile grew more true with that thought as she moved towards the bar, ordering a glass of water as she turned wanting to watch the theatrics of the evening yet finding the eyes of someone else. As she turned her form brushed against another, bumping into them clumsily as her smile grew awkward—“Oh I’m sorry,” she all but stammered her nerves thanking the fact that she was wearing a mask to hide her blush.

Truth be told, the whole mask nonsense was bullshit. If you knew someone, you simply knew them –– a silly, elegant eye mask won’t matter as long as you know how the rest of someone else’s face is. So if the point of this party was keeping affairs and flings and potential one night stands incognito, it just wasn’t going to work. Wolf walked towards the nearest exit as the crowd surrounding him began to annoy him, he managed to lose his roommate so his criticism wouldn’t come his way in such a fancy venue, but his opened packet of cigarettes as already in his hand and a lighter in the other, until a small figure bumped into him. Classic, girls in their masks who just wouldn’t look where they were going. And then again, it didn’t take him more than a few seconds to recognize Maisie behind the mask, and he sighed. “I don’t think that promise as you call it will happen, you know. But if you’re still willing to know, the food in there is fucking crap. They’re these stupid tiny things, and you’ll have to eat fifty to be full. I think the invitation said there’d be dinner so I say you wait for that and judge by yourself –– But hey, you’re here. Is Eliza around?” 

Watching everyone slowly fill up the hotel she was unable to see the happy couples and how everyone had a smile on their lips. Life was slowly teaching her that only a certain group of people were allowed to be happy, and that she was not in that group at all. Maybe if today was any other day she would drown in a bucket of ice cream to numb the fact that someone else had managed to leave her life. Now she was single and she was trying to be ok with that. But tonight she had to be okay with that because after all tonight was the night she was going to be able to face the male that tried to rape her, kill him and then go home to just hack the NSA base just for shit and giggles. Turning around she bumped into someone, “Tell you what – you tell me what the best thing they are serving here and I promise to never bump into you, whatcha say?”

It was way to early to be drunk already, or was it? Whichever the morally correct answer was, Wolf was jealous of this guy who just went on and on rambling about his doubts and guesses and basically the things one would talk to with someone they knew. Truth he told, he knew who this guy was. Hell, he hadn’t grown up in Charleston to not know the big and important names of its elite or whatever these people were, but he was certain the guy had no idea who he was. “The dresses I don’t know and I don’t care, I just... appreciate what I see, man. I actually bought this stupid suit like two hours ago and have no intentions to wear it ever again. Damien Roth, I have no idea who he is, but if he’s willing to give a bunch of people free drinks and food, he must either be a saint or a psycho. And with your theory I suppose you think he’s the latter?”

Placing his hands inside his pants pockets he walked towards the main section of the party where everyone was as he stopped near the counter, “You know what I am still utterly confused about? How did everyone managed to locate all these expensive dresses a day before the event and do you think half of these people even know who the hell Damien Roth is? Which brings the bigger question – do people just show up to parties just for the free food? Would be a perfect way to poison everyone and have them all be dead. Talk about curing a small portion of the world hunger problem.”

Josiah Wolf Caneva attends the Roth Industries’ Masquerade. April/2015

                                                   Wearing this mask.

“WHAT? But it’s not even...” He pulled out his phone from his pocket to check the time, only to frown as he noticed the time. Well shit, had it really taken him that long to get here? “Oh, okay. How large is this discount we’re talking about?”

“Sorry but we’re closed for the night. Come back when we open and I can give you a discount as an apology.”

It was absolutely none of his business, but the subject attracted his attention. The way the man spoke to the young woman –– accused her, to use a better word –– reminded him of the ways his father would treat his mother when he was home. Discretion being his area of expertise, he casually stood nearby popping some M&Ms into his mind, looking at his cellphone every know and then, pretending to type, as he slowly walked nearer to the girl. His original plan was to come up with something clever to get the snobby showoff off her, but damn, she was pretty good at doing that by herself. Wolf couldn’t help but smirk to himself at the idea of her strong will. Strong enough to shoo the man away, that was pretty impressive, he’d have to admit. His steps stopped a few feet away from her, completely uninvited, but it didn’t appear to be much of a bother to the blonde, who asked her precisely what he was thinking in that moment. Throwing a few chocolates into his mouth, he took two long strides and found himself in front of her. “Agreed. Did you steal it, though? The necklace?” He asked as he chewed, his face emotionless, absolutely no judging. He was curious, that was all.

Lies are an inexorable source of false knowledge which spread across the land of Charleston faster than disease, faster than wild forest-fires. Especially on nights when these lies involve the deceitful little stories about a pretty-eyed girl with lips light rouge, like crushed cranberries. Aspen is seated carefully across from a well groomed brunette, his suit prim and proper with no creases or debris in sight. The lids of her eyes closed slowly and carefully each time she blinked as she listened to the words slipping past his lips. “ You seem very sure of yourself despite the amount of rather trashy women you bring inside the walls of the home you share with your wife. Fire me if you must, but I’d take a moment to contemplate whether it was me or one of the your mistresses that rummaged through your wife’s jewelry. Though, I suppose you do need a scapegoat seeing as you can’t tell her who it really was. “ A tight smile found its way across her lips as her boss - one of many - apologized and stood up, claiming he had somewhere to be. Rolling her eyes and fingering the mass of bills he left on the tabletop the blonde peered to her side and chuckled softly. “ What a douche, huh? “ She questioned playfully with a grin on her lips and her brows raised.

“How did your mind even manage to touch that topic?” Wolf tried his best not to laugh at the guy’s thread of thought, nor at the fact that he had just blurted it out –– but failed. He tried to keep it classy, though, and looked away as he did so the other guy couldn’t see him. “Hm, who knows? I don’t think so, how could anyone be turned on pretending to get it on while there are at least fifteen hairy dudes watching? But if they did... I mean, when I get a boner in public I think of gross things until it goes soft again. Pretty genius tactic, I suppose they use them too?”

“Do you ever wonder if actors get boners during sex scenes?” Nolan mused, pouring some creamer into his coffee. He tended to think of the oddest things, and never really thought before voicing them. Never mind that most people he met probably thought him crazy, that was almost part of the fun. “If they do, how would they stop that?”

“That I did not walk into you like you accuse me, I was exercising my right of pouring sugar on my coffee when I accidentally turned and had the misfortune of running into you. Breaking news, sweetie, the Earth revolves around this one star called the Sun, not around you.” His sight hardened on the smaller blonde. It was relatively hard to get on Wolf’s nerves, but this girl had gotten it in one minute, that had to be a record. “How much do you need, five bucks?”

“And what does any of that have to do with walking into me and spilling my coffee everywhere? The sugar packets and napkins are free, sure, but that has absolutely nothing to do with my coffee. How cute. I graduated college. I’m not an idiot.” Lyss rolled her eyes. “I wasn’t exactly looking at your eyes, but it’s a good thing that you have them. I’d feel slightly bad yelling at a blind person.” She sighed. “Fine. Deal.”

How he wished he could just go home and play video games or eat something, but it was hard to do it without having a smoke first. He had grown to be addicted, though if he were asked about it he’d quickly say he’s got it under control or some other corny cliché people used to get people to leave them alone. Smoking around the house wasn’t something he was allowed to do, if not verbally or written down on a list of house rules, he knew how much Nathan disliked his habits. If it were someone else, he wouldn’t give a fuck –– but it was his roommate and companion, so he respected it. So it was if only slightly unpleasant to see him walk up to him, the scolding ringing through his ears before he even spoke. As a joke, he looked up at him and smiled. “You’re not my dad,” he exclaimed, referring to that awful vine post he never got to erase from his head. “This one is almost all tobacco, which is better, trust me. And yes, all done for the day –– I know how much you hate the smell so I thought I could smoke here and get away with it.”

Since a good portion of the work that Nathan did was able to be done from home, he often had more free time than he had bargained for. While his list of friends was by no means small, few people were available to hang out in the middle of the day, but he knew one person who always was. Wolf. Of course he did have work, but when it came to running his app, Nate had always imagined his pseudo-brother spending his work hours falling asleep in the bubble wrap from one of his shipments. He had no proof that was in any way true, but he wouldn’t put it out of the realm of possibility. By the time he hauled ass and made his way over to the office building, it was near time work would have ended anyway, and if the time hadn’t told him that, the sight of his friend loitering near the building’s entrance was a good indicator. He quickly eyed the long cigar in his hand and grimaced. “Damnit, Wolf, what did I tell you about smoking? You’re going to give yourself lung cancer.” Nathan pawed at the air with a hand and coughed. “If you don’t put that thing out, I will for you. What are you doing out here, anyway? You done with work?”

@itselizanotelsa: normally i dont like big shows of money. because you are rich? so what? but when the show of money is getting me ice cream....i can't complain.

@itselizanotelsa: not sure how maisie will like boxes upon boxes of ice cream showing up at our door though.

@howlingforpizza: @itselizanotelsa pfff. i'm sure she won't mind, as long as you share with her. i only ordered three, though

@howlingforpizza: @itselizanotelsa don't want you falling into a diabetic coma or anything bab