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The bass reverberated throughout the club, sending a constant pulse throughout the floorboards. For Rya's aching feet, it came as a blessing. Normally the Brit prized comfort over fashion, opting for a casual combat boot or sneaker, but tonight she felt frisky, flirty, and damn into herself. The men, and a few women, seemed to have a similar idea since she had enough alcohol offered to her to keep her drunk for a month. She rejected it all, surprisingly, and bought her own mixes to stay safe. Too many girls and guys were roofied as of late, so much so that even Bellefonte warned students of the dangers.
The club mix finally switched to a song that she knew and wanted to dance to, so she downed the rest of the drink, placed the empty glass on the table, and moved to the center of the floor. Sweat trickled down her forehead almost immediately with the lights flashing all around and the bodies surrounding her. Slightly inebriated and certainly enjoying herself, Rya allowed the song to overtake her. Eventually, her shoes came off.
It had been a while since she managed to do this - simply let go and enjoy the music - despite the fact that winter break just ended. She managed to acquire a nasty cold, and she finally felt decent enough to do something more exciting with her time. After dancing for a tad longer, and with numerous people, she returned to the bar. Slightly short of breath, she began the mission of grabbing the bartender's attention. "Ey!" She called, arm raised, "For fucks sake."
Like most of the males (and females) in the room, he'd noticed her. Unlike the rest of them, though, he hadn't bothered with such feeble attempts at winning her attention. She thought herself better than that, it seemed. He could appreciate someone expecting only the best: He did, after all.
Holding the glass in his hand, he watched as the ice circled the brown liquid. Lately, it seemed as if it was the only thing that did the trick. Either that, or he was just bored.
She returned to the bar and made quite the fuss about it too. He couldn't help the way his lips curled upwards, a chuckle escaping him.
He could have helped her. He wouldn't, but he could have. Instead, he took a swig from his drink. "Maybe if you add another fuck for dramatic effect, he'll hear you."
The bar remained crowded, and women batted their eyelashes at the bartender to get what they wanted. She snickered at the notion, but Rya admitted to herself that at one time, she did the same exact thing. Hell, she'd still do it if it'd benefit her. Now, however, the cacophony of voices and drink orders at the bar left her in the sidelines, something the brunette did not enjoy a single bit.
Through the commonplace chaos, a distinctive, pointed voice came through and caught her attention. Her head turned, and blue eyes landed on a blonde with an undeniable smirk on his face. Her brow raised, his look so distinctly calm with the spark of interest in his eye. "Mmm, I bet any man would," Her sharp tone dismissed him momentarily, and she picked herself up onto the bar stool.
"Ey! Rum and Coke." This caught the man's attention, and she could hear the laugh from where she stood, returning a smile as she stepped back down onto the floor. Fingers ran through her hair, brushing it to her front, waiting for the drink that she ordered with an impatient tap of her foot.
He grinned at that; He couldn't help it. She was right, after all. "Fair enough." Eyebrows then lifted at the movement and blue eyes followed her as she rose. He supposed that was one way of ensuring her request being answered. With a light shake to his head, he returned his attention to his half empty drink; the ice cubes were starting to melt. What a shame.
Anyone else and he might think they'd just made a fool out of themselves; She was demanding in nature. He supposed that came with the territory, but even he could smell the trouble reeking off of her. Any wise man, or woman, would turn around and walk the other way.
He'd never considered himself to be very wise.
"That's one way of doing it," he mused, more so to himself than to her.
The world looked at Ms. Rya Darcy as bad news; good, reasonable fathers kept their sons and daughters away from her in fear of corruption. They saw her as the girl who stood up on tables, graffitied walls, danced like no one looked, and slept with whatever moved. She certainly needed another drink to give any further weight to that persona, but for now she stood with fingers toying with the hem of her dress, idly moving to the beat of the mix. Her entire focus remained on the bar until the simple drink landed in her hands. She took a nice large hit the minute she had it in her hands.
After all, Rya was far too sober.
A long exhale escaped lips that pulled into a grin after she pulled away from the drink, not in reference to the words that eluded her, but the way her body buzzed. The people, the atmosphere overwhelmed her senses and she welcomed the rapid heart beat that came with it. Spending two weeks in isolation from the cold that hit her left her craving everything. She craved human touch, the burn of her lungs from dancing, water slipping through her fingers from the ocean... everything.
It wasn't until that moment that she turned back to the blonde whose attention slipped back and forth between her and the idle space in front of him. "And that's how you get what you want." Rya raised the glass to him, and without waiting to see a reaction, she took back another hit.
Carter's appearance happened in a flash. A glass was settled down on the bar top beside the man, first.
Strong hands clapped pair of broad shoulders attached to a familiar head of blonde hair. "Come now Isaac," He offered over the music, grinning almost uncontrollably. He then reached for his drink again, taking a swig of the dark liquid. "Do I have to apologise to her for-"
Swinging around, he caught sight of the girl he was talking to, and recognition hit his eyes in a single wave; "-You?"
He was about to reply to the feisty brunette as sudden pressure on his shoulders had the blonde turning his head, blue eyes locking on an all too familiar face. "Bro." Had it been anyone else, Isaac would have been tempted to tell them to shod off. It wasn't just anyone else, though.
Leaning back, Isaac's eyes moved from Carter, to the girl and back to Carter again. "Ah, dammit. You called dibs?" A mocking pout formed on his lips. "Sorry, honey." He offered the girl his best 'what can you do'-shrug.
Rya didn't see the familiar face that appeared behind the nameless blonde until she heard his voice. She hadn't heard the distinctive accent and tone for nearly two years, so when she did, she thought it may have been a trick of her mind. She noted the shift in Carter's demeanor, a moment of surprise crossing his features. After her own initial shock, her lips turned upward into a smile, "You can if you want, Chevalier." Rya wondered how long he'd been back.
Isaac, what Carter called him, seemed to pick up rather quickly that they knew one another, but his reaction left a bad taste in her mouth. "Nobody gets dibs on me, honey," She moved the hair that covered her front to rest behind her shoulders, "But you'll learn that soon enough."
Was that disappointment from both parties? Carter couldn't ever let his confidence waver from people not wanting his company, and this couldn't be an exception to that very stern rule. Rocking back a step, he fastened a drink in one hand and took a quick swig of it. She interjected before he got a chance, and that was fine. Some people had to drive the conversation, and others just did.
"No no, I believe she calls dibs on you or I." He corrected, waving his index finger idly towards both parties.
Then his arm slinked around the other man's neck. With a small whistle, he glanced towards her again, the corner of his mouth dragging up; "It's ladies choice."
So they did know each other. It wasn't a surprise if he was being perfectly honest. It was just one of those things, really.
Isaac's eyebrows drew up in mock surprise. "The tables have turned, I see." Give it to Carter to make things more interesting. It was all fun and games after all, though the girl didn't seem to enjoy his banter very much. A shame, really.
Blue eyes turned up at the other blonde then. "You smell really nice, by the way."
How interesting was it that a single person could steal her attention almost instantaneously. Two years had gone and the name Carter Chevalier rarely popped into mind, or that's what she told herself. Rya laughed, watching the way the two comfortably attached to one another. Isaac originally had a near predatory look to him, one that didn't frighten her but predatory nonetheless. Now it shifted to something she couldn't quite read. His gaze completely diverted from herself to Carter, and she opted to gain it back.
"This sounds a lot better to me," The Brit stood up, not worrying about the way her dress pulled up slightly on one side. Here she had two nearly identical looking men, one she knew and one she did not. She trusted Carter's taste, though, and the way he so readily held onto Isaac suggested he might be fun. After all, Carter Chevalier never wasted his time.
"Assuming Isaac here still wants in my pants, I wonder if I can have both?" Why waste an opportunity when it presented itself. Rya pressed the glass to her lips once more, waiting for a reply.
There was no shame in having a man admit something good about Carter. He grinned and offered a heavy exhale, the hand at his shoulder patting it a few times in good reassurance. Like he knew, but it was still nice to hear it.
Still? Blue eyes glanced at the familiar looking man he held so close. Obviously he'd come into the conversation at a time where such things had been pointed out already. That wasn't a bad thing, but admittedly, a better man might have felt bad for ruining it.
"Oh no, my dear, I'm not prone to sharing my greater conquests." He replied, reaching his hand up and letting his fingertips brush the blonde hair that wasn't his; "Is this new?"
It didn't take a very smart man to realize he'd walked into something he probably shouldn't have. It did nothing to dissuade him, of course.
His head tilted slightly at the girl's suggestion, but before he could reply, Carter did. It felt pointless to say anything else after that. Not when Carter had put it so nicely. He simply shrugged instead.
Lifting his gaze once more, Isaac grinned. "Dyed the roots yesterday, actually." He'd been platinum blonde since he was eighteen, but new was new, regardless of how one looked at it.
And just like that, Carter managed to capture the entirety of his attention: Partly for show, of course. He didn't think the girl liked it very much, from how hard she was trying to regain it. The dress had been a nice touch, too.
Had it been anyone else, she could have easily walked away. Hell, if Isaac did to her what he currently had with anyone else, she would have walked away. It normally irritated her beyond belief to be ignored, and that fact remained since she last saw the Terrakinetic at 18. Rya hadn't played this game in so long, and to be quite honest, she enjoyed it. The brunette left the dress untouched and sat back, legs crossed.
"You've never been so shy before," She offered, though the typical smirk that she wore in these situations turned to a legitimate grin, "Don’t you want to see the new tattoos I’ve gotten since you last saw me?”
Regardless of whether either of these boys took her home or she found another suitor, she would enjoy the time she had. The hydrokinetic felt good for the first time in weeks, so she wasn’t in the mindset to let anyone ruin it.
Carter Chevalier
Usually I hold the power with both my hands tied behind my back
"I like it." Carter declared to the man so close to him. He knew his feelings didn't really matter, but it was a nice thing to say when he really believed it. He wasn't so devoid of care that he couldn't admit as such.
Turning his eyes back to her again, the words she offered carried his attention better than she had managed to catch Isaac's.
Shy? He actually laughed at that. Far be it for his denial to paint him in such a way, but he could see what she was doing from a mile off. "This is not a question of whether or not I want to sleep with you. You didn't ask me that." He pointed out dearly.
"I didn't realise I stumbled into you closing the deal." He said to him then. Given how she was acting and talking, he must have missed something; "Should I leave you two alone?"
