Bluff Stern FIRST

Hey, Grace had been fired from here once.

Now she was here with Rika and Vanessa, more anxious than she wanted to be, but trying her best to fake otherwise. Rosemarie had been such a triumph. Genesis had been such a fucking failure. She didn't know what to expect here beyond the promise outlined for them in grim government documents.

She'd detailed the plan again: appetizers, split up to send the girls to Grace's house and Jimmy to the werehouse. Put a padlock on the door of that, hoping it would be enough to dissuade any zoo visitors. When he was knocked out, head the fuck back over there, do the thing and really, really hope it worked.

"How you guys feeling," she asked as she sipped a Coke. Had given Jimmy a slightly later time to ensure, ideally, she had a few minutes with the girls first.

Vanessa sipped her caffeine free diet coke and felt uneasy. She couldn't handle caffeine right now- it'd just make her more jittery and nervous. Her lips were pulled into that tight, thin line lots of white ladies did. She pulled in her lips fully as she looked to Grace when the question came. "Nervous," she said, flexing her fingers against each other until they popped.

Rika had to go to the bathroom! But she had minorly forgotten it as they settled in. Likely it would rear its head again at the worst moment. "I'm actually totally fine about it," she gave a small, obvious joke of a lie.

But if Grace was asking about them, it meant she wasn't feeling too hot herself.

A little reassuring elbow nudge to V.

Oof. Shaken babes. Big same. She puffed nose air to Rika's joke, arm stretching out onto the table, palm up, wiggling fingers as an invitation to anyone who might want to hand squeeze it out. Again she'd removed the silver rings, made a note to the girls to keep it in mind. Plenty of silver in her pocket, knowing they'd need it for this whole process.

But she didn't want to accidentally burn Jimmy before they even got started. Grace had made the rare choice for a table over a booth, wanting no one to necessarily be crammed directly next to lion boy. No fucking offense, Jimbo. They were working on it.

"I think we got this," she said. "And if we don't, then we know it's not possible anymore and save everyone else a heartache. But. I think we fucking got it."

Did she? Not necessarily, especially not after a start like this. But someone had to be the fearless leader, and so she'd do her fucking best to be that person.

Dawn of the final day.

Well no, not dawn. Not even close. Jimmy'd kinda slept in, totally out for a while. He had gone ahead and done the night shift deal, wanting to keep the beast as, like, contented and distracted as he could. Keep himself as safe to be around as he could.

It wasn't helped by the nervous energy that totally pervaded or whatever, made him sharply aware of each breath as he stepped through the doorway of the Stern. Dude, this was like the first time he had sex: electric anxiety—which was unusual and weird to him—making his movements kinda jerky, this super built up ritualistic event looming that he didn't really wanna perform but felt like he absolutely had to to be the person he wanted to be. Even gonna end up lying naked in front of a girl.

It was funny how many similarities he found now he was looking for them. But like, funny in the stupid way. Don't think about it, Jimbo. Don't think about all the uncertainty and discomfort to come. Focus on staying calm and friendly, yeah? First impressions and stuff.

Aiight.

He'd shaved before showing, like somehow having less hair would equate with the lion having less of a hold. Or maybe it was more about getting back to his old self. He'd usually stayed clean shaven back before everything changed. Going for that full reset, may as well lean in, right? Yeah. Okay.

Aiight.

He'd stood in the entrance for long enough to be awkward, but tried to get out of his head as he peered around. Yeah, there was Double Vision, hanging out with Rika and V. Like, presumably. Which was which? Time to go find out...

"'Sup?" he ventured, hands shoving into jeans pockets as he stepped up to the table. Smile, teeth, a little forced for the nerves but still pretty genuine. Left it there, uncharacteristically not launching into how totally awesome they all were and how stupidly thankful he felt.

Vanessa shot a grin towards Rika, and the joke and Grace's confidence helped somewhat. But it was quickly squashed when the man with the lion inside approached them. She immediately felt bad for him, for all she was also terrified. It seemed too easy to accidently become infected, and what if that happened to all of them? Her smile flipped into a scowl and she quickly hid it behind the can of her drink.

She hoped he didn't see it. It wasn't meant for him. It wasn't likely that he asked to be this way. His own seemingly uneasy smile brought into focus how there always seemed to be a lot riding on these sorts of interactions. Her mind briefly flitted back to Genesis. Well, actually, to Genesis's young daughter. Were they okay? The thought that they couldn't help and put that baby in danger made her feel sick to her stomach. A chug of her drink to hopefully calm the storm inside, but it seemed to just make it all the stickier. Perhaps it should've been a ginger ale.

Rika, Grace- she hoped one of them would speak to this man first because she was not ready.

She did take Grace hand. Important to note. She wasn't sure about the whole heartache thing. But she did realize something belatedly, and was going to say so. But then Boy was here. She tried not to let the greenish glow around him pull a face. He was trying to fix himself. "Sup," she answered, and did not extend her hand because gross, shifter, but she did wear a placid expression. "Rika."

Rika, who still wore her necklace. She always did.

She was going to make mention of it in a bit.

It wasn't a mad strong start for anyone. No one else in this room could fucking fake it, seemed like.

And man, Grace found herself cranky. Vanessa with not a word. Rika suddenly devoid of sunshine. This was a psychic turned against his will, but that wasn't enough to build any sense of camaraderie.

Jimmy was a watered down version of himself, too. Swishing tap around an empty bottle of hand soap. Grace would carry this if she had to, trying to remember that everyone was nervous. Afraid. All that shit. Her role, everywhere, was fucking forging ahead. She could do it here. They didn't know Jimmy. It was chill. Be chill, Grace. Fuck.

The reality, if she'd taken any time to face it, was that she was as scared as the rest of them, but it felt easier not to acknowledge it. Smashing a smile onto her face, she offered a brave fist bump his way and a stealthy glance at her own fingers, paranoid about surprise silver. Or surprise claws.

"'Sup," she mimicked, though without mockery in her tone. "Jimmy, this's Vanessa and Rika. Glitter Bombs, Jimmy."

She kicked out a leg under the table to nudge the free chair over, invitation to grab a seat.

"Got a fun day ahead of us."

It was a nervous eye darty sort of game there in the opening seconds. Not, like, super nervous, but definitely charged. Shyness had never been a big Jimmy quality, but there wasn't usually so much riding on a first meeting. Not that he'd been given any reason to think this was, like, a tentative kinda agreement. Grace had been real direct with her "we're in"s as soon as he'd reaffirmed interest.

But it was just polite, you know? Throw eye contact everyone's way, let them know he was super here for this, not hiding anything or second guessing. Which meant yeah, he'd kinda caught the dying smiles on Not-Grace one and Not-Grace two. Which wasn't the most encouraging thing ever.

Like he got it, he was scary. Probably they'd been told back when Grace found out and he'd tried to eat her a little. That's probably who he was in their heads, yeah? The guy who'd tried to eat their pact sister. Oof. Was this a mistake? Maybe he'd have been better off introduced as the passed out idiot under the tarp, then only meet-and-greeting once he wasn't a disgusting threat.

Man... okay. Really drove home the need to do this, so that was... good?

Whatever, don't spiral dude. Grace had him, a fist bump lifeline he'd gratefully take. Reignited the grin he didn't realize had been sputtering out on his face. Easier to focus on her, but he didn't wanna, like, fall into standoffishness or something. So he tried again as he pulled the offered seat further out and plopped down into it.

"Cool, yeah. The psychic powerhouse and the genius attorney." Or... lawyer? Was there a difference? Whatev. Dumb little finger guns at both of them before he dropped his elbows onto the table. "Cool cool cool!"

Vanessa at least gave a smile at being called a genius attorney, though that was likely something from Grace and not from Jimmy. So she cast her eyes towards Grace for a moment. She'd feel better about this whole thing if the last time they tried to prevent someone from being turned hadn't been such a spectacular failure. Vanessa looked at Grace's hand, the one she burned, and felt those guilty tears well up in the bottom of her eyes again.

She gave a small shake of her head and looked back towards Jimmy with another smile. Snap out of it, V. This was something else. Be confident. Be more like Grace. She held out her hand, not for a fistbump, but for a shake. "It's nice to meet you," she said softly. She wanted to launch into questions about him being a were, but decided not to.

Psychic powerhouse? Was that her? She wasn't the genius attorney, so most likely. Fingerguns, awk.

Rika was never going to be warm with a known shifter. But she could get to the point of her thoughts. Why were they meeting here, anyway?

"I realized there's something I can try on you so that you don't have to shift," she started, reaching into the collar of her shirt to pull out the necklace on which held the little vial. Yeah, all silver, so. Don't freak out. "It's called belladonna."

That was something. Jimmy trying to be more like whatever he normally was, which in retrospect was embarrassing to introduce to people like Rika and Vanessa. V took it well, and Grace knew it was no small thing to pull the handshake. A gesture of trust, or whatever. She missed her red headed babe's tearfulness, but caught the gentleness of her words.

Then all fine detail fell out of her brain, because, uh. Rika was dropping fucking belladonna suddenly , a thing Grace hadn't even considered. What had she said before? It knocked them out or something? But it was, like. Poisonous and shit.

But Rika could control poison. So. She felt a stomach clench, a rare Grace plan suddenly toppled on its side. At least couldn't call the necklace as silver any more than she'd call it nickel or some shit, or she might have been extra ass sweaty.

Could they just go do this at her apartment, then? Skip all this shit? Why hadn't Rika said something sooner? Whatever. She said realized, and she was always wearing that necklace.

"Uh, shit," Grace mumbled. "Forgot about that."

Rika was, in the end, really fucking smart. Grace just did things.

Contact, touch, was all default meaningful to Jimmy's brain. Like, it always had been, just something endorphiny about it or something. So even ignoring all the other kinda huge contexts and everything, he was happy about the offered handshake. But there was also all the other kinda huge contexts and everything.

So he restrained any potentially, like, frightening exuberance and just quietly took V's hand in a soft—and of course very warm—grip and gave a light squeeze before letting go while murmuring "Same!" through a rekindled grin.

But then focus shifted to Rika, who was... What? He didn't really follow what was being said, understanding little enough of that. What he did understand was how the suddenly produced necklace and dangly little whatsit looked a lot like silver and they definitely all needed to have silver so it was probably silver and oh man he hadn't touched silver since the fist bump of doom and that could not happen again.

So he was suddenly scootching on his chair to get a little more distance, but the chair was, uh... well loved, so it didn't take much to send it toppling. And of course Jimmy toppled with it, now on his butt on the floor. And breathing kinda heavy.

But fine. He was fine. And glad he'd gone shifting recently. "All good, my bee," he was quick to announce from his new seat, shoving a thumbs up over his head back at table level. Maybe... just stay down here for a minute.

"Who's Donna?"

Things seemed to have been going well. The handshake was, well, generally pleasant in the way that Jimmy was clearly trying to be friendly and nice. But Vanessa was also well aware that huge lion paws also came out from beneath that skin and that was just hard to shake.

She glanced over at Rika pulling out her necklace, not entirely sure about the whole thing. She'd barely had time to react when their newcomer was suddenly falling over. Initially, Vanessa started to reach forward when her brain caught up with her hands, and she brought them back to her, knocking over her caffeine free diet coke can (empty now, luckily), and to her face, covering her mouth in surprise. Didn't even realize she'd leaned towards Rika, maybe in an attempt to protect her since her necklace had seemingly caused this reaction or maybe because Vanessa's body was attempting to flee but her brain didn't quite get all of the shockwaves to her limbs.

As for her, the gut reaction was to reach for her girls. One to V, one to G, ready to take them invisible, inaudible, inodorable, whatever. Every fucking sense wiped out.

It didn't quite play that way. Lucky for Jimmy, he said something so dumb that all sense of panic and wariness was — not quite gone, but boxed to the side.

"Belladonna. It's. A substance," deliberately not using the word poison, "that knocks out vampires and shifters."

You were the shifter, chair pal. You were also going to be her test for that. She'd already determined its effectiveness on vampires.

Of fucking course, dude. Of. Fucking. Course. Jimmy just plummeting out of his fucking chair. Complete cartoon person surprise at Rika dropping shit that should have been sent in a text. 

It was hard not to feel embarrassed on all sides, and Grace sure hated embarrassment. Here she'd hoped they'd all be friends or some shit.

Normally she'd go reaching after someone who fell. It would be the obvious thing to do, and even here, she jerked in that direction, then paused. Moved past the superficial concern to the one that involved him potentially exploding into a lion.

Shouldn't have even done this dumb meet and greet bullshit ahead of time. More time in danger, and if he shifted, everything was done. This process, and likely ever trying this process again. Not to mention fucking lion murder-

But it was fine, actually. Everyone was fine. Jimmy was fine. Vanessa leaned to protect her girl. Rika was ready to drag them both out of here, seemed like. And there was dumb bitch Grace, so caught up in the social dynamics of it all she hadn't yet figured out if it was better to try to teleport the psychics or just Jimmy.

Fuck. When had she completely forgotten how to just relax? (Spoiler alert: she had always been this way.)

Needing a second to remember how to do anything but feel her heart drop kicking around her chest, she swallowed whatever spit was currently in her mouth and ran a hand through her hair, dumbly offering a napkin out to Vanessa who didn't actually need it, but. She'd only processed can falling over.

Embarrassment was... Like, he wasn't immune, but it wasn't like anyone was laughing, yeah? Just sitting on the floor, while everyone else was still in chairs. Get in a chair, Jimmy.

"So, like..." he began, stalling as he got up and righted his seat. A substance. Aiight. He'd heard somewhere that some things affected weres differently. Like, besides silver. That catnip was a thing. He'd never really explored it.

Almost reaching curiously for it before quickly realizing, no dummy, he glanced uncertainly to Grace. They'd had a plan. Kinda worked it out meticulously. Figured the angles or whatever to make it safe. This... did seem easier though. Faster. That was pretty appealing if it didn't cut dangerous corners.

"What," he finally managed, settling back in the chair, "I drink it and drop? Now, or...?" He was really having trouble peeling his brain away from the plan. This brought a whole new set of specifications he wasn't at all equipped to quickly sort out in his head.

Vanessa took the napkin offered to her anyway, content to wipe up the few little drops that had dribbled out of her can while Jimmy settled back in and Rika explained what Belladonna was.

This new offer from Rika seemed to have changed the course of plans, and Vanessa knew she wasn't going to be the one to say what they should do one way or the other. Either way, she'd be happier with Jimmy passed out and unable to lion out on them. She looked between Grace and Rika, wondering who would pipe up first, who would make the decision for how this night would go.

She nervously twisted a silver ring with a topaz gemstone she wore- one that had been a gift to her from her father from when she was young. She rarely wore it, wanting instead to keep it safe. But, well, it had silver on it and they were meeting with a were.

Why... would the plan be to drink it here. Rika spared a glance to her other glitter ladies as they composed themselves, finding her cheery disposition well-challenged in the face of not only a shifter but a shifter who was apparently really dumb.

Be. Nicer.

"No. Not- now. Wherever we were supposed to do this."

All of this was a fucking headache.

Jimmy asked a smart first question and a dumb second question. Rika only answered the second. Vanessa was quiet, and Grace couldn't blame her one fucking bit. The plan had been to grab some food, chit chat, be friendly. But it was clear that wasn't happening, and everyone's easy "uwu grace, i twust your judgement, whatever you say!" hadn't actually been the case.

If she'd known how uncomfortable the girls would be, she would have skipped this part and they'd be un-wereing Jimmy right now. Introduced them in the aftermath, Jimmy (fucking hopefully) a brand new, unthreatening, thankful presence. But she'd learned it now, and given this new info, she'd shift to a new plan.

Nut up, Grace.

"I think we're all, like, mad nervous," she said. "So I say let's do this now. Pack up, head to my place."

Which currently had a pile of Jimmy's stuff in it, but there was enough space for everyone to find a spot to sit.

"Rika's got the power to control stuff like this. Belladonna," she said, gesturing to the necklace but looking to Jimmy. Trying to provide him some really absent context. "I totally forgot about it, but it can knock you out for a while, like that coma shit without having to shift. It works on vamps and shifters for some reason."

How long it knocked Jimmy out for was a question Grace did not know the answer to, but. Rika could give him more or less to control it, right? She wouldn't do anything dangerous. Like, dangerous-dangerous.

"So now we can do this without having to worry about anyone busting in on us, and in a couple hours max, we're hopefully all fucking up a celebration pizza or some shit. Cool?"

Wherever they were supposed to... But like, they were supposed to do this in some abandoned industrial dive. But only so he could lion out safely. "Safely." If he didn't need to do that anymore, then...

Jimmy wasn't really a plan guy, more than happy to go with the flow with social stuff. But there was too much, like, murder potential here for that to be okay, and also way too much ignorance on his part regarding every dang thing to have any confidence in improvising. Also, uh, def picking up heavy "I don't like you and I don't wanna do this" vibes from the psychic powerhouse over here. So, cool.

Cool cool cool.

But Double Vision rolling back in with the save. Jimmy was losing track of every big and little favor she was racking up. Kid was happy to focus on her again as she laid stuff out. Again his grin was kinda forced—she wasn't wrong about mad nervous—but the enthusiastic nod was all real. "So cool. Cool cool cool."

Then he carefully edged off his seat, ready to go but not wanting to jump the gun. And also, like... It was a weirdly layered batch of feelings that hit him with the whole realization. He'd been super preparing for his final shift, the last really present alone time with the lion. And now, whoops, turns out that was already passed and soon he'd be just him again.

Man, like, that was unbelievably exciting. But also...

As much as Vanessa didn't want to be any sort of deciding factor here, especially since it seemed like Grace and Rika were on the same page, there was a concern that hadn't yet been brought up. Everything to do with pacts seemed exhausting, metaphysically or supernaturally: forming the pact, stopping the infection for Rosemarie, even the failure for Genesis had been exhausting in its own ways.

Rika was absolutely the powerhouse between them, but she had her limits too. She looked at her two girls, and gave a frown. "Is it a good idea to have Rika control the Belladonna while we do our thing?"

"It's not a concern," she answered the question with a head shake. In part because she didn't have to control it after it was in whoever; the concern for controlling it was in normal people who could actually be harmed by it. But not one of them, including Grace, really needed to know that much detail. Last thing she needed was Jimmy falling off his chair again because of whatever.

And frankly she was also just tired of hearing twenty "cools" in succession out of this guy. And also she realized she was a little extra irritable because:

"I gotta run to the bathroom but after that I'll be ready."

So like, please, y'all. Be ready so they could get this done with. Fix a shifter and maybe in the process make him less automatically agitating.

Cool, cool, cool, Jimmy, stop cooling. Cool. Grace hated feeling socially responsible for anyone but herself. This was why she usually never collided friend groups.

Vanessa asked a very good, very smart question. Rika answered with confidence that came without explanation, and the whole thing continued to make Grace sweat, just short of literally. None of this was how she'd pictured it going down. Foolishly, apparently, she'd imagined everyone laughing and doing some dumb bullshit fistbump before they went all in. Yeah!

Rika excused herself, and Grace nodded, had no problems letting her go. Seemed like she needed a break from the group anyway. It left her with Jimmy and Vanessa, and she felt like she needed to reassure both.

"Guessing she can just control it to start, then we're good," she said with a shrug, but continued with an acknowledgement that felt important "It's a good question."

Looked to Jimmy, smiled in a softer, twitchier way that tried to convey apology. "If you want to go ahead, we'll catch up."

She eased one ass cheek off the chair to wiggle her keys from her pocket.

"You could let yourself in if you want so you don't have to stand in the heat."

Peace offering, held out if he wanted it.

The question didn't exactly pump him full of excited confidence for this switcheroo. But psychic powerhouse seemed to have the confidence part down at least, so sure. Okay.

Kinda side-eyed both Dee Vee and regular Vee after she'd stepped away, expression all but screaming "Did I do something wrong?" But nah, it wasn't a good thing to ask. Not now. Not... He'd definitely had a different view of how this'd go, yeah. Maybe that really was his bee, like, projecting Grace onto her friends, picturing them as carbon copies of her view and attitude instead of leaving room for... uh, whatever was happening here.

"Aiight," he nodded, snagging the offered keys. "Seems best, yeah." Finished sliding off his chair, fishing his bike key out of his pocket to be replaced with what Grace'd handed him. "Than-"

Cut that off and reset, including Vanessa in it this time as he looked between the two. "Thanks. For all this. Know it's a big ask and everything. Really appreciate it."

And he was off, thinking a little time alone with the lion would be... not good, but important.

Rika leaving was a bit of a surprise, but Vanessa merely flashed her a smile as she walked off. Honestly, she felt like joining her. It was hard for Vanessa to trust vampires and weres, given how she'd been attacked. And that whole bear thing on the ski slopes. She'd moved her to go skiing and now she was too scared to do that around here. If it wasn't for Grace, Rika, and Andie, Vanessa would probably just leave. Go somewhere else that didn't seem to have such an abundance of supernaturals.

But, she was here and so were her girls and Andie. And what was really the point of being powerful if she didn't help people. She looked back to Jimmy when he spoke up, giving him a gentle smile. Told herself that he didn't want to be a lion anymore than she or Rika wanted to be around him, so she'd try to be friendlier. "We'll see you back at Grace's," she said.

Once he was gone, Vanessa looked at Grace and sighed heavily. "Sorry, it's harder to be around a were than it is being around someone who's just been infected, but is still fully a human."

He took the keys and she was relieved for it, in the sense that if one more thing went awkwardly, she was at risk for an outburst. The thanks was a kind touch, too, even if it hadn't wholly felt earned yet. Flashed deuces, smiled with a little more effort, and then that was that.

Grace considered texting him reassurance or something, but for now there was Vanessa, apologizing real fucking nice even though she didn't need to. She shook her head, brought a hand to rub at the back of her neck. The jellyfish zone.

"You're good," she said. "It's scary. Jimmy, like. He knows what he's capable of. Doesn't want to lion out on anyone. He'd like, eat all of our silver before he'd want to even sneeze in our direction. But it's fucking scary, for us and for him. I'm just tryna, like."

A broad shrug, and she flopped both hands on the table.

"Keep it positive. 'Preciate you being, like. Brave as hell. None of us really signed up for this when we first pacted."

Vanessa appreciated Grace. Appreciated that she felt she was brave, even though she felt like chicken shit (wow, Alanis Morrissette lyrics). "What scares me most is if we fail. What's that going to mean for Jimmy? After Genesis..." Well, that was still an upsetting topic for Vanessa and she looked to the floor for the moment. "They were still human when we left." It was said quietly because Vanessa was well aware of the fact that Genesis had limited time left because they had failed. She looked back to Grace. "But will Jimmy wake up a lion if we fail?"

Yeah.

Yeah. That would be Vanessa's fear. It was the kindest of the options, and the one they had the least control over. They'd get it, or they wouldn't, and that was fucking horrifying. They could keep trying, keep practicing. They all had been. No member of this trio was inclined to sit on their ass and abandon their powers.

But could Grace say she'd grown significantly stronger since Genesis? Eh. She was better at teleportation, but still couldn't remember shit. Couldn't go back when she wanted all the time. If there were gaps there, no telling how many gaps were in other shit.

V asked a good question, and Grace had no good answer.

"I don't know," she admitted reluctantly. "If we can't do it again, I- man."

Her apartment was full of Jimmy's stuff. She was putting everything on this possibility, like going all in guaranteed you'd win. But it didn't.

"We make sure he doesn't wake up and turn into an actual lion. And then we see if the other pact can help. I know that article said, like. The same group can't do it more than once. I don't know if it's like... we get one shot, or we only get to try once a year, or once every ten years. It's so fucking hard to know."

A big inhale, a big sigh.

"We'll find out."

And they would, one way or another. The drive to Grace's place wasn't long once they paid their very small bill. She shot off a few texts, including one to the lion in question, just before arriving.

My bad not predicting the girls would be spooked af

Your good

Grace

She saw the bike but no Jimmy, which meant he'd wisely chosen not to stand outside holding her keys. She spoke with an intentional loudness as they approached, not wanting to startle him with a knock. It was very unlikely he knew he had to reverse body slam the door closed in order to get the lock to engage, so she felt confident in getting it open without her keys.

"We ready to belladonna the fuck up?" she asked the girls just before moving to open the door.

Rika'd spent the time in the bathroom going, obviously. But also. She considered her role in all this. It was exciting when not in a room with them to have the chance to fix them. But then here they were, and all her interactions with shifters from the deception to the attack to the fact that one scratch could take away everything that made her worth anything to anyone — and on top of it, this guy was just.

Dumb. Daft. "Coolcoolcoolcoolcool."

She toyed with texting Beau. But no, she couldn't, because if something happened, everyone had sold him out on that stupid psychic group chat, and that would be its own drama. She could just imagine V turning fire against him as he arrived. Grace recognizing him.

It was just. She wanted this over with, as painless as it could get. Whatever.

Rika emerged and joined everyone. Sunny she was not during the drive, but she wasn't Cassidy-level scowls either. "Yeah, ready." Let's gooo already.

Grace didn’t know what would happen if they failed, which, to be fair- how would she? She was always so confident, always so sure that they would succeed in whatever possible.

Vanessa had been that confident before too. Before Genesis. Before burning Grace. The car ride hadn’t been awful; anytime spent with the girls was good. But she had been quiet, wanting to spend the ride focused on pumping herself up for this. They could do it. They would do it.

"Yeah," she said to Grace’s question, trying to be as confident as the other one was.

What was that stain on the ceiling? Didn't matter. He'd been staring at it for, he dee kay, some amount of time. Hard to track without looking at his phone, which he hadn't done since Grace's text. He'd sent back a thumb's up, which was apparently the only language he spoke today. Social discomfort was so not his bag, not something he faced on the daily. So when it struck, man, he was hot garbage at navigating it. Whatev.

Other thoughts took priority anyway. Lion thoughts. Not, like, the lion's thoughts. Well, not mostly. Some of that, yeah. Just kinda sitting with it in his head. Not really communicating, just...

It was like a deathbed, this kitchen floor he was lying on. Like sitting in a vet clinic with an old pet, knowing you were about to put it down. But... like the sort of pet you'd inherited or something. You'd never asked for it, never wanted it, and then it spent a couple years wrecking your furniture and eating all your socks and pissing on the clean laundry pile you were definitely about to get to probably.

And then it tried to take a chunk outta your mom. Thing wasn't just inconvenient; it was fucking dangerous. You weren't putting it down because it was sick. And it wasn't, like, a court-ordered deal; there was no handing the blame to someone else. This was your call. And it was, you really believed, the right one. But you were still just straight up killing something

Fuck, dude...

He was there on his back when they entered, one knee up with his sole to the floor, other leg and both arms just flopped wherever. Except of course he tossed that thumb in the air again, though he didn't lift his head. Kept staring at that stain.

"Arr dee why." Something picked up from some dude he'd never met, from his few forrays into online multiplayer back in college.

I would like to be asleep now please.

Yeah, yep, yeah, let's fucking do this and get it over with. She pushed the door open to find Jimmy sprawling on the floor of her kitchen, not so much as sitting up to be part of this. And that! Fucking!

Sucked! She got this wasn't going how he wanted. She got this was a big step for him. She got he was losing his cult friends and family in favor of returning to the rest of the world. But, man. Was there no space between falling out of his chair like a cartoon person and lying on the floor saying some kind of Jimmy thing she literally couldn't understand?

If Grace could shift, she'd be due for a roll. As it was, she decided to just blaze ahead. Not even acknowledge it. Let him lie there until they were done. All the weird discomfort of this whole process, she could deal with later. Either they'd have victory or a lion to deal with, and either would distract from a lot of the pain it took to get here.

"Head start on sleeping, check," she said, and that was that. The apartment was warm, a little skunky, but she had put some effort into cleaning it this week, if because she was expecting Jimmy's presence. Grace patted the bed to invite the girls to sit, but she but stayed on her feet, here to be useful.

"How much we need?" she asked. "We just put it in a cup or something?"

Rika likely knew she had free rein of Grace's apartment, though it was doubtful she'd want to step over the teenage boy taking up her floor.

Yep. He was... doing that. Rika looked over him, and then to the bed, and she considered the question. "Probably should put it on something edible."

Here she was simply mirroring the fact that she had fed it to vampires from her own blood. But fuck doing the same for shifter slobber.

The attempt to get to the fridge would have to involve going around this guy. Or maybe he'd move. Either way, there was a half a burger, and she decided that worked as well as anything. Rika pulled it out and opened the container, electing not to heat it up. He could deal.

Eyes went pearl pink. She lifted the bun and poured it on the meat, just to be sure of it, and as she did she also worked to be sure it spread around the patty.

"Here." Carefully handed it off to him.

And she then backed away with the other two. waiting to see it take.

This whole thing was just... strange. And Vanessa didn't like it. She pulled her lips into a straight line. Jimmy was something else entirely. It was hard to imagine a huge cat inside of him. And he looked just so- defeated? Maybe not the right word, but she didn't really understand why someone who'd been literally falling over himself at the Stern would just be on the kitchen floor, barely moving, using letters rather than words.

She shifted uneasily on her feet. Watched Rika dump the stuff on a cold burger. Vanessa frowned. She'd need to speak up. Make sure this was actually fine. "Are you sure you want to do this?" The report had been clear that there were certain problems that still happened, even after successful reversal.

See, he kinda thought, like... okay, it's a substance. Wielded by psychic powerhouse. Kid has imagined her just like, willing it into his bloodstream or something. And he'd be out. So lying down was the best position for that, yeah? He'd asked if he was supposed to drink it and been told no! The heck?

Explanations were not at all the strong point here. Which, like... fair, he guessed. No one really knew what they were doing.

Jimmy's head lifted with the cup question, looking classically confused. But no, they were putting it in an edible? But he'd told Grace... No, wait. Listen better, Jimmy. Yeah, he'd move, sitting up and sliding backwards on his butt, putting his back to the oven and pulling knees in to make room for the fridge door and stuff.

Pretty well given up on understanding the full process, asking questions. Just going with it. Accepted the leftover burger with a quick, "Thanks," tryna not make things worse. Ready to cram it quickly down his throat when V...

"Yeah," was the immediate reflexive reply, and her nodded. Oops, slantways. It was... like, the moment of truth. He'd already told Grace yes, talked and planned and imagined. But now it was here, no kind of hypothetical. Eat the burger, kill the lion.

Looked at Vanessa more seriously for a sec. Glanced to Rika. "Grace... like, told you guys about the day she found out about me, yeah? What went down?"

Edible. Grace hadn't predicted that, to say the least. Good thing her fridge had dumb shit in it. Jimmy readjusted with the ever-changing plan, something she'd thank him for later. If this all went well.

Because if it didn't, really, that would be very far from her mind. Likely from both their minds. They'd all be in their own fucking despair comas for a long time. (Grace would seriously consider just moving again.)

She sat on the corner of the bed, finding that standing made her want to pace and there wasn't nearly enough space for that in here. There wasn't space for four people as it was. Vanessa asked the million dollar question, and Grace was struck by the kindness of it. She'd long stopped considering any other option. Of course he was doing it, they were doing it, this was happening, this lion was getting the fuck out forever. Silver bullet in it.

But, no. It was worth asking, and as Jimmy agreed quick, she was ready for it. Hoped he wouldn't, like, choke on the burger or something. Rika probably knew the Heimlich or whatever, right? Eyes on the spooky food, and-

Oh. Fuck. Story time. Bad story time. A story that was going to scare the absolute shit out of everyone in this room, but it was too late to stop this continued freight train.

"Nah," she said, voice a little low for a Grace. "Don't think I did."

Bite the burger, Jimmy.

"We can talk about it after."

Her eyes were still pink. She wanted to get this over with. Come on, already. Her gut was twisting with suspense every second he remained conscious.

At the response, Vanessa looked to Grace naturally, wondering why she hadn't told this story. Was it not actually necessary? Was it really bad? Had he killed someone?

Vanessa frowned. Looked back to Rika and then to Jimmy.

A lot of shifting glances, man. Jimmy was kinda surprised by Grace's response. Really thought... He dee kay, maybe it was too traumatic and she didn't wanna relive it. Felt that.

Rika continued to double down on operation: shut up and let's do this. Maybe, like, a were ate her dad or something. Weren't you just about to launch into a story about how out-of-nowhere lethal people like you could be? Hardly limited to you there, Jimbo.

Except he hadn't planned on a big telling. Thought they knew. Just tryna give context and stuff. Shaking his head, he focused back on Vanessa. "Aiight, SparkNotes: it was bad. Before I didn't get how, like, real fuckin' danger-"

Shook his head again. "I can't live like this if there's any other option, you know?" I don't wanna be dangerous. It sounded trite in his head, like he'd said it too many times and it was a meaningless cliche now. Maybe he just thought it too much. Whatev.

Jimmy ate the burger.

Cold, Rika.

She wasn't wrong, exactly. It wasn't the time. But it was cold. Grace didn't like it, but as was the theme with this whole thing; she didn't like much at all. Still, Jimmy took it in stride. Really well, actually. Said the most important bits, didn't get hurt about it. Said the most words she'd heard him offer through this whole thing, actually. Maybe it took Rika's sharpest elbow.

And then suddenly, really suddenly, it was happening. The thing they'd all been rushing toward, the thing she was privately bitching at him to just do. He did it, and she felt her stomach ache from her heart dropping into it. Because that was poison, in the end, right? Knocked weres and vampires out, okay, yeah. But.

It was poison. Rika controlled poison. Now was the time to say something meaningful or reassuring, but she didn't have a speech planned. Only a quick attempt at her best, voice not as confident as she wanted it to be, but meaning it all the same.

"I'll tell 'em how scary you were," she said. A little ribbing. "See you on the other side without the fuckin' lion."

A smile, not a grin, overwhelmed like she'd been over Rosemarie's text. Waited to see if he was going to dramatically slump over, or sit real still, scary paralyzed. Thought she should have been over there with a hand on his shoulder, but here she was.

It would have to be fine. She'd have time later to regret it, if she had nothing else to regret after this.

For a moment, she faltered, almost ready to get angry. Like real angry, because come ON. But no. He finally went for a bite, and using her pull, she shoved it all towards where his face was aiming.

Finally. Grace said parting words, but it wouldn't matter. It was pretty close to immediate with Beauregard; she imagined that it was the same with shifters.

Once he went lights out, she let her hold go with a big sigh of relief, looking to the other two to lead finally doing this.

She did, technically, already have silver on her.

Well, that was that. The story wasn't really told, but the burger was eaten. Vanessa looked to Grace and Rika, not really wanting to see Jimmy go down.

Grace's voice drew his gaze as he bit down. Or maybe he was already looking at her, tryna find some last comfort in her grounding presence. The way she was at the center of this happening at all: offer, talking through it, bringing her friends in, opening her home for whatever transition period came next. All of it.

The timing would always be fuzzy in his memory, barely catching any of her words before eyelids drooped and he slumped harder against the oven, suddenly out like how kids fell asleep.

And that was it.

He slumped, and Grace stared. All her obsessive late night planning, sending doubles of herself out to a shitty warehouse to make sure it stayed empty, all of that silly shit irrelevant now.

Jimmy was toast in her apartment, a much safer place than a Rice Bluff shithole. (Well, a different Rice Bluff shithole.) And he was clothed, which was an added bonus. Grace took a deep breath in, blast it out of sputtering lips.

"Aight," she began, trying to transform herself into Glitter Bomb Grace. "Wonder if we could all sit in the kitchen, like. Facing him."

It was a lot harder to put an unconscious body in a circle. They took up a lot of space. She rose from the bed, moving to hit the down button on her shitty AC unit as far as it would go. They'd all overheated last time.

"Grab pillows to sit on and knees touch?"

Talking psychic business was so much easier than everything else she'd done today.

Tension eased from her body. Goodnight, Mr. Coolcoolcoolcool ad nauseum. Grace led the way; Rika agreed. "I'll grab pillows," she offered, moving to do exactly that.

Returning with them, she set them around him.

Sat.

Ready?

Vanessa remembered the hot last time and came prepared now. As Rika grabbed pillows, she removed her jeans to get down to her bicycle shorts, pulled off her top to reveal a cami underneath, and grabbed the scrunchie from around her wrist to pull her hair into a messy top knot. She sat down on the pillow left, having her knee touch the person next to her. She hoped this worked. "Ready," she said quietly.

They found their spots, asses to pillows to prevent their tailbones from making direct contact with the floor. Rika, Vanessa, Grace, a not quite half circle all facing an unconscious lion kid. Knees overlapped, powers ideally flowing. Grace pulled silver rings from her pockets, dunking them onto various fingers across both hands.

Ready as she'd ever be. She reached out a hand to playfully pat both the girls on the leg. The air conditioning unit rumbled and rattled to life, and with less showiness, so did Grace's psychic connection to her sisters.

She felt nothing, though, in this first moment. No metaphysical hum that told her "Yes, it's working!" Dread threatened, and she tried to remind herself it hadn't started immediately with Rosemarie.

Right? Or had it?

Grace took a testing glance toward Rika and then to Vanessa, her own eyes grapey.

"Fingers fucking crossed," she said softly.

Party time, she hoped. Jimmy looked a little dead in front of her.

---

1/100

Way to go, 'Nessa. Rika was comfortable as she was, always a warmer-weather creature anyway for all her genetics and childhood were firmly entrenched in winter. As for fevers, well.

She forgot how bad those could get.

She held her necklace, and the rings Grace adorned her with. As for if it failed, well. They could feed him a ring if needed, but she could keep that sort of tyrannical sentiment to herself and Beau.

Time passed on, and there was a bit of warmth. Not just in her own skin, but in the silver she wore and held.

Just a bit, though.

---

7/100

Okay, so they were doing this. She fidgeted with the silver ring and waited for things to happen. There was a small bit of relief as the silver around her finger warmed. So this had to be working. She sighed and stretched her back. She was ready.

---

10/100