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It's a pretty evening in Cork. Of course, they could argue that it's always a pretty evening in Cork, but tonight seemed to prove particularly radiant. Sun-kissed skies were rapidly descending into dark blues, promising the beginning of a clear, starry night. An atmosphere of peace and quiet had quickly settled over campus, wind gliding through blades of grass and wilted wildflowers in the early September air.

Unfortunately, that atmosphere did not extend down to the corridors of the University, within the half-abandoned classrooms, where Club Lore was holding quite the emergency meeting.

"Madden, how in the bloody fuck did you not know the plan?" Yaş's voice was strained, sitting on one of the lounge chairs. His features weren't hard, but it was clear that they were pressed into his face; frustrated and stressed.

"It's not Madden's fault, he joined the club later than most of us- he's the most recent member, and we didn't really bring it up that we were telling people it was exclusive." Kelsey leaned forward from where he had been standing against the wall, eyebrows furrowed in thought.

"I didn't mean to say it, Sulli just looked upset." Madden avoided Adelaide's eyes, determined to avoid starting the same argument they'd had only the other day.

"I wasn't being a bad friend." She's defensive, but it's expected, especially to the members of Club Lore. "I was just trying to protect the club."

"You didn't have to insinuate that you weren't friends by doing it, Addy." Madden's voice is irritatingly relaxed, hands shoved into his pockets as he shakes his head. "I'm not saying you were being a bad friend, I just think there was a better way to say it."

"And what would you have suggested exactly Madden? We tell them all about Club Lore. Oh, wait." She paused dramatically, crossing her arms over her chest, "That's exactly what you did."

"Alright, that's enough." Julian takes a seat next to Yaş, and they share some indecipherable glances of silent discussion.

Magnus' grin is wicked, "Actually, that's not enough- c'mon Jules, I want to see Addy get in trouble."

Adelaide's glare is sharp, cunning enough to cut through stone, but Magnus' responds with a characteristic grin. He thrives in this, they all know it, and it'll only make it worse if Adelaide keeps fueling the fire. Before Addy can fire back a response, Cassie waves her hand, arm weaving into Adelaide's crossed one to de-escalate the situation as best as she can. "So now what? Sulli knows this isn't a private club, and they aren't going to stop until they figure it out."

The shifter nods, visibly relaxing under the reassuring touch of the angel beside her, "I have a plan."

"I'll bet you do, Addy, is it just as good as the last one you had? Or are you planning for it to backfire too?" The tiefling's gaze is bright, lethal, and unforgiving as he locks eyes again with Adelaide.

Yaş hissed, standing up, "Shut up, Magnus, this is serious. I know that's a hard concept for you to grasp, but we have an actual fucking problem here."

Their hands go up in mock defense, their grin staying wicked and sharp. Again, Julian shook his head, running a hand through his hair, "What is it Adelaide?"

"Well, what if we let Sulli join the club?"

There's a moment of silence, a little too long to bode anything well for her comment. Then a laugh, the mean kind, as Magnus covers his mouth with his hand in a pathetic attempt to hide the snicker that rumbles up his chest. It didn't take long for it to blow up into a boisterous laugh as if he simply hadn't heard something so utterly ridiculous. The moment is painted only a little sweeter by the bright coloring that now adorns Adelaides' cheeks.

If it's possible, Yaş looks even more flabbergasted than he had before hearing that Adelaide and Madden had let Club Lore slip into Sulli's wicked mind of a rabbit hole. "Come again?"

"That's what she said." Magnus and Madden reply in sync, earning a barrage of half-hearted glares, and a buried bit of laughter from Kelsey. The two celebrate with an approving look towards each other before Adelaide waves them off.

"I didn't mean permanently! Like, a trial period, okay? And I made them promise they won't ask about the club, or try to investigate if we just let them stay for the semester." She shakes her hair habitually, still clinging to the grounding feeling of Cassie's arm in her own. "Sulli said they wouldn't ask me or anyone else in the club about it after the semester is over."

There's a solemn moment of silence, and again Yaş and Julian share that same indecipherable glance, before Julian leans forward in his chair, bringing his hands to fold up under his head. "Is that honestly our only option?"

"We could always kill them."

"Magnus." Cassie's response is one of nonchalant scolding because she knows he's messing around, but there's a time and a place for that, and this really isn't either of those.

"If it helps Yaş, Sulli's hot." Madden removes his hands from his pockets, his mischievous grin worming across his face,

"Madden." That time it's Addy, reaching over to swat the back of his head.

Madden ducks from her reach, darting behind Magnus to emerge on the other side of the tiefling. "I'm only saying - they're cute at the least, and Sulli has a great demeanor."

Julian waves them off, running another hand through his hair before sitting back in the chair. Yaş's scowl however is still in full force. "I don't just flirt with anyone, they have to be worth my time."

"According to 150 years of being single, no one is worth your time." Magnus fires the words back, sharp and angry. The room is suddenly heavier, and much more tense than it had been only a couple of moments ago. Yaş stands up, cocking his head towards Magnus.

"Watch your mouth."

"Who's going to make me?"

"That's enough, both of you." Julian steps forward again, motioning for the both of them to take a couple of steps back. "We actually do have a bigger problem here than either of your egos, believe it or not."

"Our egos?" Yaşru looks mildly offended.

"Yeah, what about you Julian??" Magnus retorts, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Well this isn't about me, it's about Lore and not dying, so maybe we should focus on the actual problem and set aside this argument for another time."

Magnus scowls more, but instead turns to the vampire beside him, "Are you free this weekend?"

That earns another half-hearted shove from Kelsey, who shakes his head disapprovingly before returning his gaze to the group. "Okay, Sulli joining the club. But Addy, just for the record, a promise doesn't really mean anything."

"It could if you're the one who makes it, Kells," Adelaide responds immediately, not even a pause of hesitation crossing through soft features.

Kelsey raised his eyebrow at her, eyebrows furrowing in thought for a moment as they clasped their hands together. "You want me to make a promise with a human?"

"Fae used to do it all the time."

"That doesn't make it right, especially to those humans that still have some, well, humanity, left in them." Kelsey sighs, tugging on his earlobe, "It's not some magical promise- it's an actual contract, and It can seriously hurt them to make a deal they can't keep."

"But Sulli will-"

"Adelaide, you don't know that." Yaşru shakes his head, pulling at his fingers and knuckles to pop them. "I know you want to trust them, but that doesn't mean you should."

Madden hesitates, then shrugs, "I'm with Adelaide on this one. It's not like we have much of a choice other than to let Sulli join the club. This deal might be the best we're going to get."

Adelaide nods, "Sulli won't give up if I just tell them you all said no, even if they say they can let it go, they won't - and this time they won't tell me a word about it until it's too late."

This. This is one of the reasons so many Club Lore members turn to humor because they can't stand the overwhelming anxiety of simply being. It's difficult to live in a world that would hate your very existence, difficult to live in one in which you are feared, hated, and despised no matter your intentions. It's difficult enough to know that, it's a whole other thing to have to hide just so you aren't slaughtered with the label of monster, with your family standing aside to watch them celebrate your death with lavish gifts and food.

"I still feel weird doing a contract with Sulli over this." Kelsey pressed his lips together, tugging on his earlobe again.

"So what if you waited till December to do it? Right before break?" Cassie stepped forward, cocking her head, and ignoring the half-shocked stare from Julian.

Kelsey his head, "I don't want to make a contract at all with them, Cass. Do you know what it could do to them if they break a promise with a Fae?"

"To be entirely honest, I'm not even sure what it does." Madden glanced over to Kelsey, who gave them an exasperated, but sympathetic glance.

"It can do a lot of things, and there's no real one thing that might happen. I've seen parasitic infestations, terminal illness, horrible and painful deaths - whatever the case, it's going to be bad, and I really doubt any of you want to see that happen." Kelsey is determined, tugging on their earlobe again as they look around the room for some sort of backup on the situation.

Magnus, the asshole he pretends to be, smirks, "I don't know, that sounds like fun to watch."

"If you lay a hand on Sulli, so help me God-" Adelaide responds with equal vigor, releasing the tranquilizing touch of Cassie, and stepping forward to face Magnus.

"Relax Addy, I'm with you on this. I'm not usually a fan of your ideas since they usually backfire-" Adelaide's glare sharpens, but Magnus refuses to relent. "But in this case, I think it could be nice to have new blood." He tilts his head backward towards Yaş, grin feral. "Maybe they're b-positive, that's your favorite, isn't it?" The comment is innocent, at least, as much as it can be coming from Magnus, but Yaşru's face grows a dusty shade of pink.

"You fucking prick-" Before he can shove forward towards Magnus, Kelsey places a firm hand on his chest.

"Next weekend. You can do this next weekend. Right now we have a bigger problem, remember?"

"I'm gonna kick your ass" Yaş doesn't step past Kelsey but keeps his eyes locked on Magnus', who looks about as ready to fight as he does.

"Careful to not get burned, Yaşsy"

Madden shook his head, ignoring the two petulant children who were occupied with each other, instead looking back to Julian and Cassiopeia. "I think we should let Sulli in the club. It's one semester. We've hidden among humans our whole lives, surely we can do one more for a couple of months. Besides, Sulli is just as much my friend as they are Addy's, and she's right, they won't just give up if we tell them no. Look what happened after she mentioned it was a private club, they turned around and immediately interrogated me."

"Only after you let it slip that we weren't a private club."

Madden shoots Adelaide a half-apologetic, half-annoyed glance before returning to the others, and Kelsey shakes his head slightly, speaking as he remains in between Yaş and Mags. "The point is, is that it'll be much easier to throw Sulli off if we keep them close rather than at arm's length. Keep your friends close, enemies closer, right?"

Cass chewed her cheek, "Do we really need to think of humans as our enemies? Sulli doesn't seem so bad, humans are really interesting actually-"

"Cassie, this isn't like one of your classes, we don't have any actual control over Sulli, they aren't some study project." Julian's voice is gentle, but firm, even if Cassieopia frowns at him.

"That's not what I'm saying, I'm saying we don't have to act like every human we've ever met is so horrible. We don't have to see Sulli as an enemy because they're still a person, and Adelaide and Madden both trust them, so why shouldn't we? We trust Addy and Madds too, so why can't we trust their judgment."

"Cassiopeia-"

"I'm not being naive, I'm being kind." Cassie shoots back towards Julian, who sighs, but relents, shaking his head.

Adelaide shook her hair out again, fury having cooled into a natural icy demeanor. "All in favor of Sulli joining the club?" She raised her hand high, eyes skittering around the room at her friends, awaiting their answer.

Almost instantly, Madden raised his hand, nodding in confirmation towards Addy. A brief pass of relief crossed knitted features before those same glittering eyes locked onto Cassie's. It was only another beat, a pause of hesitance, and the slight shift of Julian towards her as if to say something before her hand went up too. Determination flashed in her gaze, smooth and soft, but she didn't look back at Julian.

Instead, Julian exchanged a glance with Yaş once again before shaking his head. "I"m against it. I'm not willingly allowing a human to infiltrate our club."

Yaşru nods, "I don't want them here either. I don't care how nice you think they might be."

Gazes turn upon Magnus and Kelsey, and momentarily, Kelsey steps away from being in between Yaşru and him. Magnus clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, before looking directly at Yaş and raising his hand with a snide smile, "I'm in."

Yaş looks like he's about to tackle Magnus into the wall, but Adelaide speaks instead. "That's the majority."

It doesn't matter if it's already been decided, one by one they each turn to face Kelsey, who looks like they'd honestly rather be stuck between a rock and a hard place than right here. Kells shakes their head "I don't know. That's majority, so it doesn't matter what I think anyway."

"Come on Kells, your opinion is still something we want to hear." Julian nods, still looking mildly disappointed, but accepting of the outcome.

Kelsey is quiet for a long moment, sighing deeply as they close their eyes, and raise their hand. "I'm in too." A moment of silence, "But I'm not making a contract with them, so don't try to convince me otherwise."

The hands fall back down slowly, muttering their agreeance to the terms that Kelsey has presented them, and Adelaide nods, "So tomorrow then, Saturday, I'll let Sulli know-"

"Wait tomorrow is Saturday?" Magnus' head shot back up, staring at Adelaide.

She gave him a questioning look, glancing at her friends for confirmation before nodding, "Yeah?"

"Fuck." He reached for his bag, shoving his laptop back inside, "Fuck me, I have a test due tonight."

"A test?" Yaş anger seems to have been put off, at least until next weekend.

"Yeah, a test- God, I can't believe I forgot." Shouldering his bag, and glancing at the watch at his wrist, he sighed again. "It's due at midnight. I'll see you guys." It's only a moment before Magnus vanishes out the door, followed by a cacophony of soft good lucks from the rest of Club Lore.

And so, it begins.

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WYN

third chapter! hope you enjoyed it so much <3

sorry it's so short ^^" and it's certainly not as descriptive as my writing usually is, but that's because this chapter isn't really from anyone's perspective specifically -- it's more or less some inside information into the clubs' dynamics so it's a lot of dialogue! I hope that's alright ^^

I also want to have one chapter from the perspective of each of the other main characters, and it wouldn't be very fun for someone to have this as their perspective chapter and the others get some cool shit (at least I would feel bad, even if I know none of you would make me feel guilty over it)

I was gonna finish this last night, but we got some not-so-great news about my childhood dog (he's 15, and his name is Maximus, but Max for short)

(sorry for looking like shit, I had been crying <3)

anyway! his eyes have been bleeding steadily for the past week or so, and we think tumors have developed behind him. He's having a hard time getting around, so this Is probably the last time I'm going to see him - sorry for the downer, I just wanted to share these pictures somewhere <3

(unrelated, but my asshole of a brother and his wife commented on my weight just a few seconds before posting this so you know, a merry little fuck them cause you shouldn't comment on anyone's body - whether that's weight or type or otherwise)

All my love to you! Have a great Christmas/Christmas Eve if you celebrate it beloved. I love you each dearly <3 mwah mwah