Out of the ordinary. (shinigamikitsune)

[Anonymous]

Epic Spice seemed bigger on the inside than the outside.  No, not only bigger; it seemed more like home.  From the outside, the hookah bar was a little grimier than most Libran stores, its metal sign dented and dinged, its entryway inviting but small.  A few scarves hung fluttering in the doorway, blown by the artificial breeze of the fans that worked overtime clearing the air of smoke.  Inside, Nil had scattered tens of cushions throughout the store.  Hookah pipes bubbled away amongst cushions and low-walled booths, some curtained of for privacy.  It was a store where everyone sat on the floor.  A few low, broad tables lurked in booths or around the floor.  Someone had set a card deck on one of them, and another held a holograph generator, playing one of the latest concerts from Cancer.  

Beri liked it there.  It wasn't too fancy, it always smelled good, of musk and green cannabis and just a little incense, and he loved the white-noise sound of bubbling water.  

Stepping inside, he ran a hand carefully over his hair, then stopped and patted it into place again, looking into the murky mirror propped up in one corner.  He didn't like how he looked.  His torso was too long and a little pudgy around the middle.  It didn't matter, he'd dressed up, even if the only stuff he could afford was cheap, from the gaudy teen store or the skeevy vintage consignment... vintage, another word was secondhand.  At least Nil let him toke up for free.  It was the only place he could relax, unless Vin came by, in which case, suck.

"Hey, Berinu-rinu."  Nil was leaning back on his elbows behind the counter.  Beri approached, shoulders tucked up around his ears and thumbs in his beltloops.  When he got there he let them drop and felt better.  He smiled at his older friend.

"Hey, Nil.  I see you're rocking the, uh, hemp today..."  Beri's customary quick patter died around anyone but his family or teachers.  Nil was just much cooler, and, okay, his father insisted that 'cool' was a pointless measure, but he was.  He was always so relaxed, he seemed to know what was what.  Today he was wearing a couple of hemp necklaces, probably sold from Edanith because they didn't have that factory look.  He'd visited the planet a couple of times to buy for his shop.  Beri was jealous.

"That I am."  Nil squinted at his necklace and looked surprised for a minute, as though he'd forgotten he was wearing it, then leaned over slowly and pulled out a baggie of weed, which he shuffled open and offered over, nudging Beri to sniff it.  Beri bent to do so, inhaling the acrid dry scent of the leaves.

"Here, little brother."  Over Beri's shoulder, he twiddled his fingers lazily at a girl in cornrows and a long skirt.  "Hey," he added, under his breath, to the girl.

Beri dug in his pocket and handed over a couple of credits, what he could afford.  Nil didn't give him the really good stuff, so it was fine, he didn't really owe him anything.  Nil didn't care much about profit, anyway.

"Thanks."  He leaned on the counter, fumbling to roll a joint, because he didn't want to use the pipes.  Sometimes they grossed him out.  

Someone else came into the shop; he heard the little wind chimes tinkle.  For a second his back spasmed and he froze up, afraid, as always, that it was his parents or someone.  Technically he was supposed to be in school, but he had skipped out over the long lunch break.  Usually he could put it out of his mind and say it wasn't a big deal--but sometimes he got nervous.  

Oh, whew.  Not anyone he knew.  Beri relaxed, shifting sideways along the counter, and watched the new arrivals.  He hadn't seen them before.

[shinigamikitsune]

The day had started out interestingly enough. Sera having allowed the two of them go on ahead of him, giving them just enough money for food. Once they were past customs and the security, Artemis had snagged Solstice's hand and found the nearest place where he could turn the small sum, into something more acceptable.

A few hours later, found them with a new set of cloths. Artemis had chosen something a bit more simple, yet would show off his body some without being revealing. A pair of dark jeans which hugged him in all the right places, and faded a bit in natural places, held up by a wide black leather belt which had a steel studded design, and a few thin chains drapped for accent. He wore a white t-shirt that was made of a slightly thicker material and clung to his body almost like a second skin without being tight. One the chest it had a design of a gothic styled sun with the words "The sun's trying to kill me." written in a scryptic font. A steel chain was draped around his neck with the ends held together in from with a padlock. He had a couple dark steel colored rings on his fingers, of various designs, and each one different then the others but had a simular feel going to them. One wrist had a leather cuff, and the other was decorated with thin silver chain wrapped around in an almost careless style. His golden hair pulled back into a braid, held together with a black leather thong. On his feet where a pair of black combat boots.

Solstice had gone for something different then his twin. He'd found a nice pair of soft leather black pants to wear, over which a pair of knee high black leather boots were pulled up. While the boots were still plain, he had picked up some thing in order to properly decorate them later on when he had time. The top he chose was based off a tunic. It was long and flowed down past his hips to about mid thigh, with slits up the sides that stopped about an inch from where the top of his pants were. An old style belt sat on his hips, the kind that had a metal loop on one end for the other end to be thread through in a way that formed a pretty knot. It wasn't much to look at currently, but Solstice planned on decorating it later as well. The shirt was a variety of soft blues and steel grays dyed in no specific pattern. It was sleeveless and the collar come up to close up around the neck like an oriental styled shirt. Instead of leaving his arms bare, he had found come coverings that had a black belt to strap them into place on his upper arm, then the flowy material attached to the belt came down to evenly flare out until it reached his hands and ended half way down his fingers. A plain book bag was slung over his shoulder, crossing over his torso to have the actual bag part resting against his hip. His silver hair was allowed to hang down, falling midway down his back.

Neither of the twins had any tattoos, markings or even peircings that could be seen.

Artemis had pulled his twin into the Epic Spice, not sure exactly what went on in the lounge, but he did sense the usual feeling he had about places that would be good to him. He needed places like that right now, since after he had managed to convince Sera not to sell the two of them, he'd told the man that he'd be able to make twice what Sera had figured he could sell them for. Once he was told the amount, Artemis knew that it would be easy to make should he find the right spots to hit. He'd ensure that he would have the amount he'd boasted about, and enough for him and Solstice to live comfortabley off of until it was time to meet Sera back at the ship. After that, anything else he made would be handed over as payment for transportation on his ship

Solstice stayed close to his older twin, looking around with bright blue eyes. He held Artemis' hand, having laced their fingers together sometime along the way through the station, more for the sense of security then anything. His other hand had reached up to idly play with the silver moon pendant he wore around his neck on a dainty looking chain. The lounge was different then the places they'd explored earlier in the day, and he found that he liked the feel of the place. He relaxed a little and even smiled faintly as he looked around. Perhaps he could convince Sera to allow him to add some decoration to his room that was inspired by this place. It was mostly the cushions and the scarves. It held an exotic appeal to it that he favored, and felt would brighten up the cold steel of the ship.

[Anonymous]

Beri turned, setting his back against the counter, and watched as two well-dressed men walked into the store.  For a second he blinked--was it him or did they look exactly alike?  Did real people actually look like that?  They seemed way too glamorous for the store, but then, Beri realized, he thought that often.  Epic Spice had some pretty classy patrons sometimes.  Maybe he really just thought they were too glamorous for him.  No, not that glamorous, it looked like they shopped Libran.  Had he seen that shirt on display at Chrysalis?

They were just standing there, looking around.  The one with the wrist cuff (which Beri liked much better than his own) was smiling a little.  Beri cleared his throat and slid to the far side of the counter, next to a display of ornate pipes and little bags of planet-grown tobacco.  He knocked the little rolling display with one shoulderblade and fumbled his half-rolled joint, then set to fixing it while Nil addressed the new customers.  

"Hey, there," he said, leaning over on the counter, eyes at half-mast.  Nil always looked relaxed, like he was bringing you into his happy, mellow circle of friendship, and also always cool, like he knew you wanted to be there.  "Welcome to Epic Spice, my friends, is there anything I can do you for?  This is my friend Beri, here."  

Beri felt unaccountably a little annoyed that he'd been pointed out that way.  It was like Nil had said my little friend or something, like he was some kid... no, stoppit Beri.  He'd said 'my friend Beri.'  He would have said 'my friend Kai' or 'my friend Vin' if they had been there too.  So he tried a smile, though it was always a little hard with strangers, and lifted the hand that wasn't holding his half-rolled joint in a shy half-wave.  "Hi."

[shinigamikitsune]

Artemis was the one who stepped forward to do the talking currently. "Hello. Honestly, we're rather new to the Station, and figured we'd check the place out." Unsure naivety was always a good way to start things out. Locals tended to underestimate those kind of outsiders... or at least it has always seemed that way in his experience. "I'm Artemis, and this is my brother Solstice."

Solstice gives a soft smile, graced with a hint of a blush, as he raised a hand to wave back to Beri. "Hello..." He didn't have to act at being modest and shy, since that's just how he was. It always took him a while to warm up to new people, though much of the time he didn't. Thankfully, with Artemis around, he didn't shy away nearly as badly as he would have on his own.

[Anonymous]

"It's great here," Beri blurted, before he could recover.  He slanted a glance at Nil, who seemed undisturbed, as ever, by his complete lack of composure in contexts that involved strangers.  

"Make yourself at home," Nil said, nodding along to the conversation as though it were a piece of music he faintly remembered.  He shifted his weight.  His shoulders moved, though his elbows stayed where they were on the counter.  Nil didn't try to sell things, really.  Epic Spice wasn't that kind of place.  You came, you hung out, you bought something because it was so laid-back, it would've driven Beri crazy if he'd been in charge.  He cleared his throat.  

"Oh hey, I have a brother with a braid, uh, too..."

Whyyyyy did he always say these things?  It was like he'd lost some sort of important filter between brain and mouth when he'd hit the age of thirteen or so.  No, maybe he'd only started to find it embarrassing around then.  

Oh, well.  In a few minutes he'd be high and forget about the moment of embarrassment, large though it loomed now.  He fumbled the joint the rest of the way shut and lit up.

[shinigamikitsune]

Artemis grinned and turned his attention to Beri. "Does he now?" He slipped away from his twin and glided over to where Beri was. "Do you like long braided hair?" A sly grin formed across his lips.

Solstice rolled his eyes with a soft sigh. It didn't take long for the flirt in his brother to come out. Having grown accustomed to this so long ago, he asked for a couple of drinks before going off to find a table, picking the one with the deck of cards. He was quite content with sitting by himself while his brother harassed the young teen.

[Anonymous]

Um.  What?

Beri choked on his first drag on the joint he'd rolled, and jerked forward, scattering ash over the counter.  Was this guy flirting with him?  Implying something... really awkward and... like he might think something was attractive because Vin... ew.  That was just kind of awkward.  Because Artemis's brother was right over there.  

Awkward.

Or maybe it was just how he rolled and he was joking and Beri was lame for thinking it weird.  He looked to Nil for discomfort confirmation, but Nil had simply leaned over and flicked at a few bits of ash.  He glanced up briefly at Beri's pleading glance, but didn't say anything, just looked toward the stranger, then back to Beri, then shrugged.

Okay.  What should he say? Oh.  He hadn't introduced himself yet.  Had he?

"I don't know.  Hi, I'm Berinu."  It made him feel a little better to use his full name sometimes.  A mark of maturity.  Or not being himself.  Or something.  He took another long drag, and this time avoided coughing like a total frickin' n00b.  He took a step away from the counter, so he wouldn't lean all over Nil's displays and mess things up, and held out the joint.  "Want some?"

[shinigamikitsune]

"I suppose you're still young enough to have time to figure out what it is you like." Artemis found a seat to settle down into next to Beri and took the offered joint. "You're friend already introduced you, though Berinu is your full name hmm?" He took a drag off the joint, holding it in for a moment as he passed the joint back, then exhaled. "Think I'll call you Cherry instead. It suits you better." A playful smirk forming across his lips.

From his place at the table, Solstice just shook his head at the interactions between the two. The poor boy had no idea what he was in for, nor did it seem as though he could do anything to stop it. So for now he sat back and watched the ongoings.

[Anonymous]

Beri thought his own name was stupid enough.  Beri.  Like 'Berry,' he'd realized at some point, but spelled differently.  'Cherry'?  Huh?  Was it some kind of joke he wasn't getting?  Was this guy making fun of him?  He felt momentarily flattered that he had gotten a nickname, and then stupid, because he didn't get what it meant.

Honestly.  He could hack school security, but he couldn't read basic social cues.  Sometimes he just got so frustrated about it all.  It was very not fair.  

"... why?" he said at last, after glancing at Artemis.  He took back the joint and took a long drag, holding the smoke in his lungs until he felt dizzy.  

Nil, behind the counter, shook his head and lobbed a two-credit bag of fresh stuff at Beri, who caught it.  Oh right.  He shouldn't give free weed to customers.  It wasn't a good idea.  Beri caught it awkwardly in the crook of his elbow and then, slowly, edged down into the big, fluffy beanbag cushions piled against the counter, near Nil, which he liked, and not too close to Artemis, because... no, that was dumb.  Because his parents would have said 'be careful of potentially crazy people who act weird in a way you can't put your finger on?'  That was lame.  He shook his head and leaned back against the cushions, squinting up at the smoke as it trailed toward the ceiling fan, which sloughed it off in fragmenting loops.

He could feel himself getting more mellow, and realized, hey, who cared.  "Here."  He offered the bag Nil had tossed him, because it was intended for the visitor, who would pay later, when he was baked.  Sometimes Nil did business-y things like that, and Beri didn't think it was really wrong, per se.  "But... seriously... Cherry... I don't get it."  Did he have a red nose or something?

[shinigamikitsune]

Artemis laughed softly after he caught the bag. He was certain that Nil had caught on, even if Beri hadn't. Which made the nickname fit all the more. "Cherry... cause you seem rather virginal to me." Of course the only reason he wasn't still like that was because of a certain part Incubus captain that had stolen him and Solstice from their home. Poor guy had no idea just what he had gotten himself into when he picked them up.

He looked the baggy over, then held it up to show Solstice. The silver haired twin saw it, then with a sigh nodded to his brother. Since Solstice was the one keeping track of their current credits.

Now with the go ahead, Artemis plucked out enough to a joint, then tucked the baggy away for later. Good things were best in moderation. "So, Cherry Beri, I suppose that you're a lifer on this station hmm?"

[Anonymous]

Virginal?  

Nil snorted in the background and moved around the counter with a little box of pills in hand, ready to meet a new customer by the door.  On his way, he ruffled Beri's hair.  He was on his own.  He shouldn't feel stupid.  Or maybe he should.  Maybe Nil was leaving because anyone stupid enough to talk to Beri wasn't worth his time and really, virginal?

Beri could feel himself turning red, but just blinked rapidly through the smoke and looked away, pulling on the burning nub of his joint.  It had smoldered down to a stub.  He could feel the predictable effects, dizziness and lots of fuzzy happy, in layers like gauze, just starting to wind itself around him.  He sunk further into the cushions and hit the back of his heat on the desk edge, but he already felt a little out of sync with his own body, so it didn't really hurt.

Sigh.  He liked being out of his body once in awhile.  And tasting something that had come from a real plant, getting something from out of Libra, little tiny claustrophobic Libra.  With no sky and no trees and no any of the stuff he saw on the simulations.

"Yeah," he said, breath sliding out past the end of his joint.  He let it burn down and shook it out, then set it in the little copper ashtray-bowl between the cushions.  "A total... lifer."  He huffed over the words.  "Never been on ground anywhere 'cause."  Because his parents said there was no way they'd let a Mage visit Edanith and it was always too dangerous to go pleasure cruising.  He'd been to Cancer a couple times, but not for a year now.  More.  "Where're you from?"  He glanced up toward Solstice, hovering in the background, then shook his head and focused on the guy sitting next to him.  The shiny... very shiny hair and the shirt and the hey, the shirt.  "And why's the sun trying to kill you or did you just, what?"

[shinigamikitsune]

So the boy was a lifer, and by the sounds of it not something that he wanted at all. "Man, I couldn't imagine living all my life on a station like this. It just feels so caged in." Though being on a ship was different. While it was a smaller space, you knew that you had the freedom to go where you wanted.

"Solstice and I are from some backwater planet. Lived there most of our lives. Though once we hit 16 we were exiled from our village." He shrugged a bit as he lit up his joint. "Some soothsayer, witch-woman going all crazy with some crack pot premonition about how 'the odd colored twins will bring about the destruction of our tribe'.... Or some shit like that." He took a hit off the joint and held it until he needed to breathe again. "Solsty and I ended up moving around until we found some other city to live in, then ended up getting picked up and taken off planet, and found ourselves here." Poor Sera. Bet he never figured that he'd end up with as much trouble as he had when he stole the two of them.

Artemis chuckled at the last question. "The sun's trying to kill me cause it doesn't like the fact that I can control it's Light." It was minorly amusing in it's own sense.

[Anonymous]

Beri wasn't sure he'd totally followed Artemis's story.  In the middle he'd scrabbled together another joint and sucked half of it down.  Maybe he was too high.  He did feel a stab of jealous disbelief in the middle, though, when Artemis mentioned something like being in a prophecy.  The twins who... what now?  Beri blinked.  Yeah, right, he was probably mishearing it, it was probably not as epic as it sounded, because no way this guy was that epic, Beri wasn't epic at all so other people couldn't be either, if he met them.  

Besides, he didn't look that special.

Okay, he looked pretty special.  More special than Beri.  But then, most people did.  

Oh, well.  Even his bad thoughts felt less crappy when he was high, everything was all mellow now.

"Whaaat?" he said like a sigh, tilting his head back and closing his eyes and trying, and failing, to blow a smoke ring.  "I can control plants."  Because he tended to blurt out little bits of competition when other people were talking.  He knew he was doing it, but he couldn't stop.  Maybe when he was older.  Or when he'd learned better timing for bragging or better skills to brag about, and then it'd seem less lame.  This one wasn't even totally true... he couldn't control them totally, just make them grow and... it was kind of the same thing.  

"... dude... I'm really confused..."  He squinted at Artemis.

[shinigamikitsune]

Okay..... so talking about serious things with the boy while he was stoned was out of the question. Though he reall was rather adorable. Too bad he was just a kid, since Artemis doubted that he had any real money that he could liberate from him with a 'friendly' game of poker. Then again....

"So you're a herbologist mage. That's actually pretty cool." Having such a person out in space would be rather handy. They'd be able to tend to and grow various vegetables and fruits for the crew to eat. He'd have to keep this boy in mind for when he saw Sera again.

"Say, I don't suppose you know how to play poker, do you?" His grin was a little too friendly, but he was sure that Cherry wouldn't pick up on it, and it seemed as though Nil had left the boy to fend for himself.

[Anonymous]

"Yeah, I'm a herbologist mage."  Beri liked how that sounded, but it would be uncool to say it again, even though he wanted to.  He felt warm happiness seep down into his fingertips and up into the roots of his hair.  I'm a herbologist mage.

It sounded like the other guy thought he was a real person!

And he was looking at him in kind of a funny way.  A way that made him a bit uneasy, but that he also found flattering.  His gaze stayed on him too long and seemed sparkly.  Had anyone ever really looked at him like that before?

Like he... wanted him.

Beri didn't really want the Elf guy, but he really liked being wanted, if that was what was going on.  It felt nice, like he had won something.

"Uh, poker, yeah, come on, of courseI"  He'd begun to slur his words.  Beri shook his head and pushed himself upright.  Maybe he'd start encouraging the plants a little less in future.  He didn't want to knock himself out--he wasn't totally bad at poker when he focused, though he was better at Blackjack when he spent the energy to count cards.  Right now he probably wouldn't.  Um.  But he should totally keep impressing Artemis.  "I'm way, way good at poker.  But I don't have money right now, so, um... uh..."

When he played with Nil, he borrowed money and pledged to help with his plants, but he couldn't really do that with Artemis.  Maybe he should invite the store owner over, but he was chatting up that stupid girl in the stupid skirt who didn't even look at Beri and he Did Not Want To Be Disturbed.  

Jerk.  Beri pouted for a second, then realized he hadn't come to a satisfactory conclusion on the poker question.

"... Uh..."  

Brain not working.

[shinigamikitsune]

Artemis grinned as he watched Beri become further pulled into his chemically altered state. This kid was far too cute. "You're good hmm? I've been known to play a hand or two in my life." That was a complete understatement. However, for the purpose of setting the trap, he wouldn't let the kid loose too badly, not while there was no money involved.

"No worries about the money thing, we can always just play for fun... unless you have something else in mind that we could wager." There were more then a few things that Artemis could think up to wager rather then money, of course he doubted that Beri would be comfortable with most of them.

Standing up, he moved over to where Solstice was already shuffling the cards for them. He paused to make sure that Beri was following. "You comin' Cherry?"

[Anonymous]

"Okay," Beri said automatically.  He wasn't about to say no to someone who'd actually decided to invite him to something.  He did cast a long, pointed look at Nil, who was either ignoring him or

... still talking to that girl.  Flirting with her.  He cupped one hand on her shoulder and rubbed it up and down, looking at her.  She was so pretty, the kind of pretty that made Beri not want to look at her, because it was rude.

Well, fine.  Whatever.  He pushed himself to his feet and tossed his hair, which scattered and settled half over his eyes.  It took him a moment to find his balance.  Once he'd straightened himself out and slouched his way toward balance, he remembered what Artemis had called him.  Cherry.

"But don't call me that," he muttered, jamming his hands into his pockets and weaving over to where Artemis and his brother, what was his name.... Solstice or something, what kind of a name was 'Solstice'? Didn't it mean some seasonal... whatever.  He wavered straight-legged toward the card table and abruptly collapsed into a sitting position.  He rubbed his eyes and felt a little more alert.

"Okay, deal.  No money, right?"  

He looked warily at the uncannily glamorous twins.  Because his parents would kill him if he wound up owing someone money, on top of everything else.

[shinigamikitsune]

Artemis chuckled softly and nodded. "That's right, no money. After all, this is just a friendly game of cards." He slipped into a seat opposite from his twin and smiled as Beri took his seat. "Unless you have something else in mind that we could use as a little wager. Nothing to serious of course, Cherry."

The elf had learned a while ago that you never tipped your target off right away, that you were as good as you really were. It always worked best to lure them in and allowed them to think that they were better then they actually were. That way, when you raised the stakes, they would be more likely to join in.

Solstice just shook his head to himself as his brother pestered the teen with the nickname. Once Artemis started calling you something, it nearly took a miracle for you to convince him not to call you that.

[Anonymous]

'This is just a friendly game of cards'?

The arch...no, the too-cool way the elf said it made Beri suspicious, but he couldn't quite grasp what he ought to be suspicious of.  He'd been clear enough in ruling out gambling for money.  Maybe it was just a suave sort of thing to say.  Maybe Artemis was just saying it, no double meanings at all.  Right, okay, then.

Beri nodded, drumming an unsteady beat on the card-table with his palms.

"Okay," he said, after some thought.  "If I win, you've got to call me Berinu.  If you win, you can keep calling me... that.  Whatever you like, and I won't complain.  Yeah?"  He raised his eyebrows at the twins and hoped they wouldn't notice his terms were woefully unfair.  After all, Artemis already felt free to call him Cherry.