Snowed In [Party Post][Forward-dated to 30th]
[OOC: Happy Three Year Anniversary one and all! You know the drill except this time you'll likely only be able to comment in on one thread depending on your characters locations. However, there can be aftermath threads as well as multiple during threads. I imagine anyone snowed in at the Tower could have multiple threads with others at the Tower.
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It's only until the lights go out that the nerve endings start to prickle in awareness.
Looking out the window only confirms his suspicions.
He doesn't know if Nikolas is in the club at this hour, but he needs to ensure Elizabeth is all right wherever she is, and that requires finding his journal to lock an entry to her. Josef fumbles his way through the office and once he's found a flashlight, he starts down the stairs to see if there's anyone in the lower level. "Anybody there?"
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Because there's no way in hell she's going to hole up in the laundromat or the nail place. First of all, lack of booze. Second of all, LACK OF BOOZE.
So hopefully, someone'll let her in before she freezes to death. Or she'll come to some sense and decide that laundromats really aren't that bad.
...oh. And she's banging on the door with the hilt of her sword. It's louder.
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Josef continues on his way down the stairs, flashlight pointed at the door that is being loudly banged on. He's there in quick strides, opening it for whoever is at the other end.
He's met with a violent and painful chill cutting into his skin.
He hauls Sunshine inside and attempts to close it once again. "The hell is going on out there?"
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She hasn't noticed yet that it is her pretty friend. Acquaintance. Person she wants to sleep with. Who opened the door for her. She's a bit too busy not freezing to death. And it's dark.
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"Fucking Rifts," he says, and whether it is the Rift's fault or not, Josef is used to blaming it by now. He locks all the bolts and ensures the door is safely closed. Then he turns to her and squints in the darkness. "You okay there?"
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Of course, this is a bar and bars have cigarette machines and liquor. Sunshine chooses well.
"But yeah, I'm fine. You're looking just as fine as last time yourself."
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Legitimately worry about and live for himself. The ages old feud with his uncle does not seem as important in comparison.
At least, not as important as it once used to.
"I doubt its priority is to be subtle, Uncle," Jose remarks, the flashlight lighting the counter where he'd left the journal. "Though I agree the best form of attack is the one they don't see coming."
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Josef thinks that he can escape it, that he is somehow above it, but it is in their natures. It is who they are. The audacity of his nephew...that he does not take the bait as readily, it is annoying. It doesn't help with that itch under his skin and the gnawing at his brain.
He gets to his feet and finishes what had been in his glass. It does little to satisfy him. Nikolas walks over to the light, unaware that his hand is still a fist at his side.
"I had no doubt you would agree. Though your skills at subtlety are questionable at best."
I.e. Nikolas feels he can see right through him, etc. etc.
"Your girlfriend is upstairs if that's the reason you're searching the counter."
Nikolas knows that it is because he had seen Josef's journal there earlier in the day.
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The real reason Nikolas has always hated him was he was second best in Josef's mother's eyes.
It doesn't take much for Josef, a teme, to understand what he'd loathe most.
The indifference, more than the disdain.
Something changed recently, however. Josef can't exactly pinpoint what it is, but it has to do with all the time he spent away. Nikolas was much more concealed about his intentions and whatever happened to him made it impossible for him to prolong it any further.
"The same could be said of you," Josef points out, and he motions to the hand that is fisted at his side. On edge. Itching. Something is gnawing at his uncle and Josef can tell. That in itself should be alarming ( ... )
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The apathy would override the rest. The enjoyment would only come when Josef took the bait, when he watched as one of his hits (physical or otherwise) landed on its mark. His hand would not be a fist unless he willed it to be so.
Josef has changed as well. He has always avoided engaging, but it is different this time. It has not been to further annoy Nikolas, to spurn him on. It has been because Josef wants nothing to do with it, and Nikolas has no idea what makes him think that he is above this now. They have done it for years. Josef is younger. Is he honestly too tired for it?
All that has changed is Chicago and that girl.
Nikolas' fist tightens when Josef points it out to him. He had not noticed, which is equally as infuriating as Josef pointing it out. His face remains calm though ( ... )
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However, she walked up the stairs and started to set up her surprise when the lights went out, and she wasn't able to see anything. She brought candles in her bags, but it's taken her all this time to even find the candles and work the stupid lighter in an attempt to light one of them.
The large window in this top room has iced over, and it keeps creaking in a frightening way. It's why she moved herself and the candle as far away from the window as she could possibly get, which is hard to do when she can barely see a few feet in front of her.
As soon as the candle is light, she intends to walk downstairs, but before she can, she hears Josef calling her name. "Josef! I'm up here at the top room! I'm fine ( ... )
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Except for now.
Except for now, when Josef can see the fist at Niko's side.
When he can see and know what he means, and know that he doesn't understand the person standing in front of him. This isn't the chess game of old. Josef cannot predict his next move, and something about that is more terrifying to him than it is enraging.
It wouldn't be terrifying if Elizabeth wasn't locked up with them, but she is.
They're stuck here, the three of them, with nowhere to go and Josef can't trust his uncle won't do something ( ... )
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She remains still with the candle in her hand until the door opens, and she can see that it is Josef, not Nikolas. "I'm here," Elizabeth says, raising her hand up to help him see her.
She would move to him if it wasn't for that sound in his voice of impending something. Nikolas isn't with him. It must be Nikolas that made him have that sound to his voice. She sets the candle down when he moves to her and wraps her arms around him too, tightening her hold on him. It is a quick hug, but the feeling in her chest eases with him in front of her.
Elizabeth looks at his face. There's this second where she doesn't know if it's something she can promise, but she sees the look on his face and she knows that nothing would hurt him more than his uncle hurting her. It doesn't mean that if... she sees Josef losing that she won't be able to keep ( ... )
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He waits outside of the door and listens.
Whatever you do, stay behind me, okay?
It is more infuriating to him. Josef is supposed to respond to every hit, to the fist, not run up to put himself in front of some girl that has changed the nature of their relationship. It isn't as fun when Josef isn't playing too though there is the added enjoyment of knowing that Josef has something that could be taken from him.
Something Nikolas can take as Josef took away his sister's affection from the moment that he was born.
It was disgusting how a small, pudgy, useless thing could become first in his sister's life. Nikolas did what he could to regain his position, but it was never enough. Now she was gone, and he didn't have the opportunity to regain what had been ( ... )
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There isn't an itch to have his own wings slide out, but he forces them out of his shoulder blades regardless.
They're stronger and faster with them than without them, and Josef won't find himself at the disadvantage.
And here's the thing. Here's the thing. He's already at a disadvantage. When Nikolas lost his sister--when Josef killed her--Nikolas lost whatever capacity was in him to love, if what he felt for her could be called love. Nikolas loves nothing and no one. There is nothing for him to lose while Josef has everything to lose and it's in this room, right behind him.
"Elizabeth," he says quietly. "It's okay ( ... )
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