Dare You Enter My Magical Realm?

[Jilly]

Abel's mouth was agape as Misty declared her target and dare. And then Stepney took it. His boy was gonna do it.

Abel gave him a congratulatory shoulder touch before Stepney got up and left to go something to presumably cut with. Abel watched the door, waiting for his return.

He also took another swig from his cup... which one he remembered as his cup, anyway.

[Cactus]

Connor's eyes went wide at the instructions for Stepney, who seemed to mull the dare over for but a moment before accepting, jumping up, and running to grab scissors. Wow, these kids were playing for keeps, it seemed. He didn't know about the thought of cutting any of his hair off, but that seemed like a heck of a place to start.

Tilting the bottle back, he finished the beer, and set the empty bottle on a nearby table. Still kneeling on the ground and leaning over the couch, his tall frame gave him the advantage that he could basically sit down and still manage to catch the action. Glancing on the ground around him, he looked for the solution to the newest of problems: his lack of beverage. It had to be somewhere...

The large brown cooler bag that he'd brought was chock full of a myriad of different cans and bottles of beer, with a few small bonus drinks that Madison had stuffed in there. He'd brought way more than enough for himself, but he'd gathered that it made sense to carry it around with him; the refrigerator was likely stacked to the brim. Picking the cooler up by the strap, Connor hefted it onto the unoccupied seat on the couch in front of him, and unzipped it, removing a can of Coors Banquet and popping the tap. It was still glistening and cold.

"Y'all ain't messin' around, huh?" He took a sip, and raised an eyebrow at Misty. The beer went down smoothly, and tasted fresh. He glanced at the rest of the kids around the circle and gestured to the sizeable cooler bag.

"Hey, feel free to help yourselves if y'all can't be bothered to go find the kitchen. I've got lots."

Connor flashed a winning smile, and went back to enjoying his ice cold beverage while he waited for Stepney.

[Pippi]

After a much longer time than it realistically took to grab a pair of scissors from the kitchen, Stepney sidled his way past the throng of people in the Truth Or Dare Club’s general vicinity, making his way back to the group. Said scissors were held firmly in his right hand, red plastic handle just poking out of the top. A thin, clear bottle of transparent liquid was in his left, a similarly red cap on top of it.

“Sorry ‘bout the wait, folks,” Stepney said, grinning as he sat back down again. “Someone recognised me in the kitchen, and you know how it is, they offer you 5 bucks to down a shot of something. Could happen to anyone.”

He placed the bottle down in front of him with a solid clunk, gently nudging it so it was slightly closer to Abel than to him. Completely innocuously and inadvertently, of course. Why would you think otherwise?

“Chili vodka,” he explained. “Smells vile, tastes even worse, but, hey.”

He patted the pocket of his chinos containing his wallet. The secret to his success in the kitchen was that he’d eaten so many gross and expired things for money that this little elixir had barely troubled him. It was just for 5 dollars, sure, but on the lovely occasions when he was getting ‘just’ 5 dollars 5 times a day, that quickly added up.

“Anyways, back to the task at hand, no?”

Stepney thought for a moment, then smiled. There was a little lock of hair near his right ear that had a splash of green hair dye on it. Perfect. One quick snip and it was detached, in his hand, and presented out for Misty to take. He’d miss it, probably, but in the name of Dares, it was worth it. Even if he woke up tomorrow morning and didn’t recognise himself.

“For you, mademoiselle.”

He flashed a smile at Misty, placing the scissors in front of him alongside the bottle.

“All right, next victim!”

Stepney folded his arms, looking around at everyone before grinning again, and putting his hand on Abel’s shoulder.

“Abel, buddy! Truth or dare?”

[MurderWeasel]

Stepney saw straight through Misty's line about not having any reason for her request, which was good because she'd been intentionally transparent. And then, true to form, he ran off to do her bidding anyways. Good. Now they all understood the stakes and implications, at least vaguely.

It took the boy quite some time to make his way back. Misty had just started to wonder if he'd done something uncharacteristic and fled rather than cough up, but then there he was, back with a shot and scissors. A moment later, the deed was done, and Misty had a nice little lock of hair.

"Thanks," she said. "You're a doll."

Was that too on the nose? But most of the people here were drunk, so hey, she didn't have to sweat subtlety quite as much as usual.

She didn't really have anywhere to put the hair, which was the one little wrinkle in the plan. If unobserved, she might've just stuffed it down her shirt, but actually that sounded kind of itchy and besides, she wasn't alone and that would send absolutely the wrong message and make the whole thing creepy. She didn't want Stepney's hair because she was into him or anything. She was arming herself for eldritch retribution in case he did something that pissed her off later on. And anyways, drawing attention to one's undergarments in Truth of Dare was a really, really dumb move.

She should've added pockets to this dress. That was the real take-away. She had a clutch around here somewhere, but hadn't been too worried about its location because it was old and ratty and contained nothing worth stealing. If there was a chance between rounds, she'd find it and deposit her bounty then. In the meantime, she idly looped the strands around and over her finger, once, tying them so she had one little knot of hair instead of a whole bunch of loose hairs, and then set it on the arm of the chair. Then she leaned back again, ready to bear witness to Abel's doom.

Her gaze flicked back and forth between Abel, Stepney, and the mysterious shot glass apparently full of chili vodka. She hoped Abel was going to take a dare.

[Jilly]

Abel shook his head and waved his hand open-palmed to Connor as he offered his beers. Beer was gross. Total hick piss. If Abel wasn't completely drunk right now, he'd be okay with being the designated driver if that was literally the only drink that was served.

He probably shouldn't tell Connor that; a polite refusal would do.

Abel watched for Stepney to reappear like a dog waiting for his owner to come home at the end of a workday. Soon enough, Stepney came back with some scissors. And the boy did it, just in one go. Abel watched in horror and amusement as Stepney handed off the goods to Misty. He kept watching Misty as she played with the lock a bit, tied it up, and set it aside.

A hand fell on his shoulder. Abel snapped back, and there it was. He was chosen for the truth or dare tribunal.

"Uh, I uh," he said. His head bobbed back and forth a bit, more so just from being high on life versus trying to stay in time with the barely audible music blasting from downstairs.

And then he made his choice, the choice he had to pick. He stopped, looked back at his bro, and gave a hearty reply.

"Troof!"

[Fenris]

This was so much fun!! This whole sitting here and not really doing anything thing. Well it sounded bad when they thought about it like that but it WAS actually pretty fun! Even though Zen couldn't fathom what Misty could want with a piece of hair. Like what could you do with hair?? Other than put it in a locket or something but that was supposed to be when you loved someone and Zen was preeeeeetty sure Misty wasn't in love with Stepney or else she probably wouldn't be asking in the context of a game of truth or dare! So Zen was stumped, but whatever! It was a dare. Dares were silly a lot of the time.

Their leg bounced wildly as they waited not particularly for their turn. They turned down Connor's offer of beer with a cheery "no thanks, I don't drink!" which was true, mostly, they had a couple of times, just to see what would happen, but mostly it threw them off balance and where was the fun in that??

Their leg bounced just a bit faster when Stepney directed his question at Abel. But they were gonna be patient! They were bad at being patient. But they were doing their best!!

[Pippi]

Ah, dang it. Stepney couldn’t tell a lie – well, he could, and he did, frequently, but he wasn’t in this instance – he’d really been hoping that Abel would go ahead and pick dare. That was more Stepney’s wheelhouse, rather than truth, which inevitably led to personal revelations about people he wouldn’t recognise even if they were standing a foot away from him. Maybe Abel was a little more lucid and on the ball than Stepney had given him credit for.

Or, more likely, he was utterly plastered, and just picking the first option he could actually remember.

Stepney stroked his chin, humming softly to himself, the chili vodka sitting tauntingly in front of him, like it knew just how badly Stepney had wanted to use it. Ah, whatever. Plenty more chances to use it. Or maybe someone else would take the initiative and use it as their weapon! Best part was, sure, they could use it on him, but he’d already proven it barely affected him, natural immunity to garbage flavours that he had.

The question was now what exactly he should ask Abel? He had no real interests in intimate secrets, or in personal feelings towards others; although, should they be of the romantic sort, boy howdy was he gonna remember them just as ammunition for gentle ribbing. He could always get more information that he could use to bribe Abel in the future with, or blackmail him if you’d rather put it that way, but that didn’t seem too appealing right now.

There was, of course, the option of fucking with Abel, and that never lost its luster.

“So…”

Stepney turned to look at Abel, and his friendly smile dropped in an instant, replaced by a stern, cold look. His grip tightened on his friend’s shoulder, his voice dropping low and serious.

“Where’d you hide the drugs, Abel?”

[Jilly]

I'm sliding over cars while I shoot (while I shoot... while I shoot...)

I think that I'm Tom Cruise (Tom Cruise Tom Cruise Tom Cruise Tom Cruise...)

But Bitch I'm Bobby-

Oh wait. Fuck. Shit. Fuck. Stepney just asked him his question. Abel's eyes darted around the game circle as he scrambled to think of what to do.

Uh...

Uh...

He locked eyes with his best bro and replied with a squeaky "Yes?"

[Pippi]

Hmmm. Technically, Abel had given a perfectly valid response to Stepney’s question; there really wasn’t an incorrect reply to a question without an answer, after all. By the rules of the game, he should have let the guy go, and given him his turn. But, if there was one philosophy Stepney lived by – and boy howdy did he live by this one to the letter – it was ‘Always get your money’s worth’. He was having fun with this. Surely there was no harm in pushing it a liiiiittle further.

And if he couldn’t get money out of an encounter, he sure as hell was gonna get schadenfreude out of it. Chalk that one up as another philosophy.

“That’s not an answer, Abel.”

Time to play the worse cop to his previous bad cop. He gently tightened his grip on Abel’s shoulder, raising an eyebrow, staring him down.

“Where. Are. The drugs?”

[blastinus]

(Jeff Greene continued from Man's Only Friend)

This was so dumb...

Leaning against a wall in a corner of the room, Jeff Greene took a sip from his water bottle and heaved a weary sigh. Swiftball had been exactly the kind of event he'd been expecting: a bunch of drunk kids making idiots of themselves. He'd only come himself because the rest of the team said they would, and even then, he'd considered backing out at the door if it wasn't for the fact that they would have never let him hear the end of it.

So here he was, spectating on a game of Truth or Dare. Truth or friggin' Dare. He couldn't say that he ever played it himself, but he knew the rules. You'd have to live under a rock not to. The penalty seemed pretty tame to him though. They were already drinking. Why would it be a bother to anyone if they had to drink more? Slap on the hand. That would be better. Then there'd be an actual choice. You say or do something uncomfortable or you take your lumps.

But hey, this kind of wimpy penalty was Connor in a nutshell. Always the shining star of the team, always gotta be the big hero. Jeff shook his head in disgust. The worst part about people like him is that the world loved this kind of fake-ass nobility. Ate it up like popcorn. If he ever put on this kind of airs, he probably would be sick with himself, but he knew, he friggin' KNEW, that Connor was guaranteed to get everything in life, that everyone would hail him as the great triumphant hero of George Hunter High School. But as for Jeff? Who even knew. He'd ached and sweated and strained himself every which way, and all he got was people telling him he'd never be good enough. Not now, not ever.

Someone was barking orders, bringing Jeff out of his self-reflection. This poor kid (Abel, apparently) was on the hotseat. Something about drugs or other. Was this a real question or just a joke? Jeff took another sip of water, watching intently as...Stepney? Yeah, Stepney. Stepney was doing his best bad cop impression. Jeff wasn't impressed. And what's more, it was making the game drag. Someone had to step in and get this train back on the rails, and it looked like it was going to be him.

"He answered your stupid question," he said matter-of-factly, kicking himself off from the wall and striding towards the circle. "Either make him take a drink or move on. I'm getting bored here."

[Jilly]

Wait, drugs? What drugs? What in the god damn hell was Stepney going on about? He'd been clean since baseball season started up, even refusing a hit off of Andy whenever he offered the last couple of times. But whatever drugs Stepney was on, now Abel wanted some.

"I don't," he laughed and shook his head with the control of a wonky centrifuge. "What?"

His dopey grin suddenly faded. No, that was no way. Stepney couldn't know; how could he? Abel scratched and rubbed his head around his slowly fading hairline as he continued stammering, trying to think of a way out of Stepney's question. Stepney's brotherly grip suddenly felt so slimy.

A voice rang out from the corner and approached the game circle. It was one of the football players, Jeff. One of the last people he would ever expect to see at a party let alone in a game of Truth or Dare, but Abel wasn't about to complain. An escape route was an escape route, regardless if it came from someone that scared Abel a little bit. His jolly grin did come back a little bit as he waited to see how Stepney would respond.

[Cactus]

Taking another sip from his beer while he amusedly watched the exchange in front of him, a surly voice piped up from the corner. Eyes following it to its source, Connor couldn't help but roll his eyes as his vision confirmed the owner. This was classic Jeff. There was always a sizeable football team presence at most parties from GHHS, but the all-business linebacker usually wasn't one to stay very long. Clearly, he wasn't enjoying himself as much as some of his other classmates. He'd probably be working out or doing chores or something. Grinning, Connor adjusted his lean on the back of the couch.

"Aww, c'mon Jeff. Don't be such a stick in the mud!" Reaching into his cooler bag, he took out a can of beer; one of the better ones actually, and judged the room for a moment. His voice took on more of the cadence he'd use during a huddle - Jeff may have been a defensive player, but as team captain, Connor took it upon himself to be a leader of the entire team, not just the offensive or defensive squads alone.

"Y'all need to lighten up! It's a party, after all! Let's go!" Framing the party as a team activity using the cadence of his voice, Connor lobbed the cold, glistening beer across the room in Jeff's direction with a wink.

[blastinus]

Of course it was a party. Jeff knew it was a party. It’s not like he was telling them to stop playing or anything. All he wanted was for them to get on with it. Typical Connor.

The beer was slick when he caught it, nicely cooled and covered in condensation. Jeff didn’t drink. Never had and never would. But he wasn’t going to be a poor sport after he’d just been accused of the same. Instead, he just set it down on the carpeted floor and sat next to it, cross-legged, sidling in to take a spot within this circle of losers.

“Sure, whatever. Count me in, I guess,” he huffed. If he was going to be labeled as the fun police, he was determined to prove them wrong. Jeff could be just as fun as anyone. He’d show ‘em.

[MurderWeasel]

"Excellent," Misty said, beaming at Jeff. "Welcome, welcome."

In her head, the greeting went more like: ooh, fresh meat. Misty didn't know Jeff particularly well, but while Connor had an aura of protection around him, his teammate decidedly did not. The guy had already shown himself to be a little tightly-wound, and that made messing with him all the more appealing. Then again, maybe it would make sense to let him and Connor duke it out first, see what sort of tone they set. Decisions, decisions.

Honestly, it was about as interesting to speculate on as whatever was going on between Stepney and Abel. Were there actual drugs? Misty couldn't tell but was leaning towards no. The exchange was theatrical, overblown, and Abel was certainly squirming, but this didn't seem likely to follow him outside of perhaps as an amusing little anecdote about how smashed he'd been. Made sense, given he was at the mercy of a friend. Of course, that could turn on a dime if he actually coughed up some narcotics, but Misty wasn't even that sure if it ultimately would matter. Half of this party was blazed out of their minds, so unless they were talking cocaine or meth or that weird Russian chemical that rotted your limbs off it wasn't going to be anything anyone hadn't seen in the last hour or so.

She settled back into her chair and contented herself observing the others, presiding over her little realm. The dynamics were interesting, the tension was high, and soon it would be Abel's turn to try to give as good as he was now getting. With how the rotation was set up, he was supposed to pick Connor, Zen, or the newcomer, though whether he was sober enough to remember and even put anything good out was questionable.

She was even getting a little excited about facing her own trial. Just a bit. Depended on who ended up asking her, of course.

[Pippi]

Well, looked like somebody was crying at a party that wasn’t their own. Poor showing, if you asked Stepney.

He didn’t bother to look round at the stick-in-the-mud – Jeff, if Connor was to be believed, and Stepney had no reason not to believe him yet – as they got their moan on, mostly because, well, what would be the point? All Stepney would see would be a face, the same face he saw on everybody. Instead, he just rolled his eyes as he kept Abel’s gaze for a moment longer.

Being duller than a broken sandwich was one thing. Ruining a man’s patter was another. Doing both? At once? Hoo boy, that was not how you made a good first impression at a party!

Ah well. Whatever. The guy had actually decided to swallow his pride and sit with the rest of the cool kids, so maybe he wasn’t so bad. Stepney offered him a brief nod as he sat down, before deciding to, finally, put Abel out of his misery.

“Well, speaking of lighting up…”

Stepney laughed, giving Abel a friendly slap on the back, easygoing grin back on his face, signalling that normal service had resumed.

“I’m just messin’ with you, Abes, we’re cool. You passed with flying colours.”

Stepney gave his friend another smile, then turned that grin onto Jeff instead.

“Hey.”

Hello, brand new target.

“You up to speed with the rules? And… you’re sure you’re ready, even if you are?”