Verity Alice Price

So the words 'Oh no, he's hot' didn't exactly run through Liam's mind as it dawned on him who the guy with the glasses must be? But it was a close thing.

"Thanks," he managed dryly in response to Antimony's assessment.

"You," he pointed accusingly at Sarah, "are the worst."

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"Well-deserved vengeance for the stuff you headblind people put me through on the regular," Sarah said, unrepentantly. "Blame your girlfriend for all the times she goes dreamy-eyed when we're hanging out."

Then, leaning over his arm into the doorway, she yelled, "Hey Verity! Put some clothes on, your family is here!"

Verity's shriek of outrage - coming from the bedroom where she was indeed putting clothes on - was matched by her siblings' disgusted groan.

"I love family visits," Sarah said happily.

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Liam might've complained about being lumped in with the 'headblind', given he was really somewhere in-between, but that wasn't the sort of thing he advertised.

"I'm going to go do the same," he said, waving them in. "You three... come on in and make yourselves at home, I guess," he added, with the air of someone resigned to the idea that they would whether he said to or not.

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precise_priestess

See, Sarah was helping. And if her helping happened to involve some subtle trolling by making comments he couldn't respond to, well, she was related to the family.

"Gee, thanks for inviting us into our own sister's house," Antimony said, sauntering into the living room and throwing herself down on the couch. I was definitely waiting on you for that."

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god_of_scales_and_silence

"Err, don't mind her," Alex said, giving Liam an uncomfortable smile. "I'm sure Verity's told you all about Timmy and her attitude."

"Don't call me Timmy!"

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"It's come up in conversation more than once," Liam admitted, biting back a retort about how yes, Verity was their sister, but he was the one with an actual key.

And then he was retreating to the bedroom to throw on some jeans and a t-shirt. And, yes, the pair of fingerless gloves he'd been sporting yesterday.

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Antimony would just point out that she was the one with lockpicks, so...

"Oh my god," Verity hissed, shimmying into a pair of jeans. "I am so sorry. They didn't tell me they were coming, I swear!"

In fact, Verity hadn't even sent them the invite! She was blaming this damn island.

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Please, like Liam didn't own a set himself? But there was a fundamental difference between keys and lockpicks, anyway.

"It's fine," Liam said. "A little unexpected, but from everything you've told me, that's how Prices like to do things, right?"

This was absolutely totally okay and he was not at all worried about making a bad first impression. Nope.

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"I'm suddenly realizing that everyone in my family is an asshole," Verity moaned.

She opened the door and peeked out.

"...Okay we can try to sneak out the back door.."

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"I can heeeear yoooou!" Sarah called from the living room.

"I hate you!" Verity called back.

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Also there wasn't a back door so much as a window, which... okay, as far as Verity was concerned, was basically a back door. But anyway.

"Guess we're gonna have to go out there and face the music," Liam said, sounding resigned.

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It was how she got in and out of her apartment most days!

"If we don't, they'll come to us," Verity agreed. Also sounding resigned. "Or send the mice. Dammit, I wanted you to like them. Or at least Alex."

Antimony was kind of...hard to like.

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"I already like Sarah," Liam pointed out, leaning over to kiss Verity quickly. "And this is at least partially her fault."

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"I am going to shave one of her eyebrows off during our next sleepover," Verity grumbled, giving Liam a very pouty kiss back.

"I can still hear you!"

Verity rolled her eyes, laced her fingers with Liam's and headed out to the living room.

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god_of_scales_and_silence

To find that her family had made themselves right at home, Alex scoring the last cup of coffee in the pot, and Antimony stretching out on her couch so no one else had room to sit. The mice, in raptures at having four members of the family in the same place, were putting on an impressive display of divine worship.

"Hail the Arboreal Priestess!" they cheered when Verity and Liam entered the room. "Hail the God of Distant Stars!"

And there went Alex, doing a spit-take. Even Antimony sat up. Sarah continued to watch the mice dance, fingers waving in time with the choreography.

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Well, it was nice to know that even with all that Verity shared with her family about him, she'd left that recent development out.

Probably because she was just as much an asshole as the rest of them and was hoping for the kind of reaction they'd just provided.

"So... breakfast?" he asked cheerfully. "I think we have enough for everyone." If nothing else, his influence on Verity's apartment was probably best measured by the contents of her fridge. Sure, he wasn't much of a cook either, but he could manage a few basics, and had roommates who were always more than happy to pack up leftovers.

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"I'd love some!" Verity said, all perky smiles. Underneath that was a layer of grim satisfaction that suggested, yes she had been saving that. And it had been worth it.

"Pass," Antimony said immediately. "I've seen your fridge. Anything in there is for the mice."

"Ha!" Verity replied. "You haven't seen this fridge!" Antimony still looked skeptical. "Liam brings stuff over."

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god_of_scales_and_silence

"...Are we really not gonna talk about the mice thing?" Alex asked. "I wanna talk about the mice thing?"

"What's there to talk about?" Verity asked, giving her big brother a sweet grin that usually meant trouble.

"The mice named him!" Alex sputtered.

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"It's okay," Sarah said to Liam in a stage whisper. "He's just mad he's not the only god in the house anymore."

To the mice, she was just an Empty One and that was a species designation. She was from the Baker line and the mice only worshipped the Prices.

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"I can see why that might make him a little upset," Liam replied back. "Sarah, do you eat eggs? There's plenty of ketchup." And ketchup and eggs wasn't even a totally disgusting combination, by human standards.

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Alex rolled his eyes at her.

"Yup!" Sarah said brightly. "Do you have tobasco sauce? Or steak sauce, that works, too."

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... Okay, steak sauce on eggs was maybe a little weird. Tobasco was... passable.

"I think so," Liam said with a nod.

"You sure you don't want any?" he checked with Antimony. "You've had a long trip, after all."

"At the very least," he added, turning towards the kitchen, "I'm making more coffee. You're still on, what, your second cup?" he asked Verity.

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precise_priestess

"You're doing the cooking, right?" Antimony checked. "Okay, yeah, but I get to check the expiration dates on every ingredient."

She gave him another once over.

"Who's better?" she asked. "Honey Badger or Balor?"

Context? She don't need no stinkin' context.

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