Verity Alice Price

MHA #6 Saturday Morning

2020-04-11T04:39:01Z

Two years ago, Verity had been caught flat-footed by the sudden appearance of two tiny, adorable cherubs calling her 'Mom.' Last year, Verity had been prepared for that, but had been taken aback by the sudden appearance of a third child, a young boy who called her 'Ate,' which meant big sister, but she was basically a parent to him, too, in this weird and distant future.

This year, however...this year, Verity was prepared. There were already pancakes being prepared, with fruit to make silly faces on them. Multiple kid-friendly movies were queued up on various devices for when the kids got bored and needed entertainment. Brightly-colored plastic cups and bowls were stacked on the counter so that even the most rambunctious kid could get their own food, with chicken nuggets shaped like dinosaurs and sugary cereals ready for whenever a capricious appetite demanded.

Hell, they even had extras, in case a new kid or two showed up.

Take that, past!Verity. Nothing could throw this year's Verity.

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MHA #6 Saturday Afternoon

2020-03-21T23:08:13Z

So, with the past week, Liam had had plenty of time to experience being around blanket forts, but Verity was pretty sure he'd still never had the fun of building one. So she'd sent him out to the store for some snacks, citing a long-overdue call with Sarah for why she couldn't accompany him and after said call (in which she harangued her cousin to at least talk to Artie, for god's sake, and also to come back to Baltimore), she stripped all the linens off their bed and grabbed everything from the closet and left it all in a giant pile on the floor for Liam to spot when he came home.

Shut up, this was totally for Liam's benefit and not at all because the past week had Verity feeling nostalgic or anything.

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MHA #6 Saturday Afternoon

2020-01-05T08:19:59Z

While Liam might have been ready and willing to hop up out of bed on only a few hours sleep to go to the picnic, Verity was absolutely not. Instead, she'd shooed him out, promising to come out and find him after she got a few more hours of precious, precious sleep in. And maybe a cup of coffee. And possibly a run around the island, just to stretch her legs after days of driving.

Basically, she'd catch up with him later.

The knock at her door came in the early afternoon, while she was still in the shower. She'd yelled for whoever it was to come back later, but the knocking had persisted. And persisted. And since it sounded like whoever was there wasn't going away - she had her money on Beau, actually - Verity hopped out and threw on a tank and sweats to answer the door.

To find a small box in brightly-colored wrapping paper. Apparently Beau had given up, but left this behind.

Sweet, if weird. "This had better be a bottle, Beau," Verity said, pulling off the top. "And I know Karolina wrapped this for--FUCK!"

There was a creepy doll in the box. Some horrid, mangled thing and it's eyes were rolling up to her. "MAMA," it cried and raised its plastic hands. "MAMA!"

Verity reached for the gun that was still on the foot of their bed - but it was too late.

A second later, both she and the doll were gone.

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New Orleans, Thursday Night Into Friday, Stupid O'Clock In The Morning

2020-01-03T09:44:36Z

An hour later, Verity, Liam, Rose and Jermaine staggered out of the bar and onto the suddenly silent sidewalk. Verity could dimly hear the parties still raging in the bars to either side of them, and there were people on the other side of the street, happy, laughing, living people with drinks in their hands and smiles on their happily drunken faces. There was no one else on their stretch of sidewalk. ( A black coach, drawn by two equally black horses, was parked illegally in front of a fire hydrant. )

[And we're done! Adapted once more from Seanan McGuire's "The Ghosts of Bourbon Street" with the help and patience of firstofitskind, who I could NOT have done all of this without. NFI, NFB, and Verity and Liam are on their way back home, woo!]

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New Orleans, Thursday Night, close to midnight

2020-01-03T07:17:29Z

It had taken another couple of days of driving to get from Michigan to New Orleans, but Verity figured the detour was worth it. Look, they were still on their honeymoon and if they wanted to see New Orleans, they would. Liam had taken the suggestion of the detour with his usual easy grace, but their current activity seemed to have eluded him somewhat.

Possibly because Verity had refused to explain, other than by saying, 'it's a surprise.'

She kept walking along the edges of the circle she had drawn in the loose red earth, dripping candle wax into the furrows. The original ritual wanted tallow mixed with human blood, not organic soy wax and saline solution, but it was important to move with the times. Besides, finding a place high and dry enough to cast the spell had been difficult in the middle of winter, and had used up most of her ability to be picky about the little things.

New Orleans was not a city that prided itself on its high local water table, okay? Even now, over a decade later, the city still bore scars from Katrina. ( But even for Verity, this was weird )

***

Thanks to the tourist trade and the ever-looming specter of Mardi Gras - which never fully went away, not even for Christmas - New Orleans was a city rich in bars, taverns, and other forms of drinking establishment. Not even the still-visible scars left by Katrina could keep their doors closed for long. They parked the rented SUV in the secure garage of a creepy little motel Verity's family had an understanding with, owned by a friendly nest of harpies who didn't really care what folks wanted to store on their property as long as they also got to rent a room and were left a good Yelp review.

Getting a room for the night seemed like the best possible idea no matter how they sliced things. ( Drinking with Aunt Rose was an experience best savored... )

[NFI, NFB. This one's a long one. Adapted from Seanan McGuire's "The Ghosts of Bourbon Street." Preplayed and coded up by firstofitskind, bless her patience.]

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Buckley Township, Michigan, Wednesday Evening

2020-01-02T04:33:20Z

They had left the main highway behind them easily an hour ago, and were now wending their way through dense forest, traveling along roads that could have used some serious repair, and maybe a few closures. The potholes were big enough to qualify as small ponds, at least when they were full of water, and this far into Michigan's Upper Peninsula, they were always filled with water. Michigan might not be on Portland's level when it came to being damp, but it was making a good effort, and Verity wasn't ready to count it out yet.

Liam was asleep in the passenger seat when they crossed the line into Buckley Township - they'd had a late night last night celebrating the new year and he'd taken the earlier shift driving while she'd napped. Verity pulled the SUV off to the side of the road and stared into the imposing tree line that surrounded them on what felt like all sides. The sky was a thin sliver of blue overhead, already trending toward sunset. Chicago and the Carmichael Hotel were eight hours of hard driving behind them. If they didn't want to spend the night in the SUV, she would need to push on, and soon.

She didn't move.

It was strange, being back in Buckley: it was like she was a compass, forever seeking magnetic north, and had just locked on to her target, no matter how much she wanted to go in a different direction. This was where her family's tenure in America had started. This was where, for better or for worse, the majority of their bodies were buried. Her grandparents had met here. Her great-grandparents had died here. It was impossible to understand the history of the Healy-Price family as it currently stood without also understanding Buckley - what had gone right there, what had gone wrong there, and what had gone unbearably weird there.

( Unbearably weird was part of the Price genetic makeup by now. )

[Adapted from "Swamp Bromeliad," by Seanan McGuire and preplayed (and coded, yay!) by the wonderful firstofitskind. NFI, NFB as per usual. Part 1]

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The Carmichael Hotel, Chicago, Saturday Evening

2019-12-28T22:58:14Z

Things that did not rank on Verity's list of "top one hundred things to do before you die": steering a large SUV through Chicago rush hour traffic. Horns honked all around them, and their fellow drivers seemed concerned about her education, as they were introducing her to all manner of exciting hand gestures.

Some of them were even new to her. She pointed to one of them. "Look, Liam! We're learning new things."

Look, they'd just gotten married a yesterday. Not even shitty Chicago drivers in the dead of winter could ruin her good mood.

( There was no good time to drive through Chicago, but winter was the WORST. )

[Yay they're married! Text adapted from Seanan McGuire's Snake In The Glass and preplayed with the ever-wonderful firstofitskind. NFI, NFB]

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The Golden Oasis, Las Vegas, Friday Morning

2019-12-27T17:10:32Z

They made it back to the hotel many hours and several bottles of champagne later, laughing as they tried to keep themselves from toppling over. Verity's knees gave out halfway up the stairs. Liam scooped her up, slung her over his shoulder, and carried her the rest of the way - and the giant horseman's glaive Al had given her as a wedding present and that she had carried all through the night. The best part? No one in Vegas had cared. Verity unlocked the door while dangling upside down and giggling incessantly. The mice cheered when they entered the room.

"HAIL! HAIL THE RETURN OF THE ARBOREAL PRIESTESS!"

"Shhh," Verity said. Her shushing was somewhat undermined by her giggles, and by the hiccups she was starting to develop. "Gotta be quiet, mice. No pets allowed."

"Verity is very, very drunk," said Liam proudly. "I am slightly less drunk." That he was drunk at all was pretty surprising, considering his usual reluctance. But it was the night before their wedding...

"Because you're bigger than me, you jerk," Verity said, doing her best to punch him in the knee. It would have been easier if his knees hadn't insisted on moving when she tried to hit them. It wasn't fair. She crossed her arms and sulked. "Stupid mass."

"I also drank more water," said Liam. He waved a hand at the mice. "Stay out here, you adorably vicious examples of the genus Rodentia. I am going to defile your priestess like...like..."

"The Normans defiled Lindesfarne?" Verity suggested.

"Yes," said Liam. "That." He raised his chin and carted Verity into the bedroom as half the mice cheered for the God of Distant Stars and the other half took up the cry, "HAIL TO THE DEFILING!" That was going to become a holiday and, dammit, Verity was too drunk to care. She barely remembered to shove the door shut at the last second. Barely. She might have been drunk, but there was no such thing as 'drunk enough to forget that the mice were watching. That was a level of inebriation that implied liver failure and death. ( Which might still be better than having sex while the mice were in the room. )

[Y'all know how this goes by now. Post I of II. NFI, NFB. Taken from "Waking Up in Vegas" by Seanan McGuire and preplayed with the glorious firstofitskind, who manages to patiently keep me on schedule with preplays!]

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Las Vegas, Thursday Evening

2019-12-27T00:56:58Z

Verity and Liam arrived in Vegas accompanied by the cheers of the Aeslin mice and the dulcet tones of Johnny Cash. Liam was glaring at the radio again, but, in fairness, he'd been doing that a lot recently. Liam's introduction to pop music was going...slowly.

To say the least.

They'd been on the road for pretty much the whole day, leaving the Price homestead before the sun rose. Verity still didn't know what strings her dad had pulled to have a rental car available to them the day after Christmas at oh-god-thirty in the morning; her best guess was that it was his way of apologizing for all the fighting and nagging they'd gone through during the rest of the holiday.

Liam had driven for the first few hours, and then Verity had taken over once she'd woken up again at a more civilized hour and had several cups of coffee to boot. There had been a few rest stops at weird tourist traps and now Liam could definitely say he'd seen both the biggest ball of yarn and a museum devoted to Big Foot as run by a family of yeti who were far too entertained by the whole notion.

But now it was past dinnertime and Las Vegas was in view...and yep. Liam was still glaring at the radio.

( Let's Go To Vegas )

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The Price Family Compound, Somewhere Near Portland, OR, Christmas

2019-12-25T08:27:22Z

It was funny. Verity had somehow thought that coming home with news of her engagement to Liam was going to make for a festive occasion. You know, the family coming together in delight to coo and plan, her mother might take some time off from making house calls to ailing cryptids, and maybe even Antimony taking a few minutes to stop being a brat and be happy for her.

( Instead, there was squabbling... )
[Preplayed with the wonderful firstofitskind, who has been a coding CHAMP! NFI, NFB Happy Holidays!]

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The Beach, Saturday Afternoon

2019-09-28T15:57:35Z

Verity was having an absolutely delightful time watching Dominic react to the island. He'd heard of Aeslin mice, of course, though he had not been prepared for the reality of them (no one was prepared for the reality of them). The radio squirrels, the teal dear, and the alot of towels they'd run into on their ramble through the preserve had absolutely floored him.

Now the three of them were spread out on a blanket for a picnic on the beach, so Dominic could continue to people watch. There was Liam's weird space chess set up so they could play and Verity could snark, and the weather was pretty enough to make it just a nice, surprisingly relaxing day.

[For the guys, but open! With the understanding that I am in the woods, so epic SP!]

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MHA #6 Saturday Night

2019-09-22T01:49:56Z

The party at the Stark's estate - a sentence that only made sense this weekend - had been lovely, save for one thing: her supposed fiancé, who had gone out of her way to frustrate and annoy her all night. Not that she was surprised by this. Liam had been frustrating in every sense of the word since this whole fake-relationship-secret-bodyguard assignment had began!

Frustrating in every sense, yes. Even ~~especially~~ that one.

Not that Verity was thinking about that right now. Not with the high dudgeon she was in as she slammed into their apartment-slash-safehouse, her professional Spy/Bodyguard patience taxed to the limit. "I can't believe you were so irresponsible at the party!" she fumed, kicking off her high heels - which could double as knives somehow, don't ask - as soon as the door was closed behind them. "I mean, no. I can absolutely believe it! That's just classic you! But still! Why don't you just put up a beacon to all the assassins out there searching for you? 'Here I am, come stab me'!"

[For the fake fiancé, and preemptively calling it NSFW as we get a little Slap Slap Kiss action.]

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The Beach, Fandom, Wednesday Evening

2019-09-04T07:44:20Z

Sure, Labor Day had been earlier in the week, but Verity had suggested a trip out to the beach for a last-gasp-of-summer beach picnic date. The weather in Maryland was still plenty hot in the afternoons that even the cooler evenings were still plenty okay for hanging out at the beach after dark.

And, hey, if it happened to be a really romantic evening, with the sun setting and painting the sky in pinks and purples, who was she to complain?

Along with the basket of goodies and food, Verity had brought along a few things. The first were two mice, especially chosen by the High Priest for their ability to stay very still and silent. The second was...

Well, it was the whole reason behind the picnic in the first place.

( Liam, meanwhile, wasn't bringing along much of anything. )

[TBC in comments!]

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Verity and Liam's Place, MHA #6, Monday Morning

2019-08-12T19:51:15Z

Verity watched the screens depicting Skywalker's last walk with a rictus that only barely passed itself off as a grin. She darted her eyes over to Liam, who was watching this with way too much satisfaction. She had been watching the whole thing, nodding right along with it, and then those gates had slammed shut and something within her had snapped.

At first, she'd been afraid that something really had snapped. That was a real danger when you were a porcelain music box ballerina. But no, it had just been her mind coming back to herself - and boy, she'd nearly snapped again when she realized she was made of porcelain - and realizing that she was watching a man walk to his own gruesome death.

"No!" she cried as the machine started up.

[Open for him who lives here, but also to anyone wanting to visit/intimidate. Liam modded with permission]

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From the Causeway to Washington DC, Thursday Afternoon

2019-05-30T16:55:07Z

This was not the first time on Fandom that Verity had been glad her apartment could double as an armory, but it might have been the most acute. This week had been ridiculous, from fighting off a radroach invasion in their kitchen to the heart attack that had been discovering that the colony of Aeslin mice had been replaced by a colony of Aeslin mole-rats.

Nightmare fuel was walking into a room of giant mole-rats and hearing them talk to you, in case anybody needed a shot of that real quick. (Nobody needed a shot of that. Nobody.)

They also ate a lot more than Aeslin mice normally did and even though they supplemented their diet by eating pretty much any other creature they could find, the food levels in the Kincaid-Price household had gone from 'dangerously low' to 'practically non-existant' over night.

Which was why Liam and Verity had decided to strap on pretty much every single weapon they owned and head into the Wasteland to scavenge the remains of D.C. Supposedly, that was where the best remaining supplies were located.

Supposedly, that was where the most dangerous predators in the Wasteland were located, too. And most of them walked on two legs.

That was a problem they'd deal with when they got to it.

"All right," Verity said, securing another rusty container of bobby pins and her spare screwdriver. "We ready to head out?"

[Open to anyone who wants to join Liam and Verity on a scavenging expedition. Be prepared to self-NPC!]

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Liam's Shuttle, Spaceship Parking, Wednesday Morning

2019-05-01T22:08:08Z

( The return to consciousness, if indeed it could be called that, was a slow one. )

[ooc: preplayed with the always-delightful firstofitskind.]

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MHA #6, to the Isle of Ikea (Eventually), Tuesday Afternoon

2019-04-09T06:59:04Z

So, it was that week. Yup. The night before had been something of a nightmare, even sexting Liam all night (and a mid-shift quickie on a nearby rooftop, sorry squirrels and birds) hadn't really helped. The activities that had followed when she got home had finally quieted the need some, at least enough to get to sleep, but none of that mattered by the time they woke up.

Liam had decided to be responsible and go get plenty of groceries (and maybe stock up on some other necessities, too, ahem) to make sure that they could survive the week with minimal trips away from the house and also keep the mice bribed to stay in their room. To show her appreciation for that, Verity had decided to wear a shirt of his to greet him when he came home.

A certain mesh shirt.

And that was it. Though, considering how big Liam was and how short she was, it actually hung down lower than some of her tango costumes.

[For the guy! Going where you absolutely think it's going. Sorta? Anyway preemptive NSFW. ]

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Reminder for Intro to Dance

2019-04-03T07:54:21Z

Your class can be found here mistakenly posted REALLY early.

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St. Giles Hospital, Baltimore, Saturday Late Night

2019-03-03T08:57:15Z

Verity woke up to the distant sounds of cheering. She smiled slightly, eyes closing again...and then remembered abruptly where she was. Her room was quiet, even the beeping machines were dark and pushed to the corners and she was no longer attached by tubes and wires to them. She waited a few minutes to be sure that no one was going to come barging in before she stretched slowly and folded back the covers, finally moving into a full sitting position. She was wearing one of those pale green hospital gowns. It was almost a relief to realize that those were just as much standard issue in cryptid hospitals as they were in human ones. Verity took a breath, steeling herself, and pulled the gown up to get a look at her stomach where Peter had shot her.

The gunshot wound was gone, and while the skin there was slightly paler than the skin around it, there was no scar. She touched it lightly with the tips of her fingers, feeling the first tears wet her cheeks. She was going to be okay. She was going to be better than okay, in fact. ( And that meant that whatever came next, it was going to be something that she needed to deal with. )
[AND WE'RE DONE! The last bit of text, adapted and mutilated from Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire. Thanks so much to firstofitskind for a) all the preplaying, b) all the coding, and c) her endless patience with getting this done. <3 <3 <3 Could have technically? maybe? done this without you, bb, but nowhere near as well or stylishly.]

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St. Giles Hospital, Baltimore, Saturday Late Afternoon

2019-03-02T21:32:33Z

'Nothing' looked a lot like the glaring white of an active cuckoo's eyes. Verity opened her eyes. The unrelenting whiteness didn't go away, although it did change forms, becoming the overhead lights which were shining directly down into her face. She groaned and tried to block the light with her arm, only to discover that the various tubes connected to her body made that impossible.

( They didn't usually connect tubes to dead people. )

[Adapted from Midnight, Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire! Preplayed with and coded by entire genius firstofitskind. NFI, NFB]

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????????????

2019-03-02T21:17:27Z

Verity was falling falling falling through the blinding white of Sarah's eyes. There was nothing but the white all around her; for a moment there had been a splash of purple and some warmth but even that was eclipsed by the white.

( She fell and fell and fell some more )

[And so begins the last day! Content warning for death of PCs and NPCs.`Adapted from Seanan McGuire's Midnight, Blue-Light Special. NFB, NFI]

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Definitely a Warehouse, Proooobably in Baltimore?, Still Unsure of the Date

2019-02-27T05:42:27Z

Pain was a powerful motivator. So was panic, and when the panic was extreme enough, even pain can find itself set by the wayside. Verity forgot about the ache in her feet, the distance between her and the ground, and everything else in her hurry to reach the only chance she had of getting to the second floor. Below her, Robert was barking orders to Margaret, who was no doubt figuring out her own route to the rafters. But since neither of them could fly, she still had a few minutes, and she was going to use them for all that she was worth.

The beam didn't run directly under the hatch - that would have made it difficult to use - but it came close enough. She grabbed one of the vertical supports, leaning out as far as she could without losing her footing, and thrust her other hand into the cobwebs until it banged against the ceiling. The wood shifted slightly. She hit it again, harder, and felt it lift up.

( That was all she needed. )

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Still...Somewhere?, Dear God Please Still Be in Baltimore, Definitely a Time

2019-02-27T02:19:01Z

The sound of footsteps woke her from her doze. She cracked her eyes open just far enough to test the quality of the light. It hadn't changed. There were no windows in her little room, so the passage of time wouldn't affect things, but they also hadn't turned off the lights, or tried setting up an interrogation rig. That was good. ( She stayed comfortably limp, waiting to see who was approaching and what they wanted. )

( cut for explicit interrogation )
( And now, escape )
[CONTENT WARNING FOR TORTURE. Adapted from Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire . NFB, NFI. Previous entry.]

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Somewhere?, Hopefully Still in Baltimore, Sometime? Maybe Tuesday?

2019-02-26T19:44:14Z

Verity knew three things even before she opened her eyes: that she was somewhere enclosed, probably no larger than a bathroom stall, that someone had changed her clothes - nothing was riding the way it should have, which probably meant her weapons were also gone - and that she was in serious trouble. Then she raised her aching head, opened her eyes, and added a fourth thing to the list: wherever she was, it was pitch-black. ( No natural or artificial light, and she wasn't a bogeyman, she couldn't see in the dark. )
[Adapted from Seanan McGuire's Midnight Blue-Light Special and coded by the delightful firstofitskind. I do not deserve you, bb. NFI, NFB.]

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The Nest to the Rooftops of Baltimore, Monday

2019-02-25T19:31:25Z

The stress and tension of the last few days was really starting to get to Verity. She found herself grumpy and irritable, snapping at people as she stalked through the Nest. Eventually, she realized what she needed: a quick run, up through the rooftops of Baltimore, just long enough to clear her head. Give her a chance to work through all the thoughts sloshing through her brain hard enough to give her a low-grade headache, ( like a small buzzing at the base of her skull. )

[Adapted from Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire. NFB, NFI]

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