Verity Alice Price

The dragon from the night before was no longer in the ticket booth. She had been replaced by a more familiar, less friendly face: Istas, who was sitting calmly behind the glass, stitching another layer of lace onto the edge of her parasol as she waited for a paying customer to demand her attention. Verity rapped on the edge of the booth. She lifted her head and frowned, eyes narrowing.

( Why are you on the ground? )

[Continuing on the adaptation of Midnight, Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire. Preplayed and coded with firstofitskind, who is a dreamboat. NFI, NFB.]

"Ryan, I require something so horrifically alcoholic that it makes livers tremble with fear and run for their lives when its name is uttered," Verity said solemnly, sidling up to the bar at the Freakshow. "To celebrate leaving for Iceland tomorrow with Liam." Their departure had been delayed first by the manananggal and then by her recovering from being poisoned by said manananggal, but she was feeling better than ever tonight and they'd already scheduled the portal to head out first thing in the morning.

Ryan raised an eyebrow. "Oooh, a vacation! So, I could make you that, oooor I could get you a martini glass filled with club soda and garnished with something that makes it look like you’re actually drinking liquor for a change. So Liam doesn't have to maneuver a hungover Verity Price through customs."

Verity grinned. "That sounds good. Let's do that."

"Why am I not surprised?" asked Ryan - but he was laughing as he said it, and he kept laughing as he moved to get Verity her drink. "You look a little tired. Have the mice been letting you sleep?"

"I think letting me sleep is against their religion."

"You are their religion."

"And in their cosmology, the gods have no need for silly little things like 'sufficient rest.'" Verity picked up the club soda Ryan set in front of her; tonight's garnish involved a lemon wedge, a chunk of mango, and yes, a little paper umbrella. "Seriously, though, manananggal poisoning is no joke."

Ryan started to answer her, but stopped himself before the first word could form. Straightening to his full height, he fixed his eyes on a point just behind Verity in the crowd, all but glowering. ( 'You have company.' )

[Taken and only slightly mangled from Chapters 2-4 of Midnight Blue-Light Special by Seanan McGuire and coded by the lovely firstofitskind. Follows this. Next post NFB, NFI.]

Tooth fairy dust was meant to be administered to sleeping children to make sure they stay asleep while the Tooth Fairy fed. (The specific dietary needs of Tooth Fairies were irrelevant and a little bit disgusting and really not what Verity needed to be thinking about right now.) The standard dose, according to Grandpa Thomas’ Field Guide to Pixies, Sprites, and Other Household Pests, was a small pinch. A small pinch, as measured against the hand of something a little bit bigger than a Barbie doll. Dave had blown two full handfuls on them. At that kind of dosage, it was no wonder that when Verity finally stumbled back toward consciousness, ( she felt like she'd been shot full of curare, chloroform, and cockatrice venom. )

[Adapted from Chapters 24 of Seanan McGuire's Discount Armageddon, preplayed with and coded by the darling firstofitskind, who also sends me candy so, like, BEAT THAT. First post | Previous post | Next Post. NFI, NFB, OOC is love]

Fireworks for the Fourth lit up the night sky, but neither Verity nor Liam were in a mood to celebrate. "Well, this is going to be a whole lot of not fun," Verity sighed, standing outside of Dave's Fish and Strips, an unimposing building that was surprisingly hard to find unless you knew exactly where to look for it. It was a 'gentleman's club' that included live dancers who got down to absolutely nothing on the front stage. That didn't make it special; any city of size included at least a few of the same kinds of places. But Dave's was the only one that Verity knew of (in Baltimore anyway), that catered specifically to the cryptid set. Both the staff and the patrons were majority cryptid, if not exclusively so.

But hey, everybody had to make a living. In another life, Verity could easily see herself waitressing here. Just waitressing--( she hadn't been kidding about her grandma's reaction. )

[Adapted from Chapter 7 of Discount Armageddon by Seanan McGuire and preplayed with (and coded by) the resplendent firstofitskind. Next post is here! Part one, two, three. NFI, NFB, OOC is love]