2020-04-18 - A ghost in the garden.

Patrick is doing his Patrick thing. His tux is still crisp, his glass is about two-thirds of the way full, and he's shaken so many hands tonight that he finally deems it fair to post up near a literal post, falling in step with Anne along the way. It's a short walk before he leans against one of those lamps, over by some nice nosegays, and makes serious progress on his drink, enjoying a moment of watching the party from the peripheral. "At least this way," with a tip of his glass to the outdoor fete, "there's no way the sprinklers can come on and ruin the floor again." This pleases him, so he drinks to it, clicking his glass to Anne's.

Anne's used to this sort of thing by now. Put on a fancy dress (a satiny turquoise and citrine yellow-green cocktail dress - with pockets!), put her hair up, and go shake hands and kiss babies with Patrick. Well, not kiss babies, people shouldn't be bringing babies to midnight garden parties. But her hand aches from all the shaking and she's grateful for the reprieve now, leaning her hip into Patrick as he holds himself up against the wall. "Mmhmm, and I suppose if they ruin the garden, you can always plant more flowers," she smirks at him, taking a big gulp of champagne.

There are moments where she knows she has to put it on, usually in large social functions. Even though she's not always in attendance for them, when she is, Katy seems to become a whole other person. She presents herself as Katherine Addington, looking the part of a young socialite in a blue cocktail dress, her blonde hair in an elegant side ponytail, and she has a black shawl that matches her black clutch and her black heels. Accessory wise, she isn't wearing much, just a simple pair of large hoop earrings, a charm bracelet from Pandora, and her simple yet elegant engagement ring. She's hanging off the arm of her fiancé, socializing and shaking hands herself. It's only when she gets a moment of reprieve that she leads Jonathan towards the drinks, to get herself something.

Patrick turns at the waist, nearly tipping his glass enough to spill it - liquid inches toward the top of it - and looks at a flowering shrub at the edge of the path. "Are they actually planted?" The 'huh' that follows makes it seem like this is news to him. "Well, now I know why Harriman always bills so high." He flicks a look to the house, where shadows like to move around behind the lighted windows even though the place is meant to be totally empty tonight, just lit up 'cause it looks prettier that way, then back down to Anne. "I've paid the security crew to stay on through the night, by the way. So probably no post-party shenanigans." His code-talk is uncrackable.

August is in a suit, though not one of his super fancy ones; a gray Glen check with red accent thread and a white dress shirt, but no tie, and black suede boots. There's a bit of extra white in the hair on the right side of his head, a scattered pattern that looks a little odd.

He sips a shirley temple as he walks the gardens, surveying them when a professional eye. (The lamps, on the other hand, get an ugly, warning look. 'Don't try anything, assholes,' says his thunderous glare.) Now and then he pauses to examine a leaf or flower, rubbing them between his fingers. He smiles at Anne when he spies her, gives her (and Patrick) an up-nod.

Anne lifts a brow as she watches Patrick over the rim of her champagne glass. "Did you think they just wheeled them in on pots?" she is probably a little drunk, because that makes her laugh a lot harder than it should. Anyway, she smooches Patrick on his jaw and murmurs something into his ear before she spies August up-nodding their way. She lifts her glass to him, and then wiggles the fingers on her other hand. "Hi August. You look handsome. No date tonight?" There's a quick look about for Eleanor, who isn't here. But she does see Katy, who is here! She wiggles fingers that-a-way, too.

Patrick pulls a face while drunk Anne is giggling, answering with a prim sniff at the end of it, "No. I didn't think about it at all." In his best 'those people are beneath me' tone. His attention follows her wiggly fingers toward their intended targets, and he glances down to the palm that he rubs across the pocket of his jacket momentarily. Out of the side of his mouth, he mumbles something about more handshakes, dear God, and then extends one toward August immediately afterward. "Roen, isn't it? I can't remember if we've ever been introduced, or if we just keep reintroducing ourselves at all of these - " He looks around at bunches of people, many of them all sparkly. " - things."

Having a good suit to wear from his hockey playing career, Jonathan looks quite comfortable in those clothes. Smiling as he looks around at the surroundings and the people, he smiles as he lets Katy lead the way for now. "It looks quoite lovely here," he offers with a smile.

Katy turns towards Anne, and gives a smile and a wave with the hand where her engagement ring sits, before she turns towards Jonathan and replies, "Yeah, it's really nice. If anyone in this town can throw a fancy party, it's an Addington." She walks around with Jonathan and continues to shake hands and in passing, she tells Anne with a bright smile, "You look gorgeous in that dress!"

August draws closer, dips his head at Patrick and accepts the handshake. "Just briefly over coffee." Where they'd debated Them and Their 'punishments'. "Good to see you again, Patrick. And thank you, Anne, you look lovely." He glances over his shoulder. "Ellie's about somewhere. I just wanted to walk the plants, make sure they're...under control." He gives the two of them a hooded look over the rim of his glass.

Anne finishes off her champagne and exchanges her flute for another, beaming a smile at Katy. "Oh, thank you. You look very pretty, too," she remarks before her attention slides on over to August. He gets a squint, a slow lift of her brows, and she takes another long drink before she dares ask: "Are the plants not.. under.. control?" She needs another drink. Where's the waiter?

Looking sharp in a tuxedo, which doesn't look out of place on him at all, Byron wanders into the entrance with one hand placed at the small of Lilith's back, guiding her inside. As he's been here many a times, he's somewhat familiar with the museum and navigates his way through the throngs of people with their wine and champagne, looking to reach for a glass for himself and his date. That's when he sees a few familiar faces in the distance, leaning in to whisper to Lilith, his chin lifted to direct in the direction of the group. "Let's go say hello."

With a glass of champagne in hand, he makes his way over to where Patrick and company are stationed, "Patrick." He announces in greeting, a bright smile on his face, before his attention is turned to the woman beside him, "Anne." And then there's August! "And Roen. Did you have a hand in putting this together?" He asks, gesturing around the garden. "It's a really lovely evening and I"m sure," He says with a pause to sip at his drink, "Things can only get better." But even he knows better than that.

Eleanor is running a touch late due to a delivery mixup at the coffee shop, and told August to go on ahead and she'd meet him there. She arrives in a pale green cheongsam inspired minidress with a floral pattern embroidered on it, and heels of clear vinyl with bling looking as if it's floating there. She holds onto a cute clutch purse as she roams the paths, looking for August.

Patrick starts as if he has some sort of reply about the plants, then Anne gets out a question first, so he just drowns whatever he was about to say in his glass and lets August field the questions about the plants, leave that to experts. "Thorne, hello, always good to see you, and Lilith. Katy," with a cordial nod thataway. Then comes the breeze, then comes the man walking out of the shadows to collect the escaping napkins, then comes the moment that Patrick realizes he's reached the bottom of his glass. His sigh contains many disappointments; the empty glass is but one of them.

As far as the gig economy carries musicians, it's no surprise the rotund DJ was plying some piano music to make a buck, and dressed for the part. Out of the way near the cocktail dispensary, a piano has been set up and Rekani is slowly tickling out that classy vibe of the monied half... quarter? Ok, the divide between have and have-nots was getting kind of wide and we're not here to have a economic discussion. It sounds nice and classy, even if some people may recognize the current tune. It was buried enough behind a slower tempo and flowery pianissimo playing it could probably fly under the radar. Ever so often, he has to reach up to tap the screen of the tablet, flipping pages in his digitized sheet music app. A tumbler sits on a coaster atop the piano, looking effervescent with a lime wedge on the edge, and he sips from it occasionally.

"Oh, hello Byron! And Lilith, too, it's so nice to see you both," Anne's got a bit of pink on her cheeks now, the champagne's making this evening all too tolerable. She makes like she's about to whisper something cutesy to Patrick when the wind flutters her skirt - woo~ - and then she catches sight of that man walking towards the fountain. Her lips purse into a frown. "Patrick, is that..?" she wrinkles her nose, empties her glass, and resists the temptation to go after the weird fountain man.

Anne manages to stay put. For now.

Lilith is kind of side-eyeing the plantlife just like August is mean-mugging them, but it's fine, this is a cocktail party and it's outside and it's nice and fragrant and pretty and... so is she! Her dress is somewhere between yellow and gold with shimmer, festively goldenrod satin with a flared skirt and no straps to hold it up. It skims her knees and her jewelry is antique pieces to pay stylish and clever vintage homage to her modern outfit, giving it a unique kind of flare. Hair twisted in a chignon neatly, she smiles with flash at Patrick and Anne and August especially, "It's nice to be outside drinking, at least, after the winter we had. Lovely, lovely, as these things tend to go."

After paying her compliment, she looks up and aside at Byron with a small smile around her champagne glass, then her eyes catch across the way to the fountain. She doesn't think a lot of it so much as she's trying to figure out what the guy's doing with a tilt of her head. Then she nudges a little on Byron next to her.

Katy nods and waves to her Uncle Patrick when he greets her before turning towards the Fountain, though she doesn't really see anything clearly as far as what's happening over there.

Jonathan smiles, keeping silent for now as he looks between the people. Blinking for a few time as he sees the man and the fountain. "What's he doing?" he asks, after a few moments of pause, sounding a little curious.

August glances between Patrick and Anne. "That business at the zoo, with the invasives and the parrots?" He makes a face. "Wasn't just some kids tripping into a blackberry bush."

More friends are a welcome distraction from explaining the Zoo debacle in more detail. "Byron, Lil, how are you," he says by way of a greeting. "I did, as a source. Setup was all..." He half turns, thinking to indicate any of the gardeners who might be about, but sees the man in the overalls, and pauses.

His attention shifts to Eleanor, and he raises a hand to get her attention. But then he's watching that man again. "He part of the entertainment?" he asks Patrick.

Atli has grabbed a floral cocktail upon entry, the proceeds going to charity and all made it justifiable to have more than a simple glass of wine, also it was festive. Her hair bounces in signature pale blonde curls and her form is fitted with a somewhat conservative white floral dress and pale pink shoes. She notices the well played yet utterly disrespectful use of a piano rather immediately upon entry and is suddenly grateful for her beverage. It was him, the rude piano boy who knew nothing of manners of convention. He who seemed to think anything could just be played on the elegant string instrument regardless of taste. She steps forward to greet Katy and Jonathan, attempting to ignore the rude boy.

With a shrug, Katy replies to Jonathan, "I have no clue." Though she hears word of the invasives at the zoo and the parrots and she seems curious about that too. Being a workaholic has its benefits then, doesn't it? The lack of exposure to the outside tends to mean you miss weird stuff happening. When Atli arrives, however, everything else falls to the wayside as she gives one of those air hugs, intended not to mess up her fellow blonde's hair or makeup. "Hello, you look lovely this evening," she says with a confident smile.

There's a very faint nod from Patrick to answer Anne's unfinished questions, and he click-clicks the ice in his glass a couple of times while he watches the guy trying to bodily move an entire massive fountain all by himself. "Define 'entertainment,'" he suggests to August, just on the edges of rabbly, still glued to his spot here beneath this light-post. Where he can keep an eye on things without touching them.

A benefit of being tall, Eleanor spots August when he raises a hand. She beams a bright smile at him and weaves her way through the patrons to where he's met up with others. She gives him a quick kiss. "Hey, sorry I'm late, someone somewhere double our coffee bean order and I had to get it straightened out." She smiles to Patrick, Anne, Byron, Lilith, and anyone else nearby. She hasn't quite noticed the strange man.

"I honestly couldn't wait for the weather to warm after the winter we'd had." Byron says in agreement with Lilith as he continues to take in the vibrant spring colors in bloom. With skirts fluttering about in a passing breeze, he observes in amusement as a few of the ladies dare to defy the prankster that is the wind. He'd heard about the plants going wild, but it doesn't immediately come to mind because he's here for the drink and company and to rub elbows with the other elite in town. Like Patrick, I suppose.

Either way, feeling a nudge at his side, his dark eyes look down on Lilith, "Did you want some hors d'oeuvres?" It's only then that his gaze lifts to even take notice of the man by the fountain, but all that he can tell, the guy just worked here.

"You can get high from a blackberry bush?" Anne learns something new every day. But her attention is, sadly, not on August (sorry August!) - she's got her focus on the man by the fountain. It's obviously killing her not to go over there and scope things out, so - with a twitch, and an apologetic look to Patrick, she ditches the group and goes to (cautiously) approach the man. "Hello? Are you .. uhm .. lost?" she rolls her eyes at herself, even she knows she's lame.

"... they must hire 'special' people for charity causes..." Lilith murmurs to Byron aside because who does that? The man is clearly trying to shove something that doesn't move and his garb is really kind of giving her that impression with combination of what he's doing. Then when he sits and gives up, she makes a little tick of her tongue noise with dismay on his behalf in that way people do for 'special' people.

"Really, we're well, and you look quite nice, you and Ellie." Lilith tells August, and the woman arriving is greeted with a quick flash of smile. But then Byron is offering food, and after a nod of her head with small, enthusiastic agreement, she says, "Probably should, or you'll have a champagne happy Lilith. And you know that's when filters come off."

To be fair, most people didn't seem to mind when certain songs were played, as it was the skill in doing so that provided entertainment, so Rekani was just gonna keep doing it until some high-strung type-A called him on it. No 'burning' demands for Happy Birthday in the queue, he plays gently, deftly taking a sip of his drink without the music even seeming to hitch.

Erin can be found at the home or on the grounds at any given time and this is no different. A garden party was a good enough reason and there she was, somewhat near the fountain where she always pauses to toss in a coin. One of those proverbial wishes that never came true. With her coin in hand, she's not wished yet, but takes a look around and notices several familiar faces. A few of them family! A smile and wave are tossed to Patrick and Anne but she approches Jonathan and Katy. "Hi," she says warmly.

"Oh," Anne claps her hands to her mouth when she man turns and she sees the snap of his neck, the color promptly draining from her face. Maybe she knows she fucked up by marching on over here, so she scrambles a few steps backwards on her pretty copper sandals. "A - uh, a body?" with wide blue eyes, she looks over her shoulder to see if she can channel some 'help me' energy on over here from the party goers, before her attention swings back to the fountain dude. "... No. Not recently, anyway, are you sure you're in the right place?"

Atli appreciates the consideration Katy gives to the time she spent getting ready, returning the gesture. "As do you! It's so nice to see that the two of you are both here tonight!" Her eyes flit askance at the piano player again, annoyed. She would ignore his antics tonight. With Erin's approach Atli blows her an air kiss in greeting. "It is so excellent to see you! I have been meaning to ask about how you like living in the houses on Bayside, I'm considering making a purchase there."

It is then she notices a bit of a to do over by the fountain, sipping her floral drink. "Do we know what that is about?" She raises the french manicured hand holding her glass in the direction of the fountain.

Jonathan nods, looking back to the people nearby for now. "Hello," he greets them, offering a smile. "Nice to see how lovely people have dressed up for the occasion," he says, with a smile. "And it's such a lovely time for such an event, wouldn't you agree?" Probably takes him a little time getting used to things such as this again. It's been a long while since he last took part in one.

When Lilith talks about the odd man at the fountain, Byron's about to bring something up about Hank, her drunk father, but he refrains because the guy's dead and everything. So rather than say anything about it, he takes a much needed drink from his glass as the pair of them continue to observe the other guy. That's when Eleanor joins them and he flashes his favorite barista a smile, "Eleanor. I was wondering when you'd show up." He gestures towards August, "After seeing that the big guy was here."

There's so many Addingtons in this place, many of whom he recognizes on sight due to their either growing up in Gray Harbor alongside him or the fact that many an Addington is a tenant in his apartment complex. Either way, he offers a friendly enough grin to any familiar faces, when he notices Erin show up. "Wow, Erin. Long time no see." He remembers there was a thing he needed to ask her, his gaze flickering over at Lilith now. "If you don't mind, after the event, we should try doing some catching up."

Whatever is happening near the fountain is almost forgotten, though now that he'd taken notice, it's hard not to keep an eye on the strange one, especially when Anne goes to confront him.

Patrick receives the smile-and-wave tossed his way with a courtesy smile back at Erin, then finally breaks camp from under the lightpost to traipse after Anne. He brakes at the edge of the courtyard, just in time to hear them talking about a body. "Anne," he begins reasonably. "If you just ignore them, they go away." Enh. "Usually."

August cuts a look at Patrick, brows gathered. But then Ellie's joined them, and he's once again distracted from the concern of this strange man. He slips an armn around her waist. "Well at the rate we drink coffee in this town That shouldn't be too much of a problem."

He's about to explain to giddy drunk Anne that he means less toking and more getting their asses beat when she heads off to talk to the stranger. His eyes track her; he can't help but be wary. "Yeah, nice to not be freezing anymore," he asides to Byron and Lilith.

The word 'body' causes a near-audible record scratch in August's attention. He slides a hand into one of Eleanor's.

Eleanor grins at Byron and Lilith. "You two look fantastic as usual. One of these days I'll need to get some fashion tips from you or Hyacinth, Lilith." She glances over at the man by the fountain as others do, and her lips curve into a tiny frown. "Something about him looks not right, doesn't it?" she murmurs to August, squeezing his hand to let him know she heard it too.

There's a curious look towards the fountain before Katy greets Erin and watches Atli do the same. There's something she's been thinking about lately, but she's not about to mention it yet. Instead she says, "I'm excited to drive up to Seattle for that girls trip. I haven't chosen my bridesmaids yet, but I was figuring it would be nice to at least check out some bridesmaids' dresses or something."

"Oh, I wouldn't touch -" Anne starts to caution the ghost from pushing effortlessly on the fountain when she hears Patrick's voice behind her. She looks back, wrinkling up her nose at him. "You know, you say that, but the other one wouldn't stop wailing.." she trails off, blinking back to the ghost. "I can't move that." Nope, she's not falling for that. She stubbornly folds her arms across her chest. "You should probably just.. move on. Or something."

"Hi Atli," Erin tells her cheerfully, the smile encompassing her and Katy both. Hearing Byron though, she nods and looks towards Lilith as well. "I would like that very much. It's been too long since we've got to sit down and talk." It's then she notices attention flickering elsewhere and she turns in time to see the dude. A flinch follows, because she's listening to what it has to say.. The thing by the fountain. An absent sort of nod is given to Katy. "Me too, I'm looking forward to it." The agreement is immediate. Shopping is never an interruption. Even with weird guys seeking bodies!

Another sip is taken before Rekani would be settling into another contemporary piece, taking a quick peek toward the party-goers. It takes him all of a second to notice near everyone staring at the fountain, so now he was too, playing from memory gently as a brown brow climbs, giving the strange jerky man a side-eye. Rekani was probably too far out of earshot and making enough noise he couldn't hear what was going on, but the social cues were enough to note this was a strange occurrence, and the special people were perked up.

"Maybe, you should call security." Byron asides to Patrick, turning in the other man's direction, but some of what is being said near the fountain filters his way. He hears the word body and that makes him incredibly wary. "Does anyone recognize the man?" He asks, though mostly for the Addingtons because they are here most often Erin's agreement partially draws his attention from the strange guy and he smiles again, "Great. We might need your assistance in something." He will leave it at that.

Lilith might actually have thought about her dead, hanged father if Byron had mentioned him and had a funny story to tell about a fountain. She's standing there like a nosy bint when Anne approaches the man and is mostly watching that with the social kinds of smiles and interjections. But when he starts moving to lean and push again, while paying such close mind, she notices the janky neck motion.

Okay, weirdo with a janked neck, Byron doesn't have to mention Hank at all, she makes a sudden 'huh' noise at something she remembers while in the hospital and stares a little longer, hand pausing in the middle of greeting Erin, "Erin, lovey. In a minute I'm going to..."

Pause, "That guy..." She's hearing conversation now that she's listening too and drains her drink before putting her glass down to try and start approaching like a lightning shot without even stopping to think about it, "What's he need, Anne?" Oh look, devil-may-care help in a pretty dress.

Eleanor clears her throat, listening to the exchange. "Ummm. Patrick? You wouldn't be aware of any bodies buried on the grounds would you? Like from before that fountain was installed?" She looks over at the Addington with a grimace. "Or of any ancestors who died of a broken neck?"

"Yeah," August murmurs in response to Eleanor. He cuts a look at Patrick. "I should probably have realized this a long time ago, but...this place has ghosts. Doesn't it." He says that in a tone which indicates he knows Patrick's response will be some variant of 'DUH OF COURSE', yet he feels compelled to ask anyways.

"Security's not likely to help with a ghost," he says to Byron, deadpan. "Unless Patrick has ghost hunters on staff."

With a reluctant sigh, he moves to join Anne and Lilith at the fountain. "Can you tell us your name?" he asks the man. "We might be able to help you if we know it. Double-check if it's under there, or was moved."

There's a rapid fluttering of lashes when a shovel simply appears, and Anne takes another few steps backwards. "I mean, that's fair. I really haven't ever been without my body before," here she was, talking to this random ghost like he was making sense and this was perfectly logical! She tightens her arms around her chest a little more securely, stuffing her hands under her armpits, like she can keep herself from touching things if she confines her hands. "He needs help finding a body," she says over her shoulder to Lilith. "His body, I guess. Err. I am not helping." Nope, nope. She's going to take another couple steps away from the ghost and the fountain the she could definitely, absolutely move if she wanted to. But she doesn't.

Patrick waves off Byron's suggestion about the security. In fact, all the security guards are oblivious, and most of the party guests are, too. They just think people are having cocktails by the fountain. As for recognizing the man... Well, Patrick dithers for a second before committing, "Not the man," like he's really splitting hairs here. He takes a step to the side, hands clasping behind his back, while he eyes the materialized shovel digging in to the perfectly manicured ground - and then bursts out in a sudden laugh at Eleanor. "The number of bodies that I assume are buried on these grounds..." Sobering up (loose definition of the term), he adds, "But he's not a relative. Seriously, just ignore him and he'll wander off."

The guy was almost amusing. He would be too, if he wasn't so alarming. Dragging her gaze away from him, Erin settles into looking at Lilith even if somewhat briefly. It's an expectant look, she'd been about to say something. Though the guy pretty much demands her attention back at the comments he adds. And the shovel. Which could be a weapon in the wrong hands. Anne gets a glance at the declaration of not helping and she can't help but smile. Erin herself doesn't address the guy, taking Patrick's advice. But she does stare.

Atli shakes her head towards the man, probably nothing. Also Anne was handling it. Oh hey! Anne wasn't dead! That is good news. She celebrates with another sip of the mystery beverage which just maybe contained elder flower? She nods to Katy. "Yes yes! You really should decide your announcement for the paper soon!" She notices Eleanor nearby and holds up a hand in an excusing fashion. "I will be right back to hear about possible layouts, I just need to make sure I say 'hello' to Ms. Lake. Atli walks towards Eleanor with a bit of apprehension, smiling to each the gentleman in greeting and Patrick. "Hello Eleanor! How are you this evening?"

Eleanor is keeping a weather eye on August and those near the apparition when Atli approaches. She glances at the young woman a moment, then gives her a small smile. "Miss Addington. How are you doing?" She pulls her phone out of her purse and opens the notes app, typing in Reginald Darrow to look up later.

"Ghosts? Seriously?" Byron says with a roll of his eyes. He then takes this moment to finish off his first glass of champagne, moving to set it down on the tray of a passing waiter and easily enough states, "Patrick's probably right. Ignore it and it will go away." Not that he's terribly familiar with ghosts, but he's met more than he'd like. "I'm sure this kind of thing happens here all the time." He could mean Addington House or he could me Gray Harbor at a whole." However, when the man introduces himself to August, but not only that, asks Lilith, of all people, to help him find his body which, apparently,is under the fountain, Byron has to step forward to keep Lilith from wandering anywhere near the needy thing.

"After this event, maybe you can convince the owner of this place to bulldoze the fountain. Otherwise, I think you might have to wait it out."

"Reginald Darrow?" Anne looks at Patrick and frowns. "Do you know him? This is crazy. I'm still not helping," she says to anybody who will listen. This is her, not helping! "But one of you could probably move the fountain. And then he'll go away." She's just going to step over here next to Patrick and NOT move the fountain. God, this was killing her.

Lilith has an extreme urge to blow up the fountain she can't even explain, but it's fine, she doesn't do it, that'd be rude. It's not that she even wants to help so much as blow up a fountain. After making an 'uh huh' noise to Anne's and ol' Reggie's explanation, she looks aside at Byron's approach, looks at the man's neck with fixation and distraction, then looks at the shovel with a sigh like it's HIGHLY inefficient and maybe she should offer politely to blow something up?

Byron's arrival probably stops her from even joking about it, or stepping in to help, "... what are you going to do with it if you get it?" She sounds a little wary, suddenly, because the whole repeat of going to bury some guy's bones to make him go away is a little too familiar for a lot of them!

It's not quite grudgingly that Patrick answers Anne. It's more like... he's just tired of telling this story. Or tired of hearing this story. "He was a gardener in the twenties, before the fountain. He disappeared while he worked here, and he was eventually declared dead in absentia." Tiredly, "And now he insists that his body is under the fountain, and we need to help him get it back."

Rekani thinks it's a little strange people are just going to let some guy dig up the grounds in the middle of a cocktail party, but who knows? Maybe the monied folks just like watching the less fortunate toil for their benefit. Still, he continues to play softly, watching and trying to listen in, because what else was there to do? Play and drink. He takes another quick sip, lifting the glass to try to get a refill started from the bar he'd have to go and retrieve.

The congeniality with which she is addressed puts Atli more at ease. She returns the smile in kind, not taking in what exactly was happening with the fountain. "Excellent, thank you for asking! And yourself? Any updates on the wedding arrangements?" Honestly it's for the better she wasn't taking in what Anne was saying. 'Move the historic fountain' sounded like a type A panick attack in waiting.

"I wonder why he's waited until now to come looking for it. Erin regards the broken neck guy with a single arched brow and damned if she doesn't find herself talking to him too. "Were you murdered or uh.. Did you just fall on the ground and break your neck?" Because obviously something happened there. Well, she doesn't expect the answers to that, the guy starts threatening and she takes a step back so she's not the closest one to the guy.

"We're looking at early Fall, probably somewhere in Oregon," Eleanor notes absently to Atli, still watching her fiance and the others and then Reggie cocks back that shovel and she is simply NOT going to stand for that. "Wait! Maybe we don't need to move the fountain, Mister Darrow! Maybe we can bring your bones up from under it another way!" The telekinetic way. They can't be all that heavy, right? She moves to where the man is insisting his body rests.

Anne is now glad that she took a lot of steps backward, though she isn't too fond of Reginald over there threatening people. "That's not very nice. Why would we help you if you are just going to beat people with shovels?" Ha! Checkmate, ghost. "Not that I'm going to help. I am going to stand OVER HERE and ABSOLUTELY NOT HELP, but yes." She points to Eleanor. "I suggest doing it another way." Hint hint, nudge nudge people.

Jonathan nods as he listens, pausing momentarily as he glances towards the fountain again briefly. Blinking as he watches the happenings there, he shakes his head as if to clear it. Blinking a bit at Erin's words to the ghost, turning to look at the man rather curiously. A careful look to the shovel, there's a moment when he seems to be considering is he should move closer, in case someone needs to help getting that shovel away from him, but it only lasts a few moments for now. "Never a dull moment here, is it?" he asks, after a few brief moments of pause.

Both eyebrows shooting up, Rekani had just realized this was about to come to blows. Seeing that swing, his playing stops briefly as his nearer hand makes a waving motion, over and upward, a motion like the annoyed dismissal of a fly from food. His mind reaches out to try to take hold of the weapon and flick it away from the man.

"Good to meet you, Mr. Darrow," August says, dipping his head. He sticks his hands in his pockets. "Listen, though, I'm not sure what getting your body back helps with." He glances back towards Eleanor, responds to the guy's sudden shift in attitude by taking a handful of steps back. "Now hang on," he says, getting clear of that shovel in a hurry.

Lilith jumps a little as she's swung at and immediately starts to flare with defensive power to try and break the shovel on the spot, but it's a ghost shovel, so she gets confused as to how to actually approach that situation and just gets popped with it on the arm. While reeling back, she stares at her arm because it's like there's no real sticking impact to it, despite her getting clipped by the swing. Spun to one side and very toward Byron, she says, "... ok that was weird, what a dick, forget him and his body... let's..."

Lilith stops because there's other problems now.

Byron was happy enough to ignore the whiny ghost if everyone else did and continue to enjoy the party, even move to a location where he can't see the damn thing. But nooo. The ghost starts to get annoyed over the fact that no one wanted to dig up the garden during this event. Not only that, but after picking up the ghostly manifested shovel, he takes a swing at Lilith. Byron is quick to move into action, reaching for Lilith's arm to try and pull her back, his other arm lifted in a defensive measure in case the ghost tried to take another swing. "Back off, asshole." He practically spits out, "If you want our help, you ask nicely and maybe, if we feel like it, you might get your god damned body back."

With Lilith safely out of the way, he quickly inspects to ensure that she wasn't hurt. "Did that guy hit you?" He quickly asks, before even realizing that all of that once lovely greenery was now crowding around them and jabbing them rudely with their vines and thorns. "Now wh--" He's starts to mutter, finally taking in exactly what's going on.

And to think, Anne was just about to walk away and let everyone else deal with this. She might've even had Patrick try to throw some money at the problem! But just before she manages to appropriately bury her curious-feelings and actually attempt to walk away, everything changes. "Oh, for fuck's sake," she groans under her breath, before her eyes bulge out of her head at the sight of those mythical beasts. But before anybody can say 'is that a griffin?!' it dive-bombs them and she drops to her knees to take cover, while snatching her heel off her foot to use as a weapon.

Eleanor drops into a defensive stance and her hands come up in an effort to call up her Physical shield as she moves to get beside August, like the team they've become.

Patrick's, "Mother FUCKER," would be the start of an absolutely epic tantrum if it wasn't immediately followed by a griffin dive-bombing them. He ducks down, holding his hand up over his head the way people do when they're fighting seagulls, and... honestly, it's not that he's shoving Anne to safety. He's just shoving her because she's in the way of him ducking. "I'd like to know which one of you people," did something, who knows what, it just trails into incoherent rabbling while the griffin is circling back to the fountain or whatever.

Right about the time things get crazy and Reginald starts swinging his shovel, Erin backs off a step or three only to realize that suddenly things are even crazier! Tilting her head back she notices the overgrowth first but that shriek has her lifting her hands to her ears in alarm before turning enough to see the thing bounding towards them!

Katy begins to focus to try to shield herself and maybe even find cover.

So. Lilith really should be ducking and covering, but she doesn't. She reacts to the shriek with a hiss of agitation when it pierces the ears and she notices exactly what's going on, and that griffin divebombing is her focus with whipsnap attack. She doesn't even move, she just stands there in her fancy heels and dress and glares murder at the thing.

Rekani is on his feet, having no qualms with pulling his mind back in and around himself. Peering around what was definitely a landscape and surroundings ready to kill him, he tries to at least join the group of party-goers a little closer in, a joke nervously hurled, because it definitely wasn't him Patrick must be talking about, "So, is there hazard pay in this?"

With a hand still on Lilith's arm, Byron tries to pull her away from the large brewing pot of mythical beasts. "Stand back!" He calls out to both Lilith and everyone else around them. The griffin's large form starts to swoop down at them and he quickly ducks, hoping to take Lilith with him. The first gut instinct for him to do is lash out at the incoming, with a crackle of electricity that starts to creep up his fist and his arm.

Patrick's, "Sure," is to answer Rekani. "Why wouldn't there be."

Instinctively, Jonathan moves to shield himself, preparing to throw himmself down to the ground in addition. "Never a dull moment, huh?" he says, meant mostly for himself.

Well this wasn't polite conversation involving weddings. The transition between high society, to shovel attacks, to 'what fresh hell is this' happened so quickly that Atli could only assume it was entirely piano boy's fault. She looks toward Patrick now in confusion. "What exactly should we be doing here? This is your event."

Lilith goes with Byron, at least, and doesn't stand in the open ready to fling power like a murderbot. She's pulled along with the hand on her arm to somewhere more fortuitous for cover, so that's good.

August blinks at the guy with the shovel disappears...and so does the party. "Just to be clear this was not my fault, my plants are all normal," he informs Patrick. He moves to Eleanor, getting near her, eyes on those bronze animals. "I feel like I just need to be armed for combat at all times now," he mutters. Last time he comes to Addington House without his Buck knife, that's for sure.

"OW!" Anne falls back as an angel fish tries to grab hold of her hair. It gets her about a foot in the air before she whacks it with her shoe and it drops her back onto the ground, right on the boob. "Fuck you," she sneers at the thing, actively attempting to whack it again with her heel after she scrambles to her feet - and then remembers Patrick is here with her and whips around to see him bleeding, too. "Shit! Patrick, are you okay? Get up, you need to hide," she is already shoving him towards a place where she can get him some cover.

Erin's first reaction is to try and put up a shield. She's not too good at that. Not yet. The shield fails and she gets a graze on her arm. Not even hardly a scratch. It does alarm her though when she realizes the attacks are coming from all around them. Forget the shield, she goes for an outright attack... until she realizes people were hurt! She watches Eleanor go for August, so she focuses more on Lilith, if possible.

Eleanor watches August get hit in the head by the Chimera and go down. "No!" she shouts, rushing over to kneel beside him and try to wake him back up.

Erin sees Lilith still in the fight, so she turns back towards the griffin and just goes for it.. full on. If she can.

There's something about seeing Jonathan get attacked that makes Katy angry as all hell, and she turns on the creature that attacked him to retaliate.

"My party is still going on. This is Reginald Darrow's part - ow!" Patrick swats at the stupid fish that just bit him in the shirt, sending it plopping away only to have it get up and swimmy-shimmy into the fountain. "I'm fine," he tells Anne, still irritable. "Hide where? Look here." He picks up a convenient stick or something. "I'm sure a stick will work wonders against a - good Lord, what even is that thing?" He means the manticore, the one that's trying to take chunks out of Lilith.

August manages to shield himself, but it's not enough, and that Chimera's breath has him coughing up blood and knocks him right over and out. The damage isn't particularly evident on the surface, though his suit's going to need to be replaced or Spirit-repaired, with the way it becomes discolored. More like his body decided it had better things to do that be breathed on by a chimera.

Great we are fighting monsters annnnd fixing things...Atli could fix things! Or Augusts! That's like furniture right?

"What the hell are you going to do with a stick against that?" says Anne, who is wielding a heeled sandal. That's definitely much better than a stick. Nevertheless: "I've got you," she promises Patrick, manages to smooch him on the cheek for reassurance, and then stares down the angelfish that's looking like it might take another bite out of Patrick. "He's mine, bitch."

Try as Byron might to drag Lilith away to safety, his efforts are futile when one of those various things swooping down on them both actually digs its claws at her chest in winged fury. "Lil!" He calls out, trying to yank her out of the way before the hit happens, but it's too late. The arc of crackling electricity that he sends forth also has no effect on the creature as he steps forward to place himself before Lilith, to act as a barrier between her and anything else that wants a piece of her.

Turning back to look at her over his shoulder and see what damage the griffin did, he murmurs, "Lilith, you okay?" All the while, he continues to try and body block her, his gaze following the path of the griffin. There were others who got close, but that's the one who struck.

Rekani puts up his dukes, wary of attack, but is still caught in the arm. He hisses and ducks away from it, trying to create space as his eyes glance around to try to find something to grab and fling at the thing that hit them. Patrick and Anne seemed to find sticks, so Rekani spots a log, points at it, then makes that almost Jedi-like swat of his hand to send it at a fish.

At least he didn't get hit in the head. Jonathan can handle some cuts or bites or whatever. He steps back from the fish, looking around for something he could use as a weapon, and picks up some stick as well, rather quickly. Not waiting for it to attack again or something, he swings his makeshift weapon as hard as he can.

Lilith is pretty tough, but not that tough. When she's hit from multiple sides and knocked with slam impact that shreds the fabric of her pretty, pretty dress, she's winded and goes straight down to try and restabilize herself at Byron's leg. Which really just means getting her breath back enough to focus. But now it's chaos and she hurts and can't focus on where all the moving targets are. So she focuses on Byron while breathing raggedly.

Frustrated, Erin growls, NOTHING IS WORKING! No shield, no hit to the griffin! With anger comes heat. With heat comes fire. With fire? Hopefully the whole forest doesn't burn down. It's her go-to though and she's in it to survive! The others around her sort of fade off as it becomes a vendetta to the Addington.

Eleanor manages to wake August up for a moment, but gets whalloped again right away by a damned fish. She begins working on healing him alongside Atli. "Comeon love, we need the big guns up and at em."

Katy seems to be getting a feel for her eletrokinesis, and with a smile over her shoulder at Jonathan, she prepares to attack again.

Anne was absolutely, 100% going to protect Patrick from this angelfish. She's got her stance perfect, heel at the ready, like she's a major league baseball player ready to swing for the stars. What she doesn't notice, of course, is both the dragon and chimera which turn their attentions to her simultaneously. The blast of fire hits her right in the chest, knocking her backwards as she swings, sending her backwards with a scream. Then the chimera nearly finishes her off. There's a moment where it looks like she might pass out - her eyes go back into her head, she's on the ground - but no. With a cry, and a groan, she staggers to her feet, pretty dress burned and blood streaming from wounds. But she's gonna fuck something up.

"Booom! Headshot!" Rekani shouts as his lobbed stick smacks the fish, only to find he'd somehow drawn the ire of two more monsters and makes an entirely unmanly noise of panic as he dodges one and just manages to be scratched by the manticore. His hand makes another spinning circle, a grabbing motion, and a pull, and the assaulting log wheels in midair and is sent after the manticore this time.

Like Erin, Lilith's first instinct is to burn the features and char the beast the second it rips into Byron while she's still reeling and trying to focus on giving him a convenient moment. It breaks her focus on what she's doing, though, and her power fizzles into distraction with a call of his name when it's his turn to soak up the wrath of that shrieking beast. Rallying herself with sheer fury, she half crawls and reaches onto Byron to try and steady him and make sure he's still conscious after that.

Luckily, she doesn't have to get up to see to revenge, because it's not something she's wanting to do so much right now. But the way she's crawled isn't the safest way to be.

Anne goes down (not in the good way), which actually works out all right, because Patrick gets quite a wallop on that angelfish - and he likely would have brained Anne if she wasn't knocked backward at that exact moment. So his joy at having done something - in combat!!! - is short-lived, since he whirls back to see her getting exploded on and burned. "I really don't want to have to look for your body under a fountain in a forest that doesn't exist in the real world, dear, please try to not get attacked by all the things at once?" He looks at her with loving concern while he delivers this dry request.

Eleanor successfully gets August up, only for him to be knocked right back out by a coughing fit exacerbated by an attack from one of the Angelfish. He comes to a second or two later, but stays put, letting Eleanor try to heal him up some. "Those...fuckers...don't like me," he says.

With Lilith so badly hurt, Byron tries to keep her head down before one of those things latched onto her again. His gaze follows the flight pattern of the griffin, but he also takes notice of a few other threats that loom near. He went head to head with the griffin last time and it seems that the creature still had a thing for pretty pawn shop owners. "Jesus." He hisses between clenched teeth. Once the thing launches its claws at the couple, he pushes Lilith out of he way, his own crackling fist reach out to try and fry the damn thing! While contact is made, he isn't even sure if his efforts did anything. Probably because at that same moment, he could feel the claws gripping onto his head and he has to steel himself to keep from being carried off by the monster. Once the thing releases him, he staggers back, the electricity within his hand diminishing for a moment as he rests his palm against his temple. "God damn piece of shit..." He goes on, but he's reeling in pain. Breathing in deeply, he murmurs, "Lil?" To try and make sure that she's okay, but he's disoriented now. He hears her, he thinks, and feels her next to him. Hopefully, it's Lilith! Either way, his hands spark up again and he's ready to defend the both of them against anything.

There's a brief grin offered to Katy, before Jonathan looks around again, still holding that stick in his hand. A stick is a stick, after all, and he feels much more comfortable with one in his hands. And so he swings it for one more of those Angelfish. Stick, meet makeshift puck...

Anne was ready to fuck something up. Seriously, she was eyeing the biggest thing she can see with every intention of floating it and sending it ramming-speed into the chimera's face. But then Patrick has to say all that stuff with loving concern and UGH, why did she have to make PROMISES? "I don't want to have to look for your body, either," she staggers on over to him, eyes on the chimera.

Not accustomed to combat Alti panics and sparkles Patrick's uhhh stick...Welp she would have to remove 'Good under pressure' from her resume.

Katy feels really good now but when she notices that Erin's gotten hurt, she freaks out and rushes over to attempt to heal her.

Eleanor lets her spirit energy close up one of August's wounds, then she's rising to hold her hands out towards the dragon. They were attacked by a dragon once, when she was just a kid, and she's not going to let this one hurt AJ,

Apparently, this manticore wanted to go mano a mano with Rekani, and the tubby DJ gets a paw swipe glancing right across his head. He sees stars, swears, and stumbles backwards, the log bouncing wide. One hand on his head now, Rekani makes another gesture, a sideways shove, attempting to keep using his weapon as a mentally-propelled cudgel.

August reaches out to grip one of Eleanor's hands in a wordless thank you. He gets to his feet just in time to see, and feel, Patrick and Erin succumb, and coughs, half-doubling over. he takes in a shaky breath, supports himself on a tree. "Come on Erin. Stay with us." Patrick has to wait.

Fire works! Erin manages to hit the griffin, finally, helping to fell the beastie with the help of the others. Her head! There are other wounds but the one to her abdomen is the one that has her wilting like a flower in the desert. Right down to that undergrowth, sinking there, totally knocked out cold. That and that gassy breath from the chimeras!

Patrick whacks at the big bronze monster that he doesn't know what it is with his stick. Somehow, despite the thing being the size of a horse, he totally misses it, and is so aggravated that he chases it a step... and winds up taking a massive blast of firebreath right to the chest. It ruins his tuxedo, sets the stick on fire, and leaves him staggering to his knees. Then down further, curled up on his side, looking down at his crispy stomach. "No one ever listens to me," with a massive sigh. Then he does the whole world a favor and becomes unconscious.

"Patrick, NO!" Anne tries swatting at the stupid chimera with her useless shoe - and she knows it's useless, and it's killing her not to drop something big on it's head, just like that dragon is over there killing Patrick with fire. She watches with horror as the dragon spills that hot stuff all over Patrick and he goes down, and she gets tunnel-vision as she races on over to him, dropping to her knees. "Somebody HELP!" she shouts, and then smacks Patrick hard across the face, like WHACK! "Don't you DARE fucking die on me, Patrick Addington, you still haven't told me you love me, WAKE THE FUCK UP RIGHT NOW!"

A lot of spiritualists are healers and menders and go straight for the downed and broken bodies, but Lilith is out for blood. That said, there is a moment of relish, triumph and pause through all the pain, right after the griffin falls. She feels her violence burst rip inside it's head after the combined efforts of Erin and Byron's blazing arcs of electricity and fire.

She's tempted, so tempted to take care of Byron, but then she sees a whole dragon. A whole dragon. And SHE wants to fight a dragon, right there on her knees in her ruined dress while hitching breath and gripped onto her suffering man right nearby, "... dragon." Called shot, right for his ear, care can come later.

Patrick bats his hand limply at Anne, like 'go away, ya bother me.' Then seriously with the unconsciousness.

By the time she gets to Erin, Katy realises that she's knocked out and the blonde is unable to do anything for her cousin so instead she turns on the next target.

See, hitting stuff with a stick has brought Jonathan back to his pre-concussion state, and he seems relatively relaxed as he smacks another of the fishes. So naturally, he moves for the next, glancing around as he sees what's happening, frowning as he sees those that has gone down, but he swings the stick for another of the fishes. Let's take those down at first, right?

It takes a team effort to bring that bitch of a griffin down, but the creature that had attacked both Byron and Lilith was finally put down. In fact, Byron's hands were still clutching the thing's head, the way it had done to him just earlier, He was still bleeding, droplets of blood seeping down his cheek from the side of his face, close to the temple. People are being downed left and right now. From out of the corner of his eyes, he sees Patrick being engulfed i n flame or that could be his own blood clouding his vision, he's not sure. Then he thinks he sees Erin collapse much closer to him and as he makes his way there, ensuring that Lilith follows by way of holding onto her wrist, he meets up with August there. "Is she going to be okay?" He calls out.

It's small talk in the middle of combat, but there are still threats circling them in the air. Turning to Lilith to make sure that /she's/ alright, his eyes quickly scan her. "You stay behind me, okay?" He's not in too much of a condition to be standing either, but they had to try and end this. The first thing that his eyes take notice of is the hulking form of the thing that probably burnt Patrick down. The dragon. Drawing in a few deep breaths, his electrified hand clenches into a fist and he prepares himself to launch out his own attack.

Yup, the helping Patrick attack things has less than a desirable outcome. On the bright side, his failure of an attack means he's on the ground again. If Atli just continues pretending people are made of wood, she can totally do this! Heal the wooden Patrick!

"Don't you swat your hand at me, I'm not about to let you DIE IN A DREAM!" Anne argues with the unconscious Patrick, smacking him again for good measure. Because she clearly intends on slapping him until he's revived, of course. But just when she whips her hand back with every intention of clapping it against Patrick's cheek again, his eyes pop open ... just in time for her to get a full on blast from the dragon. "Oh, thank God, you're --" she starts, and there are hearts in her eyes before her eyes roll back up in her head and she slumps unconscious over Patrick. It's VERAH ROMANTIC. MUCH ROMANCE.

"Yeah," August says, wiping blood from his mouth as he helps Erin up. He pauses in the midst of the battle to feel around them in this place--probably a Dream?--for that body. "He's not here," August says, taking a second to catch his breath. "Darrow."

Eleanor tries to slam the dragob with telekinesis but the creature simply resists her attempts, so this time she turns her attention on the Chimera.

Katy rushes over to Erin and says, "Hey, E, you okay? Let me see if I can help." She's not that great at healing, but she wants to try helping Erin.

Revived! Erin comes up coughing, holding her abdomen and growling at the angry bird. Or whatever it was that struck her. She tries to keep hidden while she gets a grip on herself and stops herself from gagging from that death breath. Looking up, she nods hesitantly, "Yeah I'm.." Fine? Totally not. "I'm okay.."

Probably a good thing that he decided to use the stick, isn't it? As Jonathan keeps on smacking the fish, working at getting rid of those one by one. So he moves for the next one, expression one filled with focus for now.

Patrick slaps Anne's cheeks a couple of times uselessly. Not hard or anything, just patpatslapslap to see if she comes around. She doesn't, so he sort of tries to drag her away from the fray, at least. So he can keep slapping her uselessly where maybe they won't both get killed in the process. He might be cursing at her all this while, but it's very quiet, and it's mostly about how if she hadn't gone over to talk to Darrow then none of this would ever have happened and probably occasionally 'please don't die' is in there. Just really killing it with the romance.

It's a blood haze of battle lust and pain going on inside Lilith right now and she doesn't see much else. She doesn't even notice the fallen forms or familiar faces as Byron takes hold of her and moves her closer to the others, she mindlessly and painfully stumbles some while migrating, her eyes blinking woozily as she tries to focus on where the dragon took flight to...

Dragon. She wants to down a dragon. Gritting her teeth, she stills and hisses, though, when Byron is hit on the way, then lashes out with all the focus she'd been building in a powersnap of violence, trying to crush the wings and throat, whatever she can get at on the beast.

"Hey! You don't want none of this, pendejo!?" Rekani shouts at the manticore as it seems to lose focus on him and attack Byron. Another winding motion with a hand, a punching move as the log flies after the beastie. "Get your ass over here, puta!"

Byron's been watching the large shadow of a dragon in the sky this whole time, taking in its flight patterns and what not, if it even has one. Luckily for Byron, it doesn't seem to take notice of him. Unfortunately, just as he sends forth an arc of electricity, he does take notice of another shadow and on reflex, he shifts, in the hopes of placing himself in front of Lilith once more, "Lilith, stay down!" He calls out once more, but before he can redirect his attack on the incoming manticore, he feels the thing's claws tearing through his perfectly good, yet bloodied tuxedo and ripping through his flesh.

It's a wonder that he's still standing and he hunches over, placing his bloodied hand over his now bloodied chest. "Let's get this over with." He murmurs with a woozy shake of his head. Pulling himself, painfully, to stand up right, his fist lights up again. "Dragon." He practically mutters, even if that's not the thing that hit him.

Atli could put people back together more effectively if they would just hold still gosh darn it! "I would really like to help more if possible but it would be nice if some of you could stop fighting long enough for me to help you keep blood inside your body." She sparkles again and decides to help out August because he was not fighting a dragon, whilst evading said dragon herself.

Eleanor has clearly had enough of the love of her life getting beaten on tonight. She grabs up a rock nearby with her telekinesis and SLAMS it on top of the head of the passing Chimera with a resounding KRONK sound. "How are you holding up, August?" she calls to him.

Katy does manage to help Erin with her wounds and after thanking her profusely, she looks around until she spots August. "Thank you." Knowing he was the one who had helped her come to. The attacks are going on all around them and she urges Katy to stay under cover. Approaching the now felled Lilith, she knells beside her, "Let me see if I can help you. I make no promises, I'm crap in battle right now being wounded too, but I'm going to try and help." Of course she may be conked out and unable to hear her. Healing was a thing, alert or not! So Erin will try if Lilith allows.

While still keeping an eye on allies that might require her help, Katy refocuses and starts using eletrokinesis once more.

Anne gives a rattling gasp as she comes to, eyes flaring open wide. But they look pretty glossy, she's in extremely bad shape. Still, at least the first thing she sees is Patrick alive and well. "Is everything dead?" she groans as she tries to sit up, then says fuck it and stays down on Patrick.

Trust Patrick to answer Anne with a frowned, "Well, obviously not everything." He points his thumb to the middle of his (crispy) chest, then boops her on the end of her nose with his index finger, indicating two things not dead. "But the monsters - " He twists at the waist, eyeing the bronze corpses and the fishes trying to lead them away. "Here, you need to get up, or we have to build a house here, and neither one of us is going to be capable of doing that." He starts hauling her to her feet, whether she likes it or not.

Welp, looks like his screamed profanities worked. Rekani's eyes widen as he suddenly realized that was probably a bad plan. He's able to stumble backward again that that tear to his chest wasn't fatal, shouting in pain. The wood log flattening the thing's head as he falls on his ass was a nice balm though. "Fuck yeah, BOOM!" he shouts. Already pulling the log away again with another twirling motion, looking for his next target and... finding that first fucking fish. The log hovers in the air, about to hurtle toward it when Rekani notices things had seemed to calm down. The blunt instrument of his ire thuds to the ground as he opens his fist finally. Absently, he starts to fish under his suit coat pocket. There's that damn fanny pack, again. He unzips it and pulls out a plastic package of snack cakes.

After a surge of electric badassery, Katy looks around to see where she can help. She is not the strongest healer, but she's willing to help. If anyone will allow her.

Letting out a bit of a breath, Jonathan looks around to see what the situation is. Seeing only that one remaining fishie, he lets out a bit of a breath, frowning as he sees how things are. And then that fish is taken care of, and he slowly drops the stick to the ground. "That's the last of them, right?"

Anne groans as she's pulled to her feet, but she goes. She doesn't want to stand, but she does, leaning heavily into Patrick. "Build a house here?" she's a little dazed, but look at those hearts. "Are you saying you wanna move in together?" She probably won't remember this in the morning, worry not, Patrick.

Eleanor moves over to August and begins to try and heal up what she can, but her power just fizzles each time. "I think I used up all my juice bringing down that chimera," she murmurs apologetically, without so much as a scratch on her.

It's glorious to smash a dragon from the inside with crunch and rip and snap to the head and through and Lilith feels it through and through, but something about it feels heightened, like a much bigger high, she just wanted to see if she could. There's ways she could have been much more battle strategic with her capabilities. She even starts to look aside and grin at Byron, the most wild-eyed, pained thing she can manage at the moment.

But then there's a chimera that wrecks her in a few different ways all at once and all that beastmode she was holding onto by threads, it collapses into mindless unconsciousness of battered and bloody and crushed pieces of woman body like a tossed doll. It's pretty terrible for Byron to be conscious to see, himself, but Erin's there, Atli's there too, and Lilith... looks a little bit happy somehow while piteously out cold.

At least until she's not. Revived with effort of ability like a quickshot of adrenaline, her eyes jolt open with disorientation and the feeling of healing power rushing her with those weird tingles and different pains and oh no, Byron, "... Byron?" He's right there, of course, but she's out of it initially and suddenly panicked he went down too.

August murmurs a thanks to Atli; at least now he can move around under his own power. But God he's going to be coughing this shit up for weeks. He can't help it; he smiles when Eleanor smashes that chimera right in the head, dismisses her apology. "It's okay baby. Take me home. I need to...fix this suit. And take a bath." Like, five baths.

He pauses, though, looking over the others, especially Anne and Lilith. "Did you..." He suspects the answer is no, but figures he can offer.

Remaining beside Lilith as the fighting continues with Katy and Jonathan, Erin manages to do a little mending on her, looking to Byron as well with a pained expression. "You know, almost every time we all get together something like this happens. I need to wear armor, I think." A smile is attempted towards and Lilith, but then her eyes sort of unfocus as she attempts to heal the worst of her wounds. Remaining there beside her, she tries fusing the wound back together here in dream world.

Nodding towards Jonathan, Katy looks Erin, and Atli and the others. "I'm not that great but if you guys need an extra set of hands to help with healing, let me know."

And just like that, Eleanor summons up her telekinesis for a final effort to half carry August with her down the path back to reality.

August groans as the things start to come back. "Patrick," he growls, working as hard as he can to get moving for that exit, "we need to do something about your ghosts."

...unless it was the lamps. Maybe August should break them all, just to be safe. Who fucking cares if they're antiques. They're evil antiques. Surely they're to blame.

Anne's going to need a hospital, stat. She manages to hobble with Patrick towards the hole in the hedges, but that last blast of acidic bile has her screaming - and then passing out the second they get back on the other side.

Katy isn't all that athletic but she books it with her heels, hoping and praying that Jonathan is right behind her. She has no time to check.

Patrick, now covered in bile in the parking lot of the museum where he works, with a party going on in the background, looks at August dully. "Yes. Ignore them." He will just be dragging Anne off toward the House now, since he's pretty sure this is ALL HER FAULT she needs medical attention.

With little rivulets of blood running down his face and from the long slice of his chest, Rekani levers himself up off the ground, "¡Arriba, Arriba! ¡Ándale, Ándale!" he was shouting, waving his hands at people, trying to rush them toward the exit, seeing if anyone needed help being picked up and physically moved toward the exit. His hand reaches out, mind grabbing at the log again. Maybe he could use it as a physical barrier, getting it between attacking critters and people as they try to escape.

Peering at the chaos in the skies through streams of blood that threaten to blind him, Byron makes his move, launching out another arc of electricity at the looming dragon (This was really far more convenient than the way he's used to combatting these things in the past, even if there is some satisfaction to slugging a monster) and this time it hits and he watches as the thing crackle with fury, only to notice that something more was going on. Something not of his doing. As the dragon falls, he turns to Lilith just as she is about to the do the same with him, when some god damned Chimera ruins what could have been a touching moment covered in blood. Maybe he was the target, he can't be too sure, but whatever happens does so far too quickly than he has time to react.

In his panic, he forgets about the dragon or the chimera, for now and drops down to kneel beside Lilith, "Lilith!" He saw her take the hit, reaching up for one of her hands. It's only then, in his own wariness, that he starts to scan the skies once more only to find angelfish. Now, if one of those angelfish had attacked Lilith (or himself), Byron may have felt the urge to slaughter them all. Can't tell them apart anyway as far as he can tell. But since they were being torn into and the like by all varieties of much more formidable mythical beasts, the angelfish are easily forgotten.

Erin was here with them and for that Byron is grateful. He watches in silence now as the healer works her magic, all the while holding onto Lilith's hand just as she awakens. "You alright, hon? Sweetie?" If anything, he looks relieved, if worse for wear. Then when it seems that those things that they'd killed were once more rising, he reaches down to help Lilith stand, letting her lean against him, "Come on, we have to get out of there." He'd try to princess carry her, but the pain! And he doesn't think he has the strength to do so.

Seeing the people starting to move out of there, Jonathan moves over to follow Katy, glancing around once in aile to see if there's anything coming in after them now. But it's time to get out of here.

Erin is mid-heal when she notices something odd. It's not voiced, but she opens her eyes and then closes them again, taking a deep breath as she finishes off the healing for the one. Things were still going on, she could hear it all around, but she doesn't let up until finished. When she look at Lilith again, she tilts her head a little, opening her mouth then closing it. Not exactly something for the here and now so she rises, folding her arms around herself, not leaving as of yet. Not without the others. But when August, Byron and Lilith go, she will, just to make sure everyone gets out.

Did Atli entirely avoid the dragon? No, she also had no idea how to explain that her chest was...burned. She just wanted a night in the garden. At least August has manners even if dragons do not. She smiles at him politely and nods. "If you want me to try with any of those let me know, I will do my best!" Seeing they had somehow returned to the house she goes to the bar for a second cocktail. Woe be to the person who tried to tell her it was closed.

As they stumble out into the parking lot, August says to Eleanor, "The body. Darrow's body. Can you find it? Not sure I'm strong enough."

It's time to move and Lilith isn't about to let Byron carry her. She's still wounded, sure, but Erin and Atli have her feeling up to moving and move she does with Byron's coaxing, reaching to drag Erin to make sure she doesn't get left behind too. Unfortunately, her heel sticks in the ground and makes her catch a little splash of the burning nasty from the creature's parting shot on the face.

Thanks pretty heels. 🙁

She comes out cussing under her breath on the other side, her dragon slaying high gone.

Almost out of there, almost out of there... And then Jonathan can feel those claws at his scalp. "Aaargh!" he lets out, coming to a stop as he's back out into the safe side now. Stopping to look around, he lets out a bit of a breath, not reaching for that gash yet.

No good deed goes unpunished. Rekani's attempt to usher others to safety or defend them with refuse are answered with hyperviolence. He staggers as he gets hit from multiple sources, a yelp of pain bursting from him as his knee hits the dirt, but he struggles on and gets up, struggling his maimed body until he was back out into reality. Back behind him, snack cakes lay forgotten, fallen from his grasp in the madness.

Eleanor reaches her senses out beneath the fountain and nods to August. "His body is definitely down there. At least I assume it's his."

"Okay. We can...tell Hyacinth. Maybe she can convince Patrick to exhume it. Or--" August stops short when Rekani falls through, stumbles over to him. "Come on, you, let's...have a look at you." Oh yes, he's at least making with the first aid.

At the risk of sounding like a crazy person Atli glares back at the manticore. "All I did was heal people! Go back to your stupid pond!" Oh wait she's near the bar now. Her poor white dress..

Katy approaches Atli, the front of her dress somewhat scratched up but nothing too serious. "Hey, you okay?"

Byron will only stop dragging Lilith along once they reach safety and find themselves back in Addington's garden of Hell. Even then, he has a mind to simply hop into his far too expensive ride and bleed all over the interior if just to get them both to safety, but before he is able to do that, he stops to take a breather. His tux was blooded and ripped, he had some gashes in his skull, which still hurt like a bitch. And he's not quite sure if he's really up to driving at the moment. So instead, he finally comes to a stop. And right there in front of them is that damned fountain.

Byron, himself, doesn't care about the fountain or that other dude's dead body. A bit unsteady, he turns back to Lilith and Erin. They were safe. Everyone was safe. The Dream was over, there was no urgency to flee anymore, but he didn't want to linger around here if he didn't have to. Not in the state that he's in. "We should go. Maybe call a cab or something."

"Bro," Rekani begins as August approaches, putting an arm out in askance of being helped to his feet, a groaning sound made as he tries to get up, in pain or not, "One of these days. So many drinks." He'd accept August's offer of first aid, but health insurance wasn't exactly something in the Latino DJ's portfolio. A hand drags testingly at his tattered jacket and shirt, "Damn, man, these were choice thrift finds."

As people seem to be safe now, Jonathan lets out another breath. "Need something to drink..." he mutters to himself, before he steps over to where Katy and Atli are, one hand raising up to the gash in his scalp, grimacing a little. "You two okay?" he asks, words kept rather quiet for now.

Atli frowns on her right side and offers Katy the drink she has just procured flagging down the bartender for another. "Shame about the dress really. Also so the party, I was really looking forward to it." She takes a sip of the second prepared beverage and looks about in a forlorn manner.

"I'm ready to go home, Jon..." Katy says quietly, "You drive." She hands the keys over.

Erin isn't on top of her game at the moment and she nods at Byron at the suggestion of calling a cab. "Probably that's for the best. Of course she's not as bad off as Lilith or Byron, so she helps where she can. "I want to ask a few things." Her eyes finding Lilith just then, not even attempting to hide the confusion.

Lilith is not in great shape at the moment and just had another insult and injury on the way out to boot, but without the battle lust and adrenaline high on her, it almost makes her visibly wince to even look at Byron in his state of injury and she's tempted to lay him out on the spot and fix ALL of it right then and there.

After drawing in a shaky breath and looking down at herself, she looks at Erin too with a small smile of gratitude, "Thanks. Share one with us and come stay in the guest bedroom overnight, we'll all take care of each other and get right in the heads, yeah? Who was the other woman helping you with me?"

Fumbling for his phone (it's amazing how his phone was never destroyed in all the various Dreams that he's been in), Byron dials up the local cab company, giving them the Addington House location. He's surprised that he's still standing, unsteadily as it is, but all the pain in his body is finally catching up to him now that the adrenaline rush was gone. "There's one on the way." He murmurs, mustering up a winning smile over at Lilith when their eyes finally do meet, before his attention drifts back to Erin. "Thanks for all your help. This has got to have been one of the worst.. encounters," He waves a hand dismissively, "That I've faced." But right now, with how much his head was hurting, it'd difficult to even think of what else they'd gone through. Was there someone else who'd helped Lilith? He looks around to take note of August and Eleanor and then all the Addingtons and a few other guests.

Eleanor puts her arm around August to lead him towards her Element. "Come on, I'll drive us home. We can come pick up your vehicle tomorrow. You need some bandages and a bath or three."

"No need for drinks," August assures Rekani. "Just stay alive." He nods at Eleanor, limps along. "I'm going to come to this place in full tactical gear from now on. I'm sure Easton can hook me up."

Jonathan nods, taking the keys, before he lets out another breath. "Need something to drink first... Water..." Looking around for where he can get some of that.

Rekani leans and seats himself on the hood of his car, just catching his breath now, taking stock, waving goodbye to August. A silver vape is retrieved from the pocket of his destroyed coat, and his fanny pack is dug through again. This time an entire bag of chocolate covered almonds is plunked down on the black paint, opened, and slowly snacked from as he mentally tries to marshal some will to drive himself home.

"Oh, I got you, dawg." Another quick dig, and Rekani is pulling free and tossing a bottle of water Johnathan's way. A flask of something is also impossibly produced from the small container, spun open, swigged from.

He'd chill for a good long time, eating, vaping, and sipping, watching the other party-goers disperse.

Jonathan catches the bottle. "Thanks." Gulping down very much of the water, he takes a few breaths afterwards before heading over to the car and home.

"It was a devastating encounter." Erin tells Byron. "So much damage to everyone." Another smile to Lilith. "I'll come over for sure. See what we can all do as a whole." Taking note of her choice of words when voiced. "That was Atli Addington, a cousin of mine. Everyone is a cousin, I don't try and sort it all out."

Atli glares at the fact rude piano boy dares to approach anywhere near here given the evening and sips her cocktail suspiciously. A polite wave is given to Katy and Jonathan, "Be safe!" Safer than apparently the place she worked. She would stay to oversee clean up and make sure left cars of the injured were not removed unduly. Monsters were an adequate reason not to drive home. She frowns at the burns on her dress.

Ugh. Byron shouldn't be smiling like that right now, but somehow he pulls it off, and Lilith is fighting urges to treat him like an invalid and not a manly man while in public with a tux on (a shredded tux). That smile, though, it makes her wait. If he can charm her and make her smile back automatically with reflex (which she does) then she can wait til they're home and let him stand on his own now just fine.

After drawing in a breath and standing by while he makes the call, she nods and looks back at Erin after a moment of distraction just eyeing the man, "Makes sense for money. Everyone's a cousin. Come on, let's go wait out front, girly." Then, after looking up at Byron, she reaches a blood-stained hand that still has the adrenaline shakes to adjust some of his hair back into a semblance of groomed, "They messed up your hair. Tch."

They messed up a lot more than his hair, but priorities. And jokes make people feel better when things are ugh. She makes that joke just as much for herself.

In passing, though, Lilith calls over to Atli on the way out front, "Thank you."

Seeing August and Eleanor prepare to depart and then some of his own tenants in Katy and Jonathan, Byron trudges forward to lead the way to the parking lot where the ordered cab would be stopping by. "She actually works here at Addington House, I believe." He states, feeling only the slightest touch dizzy in his efforts to get the fuck away from here. He pauses long enough for Lilith to brush part of his hair back and despite her little joke, they both know that his hair, as perfectly nice as it usually is, is the least of his worries.

When they pass Atli by, he also waves as is polite and that's when he spots the cab pulling in from the distance. "Lovely party as usual." He says to the remaining Addington. "That's why I donate to this," damn, "place." Clearing his throat, he adds in, "Have a nice evening and I hope there isn't much of a mess to clear." Then the cab stops and he helps the ladies get inside for what is probably a short trip to the Apartments.

With the others, Erin makes her way to the front where the cab is waiting for them. Atli and the others remaining get a farewell wave, the concern for everyone still on her expression. Eleanor and August.. she hesitates, but they are also leaving so she doesn't interrupt except to call over, "If you need help, August, you please call me, you have my number."

Atli offers a small smile, it did after all feel good to help people. Particularly those who fearlessly fought dragons while bleeding profusely. At least at Christmas the fire department had come, that would have meant she could have seen Lucas tonight...Well c'est la vie. "Anytime!" She calls towards Lilith with a polite expression that defied current circumstance. Perhaps someone should host an actually polite party that did not involve near death experiences. How novel that would be indeed. "Thank you for coming!" She replies excitedly like a hostess...because Patrick was...gone?Why was he allowed to host events? Erin receives a wave as well.

August pauses as he and Eleanor are getting into her car. "Thanks, Erin. I'll be okay...just need to take a few baths." Then he settles heavily into the passenger's seat and shuts the door.