2020-10-18 - One Week

When Lilith and Byron get back from Seattle with their new dog and a bit of rest and relaxation and pleasure under their belts, life seems to be easier and likewise hectic for a while. There's some acclimation and lifestyle changes they have to adjust to because they quickly learn that owning a dog in an apartment is quite different than owning a cat who never needs to go outside for exercise and biological purposes. It also requires far more attention and it's much like having a part-time toddler in some ways. That said, it's a very good and well-behaved dog that takes to the couple quite easily, happy for the constant attention that being a leisure pet (instead of a working dog) entails.

And Lilith really, really steps up to manage all of it without a single complaint or gripe, even though it's clear that she's just not used to an extra creature relying on her so much for all needs. It's a learning curve for her too, and she spends a lot of the time on the internet looking up things about dog care and guidelines like an over-efficient nerd to make sure she does things right. In fact, it's entirely possible she's playing favorites when it comes to pets, but look, this one is new and far more social and cuddly.

She does at least try to spend time with the cat, but... Smaug is pretty pissed in general about the whole thing. Most of the time this first week or so, he hides and watches or sulks. When it's time to eat, he won't let the dog near him or his food. Mostly, they've kept the dog at bay with his curiosities and much bigger body, letting the pair adjust separately instead of forcing them together to react. The feline spends a lot of time in the guest bedroom, so when the pair leaves the house, they just shut the door to separate the animals for now, just in case. Dog walkers are arranged for when they're not home, regular grooming appointments are made, and a vet is found for initial inspection and tags/microchipping documentation.

Lilith is also allowed to leave the Penthouse un-harrassed now with the rumor change, and she has a lot of catch-up to do at work. Sometimes she takes the dog with her to keep in the loft or back office with her while she does office things, and occasionally, it comes out to visit the customers on the shop floor to their general delight. But standard living and life changes with the introduction of a new family member aren't the only things keeping the couple on their toes. They have a couple of Dreams and odd situations that happen and require addressing in the interim.

The first high school Dream happened before they left, but honestly, as far as such things go, it was pretty benign. Lilith's WAKING from that Dream, however, was very problematic with her adapting a sudden case of windpipe and chest-locking tetanus as a result of something she did while in the Dream. The oddity of it takes a back seat to that panic event which left her convalescing for a bit before the trip to Seattle. The second happens a couple of days after their return.

Byron's not so much a pet person, but he seems to like the dog well enough. Dogs bring that out in people. Especially large dogs. Sirius looked almost like a white wolf which gave it even more of a cool factor and Byron Thorne's the sort of man who enjoys having cool things. Having learned that Easton Marshall was back was something he should've touched upon once arriving back in Gray Harbor. Or even before! But before he can do that, he's swamped with work and has to put it on his to-do list, something that keeps getting pushed back with each and every Dream that he's dragged into.

This second Dream, strangely, another one set in high school has Byron and Lilith reuniting at the prom. Teenage Byron was surprised at the sudden kiss. It made his burn up and his head started spinning. He probably even smiled as they ran for their lives through the gauntlet mix of other fleeing students and the plant creatures within. He could sense the disappointment in the Vice Principal's voice. They were ungrateful kids.

There was a strong mixture of feelings inside of Byron when he'd awoken from that Dream. Both he and Lilith were home at the time, the prom having taken place in the evening for all he knew. He could feel his heart racing and the sweat glistening at his brow as they just scampered through a living vine covered door to safety. Despite that part, he actually came out of it feeling... well. Good. He felt that the interaction between himself and Lilith was a good thing, one that seemed to be growing with every Dream in the same universe, though the Vice Principal was always different. Coming out of the shower, his body still damp, he throws a towel around his waist, before snatching one to dry off his hair and torso, moving from bathroom, through the bedroom and out to the main living space. Was the shower running this whole time...?

"Lil? You okay?"

When the Prom Dream happens and throws Lilith into a teenage situation she never actually was in, having avoided the event in real life, she's in the living room. The woman is laid out on the couch with the dog, feet propped on Sirius like he's a furry curled up foot rest. Her head is against the arm of the leather sectional and a decorative throw pillow, the television is on streaming a show about how things like gummi bears, ipods, and cars are made in factories. It's nice to partially zone out to, so when she comes out of the Dream, she's not sure if she actually dozed off or was snared into some strange.

Hearing Byron call ahead of his hustle out of the bathroom to check on her, the woman blinks a few times and sits up with a bit of a wince and hiss, her body a bit battered and scratched on the arms and shoulders. Seeing and feeling this, she at least knows she didn't fall asleep and have some weird alternate history natural dreaming spell. Then it sinks in with the tone of the man's voice that he must have actually been there too, again. Swinging her feet over the edge of the couch, she catches a lunging dog checkover, the animal sniffing at her scraped shoulder, then her cheek before nudging with nuzzle and sitting back down. Someone was worried and had been pacing the Penthouse on a search the whole time.

"I'm... okay. Just kind of scraped up and battered."

Remembering the last time that this happened, when he had to take Lilith to the hospital for tetanus, Byron wouldn't be able to help himself but to do a thorough inspection of her. It doesn't occur to him to not touch the dog while damp or else he might have dog hair sticking to his wet, slick skin, the still damp man throws the towel he'd been rubbing against his hair to rest on bared shoulders. Seeing that the dog is catering to Lilith as well, he murmurs, "Looks like Sirius and I have the same idea."

Knelt down beside the couch for a time, he pulls himself up to take a seat beside her. "You're not feeling ill like the last time?" He then follows up with, "Remember when we were plagued by childhood Dreams? We've growing up, where the Veil is concerned."

"I don't feel ill, no. Just... like I was attacked and tangled in a tree, I guess. I think a branch got me in the ribs, though." Lilith makes quiet and semi-distracted assurance to Byron while pulling up the white t-shirt she's lounging in with pink terrycloth short shorts. It's typical of what she changes into to watch her shows and unwind with brain off after work. Across her midsection and side, there is a faint bruise imprint, but it's nothing terrible black and blue, just something that stands out on her fair skin. The scratches are mostly on her shoulders and across her collarbone and upper arms, as the branches came down to try and grab her from above while she flailed back before the powerful, raging lash out.

Though some of the thin lashing marks are blotched with drying blood, she really does seem overall fine. But her brows have been furrowed just a touch the whole time she's been seated getting her bearings and letting Byron and the dog check her over. Quietly, she nods a couple of times, tone thoughtful before she looks at the man with a slight smile and hitching small shrug of shoulders, "Yeah. I guess we are. Kind of... mixed bag experience to be in a situation where I actually went to prom."

Leaning over, the woman scoots and curls up against Byron's side with her legs pulling in bend on the couch with the shift of position. She puts her head against his clean bare chest and turns her nose into him for a moment before breathing out a soft sigh, "Kind of a Carrie humiliation thing going there for a while, go figure. Heh." Absently, Lilith start chipping away some pale pink gel polish from one of her fingernails while leaned in bodily against the man for cuddles, and she doesn't seem real happy remembering how it must have felt to be on stage, crowned as a Queen, only to have it taken away and be humiliated and berated.

After a moment of silence, she adds, trying to get a feel for how teenage Byron might have felt about a certain happening, "... but you got a kiss out of it, didn't you?"

A hand traces along the little knicks on Lilith's skin, his touch more gentle when he comes to any bruising. Over all, Byron looks satisfied that she's not suffering from tetanus again, because that was pretty scary. He leans in to first kiss at her collar bone before pressing his lips against the injury at her shoulder, possibly to make it 'all better'. "It is pretty weird, it's almost as if we're given this chance to not only relive but to change our past." Though nothing in their present has changed. "Without really changing our past." He's quick to add with less enthusiasm, "And introduce us to the nightmares that we're experiencing right now in our adult years much earlier."

The whole Prom Queen debacle angered even teenaged Byron in that Dream. "It really was harsh and unfair. And just the kinds of emotions that They want us to feel. The anger and humiliation." His eyes search Lilith's faces for signs of distress or sadness or anything negative. "You were always the most beautiful girl in school. No one can take that away from you, whether you have a pedigree or not." One of his arms snakes around Lilith to pull her in against him, just as he laughs thinking back at some of the awkwardness of high school. "I was over the moon when greeted by that surprise kiss. Right there, in the middle of all that chaos." Eventually, his gaze locks on her eyes and his free hand reaches out to cup, then lift her chin into a tilt as he looms forward for a kiss. "Those teenage hormones, there was something sexy about it all, the kiss coupled with the danger of our situation." As he speaks, his lips brush against hers, his words coming out slow, before he goes in for a proper kiss in full.

"A pedigree. Sounds like dog food." Lilith murmurs to Byron with a bit of a sniff before she looks up to his dark eyes while listening to him speak his piece on exactly how he felt while a teenage version of himself in the Dream, hit by her adrenaline surged, impulsive kiss. With the reach for her chin, her face turns up too, not just her eyes, body shifting with straighten to meet with the man's incoming kiss. Her lips brush in kind as he finishes speaking, then their mouths mesh with full kiss. She draws it out, drinks it in, nothing like the quick mash of furious heat that came with her in another reality. She doesn't have to hurry.

His words in combination with the sensual, loving and longing kiss does make her feel less dumpy and trashy and bad about herself in general as triggered by the Dream. Her arms loop up around his neck and she goes in for another kiss before shifting during to crawl into sideways sit over Byron's towel clad lap, "I just had to do it. Everything else was shit and I was tired of letting it happen and doing so much of it to myself. I hated seeing you there with a stupid date and I didn't want to see it again when we got out, you going to her... so I just... you know. I guess I needed to show you that while I was brave."

Tapering off of the kiss, though, all that speaking done between brushes of lips and nuzzle of noses once her seating has changed, she grows more serious and her voice drops a level.

"Byron..."

Hesitantly after pause, the woman continues, "Does it ever embarrass or disappoint you that I'm not... accomplished? Is it hard to introduce me to people and hear me dance around and call myself a 'small business owner' or 'antique appraiser' instead of saying what I actually am? Everyone in your business circles is so accomplished, I'm sure your other girlfriends were too, and I am... not. It's hard not to feel small about that, sometimes."

The towel shifts on his lap when he finds Lilith hanging out there, but Byron doesn't seem to notice. Instead he relishes in her presence, the kiss, her lips, this very closeness. One of his slightly damp hands reaches out to run his palm over her hair, pushing her locks away from her face. Some of that lingering excitement from his teenage self was burning hot. Listening to Lilith try to explain herself, without pulling away from her lips, she can feel the smile creeping upon his, "You don't have to explain it to me, but I want you to know that we appreciated it."

No one's sure what happened after that moment. What happened to Lilith and Byron once they escaped the prom. That's quite the movie title: Lilith and Byron Escape the Prom. That will be left a mystery for the time being.

Hearing his name and then what might be a painful question for her to ask, the man with the dark eyes doesn't falter in his response. The hand at her hair drops down to rest upon the curve of her shoulder as he stares into her big blue eyes, "Don't think like that. I was in love with you before... before all of this. And I think you're very accomplished." There's no playful teasing, no attempt to steal a kiss when he says this. "You know antiques better than most anyone." Well, OK, with some of Byron's really wealthy crowd, some of them or their parents owned some antiques. "If you wanted to, you could turn that Pawn Shop into an antique shop at any time. A little renovation, some expansion. You're more than just the owner of a Pawn Shop, Lil."

"Technically, I have cheated my way into my expertise to a degree, given the way I can appraise with the aid of ways I can... see the items. But there's still been quite a learning curve from when it was mere hobby and there's been a fair time of exposure and research and discussion to learn with to effect." Lilith says quietly with ceding in her voice after a moment of staring at Byron with sheer affection by the time he's finished speaking with serious answer. She's almost giving herself a compliment now, even if it started a bit self-deprecating. It's much better than her looking like she still feels like "trailer trash" from her time at the prom triggering real world modern worries.

"Laundering money is more profitable with a Pawn, though..."

It's a bit of a reminder that maybe she is limited from altering the shop into something a little more high brow. But it's not something she dwells on, she likes the idea and the encouragement behind it all the same. With Lilith's body now resting over the man's lap, they're close, so close and it's distracting given their last memories in the Dream were fueled by adrenaline and thrilling teenage hormones in the moment they came back together at the lips before fleeing into unknown result.

Lilith's hands start to prowl with rubbing caress over the man's pectorals, his muscled shoulder, his taut and flat stomach, her tone of voice soothed into ease, not worry now, "I don't know what happens after Prom. We did just discuss what I used to imagine would happen, though, didn't we?" The brunette continues to stare at Byron's dark eyes while her lips are touched with smile that only grows the more she speaks. Her eyes drop with brief survey of his lap, one of her hands falling to rub against one of his knees, "I was in a towel the first time we had sex. We were on my couch. Now you're in a towel and I'm in your lap again. We're on your couch... no, our couch. What comes next in our new re-enactment?"

While waiting for Byron to answer, she leans back to pull her shirt up over her head, apparently braless. He can see the full expanse of her battering like this, but it seems to phase her none, forgotten and pushed aside.

"This is still Gray Harbor and people know, you'll still have townies coming in to pawn off their things. And you just accept them. Find ways in which to handle..." The mans voice trails off, "Why don't we just get you another shop. You can have your comfortable pawn shop and your antique shop. Elm isn't the best street for an antique shop though for them to be even remotely connected." He'll say that much. Leaning in for another kiss, "We'll think of something. Figure out a way to get out of the business as well." Illegal business!

Now with Lilith getting more frisky, Byron just lounged back against the couch basking in just how sexy she was. Once her shirt comes off and he's exposed to even more of her wounds, he carefully grazes his lips over them and her bared flesh, trying not to poke her with the trimmed bristles at his chin. His mouth still close to her skin, his chin, his gaze following, to peer up at her features from slightly lowered vantage point. "Aren't we really just moving on from the Prom to the aftermath? Who knows what those crazy kids are doing right now, though I have a good feeling," His eyes lower to stare at her bountiful chest, "It's not too far off from what we've got right here, right now."

His arms reach out to wrap around her, hands brushing against her back as he cradles her close to him in another heated kiss. They were experiencing the Prom Night that they both probably believed they deserved.

Before long, Lilith lifts her hips to lose what's left of her clothing and shifts to straddling hover for untucking the man's towel to put them on pretty even terms of nudity. Then, in the spirit of the first time they had sex in this life too, which happened to be on a couch, the towel situation in reverse, she goads Byron into doing it twice.

Sirius looks up from his nap on the rug next to the couch, nestled between the seating and the coffeetable, cued by the sudden lustful tussling and growing noise. After deciding everything is fine and no one is going to get hurt, he puffs out a sigh from his muzzle and pushes up to go steal the bed in the master for a while. The dog accustoms to this whole very healthy and noisy sex life thing in pretty short order and learns to sleep right through it.

(PS: The cat is still hiding and pouting, not coming out to stare at them. So bitter.)

---

A couple of days later, they have another high school setting Dream (during the night this time) that feels quite real and authentic as their teenage selves while in it, much like the other two. It's the third one that's happened, the second one this week alone. However, unlike the others, they were never quite in any danger, and it was almost fascinating or a bit thrilling, at least on their particular view and front of events during the field trip to the museum. Apparently, her and Byron were re-united quite closely in the Dream setting, and it had all ended with them making out with teenage lust and adrenaline right on the back of the bus.

And maybe it's a damn good thing they're both home and right next to each other on the mattress because it might have been weird otherwise to wake up making out with an invisible person while orienting and trying to re-adjust the body to something non-hormonal in public. Instead, they wake up practically lips to lips and it really doesn't quite hit Lilith that she's even fully awake or went anywhere when the Dream snared with them in bed. Instead, after a pause, she resumes right at Byron's mouth, starting to roll over atop him under the sheets with sudden impatient intensity while they're mouth-meshed.

Playfully, she rolls again to try and bring him atop her once she has a grip on his body from lay astride, trying to use her weight to flip their position with a subtle noise of moan and delight into the man's mouth. However, they're soon interrupted when the dog hears them from across the Penthouse where he'd been looking for them after they went into Dreamland. Unlike the cat who either notices or doesn't notice and merely stares when they return, the canine is far more attuned to both noticing their absence and obsessively waits for them to return while confused about the general sudden wrongness of it. He'd been dozing on the bedroom couch when it happened.

Sirius launches himself onto the bed and immediately shoves his nose down to start sniffing them both with investigative rushed nature.

If a quick, terror-fueled kiss at the Prom was enough to light a fire within them on waking, a teenage makeout session in the back of a school bus was a whole different monster all together. 'Waking up' from that sort of Dream, one which was probably cut off before they made it back to school, brought along the strong emotions and physical responses caused by it. The bedroom, in itself, was dark, so it takes some time for Byron's eyes to adjust, but with Lilith sleeping so close, it doesn't take long. Especially not once their lips are locked, his own hands reaching to explore her body like a horny teenager. He smiles up at her in the darkness when she crawls atop him, both of his hands at her hips, then again when he feels her leaning into a roll, being playfully guided to switching positions so that looms over her, still with that sense of elation.

Allowing his hands to do further exploring, he leans in forward to take her mouth hotly with his own just when he feels some motion at one end of the bed and something burying itself within their blanket. In that instance, Byron practically forgot that they got a dog. Hell, even the cat was far from his mind, so when the dog is doing a crawl and sniff at them under the covers, the man quickly reaches one hand to protect Lilith with while the other snatches the blanket up to tear up off of them to reveal.... a ghost. dog. A ghostly dog.

It takes a moment still for things to fully dawn on him, but when they do and his eyes stare out at the opened door leading to the darkened hall, he just has to murmur, "Next time we lock that damn door."

Honestly, Lilith forgot about the dog too, she's still somewhere in the haze of orienting slowly given the willing distraction of continuing where the Dream left off. Her legs bend and slide up against the man's hips with slow upward drag of soft inner thigh flesh at his skin. She's so caught up in residual adrenaline and building lust, she doesn't notice the weight change on the bed (fancy memory foam). But when the blanket rustles and she gets that first dose of dog nose poked on her with snuffle, Byron's body is suddenly curled with holding leg lock of startled grab and a small, helpless squeak of surprise.

Suddenly, the woman remembers Sirius exists and relaxes her cling of legs around Byron, though she doesn't remove them. Breaking into laughter, she throws her arms up around Byron's neck and shoulders, trying to speak through her bout of amusement, "For one second, I thought it was a direwolf and I was still asleep, jeeeeeeesus Sirius!" While holding onto the man, she's essentially trying to shy away from all the snuffling nose action while her laughter turns into tickled giggles. Then she looses a hand to take to swatting the dog lightly away, "We're okay! Go-go! Go lie down, we need mommy daddy time."

As the dog obediently bounds off of the bed with satisfaction that his new family is unharmed, Lilith realizes what she just said aloud and points a finger with warning at Byron before he can tease her about baby talk to the dog, "Shush."

No, Byron isn't really angry at the intruding dog despite the tone which may use. Watching the interaction between both Lilith and Sirius was quite the treat. Once the dog scrambles off the bed, hearing its nails tapping against the floor, there's a moment of pause before Byron bursts with a wide smile to go with an amused chuckle. He was still hovering over Lilith on the bed, long bangs falling over his brows and partially into his eyes when he laughs.

This interruption does give him enough time to fully comprehend what had just happened to them and where they'd been. Three times already they'd been pulled into this high school dream as it gradually unfolded.

Having been shushed, besides having just cracked up a few seconds ago, Byron won't tease her about the way she speaks to the dog, even though she can already tell that that's part of why he's so amused. Then again, it could be the scene in its entirety. Leaning down to kiss her on the lips, he gets off of her for now, resting on his side while keeping her in his arms. "Do you think we have anything to be worried about? Three times already. Each time hotter than the last." His voice quiets when he says this, though she might be able to sense a hint of smirk in his tone.

"I love it when you laugh. You know, the real one, not the show one."

Unfurling her legs, Lilith speaks soft and fond adoration, then rolls with Byron into his arms' hold when he adjusts to lay out on his side to look at her and talk, face tilting up with residual amused coo of noise into the kiss on the way. Reaching up to stroke her hand along the man's jawline, she thinks about his question quite visibly, then takes to brushing the pad of her thumb with feathering skim of touch along the bottom curve of the man's lip. After making a ponderous noise, she drops her hand to fan fingers out against his throat to slowly drag down over his adam's apple, then tickling at the hollow of his collarbone.

"I don't think so..." After a few bats of her lashes in the low light, she looks at Byron's dark eyes more directly, "It's admittedly dangerous, I got sick and hurt emotionally and physically, sure. I don't think... it means anything for our memories as they are, though. At least, it doesn't feel that way to me. Maybe whatever snags us there just likes the bulk teenage panic and overwhelming emotions to go with the danger of being rash teenagers with bad decisions and unpredictable powers."

After drawing in a breath, Lilith can't help but smile while rubbing her hand around to the back of the man's neck to draw him in for a kiss, warning, "If it keeps on this track, though, we'll probably be idiot teenage parents in the next. I don't even know what we would have done with all that on our plate suddenly. But we're pretty good at managing when we stick together, I think there's a chance we probably wouldn't resent too much." There's a considering pause, then she nips down bite on his bottom lip as punctuation, "You'd be the knight in shining armor stepping up to take care of us by any means... and I'd have been one hell of a momma bear, grrr."

Byron makes this quizzical expression. "When do I ever laugh for show? That's a rare sight to behold." Though in his business, maybe it's not so rare.

Relaxing in each other's arms, the man listens to Lilith's take on the situation and how she feels about these high school Dreams. His own opinions on these Dreams were rose-tinted because of the satisfaction that it gave not only the teenage boy in the Dream, but for himself on waking. He actually got the girl in the end.. and then some, from what the field trip Dream more than hints at. Feeling the gentle touch against his skin, trailing fingertips over his jawline then down his neck to his shoulders, he visually takes the woman in in this darkness, studying her face now in this close proximity now that his eyes have adjusted to the dark.

"Makes me wonder if they get a kick out of not just our fear, but that they feed off of everything. Our anger, our lust. That said, I wouldn't mind Dreams with more of the latter there." There's a smile on his lips as she draws him in for that kiss, the edges tugging further at her warning. "I was already working two jobs at that time." Then he remembers what happened to get him to go to college and he has to ponder on this. "But you're right, we'd make things work somehow." At least for Byron, his father was dead. That shackle was no longer holding him back during that time in their lives.

His lips murmur even as she nips at him, "I'm just waiting for a final boss battle or something. That's what concerns me. I guess, we could bring it up with the others, but these Dreams are so scattered with people coming and going through each of them."

"... don't call it a final boss battle, that makes me too excited against my logical will." Lilith chides Byron with a hint of a smile despite the fact she's actually kind of serious about the way it sparked something inside her, just the very idea of it. That's not very normal, but then, it might not be entirely her own personal mindset considering that mark left on her by the Vivisectionist. Then after stealing another kiss, she starts to turn over and around in the man's arms while talking, settling herself so that she's nestled back and ass into him while guiding his hands over her stomach and the curve of a breast.

"I know what you mean, though. If I was going to guess, we have to defeat the principle and head enemy or something... that's how teenage group situations always go in the shows and movies, isn't it? We could talk to the others, sure. I don't think it's something we can really plan for or strategize against, though. We don't have adult memories in the Dream to remember anything we plan. We're just going to do whatever the teenage brain thinks to do, I bet." Pausing a moment, Lilith puffs out air over her lips before tacking out a bit dryly, "... so yeah, we might be doomed."

"So in case we're doomed..." Stealing a glance back over her shoulder, Lilith's backside grinds against Byron intimately with pleasured, anticipating writhe, "Wanna do me a favor and fuck me while you're back there?"

"My blood-lust fueled bride." Byron murmurs close against her ear, his arm wrapped around her waist to draw her up against him. The man, himself, isn't often pushed to blood lust against he feels that he's slighted in a very big way. Or that there's a threat to not only him, but to Lilith now too. Nuzzling his cheek against her hair, he's quick to state, "I'll have you know that I'm sure I was a very clever teenager.. who's hormones were running rampant at the time."

Speaking of hormones running rampant...

Even before her request, she may have felt him poking out at he; the hot emotions from the Dream he'd just woken up from sparking his own passion from just being awake, naked and in bed with Lilith. There's the briefest glance at the clock. He had a lot of time before he needed to wake up. The hand around her waist glides down her body sensually tease at her as he positions himself, shifting in alignment behind her. If their last sexual encounter on the couch after the Prom Dream was their after prom celebration, then what was this? It didn't matter. He's not thinking of his teenage self or high school or Dreams right now. Not when taking Lilith from behind as they both ride out their Dream high was his top priority.

Lilith purrs back at Byron when he uses the words 'my bride' no matter what adjective is between them, then gasps as they're joined body to body. While teenage Lily very much wanted a teenage Byron right on the back of the bus, she has the man himself behind her now. She feels the bristles of his beard catch in her hair and rub with sting on her bare shoulder, the hold of his arm and grip and slide of his hands is strong and sure.

Byron feels like a man in all the right ways and Lilith appreciates him like a woman should.

---

The next day, they take a trip to the records office at City Hall, but end up in the office of the Archivist. They learn the creature is interested in having Byron's family heirloom wedding dress, currently in his possession at the Penthouse. Initially, there's not a lot of mulling over it. Lilith is a little quiet afterwards for the rest of the day, but she swears she's fine with a smile every time she gets prodded, eyed, or asked. By the time the Addington House tour comes the day after that and they learn some interesting information to pursue with curiosity. Not only that, they also hit a snag in the wedding dress trade plans-- Claire Addington's ghost is pining over the missing dress and they've been advised by the Exorcist not to give it over to the Archivist.

When it's over they no doubt need to have a conversation or two... or three.