2021-11-13 - A Mooooving dream.

Ravn is officially not impressed. He is also not very surprised, given that after a year and a bit in Gray Harbor the Veil sure as heck knows where the cracks in his spiritual armour are. It's the jacket he's got issues with -- an ankle long, neon pink affair that no doubt would cost a small fortune from a designer. He's fashion savvy enough (thank you, girlfriends former and present) to recognise that his usual jeans and turtleneck combo have been replaced by similar but far higher end, too, and those shoes definitely were never taken for a dirty walk in the mud of Firefly Forest.

Also, he's at Sitka. At the Casino. A place he does his very best to avoid at all times. Looking around himself as if wondering what the bloody hell this is about, with the expression of a man who expects it to start raining dead dogs or axe murderers any second now. "Great, just great."

It wasn’t that Amber didn’t have a cocktail dress or three at home, but she didn’t really recognize the off-the shoulder little black number she was in, its skirts somewhat sloped from above the knee in the front to a calf-length trail in the back. Her hair was likewise well-done-up in gentle waves, with some understated gold hoops, a glittery choker, and some strappy heels.

She looked a tad confused, glancing this way and that, maybe wondering if she were here to meet someone. She checks the clutch she has with her, maybe if she could find her phone.

The noise level drops for just a moment, and that's when Perdita makes her grand entrance. Wearing a striking, sweeping strapless hot pink gown that nips in at her slender waist and enhances the curves of bust and hip subtly, her long dark hair is swept up into a seemingly effortless curly updo that only further emphasizes her bare shoulders. A small clutch purse dangles from her fingertips as she slinks across the restaurant's floor to Ravn's side, carefully slipping her arm into his as she does, before she says, in a very soft voice, "What fresh gay hell is this?"

Finding herself in a strange upper class restaurant all of the sudden Fae seems a bit taken aback, a few dozen blinks later the country girl is sort of lostly observing her surroundings and her surprisingly extravagant outfit. A gilded golden gown ruffled with fanciful feathers rests over her as she eventually clops on in rocking a matching set of metallic sandals fitted with little wings, pair of feather earrings that would probably be worn by someone three tax brackets above her own hang from her ears. "This Arby's is really fancy..." she murmurs, for some reason assuming she's out to get fast food from a Michelin star eatery.

"It's the kind of fresh gay hell where not only am I wearing a hot pink trenchcoat but apparently I am dressed to match my date", Ravn murmurs back to Perdita -- and then winces because at least he saw her coming and hence, managed to not scream in his outside voice when she grabbed his arm.

He manages to offer a friendly nod to Amber as she walks past -- he can't remember the woman's name offhand nor where they met, but he's pretty certain that they have met. And the woman with her -- not someone he's seen before, but she's here, and that means she's probably as confused as everyone else.

The menu. The menu. The Dane stares at it. And then looks at his apparent date. "I don't know about you," he says, through clenched teeth. "But this? This emphasis on steak? Trust me, I'm a folklorist. Let's ask for the vegetarian option." If his voice is loud enough to drift to the other table? All the better.

This was just weird enough that Amber didn’t really have an idea what to do but follow along, trading a slightly confused glance with Fae, who she didn’t recognize but was somehow in the same boat as her? Date? Amber hadn’t had a date in months. And there was all that lost time. When Ravn spots her and nods, she nods back. She recognizes him and smiles pleasantly, enough. He had been in the news! Still, as she takes her seat and looks at the menu, there’s a moment of flipping, where she seems to be trying to find a section not really dedicated to meat. All high class places had a vegetarian option in her experience.

“Um, I’ll just have a glass of wine? I’ll just wait for them to arrive.” If they arrive. Wow, what if she dressed up like this to get stood up?

This seems like real life so Fae accepts it as such, she's not sure how she got here but whatever as long as she isn't paying for it. "Date? Oh..." she brightens her eyes with a bubbly twinkle as she approaches the cute little corner table the waiter escorts her to and takes a seat. Folding her legs as properly as she can and trying to meld in with the classy scene. "I can't believe he got reservations at something this fancy, I would have been fine with a taco stand...not that I'm complaining." she murmurs, mostly to herself.

Her hands eagerly reach out and takes the menu, her eyes scanning over it as she starts to formulate her choices. "Wine? Oh, there's wine?" yeah Fae, it's a nice place, they have wine. "Yeah, lets do wine." that's not very specific on the selection, ordering just wine is a bit vague so she whispers over to the waiter. "The cheaper stuff." as discreetly as she can manage, trying not to put her date in the poor house or seem like she's taking advantage of them.

"You would think your dreams would at least allow you to handle being touched." Perdita whispers to Ravn, carefully releasing his arm as she smiles brightly around the room and to the waiter, looking every bit the happy young woman with a handsome young man on a lovely date. "Thank you, he's such a gentleman to humor my choices, isn't he?" she asks the waiter, accepting the menu and glancing over it. Her expression never changes as she looks up to smile at Ravn, "Someday I need to teach you Kalderás." she remarks, innocently. "I always choose vegetarian options." Which isn't true in the slightest, but it's juuuust loud enough to carry to others, as well, as her dark eyes wander the room, clocking the people Dreaming, like them, before her voice drops lower, "I see at least two others, you?"

“Um, the house white would be fine.” Another traded glance with Fae, like Amber were trying to be helpful and suggest the nicer way to say ‘the cheapest’. She sets her menu down closed and flat, sitting back in her seat and arranging her skirts as she crosses her legs, then folding her fingers together in her lap to wait patiently.

But then she sees a cow just walked right out onto the floor of the restaurant, and her jaw falls open in shock.

"I know I've seen the brunette before, and the redhead seems to shine, too," Ravn murmurs back. "And you could always learn Danish -- but with our luck, the waiter would speak both."

The cow is lead in. The Dane falls quiet and stares at it. He blinks. And then says, "Heaven knows I've had the ill fortune of visiting some upscale places in my time, and I know that picking out your live fugu fish is a thing in Tokyo, but it's the first damn time I've heard of butchering the cow at the table."

He stares at Perdita, for once at a loss. "Loudly proclaim ourselves PETA ambassadors or just flat nope out? The only way through a dream is... through."

"I don't know what a Flap wine is." Fae low-key grimaces over to Amber who quickly comes in with the save suggesting the house white instead. "Yeah, white, that sounds good." crisis averted, she wipes her brow with the back of her hand soon after, collecting the nervous -I don't know how to eat at a place like this- sweat from her forehead.

"Thanks." she simply tells Amber with a warmhearted smile before her attention is grabbed by the cow and she curiously eyes whatever is going on over there. "Wow, this place is really something." somehow this still seems legit from her perspective.

"I'm... suddenly considering vegetarianism forever." Perdita whispers to herself, her eyes round as saucers, before she remembers she's basically on a grift at the moment. "I'm suddenly feeling very faint and think I need some fresh air." Dita tells the waiter. In fact, she does look several shades paler than she did a few seconds ago. She rises, glancing at Ravn, and begins moving, the long spill of her dress hitched up in one hand to reveal a pair of black stilettos with a hot pink sole, toward the nearest balcony or exit where she can get away from the staff for a second and breathe. Judging from the way her waist is nipped in, she might be the one wearing a corset in this dream, at least.

Flabbergasted, Amber at least tells Fae, “S-sure, anytime.” With a brief look toward the other girl before looking back to the situation unfolding, “‘Something’ is about right.” When their dates arrive? Amber is a little wary, but the crook at the edge of her lips tell a story that she actually isn’t that put out. They seemed cute. But... twins? Her hackles were slightly up, but she allowed the cheek kiss. She smiles politely, looking down at the box.

“Oh, that’s so sweet, but...” And there’s blood goblets being delivered and now there was an indignant ghost cow, and somehow Amber was starting to just blink slowly as it all seems just so overwhelming. She starts to go a little pale herself.

Ravn decides to get up and offer at least moral support (he's pretty useless in a fight and frankly expects Perdita to have far more punch with a stiletto heel than he could ever manage). "I'm not a bloody vampire," he announces to the waiter. "If I'm drinking wine, it better have come out of a grape and still smell like French feet."

Suddenly, apparition. Some men might jump out of their skin at the sight of one. Some might not recognise it for what it is. And some men might just roll their eyes and say, "You want us to eat your grandson? What does your grandson think about that? 'Moo'?"

"... are you fucking kidding me." Perdita draws up short in front of the cowpparition, "Guruv Shimulo." she mutters, glancing over her shoulder at Ravn and the two other girls, "I'm saying he's too good for me, you don't want me to eat him, I buy my steak from... from Wal-Mart! These aren't even really Louboutins, and I'm pretty sure this dress isn't real designer! He deserves to be eaten by someone of a higher class!"

This is the point where things finally cascade into a flurry of not quite adding up to the country girl. "Oh...uh..." she can't help but just stare at the date that she was assuming was going to be someone else entirely. "Do I, um, know you?" she's flat out asks, not having seen the pair of twins before in her life as her levels of -what the hell- continue to rise. As the waiter sets the blood goblets down on the table she eyes them suspiciously "I thought we ordered the white...is this the flappy one?".

Her brain is probably about to explode as she sets the gift on her lap aside. "I don't think I can accept a gift from someone I don't even know, I'm sorry." she mentions to her date trying to hand back whatever it is that's she's being offered. The words -Do you know these guys- are mouthed over to Amber with an uncomfortable look.

The summoned cowparition suddenly popping up certainly doesn't help the matter of Fae thinking she's lost her marbles. "Okay...um...just be cool." she tells herself, not being cool at all in the process.

Granny Ghost gets the side eye -- all the steel grey side eye that Ravn can muster. And as he's standing up already, slipping out of that dark pink, eye attracting, flaming fashion disaster he's wearing is not a problem. He wraps it over one arm -- and then swings it at the nearest cow like a toreador on ritalin. "You there! Do things! Or get on the damn table, and I'll ride you home!"

Someone's watched too much Dennis O'Leary in his time. Or too much Spanish TV. Or both.

There is a plastered smile on Amber’s face the type that shows she has no idea what on earth to make of those earrings. She puts them back in the box and sets them aside before looking and noticing Fae. There’s that subtle girl-in-the-club-sisterhood-subtext language that Amber understands enough to communicate just as subtlety with a slight shake of her head to Fae. She had to think fast on this one, if the other girl was uncomfortable, and Amber was just completely confused, maybe this was a good time for a...

“Would you excuse us a moment?” She asks innocently, trading glances with Fae, then putting a hand out as if expecting the other girl to take hers. She glances to the waiter, still using that painted on smile that’s too polite to show she was secretly screaming inside. She was getting up and hopefully Fae would follow. “Ladies room?” She asks.

Fae's face meets her palm, at this point entirely sure she's just lost every last marble she has. "It's finally happened...I'm insane now." she sighs, defeatedly resting her head on the table as she can no longer compute the situation she still believes is some form of reality. "This is how it happens huh? You're just there one day and the next everyone is a cow-puddle-man-thingy-ghost." don't you hate it when that happens?

"I think I need a drink." she exhales, grabbing the one available without thinking twice and nearly taking a swig, before Amber saves her from that disaster and the pair try and make their way to the bathroom. "Yeah, we should probably freshen up a bit, right?" there isn't much hiding the fact that that's girl code for -run away and never look back-

"Did somebody fall asleep watching the Home Shopping Network on Steak Night or something?" Dita asks no one in particular, even as she begins going through the process of hitching her skirt up enough to wrap that ridiculous train around one arm to keep it out of the way, since she's pretty sure there's very-little-to-nothing under this gown to preserve her modesty if she rips it off right now. "I finally get to wear a nice dress, go out on a night on the town with a handsome man who's dressed to match me, and rather than getting to enjoy it, I have to deal with sentient cows and their ghostly relatives demanding I eat them. I... demand to speak to the manager!"

"... Olé?"

If there was ever a situation that Ravn lost control of, this is it. He does his best to throw his super fash hot pink designer coat over the head of the cow hurtling towards Fae and Amber -- which says a fair bit about his confidence in Perdita's ability to Karen her way out of this mess. Or maybe it's just that there's five hundred kilos of prime beef thundering towards two innocent women and one could technically argue that it's his fault. "Look out!"

The coat, of course, goes wide. But the chair over there, is now very subdued. Not attacking anyone, that chair. Enope. Blind.

Amber was still all smiles, lacing her fingers through Fae’s and trying to make for the bathroom, or back room, and really just the back door. When she realizes there was a cow rushing them, there’s a moment of panic... then a moment of calm. She drags on Fae’s hand to get her behind and safe, and then she touches her own throat, letting her eyes close as she sets her feet.

Just when the cow was close, she punches. You wouldn’t think a girl the size of Amber could throw a punch that would stop a full sized cow, but there was a sickening crack as it hits the thing square in the forehead and it seems to deflect off of her and to the side.

Watching Amber spring into action at the oncoming bovine barreling towards the pair Fae meeps and steps behind her, a wide-eyed shock on her features as the other girl throws a haymaker into the cow and stops it in it's tracks. "Okay, this isn't normal." she announces, thank you Captain obvious. "Um...um...um..." her hand start frantically rummaging through her purse, searching for something as hastily as she can. "...where is it?" she dumps the contents of the thing onto the ground as makeup and a multitude of receipts spill out along with her phone.

She re-actively grabs up the device, but it obviously isn't what she was even looking for. "What the hell?" she's blatantly flustered at this point. "Wait...this is a dream isn't it? I always have a gun in my purse." that was the straw that broke the cows back apparently, all of the asinine abominations and ghosts didn't thrust her into that realization, but her lack of a revolver in her clutch bag 100% solidified that she was in fact dreaming. "This dream sucks, I wanted Arby's" someone is getting a terrible dream-yelp review later.

Well, going Karen didn't work. She's clearly the wrong ethnicity for that to work to her advantage, what was she thinking. Perdita groans, looking on at everyone else doing weird shit. Spotting the other twin, still in human form, Perdita walks up to him and tilts her head. "You seem to know what's going on here, can you... explain... all of this?" she gestures with one manicured hand at the sheer chaos taking place. "Why does your ghostly grandmama want us to eat your... cousin and also your... twin brother?"

What's fun when you have raging neuropathy?

That's right. Smashing head first into a glass table.

He may be the right ethnicity for a full Karen moment (man's pasty white, Karen is a Danish name, he is Danish) but the opportunity is missed -- just as the table isn't. This is going to require bandaids. But at least Perdita can verify from nearby that he does in fact not bleed blue.

“You know what? Today sounds like a good cheat day.” Amber remarks, looking down at her own fist, which looked minorly grazed, but mostly ok. She was shaking it out, though, like she was trying to wake it up. She looks to Fae, then offers her hand again as sort of a lifeline to another real person. Buddy system, safer that way. Also it wasn’t the hand that just cracked a cow skull, because that would be awkward. As if clinging to reality, she looks over at the phone in the red-head’s hand and makes a gesture with her chin.

“Where’s the closest Arby’s?” Because hopefully it wasn’t actually here, and maybe they could get to a car or something and drive away once they made it out the back door.

"Uh... huh. Welp, my date just went through a table, so this is basically like half the dates I've been on in the past six years. I should also probably be a cow but I swear by all that is holy if this dream turns me into a cow I'm going to stampede and shit on everything." Perdita picks her way across the broken glass, kneeling next to Ravn with grace and ease, sighing. "Are you alright?" she asks softly, looking down at her friend with a mixture of exasperation and concern.

"You shouldn't ever ask me for direction, I get lost in walk in closets sometimes." Fae chirps back to Amber, knowing full well she has no idea how to get back to that Arby's she's been to all of one time. The little hamster wheel in her brain starts turning belatedly as she tries to google maps some Arby's directions but seems to be having trouble. "I can't get any reception in here, I'm not sure they have cell towers in places that are in dreams." it's doubtful, that type of phone plan would certainly cost extra if it was offered.

"Um...wait?" she turns her attention to the twin who is talking about how they need to be eaten to get into heaven. "So you, like, what?" she vaguely asks, placing her phone back in her purse and arching her eyebrow before her hand goes up dismissively fluttering away whatever he's going on about so she can get down to the real prime beef. "How do we get out here dream cow guy? Also, directions to the Arby's would be appreciated."

Well, it was only a matter of time before Ravn splattered his room in his and Aidan's house on Oak Street in blood, wasn't it? Good thing that Aidan Kinney is in fact a healer, and a pretty damned skilled one, at that.

Here's to hoping there won't be too much scarring. And that the ER crew will believe him when he claims that he was in fact not self-harming. He just got slashed across the arms and chest. A lot. With glass shards. While home. Alone.

Popping back into the room she's staying in Fae immediately reaches over to the nightstand and checks her purse. "Oh good, I'm actually awake now." that's how you can tell if your dreaming or not kids, just see if you've got your piece on you. "I'm never eating Arby's again..." she murmured. "...or at least not for a week." Arby's takes the full blame for all that bull that just happened. "...maybe just a small curly fry next Tuesday." she haggles with herself before getting back to sleep and pulling the covers over her head.