Honestly, Hatch was surprised it had taken her housemates a full two weeks to throw a party. She’d been in desperate need of a release, and she’d been around for a week longer than most of them. But then again, she reminded herself, her housemates seemed to have a slightly better relationship with their families than Hatch did. Classes had only been back a week, and that was probably the most stressful thing most of them wanted to escape.

Hatch had left it until the last minute to leave to go home, and she’d come back as soon as possible. And even then, the few weeks she’d been home had been insufferable. Her oldest brother had announced his engagement, which had just resulted in more boring parties with her parents, where she was expected to drink wine and make polite conversation and wear a dress that made her look like every other businessman’s trophy daughter. Her father’s latest attempt at setting her up with some nice businessman’s son had backfired, even if the conversation had lasted a full ten minutes longer than usual. Her parents had spent the time they weren’t gushing about her brother and how wonderful this was for the family making strained conversation with Hatch about college. Her mother had brought her shopping, which had been an ill-fated attempt at converting Hatch to a more “appropriate” style of dressing. Hatch had, at least, gotten some new shirts out of it.

So when her housemates had suggested a party, Hatch had nearly fainted with relief. She’d gotten the word out among her friends and had even helped decorate a bit. They’d told everyone to bring their own drinks, but still had a ready stash of spirits and mixers, just in case, and had plenty of food to go around. They knew nobody was coming for the food, but also knew that it would be appreciated. Especially by whatever dumb freshmen would probably show up on an empty stomach. It always happened.

But It almost seemed like everybody had forgotten the events that had gone down shortly before Christmas. It seemed to just be another one of those events that was hot on everybody’s lips for a few weeks before fading into legend. Of course, a student being found dead on campus seemed to deserve a slightly more prominent place in everyone’s mind. Especially when it was clear they were murdered. The police were still around, asking questions, and there was a much tighter security presence on campus after dark. But if they hadn’t gotten the answers they needed before Christmas, they more than likely weren’t going to get the answers they wanted now, and the event had turned into a source of gossip.

“I heard he was in trouble with a gang,” one of Hatch’s roommates declared from where she lay on Hatch’s bed. Hatch raised an eyebrow, glancing at Lotta. “Drugs, guns, the whole thing.”
“I heard it was a cult.” Francis appeared from nowhere at Hatch’s door.
“A cult, Francie? Really?” Hatch laughed, leaning in to finish applying her lipstick.
“Yeah. Satanists.”
“Pretty sure his death wasn’t ritualistic enough for it to be a cult,” Lottie remarked.
“He pissed them off and they snapped. James says a senior approached him and tried to talk him into going to some service and then when he refused, the guy got really pissed off. He definitely seemed capable of murder.”
“Or, you know, it was just a mugging,” Hatch remarked, raising an eyebrow and turning around to face them and taking a sip from her Jack and Coke. “Sometimes things are just painfully ordinary and boring.”

Ordinary and boring. Two things Hatch was determined to never be. Her dress was another present from her mother. It had been pointedly laid out for her before one of the many parties she’d been forced to attend, and was one of very few outfits that her mother picked out for her that Hatch actually liked. However, Hatch took comfort in the fact that she was pretty sure her mother wouldn’t have liked her shoes or her makeup, and relished that.

Even though the party was in her own apartment, Hatch waited until it sounded like there were plenty of people there before making her appearance. Looking like she’d been waiting for everyone else would just make her look desperate, so she waltzed out of her bedroom and scanned the party with a raised eyebrow. It seemed that everyone else had been as excited for the party as they had been. She made her way over to the kitchen to pour herself another Jack and Coke (heavy on the whiskey, of course), where she positioned herself to continue scanning the room and either find a familiar face or someone who at least looked interesting.

The past few weeks had been the epitome of miserable to say the very least, as Beau had gone back home to see her family for the holidays. Home. Such an odd word used in that sort of context for her since she started attending Cascadia, which had since long become her home in the past four years. Going back to that old and empty building that she was forced to call home was something she never looked forward to if she was being honest. While sure her siblings were fine enough for her to deal with, especially her older twin sister Hidie and Lizzy, and her oldest brother Thomas who had always come by for the holidays and birthdays, it was the rest of her siblings and her parents that made things a living hell for her. When at home, she had to pretend like she was like all the rest, a prestigious and self righteous assholes that she was forced to call family. Sure, they were blood but by the end of the day, she had nothing in common with any of them, as well as Beau had always been looked over and talked over and ignored, just like always. Even with it having been her birthday that they were all celebrating this time. Things were just always the same to her, never getting better.

Of course, much to her dismay, her parents constantly asked her how her classes were going and even went as far to ask Beauregard to demonstrate her powers in summoning a spirit at one of their dinner parties to show how well her schooling was going at the school. Thankfully, before anything could really be done or an even bigger fit could be started, her older sister Elizabeth had started up a conversation about how she had started her own business in the past few months and how things were taking off without a hitch. Her own weird way of trying to change the subject and move things off her sister’s shoulders. It was only in times like this where she was glad to be spoken over and ignored, her studies and progress at Cascadia were anything but lackluster and she really didn’t want to try and prove that the money they were using for her to be at the academy was being used for nothing. Maybe having a telepath as a sister really was a benefit to her. But it didn’t matter, soon enough her parents would find out that she was almost entirely flunking out of her arcane classes and was strictly making it by in Cascadia due to her diligence and dedication to the basic classes she was taking. Sometimes taking human classes was worth it.

Time couldn’t have passed by sooner for her as it was time to head back to the academy and Beau couldn’t have been happier. Getting on one of the earliest buses back to Washington the moment the chance had arisen and Beau was gone out of New Orleans like a bat out of hell. Going back to the academy meant she had her classes to focus on, as well as being back to the place she considered home, as well as being with her friends again was a welcoming sight for her. Arriving two days before classes would start up again after the holiday wasn’t much a surprise for her, nor was it uncommon for a few students to be back early, even with what happened on the school grounds a few weeks prior. Beau knew things were weird in Cascadia, obviously, but murder? That wasn’t a normal thing to happen here. Sure, people would occasionally go missing or be pranked and hazed, just like any school, but murder? That even made her skin crawl, for more than a few reasons. What bothered her more than what would concern others, was that when people died on the school grounds, they’d stay there. Just like any other place. But with her specific abilities, Beau tended to see the ghosts and spirits more often than others did, it was almost like she was a walking magnet and they seemed to gravitate towards her. Even during classes and exams, or even when she was in the library to study or simply read in her spare time, she could hear the voices of the undead. Even the medication she had been given wasn’t working to help with the sleep at least, which she knew it wouldn’t work.

At least she had her work to go back to and preoccupy herself with, so things weren’ so bad. Not until she had heard word of a party that some students were working on, and she knew full well what was to come when Hatch came running up to her with that damned smile of her’s. Beau had insisted on not going, it just didn’t sit right with her, especially now after a student had just been murdered, sure she didn’t know the person, but it still felt wrong. But she knew it was an attempt at helping people move on and forget and get passed the death of someone people knew. However shotty of an attempt it was. But in the end, of course Hatch got her way, as she always did, and ended up agreeing to go to the damned party. Only under one condition, Beau got to leave when she wanted to, she really didn’t want to have to carry Hatch’s drunken ass back to her room yet again. Even if Beau was also drunk half the time, but not as much as her friend ended up being, her anxiety had a good way of keeping her sober when she had to bring someone back to their dorm after a party.

This one wasn’t going to be any different Beau figured. She’d show up, entertain her friend(s) for a few hours at most, have a few drinks, make an absolute dumbass of herself as always and end up calling it a night early. Almost became routine for her at this point. Beau had woken up a bit later than she planned, jumped into the shower and got dressed for the party as her roommate had already left for the party or wherever they went off too. Beau didn’t really care much if she was being honest, she got ready faster by herself anyway. Tossing together a random outfit and shoes, and tying her hair into a small bun and she was ready to go. She didn’t really care much for how she looked, with just the slightest bit of makeup (bare minimum) and she was ready to go. Grabbing her phone and earbuds as she listened to some random 80’s rock music as she shuffled her way down to Hatch’s place where the so called party was being held.

Thankfully, the walk wasn’t very far and she made it within a few minutes, at least forty minutes late, which was a new record for her. Usually she was later than this, but people could deal. Not like her presence would be very missed if she didn’t show up. She was easily missible in a crowd, all she’d get the next day would be Hatch bitching at her for ditching last minute. Which, she could deal with, she always had, and always would. Beau let herself into Hatch’s place and immediately stopped as she saw just how many students had already been there and it was far more than she was expecting. Beau made a straight b-line for a familiar face that she saw across the room, weaving in between groups of students that were dancing to the music and drinking whatever type of alcoholic cocktail they may have been indulging in. Beau almost fell straight into the other woman as she pushed herself passed a few meathead jocks as she made her way to the target. “Well holy shit, Hatch. Think enough people showed up to this?” Beau said with her usual sarcastic tone as she leaned against the counter top for a moment. Scanning the room for a moment before she looked back over at her friend, “I hope you know I was actually considering to just ditch this party, so you should be happy I even decided to grace you with my presence that I knew you’d so obviously miss.” Beau said with a small smirk, before turning to fetch herself a drink. “So, what kind of fascinating things happened for you over the holiday? I’m sure it was so very thrilling. Can’t say the same for me though...You know how it is.” she retorted as she sipped her drink, eyeing the crowds of people in the room. She didn’t belong here, she never belonged in crowds. It was only a certain amount of time before she made a fool of herself or did something stupid, and she was slowly growing more nervous as time went on.

xx
Monet’s family had never been the wealthiest, so when winter break came around, they had to decide if they wanted to spend the money they had on an airplane ticket, or save it so their funds wouldn’t go low. It had been Monet’s first Christmas away from home, and they would be lying if they said the experience hadn’t made them question their decision to go to university so far from home. It was a little eerie, staying on the nearly empty campas so soon after someone had been murdered, but they took some solace in the fact that they weren’t truly alone, even if it felt like it at times.

Monet was genuinely thrilled when people started coming back towards the end of the break. It had been hard, not being around their family over such a big holiday, so the influx of their friends returning was heartening, to say the least.

After classes had resumed, life seemed to just carry on as usual. It was sometimes a little difficult to catch up with others after a break; everyone was busy trying to get back on schedule, and Monet was no exception. While they hadn’t gone home over the break, they hadn’t spent their time being particularly productive, either. They spent most of their time over break watching Netflix and face timing their little sister. Monet hadn’t even fully realized how much they’d missed her until then.

Monet heard about Hatch’s party, and they really weren’t about to turn down the chance to go. Sometimes they declined (parties were so chock full of hormones and emotions and sometimes they were too much), but they still went to plenty of parties; there really wasn’t a better way to get the people they cared for together.

Monet spent a little extra time trying to find the right sort of outfit: they didn’t tend to fuss over their outfits too much (they were pretty confident and comfortable with themselves, and their clothing was no exception), but they did want to look cute.

Getting to Harmony’s place was easy, finding anyone once they got there was another story. Once again, Monet found themself lost in the hubb of people. This wasn’t unusual; they tended to be shorter than most other people in a room, and bumping into people’s shoulders wasn’t a good way to find their friends. Bumping into Isabella Vayne was probably the worst thing Monet could think of so soon after arriving to a party.

Monet had tried to be friends with Isabella, they really had, but the girl seemed to hate them for things completely out of their control.

Don’t let her get to you, Monet thought to themself, Don’t give her that power. Monet smiled as Isabella spoke to them, and though they knew a backhanded compliment when they heard one, they still cheerily said, “Thank you, this is one of my favorite sweaters.” There was a brief moment when Monet wanted to say something about the fur, but instead they decided it was probably best to just ignore Isabella if they could. They’d decided a while ago that Isabella Vayne just wasn’t worth their time or energy. So, the moment Isabella had found someone new to speak with, Monet quickly turned to walk away. Hopefully, Isabella would be leaving them alone for the remainder of the evening.

Isaac wasn’t totally sure how he’d ended up at this party. Something about someone Ariza knew happened to know someone who knew someone who was throwing a party, and it was bound to be a good one. And hey, Isaac wasn’t about to turn down an opportunity for a good party. Christmas break had been fine, but he’d found life back home almost frustratingly boring and he was aching for something fun. So a party thrown by a bunch of strangers seemed like the perfect opportunity. And besides, it often felt like he ran into the same people, no matter who was throwing the party or where it was at. He’d find someone to talk to, he usually did.

After figuring out who else was going and roping in a few others, he agreed to meet everyone there. He’d had a dance and movement workshop immediately followed by auditions, both of which had ran well over time. Thankfully, he’d anticipated that and had left his outfit out that morning, so when he got back to the dorm, he just had to shower and get changed. Even still, he was late late, barely even fashionably late. As expected, the party was mostly upperclassmen, and was popular enough that he could slip in without anyone noticing. The party didn’t disappoint. Lights were strung strategically to give the room enough light that you could see who you were talking to, while still being suitably atmospheric. The music was good without being ridiculously overplayed. They’d even provided food, which Isaac was perhaps the most excited about given he hadn’t gotten a chance to get anything to eat before leaving.

It was also a much bigger crowd than he had been expecting, and trying to find anyone in the crowd was difficult. He’d just about decided to maybe grab a drink and text Ariza to at least find where he was, when he found himself colliding with a tiny, familiar figure. “Monet!” He yelled in delight, wrapping his arms around them in a hug. “Oh my god it’s been too long! How are you? Your hat is so adorable!” He said. He hadn’t seen them since he’d gotten back to Cascadia and he’d missed their comforting presence. “Babe, I am starving, let’s go grab something to eat!”

Hatch smiled as Beau appeared in front of her, having had to negotiate a pack of jocks. “What can I say? Everyone’s desperate to see what it’s like to live like Hatch Cunningham,” she said with a shrug. “And don’t be ridiculous, Beau, I’d miss the distinctive awkwardness you always bring to proceedings,” she said drily, shooting her friend a wry smile. “My holidays were... well, the same as ever. My brother got engaged, so there was a lot of standing around at events that my family likes to call a party and smiling as politely as possible. You know what it’s like. Mother tried to be friendly but also tried to make me dress exactly like her.” She laughed a little, taking a sip from her drink. “Which went about as well as you can imagine.” She nodded politely as Ariza approached and asked about their winter break. “Oh, you know... same as ever,” she said with a shrug.

She spotted a familiar figure making their way into the party and smiled. She’d heard, of course, that Isabella would be coming. Isabella had made it abundantly clear that she intended on showing up, even if Hatch hadn’t specifically invited her. Which, of course, had exactly been Hatch’s plan. “Excuse me for just a moment,” she said to Beau and Ariza, making her way across the room. People seemed to part around her, even as drunk as some already were.

“Hey, Lisa, thanks for coming!” She said cheerily, before turning to Isabella and smirking, raising an eyebrow. “Hello, Isabella. Fancy seeing you here. Wonderful, as ever,” she said. “I’m so glad you could make it. What an... unusual choice of outfit.”

xx
Honestly, this was a good party. Good music, the atmosphere was great, everyone around seemed to be enjoying themselves, as far as Monet could tell. They were happy with it all, but they knew they’d likely grow tired of it if they didn’t eventually cross paths with someone they could really engage with. Monet supposed they could have been paying closer attention, because they very quickly found themself running into someone. Shit, they thought, but realized who it was before any sort of apology could slip past their lips. Monet laughed and squeezed Isaac as tightly as they could. Monet grinned when he complimented their hat, but very quickly adopted a more stern expression, “You, sir,” They pointed an accusatory finger in his direction, “Should have popped by when you got back. I missed you entirely too much.” They were just kidding, mostly. Monet had missed Isaac; they’d missed all their friends. A bright smile spread back across their face, “You look great! If you weren’t so much taller than me I might threaten to steal your jacket.”

Isaac said he was hungry, and Monet raised an eyebrow, “You didn’t eat before you came?” There was a gentle sort of concern in their voice: Isaac needed something to eat, or else he would be absolutely miserable when he started drinking. Of course, he probably just hadn’t had the time. The theatre program could be pretty demanding, so it wasn’t a shock. They grabbed onto Isaac’s hand so they wouldn’t get seperated, and set out to where they assumed some food could be found, “How was your break?” They were, of course, curious, but they also just wanted something to talk about. “It was boring as hell here with everyone gone for the holidays.” Monet looked over the food options, but they weren’t really all that hungry. Still, some chips or something never hurt anyone.

Then Monet heard a familiar voice say, “Hey!” And that, combined with the warm hug, brought a grin right to their face.

“Lucy!” Monet practically squealed as they hugged their friend, “Look at you! You look incredible! I love your top.” Then they turned to Carla, and gave an exaggerated gasp, “My god. You look fantastic, too. Very sexy.”

Now, with their friends around, Monet’s heart felt a little fuller. There was something about the certainty of being among the people you care about. Monet was such a social individual, and being here among their friends felt like exactly what they’d needed.

xx
Booker didn’t mind his family, but he preferred to see them in smaller doses. All he heard about was how well his sister was doing in med school, his cousin was getting married, his mother’s best friend’s sister’s kid just had a baby, and anything about him was an afterthought. He was happy for his sister, and his cousin, (and he guessed he was happy enough for his mother’s obscure acquaintance he’d never met), but if he were being honest it was grating. He didn’t need to hear about his sister’s gpa for a tenth time, he had it memorized after the third.

He didn’t talk about school much, though. Certainly not about the student that had been murdered. Booker was a little worried about it, obviously, but he had to hope that it was an isolated event. He didn’t need his parents insisting he try to transfer in the middle of the school year. Booker liked Cascadia; he had friends there, he liked the area, the professors. If things got worse, he’d consider it, but as it was he didn’t want to even really consider leaving.

As it was, he was glad to be back. Having some space from his family, he felt like he could breathe again. He always forgot how smothering his mother could be until he was back in her presence. He’d arrived back on campus really last minute, just a few days before classes started back up, and adjusting back to classes was never the easiest thing to do. Booker wasn’t complaining, though, he really thrived at Cascadia, and he enjoyed most of his classes. Maybe he was a nerd, or maybe all the studying was something to focus on so he didn’t have to face his own issues.

Either way, when Booker heard about the party, he figured it could be good for him. The compounding stresses of everything that had been going on meant that even Booker could use a breather. He didn’t tend to go to parties, and everyone that had ever invited him to one knew that he was more likely to say he needed to study than agree to show up, so the times he did show up people acted like it was an act of God or something. “You came!” or “You made it!” or “Wow, I never thought I’d see you outside the library!” Comedic genius, really.

Booker had never really cared for punctuality at these types of parties- it didn’t matter much, and he wasn’t going at all if he didn’t finish everything he needed to do. But here he was, with an offering of some craft beer he’d brought back from Wisconsin. There were quite a few people at this party. He spotted some he’d rather avoid, others he didn’t mind. He figured he’d start with dropping his drinks off; he was willing to share.

He offered a smile to anyone he knew as he went, and he almost went right up to talk to Darcy when he spotted her (she looked really pretty. Well, she was always pretty, but her dress was very nice.), but she seemed to have made herself part of a small group, and he wasn’t sure he wanted to interrupt. Still, he tried to catch her attention by waving at her. He didn’t want to pull her away from her conversation, but if he were being completely honest, he’d missed her over the break. They hadn’t had an abundance of time to catch up since classes had started back up, and he hoped that they'd have a little time to talk, at least.

Beau gave a small chuckle as Harmony gave a quick remark almost immediately after, bringing the glass to her lips as she sipped a bit of her shot. Arching her eyebrow up at Hatch as she mentioned Beau's distinct awkwardness that she brought. Almost caused her to spit up the alcohol as she had gone for another sip, "Holy shit, Hatch." she sputtered, wiping the alcohol from her lips with the back of her hand. Beau nodded her head as her friend continued to explain how her Christmas Break went, even though she had an idea of how it went. Their families were relatively similiar in a few ways, so she understood how certain things were. "Psh, trust me...I get that entirely. Mine were no better.." she muttered. Looking down at her own drink for a few seconds before she heard a familiar voice call out from the crowd, as the figure in question walked over to them. Ariza Jackson, one of Beau's best friends that she had actually pissed over the holiday break. "Hey dude, glad to see you finally make it." she said with a short lived smile, as her eyes managed to latch onto someone in the crowd. She only saw the person for a split second, but it was enough to know who it was. The tall, slim figure, long red hair, and overly priced attire. Isabella Vayne. Even the name made her want to vomit.

Quickly looking back at Ariza, the small smile returned as he asked how things had been over the winter break, simply giving a small shrug as Hatch explained how her's went. Beau's eyes dotted from Hatch, back to the crowd as she left to go do something for a moment, "Uh, yeah. Sure...You go, you go do whatever it is that you-ah forget it" her voice trailed off into an incoherent mutter by the end. Way to be smooth, Beauregard, she thought to herself. Rubbing her temple for a moment, she looked back up at Ariza, "Anyway! The break was...as you'd expect. Not even worth going into. As always." she said with a forced chuckle before downing her drink before she began to refill her drink again, "So, what did the glorious life of Mr. Ariza Jackson offer him while he was away from his dear friend?" she said with a small smirk, clinking her cup against Ariza's before taking a small sip again.

It was only a few moments later that she felt someone's hand rest on her shoulder, which caused her to jump a bit before she heard yet another familiar voice speak up behind her. Turning her head to look to her side, a small smile overturned her lips as she saw who it was, Darcy. Another one of her, friends. "Oh shit, Hey Darcy!" she greeted the woman as she gave a short and friendly hug. "I hope you had a good winter break. It's uh, always good to see you." Beau said with a small chuckle, before turning back to place her drink on the counter. "Can I help getting a drink for you? There's, well...Whatever the fuck it is that they have here." she said with another forced chuckle, the nerves were begining to set in full force, taking her own cup back and downing it in one quick go. She'd need as much alcohol as she could drink if she wanted to be able to stay here any longer than she already had been.

Hatch just raised an eyebrow as Isabella mentioned her family's gala. Hatch knew full well that her family didn't tend to be invited to these things. A lot of older Arcane families viewed her bloodline with vague disdain due to the fact that the gift wasn't present in every generation and was only ever present in women. And to be honest, she was totally fine with that. Isabella's family's galas just sounded like her own family events but so much worse.

Isabella's comment about her outfit just made Hatch chuckle. Really, if she was having to resort to comments like that, Hatch had basically already won. Being called Harmony really just concreted that for her. She scanned the room as Isabella walked away, looking for people she hadn't already greeted that she actually wanted to talk to. That was a notoriously small group of people. So when she spotted Lucy and Carla talking to Monet and some guy she only recognised in passing, she decided that was better than nothing.

"Well, look who we have here!" She called as she reached the small group. "Monet, my dear, you look as adorable as ever, that look is just too sweet!" She said. "Carla, you are rocking that look. And Lucia, bringing some sparkle to all of our lives," she said with a grin, and wrapping an arm around her friend's shoulders as she turned to look at the man. After examining him for a minute, she thought she'd seen him hanging out with Monet a few times, but she didn't think she'd ever really crossed paths with him, but his outfit was different enough to what every other guy seemed to be wearing that he intrigued her. "Hatch Cunningham. A pleasure."

Isaac pouted as Monet gave him a stern look, telling him off for not having been around sooner, before laughing as they admitted to missing him and complimenting him on his jacket. "I don't know, you could probably get away with it as a dress," he teased. "You'd rock it, but not as much as you're rocking that cute ass hat," he said. He rolled his eyes as they asked him about not eating. "I totally meant to, I just didn't have time, mom," he teased as they made their way over towards the food. He was impressed by the selection, it was better than the pizza and chips that most parties just offered.

"Oh, I can only imagine. My holidays were... nice. Quiet, really, I kinda missed the chaos of college life," he admitted as he piled some chicken fingers onto his paper plate. [color#7b78b4]"Even if I'm now running between class and workshops and auditions, I wouldn't change it for the world."[/color]

He grinned as Lucia and Carla appeared, both of them looking absolutely fabulous. He returned the hug enthusiastically, before popping a chicken finger in his mouth. However, the presence of a new person almost had Isaac feeling on edge. She gave off an intimidating aura, even if she was a little shorter than him. She greeted the others before turning to assess Isaac, and he had to resist the temptation to shrink back under her gaze. But apparently, she deemed him worth her attention as she nodded and introduced herself as Hatch Cunningham. Hatch was such an unusual name that he was about to ask her about it, but another look at her and he decided against it.

"Isaac Fox. A pleasure to meet you," he said. "Is this your party?" He asked, and she nodded, those steely eyes unreadable. "It's pretty great. The food is really good," he said, and she nodded again in what he presumed was thanks.

"So how was your holidays?" She asked, but Isaac got the impression that the question wasn't particularly directed at him.

xx
Monet couldn’t help but grin as Isaac teased them. They didn’t mean to be pushy and practically parent him, but they didn’t always know how else to express that they cared. They were also projecting their worries about their younger sister onto him. Monet couldn’t help but feel slightly guilty for being so far away from her this year. The Grey family had their first Christmas without their mother the year before, and now Petra had gone through her first holiday season without her only sibling. There had been a lot of firsts for their family in the past few years.

Monet couldn’t be there with their sister, but it was easy to take that worry and guilt and use it to fret over their friends. It would fade quickly, just as it had before. Even in that moment, as Monet greeted friends and complemented outfits, the sense of worry and guilt seemed to melt away. Everyone was having a good time, and so would Monet.

Hatch’s arrival was a welcome one, in Monet’s book. They grinned at the compliment, and quickly fired back with, “You look fantastic, and I feel underdressed!” It was mostly in jest; Monet was comfortable enough in their own skin not to be too bothered by the way other people were dressed at a house party (even if they still couldn’t quite wrap their head around wearing heels to an event like this). They were glad to see that Hatch and Isaac seemed to be getting on well enough, and when Hatch asked about the holidays, Monet shrugged.

“I was here. It was… Nice and calm, mostly. Kind of nice, really.” That was a total lie; Monet had hated being alone. It was too quiet, boring, and slightly depressing. They were due a little excitement.

However, an upset Isabella Vayne was not what Monet had in mind. Silently, Monet said a thankful prayer to no-one-in-particularly that Hatch had been there to hold Bella back. They weren’t sure there were many others at the party that Isabella would have allowed to restrain her. “Really? Come on, Isabella; I know it’s upsetting, but this is a fucking party. Shit happens.” And this is why you don’t wear your fancy new furs to a college party. Monet was fairly sure Isaac wouldn’t dump his drink on someone on purpose, but even if he did, not many people would really blame him for targeting Isabella Vayne.