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Lyric had eaten dinner with her brother and Papa as was normal, including a rather delicious dessert that Nocturne had whipped up and Lyric had been sure to make it know how delicious she found it and that it would be expected again at some point in the future. She’d done the dishes after eating like she normally did, and then settled in to finish some homework. At some point while she had been struggling with her summer holiday math and was on the point of giving up in disgust, she’d gotten a text from Chance. 

The interruption was much welcomed, but it didn’t take long for Lyric to bring up the subject of her disagreeable numbers, and while Chance had been modest and denied having any skills in the subject, he had been able to help her figure out what she was doing wrong, and get the answer she needed. Lyric was pretty pleased with herself and Chance, and even sent an excited text to Cody to show off the equation and the answer, pleased and delighted when she got back a happy response. She’d only been putting off the damned subject since she got it, but was pleased it was almost complete now. Still one chapter to go, but Lyric felt like she’d done enough for one night.

Packing everything up, Lyric was still exchanging texts with Chance, which included asking if the wanted to meet up, if he was free to, and hang out for a little bit. There was a park nearby that grew lots of daisies and had the best swing set! Lyric mentioned it was where she had met her longest and best friend, which obviously made the park lucky; it would be an excellent spot to cement their week of late night texting and general chatter.

Changing into leggings and a cute tee shirt with flowers on it, Lyric grabbed a small handbag she carried with her when she went out and about. Besides being convenient for holding her phone and purse, it also secreted away a small collection of protective items she could use in case of an emergency. Not that Lyric went hunting for trouble like her brother and Papa, but they insisted she carry it with her to keep her safe. Silly overprotective wonderful people, her brother and Papa.

“I’ll be back soon!” Was all the warning either man got that Lyric was going to out before she was out, the door clicking closed behind her and she checked her purse to make sure her house key was in there safe and sound where she’d left it; it was. Lyric made her way with confidence from home to the park that wasn’t far away, where she had first met Cody all those years ago. Okay, so not that many, but between the pair of them they had a lot of years to enjoy each other’s company! Smiling at the thought, Lyrics came in through the far end of the park and glanced around. There were large lights set around the park, to illuminate it for the local kids so they didn’t have to go home just because it was dark. Lyric loved it. She sent Chance another text, letting him know she’d arrived at the park.

Lyric made a beeline for the area where the small garden was kept, and brushed her fingers along the tops of the flowers, infusing a very small amount of magic into her touch; it brightened the flowers a little, made them stand a little taller and smell a little sweeter. Smiling to herself, Lyric found the patch of daisies - they were blooming by the score, and she sat down next to them, crossing her legs and carefully plucking one flower and stem from the thick of the pack, then another, as she fashioned a daisy chain that would fit on her head.

Chance never would have been brave enough to text the spirited girl he ran into a week earlier and not because he thought it was some kind of cool move to ignore her. He was just shy and awkward around pretty much anyone that wasn’t at least one hundred years old. Thankfully Lyric didn’t seem to have any problems being the first to text and once that happened, he wasn’t quite as worried he’d be bothering her and was more at ease with sending texts when he got up for the night.

But texting and seeing each other again were two very different things and Chance stared at her question for two long minutes before finally admitting to being free and he’d like to meet up. A park seemed like a safe enough space and Ricky and Marco could do their chaperoning easily enough in that location. Still, he had shyly asked them if it was okay; after telling Lyric he would go. They seemed to like the idea of getting out, which was what Chance had been banking on since Rafe hadn’t really started giving him any tasks other than studying as he continued to ease into city life.

After looking up the park in question, Chance debated changing but figured jeans and a tee was pretty on point for meeting in a park and arrived shortly after receiving the update text. He promised Marco he was feeling fine and was sated from the blood he had upon waking and smiled when he was allowed to go play. His guardians walked off in the opposite direction, likely to find a bench to occupy and not look too suspicious. Chance took in the scenery as he kept an eye out for where Lyric was and decided that while the city was fascinating and he liked it there, his heart yearned for nature and the massive property he was raised on.

He didn’t have a green thumb but that didn’t stop him from admiring the gardens as he entered the space Lyric said she’d be waiting in. The flowers seemed so full of life and vibrant with their colours despite the hour. If he was more poetic, he’d liken them to blooming in Lyric’s presence as she did seem to be the sun with her cheerful outlook on everything. “Hi, Lyric,” Chance finally called out in greeting as he knew even his fledgling mumbling butt was far too silent now and he had approached from the side. “This place is beautiful.” He didn’t know why he was complimenting it as Lyric likely didn’t have a hand in the gardening on city property but it did seem to be special to her and her best friend.

Lyric, who had been focused on her flower changing, gave a start when her name was spoken, but her face lit up in a warm smile when she turned to find Chance not far away. She grinned brightly, and waved him over. “Isn’t it?” She smiled, picking one more daisy to complete the chain she was working on; the first one had already been completed and put on her own head, a tiara of bright yellow flowers all woven together. “I made you a daisy chain,” Lyric said, eyes sparkling mischievously as she rose from where she’d been sitting and approached Chance. “Kneel, so you can be crowned!” Lyric was grinning cheerfully as she placed the flower crown upon her new friend’s head. It fit well enough, and she was quite pleased with her efforts.

Once Chance was crowned, Lyric offered a hand to help him to his feet, and then gestured to the gardens at large. “There is a nice spot over this way, where we can sit, if you want?” She tilted her head in the direction she was thinking of, and smiled again in invitation as she looped her arm through Chance’s and tugging him gently to walk with her. The park was lit prettily by the lamps, but that left a lot of darkness creeping in on the edges. Not that Lyric was afraid; she enjoyed the early night hours when everything was settling down to go to sleep for the night and the stars were just starting to show up in the sky.

“Papa let me have the yard at home,” she said easily, breaking into the silence that had been lingering while they walked. “I love gardening, its so relaxing and the rewards are so beautiful!” she paused, and tilted her head to look up at Chance. “If you had to choose one type of flower, or plant, what would you choose as your favourite?” Her smile was sweet and genuine, but her curiosity was also very clear. She knew a lot about flower growing and tending, but her other hobby was looking up the meanings fo the flowers and plants she tended to, and what they were linked to. Her garden at home was filled with inspirational plants, those that gave good health and well-being, or happiness and strength. All of them beautiful in appearance and meaning.

Chance did as he was told, kneeling while a tad confused but rose smiling. He’d never been given a floor crown before, though he had played knights and kings with one of the older vampires at the manor that lived in such a time. He was tempted to take out his phone and check what he looked like in the selfie camera but refrained. He’d try to get a photo of them together later, though. Now wasn’t the time as Lyric was already off and bouncing on to other things and Chance nodded that the idea worked for him.

Given how comfortable Lyric had seemed sitting amongst the garden, Chance wasn’t surprised at the admission that she loved tending to flowers and had her own gardens at home. “I’ve helped in the gardens where I grew up but it was more pulling weeds when I was younger.” Still, he knew enough about what their gardens possessed that he was able to answer Lyric’s question without being too generic. “I like wisteria. We have some that grows along a covered walk way and in a little sitting area. But moonflowers are pretty cool as well.” He was, or had been, one of the few humans at the manor that could enjoy the daylight gardens but they also had a lot of night blooming flowers to help balance it out for the vampires.

“Pulling weeds is very helpful, you know!” Lyric gave Chance a sideways smile, features amused. “That was where I started. Hey!” She paused suddenly, jerking on Chance’s arm before she released him and dug out her phone. “I’ll show you!” she took several moments of flicking through her photo section before holding up an old photo, easily dated by the tiny Lyric that was sitting on a pile of weeds, throwing them up in the air while an also younger Nocturne was trying to get her to put the weeds into a bag. “This was when we first started the garden!”

When she had decided that Chance had had plenty of time to take in the scene, she tilted her phone back towards herself and flicked through a few more photos to one from early spring, when all the blooms were in full swing. “This was just this spring,” she said proudly, holding her phone out to Chance and beaming proudly. She took a great deal of pride in her green thumb, though it felt kind of a little like cheating when she couldn’t tell him about the magic she literally wove into each plant under her care.

“Look, we even have some wisteria,” Smiling, Lyric zoomed in on that section of the photo, proudly showing off the beautiful flowers. “We don’t have many night blooming flowers,” she admitted. “I want to get some, but it seems a waste to have them in the garden when its so rarely visited in the darkness, you know?” Still smiling wistfully, Lyric took Chance’s arm again and lead him a little further into the gardens to where some benches were set out.

“You’ve been listening to me ramble on,” Lyric smiled, “Tell me something fun about yourself!”

Chance cooed and chuckled appropriately at the photo of the young siblings. He could easily imagine young Lyric being just as energetic and perhaps more of a handful than she was now. Her brother looked annoyed but somehow also amused by her antics which had Chance smiling all the more as the siblings clearly loved each other. He wondered if Lyric had other siblings since there seemed to be a large gap between her and Nocturne but she had yet to speak of them and he didn't get a chance to ask as she showed a more recent photo.

Again he smiled and gave genuine compliments as the garden looked amazing. He could tell a lot of time and love went into it and would probably be showing the garden off to everyone he knew as well if he was in her place. "No flower is a waste," he softly replied, his shyness making him hesitate somewhat in sharing his opposing view. "There are nocturnal creatures that benefit from them and maybe you will host an evening garden party sometime." Most of their parties at the manor were at night so it was an easy connection to make but he supposed mundanes would also have celebrations that lasted past sunset and were enjoyed outside in the nicer weather.

Chance fidgeted a bit on the bench he had been relocated to. He swore Lyric was the actual vampire with how quick she could move and her strength. "I don't mind listening to you and I'd hardly call it rambling. You're passionate about things you love and that's great to see. Besides, I don't really know what to say about myself. I think I'm pretty boring, honestly. You know I was sick a lot until very recently so I stayed around the house for most of my life."

Chance frowned as he tried to think of something fun about himself. He gave a small smile before sticking his tongue out to touch his nose and then curled it in half before the grand finale of curling it in three, like a clover. Embarrassment quickly claimed him and Chance gave another shy smile and tried not to cringe as Marco was in his head giving him kudos for showing his lady friend his tongue techniques.

“I hadn’t thought of that!” Lyric said brightly, latching onto the idea of evening parties in her family’s backyard. Probably because Papa would never let her invite friends over so late, not without all of them being fully vetted for approval prior; but the thought of nocturnal creatures was even better – “Like bats and stuff!” she said gleefully, clapping her emptied hands together and lacing her fingures. “Oh, I bet there are flowers they’d just love to visit!” She would have to start looking into that when she got home. Well, maybe not tonight, but soon. She’d need to find flowers that bloomed at night, but that were also happy to be played with and planted in the current season.

“I don’t think you’re boring,” Lyric objected, frowning at Chance and crossing her arms over her chest. “I bet you’ve seen or done lots of things!” She paused, and scrunched her lips up thoughtfully, looking to spring another question on Chance, when he suddenly stuck his tongue out at her, and then made it do shapes. Lyric blinked, and then laughed outright and grinned. “Oh, that’s neat! Could you always do that? I can make a tunnel, but I don’t think I can do those other things.” Lyric went cross-eyed as she tried to touch the tip of her tongue to her nose. She laughed again as she refocused her gaze on Chance, and gave her head a slight shake.

“Do you have any pets?” She asked suddenly. Surely he had something to keep him company if he was sick for so much of his life; a nice snuggly cat or dog. Maybe he branched out a little and had pet most saw as a pets, like a snake or rodents! She eyeballed him sideways suddenly, her expression suspicious. “You don’t have like, pet spiders or anything, right?” Her nose crinkled up at the thought. Eww!

“The clover took some practice but otherwise, yeah,” Chance confessed with cheeks burning up with embarrassment with Marco’s laughter ringing in his mind. He wasn’t great at mind speaking without pulling some sort of face so he avoided saying anything in response to the teasing that he knew was done good-naturedly but really wasn’t helping him. He had died a virgin after all! Chance had no idea how skilled his tongue really was and only knew two things. One, he was glad Anne Rice had it wrong and everything still functioned rather normally. And two… Lyric was just a friend! He wasn’t trying to seduce her! She was his first friend that was outside of the Family and that was special enough for him.

He was saved from further embarrassment as Lyric was attempting to touch her nose and Chance laughed along with her, wishing he was quicker with his phone and snapped a photo of that face. Maybe he’d convince Lyric to try again sometime and get one. That reminded him that he still wanted to ask her to take a photo with him but it was put aside again as Lyric was suddenly asking another question out of the blue. They did have some animals at the manor but so many species seemed to know something was off about vampires and often shied away from them.

He gave another laugh and shook his head at the worry he had pet spiders. Those would probably be considered normal given his mother grew up with an alligator and emu on the property. “No spiders. I had a grumpy cat that passed away a couple of years ago. She wouldn’t let anyone but me near her and she mostly stayed in my bedroom and a couple of other upstairs rooms. My grandma has a macaw that she’s had for over thirty years and we also have a few horses. Oh, and a few peacocks. Thankfully the property is large and they wander because they can be noisy. What about you?”

He felt weird letting Lyric come up with all of the questions all the time where he simply answered and asked the same question so Chance screwed up some courage and asked one of the ones he kept meaning to ask but never got the chance. “And is Nocturne your only sibling? Not that I’m associating your brother with animals. Just a question that came to mind.”

Lyric breathed a comically big sigh of relief when Chance said that spiders weren’t on the list of his family pets, and followed it with a nod of understanding about the grumpy cat. She had a feeling most cats were grumpy, at least from her limited experience with the animals, anyway. Butterball and Velcro had their moments, but she found them to be less inclined to cuddles than she would like. They were so soft and fluffy until they let the claws out to demand their freedom!

“So many animals!” Lyric gushed, when Chance had finished relaying everything from cats, to bird, to horses and back to birds again. “Noct has a couple of cats, but Papa is allergic to them so they aren’t allowed in the house… he says I’m too busy for a pet, what with Dancing and school and work.” Lyric pouted slightly at the admission; she would love a puppy! But she did agree with her Papa that she had a lot on her plate without adding an excitable animal. And Nocturne would likely point out her friendships with various shifters – but that wasn’t something she could tell Chance!

“Huh?” Lyric asked, coming out of her own thoughts to catch Chance’s question and fumble with it. “Oh, yeah.” Lyric chewed on her bottom lip for a moment. “Mumma and Papa didn’t plan for me.” She flung her arms out widely, careful not to slap Chance in the process. “Surprise baby!” Lyric giggled. “Noct says I’m spoiled.” Which, granted, Lyric agreed with. But she also felt she was kept tightly under thumb too – she was always surprised when she managed to do something ‘wild’, like meeting a new friend at the park after dark. “What about you? Do you have any siblings?”

Chance winced as Lyric mentioned one of the two things he had feared when he asked the question. At least it wasn’t a sibling or two between them that had passed away but still he felt bad for pointing out he had noticed that she was likely unplanned for. “I’m sorry,” he mumbled, feeling utterly horrible still despite how easily Lyric seemed to shrug it off and even giggle. “It sounds like you’re loved though,” he commented quickly. The fact that she was spoiled and even had an older brother that doted on her so much made it seem like she was loved at least.

“I have a brother that’s two years younger. He’s in town as well so maybe I’ll see if he’s available next time we get together. If you like, I mean.” His brother was the more outgoing one and the one more likely to be their mom’s successor given his perfect health and the training he’d been given since they were much younger. But from what he knew of his brother, Dare was still fun and could be a normal seventeen year old when it was called for and it would be nice to see him again since he only spent summers at the manor and the rest of his time in the city with their parents.

“His name is Derek but we’ve always called him Dare. Chance and Dare. With those names I bet we would have been little hellions if given the, well, chance.” Chance grinned softly at the idea but it wasn’t the first time he had played the ‘what if’ game where his health was concerned. But perhaps even if he had been normal they would have still been split between the two properties to learn differing aspects of the family duty. It wasn’t something he’d ever learn regardless but now that he was a vampire, he had all new duties to tend to. He glanced down at his family ring and fiddled with it as he wondered yet again if he was a failure as a Warden.

“Oh, no, don’t be sorry!” Lyric grinned, shaking her head hard for a few moments to emphasize what she was saying. “I was wanted! Just they’d given up hope, is all.” She shrugged her shoulders, still smiling. Lyric didn’t often go into details about her birth and the fact that the gap between herself and Nocturne was almost enough to think they were only half related; or that there had been many miscarriages working up to Lyric’s birth. Which, for all Lyric knew, there might have been. But she had never found the need to quiz her parents about it.

Lyric grinned when Chance brought up his brother, and laughed a little with him at the names. “I love it!” It sounded like his family had as much fun naming their children as her own did. Or her mother, at least. “Having unique names is so much cooler than being John or Sally. There are lots of those, don’t you think?” Lyric smiled brightly at Chance. “Meeting your brother would be fun!” Though her own brother would be likely to give birth to a motley litter of kittens if he found out she was making more male friends through male friends he already disproved of. Lyric shook her head, smile still in place.

“Wanna get ice-cream? There is a corner store nearby that keeps the most ridiculous hours.” Not that Lyric was complaining, since she’d often stopped by it for necessities through to ice-creams, but sometimes she swore the store never closed. Imagine, a twenty-four-seven corner store… Well, it would be open then, so that was the important thing!

He agreed that having unique names was a lot better than something commonplace but his brother liked to point out that dogs were often named Chance when he wanted to get some easy jabs in. At least his parents had considered that when they almost named him Lucky so he could handle the slightly less canine-used Chance. Speaking of that part of the family, he still hadn’t seen them since Turning. It was risky in the early days and since coming to the city, Chance had just been a coward. He wanted to see his parents and Dare but the scrutiny would be hard to handle. He knew they wouldn’t be disgusted given their lineage but it still felt like a failure to be Turned so soon. And what if he sucked as a fledgling on top of it all?

Chance blew up a soft puff of breath. He was still in the habit of breathing which seemed to be a good thing considering how close he always seemed to be to Lyric. The upside was that she didn’t see anything off about him but the downside was that she smelled divine. It reminded him of when his grandma would bake him cookies. He mentioned that to Ricky and Marco after the first meeting and they assured him that was normal as some humans were just tastier than others. But he had to pay attention to it all the same, watching his urge to take a bite. If it became too strong, he had to leave. His restraint had improved since the first few weeks but Chance wasn’t going to risk it.

“I’d love to!” Chance replied with a smile and a lot of enthusiasm before both faltered at remembering his messed up tastebuds. “Maybe I’ll get a popsicle though. Dietary issues,” he covered quickly when he realised it was a corner store so he could switch to something he’d maybe he able to handle. Water and sugar seemed easy enough to choke down. Ricky swore his taste would eventually adapt and balance out but he also said not to book any BBQ dates… or Christmas dinners.

He worried his bottom lip as he screwed up the courage to be a gentleman. Finally, he just spit it out, hoping it wasn’t too forward or insulting. “Can I walk you home after? I know it’s your neighbourhood but it’s getting late.”

“Awesome!” Lyric beamed when Chance agreed to get ice-cream with her, expression only faltering for a few moments when he changed his order to be a popsicle. Dietary issues would suck so much! Lyric couldn’t imagine not being able to eat what she wanted to! Especially something like ice-cream, which was just too good to pass up! “I’m sure they have some variety or you could get a slushie!” Maybe that would be what she’d get. Raspberry slushie sounded amazing!

Lyric was taken aback when Chance offered to walk her home, tilting her head for a moment before shaking it gently. The offer was sweet, but Lyric was more worried about what her Papa and brother would say if they saw a young man dropping her off on the doorstep than she was walking home alone. “Noct will be waiting for me,” she said with a lopsided smile. “You don’t want to be roasted by him,” she teased, “you can walk me to my street, if you want.” That was as close as she knew her father would tolerate someone he hadn’t done a full study of.

“There’s the store!” Lyric smiled as they made their way into the store, the girl waving cheerfully to the attendant. “I think I’ll get a slushie,” she said, letting Chance know her change of mind, and she happily followed through on that, going to the counter to pay for her slushie with an app on her phone.

Chance tried not to be too disappointed in his offer being turned down. It was pretty brazen of him but it always seemed to work in the movies. Maybe it was because he wasn't trying to woo and date Lyric? But friends still looked out for each other. Then again, he was the danger lurking in the shadows so Lyric was technically safer without him by her side. Damn, making new friends was confusing and exhausting. So he just gave a soft chuckle and nodded. "Your brother does seem pretty intense." He didn't think Noct trusted many people and he wondered why. But that definitely wasn't something Chance wanted to ask as the answer might be too personal and traumatizing.

When they stepped inside the store, Chance tried not to wrinkle his nose at the assault of cleaning products. The employee likely just did her cleaning for the shift which was nice but something with a better scent would be even better. He nodded again at the idea of slushies since they were basically a melting popsicle and something he could handle. The blue raspberry called to him because of the electric blue colour but the first sip was like the scents and assaulted his tastebuds. He winced and muttered something about it being sweeter than he expected, which was true, but that it was still good, also true.

Once they were back outside, Chance continued to sip on his drink. It wasn't his first one but it had been years and that one had been cherry. He explained that to Lyric and how it had been exciting because he didn't get to go on trips to the nearby small town that often because of his health. "I ended up in bed for two days after that but it was worth it to get out for a bit and try a slushie. Thank you for suggesting them tonight. It's a nice treat." He smiled at Lyric while Marco was chanting for him to kiss her and Ricky telling Marco to leave him alone. Chance missed the days when he wasn't permanently stuck in the group call.

Lyric was oblivious to Chance’s dismay about turning down the walk home, focused as she was on the process of choosing and then paying for her slushie. She waited to one side as Chance ordered one as well, smiling happily between her sips. She’d gotten a mixed one, half cherry and half blue raspberry. She loved both flavours and simply couldn’t choose which one to have, so both!

Lyric laughed when Chance gave himself a brain freeze or something, and nodded at his explanation that the drink was sweet. “That’s the best bit!” She teased, taking another sip of her combo and walking with Chance out of the store and back into the muggy evening air. It was perfect weather for slushies, too. Ice-cream would melt too fast to be enjoyable, but slushies didn’t stop being tasty even when they were more liquid than ice.

A gasp left Lyric at the small tale about Chance’s youth when he was ill, and she stared with wide eyes at him. “I’m so glad you’re better now!” She said with complete honesty, eyes still wide as she took another sip of her drink, processing the little story. “That must have been so annoying,” she said thoughtfully. “Always restricted by your poor health.” She wanted to quiz him about how he was better now, but didn’t think it was her pace, they were only just friends and it would be rude and possibly ruin their nice evening.

So instead, she took another sip of her drink and looped her free arm through Chances. “My street is in this direction,” she said with a warm smile. “Papa and Noct will be waiting up,” her tone was thoughtful, “Is anyone waiting for you to get home?” He really hadn’t said much about his family, and it hadn’t sounded like they were local.

Chance gave a small smile thought it was tinged with sadness as he replied, “it had parts that sucked but it wasn’t all bad. The manor is large and others lived there that kept me company and the gardens were always nice to spend time in.” He was regretting ever mentioning he had been sick all of his life but it was hard to explain why he was so overwhelmed by a city or didn’t have many experiences without it. He certainly wasn’t skilled in deception to come up with a lie and stick with it either. So all he had was the truth and as much as he could share about it, which was just as risky as giving an entirely made up story given he was raised by vampires and was one now. He also couldn’t exactly state ‘yeah, I died and got better’ though it was on his tongue with the temptation to pass it off as a morbid joke. Lyric didn’t seem the sort to like that sort of thing, however.

He took a slow sip of his slushie to help buy some time as he found an answer for Lyric’s rather innocent question and settled on another mostly true answer. “No, no one will be waiting up. Being sick meant I napped a lot and kept weird hours and it kind of stuck after recovering. I’ll be starting a night job soon so I guess I’m already keeping the hours for that as well.” Before Lyric had a chance to decide that sounded lonely and wanted to offer him pity or something akin to it, Chance quickly added, “after being taken care of so much in the past, I try not to bother anyone now. And it’s kind of nice to just be out and doing my own thing, you know?” He still had his two shadows but he wasn’t frail anymore despite his lean appearance and he could go out and visit a friend without causing too much worry.

When they came to a stop at what Chance assumed was Lyric’s street or perhaps the one before it—since she and her brother did seem to be cautious enough to double down on such a step—he gave a bright smile like the one he had started the night with. “Thank you for asking me to meet with you tonight.” He wanted to say more about how he had fun and enjoyed chatting but worried that would be too sappy or pathetic. Worse, it could scare Lyric off and he had almost done that by asking to walk her home. He was already borderline creep now and didn’t want to push it by saying the wrong thing given how awkward he was with words.

”We can follow her home. Make sure she’s safe.” Ricky’s offer was genuine but Chance still knew the ulterior motive was there to learn more about his friend and he quickly shut that down. Lyric was harmless and he wanted to respect her privacy. He hoped his shadows followed suit.