Deja Vu

[Aldon Huang]

Okay, that was a pretty convincing pleading look, but Ryland hadn't contended with Aldon's special ability—that to wiggle his ass out of any situation! His heart quivered at Ryland's obvious distress but he had to remind himself that these wily, sly foxes, they were... wily. And sly. And stuff!

So Aldon did the only thing he could think of—that he ever did, really—which was to paint himself as even worse off than his accuser. He turned his own kicked puppy dog look onto Ryland. "But... Rae's gonna punch me if I just roll up and tell him to get back with your cousin!"

Whom Aldon didn't even remember, so how important was this guy, really?! Aldon let out a great big sigh. "And—besides! The kidnapping thing that started this? That was your idea!"

[Ryland Ren]

That was a pretty convincing puppy dog stare. Also a really familiar one that stabbed straight through his heart. Ryland frowned slightly at the pain starting in his head and did his best to fend it off with a big sigh of his own as he stepped closer to Aldon. It was like they were about to square off in a fight but not really.

"So you're still on board with the kidnapping, then? Even though it's a crime?"

[Aldon Huang]

"Hey that's not fair!" Aldon whined as he backed up a step, withering from Ryland's advance. It was far from the most threatening gesture that Aldon had ever seen, but the proximity scared him a lot. He felt like he might do something bad if they kept being so close to each other and he really...

He had something good going with Gregg right now. Like, the kind of relationship that most people scoffed at as being "in the honeymoon" phase, or "puppy love." But things felt right. Good. They weren't a perfect couple but they were happy together and Aldon, he needed happiness right now. There was a lot of unhappiness lurking in his forgotten memories that he didn't want to bring up. Gregg helped push the nightmares away.

"I don't wanna get arrested!" How was it now HIS responsibility?! When RYLAND put out the ad to commit crimes?! Aldon let out an aggravated sound and threw up his hands. "Fine!" He said in bad grace. "But know that if I get punched—or worse—it's all on your head!"

[Ryland Ren]

What wasn't fair? What he said? Or the fact that he gave Aldon few options? The close proximity? Ryland raised his brows slightly in question. As for getting arrested, Ryland smiled just like the fox that he was. He patted Aldon lightly on the chest.

"Why are you worried about being arrested? All you have to do is shift." Humans were notoriously bad at telling one animal apart from another. At least, that worked for Ryland (in theory--he'd never actually shifted in front of a cop). But he was just your average looking red fox. He assumed that Aldon looked like every other wolf in the vicinity.

"And..." He gently took Aldon's dramatic hands to stop him from swinging them around again. "You're not going to get punched. Why would your best friend punch you? Especially over this? I mean, I know they're exes but... shouldn't he care if Alva's..." He hesitated because he'd been avoiding the word the entire time, using things like "cursed" in its place. "...dying?"

[Aldon Huang]

Aldon leveled Ryland with a Look, even though it was not fair to Ryland, who didn't know that Aldon shifted into a white wolf. A conspicous, easy-to-find-and-tranquilize white wolf. As far as Aldon knew, there weren't many white wolves in the area, if any at all. So yeah, he was KINDA worried about being caught, pre- or post-shift!

"You obviously don't got friends like Rae and Josh!" He said slightly incoherently, since they were presently holding hands. Aldon was no prude—he routinely climbed onto his friends' backs or clung to them—but he felt a little weird about this hand-holding business. It felt right, and also terribly wrong. His head ached—he assumed it was from mentally exhausting himself over all of this too-close, not-close-enough business.

But... hnng. Dying? Aldon's mouth was agape. "D-dying?" He repeated, aghast. "Your cousin's... dying?" Well shit. Yeah Rae might mind if an ex of his was dying. Maybe. Hard to tell these days, with the way that Rae was carrying on. But Aldon thought that if, say, Gregg was dying, he'd be pretty broken up about it.

He wilted again, visibly. "I. Guess." His hand made an attempt to flail. "I could just. Ask. Rae." Every word dragged itself reluctantly out of his mouth.

[Ryland Ren]

"Obviously." He didn't have rough friends because... well, he didn't have a real reason for that. Ryland just didn't feel like he attracted those kind of people. Plus, he had always been close to his two best friends and only them. The rest were held at arm's length, as though he had met his quota of close friends in this lifetime. Ryland didn't mean to be that way; he simply didn't have enough of himself to give to a huge number of people.

"And yeah. Yeah... he is."

Ryland's expression sobered immediately. He might have found that look on Aldon's face amusing if it weren't for the gravity the situation. Ryland wasn't being a drama queen; he really suspected that Alva was near death and it scared him. What did that damned witch have to gain from letting Alva die, anyway? Did he do it for magic potion parts? Did he do it because he was some sadistic weirdo? The reasons didn't matter. Ryland didn't think there could be one that could ever excuse that man for what he had done.

And it was imperative to save Alva from him. Ryland couldn't lose anybody else.

Ryland was on tenterhooks as he waited for Aldon to process that. He waited, watched him, held his breath, held his hands--even as one flailed helplessly. And then, the sweet, sweet words of assent. Ryland burst out with a happy sound before letting go of Aldon's hands and  practically leaping into him. He hugged him tight.

"Yes! Thank you thank you! You won't regret it."

[Aldon Huang]

"Oh no! No don't—" Aldon tried to forestall the hug but it was foredained to happen. As in, he didn't try all that hard and just let himself be swept up in Ryland's hug. Maybe he liked it. The way they got all close. The scent of that wily, wily fox. Everything they said about foxes was true and somehow, Aldon couldn't be too mad about it.

"...'s nothing, just gonna call him..." he mumbled, not exactly embarrassed by Ryland's gratefulness but acting like it anyway. That wasn't intentional; he wasn't that much of a big-headed jerk. It was just that he was still getting over the notion of somebody dying, who used to date his best friend. That hit too close to home, really.

Also he would TOTALLY regret it but he also didn't mention that, and instead gave Ryland an awkward pat on the back. Did-did it get harder to breathe again, or was it just him? Aldon wheezed in a breath. "Uh. Just uh. I need. Phone." He had to be free from this embrace if he was to call Rae and tell him about his... dying ex.

[Ryland Ren]

Despite the horror of the situation, Ryland was immensely for the help and from a virtual stranger, at that. He closed his eyes and breathed easily, as if hugging Aldon was as natural as breathing. And then Aldon was excusing himself and Ryland was dropping his arms and letting him go. Right. Some people didn't like the touchy-feely stuff. Ryland stuffed his hands into his pockets and turned slightly, another shrug. He wasn't going to take it personally. For all he knew, Aldon wasn't into guys touching him. Sometimes Ryland forgot he couldn't flirt with every guy ever. They weren't all the same.

"Okay. Sure." Ryland watched Aldon for a moment, then took a step backward, toward the small balcony in his bedroom. "I'll be out there while you make your call."

He didn't want to stand there eavesdropping, especially since they were dealing with Rae.

(We continue back here after Rae/Ald comm?)

[Aldon Huang]

Well the thing was, Aldon wasn't great at improvising and convincing Rae to get back with an ex... Ah... That was difficult. He flailed at Ryland after Ryland turned, but the guy was leaving and Aldon had to fight the urge—again—to dive head-first out the window. He really needed some kind of guidance. Preferably, someone to tell him what to say.

After a moment of totally suspicious smalltalk, he got to the point. In a "blurt everything out" kind of way. Then he scooted after Ryland and sidled up to him, pointing in an obvious way to the phone. "I told him your cousin was dying but it's not working!" He hissed with one hand over the phone, though that probably didn't muffle the sound or anything.

"What else?!"

(Can keep going too lol Doesn't really have to pick up after the comm since they might lead to different threads)

[Ryland Ren]

"I don't know..." Ryland wracked his memory for anything else that might help. And it really seemed like Aldon could use the help because Rae was pretty loud and he wasn't saying anything nice, from what parts of it Ryland could pick up.

"Ah..."

He looked at the covered phone. What else? What else? He heard Aldon's side and it sounded like he'd already told Rae several times that they couldn't kill anybody. (Although Ryland was sort of wondering if it would be so bad at this point. He knew it was the rage at knowing his cousin was being hurt but he was nowhere near the rage hound that Rae was.)

"He's... he's a hunter-hunter, right? Susumu? Maybe we can lure him away from Alva long enough to come after us while Rae has a chance to get to Alva?"

[Aldon Huang]

"Okay!" Said Aldon, also making the OK sign with his free hand—as if Ryland wasn't RIGHT THERE and couldn't hear him telling Rae about The Plan. It was a solid plan. Aldon could totally get behind that plan! Luring a dangerous witch out, while leaving his volatile best friend alone with Ryland's cousin, so that he could charm him with his six pack abs...

Err...

Well whatever. It'd work itself out! (Hopefully...?)

A moment later, he had to hold the phone away from his ear, because Rae was yelling and Aldon's heightened senses picked that up like a megaphone to the side of the head. He winced. "What'd I say?!" He hissed, outraged, at Ryland. They were still standing pretty close and as if by instinct—or habit—Aldon leaned in and rested against him.

"He's so MAD all the time!" He repeated for Ryland's benefit. Were they sure they wanted this guy alone with Ryland's cousin? But then again, if it made Rae less mad... Aldon shook his head and let out a sigh. "I wish you'd asked for somebody to help you kidnap a medium pizza," he complained to Ryland.

[Ryland Ren]

All right, all right. So it sounded like Aldon was correct about Rae. He sounded like a raging, seething ball of anger. Was it because of Alva? Ryland felt sort of sorry for him. At the same time, damn. He didn't know how a laidback fellow like Aldon dealt with all that shouting and yelling. Or how Alva dealt with it, for that matter. Alva...

"You know, calling him a medium pizza doesn't make this less incriminating." Ryland gave Aldon a sideways stare. The fact that Aldon was leaning against him somehow didn't bother him. Normally, he wouldn't let a random stranger do something like that but there was still something highly familiar about Aldon. Accepting it for the moment, Ryland lightly massaged his temple with one hand and used the other to slip it around Aldon's shoulders as naturally as breathing.

"Tell him..." Ryland hesitated a moment. Was it a lie to say it? Thinking back to what happened between Alva and Rae... he didn't think so. "Tell him Alva still loves him."

Just because there was bad shit in their past didn't mean that Alva stopped. And just because he was with Susumu didn't mean anything, either--especially since it was a witch...

[Aldon Huang]

Aldon would easily have broken into a pizza place, in order to kidnap a medium pizza. With all the toppings. Lots of meat—but no olives! He looked sideways at Ryland when Ryland looked sideways at him, eyebrows lifting. What? He couldn't complain a little, with what he was about to do?!

Distracted by Rae and his total refusal to admit that he was depressed (or something equally bad), Aldon didn't notice the arm around his shoulders. In fact, it felt right. Like... something slotted into place effortlessly, without having to try for once. The motion was natural and the way that it relaxed him felt equally natural.

Love, huh? That was a low-down dirty sneaky trick! It was also pretty clever. Totally fox-like thing to do. Plus it made Rae stop yelling, which was the biggest bonus of all. Aldon smiled over at him, forgetting his indignation. "Hey, that worked!" He leaned in closer; it felt like something he'd do. Lean in and let their noses touch, because he was amused. Happy. Comfortable.

"When's this going down?"

[Ryland Ren]

He wrinkled his nose slightly, in that playful way he did whenever... whenever... Hm. He ignored the painful lance through his head again. That was getting real annoying. Maybe he'd go to the doctor about it later. After all this business with Alva was finalized. Ryland smiled.

"I knew it would."

And it wasn't a lie! He stood by that. It was the truth, even if it was complicated. Ryland couldn't imagine Alva turning the guy he'd been with for five years away without even listening to him. As long as he was nice and he didn't go full on asshat and turn him away. That was the important part because if Rae messed up...

Rae couldn't mess up. Aldon and Ryland would be vulnerable and with Susumu. They were really sticking their necks out for Alva and Ryland appreciated it more than he suspected Aldon would ever know. It didn't seem fair to ask a stranger for so much but... it had to mean something that Aldon knew Rae! It was all aligning perfectly, as if this was The Plan. It had to work.

"Ah... Let's see..." Ryland had to think that one over. They couldn't just rush out and do it this instant. They had to carefully plan where they would be and what their positions were, what their roles were. Ryland reached around Aldon, brushing against his side as he did.

"He'll be at some library meeting on Thursday," he said. "He's been going there a lot lately, usually Thursdays because of some work-related thing. While he's gone, he'll leave Alva alone. Although... he'll probably have spells to let him know if somebody's coming or maybe even curses on people who shouldn't be there?"

Ryland's brows etched together. "Should we find a witch to help us? But how do we know if they're friends with Susumu...?"

[Aldon Huang]

"You put in work, stalking this guy, huh?" Amused, Aldon nudged Ryland gently. That just meant that Ryland was really worried about his cousin, and that spoke to Aldon. In a pack, everyone was like family; there was a lot of emphasis placed on protecting the pack and keeping the pack safe. The fact that Ryland had the same values meant that they were compatible.

Er. As... friends. Purely as friends.

"Wolves don't make friends with witches," Aldon said dubiously, as he put on his thinking hat. Wolves weren't standoffish as such, but that whole pack = family thing meant that outsiders... Not so much welcomed. Also on a personal level, Aldon didn't know witches. He wasn't sure why—he just never came into contact with them.

"What if we... um..." He made a "thinking" noise—a low hum. "Catch him by surprise! Like uh. If we get him out of his place in a hurry? Then he might not have time for spells and stuff!"

Aldon thought a little more. "What if we set his car on fire?!" Assuming the guy had a car, that was.