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1. For Kyle – Saturday night

The beat of the music thrummed in the background as the DJ who was up before Roddy did his thing. The party wasn't strictly legal, just set up in an abandoned warehouse with a few generators to power the sound equipment and lighting, and Roddy had brought a giant pink foam cat head to wear when he was DJing so that if they did get raided, no one would see who he was until he could get somewhere to go rat.

Not that it mattered at the moment, seeing as he was sitting in a back room that probably was a break room when this place was up and running, his feet propped on a small card table that currently also held the aforementioned cat head, taking a drink of his water. There was nothing to actively stop anyone from coming back here, but since the party was happening out there and it was just Roddy in the back room, resting up before he had to head out, it was unlikely that many people would want to come back here.

2. Mingle – Saturday night (Open, Roddy likely will not be responding since he's DJing)
Roddy was playing now, expertly manipulating the sound mixer while the crowd danced below. Small LEDs at the tip of the whiskers and in the eyes of the pink foam cat head he was wearing lit up the mask, giving it a distinct glow. The poor lighting in the temporarily converted warehouse was countered by the light of glow sticks and cell phones, as well as a few hanging lights that had been put up around the place. There was plenty of alcohol and possibly a few other substances being imbibed by the crowd below.

3. Mingle – Saturday night (Open, Roddy will not be responding because he's not here)
As the sun rose on the school parking lot, it illuminated the horrifying scene from the night before. Shut in a car that never left was the corpse of a man. All the flesh had been stripped away through the night, and the remaining meat was being gnawed on by the swarm of rats that had been locked in the car overnight with the man. If someone searched the area, they might find some discarded live traps stamped with the 'Geiger Pest Control' logo.

4. Open – Sunday afternoon
Roddy, oblivious to anything being out of the ordinary, was going about his day as usual. It was a Sunday, and the night before his father had gone out to the woods to release the rats he'd caught the day before. However, he'd already had a few jobs he'd run out to take care of, so many of the cages outside the mobile home the two of them lived in had been filled again. Roddy had given them food and water a few minutes ago, and now he was heading out with his violin.

He needed to get some practice in, and from time to time he liked to play for the rats. And so, after heading out to where the rats were and readying his violin, Roddy began to play.

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There were stories about people playing for the rats. the Pied Piper of Hamline, for instance. But this wasn't a pipe that Annie heard. Rather, violin- a song she recognized. She humms a bit, as she follows the music. Stupid, stupid, she knows, but she wants to find out who is playing so well.

It doesn't take long to find it, a young man with a violin. Quietly, she remains in the shadows, not wanting to spook him and stop the music. She'll listen, and quietly disappear. There's nothing wrong with that.

Roddy's senses are very keen, and his ears pick up the soft sound of her walking through the grass. Still, he keeps playing until the end of the song, since he can tell the footsteps are not approaching. Once he plays he final chords of the song, however, he lowers the instrument and turns to see who's there, giving the air a quick sniff as he tries to figure out who's watching him.

Then he spots her. He has no idea who it is, but figuring she was just listening in to the music, he gave a quick wave in greeting.

Annie's small, but her red-hair makes her easy to spot amidst the greenery. He waves, and she takes another step forward, out from the bushes. This time, it's more cautious.

"Uhm, hi. Sorry- I ah, didn't mean to bother you. You can keep playing. It sounds, ah, really lovely."

"It's okay. I don't mind having an audience." Or more of an audience, if the rats counted. Still, he suspected they were more interested in the fact that he smelled like one of them as well as Roddy's own calm that came from playing than the music itself, so it was kind of nice to have a human audience.

"I could play another song for you, if you'd like."

Annie blushes nearly as red as her hair.

"Oh- no. You don't- you don't have to. I just heard the music and, ah, I wanted to see who was playing. You're really, really good."

Roddy smiled. "Thanks. Glad you liked it."

After setting the violin and bow in the violin case carefully, he started to walk closer to where Annie was standing.

"My name's Roddy, by the way. What's yours?"

Annie hesitates, before extending a hand.

"Hi, Roddy." Her accent is Irish. "I'm Annie. How long have you been playing? I've always wanted to learn." Violin, that was. She had other instruments she'd spent her time on, in the meanwhile.

Roddy gave a firm, but brief shake.

"A long time," he said, pausing for a moment to think back. "Since I was eleven. I always loved the sound of the violin, so my dad saved up to get me lessons."

Which was rather impressive, considering the amount of money his dad usually had coming in. They weren't living in an old mobile home because they had a ton of wealth, after all.

"Oh." There's a beat where Annie forgets she needs to say something else in order to continue a conversation. "That's- a long time. And really really kind of him." Annie didn't understand what it was like to grow up poor. Sure, her life had been humble, but the Crestas had a considerable amount of wealth to their name. Her home in Kensington was proof enough of that.

her grandmother's home, truthfully. Annie could never call it her home.

"I play the harp. And the piano."

"Yeah, my dad's really awesome," Roddy agreed. That was one of the things that Roddy was always grateful for. No matter how poor they were, or how shitty things were, he always knew that he and his dad would look out for each other.

Roddy smiled when she mentioned her own musical experience. So she really did have an interest in playing an instrument. Some people said things like that, but what they really wanted was to just magically know what to do, and have everyone appreciate the sound of the music. Annie, however, sounded like she likely knew the hard work and practice it took to learn and understand an instrument.

"Brilliant, maybe we could play together sometime. What sort of music do you usually play?"

Annie nodded eagerly. "That'd be- that'd be really cool. Uhm... it depends? A lot of classical. I also like, ah, taking unexpected songs? And playing them, I guess. Traditional songs, too." She knew a fair amount, simply from life in Inishmore. A small island, and you tended to know all the traditional numbers.

"Do you usually just, ah, play for the rats?"

"I play a lot of classical music, myself." Such as the song he was just playing. "Actually, the song I was just playing is usually a violin and piano duet."

And he knew there were definitely others in his repertoire that a violin and piano could play together. He didn't know as many songs that would use a harp, though.

"And I don't always just play for the rats. I actually had a scholarship that paid for me to go to a fancy music school for a while, so I got to play for people there. I lost the scholarship, though. Got in a fight. Totally not my fault, though."

"Is it?" She smiled. "Maybe I'll learn it."

Losing a scholarship and having to drop out of school. Annie can't imagine it. She's always had enough, been able to attend whatever school she wanted. "I'm sorry," she said. "That's awful."

"It's Danse Macabre, by Camille Saint-Saens. In case you wanted to look up the music some time."

As for the rest of it, well...

"Yeah, it's bollocks, and sometimes I feel like I have the shoddiest luck, but..." Roddy shrugged. "What can you do?"

"Oh- I've heard that before! I'll look up the music." Now she wanted to try to play it.

She frowns. "I, ah, I know how that is. Having terrible luck." She pulls at a lock of her hair. "I'm sorry."

"Don't be. I mean, I guess everyone has bad luck sometimes, right?" From what she said, it sounded like she did, at least. Of course, he didn't realize yet that his own bad luck streak hadn't yet ended. "I mean, lately the whole city's been having a run of bad luck."

He assumed she didn't know about vampires, of course, but everyone, human and supernatural alike, could see how many deaths had been happening. It was impossible to ignore a this point.

"Oh! Yes, yes, they do." She didn't want to make it sound like it was just a two of them thing, or something. Or that she'd even had a particularly nasty string of bad luck.

"And ah, yeah. It has. Those gangs, huh?" Awful, she shook her head. She knew all about the gangs. She, mostly, tried to stay out of it. But she came down on the side of the humans, and, really, the Seelie Fae.

"Yeah," he agreed. "Those gangs. My dad's been super paranoid about them."

But then, his dad had always been worried about vampires. Of course, that didn't stop him from going out to the woods at night to release the rats he'd captured in people's homes during the day.

"Hasn't wanted me to go out past dark at all, although I admit I slipped out a few times."

Last night included. Sure, it was dangerous and Roddy wasn't doing it as much as he usually would, but he figured he could be careful.

"Oh- you should, ah, you should listen to him. It's not safe at night, not anymore." Not since the vampires had gotten their new leader.

"Or, uhm, if you have to. Take proper precautions." Like a stake with you at all times.

"I have been," he assured her. "Taking proper precautions, keeping my senses on high alert. I even took a few self defense classes."

Not that he was exactly on 'ready to handle a vampire' levels, really, but...well, he'd been sticking a stake in his backpack before heading out. He just hoped that if he ran into one of the things that went bump in the night, he'd manage to do more than fail horribly and give them a quick laugh before they settled down for a bite.

None of that will help with the vampires, but it's a start.

"Good. That's, ah, really smart." She offers him a watery smile. "I just don't want people to get hurt. You seem like a really nice kid. Smart, too." To play an instrument like that, you had to be smart.

"Thanks," he said. "Believe me, I'm all for not getting hurt, but you never know how long things are going to be bad for. Can't lock yourself up all the time."

Annie hesitated before answering. "Oh- uhm. Yeah. You, ah, can't." She was wont to do that, build a barricade in her home and keep those she considered friends there. Those few people, Finnick...

"I mean..." he considered it, "I guess you could just stay in at night, it's not like too much is going to happen during the day."

Unless the vampires had daylight rings.

"But I don't know. Sometimes you get tired of being afraid."

As a small prey animal, he got plenty of fear, but at the end of the day, he had the desire to push back, too. Just not...seek out trouble specifically, but at least to be ready to push back. In case someone pushed.

Annie pressed her lips together, casting her eyes to the ground. Sometimes you get tired of being afraid, the words echoed in her mind and she knew they were going to tattoo themselves under her skin.

"Yes. Sometimes." Her voice was soft, far-away. She wasn't in the woods right now, she was across the sea. She was so, so tired of being afraid. It wasn't right.

"Hey," he said, taking a step closer with a concerned look as he watched that look on her face. Heard her voice. Something wasn't right. "You okay?"

Annie's head snaps up, eyes wide. It's almost too quick. "Oh! Yes- sorry. Sorry, no, I'm, ah, I'm fine..." It could have been a question.

She can't even tell him how right he is.

"Are you sure?" he asked, "Because you really don't sound sure."

She seemed pretty nervous. In fact, she'd seemed that way through most of the conversation.

"Something's got you spooked. Look...if it's all this gang violence lately, that's easier to avoid than you might think. Don't go out after dark or let strangers in, and you're pretty much safe."

Yes, these gangs, they're oddly polite about breaking into people's houses uninvited, aren't they? Of course, Roddy himself already admitted to breaking his first rule, there.

Annie shakes her head.

"Oh! No, no, no, I'm, ah, I'm fine." She smiles, her lips tight, and the smile doesn't reach her eyes. "I'm just- ah, usually..." she kind of makes a vague gesture, to try to indicate she's usually not exactly the most stable individual.

"It's okay. But you- uhm, listen to your own advice. It's good. Advice- I mean.

"Oh. Right."

He'd just figured it was recent events making her skittish, although he still suspected they didn't exactly help.

"I will, thanks."

No, he wouldn't, but he figured it would make her feel better if she thought he would.

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