Dank Darkwick - ballroom

balls

... please leave before I make you

you'll never catch me alive! runs

Turns out it’s really difficult to dance with an unconscious man. “Welp..”

They emerge quietly into the silvery moonlit ballroom. It's empty, save for the two women, and it stretches vast and grand. Jo, still holding Saki's hand, turns to her with a somewhat shy smile. "Feel like dancing?" Her voice echoes a little and she covers her mouth to stifle a surprised laugh.

"You guys have a ballroom??" Saki's voice echoes loudly. To be honest, dancing without music sounds kind of cringe. Or maybe there's some sort of invisible anomalous band that will start playing. Alternatively... she should use this moment to find out what kind of music Jo likes to listen to. "Hmm~ You got speakers?"

Jo can't help the amused snort this time when Saki's voice echoes far more loudly than hers had. She glances around, but figures this place was sealed off enough to keep them from anyone's notice. Usually, you need an entire orchestra to hear anything from the ballroom from the outside. "We're a bunch of fancy rich pricks," Jo says, "'Course we have a ballroom. How else can we show off how pretentious we are?" She's shaking her head as she says it. Jo likes the ballroom. She's never liked Frostheim that much, even if some parts were beginning to grow on her. Speakers? At the question, Jo raises an eyebrow, then pulls a Bluetooth speaker out from her YSL handbag and sets it on the floor before messing with her phone. She absolutely planned all this in advance, just in case. "Just pre-warning you. I mostly listen to, like, rock and jazz, so whatever I find that's suitable for dancing in here is gonna be terrible. I would have hummed something from my country, but I'm not playing the real thing." Jo tilts her head then selects an instrumental version. "Y'know what actually? There. 'Waltzing Matilda' with less of the depression in it without the lyrics. Classic Australian song. Don't worry, you're allowed to hate it. I never liked it much when I first heard it." Jo pulls Saki in and lays a hand at her waist as she starts to lead the dance with a wry glint in her pale eyes that seems aimed at herself. She knows this is stupidly cheesy. Jo finds it fun anyway.

Saki laughs, to be honest she has heard a fair amount of grumbling and complaining about Frostheim from a certain Vagastrom friend before she came to Darkwick. "You really just keep speakers in your purse?" she raises an eyebrow, somewhat impressed, somewhat confused. Saki rests her arms around Jo's shoulders, but when the music starts her smile straightens. There's a crease between her eyebrows and she doesn't do much to make her expression more subtle. "Huh." She follows the sway of Jo's movements in silent judgement for a minute before clicking her tongue and pulling away. "Uhhh yeahhhh, so, like, I never tired ballroom dancing before and this is like... kiiiiinda lame." She checks her nails with an uninterested expression on her face.

Jo's surprised by the change in Saki, and there's the briefest flash of hurt that flits across her face when the woman pulls away. It's gone as quick as it appeared. Jo just sighs and stops the music. When she checked her phone though to turn off the music, she noticed her suspension on Wickhive because of her argument with Kamiyama. It had been good to forget him and that whole ordeal while they were out. But the reminder from the alert of her suspension pisses her off all over again. Where the fuck is that bastard? Jo glances up and pockets her phone, noting Saki's lack of interest. An oddly familiar feeling writhes inside. Something like resentment, like frustration, and like desire. And yet, not quite any of them definitively at all. But it all builds up to a boil and the steam needs a release. She takes Saki by the wrist this time and tugs her over to the tall windows where moonlight spills across the marble floor. Then she abruptly spins Saki around and pins her to the glass, capturing both wrists and holding them above Saki's head. Jo's gaze reflects the brightness of the moon. She leans in close, lips hovering just over Saki's. "Don't like ballroom dancing? Fine. Show me how else you can dance."

For a brief moment Jo took Saki by surprise, it wasn't long before her grin was restored. "Ohh myyy~<3 Now weren't you just a virgin yesterday? Whatcha gonna do if someone walks in?" She tilts her head puckers her lips in a cutesy pout.

Frustrated energy still burns in her veins, but Jo can't deny that she likes Saki's grin. Her lips brush down the woman's jaw. "Believe it or not," she murmurs between kisses to Saki's neck, "I'm a quick study." She bites and sucks a mark into the soft, tanned skin there to match the one branding the junction on her shoulder from last night. Jo places her knee between Saki's thighs as her mouth moves up again, stealing a hot kiss that's in stark contrast to the cold air emanating off the glass behind Saki. "If someone walks in, they're in for a show." Because I couldn't care less right now, Jo thinks. The semi-public thing is something she's probably gonna need to unpack later. "Now, if you're finished with your useless whining..." Jo presses in closer to Saki, claiming another kiss from her lips before she says, "Grind on me. Go on. I want to see you get off from that alone like a lame bitch in heat."

They banged.

‍

LMFAOOO

10:43 PM

THE NOSE???

10:43 PM

Sniff test ig

"...What's going on in here?"

LMAOOO

"Sorry we were about to fuck against the window. Wanna join?"

Leaves.

Suspicious Student could probably sell some crunch and munch to these rich suckers. He came in a fancy suit for the occasion.

she thinks about the evening she spent dancing with Jin here and how warm and firm his hands were.

A nearly drained bottle of vodka hangs loosely from Jo's fingers as she shuffles into the ballroom. She glares at the places she remembers dancing with and then fucking Saki so long ago. Takes another swig of the alcohol. She broke her promise to Zero not to drink anywhere but Rui's bar. Broke her promise to Tomo not to get drunk like this anymore. And broke her personal promise to herself. It hurts. It feels awful. But it feels like relief too, and that was what she craved. Almost four months of sobriety down the drain. It's an overreaction. An excuse to break down. A completely unjustified display of self-ruin because she hates herself and hates everyone else too. Well, everyone but Laurent and Sterling. And Zero. Everyone else though? They could go and rot in the cold, damp earth with the fucking worms like the grubs they were. As Jo shambles across the marble floor, swaying, she knows the earth is where she belongs too. She was never meant to live this long. She was supposed to have died long ago during the crocodile attack. Stef should be alive. Stef would be wiser than Jo in her shoes. She wouldn't have fallen for all the people Jo had. Stef wouldn't have to feel so wretched over Seiya. But Jo was the fool who seemed cosmically entangled with the damn fucker. Leo liked Seiya all along. Must have, beneath the stupid prank. Get to fuck Jo and then get her friend later to rub it in how he never liked her all that much. Not enough to tell her he felt anything reciprocal. Seiya liked Leo. Jo cried to Seiya about Leo. The bastard had taken just about every opportunity to tell her she shouldn't have expected any better from slime like Kurosagi. Encouraged her to move on. Told her he was seeing Goro. There was nothing real with Leo. ...fucking asshole liar just wanted yet another man Jo had liked all to himself. Could she have nothing?

7:23 AM

No, that wasn't true. She had Sterling. Jo wanted to text him. But it didn't feel right to grieve about past loves to a current one. She had to deal with this on her own. Save herself the embarrassment and the risk of making Sterling feel insecure. He didn't deserve that. Honestly, she didn't even deserve him. Sterling deserved better than a walking open wound of a woman. Was this even about grieving Leo? Or was it just the idea that she could trust Seiya? ... Jo slumps against a tall, icy window. She gulps down the last burning remnants of vodka, eyelids heavy with inebriation and a bone-deep exhaustion as she blearily stares out at the wintry landscape of Frsotheim outside. ...she was a total hypocrite, wasn't she? She had broken Seiya's trust by confessing to Zero. If it had been Stef, she knows her sister would never have done the same thing. She would have faced Tomo's stupid blackmail, taken it on the chin and maintained her dignity, morals, and all that fucking shit. Stef was always such a goddamn hero. A symbol of true strength. Jo was a coward, through and through. And an utterly horrible friend. This must be karma. The universe wasn't done punishing her. Never was. Jo can't help but be a bad person by her very nature. She had to be constantly kept in check. Seiya liking Leo, while knowing all he knew, was probably a lenient consequence for all Jo had done wrong by him. Doesn't make it all hurt less. Jo whirls around and throws the bottle down on the marble floor, shattering it loudly so it echoes in the grand, empty ballroom. A few flying pieces cut her. She doesn't care. What's a scratch to a ghoul?

7:23 AM

She's glad she thought to send Laurent outside so she could break down without him witnessing it. A part of her might still reject acknowledging being an actual parental figure to someone vulnerable, but she still feels responsible for him. The time he comforted her over Leo was the last time he ever need comfort her about anything. It should be Jo supporting him with whatever rocky relationship her boy had going on with Akari. Who the fuck even put her in charge of a child anomaly? Jo wasn't mother material. She's terrible at this. Tears mix with blood. Finally, Jo just passes out on the ballroom floor, the shards of wet glass forming a broken halo and featherless wings around her. (edited)

It's thankfully not too long before she comes to again. Dripping blood and bits of glass, Jo picks herself up and staggers out of the ballroom.