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Bash answers the door, grinning at the sight of Keith, leaning in for a quick kiss before getting out of the way so he can come in. He’s shirtless, just wearing a comfy pair of sweatpants, his hair loose.
“Good to see you, darling. Jeff’s in the living room with the pizza. I also got some ice cream for later, as a treat.” And of course, by the smell of the air, coffee has been brewing. Does their percolator ever pause?
Jeff's feeling a little nervous, too. Nervous and excited? Hey, he always loves meeting new people, and he knows Bash really likes Keith, which means he'll probably like Keith, and the thought of potentially, maybe, possibly growing their... household? Contract-circle? Whatever you want to call it, it sends giddy little butterflies flitting around his stomach. He actually wants a... whatever you'd call another submissive. Sibling-sub?
But, of course, there's always the chance that Keith will think he's weird, or Jeff will somehow ruin things and scare the dude off. Or Bash will see the two of them here, side by side, and he can't help but compare, and then he'll realize just how fucked up Jeff is, and how much he doesn't stack up, and how he might be better off sending him on his way once their contract's up so he doesn't have to deal with a sub who needs to check in to prove he's eating and sleeping like any functional adult can already do without hand holding and and and--
Oh there's the door. Jeff pops up off the couch, looking as comfy as Bash in a pair of salmon-colored sweat shorts and an oversized hoodie, only partially zipped up, that looks like it's been (fashionably) spattered with vibrant paint. He's a colorful creature. He grins brightly and cheerfully when they come into the room, waving at Keith.
"Hey! Pizza's here. I don't know what you like on your pizza, but there's a few, so, um. There's options. Like... pineapple? I like pineapple. A lot of people don't, but that's 'cause they're assholes. I mean, not that you're an asshole, if you don't like it, um--"
Compared to the two of them, Keith feels a little overdressed in the closest thing he has to black jeans, a plain t-shirt, a 'has seen better days' hoodie tactically acquired from someone who left it outside back when he'd first arrived, combat boots, his chunky belt complete with knife in holster, and his ever-present fingerless gloves. The other two look far more comfortable by comparison and he's almost jealous. At the same time though, he did just make the trek from the Down in the cold, so that might be why he's feeling it right now.
"I said I'd come, so-" He cuts himself off as he enters the room where Jeff is, his nervousness about the situation ramping up a notch. What does he say? How is he supposed to act? He has no idea, so for the moment, Jeff gets an almost shy smile and a nervous wave. "I've... never had it. On pizza, I mean..."
First impression of the guy: it's like a mix of Pidge when she gets to rambling and Lance in general, but without the obnoxiousness. Not a bad impression, he's just not sure how to proceed, especially since he isn't sure if the two of them are a thing or not.
"It's worth trying at least once, to see if you like it. If not, there's veggie and one with sausage, too. We can even send you home with leftovers, if you like. But c'mon in, take your shoes off, and let's get you comfy."
Bash spares Jeff a bit of a glance, noting his nerves. Hard to tell if those will go away with familiarity.
"Right, and you bargained for a warm blanket, too. I'll go grab that while you get settled in." And give the two submissives a moment to figure each other out. He heads toward the master bedroom.
Hey, Jeff recognizes the "just blew in from the Down" look, since he lived that life for as long as he could before getting in a contract. For a while, everything he owned was second-hand or shoplifted (or bartered for, in the only way that an uncontracted submissive can barter in a city like this).
Actually, a lot of his clothes are still second-hand, shoplifted, or bartered for, but now he's got a choice.
Jeff flops back down on the couch, and in the spirit of comfort and helpfulness, offers, "Hey, if you want, I've got some extra sweats you can borrow." They might run a little long, since Jeff is mostly legs. "Or I can go put on pants. I mean, I know I'm wearing pants," sort of, "but I mean, like, real pants? When Bash said there was gonna be a sleepover, I didn't know how I should dress, since I always sleep here, so, um--" Enough of that tangent. "I'm Jeff. I mean, I know you probably knew that already but I thought, hey, I should make it official and introduce myself anyway."
Boy, he's all over the place, isn't he? He could blame it on nerves, but really, this is just Jeff being Jeff.
When Bash disappears, Keith is left with a deer in headlights look on his face, trying to push down the nerves enough to be social and resorting to balancing himself first on one foot then the other like a weird emo flamingo to remove his boots. "You don't have to change. It's your house, I'm the one that's--" That's what? The interloper? Invading? Visiting? He's not entirely sure how to finish the sentence, so he lets it drop, setting his boots aside.
He's eternally grateful when Jeff gives him the subject change so he doesn't have to try to fumble for a finish. "Keith." And this is the part where he fumbles anyway, completely misinterpreting things as he shoves his hands in his pockets, thinking that Jeff is afraid he's trying to move in on his territory. "Look, I have a contract, even if it was just a matter of convenience to keep me out of trouble, but I fucked something up at the library, and I promised Bash I'd make it up to him however he wanted, and this is what he asked for, so... I promise I'm not out to steal him away from you or anything, so you don't have to worry about that."
Lay everything out on the table so that there's no surprises or worries or potential for anything weird. At least, that was his intention anyway.
Jeff blinks, looking clueless and... a little disappointed? Mainly because he's misinterpreting Keith's misinterpretation, and so all he can respond with is, "Wait, so... You're only here because you have to be, not, like, because you want to be, or you like Bash, or wanted to meet, or...?"
Help, that just makes everything even more awkward.
"I mean, that's cool, I guess, if you want to... treat this like some kind of... business sleepover..."
"What? No! I--" Off to a great start, clearly. "I wasn't- I didn't mean- I... I didn't want you to think I was trying to make a move on your territory." Is that any better? Probably not.
If the floor could open up and swallow him, Keith wouldn't mind one bit. Save him from the awkwardness of his own creation.
"And I do like him, I just--" No sooner are the words out of his mouth than he's clamping a hand over it, eyes wide. He really did admit that just now, didn't he? And he can't backtrack or take it back, can he? Sighting in resignation, Keith pushes back the nervousness enough to actually say what he means. "I like him... but I don't want to wreck things between the two of you."
"You're not wrecking a damned thing. That's part of why I wanted you two to meet, because I wanted to know if there would be any problems. But you're both so nervous it's kinda painful to watch." Bash comes out of the bedroom with a blanket in his hands, tucking it around Keith's shoulders like a cloak.
"I like you both, and that's alright. It's not like you're stealing me, Keith. For one thing, I'm a grown-ass adult, not a thing to get stolen. But for another, there's nothing wrong with liking more than one person."
Jeff wrinkles his nose a little, just for a moment, when the word territory comes up. But he lets it pass quickly, and instead, a warm smile blooms on his face. Because hey, even if Jeff isn't the jealous type, he can appreciate the consideration Keith's trying to show him.
"Oh! Dude, no, it's fine--" he starts, then stops himself when Bash comes back into the room, his relief immediate and obvious when his Dominant takes the conversational reins. Thank god, because if it was just between Jeff and Keith, they'd probably just keep digging themselves into a super awkward hole.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's not-- monogamy's not really my thing." He grins and adds, teasingly, "You're sweet to worry, though. Now, c'mon, sit. I don't wanna be the only one on the couch, man."
The weight of the blanket is a comforting thing, like that first sip of coffee in the morning or a life preserver tossed into the Sea of Awkward he was drowning himself in, but it doesn't stop him from giving Bash a look that's almost a pout. "I'm not--! Okay, maybe a little." Nervous, that is, and 'a little' is a gross understatement.
Needless to say though, he's very confused. His experience with liking people has been quite limited at best and he's still navigating his way through trying to figure out the different levels of 'like'. His tend to run in three forms: Acquaintances, Friends, and Shiro, but thanks to his time in the city, that scale is either starting to expand and he can't figure out where things fall or he's got a crush on his best friend and never realized it, because Bash is hitting up there in the Shiro range.
"And I don't know what my 'thing' is. Or if I even have one. This stuff's all completely new to me." His movements are slowed by the blanket as he shuffles across the room to the couch, careful to give Jeff some space since the extra bulk of the blanket will take up a little more real estate than he would without it. "But you're sure I'm not gonna screw this up for you guys?"
Bash moves over to the couch and plops himself down in the space between Keith and Jeff, so he can be touching both of them. Because look, he's an oversized housecat and if he fits, he certainly sits.
"Pretty sure, yeah. And if there's a problem that comes up, we can talk about it--me and Jeff, me and you, all three of us. Communication's kinda a big deal with shit like this."
He grabs a slice of the veggie pizza, folding it in half before biting into it.
'Don't worry. If anyone's gonna screw things up, it's me.'
Jeff almost says it, almost wraps his self esteem issues up in a little joke, but he-- for once?-- manages to swallow it back, if only because he's pretty sure Bash will see through it, and he doesn't want him to worry.
So he's glad to just parrot his Dominant with a, "Yeah... Communication."
As if his main mode of communication isn't "go into party binge mode and avoid everything".
Jeff grabs a slice of pineapple pizza and leans against Bash comfortably, relaxing now that all three of them are on the couch.
"Wait, so when you say this is all new to you, do you mean, like, um... the Dom/sub stuff, or the, uh..."
Jeff you can't just ask people if they are-- or were, up until landing in sex city, with all its quotas-- a virgin!
At least he seems to realize it, because he quickly adds an only slightly panicked, "Nevermind!"
And then he takes a bite of pizza to shut himself up.
Keith's used to having a giant fluffy wolf taking up a lot of space, so oversized house cat is perfectly fine with him. "I'll be honest, I'm really not good with people. I'm learning, but it's... a process. I can try, I just can't promise anything."
It's probably a good thing though that he isn't eating at the moment Jeff starts to ask the question, if just because he'd have given a noncommittal answer and claimed that 'sorry, mouth is full'. Instead, he uses the time to try and figure out if he wants to go with tried and true or something altogether new. Pizza is a serious deliberation here, and it takes the embarrassment out of the equation if he's focused on something else.
"All of it. I didn't go out of my way to be close to people and I didn't exactly have a good reputation at the Garrison, then I got kicked out and stayed as far from people as I could get for a year..." When you can't decide, you pick two and sandwich them together. Time to see how well pineapple goes with veggies! It can't possibly be worse than spending years in space living on food goo. "...and after that, I had other things to worry about instead. I was never really interested. This place was... a really big change that I'm still trying to get used to."
Pizza sandwich seems like a valid choice to Bash. He relaxes against the other two. "You been around just as long as both of us have been here. I think you haven't really been trying to get used to all of it. Which, like. That's a choice to make. But in my opinion, things here are a bit easier with people to lean on."
The hand not holding Bash's pizza lightly wraps around Jeff when he leans in. It's almost a reflex at this point: boy leans, hold boy.
he had an important thing for jeff to know, so... >.>
Oh, that earns a momentary flat look, broken only by the need to consume pizza. "Hey, 'm getting better. I wen' fr'm being-" And yep, he's talking with his mouth full. Give him a moment to swallow. "I went from being the one that got ignored, labeled the 'emo kid', and told I was a problem to-- to everything that's happened since I got here. It was a crash course, but I'm getting better." He's pretty sure neither of them wants to hear about the 'everything' part, so he's glad he was able to stop himself and be vague about it.
"And that's on top of the whole being half alien thing that I didn't have a lotta time to get adjusted to since we were kinda in the middle of a war, so now I have to worry about whether or not what I say or how I act or react in situations is normal or if it's entirely because I'm part angry giant purple space koala. Which, by the way," Keith leans forward to give Jeff a worried look, careful not to drop his pizza in the process, "is a thing, so if aliens kinda freak you out at all, now's the time to say something. I don't turn purple, I don't get fuzzy, I don't have any weird alien bodyparts, I just- Okay, I'm not entirely sure, but he saw it, so he can probably fill you in there."
Jeff listens, attentive even as he cuddles into Bash, though his pizza's momentarily forgotten. He may not know anything about Keith's world, or the experiences that ultimately led him right here, on their couch, but he gets it. Or he thinks he gets it, anyway, because for as fucked up as this city is, it's like...
A fresh start. And for some (like, hey, Jeff), there's a lot more good than bad here, and their lives back home weren't all that great to begin with.
And then his eyes widen with excitement when he hears the words angry giant purple space koala. No, it definitly doesn't seem to freak him out, though Jeff does wilt (just a little!) when Keith immediately assures him that he doesn't turn purple or get fuzzy.
Takes all the fun out of purple space koalas, doesn't it?
"Right on." Yeah, Jeff's trying to play it cool. "Doesn't freak me out, man, I mean..." He makes his eyes big and lifts his brows, looking sooo innocent. "As long as you're cool with witches."
Not Jeff's go-to word to describe himself, but it seems to be the most common here, so he rolls with it. It's a lot easier to say I'm a witch than I'm Gifted-- oh, what does that mean? Well...
"I'd have said cat before koala. Between the golden eyes and sharp teeth, you absolutely reminded me of a cat baring its fangs." He ruffles Keith's hair gently, before looking at Jeff.
"And both of you are alright with me, so I don't exactly expect being weird about people not being normal to be a problem."
There's an indignant squeak at the hair-ruffling, but that's all the further it goes. He really doesn't mind it as much as he acts. Just wait until he gets to be comfortable, because then there's another tick in the cat box. But--
Wait, witches? "Are we talking like weird masked Druid 'I burn you with magic' witches? Because last time I had to deal with those, the guy burned my hand and it kinda turned this blotchy purple color..." Not that he'd have anything against Jeff if he is, but he'd at least know not to do anything to end up getting burned. Of course, that particular Druid was also the enemy and trying to kill him, but eh, details. It's also the only time he's ever had a reaction like that before -it's never been replicated no matter how many times he got banged up, so it was most likely a reaction to the magic.
Bash's comment makes him open his mouth, drawing breath to say something when he stops, thinks better on it, and closes it again. Really, what does he say to that? The guy's a literal demigod, so any comment Keith might make about not being normal is like calling water wet. "Okay, fine, you got me there."
Jeff laughs a little at the indignant squeak, but stops short at the question, along with the very specific example of masks and burning and-- okay, there might be a split second where he might feel somewhat offended, because he's spent his whole life dealing with assumptions and stereotypes, but then it's all cleared up when Keith mentions his own personal experience with some Druid assholes.
"Oh. Uh. No? I just make music, and cool stuff happens. I don't use it to hurt people, or do creepy occult shit, or... sacrifice animals or make people fall in love with me or anything like that."
And Bash definitely has a point there, anyway. Jeff hums in consideration. "So none of us are normal."
Which he says as if it's a good thing. Jeff never put much stock in normalcy to begin with. Maybe it's a byproduct of the whole witch thing. Or maybe it's just good, old fashioned, youthful rebellion.
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dispersing) wrote2021-09-24 11:51 am
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“Good to see you, darling. Jeff’s in the living room with the pizza. I also got some ice cream for later, as a treat.” And of course, by the smell of the air, coffee has been brewing. Does their percolator ever pause?
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But, of course, there's always the chance that Keith will think he's weird, or Jeff will somehow ruin things and scare the dude off. Or Bash will see the two of them here, side by side, and he can't help but compare, and then he'll realize just how fucked up Jeff is, and how much he doesn't stack up, and how he might be better off sending him on his way once their contract's up so he doesn't have to deal with a sub who needs to check in to prove he's eating and sleeping like any functional adult can already do without hand holding and and and--
Oh there's the door. Jeff pops up off the couch, looking as comfy as Bash in a pair of salmon-colored sweat shorts and an oversized hoodie, only partially zipped up, that looks like it's been (fashionably) spattered with vibrant paint. He's a colorful creature. He grins brightly and cheerfully when they come into the room, waving at Keith.
"Hey! Pizza's here. I don't know what you like on your pizza, but there's a few, so, um. There's options. Like... pineapple? I like pineapple. A lot of people don't, but that's 'cause they're assholes. I mean, not that you're an asshole, if you don't like it, um--"
Okay, maybe he's more nervous than he thought.
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"I said I'd come, so-" He cuts himself off as he enters the room where Jeff is, his nervousness about the situation ramping up a notch. What does he say? How is he supposed to act? He has no idea, so for the moment, Jeff gets an almost shy smile and a nervous wave. "I've... never had it. On pizza, I mean..."
First impression of the guy: it's like a mix of Pidge when she gets to rambling and Lance in general, but without the obnoxiousness. Not a bad impression, he's just not sure how to proceed, especially since he isn't sure if the two of them are a thing or not.
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Bash spares Jeff a bit of a glance, noting his nerves. Hard to tell if those will go away with familiarity.
"Right, and you bargained for a warm blanket, too. I'll go grab that while you get settled in." And give the two submissives a moment to figure each other out. He heads toward the master bedroom.
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Actually, a lot of his clothes are still second-hand, shoplifted, or bartered for, but now he's got a choice.
Jeff flops back down on the couch, and in the spirit of comfort and helpfulness, offers, "Hey, if you want, I've got some extra sweats you can borrow." They might run a little long, since Jeff is mostly legs. "Or I can go put on pants. I mean, I know I'm wearing pants," sort of, "but I mean, like, real pants? When Bash said there was gonna be a sleepover, I didn't know how I should dress, since I always sleep here, so, um--" Enough of that tangent. "I'm Jeff. I mean, I know you probably knew that already but I thought, hey, I should make it official and introduce myself anyway."
Boy, he's all over the place, isn't he? He could blame it on nerves, but really, this is just Jeff being Jeff.
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He's eternally grateful when Jeff gives him the subject change so he doesn't have to try to fumble for a finish. "Keith." And this is the part where he fumbles anyway, completely misinterpreting things as he shoves his hands in his pockets, thinking that Jeff is afraid he's trying to move in on his territory. "Look, I have a contract, even if it was just a matter of convenience to keep me out of trouble, but I fucked something up at the library, and I promised Bash I'd make it up to him however he wanted, and this is what he asked for, so... I promise I'm not out to steal him away from you or anything, so you don't have to worry about that."
Lay everything out on the table so that there's no surprises or worries or potential for anything weird. At least, that was his intention anyway.
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Help, that just makes everything even more awkward.
"I mean, that's cool, I guess, if you want to... treat this like some kind of... business sleepover..."
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If the floor could open up and swallow him, Keith wouldn't mind one bit. Save him from the awkwardness of his own creation.
"And I do like him, I just--" No sooner are the words out of his mouth than he's clamping a hand over it, eyes wide. He really did admit that just now, didn't he? And he can't backtrack or take it back, can he? Sighting in resignation, Keith pushes back the nervousness enough to actually say what he means. "I like him... but I don't want to wreck things between the two of you."
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"I like you both, and that's alright. It's not like you're stealing me, Keith. For one thing, I'm a grown-ass adult, not a thing to get stolen. But for another, there's nothing wrong with liking more than one person."
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"Oh! Dude, no, it's fine--" he starts, then stops himself when Bash comes back into the room, his relief immediate and obvious when his Dominant takes the conversational reins. Thank god, because if it was just between Jeff and Keith, they'd probably just keep digging themselves into a super awkward hole.
"Yeah, I'm fine, it's not-- monogamy's not really my thing." He grins and adds, teasingly, "You're sweet to worry, though. Now, c'mon, sit. I don't wanna be the only one on the couch, man."
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Needless to say though, he's very confused. His experience with liking people has been quite limited at best and he's still navigating his way through trying to figure out the different levels of 'like'. His tend to run in three forms: Acquaintances, Friends, and Shiro, but thanks to his time in the city, that scale is either starting to expand and he can't figure out where things fall or he's got a crush on his best friend and never realized it, because Bash is hitting up there in the Shiro range.
"And I don't know what my 'thing' is. Or if I even have one. This stuff's all completely new to me." His movements are slowed by the blanket as he shuffles across the room to the couch, careful to give Jeff some space since the extra bulk of the blanket will take up a little more real estate than he would without it. "But you're sure I'm not gonna screw this up for you guys?"
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"Pretty sure, yeah. And if there's a problem that comes up, we can talk about it--me and Jeff, me and you, all three of us. Communication's kinda a big deal with shit like this."
He grabs a slice of the veggie pizza, folding it in half before biting into it.
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Jeff almost says it, almost wraps his self esteem issues up in a little joke, but he-- for once?-- manages to swallow it back, if only because he's pretty sure Bash will see through it, and he doesn't want him to worry.
So he's glad to just parrot his Dominant with a, "Yeah... Communication."
As if his main mode of communication isn't "go into party binge mode and avoid everything".
Jeff grabs a slice of pineapple pizza and leans against Bash comfortably, relaxing now that all three of them are on the couch.
"Wait, so when you say this is all new to you, do you mean, like, um... the Dom/sub stuff, or the, uh..."
Jeff you can't just ask people if they are-- or were, up until landing in sex city, with all its quotas-- a virgin!
At least he seems to realize it, because he quickly adds an only slightly panicked, "Nevermind!"
And then he takes a bite of pizza to shut himself up.
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It's probably a good thing though that he isn't eating at the moment Jeff starts to ask the question, if just because he'd have given a noncommittal answer and claimed that 'sorry, mouth is full'. Instead, he uses the time to try and figure out if he wants to go with tried and true or something altogether new. Pizza is a serious deliberation here, and it takes the embarrassment out of the equation if he's focused on something else.
"All of it. I didn't go out of my way to be close to people and I didn't exactly have a good reputation at the Garrison, then I got kicked out and stayed as far from people as I could get for a year..." When you can't decide, you pick two and sandwich them together. Time to see how well pineapple goes with veggies! It can't possibly be worse than spending years in space living on food goo. "...and after that, I had other things to worry about instead. I was never really interested. This place was... a really big change that I'm still trying to get used to."
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The hand not holding Bash's pizza lightly wraps around Jeff when he leans in. It's almost a reflex at this point: boy leans, hold boy.
he had an important thing for jeff to know, so... >.>
"And that's on top of the whole being half alien thing that I didn't have a lotta time to get adjusted to since we were kinda in the middle of a war, so now I have to worry about whether or not what I say or how I act or react in situations is normal or if it's entirely because I'm part angry giant purple space koala. Which, by the way," Keith leans forward to give Jeff a worried look, careful not to drop his pizza in the process, "is a thing, so if aliens kinda freak you out at all, now's the time to say something. I don't turn purple, I don't get fuzzy, I don't have any weird alien bodyparts, I just- Okay, I'm not entirely sure, but he saw it, so he can probably fill you in there."
'He' being Bash, of course.
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A fresh start. And for some (like, hey, Jeff), there's a lot more good than bad here, and their lives back home weren't all that great to begin with.
And then his eyes widen with excitement when he hears the words angry giant purple space koala. No, it definitly doesn't seem to freak him out, though Jeff does wilt (just a little!) when Keith immediately assures him that he doesn't turn purple or get fuzzy.
Takes all the fun out of purple space koalas, doesn't it?
"Right on." Yeah, Jeff's trying to play it cool. "Doesn't freak me out, man, I mean..." He makes his eyes big and lifts his brows, looking sooo innocent. "As long as you're cool with witches."
Not Jeff's go-to word to describe himself, but it seems to be the most common here, so he rolls with it. It's a lot easier to say I'm a witch than I'm Gifted-- oh, what does that mean? Well...
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"And both of you are alright with me, so I don't exactly expect being weird about people not being normal to be a problem."
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Wait, witches? "Are we talking like weird masked Druid 'I burn you with magic' witches? Because last time I had to deal with those, the guy burned my hand and it kinda turned this blotchy purple color..." Not that he'd have anything against Jeff if he is, but he'd at least know not to do anything to end up getting burned. Of course, that particular Druid was also the enemy and trying to kill him, but eh, details. It's also the only time he's ever had a reaction like that before -it's never been replicated no matter how many times he got banged up, so it was most likely a reaction to the magic.
Bash's comment makes him open his mouth, drawing breath to say something when he stops, thinks better on it, and closes it again. Really, what does he say to that? The guy's a literal demigod, so any comment Keith might make about not being normal is like calling water wet. "Okay, fine, you got me there."
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"Oh. Uh. No? I just make music, and cool stuff happens. I don't use it to hurt people, or do creepy occult shit, or... sacrifice animals or make people fall in love with me or anything like that."
And Bash definitely has a point there, anyway. Jeff hums in consideration. "So none of us are normal."
Which he says as if it's a good thing. Jeff never put much stock in normalcy to begin with. Maybe it's a byproduct of the whole witch thing. Or maybe it's just good, old fashioned, youthful rebellion.