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What had started as an effort to befriend the recently embodied form of the Queen of the Negaverse had ended yet again in threats. Threats, ultimatums, barely-contained anger on the part of both women in the room - Linarite's far more buried and capped than the Queen's. It seemed that Beryl's anger was part of her power, it was always there and it always simmered malevolently out towards her little underlings. Youma she just killed without mercy, but as a general the bluenette had a little bit of mercy. But only barely.

So when Linarite had been summarily dismissed with the threat of Jadeite's fate hanging over her head and the orders to eliminate the poor b*****d she'd fallen in love with, there had only been one option: unload. Aree would have little sympathy for the situation and Audrey would never blame her for that; after all, Castor had helped get her killed. Had, even if accidentally, pushed the girl he purported to love off a building so that she might have died of exposure. Kinkade was unsympathetic in general and besides, he had no idea of the attachment that had been formed between lieutenant and senshi once upon a time. So of course, it was to fall in the lap of the bluenette's cousin-sister. Of course it was always Victoria.

Fingers jammed in the button for speed dial and spoke with a clipped and controlled anger in her voice when the country drawl sounded on the other side. "Rosie, I gotta talk to you. I just need somewhere to unload for awhile, and I've got Aree back at my place. I'm coming up to your dorm, kay? Ditch your roomie." And that was all that needed saying, Vicky'd come through. She always did.

There were herds of rampaging steer that were a bit more elegant and a bit quieter than Audrey Collins on a bender. For a girl that was so utterly petite and feminine, it was amazing that she could stomp so furiously on the floorboards of the dormitories. BOOM BOOM BOOM SLAM was all that anyone on the floor would hear as feet thudded and then the dorm door was slammed with a crack behind the tiny girl. There were no words, just Audrey falling face-first onto Vicky's bed next to her, moaning in false agony. "Why me, Rosie? Why? I work hard. I'm smart. I'm mildly attractive. Why does my life have to absolutely suck?" It was a morose question as her head shifted to plop straight into the soft and waiting lap of her cousin.

They'd sat like this a million times, every time they'd had a problem in the past and had been in physical range, the troubled had put their head in the troublee's lap and bemoaned their problems. Had Kinkade been around, she would have stretched across both laps for double the coddling. But no, this was strictly a girls-only session. "I always wanted to help Aree. She needs my help, but she absolutely hates Elzo for reasons I can't understand." Or didn't want to even hazard at, if her own churning emotions had anything to do with it. "And sure, I wasn't on great terms with Nea, but I tried to patch things up with....well with HER. Do you know what she did to me, Rosie?" Golden eyes opened, and welled with tears for only a moment.

Audrey never cried.

"She looks at me, takes me by the chin, and calls me a goddamn Jadeite. Why? Because I haven't ******** delivered ******** Castor's ******** d**k on a plate. All because he was lucky enough to get on Nea's bad side? I don't even know." An arm wrapped around her cousin's waist for comfort, something to hold onto that didn't need killing, someone that would never walk out of her life. Victoria, one of Audrey's two constants...when she wasn't mooning over d**k of her own. Well, nobody was perfect. "I don't even know, and it's not like I didn't try, you know? I broke my leg! Fell off a building!" Had been avoiding him every since....no. It wasn't fair.

But when was life ever fair?

It was easy, really really easy, to just bury her face against someone who was comforting and understanding. It had been a very long time since there had been someone to lean on that hadn't simply tried to snap steel back into Audrey's spine, to toughen her up into the general that she needed to be. There would always be a wealth of gratitude towards Tanzanite, Obsidian, and especially Charonite for what they had done to make her a stronger person. Lately though, what Audrey and Linarite needed more than anything was somewhere she could safely just fall apart, before someone helped put the pieces back together.

It was never something that she regretted, bringing her family into the Negaverse. It would never be something she would regret. There was only a slightly labored silence between the two at Victoria's suggestion before eyes looked up soberly. "I wouldn't let you do that, Rosie. He took down Nealite with help, and he could wipe me across the floor if I slipped up at all. I'm not going to let you get put in that position. Your parents would never forgive me." Not that they would know, but Audrey would know. Rolling to stare somewhat blankly at the ceiling, it was a resigned sound that came from her throat.

"I have to finish the job, you're right. I'm not really as alone as I was when I fell into what is starting to feel like the Castor Trap." There was a shifted glance and a wide grin. "And you're right, I might be able to use you. Would you be willing to sit naked on a park bench in November to lure him?" There was no mention of Elzo, and there wouldn't be. Some things were firmly segregated in the bluenette's mind, and the men in her life were never allowed to mix. If they had, she might have noticed similarities. Unconsciously, her mind shied away from things that would have been obvious, had Audrey bothered to think about them.

Being selfish was saving her, in more ways than one.

That had Audrey sitting up straight again, hair flying forward so that she was forced to bat it back from her face with more than a little bit of incredulous shock in the movements. "Wait. Date. And you're talking about him still? Oh my God, did he roofie you so you don't remember sleeping with him?" It was both teasing and not. Jojo had heard countless tales of Vicky actually chasing a guy, but rarely the aftermath. They stopped mattering once she caught them, or so Audrey had always assumed.

"I always have you at naked, by the way, so you're going to have to explain. Who. Where. Why!" Her anger had faded into shock and the comfort that only a kindred soul could truly banish, as fingers relentlessly poked at Victoria's exposed sides. "Spill the beaaaaaans Rosie! And I hope you have at least one picture of this god that has gotten a hold of your chain!" That was partially disconcerting.

Usually, she held that chain!

It wasn't the first fully naked man that Audrey had seen pictures of in her life; after all, she had the internet and used it regularly. Her reaction spoke differently, however, when her mouth dropped open and hands clapped over her eyes. "I meant a normal picture omigawd." Fingers lightly separated so that one golden eye could peer through and hands dropped with a nod of approval. "Definitely up to standard, though he looks a bit better than usual. Totally dig the hair and abs, for sure." She might have had a thing for lightly-muscled abs, and Blake Allison had them. Hoo boy did he have them.

"So your first real day on campus and you're screwing the like, one person you're not supposed to? Geez Rosie, only you." What would have gotten total rejection and probably quite a bit of disgust from anyone else telling her these things, for her favorite cousin there was only resignation and amusement. "He sorta looks like your type though, in the fact that he's totally willing to pose for you like that. I'm surprised he didn't show you the library." Exhibitionism was something else the pair of cousins did not share. Audrey wouldn't be caught dead doing it in a library, but Vicky? Mm.

Sitting back, she sighed. "Go figure you get the good looking one. All the guys in my area of expertise are bean poles with weird hygiene. I don't even get it, it's like smart means unwashed or something, though I'm brilliant and usually clean as hell." Peering at the picture again, there was only one thing remaining.

"On a scale of one to ten. Quick."

Audrey was trying to shove mental images of the rather unattractive professors that she knew Victoria had, as well as the aged dean doing what it was that Vicky enjoyed doing, all while imagining where she'd hide the body if Elzo ever laid a hand on her cousin. The visions were so persistent that she was caught off guard by the tone in her cousin's voice. It was interesting enough that the older Collins was talking about actually liking someone, but Audrey would have taken it in the context of simply liking to fool around with him.

Rosie's tone suggested otherwise, and that was cause for immediate concern. Looking carefully into Vicky's face, the curly bluenette's amused look turned solemn and thoughtful. "Like him? Like I like Elzo, or like...I dunno. Like someone would a casual date or a friend. I don't have a lot of those to give you examples of." But her feelings for Elzo were rather loud and clear, they were the serious type of feelings that led to things getting rather involved.

Certainly, she was involved. Was Victoria?

Hell had frozen over. Okay well no, not entirely frozen since Vicky hadn't said she was in love with him, but it was still in a cold snap that was looking rather dangerous for its fiery future. The whole thing had Audrey shaking her head even as she fell back to the bed with a thud and wrapped an arm around her cousin's waist in support and comfort. She knew better than anyone how hard it would be for Rosie to admit that she was interested in a guy, especially after....oh s**t, what was his name? Oh well. He wasn't important. This Blake guy was!

"What about you seeing other women?" The joke fell somewhat flat as desperately Audrey tried to find something constructive to say. "Or wait, is he actually about to see other girls? Because we can go right now and ******** him right up and I wouldn't shed a tear." Not that she usually did in any case! "So like...I guess the question is what you guys are doing. Is it just a ton of sex, or do you go on dates? I can't say I'm a boy expert Rosie. That was always you." So how was it now that she was dishing out the romance advice?

The world was truly going to Hell in a handbasket, wasn't it?

"Stop sleeping with him?" Yeah that was about as likely as Audrey being the newest Virgin Mary, especially since she seemed to have lost that card somewhere around the beginning of December. The look that she got seemed to indicate this likeliness as well and had her snort. "Sorry, forgot who I was talking to honeybun." Fingers played with the ends of Victoria's hair as she thought, shaking her head.

"Dating is supposed to be the easy part. You just go to dinner, dance, watch some movies. Find out what you have in common other than an insatiable appetite for all things carnal? I'm sorry no sex is good enough that you wouldn't be bored with him if there wasn't something else there." Because she was such an expert or something of that nature apparently.

It just didn't take an idiot to know that if she and Elzo didn't both enjoy cuddles, and good food, and he wasn't the most amazing person in the world they wouldn't be working out like they were.

Which was fantastically, by the way.