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 Posted: Mon Sep 08, 2025 9:08 pm
Backdated to October 2024 The first time Cassidy saw Énna come into this cafe, he’d hid behind his phone and sank so deeply into his chair that he practically disappeared into it. It wasn’t anything against Énna, who was polite despite his obvious shyness, it was just that there was something strange about seeing someone in their natural habitat.
Énna looked like he’d just come from some sort of–what, dance class? Cassidy looked like he’d run into a wall. Spoiler alert, he had. And it wasn’t because he’d been staring at his phone while walking, it was because he panicked while riding his bike when a car hit the curb.
He had a lump on his forehead that he didn’t want to explain, bloodied his elbow, and embarrassed himself. He’d gone into the cafe under the guise of just getting a little treat for making it through the day, but really he’d needed ten minutes to freshen up in the bathroom and almost two hours to calm down enough to head home.
For as much as he loved to bump into people, it hadn’t been the right day.
Today though, was a good day. He hadn’t just crashed his bike and he’d gotten a nice table. The cafe wasn’t particularly busy but he could still gloat about having the best seat in the house. Well, if there was someone to gloat to.
Thankfully, Énna showed up today like he had last time, though Cassidy couldn’t claim that he’d chosen this cafe for that reason. He needed a quiet, but busy, place to force himself to focus on some homework.
Énna was the perfect distraction, as long as he could get his attention.
Cassidy had every intention of doing just that.
He waited until Énna had ordered, maybe just to make sure that he wouldn’t find some excuse to scurry away. “Énna!” he called, not too loudly because he didn’t want to embarrass him. “Hey, come sit with me!”
Maybe it was a bit manipulative to think that Énna would be too polite to ignore him or outright say no, but Cassidy was already clearing off the table to pack up some of his notebooks. He had half a cup of coffee and a nibbled pastry and he wasn’t planning on going anywhere any time soon. He hoped Énna wasn’t, either.
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Posted: Tue Sep 09, 2025 6:05 pm
Énna startled at hearing his name called out. He almost jumped out of his skin, but tensed instead so it wouldn’t be too obvious that his heart stuttered and his lungs squeezed. He immediately felt painfully awkward.
Not that he disliked people or hated to be bothered, because he didn’t. He just wasn’t used to it. Even though he had friends now, he tended to keep to himself more often than not, too afraid of being a bother to open up or hang out without heavy encouragement.
He turned from the counter and spied Cassidy. Énna hoped the momentary unease wasn’t clear on his face. He offered an awkward little wave first, then shuffled over once he had his drink.
“Hi,” he mumbled, and hated that he mumbled.
Énna took a seat because he had no readily available excuse not to. Not that he wanted to. Or maybe he did, but only because he never knew what to say to people or how to interact. Sometimes it was easier to make as polite an escape as possible.
“Um…” He picked at the cardboard sleeve around his cup. “Sorry, I didn’t see you when I came in. Were you doing homework?”
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Posted: Wed Sep 10, 2025 5:58 am
Poor Énna. He hid it well enough but Cassidy saw the way Énna tensed. He’d been looking for it, but only to make sure Énna actually heard him. If he hadn’t had any reaction, Cassidy would have just called out his name again, louder.
Thankfully, it hadn’t been an issue, but maybe he felt a bit bad about spooking him. Cassidy was having that effect on a lot of people lately.
He wasn’t surprised that Énna might have been a little nervous. Cassidy knew him through others but they hadn’t really been very close. Énna had a sort of distant air about him. He was normal, in a lot of ways, but he also seemed pretty and fragile and in his own little world.
Cassidy couldn’t quite figure him out but he wanted to.
Énna was quiet at school, but Cassidy had always gotten the impression he was shy. Even now he seemed nervous.
That didn’t bother Cassidy, who could have struck up a conversation with a stranger or a wall all the same.
He had none of the shyness Énna brought, and immediately shifted in his seat so he could sit on one leg and lean forward a bit.
“I was trying to do homework.” There were doodles in the margins of his paperwork so it wasn’t hard to tell how that had been going for him. He was quick to shove them in his bag.
“I thought I’d be less tempted to play on my phone if I was in public. If I go home I’m just going to screw around. But I’m just not feeling it right now. What about you, what are you doing around here?”
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 5:56 am
“I just came from one of my dance classes,” Énna said.
He continued to pick at his cup, adding the sound of nails scraping against cardboard to the regular noise of the café. He stopped as soon as he noticed he was doing it, taking a sip of his drink before deciding it was still a little too hot to occupy himself with. Then he found a divot in the table and traced a finger over it.
“I mostly do contemporary,” he explained, “but… when I was little I did tap, too. I’ve also—I go to a class for acrobatics. You know, like… tumbling and stuff.”
Énna briefly made eye contact to see if Cassidy was following along, but quickly glanced away again. He hated talking about himself. Even when people seemed interested, he could never quite convince himself that they really were. He assumed most people were faking it to be nice, or because they had some other ulterior motive.
He shifted in his seat. He stopped messing with the table to pick at the bronze polish on his thumbnail instead, then realized he was doing so and forced himself to stop that, too.
“I was on my way home,” he continued to explain, half mumbling the entire time. “This place has good hot chocolate so sometimes I stop by for some. Um… did you need any help with your homework, or…?”
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 12:47 pm
If squirming was an Olympic sport, Énna would have won the gold. Over the short span of time they spent together, he seemed to find a dozen things to busy himself with. None of them were productive but all of them required his attention just enough that he could avoid Cassidy.
At one point, Cassidy leaned forward just a bit more so he could hear him better, and all of Énna’s mumbling meant he had to watch his lips to make sure he heard what he was saying.
“You want to help me with my homework?” Cassidy asked, a mixture of surprised and flattered. That was by far the least interesting thing Énna had said but it seemed like a safe starting point.
“Well, maybe. But I don’t want you to think I’m boring. We never get to talk so it feels like it’s a waste if I bother you with math right now. Like, you can’t just drop all that Énna-lore and then expect me to be able to focus on anything else.”
He made himself more comfortable, propping himself up on both elbows and resting his chin in his palms. “You do all that, Énna? I heard dancers have to be really strong. Do you compete or do–is it recitals? I don’t know a lot about dance.”
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 5:47 pm
“Oh…” Énna said, struggling not to hunch in on himself.
He was terrible at talking about himself. He couldn’t imagine anything about his life being very interesting to someone else, and there was always a looming specter of sadness about him—one subject he always took great pains to avoid but could never get off his mind enough to seem anything but quiet and vaguely mournful. Most people probably thought he was depressed. Maybe he was.
“I’ve done both,” he said, stinging the words along awkwardly. “Recitals. And competitions. But that was mostly when I was little. Now I just do it for fun. It’s… less pressure.”
Énna shifted again, then swallowed to clear his throat. He didn’t really want to worry about homework right then—his or anyone else’s—but he also didn’t know what else to say. Offering had seemed like the polite thing to do, especially if Cassidy was struggling to stay focused on it.
“Um… how’ve you been?” he asked. Even if he was uncomfortable, he couldn’t squash a bit of concern. Not being particularly close didn’t mean he didn’t worry about others, especially people who’d been friendly to him. “I mean… being back at school… You were gone for a while…”
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Posted: Sat Sep 13, 2025 7:00 pm
Cassidy’s eyes flashed like they’d settled on a topic he liked to talk about. Unlike Énna, Cassidy loved the topic of himself and was always eager to share.
“I was. Are you being polite or did no one tell you about the accident?”
He spoke it dramatically, because the less reverence he gave to it, the more trivial he could make it. It was a bad car accident. His closest friends had known, and it wasn’t like they were obligated to silence. Cassidy didn’t care that others found out, by his mouth or any others. He’d posted about it often enough on social media too but he couldn’t recall ever seeing any account he thought might belong to Énna.
Given how shy he was, and what effort he seemed to put into maintaining his reclusive status, Cassidy wouldn’t have been surprised to hear he only operated under some pseudonym. Or, even less surprising, that he didn’t have an account at all.
“I mean, my parents were getting a divorce back then too so they were already pretty quick to ‘start a new life’ somewhere else. I didn’t want to leave Destiny City though, so I guess I got my wish in the end!” he laughed boisterously, and whether or not any humor actually reached his eyes was debatable. He put on a good show at least. “Destiny City has the best hospital so I got to stay there instead. And then we moved back. What a waste of packing boxes. Anyway, I’ve been good.”
The story was grossly simplified but Énna didn’t really look like he wanted the juice details. He looked like he was just doing his best to keep the conversation going. In a way, Cassidy felt bad for keeping him here.
“Did you ever come to any of Elliot’s baseball games? He and I used to be on the same team. Ah, you should have seen me. I was great, Énna. I can’t play anymore but I’m going to go stir crazy if I don’t get into something. What do you think, is it too late for me to pick up dancing? My legs still work pretty good. And I’m working on this,” he said, tapping his right shoulder without expounding. “I’m just kidding. But I did think maybe I could get into track, some of the other guys on my team are into that. But my doctor says not this season. Oh, well. Next time.”
If there was any disappointment or frustration in his situation, Cassidy brushed it aside way too easily. He wore the same complacent, lazy smile as he always did. He had a perpetually amused, if not smug, expression and his eyes always seemed to stay half lidded except in rare bouts of extreme excitement.
“What about you, have you been keeping busy in the last few months? I heard Destiny City keeps getting weirder, what’s up with that?”
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2025 2:15 pm
Énna let Cassidy talk, first because it was a relief not to have to find something to say, then because he actually did want to know. He wouldn’t have asked if he didn’t. (Alright, maybe he would have, but Cassidy had never given him any reason to not care or actively avoid him, so even if Énna remained a bit shy, he did like to know that he was okay. Or okay enough. Okay-ish?) Énna didn’t interject much, except to nod a few times or mumble “oh… um…” without much additional commentary.
He’d heard vague details about the accident but tried not to be nosy, if only because he didn’t really like when people were nosy about him. It seemed like a balancing act, listening for what information he could because he did care and was interested without digging so much that it felt gossip-y. They shared friends. Friends talked. Other kids at school talked, too. Sometimes the teachers could be overheard talking to one another in low voices.
“I haven’t really—” he began, dropping his gaze to his drink cup a bit shamefully.
He hadn’t been to a lot of Elliot’s ballgames. He was often invited, of course, but his dance classes would sometimes interfere, and when they didn’t he took to avoiding the games anyway because Riker was on the team and Énna did his best to avoid him at any and every opportunity. Admitting that made him feel like a bad friend, so he swallowed it down and latched onto the topic that seemed more dangerous due to his involvement in it but also more preferable to talk about because it wasn't hard to pretend otherwise.
“Yeah, it’s… I think it’s always been weird, but it’s definitely… um… definitely gotten worse…” Alright, maybe it was a little harder to pretend than he’d thought. Then again, the shifty eyes and awkward pauses were kind of par for the course with Énna. “There’s always, like… weird bugs and strange birds and… I don’t know. Things exploding. People make up all these weird conspiracies I wouldn’t believe anywhere else, but here it’s, like… yup, that’s Destiny City.”
Énna laughed awkwardly—a quiet, muffled giggle behind a close-lipped smile.
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2025 2:53 pm
Cassidy’s eyes lit up again. “Énna, you have such a cute laugh!”
It was awkward, sure, but there was something endearing about the way it bubbled out. He was so used to Énna trying to make himself as invisible as possible, he couldn’t help but be delighted to see him relax a little.
He hoped he’d see more of it. Still, he suspected Énna might start squirming if he let any amount of silence linger, so after a brief, enthusiastic sip of his drink, he made sure to keep his words flowing.
“I used to think the ‘weird’ was over-exaggerated, you know. Like, I’d heard of weird things, but I’m so used to people playing pranks and making things up just for attention. When I had a lot more time to play around online I fell into some pretty deep conspiracy theories. I’m not crazy or anything! I just started to wonder. I mean, sure, it makes sense if there’s some radioactive waste polluting the wildlife, I guess, and some big conspiracy to keep it all quiet. I noticed some weird things before but never had any crazy stories, myself. Just gossip from a friend of a friend. Other cities don’t have the same type of rumors or weird stories, though. I had plenty of time to look all that up to see.” He shrugged. “It’s fun stories, I guess, I just don’t trust what anyone says online.”
He waved his hand dismissively but his eyes had fixed on Énna. “But I do trust what my friends say. Have you ever run into anything crazy?”
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2025 5:06 pm
Heat suffused Énna’s cheeks, tinting them red. He flushed bright and blotchy and knew the moment it happened because the sudden change in temperature beneath his skin made his face sting. If he hadn’t pulled his hair out of the way for dance, he would’ve tried to hide behind it. All he could do at the moment was duck his head and shrink into his chair.
Fortunately, Cassidy continued before Énna had to figure out how to respond to the compliment with more than another “oh… um…”
Then again, “Oh… um…”
Énna hesitated, rifling through his memories for anything that didn’t seem too incriminating.
“Once I… Maybe it was last summer. There was a video someone posted online of some sort of—I don’t know, maybe it was a bear or something, but people were debating whether it was bigfoot or not, and… I mean, I guess I could’ve been tired, but I thought I saw it…”
He’d done much more than that. If Cynthus and Reims hadn’t gotten there when they did…
Énna swallowed and adjusted his position in the chair. He didn’t want to think about Reims right then.
“It was probably nothing. You know? Like, you read too many conspiracies and then everything starts to look a little funny, especially in the dark.”
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Posted: Sun Sep 14, 2025 7:42 pm
Oh, it was so tempting to try and flatter Énna again. Cassidy didn’t want to tease him but he couldn’t deny the butterflies he got in his stomach as he watched with great satisfaction just how his words affected Énna.
He was too cute to hide but Cassidy let him try. The response only emboldened him, anyway.
“Exactly,” he agreed enthusiastically. “And I have read way too many conspiracies, it’s rotting my brain. Everything looks funny in the dark. I mean, I’d freak out if I saw a bear, too, but we’re so close to the mountains. I just read a report that says like thirty people go missing in the mountains around here, per year?”
Did he fact check that? No, but he read it, and it looked official. And who was really going to split hairs, they were talking about bigfoot.
“Like, disappeared without a trace. I don’t know why anyone wants to go into the forests at all, not with numbers like that. And bears, or Bigfoot? No, thank you. Where were you when you saw it? What happened?” he asked, leaning forward in anticipation.
…Or just to make sure he could hear Énna if he tried to squirm any lower into his seat.
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2025 10:54 am
“I was… um… still in the city,” Énna said, “but in a wooded area. There’s a lot of walking paths and greenery around my neighborhood, so sometimes when I’m walking home…”
He shrugged and trailed off but figured no further explanation was necessary as to why he’d been in that area that night, whether or not it was completely accurate. At least he’d learned something from the experience. He knew better than to go out looking for rumored monsters by himself now.
Énna shifted again, then fidgeted with his cup. He very purposefully did not comment on any of the varied disappearances that happened in and around the city. The mountains themselves might be dangerous but Énna would argue the city itself had become the bigger culprit. Half the people who reportedly disappeared in the mountains probably hadn’t even gone there. Mountain mysteries were simply easier to digest than magic.
“I was with… a friend.” Two friends, but he didn’t want to think about Riker, so as far as his story was concerned he’d only been with Maisie. “We didn’t get too close. We ran as soon as we saw something weird. It must have been distracted by something else because it didn’t follow us. Or maybe it was hurt, I don’t know. With all the growth around here, lots of animals get displaced and end up in the city, so it was probably just… something like that.”
Énna swallowed to clear the growing clog in his throat.
“I don’t go on those paths anymore at night, though. Not that—I mean, weird stuff happens in well lit areas, too, I guess.”
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Posted: Mon Sep 15, 2025 6:24 pm
“Oh, I wish you got a picture. But I guess you’re not as attached to your phone as I am. It’s probably for the best, I guess. With the way things work around here, your flash would have just gone off and then you’d have had some crazy monster after you. That’s really cool, Énna. You’ll have to let me know which areas to avoid. Since I’ve been back, I keep winding up in places that I shouldn’t.”
He sipped at his drink again, swirled it a bit as if that would keep it fresh, and then set it down.
There were plenty of holes in the story but Cassidy suspected he was probably too close to Énna’s limits to keep pushing. He didn’t want to chase him away! He’d just file away what he could and save it for later.
Like, what friend was he out with? And why had he paused? Was Énna dating someone? Maybe that would explain why he was so sheepish about the topic. Oh, maybe it would explain why he was nervous about being seen with Cassidy? A jealous ‘friend’?
He’d have to dig deeper. Immediately. And definitely not because he was trying to come up with as many reasons as possible to avoid all this schoolwork.
“I’m starting to think I’ve got some bad luck curse clinging to me. Ugh,” he set his drink down and shook out his hands. “Well, I guess at least I don’t have bigfoot chasing me. Yet.” He exhaled heavily, with a certain amount of dramatics. “Well, you’re smart, you seem like you’re the person who’d make it to the end of the horror movie. I like to think I’d last until the end but let’s be real, I want to get the monster on video. I might even be the first one out. Oh–no, wait. If we ever get trapped in a horror situation, you’d make sure I got out alive, wouldn’t you? You wouldn’t ditch me and leave me for dead?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2025 5:07 pm
Énna sagged a bit while Cassidy rambled. Not because he didn’t like the rambling. He actually liked it quite a lot, since it meant he didn’t have to figure out what to say or how much to share or what he was comfortable revealing about himself. In school, or out and about around the city, or up among the stars, Énna liked to sit back and listen to his friends talk about whatever struck their fancy, adding to the conversation only when he had something worthwhile to say.
“I wouldn’t leave you,” Énna assured him. Discussing hypotheticals was easier than trying to piece together a story in a way that didn’t leave room for suspicion. “Not on purpose. I doubt I’d make it out alive, though. I’d probably—I mean, sometimes I can be a little… reckless, maybe.”
Énna ducked his head. “I wouldn’t want anyone else to get hurt, so I’d… fight the monster. To give you the chance to escape. But I’m not really all that good at it. I mean, my dad taught me the right way to punch someone, but that’s pretty much all I can do, so…”
Gaze cast toward the table, Énna traced a sparkling nail along a thin scratch on the surface.
“Do you like that sort of thing?” he asked, half curious, half searching for something to say. “Horror and monsters and stuff like that? Is that how you got sucked into the conspiracies?”
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Posted: Tue Sep 16, 2025 5:25 pm
Cassidy leaned back in his seat and hummed for a few seconds longer than he needed to. “These days? I like it as much as anyone, I suppose. It’s not as much fun when you’re on your own. What’s the point of being scared if you don’t have anyone to scream with, or to make you feel safe? I mean, an adrenaline rush is great but,” he shrugged. “If you’re by yourself, you stay up all night wondering what that sound was, or what that shadow was, you know? My house is empty a lot so if a monster broke in, I’m screwed.”
And yet, Cassidy laughed. “I got sucked into the conspiracies for a stupider reason. I was bored.”
He adjusted himself in his seat, this time to settle himself like he should have been sitting all along. He still rested his elbows on the table but he was in his own space. His eyes followed the trail Énna marked on the table, captivated briefly by the shimmer of his nails. Soon after, Cassidy met his gaze again.
“I spent a lot of time in bed, it’s so boring. When you’re stuck there, you start getting desperate for anything that makes you feel alive. When I was in the hospital, the nurses told me they’d take away my phone if I didn’t stop watching scary things. I kept messing up the heart monitor so they had to come in and check on me.”
Cassidy grinned, and though his eyes were only half-lidded they were still swimming with mirth.
“But I got hooked on reading about what was going on out in the world. And I missed Destiny City, and there’s always so many good stories. I wonder how people come up with all that stuff. Or maybe they aren’t and it is real! Who knows.”
He seemed uncommitted to either option but was enjoying himself all the same. “I’m surprised to hear that you can be reckless, Énna. I always thought you were kind of a good boy, you know? I never see you making trouble at school.” No picking fights, no clowning around. He was quiet, he kept to himself, never made any trouble.
“A man of many mysteries, then? I like that. I couldn’t run away if you were trying to protect me, I’d want to protect you, too. Will you teach me the right way to punch some time? My dad’s a pharmacist, he’s never been in a fight in his life. He thinks the solution to all of life’s problems are drugs. And my mom’s more of the, you know,” he raised both hands to mimic curling his fingers into claws, “‘Go for the eyes’ type.”
Had Cassidy been in fist fights before? Yes. Did he just want to see Énna try to teach him how to throw a punch? Also yes.
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