Tell The OC Below A Secret!

He offers a smile, thinking. A sip is taken from the glass he holds. Lemonade. Strawberry lemonade to be exact. "What kind of secrets do I have.." Muses quietly as he reminiscences of the thousands hidden behind his closed doors. The mood was light and this person was a practical stranger. Maybe he shouldn't vocalize the more hurtful ones. Not only for their sake, but also his own. 

"Got sick once while we were performing. I wasn't actually playing the drums like the people thought." There's a nostalgic laugh that forms, but it fades without further thought. "They played recordings of it while I acted like I was hitting everything. Guess everyone was too wasted to realize the difference." 

[did i do it right i hope i did this right]

[I think you did it right!]

Joanne took this rare opportunity to learn more about Sunni. Before this they rarely hung out together before night time, so she cherished what time they had in that cafe. her chin rested on the palm of her hand with the tip of her straw barely hanging onto her lips as she sipped on her ice tea. 

"Lucky your gig was at a bar, huh? No one could have noticed with so much alcohol in her systems." They shared a laugh, but soon faded into quiet as the cafe around them continued to bustle. "You and your band broke up, right? You never really mentioned them before." 

--------------------------

She leaned back in her chair, arms spread across the top of the booth her acquaintance and herself were sitting in. They barely knew each other, so she thought a harmless secret wouldn't do any harm. "A secret? Let's see..." Her mind wandered off into different areas, should she talk about Seiji? Her friends? Herself? Really, she couldn't decide. "Well, I mean... I guess... I'm a raver. You wouldn't really think about that when you look at me, huh?" She smiled at the person across from her, hoping it would at least keep the conversation going. She didn't want to reveal anything. 

"A raver, huh?" Cambriel's face is, as always, hard to read. Their six eyes blink. "Sounds like fun. I've been to a lot of clubs in my time. Where I'm from, that's the norm. They can be pretty intoxicating. But a rave? That's something I'd love to experience. Especially a human rave." They stop, realise they've been rambling. "My, uh, my friend Ronan, is a DJ. She loves electronic music. I should ask her if she'd organise a rave at her club sometime." They clear their throat. Their voice, through all this, has been slow and even. "I know you want me to say that I would have never guessed that tidbit about you." Their eyes rake Joanne's face. "But I'm not in the habit of judging people by appearance."

Their voice suddenly pitches lower, becoming barely a whisper, but still smooth and even. "Me, for example... would you believe I'm the type of person to abandon the one I loved? Not only my lover but..." They clear their throat, clearly affected by the thought. "My creator. She was cast out, she created me from nothing, and I just left her, locked up like that..." Cambriel stops and closes their eyes. "I'm sorry. Nobody needed to hear that. I just think about Venace too much. I want to go back to her, but I don't think I'm ready."

Hala wasn't naive when it came to the world, but as for personal relationships...

The woman's eyes were gentle as she listened to Cambriel. Her hands folded in her lap, she quietly listened to them as they spoke in such an undertone. She strained to hear them, though when she did, her lip trembled. She would have frowned, would have cried, but so far she managed to keep as straight as a face as she possibly could.

"You should go back to her." she advised gently, "If it would do you any good, then..." She fell silent and shook her head with a sigh. She didn't know the whole situation, though she was perhaps too timid to ask.

"Maybe I'm being a fool, but you can go back. I don't think it's ever too late to change things. Be it politics, be it dinner..." She managed a brief chuckle. "You seem kind enough, though, if you can recognize what wrong you might have done."

"Mine isn't as... worrisome, I don't think." Hala began. She wore a little smile, her eyes crinkled. Such an expression looked awkward on her face. "But, I had large ears as a girl... Larger ears. It might not have helped that I was very skinny, too, but my weight back then isn't really the point here. The point is that I had these giant ears."

"And, when I was a girl," she added, "I was often referred to as an elephant. I had these in-laws, my sister's husband's little siblings..." Once more, she forced a laugh. "They called me an elephant. They pulled on my ears. No one ever did anything about it, it was kids being kids... But, it did hurt at the time."

She let out a sigh. "Not much of a secret, is it? I've only told my husband, though, so..."

Frederick stayed silent for a good while. He could've been mistaken for a statue had he not moved to drink some bourbon. "An evil spirit..." he finally muttered, not looking at Alistar. Were those actually real? He used to never believe in the afterlife and considered it tall tales to get people to act better, but over the years with his job he had seen creatures that defied even myths. Perhaps it was possible for evil spirits to exist. Then again, perhaps it was a poor attempt at a joke.
Frederick set his glass down and finally turned his head to look at his guest. "I'm not sure what you'd have to fear from a roller coaster if you're already dead," he said. "You don't seem to be that evil, either. Regardless, I don't see a reason to tell anyone this."

"My husband loves oranges. In fact, I think I may have to stage an intervention soon," the detective said while pushing his glasses up the bridge of his nose. But that wasn't the secret, it was the far opposite of a secret. Had anyone met his husband they'd know right off the bat how obsessed he was with oranges. "Truth be told... I hate oranges. They disgust me both in scent and taste. I've tried to get myself to at least tolerate them. I've even switched my soap and shampoo to something citrus-scented in hopes that smelling it so often would change my opinion. It hasn't. But I can't bring myself to tell him. I don't believe it would go well at all."

"...I think it's rather kind of you to keep that secret." Hestia murmurs, idle clink of their spoon against the side of their teacup as they thoughtfully stirred "I do not claim to know much about love, but I believe it's compromises like this that show it, yes? Taking on something your partner loves, even if you do not love it yourself..." They take a sip "Though, I do also believe honesty is a better quality than untruthful compromise. If your husband understood, he'd tone it down, for your sake."

"A secret, a secret... hah, suppose I have a lot of those." They sigh, setting their cup down against the worn wooden table "Something mundane, something small... ah, my youth. There's a mystery in itself." They chuckle "I did that thing you're always told not to do. I set foot in a fairy ring when I was, ah, eight years old.. I don't remember what happened afterwards, but apparently my parents couldn't find me for three days. Turned up on the back porch wrapped in moss like a cloak."

"I guess that's when it started. My, er... propensity, towards the more ethereal side of things. I like to say my parents facilitated it as we do have a witchery bloodline, but they never really did."

Marcus was starting to enjoy his time with the fellow traveler, HESTIA. They were having a great time. Marcus loved listening to stories from everyone. Either it be grand or minor. It was an amazing time at the bars! Drinking and sharing tales. Until... The moment the wolf mentioned fairy ring, The captain spat out his drink. His demeanor changed completely. He was less jolly and laughing, more serious. Marcus looks over at HESTIA. "Fairies?!" He looks them up and down and scoots a little further. "I never liked fairies and their magic... I'd say you got dealt a bad hand there budd. Nothing ever good comes from fairy magic. I'm glad you kept that a secret. But you come and tell me fairies did shit to you when you were young." Marcus wipes his mouth with his forearm and gets up. "It was good meeting you pal, I best get going. I've got a busy day." He was clearly startled, perhaps frightened! But Marcus was a man to never show weakness or fear. He simply stopped their conversation there, paid the bartender, and left.

"I'm not going to repeat myself." Crosses his arms. Trying to exert more masculinity. As if whatever he was going to say was going to de-man him or something. He seemed hesitant to share this fact or secret about him. He sighs and clinched his jaw... "I like.. I like strawberry milkshakes. In fact, I love the taste and how smooth it feels when it goes down my throat." Looking away.  

"That's your secret? I was not expecting that, to be completely honest." Marina had a feeling he was probably telling something more tame to hide any real juicy secrets. "It's not that bad though, as far as secrets go. I've never had a strawberry milkshake myself to be honest, I'm not too fond of standard hum- I mean, American delicacies..."

Marina continued to sit at the bar even after Marcus had left and turned to the person next to her. "I think I've been drinking a little too much but I need to get something off my chest. I'm not from around here." It took Marina a second to realize she might've just jeopardized her whole Earth visit and hastily tried to think of a lie. "I'm from..." She glanced around at a TV, playing some news story. "Is-real _(Israel). Yes. That's my home."

Penelope looked the blue woman up and down, swirling her finger over the lip of an empty glass. Her expression, which until now was unreadable, turned into a sweet smile. "Do not worry, your secret is safe with me~" she chirped in her synthetic French accent. "Although, I am not sure why it is such a secret. Israel-" she emphasised with a wink, hinting that she'd caught on to the lie, "is a beautiful place to visit. I hope you are enjoying your stay here, so far from home!"

Several more drinks into the evening, Penelope temporarily left her new friend to watch their seats while she went to the powder room. While waiting in line (because there's always a line) she drunkenly began to chat with another patron from the bar. "You know... I like you. You seem like- hicc - like I can trust you. Would you like to hear a... a secret?~"

"I am supposed to be the face of environmental protection in my country, but look at me!" she tapped her knuckles against her hip, producing the sound of metal against metal. "I am an android! I am solar powered, but it took the same amount of energy to produce my body as it would take to run a city for a year! Not even mentioning the power needed to run my servers. I am ashamed, and the general public will never know."

Raphael had a lot of questions, but the one most baffling to him was-- why was there a woman made out of metal? It couldn't be some bizarre set of armor she was wearing, could it? Like the exoskeletons of the insects the bastard kept in her room. But, there was also that Penelope had stunning turquoise hair, and then the fact she was apparently solar-powered, and that she was able to run and entire city, and... Actually, perhaps it was for the best for him not to think too much into it. She was drunk, wasn't she? He was halfway through with his brandy, but still coherent enough to string words together.

"That is... very interesting, my darling." Raphael stated, "You yourself, you seem like an interesting girl. You say that you're powered by the suns? It doesn't sound so difficult to me, but then again, I wouldn't know anything about being an... android, as you call yourself." The word was foreign. He didn't like the taste of it. "I don't much like moving to deserts, but maybe it would benefit you to soak in all of that sunlight, hm? Though, then I suppose you would be too far from your city to help at all."

The man barked out a quiet laugh and leaned back against the wall. He glanced to the door of the washroom. He never was able to wrap his head around why ladies took so goddamn long. He wasn't even sure if his companion was in there at this point. There was a crowd, after all.

"I'd believe you're waiting, too?" he scoffed, "I think I would rather be back at the counter than hanging around this flock of hens, but alas..."

Raphael lounged by the fire. It was beginning to die. Even at this time of year, the base was cold. He was cold. The mulled wine he drank offered little comfort, but he was, finally, drunk. Or, tipsy, rather.

"You want a secret, do you?" He murmured, and then he laughed. His smile didn't extend to his eyes, as he stared into the flames. "Of course, a man such as myself has many secrets, but no one ever wants the little ones. No, they-- they want something juicy, something defamatory. It isn't like I haven't been slandered enough in the past seventeen years, right?"

He cleared his throat, before continuing on speaking to the other party. "I have three daughters. Four, if you count the bastard, but I personally wouldn't. I haven't seen the girl in my life. She could belong to some other man for all I know. The people up in the north have little restraint, you know, and yet her mother waddled up to officials and presented her to them, claiming she was mine." The man curled his lip, though in the dim lighting it was unclear if he was smiling or frowning. 

"I've never seen her." he then added, "It's a fact most fortunate for her, really. If it were up to me, I wouldn't allow her to stain my name any longer."

"Family, eh?" Taka mused while scratching his chin. He gave her a shark smile. "I understand ya loud'n'clear. Family's important! Got one'a my own, y'know. Ain't blood related but we're bonded like one. So you're want ta protect really calls to me, pulls at them heartstrings. Anyways, sounds ta me like you need some heavy firepower, yeah? Could use some guns, yeah?" His smile widened. "Why don't you'n'me have a little chit-chat sometime about that? I think we could help each other out greatly."

"Alright listen here, you tell anyone 'bout what I'm gonna say and you're dead," Taka threatened. "I got ears all over the city. They hear you talkin' and I'll make sure you're squawkin'." He looked around to make sure there weren't any other prying eyes then leaned in close. "I like bowling, all right? There, I said it! I like bowling! Love the sport. Love watchin' it. You tell anyone and I SWEAR-!"

"Your secret is save by my, mister bowling man." Leika said with a big taunting grin. "Do you have your own personal bowling ball as well? A pink one I bet! Maybe even one with flowers," she let out an obnoxiously laughter. "I just cant imagine you from all the people, liking such a foolish ball sport." She kept on laughing.
--
"Alright knucklehead listen up," Leika said before sitting down next to you. "I've threw some treasure in the Darm (a river in Drakenburg)" she said with a big grin. "Sometimes when you walk over it, you can see it shimmer!"