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Ooooh.

[She moves over to take a closer look, judging the different shades against her skin tone, but eventually she picks up one that's closer to a shimmering ruby, and turns it to face him.]

The classics are classics for a reason. I've always been a sucker for red.

Why didn't we become friends sooner?

[ He's a sucker for red, except when it's on his exes. Which happens to be often simply because they also shared his tastes... it's really no wonder he ended up with someone who's allergic to color and nail polish at all. ]

I could magic it on you, but what would be the fun in that. Let's see your fingernails. Don't worry, I won't judge if they're in a sorry state.

[ If not for his magic, he's sure he wouldn't even have nails at all at this point. ]

[She wrinkles her nose as she holds out her hands because yeah. They're not great looking, but being at sea is rough on your hands. And so is being in the run down situation that was the House of Ravens.]

It's hard to maintain proper cuticle care in a world that finds it superfluous.

I've seen way worse, and you've at least kept them quite clean.

[ Considering their negligible amount of hygiene, it's a feat. He summons a nail file into his grip so he can start evening them out a bit for her. A small dish with warm water also appears next to his knee so she can dip her hand in once he's finished with the first. ]

That reminds me– I've met your delightful younger brother a few times...although 'younger' probably shouldn't be the word of choice. He's a peach. How many siblings did you say you had again?

[ He hasn't come across any other Hargreeves, but he has been keeping an eye. ]

Ah, you've met Five. Peach is generous.

[Because really, she knows he's more than kind of a dick. She relaxes her hands, letting him manipulate her fingers as he needs to and tries to relax the rest of her from there, even if talking about her family can be a tumultuous subject.]

There were seven of us. I'm Number Three.

[Which is a mixed bag, answering to a number instead of a name.]

Yeah, I would say he's more of a grape if I had to pick a fruit.

[ Or a prune, but he'll remain tactful. Magnus has met far pricklier people, after all. ]

Also... seven. That is quite a lot. I can't say how many half-siblings I likely had as family reunions weren't really common in Hell, but I don't think I'd endure even sharing my genes with one person. I assume you were all adopted?

[ Mostly because she and Five look nothing alike, but who knows? Maybe each of them just took really strongly after a different parent. ]

Yep. We were all born October first, 1989, and Dad snatched up as many of us as he could. Still not sure why he wanted us when he clearly hated children, but ... he got us.

[Unfortunately.]

Trained us from birth to be his little super-powered soldiers.

All of your siblings... on the same day?

[ That is a bizarrely specific adoption plan. How did he even find so many kids with the same birthday? ]

And I am sorry you were also saddled with daddy issues. That seems an unfortunate trend around here. In my world, too, come to think of it.

[It's actually much simpler than it sounds but Allison's not sure she wants to explain ... all of that.]

I have yet to meet someone who doesn't have them. Which probably says a lot about the state of fathers in the world.

Across universes even. I guess I know who is on the top of list of people you don't want to spontaneously show up here.

[ Same for him too really... once he's done tidying up her nails, he grabs the bottle of home-made polish to begin the first coat of deep red on her left hand. ]

Is there anyone you miss beyond your second husband?

I don't know. It might be kind of fun to see him suffer with some of the undead shit we've got going on.

[This place is nothing but chaos and Reginald Hargreeves is obsessed with order. He would hate it.]

But my other siblings would be nice. Luther, Vanya, and Klaus. We're usually better as a team, and I think it would make Five at least fifty percent less paranoid to have all of us together in one place.

I take it your adopted father is a regular human as opposed to all of you?

[ That might mitigate some of the possible harm the man could do... aside from emotional harm. Magnus wishes the same could be said of his own, but his father is a terror no one, not even the undead, should have to deal with. ]

And 50% from Five's usual 150% is still a marked improvement. Maybe your other siblings might enjoy the break from whatever monotony I'm sure you barely get to experience back home.

[There's a pause when Magnus asks that question because one the one hand probably but on the other ...]

You know what, I actually don't know whether Reggie was human or not.

[They never asked, he never told, but given what he was doing in the sixties and how he didn't look like he was a day older than when Allison knew him her entire life she's starting to question whether or not that's the case.]

But he doesn't have powers. At least not that I'm aware of.

[But she snorts at the monotony comment.]

Oh yeah. Whenever Five's around, the world's about to end in a week. Honestly, I think this whole situation has been kind of a vacation for him.

I would say it's generally obvious, but some are better at hiding it than others. It's how I've managed to go so long undetected in my world.

[ Not that he really is the most subtle of warlocks, but he prefers to think of his own method as hiding in plain sight. ]

And it's nice to see him sort of thriving in a new environment. At least here the cataclysms probably occur independent of any supernatural people like us so we don't absorb all the blame.

[ Not unless the arrival of the first outsider from another universe is what kicked off all the angry spirits, volcanoes, krakens, etc... ]

It is very nice to not be at fault.

[That much is for sure. Not that Allison ever was directly responsible, but she was tangentially involved here and there.]

But I know it frustrates him. He's not sure how paranoid he has to be, and "relaxed" isn't one of his natural settings.

We might just have to sneak a bit of warlock xanax into his ice cream. I know a great recipe for both. He'll hardly notice. Other hand, my dear.

[ He gestures to her right hand while the left hand is left drying. Considering he hasn't done nails the manual way in a while, he likes to think he's doing a fairly good job here.

Of course, lacking any proper top coat, he'll probably just polish them a little more with magic when he's done. ]

[She obediently trades hands, holding up the opposite to admire the color.]

Does that stuff work with coffee or booze? Because that might be a better chance of him actually consuming it.

[ Sounds like him, although he wouldn't turn down good ice cream either. ]

Depends how much he drinks of either, although booze would be far better than coffee. I imagine coffee would only counteract any relaxants. I also worry about his tolerance at that age.

[ From what Five had told him, he's all biologically a teenager again, so his tolerance has probably diminished considerably. ]

[She nods.]

Yeah, it's hard to say with him. Because while his body did reset a bit, he's works hard to build it back up.

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