Orange Roses - REVAMPED

Chapter One: Birth Moon

"I still can't believe you didn't tell me it was your birth moon!" Drake announced, sitting on top of my head, seething. The "adult" arcade made it easy for me to forget that Drake was seething on top of my head since it was so loud with music, talking, and sounds from the old school arcade games. People shouted in victory or defeat. 

"Drake, I honestly forgot." I said. Between doing photoshoots for freelance and my full time job with Jorge, I hadn't realized it until Rose declared that she was going to take me out for my birthday that morning. Of course, she lectured me on forgetting my own birthday when she found out that I forgot. 

She didn't know. Birthdays stopped being a big deal after I got my scars. Kids from school always got too scared to come over for the birthday party and my mom tried to make it better, but she always had that sharp edge in her smile when my birthday came around. It just seemed easier on everyone to forget it was a thing. 

Drake grumbled, but I think he believed it. He met my mother. My neurotic mother who loved to fake things more than discuss the actual issue at hand. It was why she never looked at me in the face. In all fairness, she does more than my dad does. There's only so many times a person can cope with the bullshit that comes in life. 

"I just... I didn't get you anything," Drake said. 

I couldn't even imagine what Drake would get me. He didn't know a thing about cameras so he wouldn't get me that. What did he want to get me? 

"It's not a big deal-"

Orisin made a delighted cry, pumping up his fists in the air. Aine sat top of his head, peering down at the video game, transfixed on the screen. It probably had something to do with an outfit.

"I got it!" The unicorn said, rushing over to me to grab me and show me how he passed a level on X-Men. He wore a grin that showed off all of his teeth. Most of them were blunt like a horse except for the canines. He had sharpened them himself a few months after coming to the human world with me. "This character," he pointed to Storm, "looks a bit like me. Is she based off of a faerie?"

Before I could open my mouth, Aine started talking.

 "I don't see wings or pointed ears," Aine said, "but her hair! I love the silver in it. Orisin, would you think about growing it out? I think you would look so handsome. You're handsome now, of course, but I don't think I've ever seen your hair longer than your shoulders-"

"Aine, slow down," Drake said as he flew down to her. She glared and waved a hand at him. "How do you breathe when you're talking so much? I swear, it sounds like you're just filling in empty space for the sake of it-"

"- Are you sure this is all you want to do?" Rose said as she came over to where I was at with an old fashioned for her and a beer for me. "We can go to a club or-"

"I promise," I said. "This is nice." And clubs had a habit of attracting both vampires and faeries. They loved the possibility of sex and food. If you were really unlucky, you'd end up with a faerie that was looking for both. 

Rose sighed. Rose looked beautiful and it was hard for me to take my eyes off of her. She recently shaved half of her head since she got a tv show gig as a bit character, but she wanted to dive head first into the character. She wore heavy red lipstick and wore some fake facial piercings so no one would recognize her. It had been hard for her to walk downtown without people crowding around her. She wore a baseball cap, t-shirt, and jeans. Almost normal. It didn't hide the fact that she was drop dead gorgeous. 

"You are so boring sometimes," Rose said, nudging my shoulder.

"Not everyone can pull off facial piercings," I said, "and if we went to one of those clubs, everyone would recognize you."