The Photos

"I'm twenty-one," she confirmed before looking away from the screen to grab her tea. She set the tea strainer aside before drinking the over-steeped tea with a grimace.

She should probably just leave the group and get back to—

Death in the Afternoon, whose profile picture was the cocktail itself (the green suggested there was more absinthe than champagne, to be honest), typed: "Yeah, she's from New York City too."

||Wren: New York?

||Flying Sickle: I'm heading there on a business trip in a few months

||Wren: As in North America

||Wren: ?

||Death in the Afternoon: where else would it be lol

||Diva: Where are you rn, @Flying Sickle

||Wren: England

||Lady Spider: Oh, poor dear. I never enjoyed how the Americans handle things.

||Death in the Afternoon: lolol

||Flying Sickle: @Diva London. Business lunch

||Death in the Afternoon: youre a bit of a night owl arsin

||HandsomeHunk: !!

||HandsomeHunk: LET'S MEET UP @Flying Sickle

||HandsomeHunk: Treat me to drinks oh mighty fox lord!!!!

||Flying Sickle: Sure lol

||Death in the Afternoon: I dont blame the US turning out this way spider-san

||Death in the Afternoon: its infested with vamps and demons and other shit

||Wren: Like you

||Death in the Afternoon: ;9

||Lady Spider: @arsin This group chat is fairly international but there actually aren't a lot of others in the United States. You're the only one from the East Coast as far as I know. Please feel free to ask us if you need information.

||Death in the Afternoon: btw I'm in vegas 😎

Regina just cradled her drink and sipped her caffeine fix as she read the scrolling chat with half-lidded eyes.

They seemed almost normal now if she ignored the weird talk about herbs, rituals, and time with the most powerful energies from a minute ago.

Lady Spider also seemed pretty nice and obviously Japanese considering the language quirks and her profile picture was a row of Japanese silk. She had pretty good taste, Regina thought as she eyed the patterns on the fabrics.

Wren had a fantasy illustration of a Viking for his picture which was a contrast to the almost stiff manner he seemed to speak—and there was no question it was a guy. Most likely European.

HandsomeHunk, ignoring his ridiculous name, had another liquor themed profile picture. It was actually a bar counter with an empty whiskey glass and the lights and bottles in the background in bokeh. Definitely a dude and lived in or near London.

Diva had a picture of the retired supermodel Diva in black and white (good taste) while Flying Sickle had a cartoon fox.

Another member of the group asked who invited Regina once they notice there was a newcomer. This Chibi Black got bombarded over texting instead of focusing on school though.

Also, there was a Grandpa who had been typing for the past few minutes. Regina was wondering what epic speech he was preparing by typing so long, only to be disappointed when it finally appeared.

"Tweedledee and Tweedledumb are also in the Americas."

||arsin: …

||Death in the Afternoon: lololol

||Death in the Afternoon: bens two-fingered pecking does it again

||Death in the Afternoon: 😂😂😂

||Chibi Black: rip

||Lady Spider: Haguro-kun. School is important.

||Chibi Black: (ノ｀Д´)ノ~┻━┻

||Chibi Black: no school!

||Chibi Black: holiday!!!!

||Lady Spider: Oya? Do you mean today was your high school's founding day?

||Chibi Black: ^

||Chibi Black: yesh

||Chibi Black: [lazy]

||Death in the Afternoon: anyway, looks like @Butterfly Dream recommended arsin and the owner gave the ok

||Death in the Afternoon: and thats all I need to know

Regina stared. Who did what and why?

There was a general agreement from the members around that Regina got the stamp of approval. Apparently, this Butterfly Dream was well-liked.

How does one search a chat again? The university student looked for a search or settings symbol before she paused in realization.

What were the chances Butterfly Dream was the ghost?

… Nevermind, she didn't want to know.

HandsomeHunk pinged her. "@arsin, are you a local?"

||arsin: ?

He then elaborated, "Local New Yorker. Were you born in America?"

"Ya," she replied. "Chinese-American."

"That makes sense," Lady Spider said.

No. No, she did not see how that "made sense."

"Cool. I heard New York City has some great food and bars," HandsomeHunk said conversationally. "Too bad the powers in the USA are so isolationist though."

"@Butterfly Dream probably invited you to this group chat so you would have more unrestricted information and advice. Like I said before, feel free to ask us about topics not easily available to you. Aviel-san and Uriel-san also know the places to avoid if you travel within your country."

"Thanks," was the only thing Regina could say in reply even if she didn't feel the sentiment. "I got to go."

"Finally sleeping?" Death in the Afternoon joked. "But the night's just starting!"

"Not everyone here is nocturnal," Diva said and Regina could almost see the sneer dripping from the message. It helped that the profile picture was of the supermodel turned tv personality (and judge).

"I'm actually busy. It's my last year at university," Regina typed.

"Oh, another student! Remember to get enough rest," Lady Spider said.

The twenty-one year old sent a wave emoji before finally shutting off ShutterBox on her laptop so she could focus on the photographs she'd been studying again.

After finally having untangled herself from the group chat that first night, Regina admittedly ignored the whole chat group for over a week.

She had her final year to focus on—specifically her senior thesis which was a design for the Senior Show—and was putting out feelers for a job once she did graduate. There was also her internship, so her time was taken up as it was.

They seemed nice enough, if really bizarre, so she'd figure it out later.

It wasn't until one Saturday night that Regina would take the opportunity to check the chat group again.

The evening started when Mari mentioned heading out barhopping. The problem started when her roommates didn't take no for an answer when they asked about her joining.

"Come on, Reggie!" Brenda whined. "I know you're trying to make the perfect outfit for your senior thesis but I think taking a break might help you. You've even told me before that it's best to refresh your mind and do something totally different rather than hammering the brick wall."

Regina was chagrined. She did say that before.

After a long moment, the tall fashion design student gave in with a deep sigh. "Okay, fine. I won't drink though."

"That's fine!" Mari exclaimed happily, "You can be our designated sober person."

Great. That meant that they were going to get completely drunk.

Resigned to her night of babysitting and already regretting her decision, she went into the room she shared with Brenda and changed out of her pajamas. She made sure to wear leggings instead of a skirt, just in case one of them got so tipsy she needed to manhandle them. Not bothering to put on contacts, she kept her glasses on and just got ready for the very long night ahead of her.

They were college girls. Their livers were made of steel and it would take a while before either of the three would get drunk.

Leaving their Brooklyn apartment, Regina followed along. The group had decided to take the subway to the Village. They would uber back at the end of the night.

"I swear, I dunno how you do it, Regina."

"What do you mean?" she asked.

"Walking around the apartment at night. In the dark!" Mari exclaimed and shivered. "Lolly refuses to leave the bedroom and Mittens has basically decided to sleep with Lucille and me by this point!"

Ah. This again.

"Just the other night," Mari continued, "I was heading to the bathroom and I swore I saw a shadow in the mirror!"

"That's nice," Regina said dryly.

"Regina!" Mari whined.

Lucille commented, "You don't believe the apartment is haunted?"

"Now, I didn't say that."

Brenda suddenly grabbed onto her arm. "What?"

"What 'what'?" Regina blinked owlishly down at her friend.

"Do you think the apartment is haunted?"

Regina considered how she found herself part of a group chat without ever doing anything. Now, her laptop might be hacked but why would a hacker do something so useless? A bored ghost was more likely than a hacker, in her opinion.

"Probably."

Branda squeaked.

Regina bemusedly listened as Brenda started muttering about needing a drink and explaining to the other two how Regina's intuition was fairly spot-on as long as Brenda has known her.

Well, Brenda eventually got her wish.

Regina also started getting bored by the fourth bar they went to. By the sixth bar, she was so bored she actually wanted one of the guys to come up to her so she could have an actual conversation for ten seconds—her friends were getting to the point they would go to maybe one or two more bars before she told them to stop (or at least sober up a bit first).

Seeing her friends were occupied with getting their turn at karaoke and were singing along to a bad rendition of Survivor, Regina retreated a bit further away before pulling out her phone. This bar might be Mari's favorite place but it certainly wasn't her cup of tea.

She checked ChatterBox for any new messages from her friends before finally addressing the several hundred unread messages in the group chat that was now renamed "Vampires Suck."

There was talk about how America had a huge vampire problem and the fact their PR the past few decades have been too good, resulting in the idea of being a vampire was en vogue now to humans. Most of them talked as if they weren't human themselves. Also, apparently one of them was a vampire in this chat because the members kept on saying "except for @Cross of course" or "sorry Cross, didn't mean you."

Weird but entertaining.

As she continued to read the group chat as entertainment, she also found one of the Tweedles that Ben (@Grandpa) had mentioned before.

||Tweedledumb: New member is from NYC?

||Tweedledumb: Wait why am I Tweedledumb now?! [angry]

||Wren: Because Uriel said something smart so he's no longer Tweedledumb anymore

||Wren: And yes

||HandsomeHunk: Hey bro

||HandsomeHunk: Why u up so early

||Tweedledumb: Fan ducking tastic

||Tweedledumb: Fucking*

||Tweedledumb: Damn autocorrect

||Tweedledumb: It's not early

||Tweedledumb: I'm in Thailand

||Tweedledumb: I'm heading to a remote village so I'm getting my internet fix while I can

||Black Senior: What are you hunting in Thailand?

||Chibi Black: Hello Shem-san!

||Tweedledumb: It eats human entrails

||Tweedledumb: Actually good thing you're on

||Tweedledumb: Need to consult you on something in DM about this case

Noticing the chat seemed to become active right now, she skimmed the rest of the way down, only to pause a bit breathlessly at the photos that were recently uploaded.

It was a bird's point of view of a lake at sunset, the sparse architecture she could spot in the photos pointing it to be somewhere in Asia.

"Where is this?" she asked.