Title: Rave On

Fandom: Avalon: Web of Magic

Pairing: Adriane/Kara

Word count: 1,173 (whatever I've given up on the word limit)

Rating: T [language and sex]

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

"There he is!" Kara pointed to the opposite side of the ruined amphitheater. A black-cloaked figure, barely distinct from a shadow, leaned against a column as if waiting for someone. "Quick, hide!" She grabbed Adriane's wrist and dragged her behind the arched entrance to the nosebleed seats. The small battalion of enchanted accessories squealed and clung onto Kara's dress for dear life.

"Argh—Kara, what are you doing?" Adriane rubbed her wrist and glared.

"Hiding." Kara squinted through the flashing lights and smoke from the fairy rave below as Puffdoggy powdered over her swollen red eyes. "That's definitely him. He's waiting for me."

"Well yeah, you asked him to meet you here. But why? What are you going to do to him? Why did you bring me?"

Kara flipped her hair out of her face indignantly. "I won't do anything to him!"

"I cannot fix your hair if you keep moving. And stop twisting your fingers through it—that's how it got knotted in the first place!" snipped Angelo the comb.

She dropped her hands to her sides and balled them into fists. The fabric of her body-clinging red dress quivered as she tried to hold back sobs. "I just need to win him back. He can't do this to me, he—"

The clamshell mirror clicked open "Oh princess don't cry again—I still need to do your eyeshadow."

Adriane awkwardly gripped Kara's shoulders, clammy from the humid night air. "Calm down and listen to me. Lorren is an asshole for getting involved with you and not telling you about goblin succession laws. And even if you get back together, that won't change the fact that only a legitimate heir with full goblin blood can inherit the throne."

"Can you believe he told me that I can still be his royal mistress? Ha! Kara Davies is nobody's mistress."

"What are you going to do—marry him? You're seventeen freaking years old! How do you know who you want to marry? You're not going to make him care more about you than he does about continuing his dynasty. He obviously didn't care that much about you in the first place—"

"Shut up! I'm going to make him so jealous that he'll change that law Henry-the-Eighth-style just to get me back." The accessories had finished her makeup. Even after a day of constant sobbing, the blazing determination in her bloodshot blue eyes was still powerfully alluring.

Adriane released her and stepped back. "Oh? And how do you plan to do that."

"That's where you come in."

"I'm not going to like this, am I?"

"Oh, I think you will."

"Barbie, what do you want me to do?"

"This." Kara snaked her arm around Adriane's waist and drew her in. Before she could progress to the next stage of her scheme, Adriane tore herself away. She crossed her arms indignantly, disguising how difficult it was to restrain herself from cooperating.

"Are you kidding? You've lost your mind! You want me to, what, make out with you in the middle of that fairy rave to make Lorren jealous?"

"Uh, yeah. If he thought I rebounded with you of all people, he'd be so jealous he'd get down on his knees then and there and beg me to be his queen. In case you haven't noticed, he used to be Mister-Forest-Prince-head-of-the-secret-magic-police until you came in with your warrior magic, two mistwolves, and a dragon and helped save the magic web. He might be a little bitter that he's not the best fighter around anymore and if you moved in on his girlfriend too…"

"Flattering me won't make your plan any less stupid."

"What's the big deal? You're bi. It's not like you're averse to kissing girls. It doesn't actually mean anything—"

"That's exactly why it's a big deal, because with you it would mean something."

The accessories stopped chattering. Kara just stared at her for a moment, processing. "Why would it actually mean something to you?"

"Why the hell do you think?" Adriane snapped. Every inch of skin felt like she was burning. No way would she let Kara force her to lay all her feelings bare, not right now, not like this.

The spark in Kara's demeanor flickered. She haphazardly grabbed squealing accessories and stuffed them into her purse. "I-I don't know how to deal with this right now. This is a lot."

"Then don't ask questions you don't want to know the answer to."

"If you can't help me, fine. According to my sources, our old friend Logan is here tonight too. I'm sure he'll be way more agreeable." Kara recovered from the shock with a flourish and swept towards the long steep crumbling stairway down to the fairy rave on the amphitheater stage.

"Don't be ridiculous," Adriane called after her. "That guy is a dangerous slimebag! Remember what he tried to do to Drake?"

Kara ignored her. She was a good ways down when Adriane sighed and stomped off in pursuit.

A cacophony of dissonant pitches enveloped Adriane as she descended. Her head swam. She swayed, but kept her balance. She could barely follow Kara's red dress through the thick multicolored fog. Bodies of every species in the realm writhed around her, jostling each other unapologetically. The beat pounded on and on, a monotonous thump-thump-thump. Adriane started slipping into a trance and her mind floated a few inches above her body. She spun around and swayed to the hypnotic music.

No. Kara. She had to find Kara.

What a shitty place to be, in love with her ostensibly straight best friend who had zero qualms about using her to manipulate a guy who wasn't even worth the effort. If only Kara let her, she could make her forget all about Lorren…

Someone grasped her hand. Adriane whirled around. Kara stood before her, glassy-eyed from the fairy rave's spell.

"I knew you'd come after me." She took both of Adriane's hands in hers. "Lorren's over there."

A shadow stood on the ledge of the closest observation box.

"I don't care about him," Adriane said. Which wasn't all true. Lorren was a fine friend and a valuable comrade who just so happened to be a terrible boyfriend.

"You care about me."

"Of course I do."

Kara stood on her toes and ran her silver fingernails through Adriane's hair. An oblivious flock of dancing pixies pressed them closer together. She felt Kara's warmth and curves and the rational part of herself knew that this was an atrocious idea that she would regret as soon as she left the rave's heady haze. But the curve of Kara's tanned shoulder disappearing under her slinky dress was so beautiful that Adriane couldn't help but touch her there. Her tongue discovered that Kara's pink lips were just as soft and conceding as they looked. And Adriane was surprisingly thrilled by how Kara involuntarily shivered when she traced the length of her spine.

Adriane pulled back just far enough to say, "Do you still not want to know the answer?"

o-o-o-o-o-o-o

I posted this on Tumblr almost a month ago, but shitty personal life stuff happened and I didn't end up uploading it here until now. I meant to revise it, but I figured I'd never get around to posting once I got caught up in that. Meh.