kick names and take ass

Landon was always happy to see Brynn. Since he had come to town they had bonded significantly. She was friendly and inviting, always smiling and warm. He wasn’t even sure if she herself knew just how much positive energy she gave off. He looked up at her from the couch and swung his legs as he stood, walking to her with a grin. “Yeah, no problem.”  He took the tray from her with a smile. “Should I warm it up or?” he asked instead of giving more information about the 11th. He took it into the kitchen, assuming she’d follow. “What do you want to drink?” Finally, though, he paused and looked at her with a soft smile. “I am doing alright though. Uh, have you met Forest Hawthorne yet? He’s one of the owners of TriBeCa? He and I grew up together in Devola.”

“Landon,” she said in a sing-song tone, crossing her arms over her chest. “I don’t give a bloody damn if you heat up the food; I’m not hungry. Water is fine. Now tell me about this Forest person.” She smiled and helped herself to the water, letting him focus on what to say rather than having to juggle twelve things at once. She got out two cups of water, one for him as well. “I have not met him, we don’t do a lot of reading in my household. I have met Milo at TriBeCa, from when I first started looking for biology books. But not a Forest Hawthorne.” There, now it was his turn to speak.

Sometimes Gabe forgot a lunch to bring to work, and they would take their lunch break together and Brynn would be forced to share her food (not forced, but out of the kindness of her heart she would offer more than half of her meal). She didn’t mind getting a smaller lunch every now and then, and usually liked to keep a yogurt in the fridge for such occasions, or some fruit. Sometimes Gabe took that instead of infringing on her own food, but thankfully today he obliged as it was something he rather liked. And they were close enough that he could be bold enough to accept her offer of food. 

“I have something to confess,” she said as she bit into her apple, then chewed for a few seconds before swallowing the crisp meat. “I’ve been taking courses about biology and human anatomy. Not that I’m taking your job, I just want to be able to... if I need to--Gabe, I love working here. I don’t mind what part of the business I am on, I just want to work here for as long as I live here, is all I’m saying. So if I need to make myself more adaptable, that is what I am trying to do.”

Javier glanced at her hesitantly, aware that this was a risk. It was worth it, it had to be. No one ever got forward by hiding their emotions and pretending. If she wasn’t interested, they would make it through. “I want…” He sighed and stopped in his steps, eyes resting on her carefully. “Perhaps we should try again. It has been a long time, we’ve both grown. I still love you, Brynn. I never stopped, and even if I said i became platonic, I’m not sure that it ever did at all. Not truly. You know I’ll respect any decision you make, but I do ask that you consider this.”

Her eyes narrowed at him. She looked angrier than she felt, but she was quiet. It was a somber feeling, not that she wasn’t excited to get back together, but just because they had been down this path before. “How long have you been sitting on this?” she finally responded after a hesitation. “I told you, I don’t want to get married. Never again. I know you’re not Micah but I don’t need a ring or a certificate or stupid benefits from the state to know that my love for you is true. And... yes. I still love you, too. Jackass.” A hint of a grin spread across her lips at the ‘nickname’ for the other. “You’re a hard person not to love, Javi. You’re selfless and compassionate and giving. A hard worker, good ethics, strong sense of self. But if you’re gonna get down on a knee you can stop that right now because no.”

She rapped on the door twice before opening it up to an empty room save for the man himself. Brynn Harper smiled. It had been almost a month since she had last dined with Landon over a simple lunch of homemade enchiladas (Javi’s family’s recipe would live in her life on a monthly basis until eternity). Today, she brought lasagna that had cooked all night--Kane had gotten the leftovers to bring to school, and he had joked about boning a girl in his class with the food. Brynn had not liked that one bit.

While she had texted him since the eleventh, Brynn hadn’t seen him in person. He looked well, and she decided to comment on it. She smiled as she walked into the room, closing the door behind her with a slight click. “You do look good, as you said in the text. Mind telling me how everything went? Even therapists need their own person to talk to, you know.” She knew Landon would know what she was talking about, and if he tried to fib her she would snap him back in his place as she always did.

“Huh, okay, well I guess it’s in bad taste to bother a man at his grandfather’s funeral, I’ll have to come back afterwards. Do you recall what he looks like? No, wait, let me guess.” He stared at the crowd for a moment, though they were far enough that he could only see a few. “That one in the rubbish goatee probably. People only grow one of those to obscure something.” Sam turned slightly, wanting to keep his eyes on the crowd without being so forward, and it helped him hear the woman a little better. Her question, that confused him enough into shooting her a lost look. “Have they not got enough private investigators state side to know what they are, or are you wondering if I have a specific type of customer? I’ll help any Riverborn that wants it, its usually random problem solving. Lot of petty people here,” he said with fondness. Lethe was just the right amount of crazy to be endearing. “Well, I used to be a detective. Not here, this was before I moved back to this town. We often end up here a little bit, though its not like the shows you see on the telly.” No, those were dramatic and disruptive, and he hadn’t crashed a funeral in several decades. He did not mention that he went to a couple dozen funerals for people he knew, his eyes flickering to the east, where he knew Shiloh’s mother rested eternally. “Why are you nitpicking me? Who are you, the nitpick police?” He asked with a snort. “I just meant I can’t wander around so easily, we have to stand here like robots till its over.”

Brynn snorted but shook her head, not wanting to give this Samir everything he wanted. She wasn’t that easy. The man in the goatee was Frederickson. “Oh I meant what on earth are you investigating?” she chuckled. “‘Petty people’? That’s a good way to get repeat customers!” She smiled endearingly though. She figured she liked this guy, if he was a little odd. “Okay, okay. Start over. I’m Brynn. I am no sort of police, except for the security kind at funerals. That is why I have been grilling you. You want business with someone who is mourning and I can’t allow you to bugger their festivities.” Her smile never wavered as she spoke, though she tried to turn it upside down and be a little more serious. There was still a funeral going on. “Suffer with me,” she hissed, elbowing him playfully.

Avery laughed lightly. “Oh, really? Which councilman?” She smiled at the woman, already taking a liking to her but her instincts had always been good. “Wait, Julian? And Xander? The Walsh boys?” She gave a small laugh and bit her lip lightly as she studied her. “oh my god, you’re Brynn. The Brynn. He brought me some of your ice cream a while back. I’m friends with him and his brother. Or. I’m-” She wrinkled her nose as she tried to figure out what she was to the Walsh boy, or what Brynn knew. Brynn was his friend, so it wasn’t Avery’s place to say anything she didn’t know. “We’re having a great parade. Terra seems to love it.” “I do,” Terra said happily. “It’s so fun and everyone is so happy.”

“Javier Morales. He’s a fae, and actually taught me how to be a fae as well, use my powers at the very least.” It was how they fell in love all those years ago, if truth be told, but the young woman probably didn’t need to know that. “Yes, the Walshes I--Yes! I’m Brynn!” She laughed as the woman knew her name. Avery and the Walsh Boys must be friends if she knew her by name. Had they shown her photos of her? Oh dear she hoped not, she was very un-photogenic, always with food in her mouth or screaming something into the air. “Terra, huh? How do you like your face painting?” she asked, giving a mirror to the young girl. Ben’s suggestion earlier in the day had come in handy and Brynn had asked a witch to sit with her at her station, to animate the art if anyone wanted, like a moving picture on their cheek. As Kane would say, ‘a gif.’ Brynn smiled at the two girls, assuming Avery was the older sister if truth be told, but she wouldn’t voice her opinions so openly. “Parades are always a lot of fun. Before Lethe I had never experienced one, but they do one here every couple of years, if you’re staying for long.”

Isolde shook her head lightly before saying “No, he didn’t. He just assumed I’d lived a mortal life and died centuries ago”. There was logic in that, after all. Had her brother returned he would have learned of her turning, of the fact that she would also be eternal. “Had it not been for that chance encounter he never would have found me nor I him” she mentioned, as it hadn’t really been a matter of waiting on Wesley’s part. It had been a matter of not knowing… but he would have known if he’d looked for her in the first place after becoming a lich. “I’m glad to have been reunited with him, of course. But… it’s been too long, Brynn. I love him dearly but it feels like we’re somehow strangers”.There was a brief pause as the vampire glanced down at her glass “And I hate that feeling. We used to mean everything to one another and I’m worried we might not be the siblings we used to be”.

“I understand that, Izzy,” she said deeply. She had recently, over this last summer, visited her old polygamist compound in Wyoming but it had been just forty years compared to Isolde and Wesley’s centuries-plus. Her siblings were all old and decrepit and her ex husband was on his last legs. Everything was bizarre and while most locations looked similar, things were completely different. “I’m sorry you’re going through that.” Her own mother had passed because the compound didn’t use modern medicine. She’d fallen while working and her hip had never healed properly. That was almost a decade ago. She was the one Brynn had been the closest to, but even her regular siblings and half-siblings that she had grown up with were beyond strangers. “Its understandable, really. You grow and change without even realizing it, just overtime, sweetie.” She nursed her wine before setting it back on the table. “But you can start over. Even if it’s not what you want, you can begin anew and get to know each other. I’m sure the love will always be there, you just need to figure each other out again. Which is okay!” 

“Why didn’t you just team up with the witches to make one booth? You’d probably get more people swinging by to get enchanted face paints,” he said thoughtfully, settling onto a stool and offering her a half-grin as he scanned over the options. Her hug didn’t surprise him, he was getting used to Brynn’s easy affection, and he returned it with a laugh. “Oh, Javi has been spying, has he? I’ll have you know that he’s a little behind the times, we… confessed I suppose a couple weeks ago,” he explained, settling down once more, a light-hearted smile on his face. Talking of Eleonor always seemed to bring some easy happiness out of him, though he didn’t consider him much of a pessimist before her either. “You and Javi though? What’s happening there?”

She almost pushed him off the stool at the accusatory tone he gave. Brynn wasn’t doing this for the money, in fact she didn’t get anything as she was volunteering her whole day, and she was a little embarrassed that she hadn’t thought to ask a witch or two to stay at her booth with her to animate the childrens’ face paintings. “Well I’ve known for a little while but you don’t ring as often as you should! Suppose its because you’re getting boned by someone other than my sister,” she chuckled, not hurt by it at all. “I’m happy for you, Ben,” she reiterated, but then he brought the conversation back to her and she sighed. “Do you want one or not?” she deflected, then sat as he looked at the options, not knowing if he was being serious or just wasting time. If truth be told she couldn’t imagine Benjamin Rivera with face paint seriously.  “We kissed a couple times. It was hard not to, emotions were high when I was beaten and... I don’t know yet. We haven’t talked much since then, its not awkward or anything we’re just surprisingly good at compartmentalizing. I guess you’d presume that of a Catholic priest.” She grinned her lopsided grin. “I don’t think I ever stopped loving him, Ben,” she said solemnly. 

Javier smiled softly, leaning in to press a soft kiss to her temple. Technically, he knew he shouldn’t. He knew they hadn’t been together in a long time. But he cared for her still. She was the mother of his son, a brave and strong and kind woman. She was a pillar of the community and unlike anyone he had ever met before. “I do,” he said with a small smile. “And I’m very grateful to him. I may not approve of violence, but when it comes to keeping family safe?” Do whatever you need to. He couldn’t say it out loud, couldn’t. But he knew that she knew what he meant.

He squeezed her hand carefully, looking at her carefully as she spoke. “I could never see you as a coward or selfish,” he told her truthfully. “But of course I’ll join. anytime you want to go, anywhere you want to go… I’ll be there. And we can certainly find someone to work with you. You know we can. I’ll make that happen.”

“Javi,” she breathed, looking away from him. “People change. People grow, deteriorate, change for the good or the bad. What if I...” What if we no longer mesh, she almost asked, but closed her lips tight to keep from saying it because then it would mean it was actually on the table, getting back together might actually be in the cards and she didn’t know if that made her sick to her stomach or want to jump for joy. She couldn’t understand anything right now with the pain she felt, albeit it was much less dense than an hour ago in the car. “Okay,” she said quietly, then turned her back to him. “You can lay down or check on your son... but it’s... it’s been awhile since I’ve had another warm body in my bed, even though technically this is your bed,” she snorted, turning towards him despite the pain and grinning devilishly. 

“There you go,” she said, offering a mirror to the child. She smiled and hugged Brynn, but her mother put her hand on their back to rush her away. “The witches are just down the street and to the right when you get to the pharmacy. They’ll animate it right up for you.” She waved her away and looked up at her next client who happened to be a friendly face. “Ben!” She stood and reached her arms up around his back. “A little birdy told me you are with a certain Council member. Javi, Javi told me.”

Jack stared at the brunette woman for a while as he let her talk. He had a habit of rambling and he wasn’t fond of being interrupted so he tried to do the same for other people. “ Yeah we sell a lot of stuff here” Jack replied looking around the shop but giving a half smile in response. He knew TriBeCa had a lot of stuff in it but to him it made sense. “I think it’s better than normal. If there’s anything missing though I’m sure we could order it” He shrugged still standing behind the counter. He was a little overwhelmed with the amount of information he was processing. Jack looked at the list going over the titles before glancing back. “What kind of self study?” He asked before glancing back down. He took the list in his hand and walked out from behind the counter. “ So why would having an ex being a councilman be against the rules?” He asked without thinking. He was so busy looking at titles that he didn’t realize that was a lightly intrusive question. “Sorry. I shouldn’t be so damn nosy. I’m sort of used to spending my time with the same people so nothing is ever off limits”

She couldn’t help but smile at the man’s candor. He took great pride in his place of work, and she could respect that. “Medical field. I work at the funeral home but I’m not the mortician. I might want to be in the future, though. So books on anatomy and medical practices. If I don’t stick with Avalon, I’ll probably become a nurse or something.” She didn’t consider herself a rambler, but others might. She didn’t at all think of how it might be domineering or daunting to others. “Oh, Javi isn’t against the rules, I mean the P.O Box outside is against the rules. I think. I don’t know anymore,” she chuckled in embarrassment. “Oh, I thought you were going to say nothing is ever new to you, but if you’re that close with someone, I understand how the boundaries are a bit skewed. I don’t mind nosy questions though, ask away if you want. I grew up on a polygamist compound and even got married at nineteen.”

She said something, but the sound of it was lost among the shuffling and movement as she dragged him away from everyone else. “Very subtle, I don’t think they noticed,” he said, cheerfully, fully aware that some people were giving them a confused look. Sam bowed his head to them, solemness crossing his face till they turned away, and he looked back at her with a slight frown. “Is that why you dragged me away? You thought I didn’t belong there? Very presumptuous, I happen to be good friends with, uh, Anatol Niemczyk.” The name was slow and dragged out, like he wasn’t quite sure how to pronounce all of it. Then he frowned. “Wait, Niemczyk? Is his grandson Adrian?” Huh, small world, he’d been looking for that guy for a while. “I’m Samir Roshan, I’m a de– I’m a private investigator.” He stuck out his hand for her to shake, fumbling on his introduction. Decades of introducing himself as a detective was a little difficult to change and he grimaced. “Every funeral is different, even outside of Lethe. Can’t say this one looks any different than some of the others I’ve had to see, but I try not to attend these if I can avoid it.” Someone looked their way and the solemn look came across his face again. When they turned away, Sam looked at the woman. “You do realize we’re both stuck here now? Its going to be suspicious if I just walk away, but I’m not ready to go yet.”

“Yes. Adrian is one of his many grandchildren,” she stated slowly. “Samir. I remember your family. Gabriel talked about your mother a few times, how she died so young, but I don’t know much beyond that...” It happened way before Brynn’s time, and she looked at the man in a new light. Shit, was he older than her? She shook his hand, distracted. “A private investigator? In Lethe? Like, for the Riverborn or what?” she asked intently, curiosity getting the better of her. “Why did you ‘have’ to see some funerals? Were you close with the people? You know many deceased? You had an obligation?” What was this, twenty questions? Christ, Brynn, she thought to herself. She smiled up at the taller man then asked “And why aren’t you ready to go? What is the deceased’s name again? Anatol...?” She looked expectantly at the man then giggled. “You complain that we’re stuck here even though you don’t want to leave? I’m sorry, who the hell are you again?” 

Isolde took a sip from her glass, relishing the taste of the blood on her tongue. She set aside her glass for a moment, trying to organize her thoughts and tell Brynn what had happened the day her twin brother showed up at her shop out of the blue. “He did die, so at least that part wasn’t a lie” she explained with just a hint of bitterness to her words. It felt like one of the most defining moments in her life had just been a façade, after all. “But Wesley rose as a lich and he chose not to tell anyone”. Part of her could understand why he’d want to keep his undead state a secret from others. But why from her? “He chose not to tell me”.

“Why... why the hell not? Did he know where you were?” Brynn was captivated by the story, the betrayal. Isolde deserved better than Wesley, didn’t she? Why was he so... was selfish the word? But who was Brynn to judge? “I’m so sorry to hear that, sweetie. I can’t understand it. He is your brother. He waited this long?”