call on me

andrés >> vivi : "about stick shift?"

andrés >> vivi: "it's more of a learning curve, but you have more control."

"Why are you paying her legal fees?" His brows furrowed once more. Between his siblings and his daughter, it was a shock that his brow wasn't permanently stuck that way.

why did every interaction have to feel like this? each shallow inhale and sharp exhale more burdened with each second that ticked by. there was a time xavier yearned for peace between them. a kinship that came from a place shared by brothers not beneath the suffocating power struggle. the rebelling little brother and his fatherly older brother. "I wouldn't say this is normal hours of operation but fine. you're right. you're her boss but I'm asking you as her brother."

"you know how Valentina can be. she thinks this is all fun and games. she would have attempted to represent herself. I wasn't gonna ask you to put it up for her. plus, you gotta think about putting your daughter through college." his hands settled on his hips for a moment before he'd stuffed them into the back pockets of his jeans. "..it really doesn't matter. I just want to know if she's been showing up."

@cxllonme

the crow was no longer a muse; it had become a critic. for weeks, the creature had been a fixture upon the ledge of the annex, a sharp eyed gargoyle framing juniper’s sanctuary. on her more prolific days, she viewed the bird as a grim omen of literary success; a fluttering, ink black punctuation mark at the end of a particularly harrowing sentence. but today, with the blinking cursor mocking her from a stark white screen, the crow was merely a feathered voyeur. it sat behind the glass, its head tilted in a way that suggested it wasn't just watching her work, but actively proofreading it. juniper squeezed her eyes shut, the heavy, velvet atmosphere of her writing room suddenly feeling claustrophobic. the bird let out a rhythmic, clicking sound, a staccato mockery that juniper was certain mimicked the cadence of her own frustrated typing. "it’s quite gauche to stare, you know," she hissed at the glass. the bird pecked the sill. clack. clack. It was a rhythmic judgment.

driven by the frantic, vibrating energy that only a three day bout of writer’s block can produce, juniper abandoned her desk. she navigated the labyrinthine clutter of her estate until she found a ladder in the garden shed. she didn't stop to consider the optics. she didn't stop to put on shoes. the rungs were cold and biting against her bare soles as she ascended the side of the house, her lace trimmed hem catching on the metal. she climbed until her face was level with the ledge, the crow did not fly away. it merely shifted its weight, its beady eyes reflecting her own wild, disheveled reflection back at her.

which is precisely what andres ending up approaching on; juniper balancing precariously on the ledge and staring down the bird. a one sided conversation of juniper airing her grievances ensuing before she noticed the man standing in the lawn. "oh, hello, andres," juniper greeted him, her tone shifting instantly to one of airy, pretentious calm. "you’ve arrived at a rather serendipitous moment. i was just conducting an impromptu peer review. what brings you to the estate? aside from the obvious desire to bask in my creative process?"

Andrés held a hand above his eyes to shield the sun as he looked up at Juniper. He answered her question first by holding up his toolbox. Though, clearly if she was asking these questions she might not have remembered asking him to come over last week.

a recurrent tension coiled within, beginning between her shoulder blades and swiftly cascading down her vertebrae, causing valentina's hackles raised. a visceral defensive adjustment to her posture, directly linked to her proximity to andre's presence. as if an internal warning system had activated, locking her limbs in a tense readiness, poised between the instinct to confront or flee. she'd adhered to that internal warning system since she was a punk kid getting into mischief, and the mere sight of her eldest brother would send her darting to seek refuge behind xavier. for she likened him to their father, a man known for his unpredictable and harsh outbursts. never mind that andres had never actually shown signs of hostility towards her; yet still a simmering resentment took root, nurtured by the emotional chasm he maintained between them.

perhaps that was where the grit of her aversion towards him truly resided, if she ever gave herself the opportunity to scrutinize it; she didn't know where she and andres stood, she never had. but it felt far more prudent to regard him as a potential threat rather than a source of solace. her gaze remained frosty, fixed upon him, as she measured his reaction to the predicament she had orchestrated. once more with her flagrantly, violent disregard. teeth ready to bare and fist ready to clench.

"there's nothing to break up, it's over." she pointed out, relaxing her posture only enough to appear indifferent as she leaned against the hood of the client's car she'd just punched out. "clearly. and i'm pretty sure he isn't planning on getting up and taking it further," the twist of a challenge folded into the pucker of her sardonic smile as she kinked at brow at the client still struggling to stem the flow of blood that had transformed the lower half of his face into a macabre spectacle. "are you, dickless?"

Andrés let Valentina's childish taunt hang in the air and then dissolve. To let his silence break the rhythm of whatever jabs she wanted to make. And then he let a few more beats pass, until his eyes flicked over to hers. An almost imperceptible shift towards her and a nod back towards the shop. "Inside. Now."

He wasn't playing this game. He wasn't engaging with either of them. Not on his property and not with something that seemed damn near wrapped up. Even if the wrapping job was sloppy at best. That was perhaps the most disappointing part.

"bullshit," the bitting quip ripped off his lips as immediately as they popped into his brain. xavier chose to keep their interactions nonexistent because they always began and ended the same way. a cluster of festering resentment that seemed shared on both sides. a relationship that had teetered on the edge of a blade destined to end in blood. he never wanted this but there were things that some people were unable to control. "..i'm not some random person, andrês, i'm family." the word felt more corrosive on his tongue than he intended. the only familial connection here was the matrix of their dna. it seemed the two stopped trying the mend the fence a long time ago.

"we're not exactly on speaking terms. haven't been since i bailed her out of county." after we both took necessary shots at one another. "i want to know if she's been attempting to keep up with her court dates. what's the point of paying for a lawyer if she won't appear."

"Why are you paying her legal fees?" His brows furrowed once more. Between his siblings and his daughter, it was a shock that his brow wasn't permanently stuck that way.

@cxllonme

twack! thud.

two distinct sounds reverberated like shots fired through the dilapidated cathedral of lined cars clutter in various stages of disrepair and restoration. then a thundering silence ultimately pierced by the soft, disgruntled groans of pain that echoed through the stillness. valentina's hand throbbed from the collision of knuckles against nose canal, her nails still embedded in the tender flesh of her palm. she regarded the man writhing on the ground before the auto shop with an expression that could only be deemed unimpressed. the client's hands cradling the crimson surge that erupted from his face.

her eyes rolled at the sharp accusations that she had fractured a bone, flexing her hand with a defiant grace before resting it on her jutting hip. "don't be a pussy, I didn't break your nose," she drawled with abject apathy. "it's sprained at most. you're lucky I didn't put you through the fucking concrete."

valentina glanced down at the the tire wrench she wielded in her opposing hand, lips pursed as she contemplated swinging it down against the rear window she'd just spent the better part of the afternoon replacing. yet, just as the thought of her reckless impulse began to take shape, a familiar and unwelcome figure emerged from the shadows of her periphery.

"shit." she hissed beneath her breath, pivoting to confront her brother with an icy demeanor, her face betraying no remorse for what she had done. "thought you were off."

His brashness had worn off in his younger years. And he at least know not to come in guns ablazing. Literally or figuratively.

"Hey!" he barked out at the still-unclear figure as he came closer, "Get the-" and they came into focus. It wasn't some high schooler fighting or some tough guy trying to play hard. No, it was his sister. Great. And, what appeared to be a now-bloodied face he saw earlier that day or that week or....some time in the shop. Now, as he approached, his body language shifted slightly. Now, not anticipating a fight, but anticipating the shouldering of whatever blame, excuses, or fixing had to be done. His shoulders remained tense.

location: Santos Auto Shop @cxllonme

"i ain't gonna be here long," the softest edge of tension string together each pained word. there was a few unspoken rules that knitted together the santos creed like a banner that united the family. number one, you never miss any religious or traditional holiday no matter your system of belief. number two, a mandatory call to abuela monthly. number three, never leave the brothers alone for longer than five minutes or the MAD protocol came into plan indefinitely. xavier carried these laws like truths and did his best to work on the books and finish any outlying customization projects when andres was out. today, the finer lines of his schedule seemed to meld together and threw him completely off his normal pop in. he quickly gathered his laptop, the schematics of douche canoe, a modded GT for an entitled asshat with a trust fund, and his phone.

"..did val appear in court for her hearing?" his questions lingered for a moment. "or did she hide in the shop again?" xavier's curiosity about their sister bend the edges of his rules; it didn't help that they weren't talking right now.

"You know I can't disclose my employees' location." Even if it was their sister. Sometimes the protection was for the employee's safety. This time, it was for his own. If they weren't talking, he wasn't about to get in the middle of it. He needed cars fixed and books balanced. He was not about to sacrifice either at the altar of their disagreement. "Have you tried texting her?"