“You do know that when you put it that way you make it sound like every person’s mind is an alternate universe and we all have a thousand copies of ourselves out there.” Meadow arched an eyebrow at Diego and his perception on what people might consider other people. She doubted though that anyone who might consider her a friend would be someone she wouldn’t know thought of her as a friend. She did have a strange variety of friends- but that was really simply who she was to people. She was the woman who was always a friend but never anything other than that. She definitely wasn’t the girl who someone date and so she definitely didn’t think whoever was unlucky enough to have been chosen by her father to be her fiancé would be fond of that idea.

“My friends have other things to do. Their worlds don’t revolve around me, Diego.” Leo was generally off doing whatever it was Leo was doing- she didn’t pry and she knew when he wanted to tell her something he would without much prompting. Seth was often off doing whatever he deemed necessary given his history- and she didn’t judge or question how he chose to deal with the trauma of the loss of his family; Jun had his family’s business to run. No, they were always rather busy with their own live and while she did spend time around them? She didn’t take up too much of their time either. “And I’m not a needy friend. I’m well-aware they have better things to do than waste all of their free time with me.”

 he shrugged at her words, it certainly was a way to put it and diego almost said something about it but his lips stayed sealed for a moment letting it sit in the air. “perhaps that’s who alternate universes work -- they are inside our minds.” he finally said, once more his shoulders lifting as he spoke. she definitely was taking the words to an out of those world meaning, it almost made diego laugh as most of the people he spent his time with were rather straight to the point. 

   “worlds don’t have to revolve around someone to still be considerate... any reach out in the last 48 hours to see simply say how’s it going?” he questioned, daring to point out they were on first names basis. 

[ TEXT ]: I didn’t imply we were close enough for me to be asking these questions. The fact I’m asking is a bit your fault because you hit on my friend and then she asked me about you. Not comfy for me. [ TEXT ]: Probably not but does Willow enjoy anything?

(text): i hit on her?

(text): is that what willow said?

“You must be an only child,” the witch mused, reaching out and picking up her drink glass without glancing at it, thankful that years of taking care of children gave her good instincts as to where things were. It made functioning while doing multiple things a whole lot easier. “When you’re from a big, close knit family? The idea of true freedom is an illusion.” It sounded strange and she knew that but she didn’t say it as though she harbored any ill will towards her family. When families were close it was usually a choice to do whatever you could for your family. Her family didn’t force anything on her but it was an unspoken rule within the family to sort of care for each other, to help other people. That was simply who the Boltons were. And eventually it became something she was so accustomed to that not putting them first? It never crossed her mind- even when she had decided not to continue going to school to become a nurse. “I don’t buy that. Something about you screams secretive,” Will teased.

At first the redhead didn’t say anything in response to his comment about his employees. Instead she just took a sip from her drink, watching him quietly. She wasn’t so sure that she agreed on that stance. Perhaps because her father had been determined to be involved in the business until it seemed to be too much to him- then her brother became heavily involved in it. Wasn’t that what a business owner was supposed to do? “You can have the best staff in the world and most business owners are still heavily involved in the business,” she finally said after a moment, putting her glass back down as blindly as she had picked it up. “And if you’re looking to gather information about customer experiences? You should probably talk to people who do more than sit and read, don’t you think?” she teased.

  “adopted, actually.” diego honestly didn’t know who knew that fact, he was sure his grandfather probably tried to play it off to those who didn’t know about it - that he wasn’t adopted and to those who did know he most likely tried to make it seem like he was some savior to the kid. diego wanted to know who would give the two shit holes like navarros a child, shouldn’t families who adopt have some person to check up on them for the first few months or randomly to make sure all is well. however listening to willow he was almost happy he didn’t grow up in the brady bunch modern addition, who wants an illusion of freedom?

  considering his position now, he was definitely not feeling the full extent of freedom. “secrets don’t make friends -- why would i be secretive?” he teased in the slightest, “i’m involved, just not entirely. this place is a lot bigger that derrys tiny bar.” he pointed out, diego almost wanted to ask what she could of mark the dude who owned facebook because he imagined he was far from deeply involved in the business, if anything he decided some things and helped out but he wasn’t needing to look at the finer details unless an issue arises or something needs to change. “i find you’re the best customer to ask actually. you’re not interested and that’s unfortunate, all that’s bringing you in is a friend - there’s a lot to offer from the casino.” 

“well who’s that someone?”

“highway to hell by ac/dc.”

“black and denim.”

“mochi.”

   “interesting night?” the fae questioned as he watched the bouncers toss a group out of the club, he didn’t often speak but if the night was going to be a crazy one he had no intention of going inside. it would also give him point to not leave the casino, it’s usually the quietest but most enjoyable of places. “seems like it.”

[TEXT] Uh-huh… [TEXT] Not really. I just was always close to him as a kid. Cassidy wasn’t a fan of having a little sister and Gray was just quieter- I guess Cassidy being his twin made it harder to shine the way he might have on his own- so it was always Danny I spent my time with. [TEXT] Well, everyone does.

(text): so dan was the nicest out of them all?

[ TEXT ]: Women are wonderful multitaskers. [ TEXT ]: Do you think she’s attractive?

“That is my life,” the redhead countered, not at all annoyed by the question. It was one she heard more often than not, people often being confused by the fact that she sent quite a lot of time either with her brother’s children or with other children in town acting as a babysitter. They generally thought that since she was on the younger side that she would want to be out doing al manner of things other than that. But when that was what you were accustomed to? It seemed perfectly normal. Taking care of children had been a very large chunk of her life. Will turned in her seat slightly so she wouldn’t have to twist her upper body to face him while talking. “When you do something for long enough it becomes second nature. The idea of not watching kids or doing things for my family…” The witch trailed off, shrugging slightly. It never even crossed her mind- much to her own detriment. Truthfully she should have put herself first more often but it didn’t seem likely that she would. “I can be a good judge. But people can also be deceptive and secretive. But you wouldn’t know anything about being secretive, would you?” She didn’t know him, of course, but there was something about his responses, his posture. He struck her as the type not to reveal too much. And wasn’t that just a type of being secretive? So despite the teasing nature of her words? She reasoned he was very accustomed to keeping secrets.

“You mean to tell me you have an entire casino to run and all these people around and you don’t have a single better thing to do than chat with me?” The witch let out a little scoffing sound. “That’s just…really, really sad,” the witch teased.

  “do you get to do whatever you want whenever you’d like or do you have to think about what’s next on your list before changing plans?” sure it seemed like a luxury but it wasn’t totally, not if you had some freedom. of course he didn’t know willow that well but the bits and pieces he’s collected not simply from their conversation but from her brothers and things he’s learned over the years that she might not have a true form of it, he wondered if she felt free at all from her families things? there’s involvement but with consideration for ones self. “me - secretive? no, not really.” he responded, shoulders lifting a bit after his words.

   “nope. i hire good people so i don’t have to worry about the little things - i find customer experience is important though.” his words were rather light despite his demeanor easily taken as  a joke by the wrong people. “i think the bests businesses run when you have perfect staff.” 

Being an ex-convict is hard, is like you never really get your full freedom back. Finding a job that didn’t felt like a pity favor was hard, so that’s why he was so thankful for Diego. He never judged him, or felt like he was doing it for friendship, it was only because he was good at the job, and it made him feel good. Tony turned to look his boss nodded “If they are smart, yeah”

diego nodded gently finally turning from where the guests left to the seats, plopping himself into one. he offered his version of a smile to his 'friend', the idea almost made him laugh thinking on his conversation a few days ago with meadow. that would be something to share with a friend, an engagement of all things but it seemed like something to talk about after a drink or two. "talk to me tony, you have better conversations to share than me.”

“Normal for who? Because it’s not normal for me. I’ve spent more time raising kids than attached to my phone,” the redhead pointed out, then paused to consider how that would sound to anyone who didn’t know her very well. Or really know her at all like in the case of Diego. “My brother’s kids, I mean. His twins. Took care of them for the better part of their first decade of life. Didn’t exactly leave time to get addicted to my phone the way most of my generation is.” It didn’t leave a lot of time for most teenage things were she to be honest. How many teenagers had their prom date bring them home because they had to rush back to take care of something with their niece and nephew because their father was off who knew where? Not many she was sure. “Some people judge more than others clearly,” the redhead teased, lifting up her own drink and taking a sip from it, head cocking very slightly to the side.

Willow fell silent for a moment, placing her drink back down on the table and tapping her nails against it momentarily. “Sure.” She wasn’t about to argue with him. She didn’t feel the need. After all, it had really been her reading between the lines rather than it being a response to anything that he had actually said. Lifting her book back up she motioned towards him with it vaguely. “Well, I’m sure you have better things to do than chat with me about my habit of reading at your casino,” she reasoned.

“shouldn’t you be living a life? unless you want your life to be surrounded by children, even the ones that aren’t yours.” diego honestly didn’t know her life goals her couldn’t start judging the choice of raising her siblings kids if that’s something she wanted to do. although diego felt like she should be doing more, many people should if they were young as there was plenty of time to have kids and the last thing he believed in was having kids only to be miserable with them. although it didn’t show a ghost of a smirk lingered on his face when she seemed to tease him. “do you find you’re a good judge?” questioning, he gave a brief glance around the place, shoulders lifting just as he turned his attention back to the witch.

   “no, i don’t.”

[ TEXT ]: Hey boss. [ TEXT ]: My friend Willow mentioned you in passing. [ TEXT ]: Any chance you’d want me to set something up for you guys?

@dnavarro

[TEXT] Well, it’s a weird one. [TEXT] Favorite? No. I’m probably closest to Danny though. I was his shadow as a kid. Plus, he taught me how to climb trees and how to throw a punch. [TEXT] Again with that cryptic stuff. I said that doesn’t fly with me. [TEXT] Legally, yes. But no one calls me that. I’ve gone by Will for as long as I can remember.

“Oh, so reading is strange but googling ‘what to do at casinos when you don’t want to gamble’ would be perfectly normal?” the redhead questioned, making no move to retrieve her phone from her bag and do that. She very rarely took her phone out when at the casino, mostly because the people who had a tendency to text her were her brothers and she spoke to them constantly as it was. Sometimes she needed a slight break from them. While she loved them dearly? She also had to have some time to herself from time to time. Even if it was just for a few hours once in a while when she would go to see Gwen sing. “Little bit of judgement could be sensed. Tiny bit,” the witch teased, holding up her hands with her fingers held slightly apart to indicate the small amount of judgement she had sensed in his tone. Not that she was really upset by it. Judgement was common for anyone who was the child of any of the council or coven leaders. They were constantly under a microscope.

“I’m saying anyone less than human in this town can be considered dangerous given the right circumstances,” the witch replied, leaning slightly towards him almost as though challenging him to contradict that point. Yet anyone who grew up either in or around the supernatural world was just how aware members of that community could be if they needed to. “Or do you think that witches and warlocks can’t be dangerous to a fae like yourself?”

 diego shrugged when she spoke, “normal to the age we are in.” responding briefly before he finished off his drink and waved for another. the redhead certainly had the vibe of an odd one, but then again he hung around a particular type of people leading to the encounters with ones like willow brief. he knew her brothers though, he doubted she would know that given the reasons why as well as diego imagined willow wouldn’t be thrilled with it. so the fae kept his lips sealed, the witch didn’t know and it wouldn’t hurt her to stay that way. “everyone judges.” he stated eventually.

    “ i don’t disagree with you on that. and no, i never said that.”