Dylan Waldorf

“Well dear sister, ‘loyal when it matters’ is the Waldorf family motto, so it would be a bit of a pot-and-kettle situation if that were something you held against them, don’t you think?” he asked rhetorically. “She actually came to me, granted I don’t believe she learned she was part shifter until her identical twin showed up in town and demonstrated the lovely party trick. You’ll find her downstairs. She’d normally be in the DJ booth but she was playing horrendous music so she’s been barred for now. You can always get Oz to call her from the booth though.”

So basically her brother just wanted to be sure that Dallas is working for her paycheck. Dylan didn’t quite know what his motive was but right now, she didn’t care. She needed someone to get her shoes. “If she was playing horrendous music as the dj, why didn’t you fire her?” Her eyes rolled before spinning on her toes. “But very well, I’ll go see who this Dallas is.” There was a high chance she saw the other before but Dylan did not bother to pin a name to the face. “Did you want to get something while we’re on the topic?” 

“They have an appreciation for being allowed to remain amongst the living,” Damien said plainly. Turning to his sister after her rather loquacious moment, he said, “Let’s cut the bullshit. You want someone at your beck and call that can teleport -whatever the means- because you can’t do it yourself. Which, fair. But that should be a trait you look for in a lackey as a bonus. You’ve gone through so many ‘right-hands’ in the last year alone, I’m surprised you haven’t gone left-handed on me already sis. So, as your dutiful big bro, I’m offering you a new replacement that is already known to our workings, has proven to be loyal enough when it matters, and lack a moral compass when it suits her. Also, while her mother is directly linked to the Scions, her father is fucking dragon shifter. If you ask me, you could very well mentor the kid into being the greatest asset on your payroll.”

Her stare steeled when he called her out again for not being able to teleport herself - as if that wasn’t already a glaring flaw, reminding her that she wasn’t a full demon. “Loyal when it matters?” She scoffed, “That doesn’t sound trustworthy, brother dear.” Dylan slipped her phone back into her pocket as the next fact caught her attention. “A dragon shifter? Now that is new, where did you pick this one up?” Already moving towards the door, Dylan looked forward to meeting this employee of his. “Since you graciously suggest this ‘Dallas’ to me, I shall go take a look.” Her eyes narrowed, “She won’t be on my payroll if she fails the first thing I tell her to do, Damien. So where will I find her?”  

“Can be? Maybe. Will be? Definitely not. At least not for the foreseeable future as I have them doing what they were actually hired for: working for me. You’ll just have to stick with a Prime subscription for a while for fast delivery sis.” Damien was normally more than okay with sharing, especially with Dylan, but he knew it was honestly a benefit to the woman if he kept Nox out of her hair as much as possible while she was ‘not’ doing farm work…

“Can’t say I’ve had the pleasure,” he intoned, attention back on his own work. Damien highly doubted that unless the farm-clan happened to make their way to him in their work attire, he’d ever really get to see it given their wards… “No you may not, I’ve told they’re busy. If you want a Nox of your own, talk to Dallas. She’s not doing anything incredibly useful right now and she’s already on the payroll.”

“They’re actually doing what they’re told? Ugh.” Why was it whenever Dylan needed Nox, it was when they decided to be a good kid and listen to Damien? But whenever she didn’t need them, they were constantly around complaining they were bored. Her back straightened when Damien was nice enough to offer another employee who could use some work. “Dallas? Who’s that?” She held a hand and shook her head, “Doesn’t matter, you’re saying she’s free, then I’ll use her.” 

Taking back her phone, she looked at the boots again, “I can only presume you’re offering this Dallas because she can get me my order on time? Yes? Because if she’s not helpful, I don’t see how she’d be a replacement for Nox.” 

“They’re not a delivery service, Dylan,” he said, as he went back to his work, “They’re barely capable delivering themselves to work every night on time, and I suspect that has a lot more to do with Oz.” Damien nodded as she spoke, then asked, “So, what I’m getting from this is that there’s something at that house that you’re willing to stick around for. I mean, if the nurse is that far up your ass, I would assume the best thing would be to just leave, no?”

As a phone made its way between his line of sight and his computer screen, he reached up to take it and took a look. “Honest opinion? If you’re going to keep returning to that farm, you might as well invest in something that’s meant to be used there. Otherwise you’re going to make the company go bankrupt with how often you’ll be replacing any type of designer footwear, because I do not see you taking the time to try and clean each pair between use.”

“They can be.” She replied, “If they want extra cash for whatever ridiculous outfit or hobby they want to finance next, they will be whatever I want them to be depending on the day.” Her eyes rolled but refused to entertain an answer for him. She was not going to elaborate what was sticking around for at the farm. 

“Excuse me.” The horror and disbelief that her brother who might be the only person who knew her best, would have suggested such a thing. “Have you never seen the footwear they wear there? Truly horrendous looking things.” Her horror then turned into confusion before actually thinking about it. “Can I get Nox to clean them? Maybe I should find my own Nox.”

He was just getting attuned to the silence he was mercifully granted by Nox heading off to do their ‘watch’ for the day, when his eardrums were once again assaulted. “They’ve been sent off on a task, but what in the fuck in do they have to do with your heels?” Damien asked, almost feeling that whatever answer he received would just leave him wondering why he even bothered to ask at all. He listened amused as his sister actually considered boots. Healed boots, but boots nonetheless. “I take you’ve taken to working the land then, if you’re willing to make such investments as ruining your red-bottoms and purchasing other footwear?”

“Because despite Amazon Prime claiming to be quick, they are not quick enough and Nox can get my orders here faster.” She explained as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “Excuse me, I am not working the land.” She denied, “That blasted nurse cannot leave me be when I’m sitting around in the house, and if I follow the others around, she’ll bother me less.” Her eyes rolled before going back to her shopping before letting out a snort at the idea of sacrificing her ‘red-bottoms’. “The heels keep digging into the grass, and the stains are insufferable. Darling, what about these?” She handed the phone over to him. 

cxtaliina​:

“I don’t know.. They’ve always been active when I met them.” She giggled, “It really, really surprised me at the beginning. I also learned that I was very bad at Phys Ed, and I couldn’t go when they decide to take a field trip to the pool. Everyone knows I suck at sports.. so.. I don’t know how they manage either.” Catalina hummed, “Half of them are also wolves.. maybe it’s that?”

Fer simply hummed from her current position of being sunk into the couch. “Yes, well, sports aren’t everything and your talents clearly lie elsewhere. I mean, what good is a good sports team if the design of their branding is awful,” she reasoned. Her brow furrowed slightly. “Yeah, see I figured that had to have at least something to do with it, but sometimes I feel the most energetic ones are Luke and Hunter and I know those two are as human as they come so-”

Her train of thought was cut short by the sound of the door and the tell-tale sound of three distinct sets of footsteps making their way over to them. Not really bothering to move, she simply threw Cat a look that screamed ‘oh boy’ and then glanced back at the three new arrivals. “Well?”

The half-demon actually felt relieved that Julian was willing to allow her back in the house. However that relief didn’t last very long when said merboy decided to put the spotlight on her the moment they appeared in the living room where the other two mermaid were. It took everything to stop herself from shooting daggers at him because it probably wouldn’t bode over well considering she was here to ... do what exactly? Beg them to let her stay? The thought of that suddenly had blood rushing to her face. Dylan had never apologized in her life .. to anyone else aside from her father. 

“Mer- ... this darling here..” She motioned to the kid next to her. “Has made me.. see that perhaps I should rein in my attitude and behave better as you have so graciously invited me over.” The one thing Dylan knew was to appear confident; it was very much a needed skill in her position in either workplace but something told her that it wasn’t convincing this family. 

“Well then you’re certainly doing an awful lot of redirecting then,” he snickered, stopping just shy of pointing out that her focus was now on the topic of deflection instead of just answering his question. Julían knew that most people would take his relationship with his mom and boil it down to him being a momma’s boy but, not only was there nothing inherently wrong with that, it was just exceedingly reductive. There was so much he was able to learn to from her in the small amount of time that he had to share with her, and a lot of it involved learning how to navigate what was arguably the world’s roughest terrain: people.

He thought about her question for a bit. “Well, I think we’ve more than proven that you can’t keep from spiting venom as a defense mechanism, but do you think you could manage to maybe take a pause and consider the consequences of doing so a bit better this time around?”

Her eyes shot daggers at the boy. Despite his tone didn’t hold an ounce of malicious intent, Dylan could not believe she was being told what to do by this kid. If only her enemies saw her now. “I can hold my tongue.” She scoffed, clearly offended whether or not what he pointed out was the truth. Her brother was probably going to make fun of her if he knew what was happening here at the farm. Perhaps it was a good thing that he couldn’t come due to the ward, though it still gave her a bitter taste that Dylan felt completely fine. What did that say about her morals and ethics? As if her father couldn’t be more disappointed in his half human daughter. 

"Scout’s honour” She threw in even though they both knew the girl was never a scout in her life. “Well?”

Julían laughed at the questions. “Of course not! I’m not old enough silly,” he said, knowing full well she was just trying to redirect. “Granted, I don’t have to be a therapist to know when someone is answering a question with a question of their own in order to deflect and not have to answer. Though really, you could just admit you’re not comfortable discussing why you feel the need to put up a mask and that would be enough.”

"No one is deflecting.” She muttered under her breath, taking another look at her phone to see if anyone answered. Clearly she needed to find better henchmen to do her bidding - espeically when the simple request was to simply find her an uber driver. This kid was analyzing her regardless if he meant well or not and Dylan did not like it.  With a sigh, she clenched her jaw while shutting her eyes tightly. Relaxing after a beat, she looked over at the boy. “What would it take to be unkicked out of your house?” She couldn’t believe she was actually asking this.

Julían hummed in response before adding, “Sounds like you might need a new best friend then. Or at the very least another best friend, you know, one who hasn’t done things that would cause them to be afraid of our farm. I mean clearly you managed to make it all the way inside, so surely you deserve to have a friend that would be willing and able to do the same to help you.”

“Then why did you?” he asked without missing a beat. “As a matter of fact, why did you bother with the facade at all? I’m sure Fer knows perfectly well the kind of person you are from her interactions with you, why try to hide it now?”

Dylan rolled her eyes, choosing not to comment on it because that was absolute horseshit in her opinion. It was very offending that the ward did nothing to her. Not even making her a little bit queasy at the very least. Meanwhile, she had to wait for her lackies to find someone who wouldn’t combust the moment they step foot in here. Offending and humiliating. 

“What are you? My therapist?” She shot back, getting really annoyed that the merboy was calling these things out on her. Dylan would rather be dealing with the snarky one back in the farmhouse. 

“Great!” he exclaimed before adding, “So call them. If nothing else, they’ll be able to help you find the best option for getting back to town proper while avoiding the walking you seem so dead set on not doing.” It wasn’t lost on Julian that all she said was that she had a friend, but didn’t provide even a name. Most people can’t wait to tell you all sorts of stories about their best friend. He figured, if she was telling the truth at least he was providing her a suggestion and if she was lying, her bluff would be called.

He couldn’t help but laugh at her response. “You really seem to like the dramatics. All Artemis did was call you out in front of my cousin, that’s hardly ‘baring fangs’. Trust me, I’ve seen her genuinely mad, and that wasn’t even close. Why not just admit that you were looking for an opportunity to drop the facade you’d worked your way into?”

"I did.” She scoffed, “They heard where I was and will not step near this damn place.” Dylan glanced down at the last message her brother sent, leaving him on read before switching to another chat with one of her lackies to send someone who will not combust from the wards to come drive her. Good help was hard to find nowadays, she didn’t need them to be vanquished so needlessly. 

“Please. As if I needed to wait until that little girl to drop the facade.” That was simply ridiculous. Dylan wouldn’t have cared in the first place so why did she bother with the façade? 

“No,” he replied easily, “I’m alternating from one to cheek to the other at all the little snark pats you’ve been sending my way since I sat down.” Julian grinned at her, “I’m not nearly as naive as you might have assumed and honestly, you either don’t care for or don’t know about subtlety, so.” He punctuated his statement with a shrug.

He simply chuckled and said, “Yeah, and I know what a Tesla is, but that doesn’t mean I have one. So, do you have a best friend Ms. Dylan?” Julian knew that she was likely avoiding the question, which was a key indicator of what the answer would be, but he hoped he was wrong. Everyone deserved a best friend. He chuckled again at her remark and simply pointed out, “If you hadn’t been rude, you’d still be inside.”

Despite her efforts, this kid was growing on her as they talked. Dylan was actually impressed - God, she must have stayed in Fallcrest for far too long for this to be happening. What would her enemies say when they see her being put in place by a family of cheerful merfolks? “Touché.”

“Don’t be ridiculous, of course I have one.” Dylan lied. There were acquaintances. There were people within her circle. But she would never call any of them her best friend - not that this kid needed to know. “The pocket full of sunshine bared her fangs. Challenge was simply accepted.” She scoffed. 

dylanwald

Julian could only beam as he chuckled at her words. “Well, my mother was a big believer in turning the other cheek,” he began, “But she was also very clear that it never meant we weren’t still capable of shining a light on things that were wrong. I believe her exact turn of phrase -which always made me laugh to hear her say it- was ‘It’s always best to turn the other cheek, so long as the other cheek in question isn’t out buttcheek’.” He fell into a small fit of giggles as he said it.

“My point exactly,” he replied with a cheeky grin. Julian then shook his head slightly and said, “No, that’s not really how it works. You have to have friends first, and then from there you get to see which one is the most likely to be there for you and you for them. They become your best friend. My mom was mine, and I konw I was hers because I was the only one who was with her every day up until the very end. Even after my dad said it was too hard for her to see her like that…but anyway, I guess what I was really getting at was that if you had a best friend maybe you wouldn’t be stuck talking to a merboy and his dog. So, maybe you need to find some better friends so you can have good best one.”

The advice and lessons she gained from her parents were nothing like the sort. Hers were always leaning towards dealing with enemies before they get to her first. What peaceful lives these kids seem to be living. Dylan was not jealous. “Is that what you’re doing? Turning the other cheek and talking to me, even though your lovely aunt kicked me out?” She scowled, still salty that she, a Waldof, was kicked out of a farmhouse. 

This kid did not just tell her on how to make friends. Just what is happening. Dylan looked at him wide-eyed as if he just shared something unbelievable. And of course, he proceeded to tell her that he was a mommy’s boy. “Darling, I’m well aware what a best friend is.” She huffed, crossing her legs - the action making the steps creak a little. “If I was inside, I wouldn’t be talking to a merboy and his dog.”