bad blood

“Yeah, that’s called our collective trauma…we both have some baggage that we don’t know how to deal with it.” It was just the truth and they both probably needed to see a counselor but that wasn’t going to happen - at least not right now. Faye probably wouldn’t agree to it and, honestly, a lot of their trauma came from what happened to them because they were wolves. “I don’t think she hates you,” he told her. “From what I heard, Lydia’s going through a lot. I haven’t heard from her either but I’m not going to like overthink it like you’re trying to do.” Not overthinking was really hard for him. He tended to do it all the time. Kole gave her a tiny smile. “Really now? No, it’s not weird…you just…maybe like her?” Kole raised an eyebrow as he waited for his sister’s reaction. “I know I’m not like the guru on relationships or anything…I mean, I didn’t even realize that people could like guys and girls…I thought I had to just pick one…so, definitely not a guru, but I think you might like her.” Kole was just wanting to be upfront with his sister because he only had a tiny bit more experience with relationships than she did but he was able to figure out feelings a bit more than she was. Kole shrugged his shoulders. “I guess. But, I would like you to be my company…because that would mean I won’t be kicked out of any diners,” Kole shot her a grin. “Wanna call in some takeout?”

Faye nodded her head as she listened to Kole. He was much more knowledgable than she was about, well, everything. Faye admired her brother so much. “I’m not trying to overthink it. It just happens.” Faye corrected with a slight grin. Of course life would be a lot easier if she didn’t overthink everything. But for half her life she had to walk on eggshells and second guess every decision she made or else there would be terrible consequences. It was kind of hard to just forget any of that. It became a lifestyle for Faye. “Like her? No, well..” She shrugged. “I don’t know.” Faye was blushing now which never happened. She was usually a pretty confident person but all of this was so new to her and there was so much she didn’t understand. “I mean, I guess it’s possible. I care what she thinks of me and what the people closest to her think of me. That’s a sign that you might like someone?” Faye put her hand to her forehead as she sighed dramatically. She hated how far behind she was in simple things. Maybe Kole also didn’t have much experience with relationships but to Faye he was a guru, actually. “And I would like to be your company too.” Faye would never say no to spending time with Kole. She really needed it now after being abandoned by the Accetta’s. That stung, more than she’d like to admit. “It’s getting dark out anyway.” Faye was fine when it was dark. She lived in the woods, after all. But she was protective over Kole by nature and didn’t like them hanging out outside that late just in case something bad happened.

Kole sighed and nodded her head. It seemed Faye was out of the loop as much as he was.. Of course, they were out of the loop for totally different reasons. He was pretty sure that if Faye wanted to get in touch with Talia that Talia would jump for that. It happened when you liked someone. He understood. He had never been to that point, not really, but he hoped one day. And he hoped that Faye would be able to figure it out as well. Kole knew that both of them deserved to be happy and loved. Sure, they could just do that with each other. Family was incredibly important. But he was 18 and getting closer to 19 each day. He was young and he knew that it sounded so stupid when he thought about his age and not finding anyone but Kole was also a bit of a romantic deep down. He wondered about Faye. “Busy is good, I guess,” he told her, another sigh escaping him. “I guess everyone is really busy lately. Not that I blame them. It’s normal for all of us to have lives and then dealing with…whatever this nightmare monster thing is….” he started, shaking his head. “Theo moved in with me for a bit but he left town again. I don’t think he’s the kind that sticks around much…so I have a spare bedroom again. It was kind of nice just having some company when I ate dinner…”

“Yeah. It’s hard not to be busy in this town.” Faye said with a shrug. “I’m not very good at reaching out to others either. Usually I just think if they’re not talking to me it’s because they don’t like me so I don’t bother them.” She was sure Kole could understand what she was saying. They were similar in certain ways, despite their vastly different upbringing over the last few years. “For Talia I don’t think that way. But Lydia hasn’t spoken to me in awhile so I’m guessing she hates me. Which kind of bothers me because she’s cool but also she’s Talia’s best friend. And I want Talia’s best friend to like me. Is that weird? What does that even mean?” Faye was rambling. She only did that when she was confused, which she clearly was. Something about Talia just made her really nervous. “I have this very strong desire to have Talia’s best friend and brother like me.” The only person she could really talk to about this stuff was Kole. Even if he didn’t have that much experience with relationships either, at least he understood feelings more than Faye did. She definitely looked to her brother for help in that topic. And since Kole mentioned to her that she should try to be aware of how she feels around certain people, she wanted to be more mindful of that now. “Oh. That’s really cool.” Faye nodded. “Well, not cool that he left. Just cool that you have a spare bedroom again.” The Accetta’s were gone as far as Faye could tell, so it was safe to be with her brother. But she didn’t want to talk about them leaving. Plus, did Kole even want her there? “We could eat dinner out here. I’ll be your company.” She teased lightly. Theo was cool but Faye wasn’t too upset over it. She didn’t attach to people easily. “Or you could eat at a diner and just interrupt conversations. That’s technically considered company, right?” Faye added, though this one was definitely a joke. 

The young witch sat in the middle of the woods with a book in hand and the casing of a protection spell around her, though it wasn’t a snug barrier, she was able to make enough room in case she had to get up and defend herself in fear of something popping up around her even with the spell activated. With a sigh, she continues her studies and looks up quickly when the sound of footsteps approaching, finally hits her ears. “Whoever you are, I suggest you leave before you end up being prey to something you wouldn’t usually expect to see around here.” She remarks, not looking up from her book until she’s written something down on a notebook. “And before you point out that In here, I can defend myself, I can’t guarantee your life though.”

Faye didn’t mind living in a broken down house out in the woods- the Hale house, she was pretty sure Talia called it. She was an outdoorsy person by nature so it wasn’t a big deal to her. The biggest issue was that she didn’t have food or money for food. Or a stove to cook anything. Faye could usually go a full day without eating but she was starving and she figured maybe she could light a fire and catch some fish or hunt an animal. It wasn’t the most classy thing in the world but what else could she do? She gathered her things and headed towards the lake to start there when she stumbled upon another person. Faye recognized the scent immediately. The Accetta’s hadn’t trained her to use her wolf senses very much but they did teach her how to sniff out different supernatural creatures. Probably because it was useful to them. She almost had to fight her instinct to immediately attack, but Faye took a deep breath and shrugged. “I live here.” She stated. “Been doing okay for the last few weeks so I think it’s fine. And I wasn’t really going to say anything about you being out here. I like to mind my own business, and you look like you can take care of yourself.”

Talia was pretty startled herself at the sound of the growl as her own eyes lit up bright blue in an automatic response. It was her bodies way of hopefully scaring off whatever else was down there with her. But then she heard a familiar voice and caught the familiar scent of Faye and she immediately eased up a bit as her eyes stopped glowing as well. It had been a pretty long time since the two girls had spoken, in person or text. Talia remembered seeing Faye outside of the police station back right after the whole incident happened with the orderly, and she wished she could take that back and just not have been there. Telling your crush that you’re a murderer wasn’t exactly making a good impression. And judging by how Faye went radio silent after that, it was safe to say Talia scared her off. She paused for a moment before slowly pulling herself up off of the ground and checking her bag to make sure everything was still in there. Her full moon prep kit was pretty intact at least, so that was good. She was sure Faye could hear the chains though as she glanced up at the other wolf and shrugged slightly. “Just trying to find a place to wait out the moon. But it, uh.. Looks like you’ve got this occupied so I can go.” She sighed softly. 

Faye was confused by the rustling she heard in Talia’s back but she didn’t put together what was happening until the other girl explained. “Oh.” Faye nodded her head slowly. She honestly didn’t even realize that there was a full moon. A lot of the time the Accetta’s had trained Faye to go practically feral wolf whether it was a full moon or not. So she could barely tell the difference. There was always a strong desire to kill in the back of Faye’s mind- no matter what the moon phase was. She had zoned out for a few seconds and then blinked a few times when she realized Talia had said something else. “Wait!” Faye shook her head and took a step towards Talia but then hesitated and went back to her original position. “You don’t, um-“ She cleared her throat. “You don’t have to leave. It’s not like I own the rights to this place or anything.” Faye tried to joke but it kind of fell flat as she just laughed awkwardly and rubbed the back of her neck. She really felt bad for the way she kind of ditched Talia after the heavy stuff she shared with Faye. But Faye wasn’t good with emotions, and she had her own shit going on. “Sorry. I’m an idiot. I’m just trying to say that you don’t have to leave or anything. You can have the whole basement to yourself and I won’t bother you. My room is down the hall. Or, well if you would call a mattress on the floor a bedroom.”

“I’m sure that’s exactly what you meant,” he told her, laughing lightly. “I should have brought you like sour worms or something but I wasn’t thinking. I just thought you might want something sweet.” He knew that they were kind of opposite in their candy preferences. It was just how they were in a lot of different ways. They were twins but that didn’t mean anything expect they shared a birthday, parents, and love for each other. Kole and Faye had always been very different and that was okay with both of them. Kole shrugged at her praise, never being one who accepted it easily, and then took another piece of candy from his bag. “Thanks,” he told her, grinning easily at his sister. He nodded his head at her words. He didn’t really believe her but he didn’t know what to do to make her tell him the truth. “That’s good,” he replied. “So are you still hanging out with Talia?” he asked, his eyes on Faye Once upon a time they talked about her possibly having feelings for Talia and he knew that Talia liked her but it was weird not really talking to anyone other than his sister. 

“Sweet is fine too. Just because I have a favorite candy doesn’t mean I don’t love all the other kinds.” Faye joked lightly. She could vividly remember the nights after they were done trick or treating on Halloween, when her and Kole would empty out all of their candy and stay up all night eating most of it. Faye was always kind of sick the next morning but she wouldn’t trade those memories for anything. It was well worth it. Those moments she had with her brother were really all she had to hold onto for the years she was away from him. Faye grinned back as she popped about ten M&Ms in her mouth all at once. It wasn’t the most well behaved thing to do but Faye didn’t really care. She was hungry and it was candy. She’d shove them all in her mouth if she wanted to. “Talia..” Faye shrugged, trying to make sense of the way her heart increased when she heard the name. She knew her brother had explained that if you liked someone you had certain reactions. The hard part for Faye was just learning to understand them. “Not really. We used to talk a lot on the phone but then I broke it..” Or she smashed it, but same thing really. “And I haven’t seen her in a few weeks since then. I was..busy, I guess.” Faye was hurt and angry about the Accetta’s leaving her, and she didn’t have time or interest in really seeing anyone that wasn’t Kole. Plus she knew Talia maybe needed some time to sort things out.

@fcyerichards​

After dreading the arrival of the full moon for weeks, there was only so much Talia could do before suddenly the day came. It was stupid, how scared she was for what might happen. Or more like what she might do. She was a born wolf, and that wasn’t supposed to be a concern. It hadn’t been, for years at this point. But it was clear that she was flaring with her anger issues, and her anxiety about it only seemed to make her feel worse. She didn’t reach out to anyone for help, because she was terrified of hurting someone she cared about after what she’d done to that orderly. Even if nothing did end up happening, she just felt a lot better leaving the house and hiding out for the night until morning. And she knew the perfect place. The old Hale House was definitely a little worse for wear, but it was still standing, and a fairly closed off area that Talia could spend the night that wasn’t near any sort of people. Surprisingly, even after the sun was down she for the most part felt fine. Most of it was the relief of not being near anyone. It seemed like it’d just be a laid back night. She had a bag of chains with her, just in case, but she didn’t think she’d be using them. As she walked through the house and past the living room, she didn’t realize that some of the floorboards were practically rotted wood. All it took was one misstep and suddenly she was falling through the floor and into the basement with a thud. It was definitely surprising, but the fall wasn’t too far as she grunted and tried to brush herself off, but then she noticed a set of bright blue glowing eyes in the darkness and froze.

Faye had been growing tired of sleeping out in the preserve. She absolutely loved the woods- it was the place she felt most comfortable- but California was going through some pretty bad rain. Faye wanted somewhere she could have a roof over her shoulder but she had too much pride to ask Talia. And Kole had a roommate now so she was practically homeless. She couldn’t even sleep in the home the Accetta’s had because someone else bought it. That pretty much broke Faye’s heart to see as well. It meant they were really gone- without her. So maybe she had thrown a rock through the window of the new owners home in a fit of rage. In Faye’s eyes that was completely warranted. Unfortunately it didn’t make her feel better and it didn’t help her with her situation. Thankfully though Faye found an abandoned home in the woods eventually. It was kind of creepy but the roof was still in tact so that was good enough for Faye. She settled in with her blankets and mattress she found on the street, and had been quite comfortable there the last few days. No one bothered her, until one night Faye was woken up by a loud crash. She immediately jumped and went into fight mode, running towards the source of the noise with her eyes glowing bright blue. She growled loudly, ready to kill, until she realized it was Talia. Faye blinked immediately and changed her eyes back to their normal brown. “What the hell are you doing here?”

“I didn’t think so,” he replied as he handed over the bag. They both had a sweet tooth as a kid and it seemed it continued with them as they grew older. He hadn’t had much of a chance to get candy after his parents died but every once in a while a teacher would bring some for the whole class and he wasn’t left out of those moments. He preferred chocolate to any other kind of candy so this was the perfect thing for him. He opened the bag and poured a few pieces out on his hand before tossing them in his mouth. Kole shrugged at her question. “Nothing much. There’s a truck for sale…I think I have enough saved to get it and make rent…it’s not like amazing or anything but it will work for just being in Beacon Hills.” Kole didn’t have much to add on after that. He worked, he worked on shifting, he ate, and he slept. Everyone was kind of distant with him right now - except Faye - so life was quiet. He didn’t mind. It was kind of like being back in the foster system except he didn’t have to rely on someone else for food. “What about you?”

“Remind me to steal some sour candy next time I head into town.” Faye stated. “Or I mean totally pay for them.” She shrugged her shoulders innocently. Her favorite had always been sour candies and in a way that almost perfectly described her and her twin brother too. Kole had always been a lot sweeter. Not to say Faye was a mean person- she was just a lot rougher around the edges. Kole would never harm a fly and Faye, well, she kind of had to in order to survive the last nine years of her life. “That’s really cool.” Faye nodded as she listened to Kole speak. She wanted to know everything that went on with him because it was a way for her to feel closer to Kole. They had been separated for so long and there was a lot of lost time to make up for. She didn’t care what Kole was talking about, as long as he was talking to her then Faye would listen and be intrigued. “Look at you, about to own your own car and stuff. So responsible.” Faye nudged him playfully. “I’m proud of you.” This time Faye spoke with a more serious tone. Kole was so grown up and responsible now and Faye was just immensely proud of her brother and the person he had become. “Nothing new to report for me.” She shrugged, tensing up a little. “Things are casual. Which I guess is a good thing.” Last she told Kole she had been living with the Accetta’s again. Which Faye really was, until they up and left town. It wasn’t something she wanted to admit. “It’s great actually.” Kole was just so well adjusted that Faye felt weird about how much she struggled with this whole life thing. 

Kole hated not knowing why Faye was so upset. He could tell she was. As much as she tried to hide it from him, Kole knew her pretty well. Even if it had been years of being apart, they were still twins and he felt like he knew her better than he knew himself sometimes. There was something going on and he wasn’t sure what it was but he didn’t want to push her. The last thing he wanted was to lose her again - if in a different way - so he just let her say whatever it was that she wanted and let whatever it was that was bothering her go. Kole sighed as he left his apartment to head to the park. He jogged there because he was running late but he knew that Faye wouldn’t care. She knew that he wouldn’t miss their scheduled time. “Hey,” he told her as he approached the bench she was sitting on. Kole sat down beside her and turned his head in her direction. “Want some M&Ms?” he asked as he reached into his jogger pockets and pulled out two bags of plain M&Ms.

Faye instantly smiled when she saw her brother approaching. She had been really hurt after the Accetta’s left her but honestly spending time with Kole did a lot to boost her spirits- even if she didn’t tell him what was bothering her. Faye had just never been the type to talk about any sort of problems, even when both of them were younger. She wanted to be the older twin that took care of her brother. Faye really tried to be tough on the outside which was probably a big reason she had survived nine years of being kidnapped. “Hey.” Faye greeted, scooting over so Kole could sit next to her. She swung her left foot a few times and then ended up kicking a rock. “You know I would never say no to any kind of candy.” She grinned and took the other bag from Kole. Faye always loved to eat, especially any kind of sugar. Unfortunately she wasn’t given much food with the Accetta’s but Faye would definitely be making up for lost time now. Faye popped an M&M into her mouth before speaking up again. “What’s new with you?” She really liked these scheduled hangout sessions because she wanted to be as involved in Kole’s life as she could be, and this was a good way to catch up with him. 

Faye had been pretty devastated the last few weeks after learning that the Accetta’s left town without her- or even letting her know and saying goodbye. They left her completely on her own after she had spent a couple of months finally living with them again. She thought things were going well and that they’d be different this time around. Yet one day she came home from a walk and the whole house was empty. Faye waited there every night in hopes they’d come back but they still hadn’t. She wasn’t sure if she was more angry at the fact that they left her or the fact that she was this hurt about it. All she knew for sure was that she wasn’t too interested in talking to anyone anymore. Faye had smashed her cell phone that Talia bought her in a fit of rage when she first found the house empty, so it was hard contacting her friends to begin with. The only person Faye had really seen since then was her brother when she would visit him at his apartment, but she declined to mention what had happened or why she’d been in a bad mood. Even if she was pissed off though, Faye wouldn’t skip a scheduled hangout with her brother. Which is why she was sitting on a park bench at the time they had agreed to meet.

Talia couldn’t help but sigh when she realized that Faye wasn’t going to go into the police station now. There was no need for her to postpone something like that for what Talia was going through. It didn’t even compare. Talia was the one who put herself in this situation, no one else. She did get a little angry every time she thought about how that night started, and how Lydia pushed a lot of it along, but ultimately she was the one who made the decision to kill that orderly, not Lydia. She really did plan on just walking away, as shitty as that was, but then she stumbled over the bike rack and suddenly she felt Faye’s hand on her shoulder. The werewolf couldn’t help the warmth that fluttered in her stomach, and she tried her best to not acknowledge it as she swallowed and blinked hard, trying her best to gain her bearings before making eye contact with Faye. Faye looked really confused and worried, and Talia knew there was no avoiding the conversation, no matter how badly she wanted to. And before she knew it, Talia’s eyes started to water and she could hardly hold it back as she took a shaky breath. “You don’t want anything to do with me, okay? I’m– I fucked up, bad. And this is my warning to you that it’s heavy and you’re probably going to think I’m some kind of monster or something.” Suddenly Talia was rambling just like her brother usually did as she shook her head slightly, her mind clearly spinning.

Faye felt terrible when she noticed that Talia was starting to cry. She had no idea what happened but obviously it had been pretty bad. “Talia..” Faye began to speak but she honestly couldn’t think of what to say. She was really awful in these situations so Faye decided to act on instinct. She just pulled Talia into a hug and wrapped her arms around the other girl tightly. This was Faye’s way of trying to tell Talia that she wasn’t going to go anywhere. Though Faye knew eventually it might help if she could actually say those words. She kept thinking about how to word everything she wanted to say but in the meantime just hugged Talia tightly. After a few moments Faye finally settled on something that she hoped wouldn’t make the situation worse. “Talia, there’s really nothing you could do that would make me think you’re a monster.” She said softly as she pulled away a bit. Faye had done terrible things before so she wasn’t the type of person to judge. “You’re one of the strongest, most amazing people I’ve ever met. And I promise you my opinion on that won’t ever change. So whatever happened you can tell me. I just want to help..” She wasn’t sure if she’d be able to but at least she could be there to listen to Talia.