CHARLOTTE FELL.

Carson at this point, is making every attempt to not look Charlie’s direction. He certainly didn’t arrive here for a lecture and yet he wasn’t surprised at it. In fact, he was the one who mentioned in the first place that she hadn’t been doing so. “Sure, and I don’t feel inclined to share jack shit so long as you’re deflecting too.” They knew each other well enough at this point to know without much contention. “Yeah, you think I need a lecture on it? I know it’s big but it’s me. It’s my body, my life.” 

“Yeah, sure that’s fine. But you don’t always have to be so brave. You don’t have to be alone through it.” Carson hastens before pushing her slightly as if the small jostle would knock some sense into her. It was a two-way street, always had been. He just wasn’t the one who usually needed help at all. “I don’t want her uprootin’ her life everytime my life isn’t perfect. I don’t need her comin’ in here and fixing me up. That’s on me. It’s my job in my time.” 

“Beauty sleep? With your perfect skin and bone structure? Yeah okay, Beauty.” He scoffs back and shakes his head. “How you expect me to be square with you if you ain’t the same with me, huh?” He challenges as he cocks his head slightly toward her. 

It was clear that Carson felt at home there, as evidenced by the fact that he plopped himself down on the couch. “Oof, I am so down to crack open a cold one with the boys.” His humor is behind a haunting veil but at least he still had something in him. He got more comfortable on the couch before taking a jab back at her. “And if you were okay, you’d be fighting me more.” 

Having been consumed in his own body chemistry, he hadn’t done his usual check-ins with Charlie. Stopping by unannounced and pulling her from her plans or out of her house. Making her breathe. That was usually him, his job. And he hadn’t even noticed he’d stopped doing it in all honesty. Still, it was clear she had no idea what she was talking about. Which at least made her place clear for shelter. Just then, his phone started buzzing away in his pocket when he picked it up to check it it was none other than the person he was running from. Still, he answered, “No, ma’. I’m fine. Go fucking home.” And needless to say, he hung up and shoved it back in his pocket. “I’m coming in.” He decides as he pushes past her. 

“I don’t blame you on that one. I saw once and that was enough.” It was after Benji died. He somehow managed to convince the underpaid military shrink that he was fine. He cracked a smile, only to nod. “It definitely has gone to all of my heads.”

“Yours didn’t tell you until—“ he started to talk even before she finished, mostly because he couldn’t believe that this was happening and it was like his mouth couldn’t control himself. His face dropped for a moment, only because that explained why her parents were so shitty to her. He still doesn’t expect the next confession, though, but between seeing Melody’s dead twin sister, and being attacked by a vampire, he doesn’t react with as much surprise as he thought that he would. “Oh, so, what does that mean, exactly?” He wasn’t afraid, this was his little cousin.

When his expression drops, it feels like her heart has dropped into her stomach. Her lower lip trembles in a rare show of fear, and though his question makes her feel better, it doesn’t exactly make her feel any worse. “It means I break all my bones once a month and turn into a wolf, every full moon. It explains why I needed all that anger management therapy and why it didn’t work. It means I’m... I’m exactly what they wanted to get rid of.” A monster, she thinks but doesn’t say, because that seems to be a trait unique to her rather than werewolves in general.

As soon as he received the ambush from his mother, it was clear that he wasn’t the same boy because the sight of her had him running. He rushed to his car, fumbling in his jean pocket for the keys and turning them in the ignition. The engine ticked to start but never did so he figures slamming his palms against the steering wheel would do something. Where was he even going to drive to? He felt so far away from everyone. Hopping out of his car he started walking aimlessly and eventually ended up at Charlie’s apartment where he slammed his fist against the door a few times. Once he swung open he didn’t even really look at her. “Are you the one that called her?” She was the only one who actually outwardly expressed interest in advancing that far to help him. @ofacrimony​

Of course he’s too wrapped up in his own head to pull Charlie out of hers like he usually did. In fact, he tended to be really good at sensing whenever she started drifting away. They kept each other close before the big heist in part for that reason. “I’m not ashamed of what I did. I’d do it again..” But who was he to decide? It was his friends that always tended to make that decision. He was telling himself what he did was in Charlie’s name but when it came to killing the guy he did? It was selfish and a cry for personal revenge against his torturer. He took a life in his own name and that was the hardest part of it. Was his own life worth avenging? “I’m different now. I feel a change aside from the obvious one and I don’t know how to figure it out. Or be okay with it.”

Levi made a face, that basically said yikes without actually saying the word. For one of the rare times in his life, he was glad he had an absent father and a mom who didn’t give a shit. “I think a shrink would say somethin’ like that’s fine to feel whatever you’re feelin’.” He waved the bartender over, only to say, “Your most expensive whiskey for this one, please.”

“What do you mean? Did you miss the polls for it?” He feigned confusion before breaking into a smile though it was quick to fade away as he shook his head. “The last alpha was Scarlett’s ex. Safe to say we didn’t shake hands and play nice.” Although he would never stop banging his own head at the memory of sitting and talking to James before he knew who he actually was. It was the first time welcoming a wolf had failed him and he wasn’t looking to share that with anyone for his own sake. “Anyway, I just reacted. Wasn’t thinking of what it would mean in the end but here I am now.” What began as him trying to protect Scarlett and Levi ended with him blacking out from his own experiences. Go figure he would end up with such a big responsibility, what a cruel sense of humor life liked to have with him.

“Well, shit. Not completing my civic duty in this political climate? Yikes,” Charlie teases in return, though she’s just as quick to return her expression to a somber one when Mason continues to explain. Though she knows Mason probably doesn’t want to hear it, she thinks Scarlett’s pack is definitely better off now that Mason’s in charge of them. He can be an ass sometimes, but he looks out for his people. She keeps her mouth shut, though, because she can tell this was nowhere near what he wanted for himself. “And what do you think about that?” Trying to gauge his feelings on the subject of suddenly becoming an alpha. “I mean, is it something you want?”

“Welcome to the club. We have council meetings on Wednesday’s and bake cakes on Friday’s.” She teased, giving her a smile and shake of her head. She assumed already what Charlie really meant when she said she was an orphan, and it wasn’t because of her parents. “I’m sorry she left, Charlie-bear. But she must know you can manage on your own, you know?” Astrid tilted her head. “Would I be a bad friend if I encouraged you to drink more with me?”

* “Whatever you’re drinking or smoking looks like good stuff.” She commented with a smirk present on her features. “I’m good. Just chilling I guess.”

“Drinking,” she confirms as she holds up her glass, not mentioning the little baggie of pills in her front pocket only because she’s forgotten it’s there. “Good. Chilling is good. I wish more people would chill.”

Theo pressed his lips together, giving his cousin a reluctant nod, afraid to where this was all going, “Yeah, I remember.” Theo looked blankly at Charlie for a moment, before just asking, “What the fuck? Maybe they could have, I don’t know—told us when we were that age. Instead of calling them freaking bedtime stories.” He didn’t curse often, but he felt the need to right now. “What the fuck?” he repeated.

“Maybe yours didn’t want to scare you. Mine didn’t tell me until...” It doesn’t really hit her until then that in order to drop this bomb on him, she’ll have to explain that she’s one of them. What if he hates her? “Until they told me that Patrick wasn’t actually my dad. Allison had an affair with some guy from a rival firm, and it turned out...” she inhaled slowly through her nose. “Turned out he was a werewolf. So... so am I.” She waits anxiously for his reaction, ready to answer questions but expecting to just be told to get the fuck away from him.

“I won’t.” Leo said, from the other side of her as he walked up. Although he had been there looking for Spencer, she wasn’t in sight so he was about to bail before Charlie had caught his attention. “I’m an orphan too.” For the second time around now, but saying it out loud like that, he didn’t think it would sting as much as it did. “Maybe we should get you home though.”

“Leo!” Charlie jovially throws an arm around his shoulders, using her other hand to ruffle his hair. Childish, even for her, but in her inebriated state she was overjoyed to see Ryan’s little brother. Her face scrunches into a frown when he tells her they’re in the same boat. “Well, shit. That blows.” Because what else does one say to finding out someone else has been orphaned? She uses the hand that had just messed up his hair to try and squish his face into a happier expression. “But I just got here, like, three hours ago! Bartender boy hasn’t even cut me off yet.”