she's so lovely

“I’m glad they have each other, at least. Obviously I love Ginny in my own way, but those two just… get each other on a different level,” Aria laughed. “Outside of you two, though, does Jae even… like anyone? Like genuinely?” she asked, a brow raised skeptically. Most of what she’s seen of Charlie’s brother has been him meeting practically everyone he meets with some type of animosity. It made her hesitant to believe her half-aunt about it all, but she wouldn’t tell her that. “Besides, I get you out of all of this anyway, so I can handle it regardless.”

“perfect.”  if he was being honest, he’d asked mostly as a formality, made obvious by the way he was already dragging her along before she was finished linking arms. even if the whole world was on fire, as long as charlie was okay, jae could try his best to be, too.  “that sounds about right. training has only gotten more intense lately. honestly, with your power, it’s only a matter of time before someone starts actively trying to recruit you for the hero track. watch out.”  he huffed out a laugh, but he couldn’t help the playful roll of his eyes, just imagining what the place looked like right now.  “you know she loves nothing more than coming home feeling inspired. i’m sure dad’s only making it worse and egging her on. at least she’s keeping to a general area these days. i don’t think the poor house can take any more total renovations.”

her alarm at crate must have been visible, but then so much of what charlie said rang instant warning bells that it could’ve been anything prior. it was just her nature, though, she couldn’t be upset with the other girl for doing what she thought was best, even if it was overkill. “cancel the crystals, keep the beignets,” ginny decided, after a moment of deliberation. who was she to say no to good beignets? and of course they would be good. “i’m doing good, better.” a small lie, but one she was getting better at telling. she nibbled at one of her nails absently,  “i think they’re going to make me go home in a day or two here. easier to sneak import crates into my room, at least, right?”

“right, right. that was the wrong thing to ask.”  he needed to be more tactful about this, but charlie was quickly breaking through his carefully constructed cool. it didn’t matter if he couldn’t make sense of it all. he had one job. if he couldn’t pull himself together and at least pretend that he had everything under control, what kind of big brother even was he?  “mom was… oh.”  it was an incredible bombshell, but if charlie said it wasn’t the point, then so be it. he could question his entire childhood on his own time, when less pressing matters required his attention. even now, he had to focus. the more she escalated, the harder jae worked to soothe her, but there was only so much hair brushing and arm rubbing could do, godly powers at full blast.  “slight property damage can be waved away. i wouldn’t worry about that part. but when you say you, uh, hulked out… well, did you get hurt?”

while charlie, like the rest of their family, had a tendency for dramatics, it felt awful to see her genuinely falling apart. this was no exaggeration of stress, and it pained him to feel like there was so little he could do to actually make it all go away. so when she drops the p-word, he feels everything drop out from under him. the shock is so great that, for a moment, he’s just staring at the gaudiest ring he’s ever seen, completely open-mouthed. when he speaks again, his voice is just as hushed and laced with panic as hers.  “tell me you said no.”  but then why is she wearing the ring? he almost wants to laugh, it feels that unreal.  “who else knows about this?”

charlie was teetering on the mountain of freaking out and at an event of all places. she hadn’t felt so much like her chest might burst since she thought kitty dior ii had run away because she hadn’t given them extra special smooches before leaving. oh, that was a terrible example but she couldn’t think properly even with, no doubt, jae’s godly juju amped up to eleven. she just had this terrible feeling that everything was going to- that everything had- changed and not for the better. she had a terrible feeling there was no going back now that she’d said it out loud. now that jae knew. “i- no, i didn’t get hurt. well, it wasn’t---- it wasn’t anything a hot stone massage couldn’t fix.” and then, in a much quieter voice she added, “it was scary. i was scared.”

“I’ll check if there’s a suggestion box and if not, I’ll suggest that they make one.” Would HR even care about hero cards? Wait, did a place like this even have an HR department? Wicked. “Peter Munoz, yeah I know him, surprisingly. I think I met him like… once? Yeah, I’ll try to talk to him about it.” 

             ❛  I’D ARGUE THEY’RE BETTER  than  most  of  the  weapons  our  heroes  use  but  what  can  i  say ,  the  world  isn’t  ready  for  the  impact  of  a  nice  pair  of  heels .  oh  my ,  you  think  so ?  honestly  i  was  worried  the  accessories  were  a  bit  lacking ,  ❜  spoken  with  a  scrunched  up  nose ,  only  for  gigi  to  giggle  at  herself .  then ,  she  takes  her  phone  out  of  her  overpriced  designer  bag  and  offers  it  to  charlie ,   a  bright  grin  on  her  lips .    ❛  wanna  take  my  picture  for  me ?   we  could  take  a  selfie  together  as  well !   i’ll  post  both ,  naturally .  ❜