Lungs Like Gallows

“When will people let go of the time I faked my own death to have an edible arrangement sent to my place? I mean the past is the past, right? And I’m pretty sure I’ve done stupider things since then.”

“That depends...how long ago was it?” she asks and thought about it for a moment. “I mean those arrangements can be pretty fucking expensive,” she says with a small hum before sipping on her coffee again. “Also, most people dont have a right to talk because they probably have done stupider like you mentioned.” 

“I mean, June is almost over.” he grinned. “We can start thinking Halloween now, right?” 

Ryann thought it over for a moment before shrugging, “You have to get through Fourth of July first. Go have some fun with some fireworks before getting into the Halloween spirit,” she says and takes a drink from the beer she had in her hands. 

It was hot. Too hot. Every winter he wished for summer and every summer he wished for winter, there was no reason. Tugging at the collar of his shirt to try and get more air onto his chest he downed what was left in his water bottle. “I take back what I said about wanting summer. Give me back winter, I miss it. Why isn’t it more socially acceptable to dive into the nearest pool throughout the day and go around completely soaking wet? It would help, it really would.” 

“It’s not all that bad. You should try living in a desert,” Ryann says when she sees Adam struggling with the heat. Yeah it was fucking hot outside, but she was used to it by now with constantly going back and forth between Hollow Grove and her family’s territory in Nevada. “And probably because you’d scare all the ladies away, Adam,” she says with a small smirk.

“Nope, it’s my husband’s secret family recipe,” Theresa answered with a shake of her head. “Thank you, it was honestly the best Spring Fling ever. Even my daughter loved it so much that she said that she never wanted to leave,” she said with a soft smile.

“That’s nice, being able to spend the whole day with your family and have fun,” she replies trying not to think of how dysfunctional hers really was. “Well if he ever wants a taste tester for anything, I’ll recommend you to my brother, Zach. He’s a bottomless pit and enjoys food more than anything,” she says with a small smile. 

“I did all of that on purpose, don’t be mistaken there Ry. I paced myself and had a plan last Thanksgiving so that I could consume as much as I wanted. The going slightly overboard was completely planned for.” Zach protested, though his older sister was right. The again, she often was. “I’ll let you order your own burger. It can be a veggie burger or a turkey burger if that’s what you really want. Though i’m not sure why you’d want that…” he trailed off, shrugging his shoulders. “They’re fighting a losing battle, whether you’re here or there.” Zachary commented. “It’s been ten years. We’re losing.”

“Mhmm, sure bud,” she says to him with a small laugh and shook her head. “You’re a bottomless pit, you scarf down everything that you can,” she says. “I just want a regular burger with some bacon on it, I dont want it with onion straws, barbecue sauce, and six different cheeses like you do,” she tells him and crosses her arms, bristling at his next comment. “So what if it’s been ten years, we’ve been defending our home and so far we haven’t lost any territory yet.” 

“Thanks.” he replied with a smile and a nod of his head as he took a seat in the chair she had pushed out for him. Without hesitating, Rohan brought his coffee to his lips for a drink, leaning back in the chair as he made himself comfortable. “Yep. I figure it’s too much of a nice say to waste it inside. What about you?”

“I felt the same way. It was nice enough for a long run without me getting overheated so that’s what I did. Just get kind of lost in the woods for a while to clear my head,” she replies. “You get up to anything worth while today?” she asks the witch. 

“What I need is to say hi, but maybe I should do that another time because you reek.” Mark greeted her ever so politely, with a wide grin playing on his lips. It had been over four years since he had been in town and he was glad to be seeing quite a lot of familiar faces, people he didn’t think he would ever see again. Despite his comment he sat down beside her anyway, taking a sip of the coffee he had in his hand. “Long time no see, how have you been?” 

Ryann quirked a brow at his smile and let out a small chuckle. “That’s what happens when you work out instead of being so lazy, Mark,” she replies to him. “When did you get back in town? It has been a long time since we’ve seen each other,” she nods before shrugging her shoulders. “I’ve just been busy, doing the whole recluse thing like normal.”

“You think?” Kara laughed, “I don’t know, I can get pretty jittery if I have more than like, three cups. Is there such thing as an immunity to caffeine? Wouldn’t that be amazing - all the benefits, none of the drawbacks.” She glanced over at the menu board one more time before her eyes returned to Ryann. “You want anything? My treat.” 

“I mean shouldn’t you have the immunity after drinking so much of it for so long, Kara?” she asks with a small laugh. “Yeah sure, do they have any specials going on right now? I’ll probably grab one of those,” she says and looks over the menu board from where she was sitting able to read what was on it from her enhanced eyesight.

She shook her head. “It’s okay,” Theresa assured her with a soft smile. She then nodded when she mentioned the cook-off. “Yep, I am,” she answered. “I thought we were going to get disqualified because of what was in it, but I’m glad that wasn’t the case and that we won.” . 

“Did you guys put something bad in there?” she asks with a small chuckle and kept jotting down some notes in her notebook, glancing up to meet Theresa’s eyes periodically to let her know that she was still listening to her. “I know that I wanted to at the cook off, but then I thought about what all that chili would do to my stomach and laid off of it. Congratulations on your win though.” 

“I’ve been trying.” Harper said almost absentmindedly before actually looking up at the speaker. The woman looked so alert, as if night and day were one and the same. Harper felt a quiet but resigned jealousy rise in her. Was the stranger supernatural or just superhuman? Oh, for more hours in the day. Or did she just want to sleep forever? 

She looked back to the dog. “At this point I doubt that we’re speaking the same language. I think he’s a bit disoriented since we’re from out of town.”

“How about I stick around so you feel a little better about being out here?” Ryann says picking up on the nervous energy from the woman. Was Ryann a threat? She damn well could be, but the woman she was having a conversation posed no threat to her so Ryann was fine. “You’re from out of town? Did you just move here?” she asks, making mental notes about her as they talked.

“You still don’t always have to,” Juliette countered as she allowed her head to fall back against the headrest. She was well aware of all Ryann did for her growing up and continued to do which was more or less why the role of mom always seemed to go to Ryann but that didn’t mean she always had to take on the burden of playing mother. Sometimes she could just be the big sister that one of the youngest looked up to and occasionally liked to try and see how much she could push. “And a shake, chocolate. Not the small one either, I’m hungry.” Eventually, Juliette fell silent as her green eyes parted from her older sister to momentarily glance out the window.  Though that had only lasted the duration it took for Juliette to propose another plan. “Or you could just get a burger too and come with us. One of the people working there makes killer spaghetti that I take and blame Zach for, they still might have some left today.” 

“I know that I dont...but I can’t help it sometimes around you guys,” she replies to Juliette and gave her a small but soft look. Her siblings were her absolute weakness. She hated everything that she was forced to do to keep them in line and get them to change, but despite that she loved them all to death. If push came to shove she would willingly go out as long as her siblings were safe. It was part of the creed that she lived by. “You got the wolf appetite going on today dont you, Julie?” she asks with a small laugh and started to drive them over to the burger joint. “Alright, alright, I guess I can spare a day with you twerps. Besides, I have to make sure Zach doesn’t eat himself sick again,” she jokes. 

“Mm, excuse me Ry. I got my stomach under control a long time ago. It’s been years since I ate myself sick, thank you very much.” Zach commented, tossing a chip into his mouth to make a point, smiling as he chewed and swallowed. “Not that i’d be against trying to push the limits just a little bit. Wanna go for burgers?” he asked with a smile. The smile faded when she mentioned their parents. “How are they? What’s going on back home? he asked. “Not bad. Would love to use the house for some sock hockey but those damn trucks are in the way.”

“Years since you ate yourself sick? I thought I witnessed it around Thanksgiving last year...” she trails off with a small smirk and let out a soft sigh as she tried to relax for the moment. “I guess I can eat, just dont try to order me a heart attack on a bun okay?” she says before frowning a bit. “I mean they’re mom and dad, always busy trying to track people down and defend the territory,” she shrugs. “Not like they really notice when I’m back home or not until they need me to fight.” 

Kara’s blood had to be made of coffee by now. No matter how many or how few hours she worked in a day or how long she slept, coffee was always on her mind. Maybe she should be watching her own intake and not just Colton’s, really. But it wasn’t that bad, right? Just one cup couldn’t possibly hurt…besides, she was a werewolf…

She was deliberating if she should get another cup or not as she stopped in front of the coffee shop, her face screwing up. No, she shouldn’t. Maybe just a small. Did coffee cups come in kid sizes? Maybe a kid size, just a sip. A shot of coffee. Yeah – 

“Oh uh-” Kara glanced over as Ryann spoke, “Nah - just, being indecisive, I guess.” 

Ryann bit back a chuckle as Kara looked over at her. “Can’t decide on what size coffee you want today, Kara?” she asks the police woman. “I’m pretty sure you’re immune to a caffeine overdose by now. Just go for the large cup,” she says and relaxes in her seat, pulling her phone out and started to run through some local newspaper articles of the area. 

Her eyes were wondering across the different items that were on sale and she approached her but not with the means to interrupt her day but to see what was near her. She would definitely have a conversation with her if she wanted but she was unsure as to if she would want that or not since she knew a lot of people wanted to just be by their lonesome; “No it’s okay I actually just wanted to see the umbrella on the table right there I’m sorry if I disturbed you I promise I don’t want anything. I’m Posey by the way”

Ryann raised her brow at Posey before looking back at the umbrella at the table in mention. “You just wanted to look at the umbrella?” she asks confused for a moment but then shrugged her shoulders. “Okay I guess....” she trails off before giving the blonde a nod. “Ryann Weylyn,” she answers back. 

Laura had just finished the morning shift at the coffee shop when she saw Ryann walking around the area. She tucked her apron under her arm and smiled at the older woman. “Ryann, I could have totally gotten you the water bottle for free. You didn’t need to pay for it.” She said with a smile. “Were you on a run?” She asked her. “How is the job going?” Laura continued. 

Ryann looked over at Laura and gave the woman one of her rare, half smiles. “It’s not that big of a deal, Laura, besides, you give me free stuff too often,” she replies and nods. “Yeah, I needed to clear my head after my last article, but I ended up forgetting a few things to include,” she says and pulls her little pocket journal out of the small pack she had on her shoulders. “And it’s going alright. My recent articles have been turning me into a recluse.” 

After Spring Fling and winning the Chili cook-off, Theresa decided to take a walk for a while, to clear her mind and to also stretch a bit, since she cooped herself up in her house. The walk did clear her head some, but apparently a lot as she heard someone asking if she needed something. “Huh? Oh, no, I’m good, thank you,” she said with a little chuckle. “Just my mind just wondered again, that’s all.”

Ryann looked over the woman and gave her a nod, “Sorry for snapping you out of your thoughts then. I thought you were walking over because you needed something,” she replies and pulls out her journal, starting to jot a few things down that she forgot to mention in her article from earlier. “You were the winner from the cook off right?”