"Look, I'm not tryin'a heckle ya, but I got some bad news."

Barry looks at the other with a blank expression, laying his clipboard on the countertop. Unfortunately, whatever problem had occurred in their plumbing was not an easy fix. In fact, it would likely be impossible without simply replacing the broken unit. And he knew what he was talking about. He'd been doing this long enough--or at least some version of himself had--to know how to fix some of the more complex issues, which is exactly why he'd been sent out to this residence. Unfortunately, complex didn't even begin to describe the corrosion, buildup, and downright holes poked through their pipes...

"Unfortunately, the problem's too deep at this point. Ya keep using it and there's no telling when it'll blow, so I've left the water off for now 'less you want me to turn it back on." He shrugs, brows furrowing as he shakes his head, points to the numbers on the clipboard. "That's the cost of a fix--if it's even possible, which in my professional opinion...it'll break again in a couple of years and cost you much more pain, destruction, and ultimately money than you'll wanna pay..." He flips a page, heaving a sigh. "That's the cost of a whole new unit, 'bout a thousand dollars less than what you'd pay to maybe get a temporary fix."

His leg is bouncing anxiously, tongue pressing into their cheek. This is the worst part. The part where people liked to claim he was biased or just trying to sell them something. Usually that led to slurs and all kinds of cussing...Although, ocasionally, someone was civil, he still couldn't help but flinch internally as he said it, getting the words out as fast as possible.

Jae-hwa rarely followed the rules, tonight was no exception. She just didn't see the point. How could anyone expect someone like her to just be locked away with only her own kind? What was the point in her abilities if she couldn't make use of them? Surely there couldn't be any true harm in slipping into the human world for a night of debauchery. Well, another night anyway.

Her eyes scanned over the crowd, elbows propped back on the bar top behind her. A lazy smile graced over red lips as she caught the gaze of a few timid human that shied away once she'd giving them an ounce of attention. No. As easy as that would be, Jae wanted a challenge. Someone worthy of her time and affection. The difficult part would be actually finding someone to fit the bill. But then again, she had all the time in the world in comparison to the room full of humans she was with.

When the door of the club opened once more, the air shifted. A scent wafted down towards her and immediately her head snapped in attention. A sudden thirst for more than the alcoholic drink set beside her overcame her. The blood of humans wasn't something that surprised her, not when she consumed it on the daily, but this scent of blood was something different altogether. No one had ever smelled like that before. Pushing off from the bar, she followed her nose until her gaze fell upon the human in question. Her eyes widened once she captured their attention. Jae hoped a pretty face and a little lie would hide her true intentions -- whoever this human was, she needed to get to know them if she planned on drinking from them later.

"Please tell me you're not meeting someone right now?" she questioned in greeting. "Because I definitely lied to this guy at the bar saying I was waiting to meet my significant other," Jae gestured aimlessly back, "and I would much rather take my chances talking to you than go back over there and listen to them drone on about their stupid car or job or how their mother calls them about ten times a day. Help a girl out, what do ya think?"

it really was an accident. though audrina hated olivia and thought the cheer captain spot should've been hers, it wasn't something she was willing to kill for. especially since the school year was almost over. the prank was supposed to just make olivia think her little frat boyfriend was cheating on her with the whole squad, but a physical fight happened instead and then audrina pushed olivia and olivia hit the pool ladder and oops... the squad barely had time to think before people started showing up for the spring fling party at the beta omega zeta frat house. they really didn't have any other choice than to shove olivia's body under the tarp that covered the nasty pool the frat brothers never bothered to clean. no one would get into that thing willingly, so audrina at least didn't have to worry about that.

instead, she had to worry about the squad opening their fucking mouths. she just needed time to think. she needed to formulate a plan, but that was hard when she was too busy trying to make sure her squad didn't squeal or someone didn't find the body. that was a little bit harder when, just a few minutes ago, some guy pushed another into the pool, bringing the tarp down with it. audrina held her breath. the guy came up for air, laughing. he didn't scream about a dead body. blonde hair didn't float on the surface of the water. in fact, besides that one guy, there didn't seem to be anything else in the pool...

oh god. olivia's body was missing.

she was there. finn inhaled sharply. he was there. finn exhaled flatly. he shouldn't have been surprised to see anita there with her husband, as they were married, but he had been surprised to see her there at all. the semi-annual bake sale wasn't his favorite out of all the functions that st. joseph's held, but it was one that didn't require a lot out of him. he mostly had to show up, bless the treats if the baker requested it, eat more cupcakes and slices of banana bread than he could ever had wanted, and help clean up once it was over. most of his parishioners, at least the ones that participated in the baking, viewed it as a competition even though there were no judges at the event. it was also a place to gossip, though his parishioners didn't really need a special occasion to do that. it was another reason he had to worry. if one of his deacons or other pastoral associates saw him stealing glances towards anita, would they report him to their bishop? was the person that reported them in the first place in the room? his stomach hurt and he doubted it had much to do with all the baked goods he had been forced to try.

he couldn't avoid her forever. he knew that, and though he was scared to approach her, he worried it would look stranger if he didn't at least say hello. like that would imply they were guilty of something after all. that didn't mean he was going to seek her out, though. waiting until their paths naturally crossed, finn gave a small smile at the lovely couple. "i'm glad to see you two made it. have you made anything to sell or just came by to get some of mrs. campanelli's amazing blueberry muffins?" he asked genially, giving the elderly mrs. campanelli a squeeze on the shoulder since they were standing in front of her booth.

TEN MONTHS LATER... 

ten months, almost a whole year, since he last saw anita. (not that he was counting, of course.) finnegan wanted to believe that he was okay. that he put her in the past. that, while he would probably always have some semblance of love for her, he could put it behind him and focus on the future. most of the time, he was able to do that. keeping himself busy was how he dealt with the crushing loneliness, how he quelled the urge to drink that, like his feelings for anita, would always be part of him. it was how he dealt with those urges, those feelings, that mattered. mind over matter—exactly what he told his parishioners and the suffering souls that attended his aa meetings. 

it was easy to ignore how much he missed anita when he focused on said aa meetings, or the upcoming church carnival, the bake sale, the donation drive, the weddings, the funerals, the baptisms. as long as he was doing something, he didn’t think about her or wonder how she was doing. as long as he was doing something, he didn’t feel the temptation of walking to the liquor store and buying them clean out of wyoming whiskey. he kept his suffering to himself, despite his fellow clergymen and his bishop noticing something was wrong. as the months went on, it became easier and easier to convince everyone around him that he was fine. it became easier and easier to convince himself.

until he heard it. overheard it, actually. a few parishioners were chatting before service and finn had been absently listening as he prepared the pulpit. he didn’t pay much mind to it until mrs. munsey said it. said anita’s name.

‘oh, you remember that sweet girl that used to come here with her husband? anita, i think her name was. well, i just saw her last weekend. i went over to my sister’s for my nephew’s birthday and i walked right past her at the store! i tried to catch up to her but i guess i just missed her.’

finn had stopped listening after that. his heartbeat was thudding too loud against his ribcage and it drowned out everyone inside the church. he thought maybe he was having a panic attack, so he asked father paul to take over. the moment he returned to the rectory, the tears came again. it was so much better, so much easier, when he pretended that she had ceased to exist. not dead, of course, but like she had never been there at all. anita. anita, anita, anita. her name rang in his head over and over again, louder than church bells.

TWO MONTHS LATER…

one year. it had been exactly one year since he last saw anita. it had been two months since finn put in a transfer to another parish. mrs. munsey was a talker, and the moment he had asked about her nephew, she divulged freely where exactly it was that her sister lived. that same afternoon, finn had requested a meeting with his bishop and asked about moving. it took some convincing, but the priest of the parish he wanted to transfer to had been thinking about retiring anyway, and the personnel board approved the transfer. no one explicitly told him, but finn figured he was approved to move simply because everyone could see how miserable he was, and thought a fresh start in a new place was exactly what he needed. almost as if god had willed it.

despite his insistence to move, finn had been sad to leave his parish. he had fostered relationships with his parishioners, but promised them they could always reach him by email if they needed his guidance. whenever someone asked why he was moving, he said he wanted to be closer to his family, which wasn’t exactly a lie. sometimes, finn could even believe it. diana was his only sibling that still kept in regular contact with him and while she had never truly accepted him joining the priesthood, always trying to skirt around the subject awkwardly, she never wanted to lose contact with her big brother. the stokely children lost too much already. she had been happy to hear he was moving within thirty minutes of her, much to his surprise, and it had made it easier for people to buy that he was leaving if he had an actual reason.

because, of course, no one could ever know the truth. finn wouldn’t even admit it to himself, that he was leaving his parish he had been part of for five years to chase a woman that he hadn’t seen in a year. a woman that hadn’t wanted him to follow her. a woman that, if she was lucky, had forgotten all about finn and how he hurt her by not being what she needed. what he was doing was incredibly selfish, and despite how he lied to himself about his reasons for leaving, he knew it was wrong. he should’ve let that bit of parish gossip go in one ear and out the other. he shouldn’t have let an overheard conversation dictate his future, and yet here he was, transferred to a new parish in a new city as of two weeks ago.

finnegan didn’t expect to come to his new church and find anita sitting inside, waiting for him. in fact, he didn’t even really have confirmation anita was even in the city. he was working off of information from an elderly woman that said she had seen anita, but not talked to her. it could’ve easily been a case of mistaken identity. or, maybe anita had seen mrs. munsey, then ran off to a new destination. he was working off a prayer, uprooting his life for someone that didn’t want him and he didn’t even know was there.

luckily, he did have diana there. the siblings had yet to reunite, their respective schedules too chaotic until an opening on a monday when they both could meet up for lunch. it had been awkward, as all of his meetings were with his siblings, but he had hoped they’d be able to work past it. he had been able to live without a close relationship to any of his siblings, but that didn’t mean he didn’t miss them, or want that to change. diana, for her part, was the only one that wanted the same. finn refused to speak to mason and maggie refused to speak to finn, so he had to be thankful at least one other stokely wanted to see him.

so, the pair met at a restaurant that diana had said was a ‘totally cute, super trendy’ bistro that she had been dying to try for weeks. finn hadn’t cared personally. his sister had a tendency to ramble when she was nervous, so he had no problem with her dominating the conversation. she had been regaling him with customer service horror stories from the past wedding season. being a florist, she had plenty, and finn nodded when appropriate and laughed in commiseration when prompted. he even started to open up himself, telling her about the memorable weddings he officiated since he saw her last christmas (usually the only time he did see his siblings, even if diana was the only one talking to each of them).

“i didn’t attend the reception, so i only heard about it later but i guess the groom was caught hooking up with the maid of honor in the bathroom about two hours after they cut the frickin’ cake.” finn laughed with a grimace, but it quickly died on his lips when he saw the expression on diana’s face. was that the wrong story to share? diana was a bit of a sweetheart, or an ‘empath’ as she called it, so maybe he had offended her instead of entertained her. finn rolled his lips together, putting his hands in his lap. he should’ve known he would fuck it up eventually. god, why couldn’t he just be normal around his sister?

diana had been looking past finn, as it turned out. her brow quirked before she returned her attention to her brother. “there’s some woman over there looking at us.” she said, jutting her chin towards the other side of the restaurant. “do you know her?”

“what?” finn wore a similar expression of confusion as his sister, turning in his seat to look at the mysterious woman that had stolen diana’s attention. 

“she’s really pretty.” diana commented, stabbing her fork into her salad idly.

there she was. anita. finn gasped sharply. “holy shit.” he uncharacteristically cursed, which made diana laugh in shock. instantly, he rose from his seat and tossed his napkin on the table. “didi, i’ll be right back.” finn announced over his shoulder, already leaving his sister at the table to follow after anita.

The campfire burns steadily as Noah works to cook a filling enough meal for the night as the sun passes over the horizon. A shuffle of the pan, then he tastes the sauce. A slow nod as he sucks on his finger for an extra beat. The sound of a twig snapping brings his attention forward, however. He freezes, bright blue hues flashing up to view the stranger from the top of his vision. A quirked brow.

"You lost?" He calls out the question while keeping his eyes trained on them a bit hesitantly. Honestly? He didn't expect to see anyone out this far in these woods. Most people stuck to the paths or the camping grounds...Not him. He liked to find a private place to set up camp sometimes. Needed space to breathe, to think. Space away from potential social interactions and autographs. Still, he's not completely unfriendly with the stranger that's stumbled upon his camp.

It's very likely they've gotten themselves quite lost, perhaps in a bit of trouble, given just how far away from the path they've come and some of the rumours of things lurking in these woods. He blinks, pulling the pan off the fire and carrying it to the small table stretching out beside the back of his camper van. There's a few little fairy lights lit on the inside of the van, the back seats all pushed down and covered with blankets, pillows, plenty of comfort for a makeshift bed. Layers upon layers of comfort.