#rorychat

As soon as Rory sees Wolf, her older brother doesn't just become a lifeline, he's her escape route. Stephanie Reynolds has been layering thinly veiled insults like an art form, each one with a sweet smile that makes them even harder to escape. Five different ways to call her 'a little porky' in under two minutes. It's impressive, really.

-

"Help." Rory's voice seems somewhat calm compared to the inward emotions that rattle through her. It's only because she doesn't want to cause a scene in the town hall, where she's cornered Levi in a rather awkward maneuver. "I..." she gulps, thinking the worse case scenario already and her hand shakes when she grabs his. "I had a shower and I don't think I closed my bedroom door properly and Snowball is like really smart and so she probably used her cute little paw to like open it all the way. Or like bonked it with her head or something." Rory rambles the specifics, fighting a shake in her voice. "I can't find her anywhere, I've looked like...I even got under the cabin, Levi." she utters desperately, choosing to not tell him her coat got stuck as she tried to crawl back out from the foundation. "Help. What if the vikings got her and literally know we're lying about being Odin and Freya? And like...strung her up somewhere as a lesson about lying? What if someone ate her?" she still doesn't raise her voice but it's obvious it's cracking with the threat of tears. "She literally trusted me to look after her."

It's not uncommon to see Rory sprinting, anywhere and nowhere usually with an air of nervousness and hurried anxiety. But, this time, her bounding steps are bouncing with a skip. She's carried entirely by excitement and not even realizing that her body is taking her straight towards Levi's cabin, the very first person who sprung to her mind with the awe that she can't even contain. She rushes through the cabin door, taking no notice of the quick stumble at the top step and then she barrels into his bedroom door. "Levi! You'll never guess what just happened, oh my God!" OH MY GOD. She's burst straight into a towel clad Sullivan, and all her mind can register quickly is...muscle. "Shit, sorry. My- wow that-you-" no, don't even say anything about it. "I didn't knock, I'd be the worst mom of a teen boy. Jesus." she spins around, hand flinging to cover her face while she gives him modesty. And herself a chance to recover, too. "There...um..." okay, come on, it's not that impressive. Everyone has muscle. "Wolf tamed a bear!" she blurts out, gesturing wildly despite her back still turned to him. "...and I called it Athena but I couldn't think of a name for it's baby so I just called it Baby but I fed it! The mom. She- she didn't let us near Baby."

-

That stupid ache in her chest is back. Like a sharp emptiness that twists with no explanation. Why does everything always lead back to the feeling of loneliness? Every step taken just brings her straight to it, or brings it straight to her. Rory leaves the Sullivan cabin with watery eyes because it found her again. She's struggling with her zipper still, missing her footing on the steps down. She slips straight to her ass but instead of bouncing straight back up she just sits. Flopping her head into cold hands in complete acceptance as she sniffs the once in silence. As if considering every life choice she's ever had.

Footsteps trudge towards the cabin, and that's when she lifts her head to the sight of Levi. And now it looks like she's just been fucking sitting here waiting for him. Rory's to her feet in an instant, like a soldier and just as stiff as one as she moves away. Hoping to just say everything she needs to in passing. "Hey, hi. I um...need a favor." she begins, still walking to get this all over with. "Can we have our shifts in the morning on Wednesday? Like, all of us? We're...there's the Christmas box things so we're gonna try and get together." but then her walking slows, because evidently she's speaking too much. Rory stops, still hell-bent on rambling her way out of this. "So, yeah. Mornings is fine. Just morning shifts. I don't think anybody cares what, just that it's in the morning." how many times as she said the word now? She blinks at Levi, because there's the twist again. There's loneliness again. But, she's said everything so, "Ok. Bye. Th-thanks."

-

If only there were awards for being able to avoid something like the plague. Maybe Rory would feel a sense of achievement for once in her life. But, it's bitten her in the ass now. She can't even ask Beau to ask Levi for this favor because she's avoided both Sullivans. Not knowing what to say and fear of saying the wrong thing has Rory in a chokehold as she stands outside their cabin. For what feels like way longer than a normal amount of time.

"Nope. No. I'll try tomorrow." she whispers and decides with herself, spinning on her heels to retreat at her usual jumpy tempo. Of course she pushes straight into an oncoming Beau, cursing the fact that she was too lost in thought to pay attention to her surroundings. "Oh, shit. Sorry. That was me. My bad. Was just...here." she rambles and squints at her own words as she steps backwards from him. "Are you gokay? Okay, I mean?" she sputters and blinks at him. "I was trying to say okay but started to say good."

-

"Oh my God, you're alive!" Rory beams in a half chuckle of nervousness as the bell chimes above the door and her gaze instantly meets Isla. "Are you good!? I was gonna text but then I was like, well...maybe she's sick or something." It's Rory's first morning shift at the shop, and opening was a nightmare. She forgot the alarm code, and had to try all twenty keys before she got the right one for the door. "I thought I was gonna have to do all these weird garland things by myself." she adds in a chuckle and she still isn't a thousand percent sure how to make the perfect flower garland. She still isn't a thousand percent sure why she's taken a few shifts at the flower shop, considering the drive it takes over to Atlanta. "I tried the back roads this morning and like, a family of possums were crossing the road and I held up the traffic and got honked at by like fifteen cars." and then she cried but Isla doesn't need to know that part.

-

Look, Rory! I got a booger!

Jude's excited voice makes Rory glance up from her soup, snorting a quick laugh at her nephew. He balances a pea by his nostril and Rory plays along willingly. "Ewwww, that's gross dude. Do I?" she spoons out a pea from her bowl, balancing it near her own nose. "I think we look fine. Nobody would even notice we have huge boogers, right?" they both laugh together and then...hhhhwhip. Their laughter, in sync, stops completely.

I think it's in my brain. Jude's voice peeps and Rory blinks at him. Did she just...did she, a grown woman, just get a pea stuck in her nose?

"No, come on." Rory scoffs, trying to force a level tone and not one of panic. "That doesn't...brains are way further back." She thinks. Oh God, can peas get stuck in a brain? Rory shifts herself around to face her nephew, glancing over her shoulder for any sign of well...anyone. "Okay just like...blow? I guess?" she tells him, putting her thumb over the other side of his nose. Jude tries to do the same to her but his smaller hands can't quite get a tight enough pinch. Shit. He blows his own nose, but nothing happens and Rory lowers herself to get a peek up there. Among actual boogers, she can see the pea. Oh God, this is peagate. Her fate was always peagate. "Okay so um...." she glances around again, moving to her feet and taking Jude's hand. "Let's find your mom."

So there she is, clutching Jude's hand as she shifts through the castle. For some reason, Rory tries to avoid any and all eye contact with the wolves she knows until she sees Kat. She practically corners her with an intensity, a low voice like a top secret. "Something kinda...not chill happened and I really need you to not get mad." Rory hushes, gently bringing Jude in front of her and dropping her hands to his shoulders. "We got...well. Jude...actually. Jude has a pea in his nose." She can try and get hers out later, that's literally so unimportant right now. Maybe she can live with a pea in her nose forever, nobody has to know. Nobody would even notice. "We were playing boogers and I fucked up. Fudged. Shit, sorry. Ah. Show her, Jude."

-

Waiting for her next assignment to start, Rory slumps herself at a spare table and chairs outside the cafe. Her pack for the patrol shift takes up the opposite seat as her focus has been caught by a pack of cards she found at the depot. It's not like her to snatch something, but the other wolf with her said nobody would miss it. And honestly, having something to do while she waits is a pleasant enough distraction. She lines each card to their correct suit, eyes flicking over them while remembering the games her and her mother would play on rainy afternoons. It's a fond memory to begin with, but her leg starts bouncing as she recounts the feeling of lonely that's always lingered. Even as a child, before everything. It was just her and her mother. And then her foot taps against the metal leg of the table next, the cards softly vibrating with each thud as Rory studies them because something is amiss. A card or two missing?

When a shadow forms over the table, it pulls her from the focus and Rory frowns up to the sight of Hunter. She realizes she's hunched over the table and cards like a goblin, slowly straightening. It's rare for the brother to approach her and rare for interactions to take place unless there's no other choice so, Rory freezes with confusion. "Did I do something?" she squints at him, glancing around the table. "Am I late? I thought Gomez said there's another forty minutes?" Rory rambles before wondering if this is going to be...an awkward fucking conversation for the both of them. She takes a sharp breath, already wrinkling her nose at the thought. "You...I...we can just say we're good. It's fine."