#sammykeels

Arleen has a solid read on most, if not all, of her associates at work. Not many other supernatural individuals on the force, but there are certainly a few werewolves, a witch or two, and a few folks she suspects may be hunters but enjoy the 'freedom' given to use the job as cover for hunting suspicious civilians. But one thing she knows for certain, that boy Sammy is as human as human gets.

His father works on the force and he's been coming into the precinct and causing the occasionally charming, but also occasionally annoying, teenage boy disruptions as long as she's been in Port Leiry. But it's the innocent sort of annoying, unlike intentional troublemakers she knows like Liam Slater. And she can't argue that his gifts of an extra lunch here and there aren't thoughtful. Contrary to popular belief, Arleen isn't just mean for the sake of being mean. She's mean when it's called for.

Like the one or two or three times Sammy has rolled an office chair into her desk while spinning fast enough to lose the lunch he might have brought and eaten minutes earlier.

        gabriel’s not always the best companion, nor friend, but he excels at observing. maybe he got it from his sister, who spoke their shared language that gabriel was used to picking apart the details of. he noticed how she carried herself, creases between her eyebrows when she was frustrated, the pull of her mouth when she was amused, but didn’t want anyone else to know. of course, gabriel always knew. 

        but he doesn’t even really need to read into him to know what’s happening to sammy. everyone already knows that part, and gabriel doesn’t deserve to make the comparison between them, he doesn’t have any innocence left to measure with. somewhere, once, gabriel had known what it felt like to lose a father. for some fleeting moment between the bullet and the violence, gabriel had known the grief.

        he doesn’t know what to do with that, it’s just true. “ sammy, " sammy stays behind after the gathering ceases, the same as gabriel. so he knocks his head in the direction of his car, holding up the file- the assignment he’d gotten.  " wanna’ go for a ride? ”

The bikes were the first thing she saw —two of them, sprawled across the lawn like they’d collapsed mid-flight, one still spinning a back wheel in lazy half-turns. Irene stood at the edge of the driveway, one hand in the pocket of her coat, the other curled loosely around a paper bag that smelled faintly of garlic and plastic takeout. She hadn’t knocked yet.

There was a familiarity to the scene; the scuffed-up sidewalk chalk ghosts, the chipped welcome mat, the smell of someone's early dinner drifting out a cracked window. Safe things. Quiet things. They didn’t suit the tightness still coiled low in her chest.

But then again, neither did this visit.

She adjusted her grip on the bag and stepped forward.

The front door wasn’t locked. It never was when Sammy was around. She didn’t go in, just knocked once —soft, measured—and then pushed it open enough to call into the threshold.

“Sammy?”

Her voice carried, quiet but certain.

No answer right away.

She waited. Then she saw movement down the hall —his familiar frame, hoodie sleeves shoved to the elbows, sneakers squeaking faintly on the wood.

“Hey.” Her tone shifted as soon as he was close enough to see clearly. Not warm, not yet. But not her usual clipped chill either. Something in-between. Careful. “Didn’t mean to ambush you.”

She lifted the paper bag slightly. “Brought food. You’ve got that look on your face like you skipped lunch again.”

A beat.

“I went.”

Simple. No name. No details. But he’d know. And she didn’t follow it with a lie —not She’s safe, not It’ll be okay. Just that.

She stepped inside then, giving him the space to back away or shut her out, but not leaving. Never that.

“I know you told me about her because I needed to know,” Irene said, setting the bag on the counter like it didn’t weigh a thousand things. “And I’m not going to ask what else you know. Not unless you want to tell me.”

She looked at him again —really looked. His face a little drawn, shoulders tighter than usual.

“I just wanted to see you with my own eyes. Make sure you’re okay.”

Another beat. Then, quieter, just for him.

“So? Are you okay?”

Situation: Seven of Cups -- So, this card indicates that you're being presented with a lot of options. Seven cups, each full with possibilities, some overflowing. It looks amazing, but it is possible to have too much of a good thing. In fact, you can be so overwhelmed by the options you fall for wishful thinking without considering all the ramifications carefully. You've got a choice to make.

Outcome: Judgment -- This card is a call for your cosmic level-up. It's the second to last in the Major Arcana, meaning it's got broad impact on your life. This isn't just a temporary thing. Your choice will have consequences, but if you're responding to the bigger picture of your life's path, you should pull the trigger and step up to where the road is leading you.