#triceturned

‘ ‘ ------hello, mr hawethorn. ’ ’  brigid swept into the room like a wave, dropping the clipboard off on the nearest counter as she assessed the situation. one man, one cat, no terrified children. for this, she was grateful; she did not mind kids, but she could not understand parents that dragged their children with them when a beloved pet’s life was nearing its end. it never seemed fair on either the children or the animal. ‘ ‘ it says here it’s a general checkup, plus some shots? is this correct? ’ ’ she asked as she leaned against the counter, dark eyes resting on the carrier. ‘ ‘ how is your cat with strangers? specifically strangers like me. ’ ’

( historically speaking: the only animals not to like her were geese, and this was just fine --- they were the only animal she was afraid of. )

‘‘ my apologies, freya hasn't given me your full name, ’’ eleanor started as she allowed the other to enter her home and quickly led him towards the kitchen where two steaming cups of tea were waiting. ‘‘ she said you never met another immortal, aside from her . . . not much else. i imagine you have --- questions, then? ’’

resting her chin on solid rock, elena peered down at nathan. there was no one else around, no one who could hear them --- isaac was hunting  ( she was uncertain if this meant he had gone into the valley to the grocery store or into the forest )  and the hatchling was curled up, nestled into the softest of her feathers. a few beats passed as she studied the other, then a soft sigh left her. she lifted her head off its uncomfortable pillow and gently, very gently nudged nathan --- he was shifted, she was not; accidents could happen.

‘‘ nathan. ’’ she had never been good at what her brother would call pep talks, and she would not attempt to gain sudden proficiency at them now. and yet --- whatever the dynamic atop this mountain was, they were in this together. nathan, isaac and her: the hatchling had chosen them all. she did not quite believe in fate  ( life was easier for her like this ),  but she did believe in decisive moments that would set the course for a certain period of time. ‘‘ none of us chose this. i can only speak for myself, but i think we all would have preferred to raise junior on our own. ’’

they were, after all, three dragons who had their own territories, their own habits and who did not share their lives with anyone else. they were not used to sharing close quarters with anyone else. circumstance, not sudden fondness for one another, was what had forced them together, and elena might be a romantic, but she was no fool --- the situation was wearing on them. and really, she at least was missing her friends.

she did not roll her eyes, nor did she scoff. if this was a game  ( which it almost certainly was ), it was one she knew, one they had played many times before. there was nothing new to be found her, and she might have grown bored . . . but it was not like she could pass on a game that might be interesting for her.

‘ ‘ nathan, dear, ’ ’ she crooned as she shook her head. moments like this, the ones that allowed her to smirk and tap her fingernails against the smooth velvet of her chair --- it was classic behaviour for her, to make her smugness so obvious it almost hurt, but classics were classics for a reason, non? ‘ ‘ do i have to say it? you shouldn’t ask a lady about her age. ’ ’

as far as insecurities went, her age ranked low. for a human being, she was ridiculously old, and for an immortal, she was neither young  ( not when there were people much younger than her )  nor was she old, along with the ever esteemed company of dear thérèse, she occupied a spot in the middle, a spot she found rather comfortable on most days. in this, the middle ground was a safe place to be.

still, the scene below it made her curious enough to let herself fall off the branch she had been sitting on, shifting into her other shape on the way down; talons dulled into fingernails, feathers turning into flaming hair and her bones moving as they grew denser and longer.

‘‘ pray tell, ’’ she began as she stared at the blond dragon, unblinkingly, ‘‘ what do three dragons do with a hatchling? ’’

‘ ‘ and the jeans he wears don’t even fit him properly, ’ ’ brigid replied, clicking her tongue against her teeth and letting a tsk escape her. between degrees  ( a phd in history and a bachelor in mathematics, the latter mostly to fully understand what frédéric meant when he explained his statistics to her ),  she had worked at a department store, not because she had been fascinated by the idea of helping mortals find clothes that suited them but because one of the benefits employment had brought had price cuts on everything.

at the time, it had been all she could have asked for and more — interviews for jobs in her field had been on the horizon  ( they always were, if she was honest about it )  and she had needed clothes for them. clothes she had not wanted to bankrupt herself for. she had never worked on the floor, directly. she had been stationed with the in-house tailor. and there, she had learnt many a thing about proper cuts — and what nathan was pointing at, well, it was unflattering to say the least. 

had she not been friends with frédéric for almost two centuries now  ( note to self — get him a nice present for the anniversary of their friendship next year ),  she might have found herself agreeing with nathan. she had seen people who had stepped on the hands of those who desperately tried to hold on to what little they had had left. brigid had known hardship, she had seen three siblings and her parents waste away from illnesses that had not spared her, even if she had cursed herself for her unfair luck for years and decades.

( it still struck her as unfair that she had slept off the flu and her subsequent death whereas the rest of her family had never been as lucky. )

‘ ‘ i used to think like this, ’ ’  she admitted, hands enveloping the cup with hot chocolate in front of her. they might get snow for the weekend, she had read in the paper, and she hoped for it — puzzle loved to play in the snow and she had the weekend off.  ‘ ‘ it is easy, i guess. being cynical. ’ ’

but it was difficult to listen to frédéric and not believe in a better future, a future where things were fairer, where the good had better odds at succeeding. it was easy to listen to frédéric and believe him because she knew him, knew that he was not just talk. she knew that he was not waiting for someone else to do something, that he was walking ahead.

taking a sip of her drink, she smiled against her cup. despite herself, perhaps. it was not a topic she was particularly keen on discussing, and thus, it was a topic she would not go into in a café. she could not get banned from visiting cafés in a new city this early on; elena would be rightfully upset with her, should she agree to visit.

she should probably have expected something like this, elena thought solemnly. for the most part, she did not get in other people’s business. she could not fight all the battles that were vying for her attention, she had to decide which ones were worth the unavoidable hassle. until ten minutes ago, she would not have cared about whatever nathan did to have a few knuts more in his pocket, but — ten minutes ago, it had been between him and his conscience.

ten minutes ago, she had not almost tripped over a fifth year hufflepuff, cowering on the floor because she had — as elena had eventually gotten out of her — bought a potion meant to help her study for her owls. and while elena was not always the most dedicated follower of school rules, she drew a line where others got hurt.

clearing her throat, she crossed her arms over her chest and glowered at the other prefect. ‘‘ i can’t take points from you and i’m not naive enough to consider dragging a teacher into this, ’’ she said quietly, slim fingers digging into her upper arms until it hurt, ‘‘ so consider this a warning — when you sell something to other students, make sure the quality is decent. do we have an understanding? and now please tell me what the poor girl bought so i can see about getting the necessary information to the healer. ’’