.traveler

“You’re too objective for your own good.” muttered Francisca as she turned her back on the fae and began making herself a glass of wine. If she wanted to be understanding towards someone who was becoming irritable, she needed something to help with that notion. No matter how many times she told Jan how she felt, the fae would brush her off—but not completely, seeing as she’s still here. It was becoming a bit of a challenge and Frankie was also impatient. She felt herself frown once Jan mentioned children and remained silent. It was for the best despite her need to cuss Jan off. However, for someone who lived a long life, she’s aware that Jan is practically a supernatural infant that needed to learn a lot. As such, she didn’t want to say something that she’ll regret. 

“And you did…You’re just having a hard time adjusting.” She didn’t know how else to make it easier for January. Most of the time she tries to be the playful one, to keep up the lighthearted mood, but she was slowly losing that drive. Taking her glass, she chugs half of it before taking a break. “You know when we tell you what to do, you refuse. I don’t know what else to say to you.” She finishes up the rest of the wine before taking the bottle and pouring out the rest. “The way I see it, things are getting better for you. But you’re having a hard time accepting it thinking you’ll get fucked over. Myself, Wade and Davis wouldn’t make that same mistake of leaving you. But if you feel that resentment then you should just leave Lethe or leave us at this point.” She recycles the wine glass and then finishes her own up in one sitting. Cleaning up silently, Frankie looked over and said, “I’ll be out of your way after I’m done this.” 

January took pride in her ability to handle the facts and sort them appropriately. She liked knowing about her world and following the scientific method to explore the unknown. Unfortunately, applying the method to these situations was more difficult than she liked, especially with her abilities still going out of control. She hated to admit it, but she was garbage at this part of her life. She lowered the bag of chips and sighed again. One day, she’d get it. Too bad it wasn’t today though. 

The last time that someone seemed to genuinely care about her was a little over a decade ago and that woman was standing right in front of her. Ageless, yes, but it seemed like she had matured some. “I can’t just blindly follow... My parents... They used me... Frankie, I’m fucking terrified. I... I thought that I was done with being afraid.” She moved over to the sink to stop her from washing the glass. This was her house, so it was her responsibility to clean up after her guest, even if Frankie had become an unlikely roommate. “No, don’t. I can clean up.”

“It’s complicated.” defended Frankie. Sure, Gwendolyn was fucking scary and Pierceson was a complete asshole, but these were Jan’s parents and she wasn’t going to fuck up their family for them. “You should set up a meeting with them. Hear them out and make your decisions by then if you still want to have them in your life. I can be there too if you want, for support.” She knew that January didn’t really have a proper family to fall back on—one with unconditional love and care. It’s how they bonded and got close, they never understood why their family became the way they were, but they were products of it and now here they are. “False. I have great taste. You’re my number one babe.” 

Ah, the eighty year plan…Her face scrunched up once the fae pushed her away and so she huffed a frustrated sigh and headed towards the kitchen counter to lean on. Arms crossed, she was getting irritated with Jan’s immortal temper tantrum, but at the same time she understood. She still had a lot to learn. “I know.” she said at first. “Which is why I’m telling you now January, just fuck it all. You’re an immortal now and you should focus on the present and well a few years into the future rather than a large gap. Time is constantly changing and so are you, the least you could do is have a foundation of what you have now and then go from there. Being with Gwendolyn and Pierceson is something you shouldn’t take for granted or push away. You need them and they can help you with your struggles with the supernatural.” 

“Complicated is figuring out what’s wrong with a nuclear reactor while in enemy territory and just a hair away from being noticed by sonar. Absent parents shouldn’t be complicated; they weren’t there for most of my life.” But of course, she could blame her stress on her human parents. Humans had a tendency to make mountains out of molehills. “I don’t like children but even I know that it’s pretty fucked up to lose a whole ass infant.” January sighed and shook her head and started to clean the mess she made. “I don’t get you, I really don’t, Frankie.”

She stopped cleaning and seemed to stare down at the counter in front of her. Making plans, constantly, and being lucky enough to have them succeed, kept her alive. If she failed without a plan, she didn’t want to have to think about how poorly things could become. Maybe she was afraid of losing control. Yes, that was it. 

January was definitely in a mood. 

And when she’s in a mood Francisca either makes light of the situation and takes advantage of it or she allows the fae to let all the pent up emotions out. From the looks of it, she’s gonna have to opt for both seeing as this was a heavy topic at hand. “Yeah that she’s your mother.” she deadpanned knowing that this might throw her off the edge. With Pierceson back in the picture, January’s supernatural parents certainly are on a mission to win her over. “And yeah, the humans definitely fucked you over…But I definitely find you hotter than ever January and I think that’s what matters most.” 

Seeing her open a bottle of wine with the intent to get drunk, Frankie sighed and appeared behind the fae as she leaned down and slipped her hands down the front of the fae as means to relax her. “You’re so worked up.” Eventually her hands travelled upwards as she massaged Jan’s shoulders and upper back. “Relax babe…” Was she feeding on her? Slightly, but this did help January back in their college days when they were stressing over finals. 

“Arguably, the two most well adjusted supernatural beings in the world and they left me with...people who took advantage of my fae-ness for-” She cut herself off and lowered the bottle too quickly. Wine splashed out and over the counter top. January let out a disgruntled curse underneath her breath. In any case, she was adopted. She had a human set and a supernatural one. Both had failed her in ways that she couldn’t even articulate at the moment, so she turned to the bottle and resisted the urge to scream. “You have weird taste.”

“Do you remember what you said about Gwendolyn when you were trying to piss me off?” She asked Francisca. “I still haven’t gotten over the fact that she’s been searching for me for decades...” January crossed her arms and sighed. On one hand, if Gwen had found her sooner then her headaches would have been dealt with and her abilities would be under control. On the other hand, however, she doubted that she would have made it to space with the kind of control that woman liked to exercise. “They both look fucking younger than me. YOU look younger than me. Did being with humans fucking fuck me in the fucking face? What the fuck?”

“I hate this changeling crap.” She opened a bottle of wine and poured some into two glasses. “It doesn’t make fucking sense. Invasion shit and... you know what? Let’s get fucking drunk.”

“You’re rich Jan, plus Mama Gwen wouldn’t let that happen to you.” The lamia then playfully winked, implying that she got special treatment in Silver Security. It was obvious and if January disagrees then she’s in complete denial. Francisca remained silent at the fae’s question. There’s a lot of things wrong with her, but this situation in itself was one she could not control. Her blood began to boil as she heard the voices of the dead. The ones she deceived, the ones she showed no mercy to…From her understanding, she was well aware of facing them after death, but it seems like she was faced with her demons earlier than she expected.

“I don’t fucking know January.” hissed out Frankie as she gripped onto her surroundings. “This is still a shitty car.” she added in a matter of fact tone. It wasn’t until the fae brought up her past that the lamia turned to her and gave a disbelief look. “Are you serious? You’re talking about this now!?” Did it matter? It’s not like they’re dating now. “It’s not like I had a choice.” she argued. Well she did, but it was complicated and only within the Ulrich circle that could understand. “I don’t know what to do.” she deadpanned as she stared at her past creeping up on her. “But what I do know is that I should have fucking stayed in Prague.” 

“I’m not so rich that I’m untouchable...” She then narrowed her eyes at Francisca at the mention of ‘Mama Gwen.’ January did look up to Gwendolyn, but she didn’t think that her treatment at SS was due to some pseudo-daughter-mother relationship. The astronaut believed she deserved and had earned her position, money, and power at the company. She worked her ass off to get into space and lead people within the company. Anyone who said otherwise, in her opinion, deserved to choke. “Will you shut the fuck up about that.”

“January you could have fucking said you killed him.” Francisca was getting agitated as many faces began to haunt her this very second. She couldn’t even focus on what the fae wanted as there was so much things going through her mind. Was this some sort of curse against the Ulrichs? But then Jan admitted that the homeless looking fuck shouldn’t even be alive. Something wasn’t right and it wasn’t sitting well with the lamia. 

Jerking forward, Frankie gripped onto the vehicle’s support handle and snapped her attention over to Jan. “They’re not alive.” she confirmed in a blunt tone. “It has to be some sort of curse…” Suddenly, the lamia flinched as she felt a slam against the car window. Turning to her right she saw scorned individuals screaming and wailing in pain as they called out the various names she had. Eyes widening, Frankie did the unthinkable and ignited bursts of flames around them. “Drive.” she demanded. “And don’t fucking stop.” 

“I’m not going to accept 25 to life,” January muttered. She knew that Francisca was distracted and even without having to use her empathy, she could see how upset she was. They were exes and today wasn’t a date, but the idea that something could shake Frankie was troubling. Softly, she asked, “Fuck’s matter with you?” Jan needed the lamia now, in the moment, and aware. Frankie was the older one and more experienced one when it came to supernatural shit. The changling had no clue on what to do next. People just couldn’t run over ghosts or beat them with a bat, so she was out of bright ideas. 

Frankie hated January’s car. She made that clear when they went on their date and yet the fae refused to listen to her. Something about how this wasn’t even a date and that this was her car, her choice. Fucking Elon Musk. She hoped Jan felt the hatred she had for him. In fact she thought fucking her senseless out of spite in this Tesla, but it got side tracked when the other spoke out loud. “What’s wrong?” Looking in the direction she was, Frankie’s features cringed as she shook her head in disgust. “Ew who the fuck is that?” 

The lamia was just about to reach over in the backseat when her eyesight played her strangely. A few familiar faces began to make themselves known around her. “Wait…” she murmured as she eyed them individually. “They shouldn’t be here…”

Every time her Cybertruck was brought up, she could feel a pulse of hatred coming from the lamia beside her. Jan felt like the other woman needed to get over the fact that she had been intimate with Elon Musk. How couldn’t she? He had a space company and January wanted the fastest way to get back into space. Waiting for NASA to give her a greenlight took too long. She rolled her eyes at the other woman. “It touched my ass and I ran it over. Now give me the fucking bat so I can double-tap this fucker.”

“Oh, you’ve got to be fucking kidding me.” She thought she had dealt with this mess already. Why the hell was it back? In front of her car was a raggedy man, glaring right at her. The same one that had invaded her space and treated her without any respect. At the time, the man had been a vagrant and they made a mess of her truck. She needed to get a pressure washer to get things cleaned. “I’m going to run it over.”

“Don’t be your usual self and hand me the bat in the back seat.” January didn’t know what the hell that thing was, but all she knew was that she wanted it away from her. She had a good reason before for quieting the man’s emotions and now that he was staring right at her, she felt the urge to kill even stronger. “Now. I’m tired of this shit.”

The councilwoman wore a painful gaze as she was upset by January’s words. “I want to go home.” she stubbornly said after hearing her perspective. “You make it seem you know everything! I want to be sad, so let me be sad!!” Snow fidgeted in her arms and Yasemin immediately walked away and continued to head in the direction of town. It wasn’t until January advised her to speak out about how she was feeling rather than keeping it all in. Shaking her head, the air nymph pouted and stormed off as she disapproved of it. “You make it seem like I’m a chore. I will go home and you can go on with your day Miss Masters.” Yasemin was stubborn and she wasn’t going to budge if she felt like she was being a burden on someone. Holding up snow, she reached for her paw and waved it at Jan, “Bye.” 

Francisca clucked her tongue while shaking her head in utter, complete disappointment. “Denial doesn’t suit you babe.” The fae knew very well what she was talking about, but the lamia wasn’t one for repetition. She’ll allow her to have her internal battle with her feelings and have her figure it out. It was evident that they have a lot to discuss, but it was a matter of how long they’ll keep pushing and pulling at each other. 

“Damn, to think we’d have our fair share of fun today.” mused Frankie as a playful smirk crept onto her lips. “…Don’t tell me you’re now all vanilla. Yuck.” Last time she checked, they’ve done a lot in their youth that they were far from plain. Allowing her slip away from her space, the lamia cleaned against the counter and crossed her arms as she observed January’s movements and behaviour. “I’m not leaving.” she stated firmly, before walking up and snatching her phone away from her. “And seriously? I’ll burn your puny security team to ashes should they ever lay a hand on me. You wouldn’t want to piss off mommy dearest am I right?” Hanging up the phone, she tossed it onto the other counter and focused her attention on January. “I’ll make this easier for you Miss Masters. Say it to my face that right now, you want me to walk out of your life completely and we’ll go from there.” In truth, she wanted to test the waters and see if any of this mattered, to see if she had a chance. 

Why couldn’t her pristine career be all there was to her? She was a hero, a young naval commander, one of the first female submarine officers, and an astronaut. Her life was amazing, and she wanted to keep it that way, but she knew that she couldn’t. After she joined SS, Gwen pointed out that she had stopped ageing years ago and that she couldn’t keep living out her dreams. She wasn’t human, and this new life was pissing her off. Not only did she have to deal with losing everything she worked toward, she also had to deal with people like Francisca. 

Yasemin pouted at Snow as she cuddled her closely to her chest. “Whatever.” she mumbled. At least her pet is safe and sound in her arms. Hearing about Jan’s emotional reading on her made the air nymph frown. She didn’t like the fact that she knew something was wrong with her. It was something she wanted to deal with on her own. “I’m sorry.” It wasn’t her intention to cloud her emotions. “Look, I’ll head home instead.” It suddenly dawned on her that it was probably not a good idea to be out and about if she wanted to truly be alone.

“Maybe I’ll send my assistant over to fetch the wine you don’t like?” She paused knowing how January may not be receptive to random visitors. “Or I can come back another day, when I’m fully there, as well as not carrying around Snow.” She shook her head, she didn’t want to bore Jan with her feelings. “It’s alright Miss Masters, I’ll leave you be.” 

“You took the word right out of my mouth.” She narrowed her eyes at Yasemin. What was she apologizing for? All January could guess was that she was apologizing for being upset, which was dumb. “You’re annoying me because you don’t make sense. What good will going home do? So you can repeat the wrong process of thinking again? Stop expecting a different result if you’re doing the same fucking thing wrong.” 

Francisca didn’t know whether to roll her eyes or to just provoke January into giving in, but she was slightly losing her patience in the process. They needed to make amends, but seeing as time wasn’t on their side, there was certainly a lot of catching up to do on both sides. “No, I make you feel good and that’s that.” Just like the old days…But was there a point to reminiscing? Throwing her hands up in the air, the lamia’s flames made itself known before she extinguished it in a blink of an eye. “Why do you think I did the name change? Anyways, it’s not me—it’s them.” Blame it all on the family. After all, they raised her as a weapon, a monster and expected that to be her end all be all, hence why Frankie chose to move away and lay low. “Ouuu law enforcement.” she cooed as she approached Jan before backing her up against the kitchen counter. “I like the latter. We can totally fuck in your shed.” Clearly she was twisting her words. “You have handcuffs to lock me up? We can spice things up and make it fun and interesting.” She knew that would anger the fae even more, but she didn’t budge. Instead, she opted to casually change the subject and divert their conversation elsewhere. “Alright fine, let’s take things slow, I feel like we should catch up anyways…Soooo, how have you been January?” 

Now that she knew more about lamia, she didn’t like how they could take her life force and make her feel things like that. She was used to having more a choice in the matter. The air seemed to hum as if lighting would cut through her home, especially when Francisca’s flames appeared and disappeared. Both of them were agitated. January knew that much. “I don’t even know what you’re talking about.” She was picking up too much of Frankie and she wasn’t sure which emotions related to their conversation; it was causing her a headache. But she recognized some of the emotions. She found them whenever she spoke about her own family. Her adoptive parents only looked good on paper and she made them look good because her narrative demanded it.

“Harsh.” Francisca’s tone was filled with hurt and betrayal as she moved the fork away from January and continued to eat the salad on her own. She gave her a look, trying not to be offended by what was said and shook her head to disagree with her. “You don’t wish that.” she firmly stated. “In fact, last time I checked, you wanted more.” She then sets the bowl down onto the counter and leaned against it as she eyed the fae from head to toe. “I feel like you’re just saying all this just to make yourself feel better.” 

Taking a few steps towards her, Frankie remained on her best behaviour as she kept her hands to herself. “It’s Cavalcante now.” she corrected in terms of her surname. “However, I’ll be honest with you. My real last name is Ulrich—you should ask your boss about that. I’m sure she’ll give you the deets of my lovely family heritage.” Placing both hands on her hips, the lamia tilted her head and gave the fae a challenging look. “Fine, make me leave.”

At the end of the day, January was focused on her own emotional well being and no one else’s. However, she knew what hurt and betrayal felt like. And with a hint of amusement colouring her thoughts, she noted that now Francisca was the one feeling it. “I clearly wasn’t in my right mind.”  She frowned; she hated losing control. January had a set of methods and guidelines that she followed. Anything outside of what she liked didn’t sit well with her. More often than not, she kept her emotions away from her decisions. 

The air nymph matched the fae’s neutral expression as she spoke about who should be under scrutiny. “Fair enough.” she replied and left it at that. Her attention returned back to her cat as she swayed themselves back and forth while humming a soft tune. “Of course you did!” she exclaimed with a not so amused tone. Leaning down to Snow she whispered, “Why did you go with Jan Jan huh? You could have gotten hurt!” Then again, she trusted the fae knowing that she would never put her beloved pet in harm’s way. “Well that means she likes you.” Yasemin said as she looked over at Jan. “So is that a good kind of noise?” she inquired further while squinting her eyes at the other woman. She then came to a halt after noticing that she wasn’t following her and turned around after hearing her response. A dramatic gasp escaped her lips as she used her free hand to cover her mouth, before softening her gaze after realizing what was said. “Awww Jan!!!” Yasemin floated over and was about to give the fae a hug, but immediately stopped herself due to boundaries. A sheepish smile crept onto her lips as she nodded in understanding. “Alright then, I will help you with your wine stash…But I’m not getting drunk! I’ll just take what I need deal?”  

The nymph was clearly having a bad day. With the way she was acting and the way she looked, January figured that she was emotionally backed up. Truth be told, it was strange to see her not puking out sunshine. “Your pet is intelligent and loves you very much. I don’t think it was a matter of whether she liked me or not.” She paused to think about how she could adequately explain things to Yasemin. “No, it makes my head hurt, and people tend to annoy me more when they are that noisy. It means that something is wrong with you. When there’s static, it means things aren’t working at their best.” 

Frankie wasn’t homeless. She was Francisca Cavalcante for fuck sakes. She had the income to afford whatever property to own, but she was practical and more importantly she was smart with her money. Therefore, why invest in a home when she was here on a temporary basis? After seeing the state of her brother’s abode, that was a red flag in itself. It explains why she took Jan’s keys during their first encounter. So she forced herself to be her roommate, but it was not like she was ever home. Long hours at Silver Security and their uneven schedule never aligned themselves with one another. It was fun while it lasted, seeing as she just got caught. 

“Hey babe.” Frankie greeted as she came out from the shadows eating a bowl of salad. “Since the first time we fucked…in Lethe that is. Mmm…is that a problem?” She went towards her and smiled as she took a few greens and pointed the fork towards the fae’s mouth as if she was feeding her. “I like what you’re doing to the place by the way. An aquarium on the wine wall? Genius.”

“I am not your babe.” January took her DS and tucked it into the back pocket of her jeans. She kept her gaze on Francisca, worried that she’d miss something if she blinked or looked away. The other woman already managed to evade detection for several weeks, so Jan was sure that she could do more damage. “I really wish I forgot about that night and that people stop reminding me.”  She didn’t care about most of the people at work, but she felt like her boss was still judging her. 

Her home was in a near-constant state of renovation, but that didn’t mean that she had everything placed exactly where she wanted and needed them to be. Over the past couple of weeks, she noticed displaced items and unfamiliar smells. At first, she thought that she was just tired from all the extra work she was doing, but today, she noticed a piece of her pie slice missing. After closing the fridge door, she stood up straight and lowered her Nintendo DS on the counter. 

“How long have you been eating my food and living inside of my house?” She asked out loud, her voice unwavering. January wasn’t sure if the intruder could hear her. January turned and looked around. “I really don’t like talking to myself, so show yourself now.”