Lachlan nibbled on the inside of his cheek, hesitant to dig around the nurse’s office without permission. “I’m passionate about art, but…I have nothing that really feels like mine,” he admitted. “We should, um…” He shifted on his feet before reaching for a few cotton swabs, then showing them to Aaron in way of explanation.
Aaron nodded when reached for the cotton swabs, “Oh, right, that’d probably help,” he chuckled then grabbed a paper bag and grabbed a fist full of cotton swabs. “You have stuff that’s you, it’s just so you that you don’t notice,” he began as they moved to find a bathroom. “You’re thoughtful, you care about those close to you, you’re observant as hell. Being surreal is over rated,” he paused. “Don’t get me wrong, some stuff about being a half-blood is really cool but, before I knew what I was, like really understood it? I felt like I’d never find a place to fit in, not without E with me. Reading was so hard that I just forced myself to do it all the time. Half-bloods are dyslexic, or what people think is dyslexic. Our brain is wired for ancient Greek, and nothing is written in ancient Greek unless it’s going to hurt you,” Aaron vented as he pushed the bathroom door open.
“No! Not at all!” Amani spun to face E, wanting her to see the genuine look of interest in her eyes. “I love hearing your stories,” she said, “And I make up stories for a non-monetary living. But your stories are real.” She rocked on her heels, adrenaline coursing through her veins. “I mean, I kind of get that, but at the same time…normal is vastly overrated. Immortal or otherwise.”
“They all sound so made up,” she admitted. “It helps to talk about it. Makes it more real.” The mist, the thing that clouded mortals visions of the more godly things going on, had made her brother think he was crazy when he’d been chased by hellhounds and all the people around him had insisted they were only big dogs. Talking about camp make it more tangible outside of the boarder. “I honesty don’t believe that normal exists, it’s just a setting on a washing machine at best. A concept,” E shook her head with a small grin, “No one is normal.” She lifted her left eyebrow, “That being said, you want to try something else? Or keep at the knives?”
“How would you drinking make me uncomfortable?” she asked, her voice soft. “I appreciate the thought, but it’s alright.” It was no different from Sarah drinking soda while Farah drank juice, at least in Farah’s opinion. She didn’t want soda any more than she wanted alcohol. When Sarah started thought spiraling, Farah reached out to take her hand again. “You can’t go through those ‘what ifs,’” she said. “You will only do harm to yourself. The stress of it, it’s not good on the mind or body.” She rubbed her left hand over Sarah’s while the right squeezed her palm. “Perhaps there’s someone who specializes in these situations?”
“I–I don’t really know,” Sarah confessed. “I just don’t want to make you uncomfortable if you don’t think I should be drinking? Conditioning I guess? I still find myself thinking I’m not allowed to do certain things, watch movies, read a certain book,” she shook her head. It was all of her childhood, it was deeply ingrained even though she had college to truly experiment and experience the world. Yet here she was, sitting in the dark because that felt like home.
Farah’s hands on her own helped keep her breathing even. She squeezed Farah’s hand back and closed her eyes for just a moment longer than a blink. “I’ve tried so many lawyer’s who won’t touch it. I just feel so helpless. Useless really…” Sarah swallowed hard. “Recently the loneliness has just been overwhelming.”
“To be honest, I’m not sure what I’m into,” he admitted. “Mom draws and paints and writes. She creates characters and stories out of thin air and it feels like magick. She even creates these little comic books for my birthday every year.” It would have been embarrassing if Lachie didn’t love it so much. “Abuela dances and can cook anything, even when there are just a mess of ingredients to work with. Papi’s talent is obvious the moment he’s on the field; he becomes a blur when he plays. But he’s also patient and kind and really empathetic; it’s his superpower.” Lachlan paused to take a breath. “You and E are…surreal. Not just with the fighting and weapons, but…” He blushed, unable to explain. “I want to figure out where my talents are.”
He was mortal; he would always be mortal, normal. But that didn’t make him less than. Just…different.
When Lachlan mentioned Aaron and E being surreal Aaron frowned a bit, his brow tugging together. He shook his head, “We’re… mm,” he shrugged. “Lach, you’ve got talents. You’re passionate about art, I was just saying that I’ve never seen you paint.” Aaron paused when he realized no one was in the room then decided to start going through cabinets till he found exactly what he needed. Both twins had a confidence when they walked into any room, Aaron was just a little less aware of it. “Ah, got it,” he lifted the bottle of rubbing alcohol to show Lachlan. “Lets go to the bathroom, they won’t miss this there are three other bottles.”
“Aww, Heather, that’s no fun. At least let’s have a sleep over,” she laughed, before finally noticing that her boob was out. “Whoops, let’s put her back home,” she giggled as she slipped her tit back into her shirt. “Look, I know I’m not the most lucy I’ve never been right now, but… I mean… you helped me, and I at least wanna pay you back somehow. I only had booze and weed at the party, I’m not gonna hate you if we have some fun, alright?” she said, looking a bit more put together as they drove into the drive thru lane, before the moment of calm passed. “Oooh! See if we can get one of the toys!”
The way Alex said sleepover sounded so childish after what had happened that it made Heather laugh, “One thing at a time,” she nodded when Alex said her boob was out and then just shook her head with a smirk. The cost of trying to be respectful. “Yeaaaah, there ya go,” she chuckled.
What Alex said next made Heather shrug, “You can still have a fun night,” she shot Alex a soft look. “You don’t owe me anything, nothing at all,” Heather told her seriously. “But, if you do really want to hang out, and it has nothing to do with me being in the right place a the right time to get you away from that creep, then lets eat some fries, and direct me to your place. I’ll hang out for a bit. Sound good?” she asked before the car in line ahead of them pulled forward so Heather was next to order. “I will ask about the toy.”
Maisie’s brow lifted a tiny bit. She couldn’t remember anyone their age who claimed social media wasn’t ‘their thing.’ It was a generational 'thing.’ “He’s not social and he stays at home…So he’s an extreme introvert?” Maisie wasn’t trying to sound insensitive; she was just trying to make sense of the situation while confirming Summer was thinking about herself a little bit. “That’s a pretty eclectic group. So what does he do?”
“I don’t think it’s that extreme,” she brushed around the word. Summer already didn’t like how people treated Thom with kid gloves, he was a normal guy. Everyone had their demons Thom’s was just easier to see. “He works in tech security, finding holes in peoples software, cyber security I guess you could call it?“
