Pres is silent for at least the first minute and a half, putting ground between himself and his older sister. He exhales, slowing his pace as he nears the castle. "Damn."

     "If I am ever in danger of putting myself on the receiving end of your older sister's wrath, please shoot me first." Loki looks back over his shoulder, just in case the waves of righteous fury can reach this far. "It'd be kinder."
     He slows as well, and asks more quietly, "Do you think we handled that wrong? Because I was thinking it was better that she know than not, but, uh, I'm having second thoughts."

     "She might kill him." Pres does not sound like he's sure he's kidding. "I don't know. I'd tell you if I did, but ... I don't know. I thought he might be leading her on or stuff - I mean, I know Balthazar's your friend and all, but I'm still pissed at how he and Maddie hooked up in Hawaii, you know? And this seemed like more of the same plus a heaping helping of this magic bs on top of it."
     He reaches the door and pulls it open, holding it for Loki as a matter of absent politeness. "I want Gillian to be happy. This just - well, I can't say she's happy now, can I."

     "Better to be angry about the truth than be happy out of ignorance. This is Gillian we're talking about. If she's taking it this badly right now, imagine what it would be like if she found out after she was married." Loki says this with a reasonable amount of confidence, but his shoulders are hunched in as he walks through the door.

     "I don't know the guy. I don't know what he might or might not have done, how he'd have handled it." Pres shrugs, following Loki inside and rubbing his face. He closes his eyes. "...She's pissed, though, and - I just hope she doesn't have one of her blackouts."

     "It's not good. Best I can say is that maybe it's not as bad as it could be." Loki's smile is not a happy one, nor does it last long. "There's my sunny optimism for the day. We'd better find Maddie. She deserves a sitrep, despite being a brat at Gillian already."
     He looks around for any signs of where Maddie might have gone, then back at Pres. "Blackouts?"

     "When she gets pissed enough, she has these spells. Blacks out with rage, doesn't remember what she did or said, later," Pres explains offhandedly. "I think it's part of why she keeps herself under such tight wraps all the time. She doesn't want to get that caught up in her emotions, but she hates losing control." He shrugs, stopping and leaning against the wall. "I think if she could let go a little, she might not HAVE the blackouts."

     "Maybe. Do you think we should head back?" Despite his question, Loki heads roughly in the direction of where coffee usually magically appears. Well. Non-magically appears, the distinction actually mattering in this place.

     He follows Loki, not looking over his shoulder. "No. If Gillian wants us, she knows how to scream. And if she doesn't, then, uh, I don't want to be there if she doesn't want us there right now, do you?" Pres shakes his head. "I need a drink."

     "I hope you mean coffee, because if we're breaking out the hard liquor before lunch, we're..." Loki pauses. "No, that's just like one of my dad's business lunches. Might as well do him proud. I seem to recall a bar in that room with all the stuffed animal heads."

     "Lead on. I don't think they'll mind as long as we're not loud and obnoxious." Pres shakes his head, following Loki. "Maddie can go find Balthazar. Probably already did. Dear god, I hope she doesn't go find Gillian and that guy. Poor sucker."

     On the way to the game room, Loki sends off out a quick text message to warn Maddie about the West Wrath inhabiting the garden outside. It's the least he can do. "I wish I'd known who Gillian was getting engaged to. I could've given her something more of a warning."

     "I only found out last night or something." Pres follows Loki to the game room, flopping down into an overstuffed chair without even grabbing a drink first. He's in a mild state of shock. "Not long ago, anyway. I - Jesus. Maybe I shouldn't take this job."

     "Why not? I mean--I don't really see the connection between the explosion outside and whether or not you should take the job." Loki moves behind the bar to make drinks, though under the circumstances he's not going for anything fancy. He is not, however, shying away from getting out the good booze.

     "I don't like being spied on," Pres answers baldly. "I don't like all these fucking games this family plays. I don't know, maybe it's not games. Maddie says it's not. You seem to think Balthazar's a straight shooter. Relatively. But it makes me paranoid, y'know?" He scowls, hunching down and putting his feet up. "I just don't get it."

     "Balthazar seems to be the most straightforward, upfront one in the family," Loki says. He brings two glasses over, offering one to Pres. "Maybe one of his dads, too... I don't know many of them all that well. Balthazar can be counted on, if no one else. Maddie isn't the one I'm worried about right now."
     He takes a seat nearby, just holding his drink for the moment. "I am so amazingly far from happy with the idea of being spied on that you can't see happy from where I'm standing, on that issue. At the same time, being spied on is the reason I got out of one potentially very nasty situation not real long ago. So--maybe sometimes there's reason." He shrugs, looking away. "Or maybe I'm defending the weird shit these people do because at this point I'm too invested to see things clearly."

     He takes the glass with a nod of thanks, looking frankly tired. "Maybe. I don't know. It all hurts my head. I know I'm not stupid, Loki, but I'm not fucking smart enough to figure all this out." Pres holds the glass to his forehead, then shrugs and lifts it in offhanded salute before drinking. "Cheers, as I guess they say. So what now?"

     Loki downs a swig before answering. "We're all four of us adults, by some standard or another. So we figure out individually what people want--or need--and work from there. Maddie's happy enough I think she's set, so right now I'm wondering what you want. Gillian...can wait until she's calmed down some."

     "No idea." Pres shrugs, looking uncomfortable. "I like ... damn it, I like the idea of finding out more about this other world. But less if it's what both my sisters are going to be doing." He looks skew at Loki. "I suppose you think that's pretty shitty of me."

     "Not really. It was sort of weird on this side to find out that hooking up with this family was going to be the West family extravaganza." Loki's smile is crooked, but sincere enough. He tilts the glass to one side, ice cubes clinking. "But that's part of the being adult thing. Doing what we've decided to do, without letting our family dictate our lives. I don't think you should let their involvement with other parts of all this stop you from what you want. It's not a competition."

     "True. I just like to keep the parts of my life separate. I guess I should realize that's not really how it works in the real world." Pres exhales slowly. "Okay. So what're you going to do next?"

     "I was sort of hoping that if I kept this conversation focused on your family, we wouldn't get back to that question," Loki says into his drink. "Fuck. I don't know. Keep banging my head against the wall until it falls down or I do, probably."

     "Yeah, okay, well, if you don't want me to ask, I won't." Pres shrugs, rising to his feet and draining his drink in one long swallow, head tipped back, eyes closed until the liquid's all gone, ice strained against his teeth. He puts the glass down, turning to look at Loki. "I gave you my input. I think you can do it, but it does mean you're gonna have to make changes in how you do stuff. I'm in the same boat. But on the plus side? I may not like everything about these people, but they seem like they make better friends than enemies. Might be annoying, but at least they're willing to help. I got over my damn pride." He bends to slap his calf and straightens, giving Loki a meaningful look. "Your turn."

     Loki shrugs, looking into his drink. "Yeah. I'll...see if that goes better the next time I try it. Lousy results once don't mean it's not worth giving it another shot."

     "There's a dozen of them here. Try asking different ones and collecting answers. Make it your personal Pokemon," Pres deadpans. "Gotta catch 'em all." He nudges his glass out of the way. "I'm going to go work on a letter to mumsie and dad, maybe catch a nap. I'll check in with you after dinner, 'kay?"

Posted by rowan at July 03, 2009 05:35 PM