if she'd been covered with glitter

[maleficum]

Comments

[geminated]

I assume. We didn't really get around to the where he's been end of things. We were mostly all just shocked at his being alive. Or us, in his case.

[It's still a lot and she's not sure how to feel about it because while they have made progress in her being happy about things and life, it's still hard not to feel like the other shoe is going to drop at some point.]

And I'm mostly just trying to make it seem like I have my shit together.

[recrudesce]

You never lost your shit.

( Like the Armory grounds him, it grounds her, too. It gives her purpose beyond her family's legacy and worrying about her brother's moronic dating decisions. His words. Also sometimes they're her words, but it sounds nicer coming from her, doesn't it? )

So, this is a Baltimore coincidence. Well, I know he's not dating your brother so where does this trash bag fit into all of this?

[geminated]

Well, he kind of showed up just as we were figuring out that it was Shep and when we introduced him as our brother he was rightfully confused and he wound up being the focus of me trying to keep my shit together.

I did apologize, but he took Shep's sudden appearance as Luke not being completely honest and didn't seem willing to give him the time to explain and he left.

[She wrinkles her nose, not that he can see it.]

So him being trash might be a little my fault.

[recrudesce]

Sounds like he wasn't willing to hear your brother out. I'm going with, you can't make someone trash.

( They just are. )

Do you know what your brother is doing in Baltimore?

[geminated]

Not yet. He was on some kind of video call when I went up to him, but I don't know what it's for. We're going to have brunch so I'm sure Luke will handle interrogating him about where he's been and what he's doing here.

[They'll figure it out.]

But I just wanted to let you know I may be crashing here tonight.

[recrudesce]

Do you need backup?

( He, more than anyone, knows she can handle herself, but he has to offer. He also wants to. Save him from the books. )

[geminated]

[She knows that's why he's offering, and sometimes it's good that he does. It saves her the vulnerability of asking. She's also not necessarily opposed, though she hesitates.]

Maybe.

[It's not a yes, but it's not no either. And it will take him some time to get here.]

I don't want to spook him but I wouldn't say no if you wanted to drive out.

[recrudesce]

How about this, I'll book my own room. And I'll be there for you if you need me.

( Not when. She might not need him, but he is here to emotionally support her.

He also needs to bring the books. He'll at least have.... books. )

[geminated]

[She smirks.]

Text me when you get in and I'll let you know where we're at.

[She may come over and join him at the hotel anyway. It'll probably be better than sleeping on Luke's couch. But hopefully things with Shep will continue to go well.]

[recrudesce]

And, if you need more family time, I'll see you later.

( Without them. He too smiles, hanging up. He is ready for anything.

Unlike Shep, who at this moment is downing another shot.

"It's a fair question, Shep. I know what my sister and I have been doing all this time." )

[geminated]

[Look, he should know that Liv almost never needs more family time. Either she is done with them or they are done with her fairly quickly.

They avoid each other so they can keep loving each other.]

I also had that question. So if we've reached your turn to share, I'm ready to listen.

[pricetags]

You know this isn't fair, I don't have a long lost sibling to gang up on you guys with.

( He lets the low blow linger between the three of them, because it's as much his as it is theirs as he sighs and tilts his head back. His upper row of teeth run along his lower lip as he formulates what needs to be said.

What can be said?

"It can't be that bad." He exchanges a look with his sister. "Can it?" )

Look, I survived, but I - survived and, I thought nobody else did, so I got lost. I changed my name. I went South.

[geminated]

Okay. South. Then what?

[She tips her head to the side as she considers him.]

You met your little friends that were on that video call?

[pricetags]

They're not --

( Not for awhile. )

I fell in with a coven. In Los Angeles. I got - close to the leader, trusted him and I shouldn't have. He - I don't know what he wanted, but what we are ( he pauses ) is what he was after. It was kill or be killed.

[geminated]

[She pauses for a long time as she tries to process that information, trying to read between the lines. It's hard to read the obvious signs between what she vaguely remembers of him and how he felt, magically speaking, as a child, versus the man who's standing before her now.

But she has spent enough time around heretics with a heretic niece to eventually parse it out (18), and leans back with a frown.]

Oh.

[pricetags]

I think he always suspected what I was. He asked a lot of questions. I thought it was because he was mentoring me. ( Taking Shepard under his wing. ) He slipped something into a drink he offered, set me up, and then - ( he uses finger quotations. ) saved me.

[geminated]

That's some bullshit.

[She says it in a way that indicates that she's on Shep's side, because it is bullshit. You can't just run around turning people into heretics.]

But if it helps, the Gemini Coven isn't in the business of sending heretics off into prison dimensions anymore. Jo won't care. She'll just be happy that you're here.

[pricetags]

Good to know old habits actually die.

( He continues the rest of his story. )

He used me, I retaliated fatally, and went on the run. There's still a coven in LA that wants my head on a spike.

( And so he ran. )

[geminated]

[Even more of an excuse to stay out of LA.]

Do they need to be dealt with? Or is it a they'll leave you alone if you leave them alone kind of thing?

[It could give the Armory something to do.]

[pricetags]

( LA's not that bad. )

I changed my name. I went East.

( He adopted an entirely different persona courtesy of the Venice locals he met along the way. Shipp, the stoner witch. )

[geminated]

And now you take Zoom calls in a bar?

[He's got some kind of people. She's trying very gently not to pry too fast, but she would like him to be a little less vague.]

[pricetags]

Or, wherever.

( Or they meet in person. )

I'm on an assignment.

( He has to admit this eventually. Who he fell in with. Which reminds him, he hasn't checked back in, or returned to the room. )

[geminated]

Assignment for who?

[And what kind of assignment involves video calls in a bar. Please speak in longer sentences, or Liv might lose her mind.]

[pricetags]

The Underground. We're a collection of supernaturals.

( A few odd ducks out. )

[geminated]

[Recognition lights her face almost immediately (17).]

Oh. I know the Underground. I'm surprised we haven't run into each other sooner.

[And then, because explanations are probably important:]

I work for the Armory.