Who: Odette Boot & Adrian Mattias
What: you guys get to experience some sibling fun
Where: Montrose!
When: earlier today!
When was the last time she had been here? Odette couldn't remember, and the answer seemed farther and farther away from her the more she tried to grasp it. She frowned, and instead roughly took the handle of the front door to push it open to walk inside.
Coming to her house in Montrose, the one she had lived in by herself for many years, Odette had thought.... with everything that had been going on... that making a visit could help clear her disarranged mind. Or give insight, maybe even make her feel better... just do
something that helped muddle out why she suddenly desired to be a miserable witch that deserved to die alone. The house was, and continued to be, important enough to her that she had decided against selling it when she had moved in with Noah, so... she had thought it to be a good idea.
Unfortunately, upon entering, the walls did not expand to let her breathe while she was bathed with familiarity, but instead, the front room made her felt, cold, closed-in, and dark. The image of an obviously uninhabited house overwhelmed her, and the sight of all the furniture dusty and covered with white sheets brought on a fresh set of tears.
She just cried all the time now, didn't she? After years of refusing to, avoiding at all costs, it was just a fucking
open flood gate, all day, all night. The faint confusion over she was crying was not clear; was she crying because this was what she'd left, or this would be what she could be returning to? Odette shook her head, not wanting to think anymore of that.
Too distracted to care, Odette left the front door open to fall to the closest seating. She put her hands to her face, suddenly feeling too exhausted to do anything else.
Deus what had he just walked into? Adrian shook the struck look from his face, not wanting even the slightest
off chance of Odette catching him watch her sob like it wasn't the rare occurrence that it was. He stood in the doorway, awkwardly, as if waiting for some godly instruction on what to do next.
He hadn't even thought she would
be here! It had just been--- he had just wanted to give her a
birthday present, which had set him in motion on this wild... Odette real-estate case! His first folly, he now knew, had been oh-so mistakenly going to
Manchester, where apparently only stupid people associated with Odette traveled to these days. He had been confronted by what could only be described as the Boot Clan in full clan mode, working about in the house. Noah's twin sister eventually informed him (after closing the door on Martin's 'THE ENEMY!' yells) that Odette was most certainly not
here and to try somewhere else. Didn't he know what was going on? They were having
problems.
No, she must be mistaking him with Odette's
other brother, the one that she didn't hate and ignore half of the time so he would know what was going on.
Adrian shifted awkwardly, willing himself to not make a sound. Maggie had given him this little... carrier thing that had cake and her present in it, which he now felt
dumb for holding, because, well it was pink, wasn't it? And this was obviously not the time. Adrian looked down at the ground to give himself a moment to think about how to appropriately handle this situation.
"What are you doing here?" Odette spoke harshly, and Adrian looked up to see her watching him as she wiped her tears. He gaped for a second, not having had enough time to think.
"I, um--- for your birthday?" As he spoke Adrian brought his hands up to show her the box. "From me and Maggie. Because... it's your birthday," he finished lamely, waving the package slightly.
"I know it's my fucking birthday Adrian," Odette spat, jerkily picking herself up from the covered couch. She wiped her face again, her braided hair swinging as she moved. She walked across the room, stopping at a table with a couple of frames on it. They were also a bit dusty, so she took one in her hand to clean it. Her heart became heavy at the now-clear moving image.
It was a picture of Noah and Orion, their dog that he had given to her, playing in the backyard. She didn't remember taking it, but Orion was still a puppy (as shown but the photo Noah occasionally picking him up), so it had been a while. Odette watched the images until she couldn't bare it anymore, and she let the frame fall face down back onto the table.
Tony had told him that Odette could be nice, that she was very nice to him, now, so at least it Adrian had it on good authority that she was capable of doing nice things that did not include thoughts of murder. Adrian scratched the back of his head, unsure what else to say. Noah's twin hadn't informed him about what was going on as much as he had hoped, and he couldn't help but wonder how much his presence would help. Maybe he should have gone home to get Maggie before coming here...
"I was--- uh, Noah's sister... Noël?" Adrian began, obviously fishing. "She told me you might be here, so I thought..." he trailed off, realizing too late that name dropping anyone whose last name began with 'B' and ended with 'oot' was a poor choice. He pulled mouth back, face forming a caught expression.
Odette froze for a few moments, then unceremoniously dropped the frame she had been looking at. Such a fierce intenseness filled her that she could barely contain herself. Her body snapped toward Adrian and her nostrils flared. He did
what?
"I mean! When I went over, you weren't there, so I had to talk to someone! So they told me---"
"Get out." She really did not care that she was interrupting him, or that it sounded like his appearance really had been a mistake. He had no business speaking to her about this. "Get
out!" Odette yelled, rushing toward him, hands balled together, and knocking over a few things as she stomped.
"I'm out!" Adrian responded, having never actually walked inside the house. This response, however, only seemed to infuriated Odette more. She shook, swiping at her sibling like a taloned beast.
"I thought you were there!" he rushed, his eyes going wide as he ducked from her. That really had been an honest mistake. Sometimes, he would admit, he did things purposefully, and then played them off as
accidental, but this was not one of those times. Why wouldn't he assume that Odette was in the house with the family she had been living with for the past two years on her birthday?
"You have no bloody idea---
talking to--- none of your damn
business---" she half hissed, half screamed if that was at all possible. Such a fury had become instilled in her that her ability to gage was low. "
Who do you think you are?!"
"I'm your brother," Adrian spoke honestly, and in a tone much gentler than hers.
"HALF BROTHER!" Odette screeched, now hitting his chest with her hand. She let out an inaudible shriek, spinning to walk away from him. And, just when Adrian had thought it was over, Odette roared back a few silent minutes later. She rushed forward, flinging her hands from her head, waving them for emphasis.
"The birth of a
brother would not have caused such a poisonous riff between my parents! A
brother would have been someone I grew up with. A
brother wouldn't have made my life a
living hell in school! A
brother wouldn't have just randomly disappeared off the face of the earth in
Portugal only to come back here
because you felt like it--- and then come into my life like it was nothing." With each statement Odette's screams became louder, and once she'd finished, her throat felt hoarse and strained. "You are not my brother," she finished, straightening finally to look him in the eye.
Adrian looked down at the ground once she had finished. How the ramifications of his reveal effected the MacFarlan family had not been something he'd been concerned about in 1971. All he'd wanted, in the beginning, was acceptance from their father, and when he didn't get it... Adrian had understood for a while now that to even begin winning over Odette, it would take a great deal of enduring heavy bitterness and harsh words from her. And until now, it had mostly been... just small, biting remarks, nothing that had clued him in toward her true, deep feelings concerning him. It was... should he be happy that in her own way she had opened up to him, or upset that she had said what she'd said? It was difficult to decide.
"When I was at your house, Noah and his siblings, they were--- together, a unit. They weren't even trying, that was just how they functioned, like they practically knew what each other were thinking and going to do the whole time. And I know I did some terrible things to you in the past," Adrian chose to keep out that her hands were not clean concerning that, either, but now was not the time, "but if you let me---"
"Why should I let you do anything?" she snapped, folding her arms across her chest. While she knew he wouldn't want her to notice, Adrian did see tears begin to collect in her eyes. He swallowed, and ignored her rude interruption.
"Because you need it. And you need me," he spoke frankly.
"I do not," she replied instantly, and as if to end this conversation, she turned her back toward Adrian and began to walk away. What did he know? Nothing! The day--- the only thing he knew more than her was
Portuguese.
Adrian blinked, wanting to choose his next words wisely. He knew they had to be significant. "Then why are you here? Alone. On your birthday." His tone was not harsh, nor condescending, but implied concern and a touch of sadness.
Odette kept her back to him, wrapping her arms around herself. She did not want to respond to him, having suddenly lost all willingness to fight, or even speak. A long silence grew between them, but she paid no mind to it. Instead, she focused on the small hole in the wood on the ground. It was the only thing she could focus on.
The silence, albeit uncomfortable, was something Adrian took as a good sign. Well, not a
good sign in the sense that she was most likely crying silent tears, but good in that he felt alright stepping inside, now. An opportunity! This was an opportunity. He closed the door behind him. As he did, it seemed the sound had knocked Odette back to life, and she turned sharply.
He would refrain from commenting on her disheveled appearance.
"How come they get to be
there, like a family, and you won't even look at me?" Adrian asked calmly, approaching her as such. "Talk to me, Odette! I married your best friend, I came back to Great Britain for you--- I'm here now! I want what they have, what everybody has, and you do too! I don't know what's going on here, but I can help. Please, let me help!"
"We are not family," she hissed, and even Adrian had to admit her vicious tone and words surprised him to the point where they finally hit their mark. He frowned, and looked at her sadly.
No, he supposed they weren't.
Yet, anyway.
Still frowning, Adrian glanced over Odette's shoulder toward the mess she had created the past few minutes. The general dust had been shifted, and some things were on the ground. Weren't those
her things? Why was she breaking her own things? His brow furrowed, and for the first time in the conversation he did not respond to her. Instead, he slid away from her to quietly begin picking up her chaos. As he cleaned up glass and put things standing right with his wand, Adrian spoke calmly.
"You can think what you want, but I'm not going to give up on you, Odette. You're the only sister I've got. Sorry."
When he finally finished and turned back to her, Adrian saw that Odette's fierce complexion had finally dissolved. In it's place was nothing else that could be described as a confused, and sad, little child's expression that was struggling to understand. Had his words really struck her that deeply? He had only been speaking the truth. Surely he must have said this to her before?
Odette began to cry, again, and Adrian approached her quickly out of concern. But she shook her head.
"I
hate you," she sobbed feebly, and Adrian understood the difference in her tone this time. He would have
smiled if that hadn't meant immediate death.
"I know," he said, and as tentatively as he could reached out to wrap her bony body into a hug.
"Don't touch me," she whimpered, moving her arms close to her chest, as if creating some weak barrier between them. But Adrian paid no mind to it, and instead, simply patted her back. The wet spot on his should grew, and he embraced it.
"Don't worry, I'm not enjoying this either," Adrian said seriously, and if he wasn't mistaken, he heard her produce something of a sniffled '
cough'. He would accept this.
