Dresden Academy

Who: Abernathy, Adelaide, and the Ford family
When: Early in the fall semester (2010)
Where: Hadley-Luzerne, NY
What: AB invites Adelaide home for the weekend.
Rating: SFW. Language.

It had been her idea after all.

Abernathy was trying not to begrudge Adelaide's presence in her home, if only because AB was the one to suggest it. "Just come home with me for the weekend. De-stress. Don't even think about this shit."

Those were her exact words to her now infamous arch-nemesis. Come hang out with me. I'll make you feel better about your shit life.

Now she was regretting it a bit, but she wasn't going to take it back. Adelaide had been stepped on too much in the past few months. The girl needed some slack, even if she didn't entirely deserve it.

And wasn’t it hilarious that out of all the people in Adelaide’s life, the one stepping up for her now was Abernathy Ford? No, not really. It was kind of a disgusting thought really, that someone who considered her an enemy (and make no mistake, the feeling was entirely mutual) was being her best and almost only friend.

Still, affection was affection (forced or fake or otherwise) and it had to be better than sitting in her dorm room and staring at the wall for forty-eight hours until she dragged herself to class again. Instead, she was staring at AB’s living room wall. There was a framed picture in crayon, slightly aged from being in the sun. Family mementos. She cracked a smile, but didn’t say anything, and tried to hide it just as fast.

"You'll be in my room with Bernadine. I'll sleep on the couch. Dad likes to sing in the morning when he's making coffee and it's never very pleasant to wake up to." Abernathy showed her the room just long enough for Adelaide to set her bags down. Bernadine had painted it purple in her absence, but she liked it.

She pointed to the next room down the hall. "That's my brother Tim's room. I think he's home this weekend." A little further down the hall she pointed again. "That's the bathroom." The master bedroom was on the opposite side of the main living space, but AB didn't bother to point that out. Back in the living room AB showed her the back door to the porch, the small dining area the living room opened up on and the kitchen which was just off to the side and so open it might as well be adjoined to the living room. "If you need anything you can help yourself." She shrugged pointing to the cups shelf, the snacks shelf, and the tap. "The water's safe to drink but it doesn't taste very good. We have a filter in the fridge."

Addy was about to ask how in the hell water could possibly taste bad, but thought better of it. She really didn’t want to be told that skunks went into the water tank to die, or something else utterly revolting that could only possibly happen out in the middle of nowhere. She managed a stiff ‘thank you’ and leaned against the door jamb, trying to think of something to say. Preferably something not like the usual sort of thing she said to AB.

After a few minutes awkward silence, she asked, “So... what do you do?” After realizing that sounded incredibly rude, she added, “For fun, I mean.”

Abernathy wasn't sure how to answer that question. "We hunt, or play sports. Sometimes we stay in, rent some movies. We don't get cable out here." She shrugged and leaned against the kitchen counter.

Tim was home for the weekend, having skipped out of his Friday classes early and driven home. He managed to beat Abernathy by a few hours. He heard the noise but figured it was just her; she never brought anyone home. He wandered out of his room shirtless to get something to drink and barged into the kitchen ready to put her in a headlock when he saw what he assumed was her friend. "Oh. Hey," he said straightening up a bit. He thought she was kind of hot, especially to be hanging out with his little sister.

Addy brought her hand up to her mouth, a little shocked. As far as she was aware, people only ever walked around half naked at the beach. Or home alone. It wasn’t the sort of thing you generally did around other people. Her gaze flicked over to Abernathy for a moment, to see if she found this out of the ordinary. “... Hi.”

Abernathy rolled her eyes at her brother. Fabulous first impression. Jesus Christ. "Adelaide, this is my brother Tim. Brother Tim, this is Adelaide. She's staying with me for the weekend."

Tim grinned like he wasn't half naked and meeting an attractive girl for the first time. He stretched out his hand. "Pleasure to meet you Adelaide."

She blinked at him for a moment, before taking the extended hand and squeezing it gently. “Same,” she whispered, trying to keep her eyes on his face and not straying down. Maybe this was normal behaviour for people who lived where their neighbours couldn’t see them. It wasn’t at all what she was used to though, so she would just have to... keep being uptight about it.

She just hoped that when she met Abernathy’s father and sister that they’d have tops on.

Timmy Ford didn't always walk around the house topless, but it was a frequent enough occurrence that Abernathy didn't notice it so much anymore. He moved over to the fridge and grabbed a juice carton. "Give me a glass," he demanded of his sister.

She leveled him with a stare. He was being a showy brat for the pretty girl and AB was not impressed. She gave him a glass, one of those cheesy mugs that could be bought at McDonalds with a happy meal. "Enjoy," she said and nodded to Adelaide. "I don't know what you want to do, but we can wander around the woods." The weather was nice enough and she knew the area well enough that they wouldn't get lost.

“Oh, now your motives become clear. Drag me to the woods so they’ll never find my corpse.” A smirk was sliding across her face. It was so much easier to be at odds with her than dance around this strange truce. “Fine, but you have to use your bare hands.”

"Yes, that's exactly what I was thinking. Wouldn't even have to bury you. The animals will take care of your corpse."

Tim looked between the two girls. Now that he was thinking a little bit less about the pretty girl he put the name Adelaide with the description Abernathy had given him several times before. "Evil, rotten, miserable, spoiled, southern, inbred hellspawn." To which he would reply: "she sounds nice." It struck him like lightning and he'd have to ask AB later why in the hell she would invite her mortal enemy to hang out for the weekend. "Now ladies, I can't possibly let you wander around the woods together, especially if you're going to end up strangling each other. I'll escort you."

Abernathy smirked at him. "Please, first, escort yourself back to your closet and put some clothes on."

Addy couldn’t help but laugh. Which was an entirely new occurrence, laughing at something Abernathy had said, rather than laughing at her. She definitely wasn’t going to go so far as to think she might have been wrong about this pushy, opinionated bitch, but maybe she was at least somewhat entertaining.

“We can wait,” she told Tim, barely stifling a giggle. “Wouldn’t want you to miss the girlfight.” Boys. The same from Baton Rouge to... wherever the hell they were.

As soon as Tim had rushed from the kitchen to his bedroom Abernathy started shaking her head. "He'll grab the first thing he finds on the floor," she said, though that was a bold faced lie. Tim was one of the tidiest boys she knew. He'd be at least five minutes looking for a shirt that made his eyes pop. "Should probably bring some water if we're traipsing around for awhile." She dug out two water bottles and filled them from the filtered pitcher, putting fresh water in to replace the water she'd taken.

Tim returned a few minutes later in a light blue short sleeve button down that did exactly what Abernathy predicted. "Shall we?" he asked, offering his arm blatantly to Adelaide.

Abernathy had to stifle her gag reflex. This was a horrible idea.

Had it not been for the look on AB’s face, Adelaide might have declined to take Tim’s arm. But old habits die hard. She smirked at her, and curled her hand just lightly over his forearm. “I can probably find my way out of the kitchen, you know.” She could probably even find her way all the way into the woods. Trying to get out though, she might actually need the escort. Her sense of direction was not excellent. Would it be rude of her to Apparate if she got lost?

“Abernathy? Are we going or not?” Yes she was poking the bear. And she would probably regret it once the witness’ back was turned. But... come on.

Abernathy offered both of them a dark and deadly stare as response. She pushed one of the water jugs at her brother. "Since you're in such a helpful mood today you can carry one of these." She hooked the other over her shoulder with the adjustable strap and stomped out to the backyard mumbling something about interlopers and boy whores.

Adelaide couldn’t tell if she was the interloper or the boy whore. Coming from AB, she was probably both. But now that she’d made the offense she intended, she gave Tim a big grin and bumped him playfully. “Don’t drop that, I can’t fix it.”

And then she abandoned him to run off after Abernathy.

Tim had only known the crazy bitch a few minutes. He knew exactly who she was from Abernathy's apt descriptions. And now he was undeniably smitten with her. He trailed behind the two girls with a big, goofy grin on his face. I am going to get that girl to love me. Even if Abernathy kills me in the process.

AB walked in a straight line out of their backyard and into the woods. This is why she loved living out in the middle of nothing. Your backyard became a gateway to the woods and this is where she had always felt happiest. She'd need the woods this weekend, especially if that goofy grin on Tim's face kept pointing itself toward Adelaide.

"So, you uh, go to school with AB?" Tim asked as he caught up to Adelaide, matching her long stride.

“Yep. We don’t have any classes together, but there’s a pair of desks in detention hall with our names on ‘em.” Or, there probably would be if Professor Morse didn’t seem to have the uncanny ability to pop up and give you stink-eye when you so much as thought about damaging school property.

She hoped that would suffice as explanation as to how she and Abernathy knew one another. Because it sure as hell didn’t make any inroads to figuring out how the hell she wound up here, of all places. They didn’t have many mutual friends, they didn’t hang out on a friendly basis-- in fact, their entire relationship was built upon antagonizing one another and then sitting in detention together and trying to figure out how it had happened again.

Abernathy pretended to ignore Timothy's graceless social advances on Adelaide. "Spend more time there than we do in class," she shot over her shoulder and tried even harder to ignore the interest in Tim's eyes. This was a terribly horrible idea and I'm going to regret it forever.

Tim laughed at both of them. "That's our AB for you. Always in trouble. She wasn't that bad when she went to muggle school," he said as if this was something Adelaide should know. "So, are you an Adelaide or an Addy or a Lady?"

Abernathy snorted in derision up ahead but didn't turn back to give Tim her best dirty look. She'd lambaste him later.

"What?" he shouted to his sister. "I'm just being nice. Trying to get to know your friend."

She didn't reply and forged ahead, deeper into the woods.

Addy rolled her eyes. “Never a lady, especially if you ask her.” Not by name, though she tried hard (and more often than not failed) to be one by definition. “Sometimes Addy. Usually Adelaide.” She suspected that the reason for that was that only friends called you by nicknames, and as she didn’t have many it logically followed that most of the time she got called by her full name.

“What about you? Are you a Timothy, or a Tim or a Timmy or something else entirely?”

"He's an idiot," Abernathy supplied backwards and grinned privately to herself.

"I'm a Tim or a Timmy or a Timothy. Whatever you like best."

She laughed. “You’d really let a girl choose your name for you? What if she wants to call you Pumpkin? Or Princess Sparklepants?”

"If she has balls enough to call me Princess Sparklepants she best accept whatever it is I choose to call her, Addy," he added after a moment's pause.

Abernathy snorted again. "How about Princess Dipshit?" Then she slowed down. Maybe she could prevent this from getting too ridiculous if she stuck herself in the middle of their awkwardly stupid conversation.

“AB, be nice to Princess Sparklepants. He’s your brother, after all.” She wouldn’t really call him that, if only because it was a damn mouthful. If you weren’t going to call someone by their name it was just ridiculous to call them something even longer.

She kicked at a nearby log. It didn’t budge, but she supposed she shouldn’t follow its example. “I don’t even know what you like to be called,” she said, directing it at Abernathy. If the girl was going to open her home to her, she supposed it was only polite to call her by a preferred name.

Abernathy wasn't sure if she should be surprised or worried. Adelaide was still being nice-ish to her. This called for some therapy, or drugs. This girl was so close to rock bottom she was even asking what she preferred to be called. "AB's fine. It's probably safest when you meet Bernadine. People call us both AB if they can't tell us apart. Though her hair's longer; you should be able to see the difference. People that know the difference tend to call me Abby."

Tim hadn't been asked, but he didn't want to be left out of this conversation. "Dad calls me Timmy. The kids at school call me Tim." He ran his hands along a tree trunk as he passed it. "I'm only called Timothy when I'm in some kind of trouble."

“Maybe I should be calling you Timothy then.” Full name being used when in trouble was universal, she supposed. Though, her grandmother always insisted on using her full name, always. The whole damn thing. It didn’t really matter anymore.

Abby smirked between them. "He's not in trouble yet." She cast her eyes toward Tim, emphasis on the yet.

"Yeah. Yeah," he replied as if he was entirely used to being bossed around by his little sister. "I'll find a way to get myself in trouble. It's the Ford creed. It's how we thrive." Then he winked at Adelaide as if to prove the point.

“I don’t doubt it,” Addy said, entirely serious. All boys were trouble. And she had a feeling that was especially true for this one. She eyed off the tree he was leaning against, and decided she had her own point to prove. “I bet you can’t climb that.”

Tim offered Adelaide a flattening sort of look. "I'm not five, you know." He wasn't the sort of guy to acquiesce to bets and being egged on. Though he was fairly certain he could climb that tree, he wasn't going to do it to impress her.

Abernathy shrugged unhelpfully. She wasn't wearing the right sort of shoes to climb trees today.

She grinned at him. A lot of guys would take the bait without provocation. Like Greg. “No, you’re not five. Just chicken.”

"Or old enough to know better than to fall for the bait," he replied tartly. "Let's see you climb it if you're so brave."

“... in a skirt.” She looked at him skeptically. “I’d make you close your eyes and then you wouldn’t know if I climbed it or not anyway. Well, until I started raining pinecones on you.”

She couldn’t help but laugh when he wouldn’t co-operate. “That’s so weird. My little brother falls for chicken every time.”

Tim decided he didn't think very much of Adelaide's brother. Abernathy laughed. "Yeah, Tim doesn't fall for much." Except blondes in skirts. That was one of the differences between them; when Abernathy took the bait and jumped in head first, Tim was still thinking it out logically on the ground.

Which was why Abernathy was swinging up into the tree even though her shoes didn't have the right kind of traction to grab the bark. "Come on chicken shits, the weather is perfectly lovely up here."

“Still in a skirt, genius! Do you want me to flash your brother?” If she’d known tree climbing was on the agenda she’d have worn something more appropriate. Though, that didn’t seem to be stopping Abernathy. Adelaide eyed her shoes critically. “You’re gonna fall on your ass.”

"And not for the first time," Abernathy pointed out. She'd fallen enough that she wasn't afraid of it. If she broke a bone she could have it grown back. "And yeah. No. He might like it, but your dignity is hanging by a string, Adelaide. Don't snap that fucker."

Timmy extended his hands as if to say "hey, I'm standing right here." He jumped up to grab the branch Abernathy was standing on and give it a proper shake, but the tree was too thick and he didn't have enough leverage. "We're going to leave you out here in the tree."

"I don't know if I'm mean enough to leave Adelaide in your dazzling company," she replied from higher up in the tree, and then gracelessly slipped and caught herself on her ass on the branch her brother had been trying to shake. "Ffffffffuck," she hissed and then slid back down the tree and toward the ground.

“‘Hanging by a string’ is rather generous, wouldn’t you say?” Adelaide grumbled, not really expecting an answer. She was pretty sure that last shred of dignity went and dissolved right about the time the entire school had found out Andre was gay.

“I’m sure he’s perfectly fine comp--” an amused snort slipped out when AB fell. “Told you.”

Tim grinned smarmily at Adelaide. "I'm sorry, what were you about to say before my graceless sister fell?"

Abernathy groaned from the tree and let herself down gingerly. She'd have a fine bruise across her ass later. "She was about to say what a perfect ass you are."

Addy smirked. “You should focus less on your brother’s perfect ass and more on not getting your own handed to you by a tree.”

Ah, crap. That made her sound like a shameless flirt, didn’t it? She pursed her lips, annoyed at herself. Guys were only ever nice to girls when they wanted to get in their pants, and then they fucked off once they got what they wanted. She was sick of it. She’d have to watch her mouth a little more carefully than usual; try not to let Timothy think she was encouraging him. Well, at least AB would be happy about that.

Tim puffed up happily while Abernathy shook her head at both of them. "Shall I give you kids some alone time then?" Abernathy retorted.

Adelaide blanched. “No, I don’t think that’s entirely necessary.” She didn’t at all think that Tim might try something, or anything like that. It just seemed like a terrible, terrible idea. “Would it make you happier if I just... shut up?”

"Yes." "No." Abernathy answered at the same time as her brother and both of them smirked at one another before grinning at Adelaide. "Oh come on Addy," Abernathy finally said. The nickname sounded weird coming from her, but she had said it. "Let's get back home and have something to eat."

Food wasn’t high on Addy’s ‘to-do list’ of late, but she agreed solely not to be standing out in the woods and having awkward conversation. She had noticed the change in address; she was fairly certain that Abernathy had never called her by a nickname before (excepting the nicknames only she used for her, such as ‘spoiled bitch’, ‘southern trash’ and the like). A hesitant smile flickered across her face, and she followed her lead back towards the house.

The Ford kids tromped through the woods back home and ushered their guest into the kitchen. "What do you like to eat?" Tim asked. He spent all of his free time cooking with the culinary arts kids on campus and had learned a few tricks. He thought he could wow her by cooking her something fabulous.

Abby rolled her eyes at him. "She doesn't eat," she replied tartly by looking at how skinny Adelaide had gotten. "She'll have a diet tea."

“I do eat, you fu--” Then, remembering to watch her mouth, she scowled. “Diet tastes like crap.”

She leaned on the counter and tugged a well-loved, dogeared cookbook towards her, flicking through idly, looking at what must be favourite dishes. Nothing looked appealing, but that was less a matter of taste than it was that she hadn’t felt like eating for a very long time.

Timmy shrugged. "All right, is there anything you don't eat?" he didn't want to cook her something she'd only pick at.

She shrugged. “Coconut?” She wasn’t generally a fussy eater, but coconut was one of those things that made her feel sick all around. Even fake coconut scent. Her mouth twitched into a half-smile. “Hope coconut pie isn’t a specialty.”

"I don't believe in coconuts," Tim answered with a completely straight face.

Abernathy wasn't sure how he did it. "Can we make something that's not complicated?"

Tim smirked at his sister. "You see Addy," he said using her nickname with a smarmy grin, "we have to keep things simple for our poor AB."

Though the opportunity was there, she didn’t take it. She shrugged. “Simple’s best, in the kitchen.” Her finger trailed down over the text of a recipe. Very little of it even seemed like english. Saute? Aubergine? Fold eggs? She raised an eyebrow. What was wrong with microwaved spaghetti-os?

Tim didn't take his eyes off her. "Anything strike your fancy?"

Abernathy noted that she didn't take the pot shot. She was torn between grateful and worried. "Choose carefully. We'll end up with haute cuisine that will take hours to cook."

She looked up between them. “I’m okay, really. Whatever you guys want.” She was starting to feel a little pressured to choose, given that she wasn’t even particularly hungry. “Don’t fuss on account of me.”

"He likes to fuss," Abby replied with a roll of her eyes.

Tim shook his head vigorously. "I do."

"We could just wait until the sun sets, start the back yard on fire and do hot dogs and s'mores," Abernathy suggested.

Tim shook his head. "No appreciation for the finer things in life."

Addy, for her part, actually really liked the sound of that. “I hope you don’t mean literally the whole back yard.” She bounced a little. “Can we melt stuff?”

"We can melt anything you like," Tim supplied cheerily.

"Nah, we have a fire pit specifically for burning things without starting a wild fire." She had to double check and make sure they had a bucket of water to put out any stray flames. Bernadine had a habit of wandering around with a stick with a burning ember on the end.

There was nothing in particular Addy felt like burning, but what fun was a fire if you didn’t put things in it? “Cool,” she said, grinning at them both. “Sounds like fun.”

The house was still awfully quiet. “So...” She looked around. “Are your dad and sister coming, or is it just us for the weekend?”

Abby looked to Tim, mostly because she hadn't thought to ask. "Yeah," he answered. "Dad went into town for the afternoon. I think he had to talk to a buyer about a piece he's working on. He was going to pick Bernadine up from school on the way."

They seemed to have been gone for some time. Adelaide and Abernathy had apparated, so Addy had no idea how far away ‘town’ might be. She was starting to think, however, that it might be quite the distance.

She looked out the window to the darkening sky. “Should we... make dinner for them?”

"Oh, dad's all for roasting meat over an open fire." Abernathy grinned and shuffled through a drawer to find a box of matches. "Let's go set things on fire."

Tim shrugged. "I don't have as much of a problem with that as I probably should." After which he followed his sister outside and started collecting wood from the pile at the back of the house.

Adelaide followed after Tim, figuring he could probably use an extra pair of arms to help carry wood to the firepit. “Sorry I dragged you out of the kitchen,” she said, smirking mildly. “I never can say no to a big ol’ backyard fire.”

Oh he liked that accent. "I don't mind one bit," he said, though he had been looking forward to cooking something spectacular and maybe impressing her. If she liked burning things he would get his ass out back and set a fire.

Abernathy already had a good base built in the fire pit and was setting flame to a bit of paper. If there was one thing all the Ford kids knew how to do it was how to start a proper campfire.

“Really? You’re a great deal more amenable to my suggestions than Abernathy. Though,” she looked over her shoulder to see her holding court over a fire well on its way to raging. “I guess this one was well-received.” She paused. “Don’t let her push me in?”

He leaned his shoulder into Adelaide's and smiled. "I'll be your protector," he promised. "You might find it surprising, but she's not that awful." Of course, she was his sister; he had to say something nice about her. "Besides, setting flame to her mortal enemy is far too lazy for AB. She wouldn't get any enjoyment out of it. If she's plotting your death it'll be a lot more elaborate than pushing you into the fire pit."

Abernathy heard the very last part of this and snorted as she pushed herself back from the fire. "Much more elaborate," she agreed with a sharkish grin.

“Are you a Bond villain though? If it’s that elaborate, you have to tell me exactly what it is that’s going to happen and how I can’t possibly escape. And then you have to wander off to allow your plan to come to fruition without supervising my inevitable demise. Of course, I should be wearing a tuxedo for no apparent reason... and I’d need a scantily-clad woman to take a bullet for me to ensure my ongoing commitment-phobia...” She forgot where she was going with this. “Or it could be more Hostel, and you could cut my eyeballs out.”

"She likes Bond," Timmy said and he couldn't hide the fact that the very idea made him swoon.

Abernathy choked on her laughter. "Yes. Exactly. Except I'll have tricked you into being the scantily clad girl and you'll take the bullet for yourself!"

Adelaide mock-gasped. “Twist!”

This... somehow... was the most fun she’d had in a while. Fun. With Abernathy Ford. No blood involved. She was glad she had been talked into this.

The fire was nice and raging by the time Bill peeked his head out the window. "Ah, there are my delinquent children. Dinner a flambe tonight?"

Tim gave his father a thumbs up by the light of the fire and returned his attention back to Adelaide. Bill came out back momentarily with a tray of chicken and hot dogs. The chicken wouldn't cook so well on a stick, but he had a grate he could throw on one end of the fire. Bernadine had a bag of s'mores supplies which she set on one of the lawn chairs. Abernathy made introductions. "Dad, B, this is Adelaide. And I don't know if you've met Tim."

"I keep trying to forget him," Bill teased. "Nice to meet you Adelaide."

Addy started a little at the odd comment, before realizing it was a joke. Unfortunately, the same could not be said of the same comments made in her own family. She imagined it might have been nice if it had been a joke when she was ordered to forget her brother; as though it could be done so easily. Off-guard, and a little confused, she just nodded in response.

After a little while, she remembered her manners and smiled at him. “Thank you for letting me stay.” Especially after... well, everything. Even though they were self-professed ‘mortal enemies’, Adelaide felt bad about damaging AB’s hearing. She’d only meant to kill her, not cause any permanent damage. “It’s real kind of you.”

"AB insisted," Bill said, tossing his arm around his daughter while she fitted a hot dog onto a stick.

Bernadine hung back a bit, very quiet while she set about tossing chicken onto the grate over the fire. She had a few things to say to her sister's "friend," but she didn't want anyone around when she said it.

Timmy found a set of sticks and passed one to Adelaide. "Unless you want chicken. Or both. You can use it if you want both."

She smiled at him as she took the stick, digging one end into the dirt. “Or if I just want to poke things, right?” She looked over to Bernadine, who was being very quiet. Adelaide couldn’t tell if it was because she was a shy person normally, or because Abernathy probably told her what a horrible person she was, and she was being ignored. They looked alike, of course, but there were little differences. Things that weren’t immediately obvious, but that she’d become accustomed to looking for when trying to tell the difference between Andre and his brother-- that is to say that there was always something different between twins.

The most obvious was Bernadine’s hair, longer than AB’s and, though it might just be the firelight, differently colored. Also she looked... smart. Well, not that people looked smart or not, just that she looked very serious, as though she was acutely aware of everything around her. Like everything was obvious. Realizing she was staring, she focused her attention back to the stick.

"So long as I'm not one of the things you want to poke." And then of course he realized the innuendo in that, but he let it ride. He noticed Adelaide's interest in Bernadine. He didn't know if Abernathy explained about their peculiar sister, how she could go from being very talkative to suddenly isolating herself for hours, how she was only partially magical and it affected how she functioned socially. He'd mention it to Abernathy later, or pull Adelaide aside himself.

"Oh Tim, let the poor girl alone a bit, eh?" Bill said, stepping up and snagging the spare stick Tim had found for himself. "I give you full permission to poke 'em all you like. He's probably earned it by now."

Tim feigned offense but then found another stick which he proceeded to poke his father in the gut with. "I have been on my best behavior."

"That's what I meant," Bill retorted and jousted with his son until both of their sticks broke and they had to find new ones for their hot dogs.

"You two keep it up and you'll never eat," Abernathy said from the fire where she and Bernadine were already roasting their dinners. Bernadine nodded. "And you'll scare the poor girl away," she added shyly to Abernathy's statement.

Addy looked up, smiling at Bernadine. “Boys playing with sticks... aren’t that frightening.” And then with a quirked eyebrow in Timothy’s direction, added, “Just silly.”

Then Bill brandished his stick at her. "Not intimidating and awesome to behold?" he exclaimed.

Abernathy didn't bother being embarrassed; her dad had been acting this way for years in front of her friends. "Nope. Just silly." She was feeling that strange feeling again having agreed with Adelaide.

“I think it’s the overwhelming female opinion here, yes.” She smiled, happily. She liked Bill Ford, she decided. He wasn’t a bit like her own father. “We can put on our impressed faces if it’s important, though.”

"It'll make him feel better," Abernathy said and offered her dad a thumbs up.

Bill grinned at the girl and then got busy putting a hot dog on his stick to roast. "There's buns on the picnic table if you want ladies" As for him, well, he was just going to eat his hot dog right off the stick.

“Oh, then I lied. I am seriously very impressed and awed.” She grinned back, and plucked her stick out of the dirt to start drawing idly. She couldn’t see the pattern she was making except when the fire flared, but it didn’t look like anything anyway. It was just that she felt a little useless sitting there while everyone was doing something or other, and she wanted something to do with her hands.

"He'll be your best friend for life. You best look out," Tim joked. He went over to the table and grabbed a bun for his hot dog. "You going to eat or what?"

Abernathy was glad Tim was pushing her to eat. She thought Adelaide looked way too skinny. And she wasn't about to say anything. She ate her hot dog right off the stick and then wandered over to the grate and grabbed a chicken breast to toss on a hamburger bun. She slathered it in barbecue sauce and didn't bother about the fact that some of it dripped from her dinner onto her shirt.

Addy made the slightest of faces and joined Timothy at the table, snagging a hot dog to impale on the end of her stick that hadn’t previously been a dirt crayon. Her stomach had made the slightest noise of interest as the others had started eating. Progress? The ‘unusual’ setting helped, too. Nothing killed her appetite faster than sitting at a dinner table, where everyone could see exactly what everyone was (or wasn’t) eating.

“You guys eat in the yard a lot?” She asked quietly. “It’s kinda... fun.”

Abby laughed. "In the summer time, absolutely."

"It's better than eating in the living room," Bernadine added.

Tim laughed. "There is nothing wrong with enjoying dinner and watching Wheel of Fortune at the same time."

"Except that we don't even get cable," Abernathy interrupted with a shake of her chicken sandwich at him. Then she took another bite and decided to change the topic altogether. "Oh man, we need dessert."

More food? Abernathy’s elaborate plan to kill her obviously involved stuffing her so full she burst. Messy. “You haven’t even finished and you’re already thinking about dessert? Your poor chicken sandwich must be so offended.”

"I'm hoping my chicken sandwich doesn't have feelings," Abernathy said and took another big bite of it.

"We have dessert," Bernadine pointed out quietly.

"Oh, shit yeah! S'mores. Get on it, boy," Abernathy commanded Tim. "The womenfolk need vittles."

Bill sat back at the picnic table and ate his hot dog without comment.

“It might not have feelings, but it can feel neglected,” Adelaide teased. “Abandoned for a smore. Shame on you.” She sat down a little ways from AB, but probably closer than she had ever been to the girl without throwing a punch.

"I'm not abandoning it at all. I will absolutely finish it before I eat a s'more."

"Snack ass," Tim snickered.

"Oh please, as if you're not debating another sandwich before you make everyone s'mores."

"And how in the hell did I get volunteered?"

Abernathy beamed at him. "You're the prettiest."

Addy smirked at her stick at Abby’s last comment, bringing it out of the fire to poke at the hot dog at the end. “They’re probably too complex for us to make anyway, right, AB?”

For a moment Abernathy was insulted, but then she took into account the situation. Adelaide was egging Tim on to get him to make the s'mores for them. "Oh yes," she said with the fakest sigh she could manage. "Much too complicated for us wee little ladies."

"Oh fine," he said. "But you bitches are doing the dishes."

Abernathy chucked her stick into the fire. "Done!"

Adelaide stifled a giggle, bumping Abernathy with her shoulder. “I’d be pushing it if I tried to tell him he probably sucks at doing dishes anyway, wouldn’t I?” Given their earlier exchange, she was kind of surprised that he’d fallen in with their egging him on. Another attempt would probably backfire completely.

“You were wanting to cook something anyway, weren’t you? We’re practically doing you a favour!”

Timmy snatched the stick out of Addy's hand and tossed it into the fire. "So thoughtful of you girls," he teased back. He found some thinner sticks to put marshmallows on and skewered several, holding them all over the fire at the same time.

“What can we say? We live to please.” She looked over at Bernadine for a second, and then back to Abernathy. Sitting around twins was always a little strange to her. Like being in The Matrix or something, being looked at from all sides by the same face. She really never would have suspected AB had a twin. But then, it wasn’t as if she’d ever really tried to get to know her after their first conversation had culminated in a fistfight.

Perhaps she could try with Bernadine? “Um...” She was terrible at making conversation with strangers. Well, there was probably the most immediate thought. She didn’t go to Dresden Academy, which meant she went somewhere else. “What’s your school like?”

Bernadine raised an eyebrow, confused and pleased that Adelaide would bother to talk to her. She wasn't a witch after all, and she felt probably not anyone terribly remarkable. "I go to muggle high school," she answered. She wasn't sure how much Abernathy had told her before her visit. "Not much of a witch," she replied with a shrug. "It's nothing like what Abby says your school is like. We learn math and reading and science. This year I'm taking a cooking class." She smiled at Addy, wondering if that's what she wanted to know. "Do you take a lot of classes with Abby?"

Adelaide wondered about muggle science. It was pretty much their version of magic, right? She smiled back at Bernadine, and almost asked about it. But then she thought she probably wouldn’t understand. So she answered the question instead. “No, none. I’m in University Year, so I don’t take normal classes. We’re both in Sports club, though?” The sporting society tended to focus on muggle sports, so that at least was something that everyone everywhere had in common.

"Oh, that's right," she said with a little wave of her hand. Abby had told her about university year and how she was thinking about not taking it. Why drag on when she didn't really want to be a wizard anyway? "I didn't realize you were a year above her." She wanted to ask what Adelaide was planning to do after school, but that was such a shit question and she hated answering it herself.

Tim solved that problem by handing both of them a s'more. "Ladies," he said with a tiny bow of courtesy. Then he tossed one to Abernathy, which sent crumbs spraying all of her shirt.

"Asshat," Abernathy cussed and then took a happy bite out of her s'more. "You're forgiven," she said around a chocolatey mouthful.

Addy laughed a little, and responded to Bernadine, “Yeah, I think she hoped maybe I’d graduate and leave; but no, she’s stuck another year with me at school. Thank you,” she added as Timothy handed her something else to focus on. She slid the biscuits about on the smushy insides, and rested her elbows on her knees to eye it off.

“I love these,” she confessed a bit abashedly. “My mom never used to let me have them because they were too messy.” And, possibly because she was a bitch. It was a valid point though, there was already chocolate running down her fingers. And soon she’d look like AB, with it all over her face too.

Bernadine leaned in and lowered her voice. "You two could have been best friends." Then she smiled. They had a lot the same personality traits; that tended to go one of two ways. Either they'd adore each other or they'd abhor each other. As it turned out, Addy and Abby had a chance to redeem their violent past with each other. At least they were trying.

Bill had let the kids shoot the shit for awhile, but here he interjected. "Kids are supposed to be messy." Then he eyeballed his three children. "Mine certainly were."

“Oh, I make up for it now,” she said with a wide grin. Her room at school resembled a bomb site. “Just growing up, my brothers--” She paused; but then realized AB probably didn’t even realize she had one brother, let alone a second one she never talked about, so forged ahead. “Well, we lived in a house with white carpet. Which, just never seemed like a good idea to me.” She knew why it was though. It looked good, and Vivienne Legaux cared about nothing more than appearances.

She stopped then, and sucked the chocolate off her fingers thoughtfully. Things might have been very different if she’d had different parents. She’d probably be a much nicer person, and then, like Bernadine suggested, perhaps she’d have made friends with Abernathy instead of going out of her way to annoy her. Didn’t matter now.

Abernathy didn't know and she wasn't sure why she was interested now. She hadn't heard Bernadine's side comment and she might have scoffed at her sister if she did. "There's a reason why our carpets are brown," she supplied with a bemused look.

Bill chuckled. "They didn't start out that way." And he didn't mind it at all.

Timmy shook his head as if to say heathens, because he liked the sound of Adelaide's pristine house (if only because Adelaide happened to be in it).

Addy giggled at Bill’s comment. She wouldn’t say so, but she liked the idea that the carpets had changed over the course of a family living in a home. Homes were meant to be lived in, and have personality built up by its occupants. From the first moment she stepped inside that house, she knew that it was a home and not just a house, and it was because of all the little things like that.

“I think the carpets at Dresden are made of steel wool or something, ‘cause they never change.” And with some of their classmates and the sort of things they got up to? Those carpets would be filthy.

Bill could probably tell her the exact charm used on those carpets, but that would lead to way more questions than he was ready to ask. He picked up some of the picnic table and retired inside. Leaving the backyard to the young ones was something he was well practiced at.

Timmy plunked down closer to Adelaide than he planned, but he couldn't move away and let her know that it wasn't planned. "Magic carpets, you think?" He didn't take much interest in magic, but since the pretty girl in his backyard was into it he could be too.

Abernathy made a little noise of disgust. "They have to be to survive all the wear and tear."

Addy smiled at Tim, ignoring AB’s snide remark. “That, or some pretty saintly cleaners. I’d want hazard pay before I went into some of our classmates’ rooms.” Sam and Greg’s dorm came to mind, but she refused to even think about what vile things could be hiding in that carpet.

“Abernathy says you’re home for the weekend. Which means you’re not home during the week. If you stay at school then you should know all about school carpets.”

Right. Great conversation there, champ.

Abernathy shuddered to think about some of the carpets at Dresden. Some of the girls' rooms were worse than the boys'.

"Uh. Yeah. Try sharing a room with three boys." Though in his sophomore year he didn't have to share with so many. A lot of those overflow kids dropped out and he didn't have to live in the freshman dorm anymore. "The carpet is the least of your concerns."

“Ew. No thanks.” She didn’t even miss having to share a room with one other girl, let alone three. And definitely not boys. “If I never have to go back to room-sharing, it’ll still be too soon. Besides, I think I talk in my sleep.” That wasn’t actually true, but she wasn’t going to admit to waking up from time to time because she’d started crying and accidentally sucked up a corner of her pillow.

That was a timely reminder though. She turned to Bernadine, an apologetic look on her face. “I hope you’re a heavy sleeper?”

Timmy laughed as if to say yeah, see what I mean?

Bernadine shrugged. "I'll be fine."

"She can always wear earplugs," Abernathy teased.

“Or I could just Silence myself, maybe.” She’d forgotten she could cast that on herself-- she’d only ever done it once or twice, every other time had been on other people. Because god knows, people have a hard time shutting up. “... or is magic a no-no in the house?”

"Dad doesn't fuss about it," Abernathy replied. She thought he wasn't as bad about it now that she was a senior and knowing she'd probably give up most magic when she graduated.

Timmy coughed as if he was choking on his s'more, which he had already finished. "What she won't tell you is that she never does magic in the house anyway."

Abernathy shot him a silencing look.

Adelaide found that very odd. Once she had the trace taken off her wand on her seventeenth birthday, she was using magic for even the most ridiculous things, just because she could.

“I don’t do a lot of useful magic anyway,” she offered Abernathy tentatively. Charms and jinxes and hexes were the most useful spells as far as getting things done was concerned. Her specialty was Transfiguration. Lately she’d been thinking it about as useful as Herbology-- or not at all. “Not much use in making things out to be something they aren’t.”

The irony of that statement wasn’t at all lost on her.

Abby had tried to explain to Tim that wizardry wasn't all it cracked up to be and the people in charge were bigger pinheads than the ones in the muggle world. For the most part he bought it, but when a pretty witch happened to be around he seemed to think magic was more magical. He usually didn't begrudge his lot in life as a squib.

He'd been well sheltered by Violet and Bill.

"See, not useful," Abernathy repeated and frowned at Tim. She made an effort to remove every useless thing from her life. She looked over to the fire which was starting to die down. They could put another log on, but Bernadine was already yawning. "Might be time for bed," she said, nodding slightly to her sister.

“It is getting late,” Addy conceded, stretching her legs. Even if she didn’t much feel it, it would have to had been, given that the fire was so far removed from the raging furnace it had been previously. Definitely too late for the nightly run she’d been taking before bed, just to wear herself out. If she even tried, she’d probably just get lost, or fall over a log or something and look like a complete idiot.

She kind of didn’t want to look like a complete idiot in front of Tim. “Y’all go on ahead, I’ll just sit out here a bit.”

Abernathy looked between Tim and Addy like she could see the impending disaster. Bernadine grabbed her sister's arm with just the right amount of pressure that it appeared like nothing to the others. Abernathy on the other hand knew that her sister was passing her an ultimatum. In the house now. "If you need anything just grab me. I'll be on the couch."

Bernadine waved nicely, looking back at Tim and Addy as if she could see a long road stretched out before her. "It was nice meeting you Adelaide. Good night."

Timmy on the other hand had no intention of getting up and ruining this perfect moment that his usually obnoxious little sisters would have hindered. He didn't say anything, just looked at the dying fire and thought about the interesting afternoon he had. When really he hadn't intended on anything interesting or good happening this weekend; he just wanted to get away from school.

“You don’t have to stay up with me if you don’t want to,” Adelaide said softly, moving just slightly to see his face in the dwindling light. She wasn’t sure Abernathy had told him exactly the reasons she’d been ‘adopted’ for the weekend, but a part of her did wonder if he was supervising her so that she didn’t try and hurt herself.

Tim didn't know; Abernathy had decided discretion would probably be best for now. He leaned a bit so that his back sat on the edge of the picnic table and stretched his arm out behind her. It was a total junior high move, but he didn't even care. "I want to," he said quietly. "It's too nice a night to go to bed yet."

She smiled, looking out at the stars. “It is,” she agreed. There were far too many lights around Baton Rouge to see the stars properly; the Astronomy Tower at Dresden Academy was the first place she’d seen stars clearly. She would probably have the same issue when she finally accepted her brother’s invitation to stay with him in Burnham City. Too close to the big city lights of New York.

“I’m having a really good time,” she said, and though she tried not to sound surprised out of her mind, the inflection was still there.

"Is that so surprising?" he asked torn between bemused and irritated. "I mean, I know hot dogs for dinner probably aren't as glamorous as the things you can eat in the south." He decided to let it go and sighed. "Can't beat the view though, can you?"

A soft laugh slipped out. “Not that,” she leaned back. “That was really fun. I meant... you know. I’m spending time with Abernathy and her family. She doesn’t like me, and you’re all supposed to hate me.” She crossed her arms over her chest. “I’m... I don’t deserve it.” She should probably be some kind of enraged that AB was feeling pity for her-- that’s what this was, right?-- but honestly, just to not be at school, not thinking about everything that had happened there, it was a blessing.

"You might not believe it, but we're pretty big on forgiveness at Castle Ford." He moved his hand forward on the picnic table, just enough that it brushed up against Adelaide's back. A feather light touch that anchored him to her. "She tries," he said of his sister. "I know she'll always be a little mad at you, but then she's a lot mad at herself. Either one of you could have called a truce before it got to that point." He looked away from the fire to examine her face by its light. "Consider this weekend an olive branch. I don't know why you accepted her invitation, but I'm glad you did."

He was quiet for a moment and then he moved his thumb upward on her back, just a tiny gesture. "And you know, everyone deserves a second chance. Even if they don't think they do."

She leaned into that little touch, a small contact that caused a shiver to send through her back. “My family was never big on forgiveness or second chances.” A bitter laugh slipped out. “But then, I guess I wouldn’t be here if they were.” She paused. “I’m sorry.” She didn’t mean to start unloading, especially not to a stranger. And most definitely not one being so lovely to her.

“We should have stopped fighting, a long time ago,” she admitted about her feud with his sister. “But... she’s real stubborn. And, so am I. It’s probably the whole reason we ever fought, really. I don’t think either one of us ever wanted to apologize instead of just... being us.” It was starting to dawn on her that Abernathy was the only person who really knew her. And she hated what she saw. What did that say about her?

"I think you're probably the most real with Abernathy. That's who she is. She's a passionate, stubborn, fighter. And an ass. Hates to be proven wrong." He laughed lightly and brushed his thumb lightly toward her shoulder. "You probably don't have to apologize," he added warmly. "She sure as shit won't ever do it."

“Oh, I tried,” she laughed, actually somewhat amused at how that had turned out. “I think it just worried her. Which, touching really. If not worrying for completely different reasons.” Those reasons, of course, being that she was the only one who took the initiative to be concerned about her strange behavior.

A lingering smile remained from the laugh, and she leaned a little to bump his shoulder. “Weird, huh?”

"I'd say we're all a little weird." It was nice to hear her laugh. "I think Hunter S. Thompson said it. Too weird to live and too rare to die."

She rolled her eyes in resigned agreement. “God, I’ve had enough weird for a lifetime! Some normal would kick ass about now. Tonight is like, the most normal I’ve felt in... ever?” She shifted then, accidentally pressing her leg up against his. “And then back to crazy on Monday. No winning.”

Tim grinned at her and tried not to press his leg back against hers noticeably. "I don't think we've ever been called normal." Then he let his thumb trail down her back again, softer this time. "You're welcome back anytime you need to decompress. Honestly, I don't think Abby would mind. But you have to call me so I can come home and visit too. God knows, she won't tell me when you're coming this way again."

“I think she would mind, especially if I called you. And it would be so rude of me to play favorites.” She bit her lip, a cheeky look in her eyes. So much for not encouraging him. Well what was she supposed to do? How many nice guys ever paid attention to her? She shifted again, so that she was sitting facing him, her shin pressed against his thigh and she wasn’t even pretending to not notice. “I have to respect that whole frenemy thing. It’s a sacred bond.”

"Trust me when I say spending time with me will probably only fuel the enemy side of that equation, but I don't really give a shit." Then he smiled. "Abernathy will have to get over it, because I'd like to get to know you more."

“Does she have a problem with all your friends?” Her eyebrow quirked up, not so much at the question, but at the way she had almost phrased it. She’d almost said girlfriends, as if that could possibly have been his intention. Sure, he was being entirely lovely to her, but them? As a thing? Absurd.

"Only when they were her friends first," he replied truthfully. She didn't like him hanging around when her muggle friends were over back in the day. "She has this weird streak of jealousy." He shrugged. "But that's her problem, not ours. Mine," he corrected and pressed his leg more intentionally into her

A devilish little smirk crossed her face. “Actually, I’d say it’s not her problem at all, given that we’re not really friends...” Good god, she was being a dreadful tease, wasn’t she? Probably an even worse person for enjoying it so much, too. She did like him, but was also very conscious of the situation. And Abernathy was right, her dignity was hanging by a thread. No need to be easy on top of pathetic.

“We should get to bed,” she murmured, pulling away to stand.

He winked at her. "She might still punch me." Then Adelaide was up and Timmy already felt the void of her body warmth. "Yeah, probably," he answered and stood. He tossed their spare water bucket on the fire pit, though it had mostly gone out. Billy had always stressed fire safety. He offered her his arm to walk the short distance back to the house. It was dark, but the light from the living room window cast a clear path.

She accepted the offered arm, but held it far more familiarly than she had earlier in the day. Previously it had been only her hand; now, her arm was wrapped around his almost the entire length. It was dark okay, what if she fell?

“Thank you for keeping me company, Timothy.” I enjoyed spending time with you.

"Thanks for tolerating me that long," he replied warmly. He slid upon the door when they reached it and ushered her in. "After you my lady," he whispered so that Abernathy wouldn't hear. Doubtless she was wide awake on the couch, waiting for them to come inside.

Adelaide was quite aware of that inevitability, and had a brief internal debate over whether or not to sneak in a quick comment to antagonize her after having been so brutally honest about the dynamics of their relationship. She decided against it; partly because she was still wondering if this weekend was indeed the olive branch Timothy claimed it was-- and partly because anything she said to annoy AB would involve him, and she’d probably take it out on him too.

“Good night,” she whispered, squeezing his hand in the dark as she let her arm slip from his.

He headed toward his room and called cheerfully over his shoulder. "Good night bitches!" He grinned as his bedroom door clicked behind him and had happy dreams of the funny, sometimes violent girl who intrigued him enough to want to know more.