Sibling AU: Misty

[fifthofthecovenant]

They're heading out to dinner for his birthday, all four of them. He's laughing at some dumb dad joke, but later he won't even remember what the joke was, because he doesn't actually remember anything for several minutes before and after it happens. It. Because he has no idea what it is, only that one minute they're driving along like normal, and the next there's light and heat and something that isn't quite pain but does a damn good job pretending like it is. It's magic, he knows, but it's magic unlike anything he's felt before.

And then the next there's a smoking wreck of the family car and an overturned semi truck, and he's curled over their mother sobbing, unable to remember exactly how he got there, but feeling like his blood is singing with more power than he's ever had before. It doesn't make her get up. He knows his eyes are pitch black, the air is warping around his hands, but nothing he's pushing into her body is making her get up.

Then suddenly Misty's there, and they're stumbling away together from the smoke and the blood. "I don't know what happened," is all he can say, the panic gone but now feeling numb, shocky. The magic is draining out of him as they weave along the side of the road. The police can find them later, probably, but for now it's just them. "Misty, I don't know what happened."

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[fifthofthecovenant]

"I don't know." He pops a cracker in his mouth, looking a little frustrated. "It's like there's more. I used to get tired out moving things around. Ghosting somewhere. Now it's like, I could do it all day. I basically passed out after summoning that ghost, or whatever it was, that time I was out all night. I feel like I could do it without even trying all that hard now."

[shadowsran]

Troubling.

"So you're stronger," she muses. "Nothing...inherently bad about that, by itself. You're still controlling it, right?" Nothing's seemed prone to flying around, and as emotionally fraught as the last week has been she would expect to have seen evidence if it weren't so.

[fifthofthecovenant]

"Yeah, it's not like jumping out and doing shit on its own." Though it kind of feels like it wants to, sometimes. He hesitates, then admits the edge of that: "But it does feel like... it want to be used. More than it used to, you know?"

[shadowsran]

Frowning, she hugs a knee to her chest. Reaches for another cracker if only to keep herself moving. If she stops eating already, she won't even manage the sad attempt at dinner.

"Like suddenly having a lot more energy than you're used to, or do you mean like - it thinks for itself?"

[fifthofthecovenant]

"The first one." He's pretty sure. "I'm not all schizophrenic or anything, Misty, god. I'm just buzzing. Too much power to hold in, kinda."

[shadowsran]

"Try using it more?" Hopeful, if still concerned. "On little shit, I mean. Burn off energy."

[fifthofthecovenant]

That is such the opposite of good advice in this case... too bad neither of them know that. Chase is inclined to follow it for now, anyway. "Now that there's not gonna be lawyers and friends-of-the-family and business people around all the time, maybe I will."

[shadowsran]

"Keep it manageable?" She asks, with a nudge to his shoulder. "More, but small still. Like - same weight, more reps. Can't go letting other people catch something accidentally."

And taking her brother away.

[fifthofthecovenant]

As if anyone or anything could hold in a guy who can turn into nothingness and drift through walls. "There's nobody here but you and me. And the help, sometimes, but not all the time. I'm not stupid. I've been hiding this since I was thirteen." If not even their parents had found out before, nobody's going to find out now, even if he does use it more. There's no one left to hide it from.

He gives his beer bottle a morose look, then has a swig.

[shadowsran]

"Still easy to slip up," she warns, picking over berries and crackers with little purpose. "It's my job to worry is all. Never gonna get rid of that, not even now."

A sip is taken of her own, an incredibly poor pairing with the meal.

"Especially as flashy as you can get." More lighthearted. He is, has always been, she hopes will always be, a ham.

[fifthofthecovenant]

Chase would kind of maybe like to get drunk, he thinks, but he'd also kind of maybe like to just sleep for a week, if his stupid magic will let him. Maybe the drunk part will help the sleep part.

For now, he just drops his head onto her shoulder. "Me? Flashy? Naw."

[shadowsran]

"You, an actual peacock." She laughs, flicking the stem of a grape lazily into his lap. "So much flash." Nerd.

"The quiet stints like these are rare. However much we may want them."

A laugh lurks under the surface, there.

[fifthofthecovenant]

He catches the stem with magic and makes it twist into a pretzel, then tosses it over onto the platters with the remaining food. He has another swig from his beer. "Shut up, I'm not a peacock," he counters, though not with any bite to it. "Peacocks are dumb and loud. I'm just loud."

[shadowsran]

"Loud and flashy, like a peacock."

Dumbness to be determined.

"Point is just that you're not subtle, even if you're sneaky. Different things."

[fifthofthecovenant]

"Look, I told you, I'll be careful." He sounds kind of petulant about it. He's already promised, why are you still harping on this, Misty? "No more school until college in the fall, either. And we'll be busy hunting down records and people, if there's any people left. It'll be fine."

[shadowsran]

"I worry. My job's worrying." Warm but serious, that's all the explanation and the nearest to an apology she's willing to give.

In other small victories, their sad dinner's at least more of a dinner than she envisioned - she's steadily flying through fruit.

"The looking'll hopefully be enough to keep us more than occupied...I might crash soon." Unrelated to her modest sips of beer, she's ready to assure him.

[fifthofthecovenant]

"Yeah, me, too." Not related to the beer, either. Though he might take another one to his room.

His room seems really fucking empty, right now. But he'll deal. Probably. He finishes off the bottle and pushes up to grab some more cheese and little round pieces of ham. Misty can have all the fruit she wants, he's after the protein.

"Crash, I mean. Not worry. Worrying is not my job, thanks." He's mostly joking. He does worry some, but clearly not as much as Misty does.

[shadowsran]

"Hopefully never. A worried Chase would give me a heart attack." Puts a smile on her face in the moment, though. "We'll be better with as much sleep as we can get, anyway. I might camp out here - tv on, just for noise. Yell if it's too loud."

She's not quite there yet, but does slump against the arm of the couch comfortably.

[fifthofthecovenant]

"TV's far enough from my room that it won't bother me." He pops his current cheese haul into his mouth, grabs another handful, and a second beer. "Guess I'll leave you to it."

[shadowsran]

"Sleep well."

Unlikely, but wishing as much is habit and habits are comforting. Let what little things can continue unchanged do just that.

Barring interruption her night will pass in largely the manner she implied it might; steadily working to polish off the platter and working through a first beer. Starting a second while she channel flips, taking some time to realize she doesn't want to watch anything or pure noise - finding something that cloys for attention in the way she wants is time consuming, but ultimately old kung-fu films and/or soap operas are found to suffice. Flipping between those during commercial breaks is even fun.

There's no move to put on pajamas or retrieve bedding. Instead she dozes, physical comfort and exhaustion proving more demanding than mental restlessness.

It'll be fitful, but she will sleep.

[fifthofthecovenant]

It's not the tv that keeps him up. It's everything else. The sound of electricity, the buzz of his magic, the slight swimming of his head from the alcohol, the house being otherwise empty. The exhaustion and the grief. The fact that he's alone.

An hour of lying awake, and he's creeping out, looking for Misty. He can hear the tv still going, but maybe she's asleep... he doesn't even want to bother her, maybe. Just see her. Reassure himself someone's still there.

[shadowsran]

An hour is thankfully - not thankfully - soon enough to catch her up. Not alert by any means, eyes half-lidded with fatigue and boredom and restlessness of her own, but awake. It's a fine, new home, with no creaking floor to announce his presence. But he casts a shadow, a flash of white as the show fades to commercial standing out more starkly for a pale presence off to one side.

Gaze trailing to him, she hardly looks surprised. Curled up and against the arm of the couch, there's plenty of room. Rather than sit up to pat the empty space properly, a hand dips over the edge of the couch, fingertips trailing across the floor before she gives the upholstery a pat.

Welcoming, if he wants it.

[fifthofthecovenant]

He hesitates a long moment, just lingering there in the hallway, before he weaves over and drops onto the couch beside her and flops over sideways, half on top of her. He actually wriggles around until he's wedged himself between her and the couch, his head pillowed on her hip. She can shove him away if she really wants, but he's attempting a snuggle, at least. Even if he's probably too old to be snuggling.

[shadowsran]

Between flashes of television she watches with a tired, wry grin. No shove off, at least yet. Instead a ruffle of his hair, depending on the day roughly as annoying.

"You're okay," she says, and means truly as a promise. "We're okay."

[fifthofthecovenant]

He doesn't feel okay. But with another person right there, with Misty right there, he can pretend a little. And maybe sleep. He shuts his eyes and wraps an arm around her waist, and unless she kicks him off at some point, he'll fall asleep there.