Honolulu Heights, Thursday Morning

[chosehumanity]

It had taken Mitchell time to track down Daisy. He had only set off to do it after the first rushes of joy at Annie's return had faded - really, he'd rather not have done it, but he knew a deal when he heard one.

And Lia had been very... specific.

Now, though, he had a good lead on where she was. It'd be something of a drive - an hour or two out - but the vampire he'd shaken up for it had been very clear. So. Now the question remained:

How do you tell an old friend that the beyond had it in for you? And how do you get them to listen?

Especially when they were Daisy.

So, walking back into the house that morning, Mitchell chose a technique that would let him handle it.

Procrastination.

"Oh. Reruns."

[[ open for phone calls! ]]

Comments

[vanillajello]

Another day, time for another take on the phonecall of major updating. Pseudo brother slash vampire edition.

Ring ring, Mitchell.

[chosehumanity]

"Yeah?"

One day, Mitchell would learn to answer phone calls properly.

That day was not today.

[vanillajello]

Kate expected nothing else at this point.

"Let me guess, you didn't even check caller ID?"

[chosehumanity]

"Hey, Kate," Mitchell said, ignoring the question. Or maybe answering it, in his way. "What's going on?"

[vanillajello]

"Not much." Well, not today! "I bought a dress for Bod's senior prom yesterday, and I have my first work shift in about a week later today. Also my mom and dad are gonna be in Boston for three months so she can get extensive treatment."

Sneaky.

[chosehumanity]

Sneaky like driving a bus into a storefront!

Mitchell's eyebrows went up. "Congratulations...?" he said.

[vanillajello]

"Hopefully?" Kate replied in about the same tone. With maybe a hint of apologetic thrown in for that lame attempt at sneak. "Eventually. Stuff's been pretty fucked up for, uh, a month or so."

[chosehumanity]

"Tell me about it," Mitchell muttered. That might have been an invitation, but it was also a fairly succinct summary of the whole Daisy mess that had been going on. "Tara got worse?"

[vanillajello]

"I don't know. Does developing a new alter based on your creepy, evil step-brother count as getting worse?"

It did.

[chosehumanity]

"Yeah, I think that by any objective standards, that's seriously worse," Mitchell said, because the narrative was there to be agreed with. "Really?"

[vanillajello]

"Really." Kate sighed. "He's -- was called Bryce and he just basically... Tried to poison Mom's psych professor, hit on me way grossly, took Moosh's room entirely apart and, oh yeah, he was killing the other alters."

[chosehumanity]

Okay, all of that sounded fairly terrible, but Mitchell's brain snagged on one particular aspect of it--

"You can do that?"

[vanillajello]

"Which one?" she asked. "Killing the alters? Apparently."

Honestly, everything had been so fucked up she hadn't even boggled at that too much.

[chosehumanity]

"But... isn't that just... technically..."

Something?

"...Odd."

Now he was trying to picture it.

"Now I'm going to be wondering about that all day."

[vanillajello]

"Well, I technically saw him off T, so I tend not to think about it." It was just a way to give yourself a headache, anyway. "But he's supposedly gone now. Mom said so. She didn't explain."

[chosehumanity]

"Sounds like you've not being getting an awful lot of explaining about anything," Mitchell commented.

[vanillajello]

"I'm used to that." And not just from home, either. "Besides, do I really want to know how the murderous alter in her head is dead now?"

[chosehumanity]

"Might be interesting," Mitchell said. "Especially if it plans to come back."

Sadly, not something he was all that unused to and Herrick hadn't even popped up again yet.

[vanillajello]

"If he comes back, he comes back. I'll have very little to do with that either way." God, she hoped she would not ever be tasked with getting rid of Bryce. "Right now we're just hoping the treatment actually helps her."

[chosehumanity]

"So this guy in Boston..." Mitchell said, trailing off. Fill in the blanks, please.

[vanillajello]

"It's not a guy, it's a facility." A pause. "Well okay, there is a guy. ome doctor that's supposed to be the best in the country at dealing with Mom's thing. He works at some psychological facility thingie that has a three-month in-patient program, and apparently some stellar aftercare system too. It's... a lot better than the stuff we've tried over the last few years."

[chosehumanity]

"So you're all positive about it?" Mitchell checked.

It would aid his support strategy considerably to know the answer to this question.

... inasmuch as he ever had a strategy.

[vanillajello]

"I'm doing my best to be that, yes."

They'd failed spectacularly a few times so she had her reservations, but she was hoping for the best.

"But it's a long term thing, and she just went there two days ago. It's gonna take a while for them to even seriously get started."

[chosehumanity]

"At least it'll give you some peace," Mitchell settled on. "It can't have been easy, knowing Tara was running around like that."

[vanillajello]

"Eh. Bryce didn't much run around." Much harder to creep everyone out like that. "But you're not wrong about the peace and quiet. Especially since Charmaine and Neil and Wheels are gonna move away, too."

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell made a vaguely approving noise. "Just you and Moosh," he concluded. "You two going to be all right with that?"

[vanillajello]

"I'm eighteen, he's seventeen," Kate shrugged. "Think we can handle it. He's... kinda been having a rougher time than I have, lately, but things are getting better. Plus, we're totally having a house party in a few weeks once Char and Neil go spend their honeymoon on househunting in Houston."

[chosehumanity]

"Well, let me know if I need to bring anything," said Mitchell. "Food, drinks, a how-to manual on house-cleaning..."

Like he did that anywhere near often. That's why they had Annie and George's OCD.

[vanillajello]

"You do realize that last one's basically George, right?" Kate checked. "You're not bringing George."

She liked him, but, really.

[chosehumanity]

"But he could clean the house and cook," Mitchell argued cheerfully. "He could probably cater..."

[vanillajello]

"But we have Moosh for that!" Kate pointed out. "I wouldn't want to be in a house where those two would be battling over control of the kitchen."

[chosehumanity]

"Oh, come on. Bring a camera, put it on YouTube..."

[vanillajello]

"No, my brother would end him," Kate said. "I'm serious. He's not been having a great time, it's brought out his claws. He sounds like me, sometimes."

[chosehumanity]

"You've seen George before a full moon, haven't you?"

There was a question in there. Not so much about seeing George but about Moosh's well-being.

[vanillajello]

"My brother's ex boyfriend died two weeks ago."

That was more of an answer to that unspoken question, yeah. She also sounded a tad more subdued than she had.

[chosehumanity]

"Damn," Mitchell said succinctly.

He sagged back on the sofa. "What happened?"

[vanillajello]

"Car crash," Kate said. "Excellent timing, right?"

Not that there was a good time for anyone to have a fatal accident, but still.

[chosehumanity]

"Yeah," Mitchell said, rubbing at his brow. "Great timing. How's he doing?"

Without veiling the question this time.

[vanillajello]

"I think he's getting better." It was slow going, but still. At least he wasn't just sulking anymore. "I mean, he's a little quieter than usual, but he doesn't seem so... angry, anymore. He went to the memorial with Mom and Bod and everything."

[chosehumanity]

Mitchell winced a little. "It's good that he's healing," he said. "This kind of thing... it'll take time."

[vanillajello]

"Gee, I did not know this as none of my friends have ever died," Kate replied, but it was... a gentle sort of sarcasm. Since her dead friends had a tendency to pop back up again and all.

Lionel wasn't going to do that. "I know. I'm sticking around so he doesn't have to do it alone, or uproot his whole life when he's still dealing."

[chosehumanity]

"That's good," Mitchell said. "He'll need his family-- or at least something to belong to. Something steady."

He rapped his fingers on his knee.

[vanillajello]

"I'm doing my best."

She just hoped that was good enough. She felt like she'd been ignoring him for the past few months, and maybe she felt a little guilty for that, too.

"He needs to get out of this house, though. I mean, once he finishes high school."

[chosehumanity]

"Ship him off to some far-away college," Mitchell proposed. "That's what you Americans do with your kids, isn't it?"

Joking. Mostly.

[vanillajello]

"Well, I think he does wanna go to film school." So, the thought had crossed her mind, yeah. "Not a lot of good ones in Kansas. And he shouldn't even get stuck in this state as far as I'm concerned. He's bigger than Kansas. He should be."

[chosehumanity]

"Then just keep encouraging him," Mitchell said. "And make sure he knows he's always got a home to come back to at the same time."