Making sense, making plans

Who: Doc and Synnove
Where: The Martens home
When: morning

What a night. What an unbelievable night it had been. Doc had taken plenty of time to reflect on it all, as he hadn't ended up sleeping at any point in it. He'd laid there with Jocelyn held close for hours, watching her candles burn down, listening to her heartbeat, feeling little shifts in the posture of her sleep. And when dawn had finally come? Well, then it seemed like there wasn't enough time. But there never did when the world consisted of soft, waking smiles like the ones she'd given him. He knew he couldn't stay, but had lingered a bit all the same. When Doc had finally left? Well, that was when the confusion hit.

It had been wonderful, yes, but what did it mean? What happened now? He felt guilty on one level, rejuvenated on another. Doc couldn't have predicted getting so close so fast, and it felt wonderful? But it felt... well, it felt like Doc was remembering where all his hesitancy over getting close to people came from. Still, he didn't want to shove it away, because something had to be significant for it to have happened away. It? Her. Whatever ended up happening, he didn't want to hold Jocelyn at arms' length, Doc knew that. And he had plenty of time to muse on all of this as he walked home, stopping for breakfast on the way. Bustling inside quietly with half a bagel gripped in his jaw, Doc slipped through the front door, silently counting shoes to see who was home. Dylan's at school, Seph must be at work, Syn... shit.

Synnove wasn't out. She was home, in fact, and was awake as well. She'd been awake for a while, sort of savoring the quiet in the house while she worked on things. 'Things' in this instance being cutting prints she was planning on framing for the house. Granted, most of them were of her brother, but that was hardly the point. She liked them. When she heard the door open, she went to investigate, and when she saw Doc, she arched a brow, crossed her arms, and gave him her best 'and where have YOU been young man?' look. Which, for a woman without children, was pretty damn good, really.

Pulling his bagel away with a mouthful being busily chewed, Doc took a swig of coffee as he winked in wordless greeting to Syn. "Hey kiddo," he greeted eventually, offering the bag gripped with his coffee, "I brought breakfast. Had a work call kinda late." Which sounded good, it did. It made sense even. But then? Well, Doc smiled in a way that stretched his beard wide and flashed teeth, hinting at a night that had just left him in too good of a mood despite his unanswered concerns. "Everything's okay here?" he asked as he rallied, restraining the expression a little.

She took the offered bag, his behavior not really alleviating suspicion. Actually, it kicked it up, because it wasn't as if Doc didn't come home late now and again. Or not at all when he was off doing Things. But the smile, and the hesitation in his wording...Syn was nothing if not sharp. She was a stupidly observant sort of personality, and so she picked up on the little things. That happened when you grew up in a house where both your brother and your mother were just a little batshit crazy, and you needed to be able to read the warning signs, even if they were subtle as hell. "Everything's fine here." she said. "Fine, normal, home base is a-okay." she assured him. "So, work. Does work often smell like..." she paused, stepping slightly closer to him. "Perfume and something else? What, candles, maybe? You know if you were out with Eva, you really don't have to lie about it." she told him, rolling her eyes and smirking. "Especially if you're going to do such a piss poor job. If you really want to lie to me, lie more effectively."

That was enough to really reduce the smile; both the accusation of lying when he was being genuinely honest, and the mention of Eva. It faded away, leaving a thin line for Doc's mouth as he shook his head and sighed, setting his coffee down and shirking his coat. He didn't have his pistol, which Syn might've taken as evidence, but Doc saw little point to wear it when he knew he wasn't going to use it. Walking freely just felt... lighter. "No lie, Syn. No lie at all, okay?" Doc said before sipping his coffee, sniffing his shirt absently and smiling. She was right, he could smell Jocelyn on the old shirt. "Eva's... gone. Eva left."

She hadn't actually meant to knock the wind out of his sails, and felt bad for that, frowning. "Wait...what? She's gone?" And Syn had to remind herself that cartwheels might be inappropriate at this juncture. "C'mon..." she invited, nodding him towards the kitchen. Generally he made her coffee when they needed to talk and sure, he already had some, but they could sit and talk in there anyhow. They couldn't hit up the porch swing like last time. "Start from the begining?" she suggested.

Ah, the kitchen. The neutral ground for every family meeting, most of the arguments, and many of the crises that hit the town when they needed organizing. The old laminate-top table was a welcome sight to Doc as he grabbed his ashtray from under the sink, settling it down and dropping into a seat. Doc fished his cigarettes out, lighting up and folding his arms on the table. "Eva and I... both had secrets. You know mine, hell you know a lot of mine. I found out one of hers." And it was actually good in a sense that Eva was gone, this wouldn't earn her any points with Syn. "She was a thief. Art heists overseas. Yesterday, she... she left me a message. The cops found her here, somehow, so she was skipping town." It was the short version of what she'd shared with him, but Doc didn't think Syn would care much about Eva's justifications for what she'd done with her life prior to coming here.

Synnove didn't care about Eva or her motivations or anything else. She did look pissed. She opened up her mouth, then shut it again. "I see." she said. "She left you a message?" she prompted. Because if it was just a message, then Syn was curious where the scent of Female on him came from. Unless he met up with her for some goodbye bang or something. Though actually...he could probably follow her around, and Syn was just going to shut up now, in her own mind.

Doc just nodded, plucking his smoke away and exhaling before chomping down on another bite and studiously wiping a dollop of cream cheese from his whiskers. It did still hurt, he hadn't gotten to say goodbye, and for whatever animosity Syn felt? he'd cared about her. "She left me a message," he confirmed eventually, still resolute in his thinking. Eva had made her decision, and it wasn't his place to try and change it. "So... I was down in the basement, just kinda thinking? And like I told you, I got hit with Work." Which had a flicker of a smile again, because dammit was he invigorated by what had happened. "First time a job's ever gone like this, though."

"I'm sorry you've not got her in your life anymore. I know she was important to you." Syn said, because she did feel that. She just didn't have any regrets that Eva was gone. Not in the slightest. But for Doc feeling hurt? Yeah, that she could give sympathy for. She noticed the little smile. "I'm guessing well, and...I'm not sure what else to think so why don't we save my imagination?" she suggested, finally looking in the bag and fishing out a bagel.

"Yeah, let's spare your brain, you've endured me and nudity enough in your lifetime," he joked quietly, stubbing his smoke and watching her thoughtfully. "Syn, I need to run something past you. It's been bugging me," Doc began with a sigh, swigging from his coffee, "And just... try to answer without how I know you feel about Eva factoring in, okay?" This was important to him, obviously. He trusted her input, she'd always been a good sounding board before.

She nodded. "I can do that." she said. And she could. She had a grudge, most certainly, but if she needed to be objective, to separate herself out from something, she was good at that. It was part of how she worked, how she functioned with her life the way it was. How she dealt with having a brother who hallucinated...occasionally got homicidal. How she kept herself from cracking. Because she had to. And a lot of that was shoving things behind doors in her mind and locking them.

Doc took a deep breath, gathering his thoughts into some semblance of order and giving Syn a glimpse of a hesitant smile. "Okay, you remember my friend Kurt. He works for me. The woman I was sent to find last night, Jocelyn... she might be working for me. It's why I was sent for her. But... is it fucked up of me to have gotten so close to her literal hours after I got Eva's message? Is it... it doesn't feel like a desperation sort of thing, you know? I thought I might've just been trying to hide from what I was feeling. But it's... it's not that simple." He reached up to scratch at his beard and the cheek beneath. "I think she... understood me? Is that wrong? I've-I've never done this, you know. I just want to know which part of what I'm thinking is right, and which part is a trick."

Syn didn't answer him right away, giving what he said to her due thought. Propping her chin on her hand, she regarded him, separating things out in her mind and reordering it so it made sense to her, and it was about five minutes before she started to speak. "If you're feeling like that, then maybe she just wasn't the right woman for you. And I say that not because I hated her, but because if it was that easy to slide from her to someone else, even by just feeling like that? Then there was something either missing between you and Eva, or wrong. If I had to venture a guess, I would say it was because you chose her to be your try at being forgiving and all, what you were doing with her, how you explained it to me and all...I think you wanted her to be something, or someone, but perhaps she wasn't actually it." she said. "If someone understands you, then they do. Sometimes people click. Sometimes there's just that moment of recognition, and you have every right to respond to it. Everyone does. It's human nature. No matter what level it's coming from, if it's...damage, or something else, if there's understanding there anywhere, and you're finding yourself pulled in by it--which I'm assuming why you seem to be doing the walk of shame here--then I don't think there's anything wrong with that. I'd be wary, because you're in a vulnerable position right now, so...no rushing into anything, but I wouldn't dismiss anything either."

Doc sighed as he took all that in, head shaking a little. "I love you kiddo," he said first, smiling a little. Because he'd needed this. Not Syn telling him he wasn't wrong specifically, just an honest appraisal of the situation, and her deconstruction of what his motivations might be. "And I think there's a lot in there you got dead on." Doc tilted his cup back, draining the last of his coffee slowly and frowning. He didn't want to admit to some of this, but she'd laid it out so plainly for him, what else could he do? "I think... when we first got together? When I didn't know any of what was up with her? I wanted something normal. And after everything that happened, maybe I was giving a chance that neither of us could fulfill. I know you don't need to know this, but we never... uh..." Doc laughed helplessly for a moment, head shaking at himself. Syn cursed like a sailor in front of him, so why did he still get embarassed? "We never slept together," he finally managed, "Just... there was always this wall? It never felt right. So last night, sparing you the details, I showed up to do my job, and this woman? She saw me. War, Doc, Eric, the whole shebang. No lying, no pretending, just... who I was. I didn't have to hide a bit of it."

She smiled at him. "I love you too, dad." she said. She didn't call him that terribly often, but occasionally. When she was feeling the connection fairly strongly, like she happened to be now, even if this was really a weird bit of advice to be giving a father figure. "I think if you're sitting here telling me that you were never intimate because it didn't feel right, then you've got your answer right there." she said honestly. "You knew something wasn't quite on the level, even if we're just talking personality-wise here, not anything else. Something, doesnt' matter what it was, wasn't working for you." She had to pause for a moment, milling over the bit about not pretending. "Having someone in your life you don't have to pretend with is important too. Especially for someone like you, who's got a little more to hide than your average bear. So, if that's what happened, this connection got struck up, and you feel like you can be open and honest..." she shrugged one shoulder. "Then she's worth looking into. Like I said, I'd still be cautious, but...don't write something off just because it comes on the heels of your other woman leaving."

Was that his biggest issue? That it was so close after Eva? Doc frowned, musing on how he might've felt if he'd found Jocelyn a day later, or a week later. "Well, there's reasons I'll be playing it safe, no worries there," he said at last, shaking his head. Maybe they'd be dealt with by Jocelyn, but Doc wasn't going to go thinking she'd change everything just because he'd offered her a job. "Right now, I think I'm just waiting to hear back from her. Which is weird, since, y'know? Not something I do real often, especially not on the clock." And she's young. Like... nearly you-young, he thought but didn't say, not wanting to make this any weirder. Instead Doc reached across the table, giving Syn's hand a squeeze. "Thanks though, I'm pretty sure I'd have gone a little crazy with all that on my chest for very long."

Squeezing his hand back, Syn smiled at him. "Well, that's what you keep me around for. I yell at you upon occasion, I give perspective...I give stern looks from time to time, and decorate the place nicely, so you're covered." she said. "You're welcome. You know you can talk to me." Which he obviously did. And had in the past. It was part of their relationship she treasured the most. They could, in fact, talk to one another. It made things easier, it made them all feel like more of a family. As messed up as it was, anyways. She was just alright with their levels of messed up.

"I keep you around because I love you," he corrected with a wink, "But yes, the yelling and perspective and even the decorating are all more than welcome. And the talking? I need the talking. I don't know how I went so long without it." He supposed it was something he'd had to learn; in the past, this depth of Doc's thoughts never got spoken or shared. He knew it had been a large part of what had broken down his relationships with others, be they friend or lover, but with Seph and Syn? Well, Doc just wasn't willing to let it break down. He needed them in his life, so if it meant bearing things that made him twitch? He'd twitch. "That was my night, though. What'd I miss around here?"

"Nothing, really." Syn answered. "Dylan has nightmares, which I'm pretty sure is the most common ailment in this entire town, I didn't get much sleep but that's due more to creative drive fueling me, and Seph still has a job and is doing well with it, and I'm proud of him." she rattled off. "Nothing that exciting, really. Oh, beyond maybe Voltaire needing a walk, but he's been sleeping for a while now. We had a rousing game of fetch earlier."

Doc laughed quietly, relieved as they eased back into a more standard pace of talk, the sort of thing he'd grown to love in recent months. "I'll make sure to walk the little prince today," he promised with a grin. Really, everything else was what he already knew. And aside from Dylan's nightmares, they were things that Doc was happy for. Syn was every bit an artist, and without one fight or another she could let it shine. Seph was picking up the art of the forge just fine, and with a job like working at Nevermore? He'd be learning more and more about this world every day. It wasn't the first time Doc had thought it, but he never stopped liking the idea that they could make it here, all of them together. "I'm thinking I might have the 'employees' get together sometime soon, think you and Seph might want to sit in on it? If not, no sweat, but I know you'd said before you wanted to be ready and organized if and when trouble hit again."

Syn gave him a bit of a Look, but it was mild. "Do you really think we'd want to miss it?" she asked him rhetorically. "I want to know who's on your side. I want to know what they can do and what they're like. I want them to know who the hell we are, so there isn't any bullshit one way or another. I think it might be important for us all to get to know one another at the very least, just in case." She didn't want to accidentally shoot someone that was just showing up
because they needed Doc, and she didn't want anyone doing the same to her or her brother. Nevermind her brother could take the bullet, that wasn't at all the point. She couldn't, and she still didn't know what would happen to Seph's spirit if she died.

The night this house is going to see, he mused, thinking on what that meeting would be like. Maybe planning it while Dylan was on his date would be a good call, since Doc still didn't think the youngest Alden was ready to learn the full truth about the Martens family. And, he realized belatedly, he'd already have a tough enough time introducing Jocelyn to Syn and Seph. Might as well put it out there now, he decided with a smirk, rising to brew fresh coffee. "So, uh, this woman... the one who might be working for me? In case she's at the meeting, so there's no big reveal or anything... she's kinda young," he warned, filling the coffee pot with water and setting up the brewer quickly. "Which is secondary to you two meeting everyone, I know. And it's a good call, I want you both there. You may not have specifically said you wanted to do what I do, but I know I can count on both of you to hell and back."

Syn followed Doc with her gaze, arching a brow at him. "Right, so you're just dropping in the young thing in the middle of a whole lot of other things, to what, distract me?" she asked, laughing a little. "How young is young?" she asked. "Like, how mom was young?" she asked. She had had it confirmed that Doc and her mother had had a Thing. And their mother...yeah. There was youth there. Maybe Doc had a type. And it was a type that was running more along the spring and winter lines than anything else.

Like probably in diapers the last time I took a new lover. Like her first was more recent than my last. "Mid twenties," he said instead of all of that, dropping in the filter and coffee and looking back to Syn with a guilty smile. "So no, not exactly like your mom, but not a whole lot older than you or Seph. So I think you both have the weapons-free sign on calling me a dirty old man," Doc went on with a sigh, scratching his cheek and moving to sit back down as the coffee brewed. "Just... not in front of Kurt or the others. And yes, it was a try at distracting you. Really, I should've known better," he admitted with a laugh, lighting a fresh smoke.

"I suppose I can't blame you for trying." Syn admitted. "And that young, huh? Well, I suppose one can't choose who one connects with..." she said, deciding to be diplomatic. It wasn't that she actually thought there was anything wrong with it, though. She just had to give him a little shit about things. "And you're a dirty old man." she added with a bright flash of a smile. "But oh well. I still love you anyways." she told him, taking a bite of her bagel. "Give Seph the head's up though before the meet." she advised. "It has to come from you, and it has to be a pre-warning there." It might not go well otherwise.

Doc chuckled, thinking she might just want Seph to have time to brainstorm with her on ways to tease him over it all. Probably not, though; it was more likely that he'd appreciate the forethought, and being kept up to date with their father-fugre's life and involvements. "I was gonna catch him tonight, for sure," he assured Syn, rising and grabbing a pair of mugs from the cupboard, "Figured I'd lurk in the forge, we normally cross paths in there. He's starting to put on a little more muscle, even." He grinned approvingly at that, pouring them both mugs and bringing them over.

What Syn didn't say was that she'd noticed that. The whole her brother toning up thing. That was something most siblings didn't notice about one another unless it had been a while since you'd seen them. Then it was an alright observation, something you could note because it was so different since the last you saw them. It was much less appropriate if you just happened to notice because you appreciated the view. "He has been spending a lot of time in there. He enjoys it." Which was good. She was pretty proud of Seph lately. The job, focusing on the forge, he was doing well.

"It's a calming place," he said, as if it explained everything. And to Doc? It covered a lot. Seph had so much inner turmoil, he needed the exertion to keep himself focused or even just block out the darkness with the repetition of swinging a hammer. "I know it's done me whole worlds of good, still does when something's bugging me enough." Hell, it was why he'd even built this forge in the first place. "Ghosts and werewolves aside, who ever thought a normal life would be... kinda working out?" Doc asked with a smirk, as if those asides and everything he'd brought up could really be sidelined so easily.

"I don't know. Though it's looking more like you've got the more normal life. Which is odd, for certain, but might actually be something necessary and helpful for you in the long run." Syn said thoughtfully. "Something wholly separate from everything else, something to come home to. If you lose sight of things of that nature, it'll just be harder for you to keep the perspectives you need."

He had to laugh at that idea, slurping from his coffee and leaning on an elbow he leveraged on the table. "How is your life any less normal? Yes, I met a woman. But only after I teleported outside of her bar that moves." He grinned wider over the edge of his mug, shaking his head. "I do like it, though. Life's good, I like that you've got the studio, Seph's got the forge." Of course, life being good was worrying in it's own way, as it couldn't last. Savor it while you can, Doc told himself, watching Syn with a quiet contentment.

"Well, I'm nineteen, a psychology major with an art minor of all things, I have my own gallery, the most important people in my life I'm related to in one fashion or another, and the most significant other people in my life have essentially been strays I've brought home to try and help. And so far, that hasn't worked out well for me. Not that I plan on giving up." she said. "I'd say you have me beat on normal right now. I'm a little off the rails, even if it isn't by design."

"Ah, this world where I'm more normal than anyone except my boss. Who is, incidentally, very well-adjusted," he said with a teasing wink. "You could even say she's perfectly balanced." Doc made a pained face at his own joke, shaking his head. "Really though, on the rails or off, the key thing is that you haven't given up. Keep at it and eventually you'll stabilize every bit that's off kilter. Or that's what I've been telling myself since I was sixteen or so." And while he was back into a calmer frame of mind, obviously, it was all because of Syn. "How can I help? Get extra blankets for the next stray?"

She laughed a little. "I didn't say I was complaining that I'm off kilter. just that I am a little, and I'm aware. As for help...yes, blankets for the next stray, that'd be nice. If I happen to find someone I want to bother with again." she said with a little bit of a sigh. "After all, let's look at my track record here..." she didn't name names or anything, she didn't have to. Doc knew that the other times hadn't ended in any way that could be considered well.

She definitely didn't have to name the names, Doc had inherited his job from the first of her strays after all. But she kept on trying now and then, and it was a point of pride for him as her father to see it. "Give it time," he advised, reaching across the table to pat Syn's hand, "There'll be someone eventually who surprises you with who they are, or who they could be. After all, I took a nineteen year road trip before we got our start." And for the tragedy it took to bring them together, Doc would always hurt. But he had found his reason for everything here.

She smiled at that. "You know, I think I'll be slightly more efficient than you in that case..." she said, laughing a little. "And I'm sure I will. I just haven't in a long time. And I haven't felt that drive, either. I suppose I should assume when I find someone worth it I'll feel the drive all on it's own, and I should be at least slightly thankful that I don't, say, have that drive with nothing to do with it, so it isn't eating at me." Ever practical, was Synnove Martens.

"You'll just know," Doc agreed, "When it's time, when someone needs you, things will snap into focus. Make sure you take a picture." He grinned, hoping he'd be able to see the day she had that fire again. Doc had seen it before; with Seph or Blue or Eli, and when Syn had that drive? It was inspiring. He wondered if that was what people had seen in him once upon a time. Of course, there was a price. When you failed, when you lost the people that drove you, it hurt worse than any wound. She would go silent, he would drift the country, they'd each draw inside themselves until things faded to a dull ache.

She laughed. "You know I will." she said. She and her photographs. She loved recording people. Her black and white shots, rarely digital, she wanted to print things out with their imperfections on film. She wanted to be able to go into her dark room, and do it all herself. But Syn was a hands on girl, at the end of the day. Possibly odd for a spirit elemental, but still. "Someday." she agreed.

Sighing in quiet amusement at the two of them together, Doc rose from his seat with his mug, moving around to her side to kiss Syn on the temple lightly, mindful of the scrag of his beard on her skin. "Someday leaves plenty of room for opportunity," he agreed, standing back and refilling his coffee mug, "But I should go start rallying the troops. Got a dinner party to plan. God... I never thought I'd say that." He chuckled quietly, sipping the surface of his mug. "Any opinion on dinner? Both tonight and when we have people over?"

Syn thought about it, and shook her head. "I'd prefer Seph's cooking to take out, but that's up to him if he wants to cook. I'm the one who needs to be a good fifty yards from the kitchen when anything's going on just to assure it doesn't become toxic by my mere presence." she said. God, could she ever not cook. "And dinner parties. Dinner parties thrown by you." she said, clearly amused. "I'll decorate!" she said brightly, flashing an impish grin at him. "It'll be fabulous."

"Decorate?" Doc scoffed, stopping his retreat to balk at her jokingly, "Synnove... you realize this is a meeting for assorted supernatural mercenaries, not a tupperware party, right?" Still, he was smiling when he said it, and he shook his head lightly at her. "I'll get Seph's opinion on it when I find him tonight," Doc added, heading out of the kitchen with a slow, amused shake of his head. Dinner parties thrown by me. Jesus, she's right, Doc mused as he moved for his room. First on the list of people to call? Kurt. He buys my teleporting, and my flying. This, though... this'll take some convincing.