Unexpected Turns

Who: Kaysen and Isaac
When: evening
Where: their house

So he'd been kind of putting it off. So what? It had been the quiet day of relief that they'd needed so desperately, and though he was compelled to have this talk with his sister, that didn't mean he was really looking forward to it. But maybe he'd get lucky. Maybe she already knew everything, and would be cool with it. Doubtful, but maybe. He'd tried to look up more about fades, but only came up with the same vague 'magically made' blurb that said they had powers. But not exactly what. It seemed that even the people who wrote those kinds of books didn't know much about them, which wasn't very encouraging. But he knew what he knew, and he couldn't in good conscience not tell her. So after a ghosting-through-the-kitchen type dinner, he went knocking on her door.

Kaysen was in there. She'd seen Chance earlier, and was wondering when their dad was going to be getting back from the hospital, and sort of half wondering if she was even caring anymore about her homework. Like at large, really. Was school really that important when they had this kind of shit to worry about? Honestly now. When there was a knock on her door, she glanced over. "Come in." she said.

He did so, closing the door behind him. Not that he thought they'd get interrupted or anything. Their mom wasn't even there, having breezed in and then out again, to get clothes and go back to Ishpeming Bell Memorial. It still felt like a conversation to have with the door shut. Isaac picked a spot on the floor in front of her dresser and sat on it, pulling his legs up and putting his arms up on his knees. "Hey, you," he said, offering her a faint smile.

"Hey." she said. "How goes?" she asked. She flopped forward on her bed to lay on her stomach, propped up on her elbows. "Your woman okay and everything?" she asked. Even if she didn't care that much. It was Isaac's girl, so she figured she ought to check about her, anyways. And she didn't want her hurt or anything, that would have been fucked up on a major scale, and she wasn't that cold hearted. Even if sometimes she wished she were.

"Yeah, she's okay," he said with a nod before letting his head settle back against the dresser drawer. "Got a few stitches, and Tyler's really freaked out, but she's all right. How's Chance?" he asked. Which probably would be seen later as a very unsubtle sort of segue, but while they were on the subject of significant others ...

"He's okay. He had...a friend helping him out, I guess." she answered. She didn't sound entirely happy about the friend thing. "Some chick he met or something. I dunno. But he's okay. Does Tyler even know about stuff?" she asked. Then paused. "Guess he would now, huh. What're we gonna tell the parents, anyways? I was thinking maybe they could go talk to Thom's mom or something. If she'd do it. She's...more credible, or something." Thom's mom could probably make vampires and insane shadow creatures sound reasonable.

"Mom didn't ask, but she was kinda in a rush, so ... that actually sounds like a good idea," Isaac said, making a bit of a face. Because he didn't want to be the one trying to explain, when they came for explanations. No thanks, one person in his lifetime was enough for that, and that had been Peyton. And maybe he'd team up to bring Tyler into the world too. But their parents? The idea was daunting. "I bet she would. We can ask." Ashbelle Harkin loved them, after all. "But no, Tyler doesn't know shit. Or didn't. He still doesn't know what's going on, unless Peyton's talked to him some more. But uh ... she kinda told me something, too, I wanted to talk to you about ..." he said, looking over at her. He had his hands gripped together so he wouldn't fidget.

"I just...I don't think I can actually talk to them about it. Like, I dunno if we should even tell them about me. What do you think? Would they freak out? they just kinda started I dunno. Like...talking to me more and caring more and shit, and I don't really want them to start thinking I'm a freak or weird or dangerous or whatever. Maybe one thing at a time." She sighed and dragged her fingers through her hair. She paused and eyed him. "What's that?" she asked suspiciously, thinking that that sounded ominous.

The idea of telling their parents that Kaysen was Something Else had been dismissed immediately from Isaac's brain quite a while ago. He paused for a second, as it had not re-occurred in the slightest, and considered. "I don't think they'd think you were a freak or dangerous or anything," he said, shaking his head a bit. "But I think it'd be ... a lot at once. Maybe one thing at a time, yeah." He sighed, and ran a hand through his hair to make it stick up more. "Okay so Peyton was talking to me, and in the middle of everything, she told me that she'd met another girl who was a fade," he said, going for direct. Ish. "And I learned some stuff about them that you ... might not know, I guess. But I think you should. If, y'know ... Chance."

Kaysen wasn't sure. She knew their parents didn't especially understand her in the first place. So to add on top of that the whole fire elemental aspect...would that make any progress they'd made together go away? She didn't want that. She really didn't want that. It felt like they'd just finally started like...caring. Or showing they cared, anyways. When he started talking about the fade stuff, she felt her stomach suddenly clench up with a big ball of 'oh shit'. She tried not to look like she was suddenly very frightened, but she failed miserably there. "What've...what'd she say?"

He could see it plain as day, of course, and felt more and more like he really didn't want to have this conversation. It would've been better probably if she had been the one telling him. But what could you do. "Well ... there's magic involved, which isn't really surprising. Like ... they're made? Peyton didn't know if that meant they're not born kind of made, or if it just ... changes them or something. I dunno, none of the books I have are really helpful. But ... the thing that really caught my attention -- besides the whole healing deal, which we already knew -- is that they're immortal. Like ... really immortal. I just ... didn't know ... if you knew that," he finished off in kind of a mutter, realizing that he really didn't know the terms of that either. Just that it was.

Kaysen didn't feel so good all of a sudden. Because Isaac had it almost right there. So he knew they were created, but she was thinking that he didn't know that key part. The bit about the creation happening through sacrifices. And now she wondered just how much Isaac was going to find out, and if she should tell him before he did, because if he found out, was he gonna do something lame? Was he gonna...gah. This was awful. Shit. Shit shit shit. She also realized she needed to say something, because if she didn't, then he was going to wonder what the hell was going on with her. "I um. He. He said. He um. He told me." He'll live as long as the sacrificed's line was supposed to be. Or something like that. It's fucked up. God is it fucked up, Isaac, and I don't know what to do.

While that wasn't quite the response he'd been worried about, it was still plenty concerning. Isaac was frowning at her in a puzzled kind of way. Okay so she knew, that was a good thing, but she really didn't look happy about it. Not that he'd really be thrilled either, but still. He knew his sister well, he'd been around her for her whole life, and if she was cool with something, she'd probably be rambling about it to him about now, filling him in. "Everything okay, Kaysen?" he asked, and while that was the stupidest question ever now, he thought that she would know what he meant. He hasn't hurt you, has he? If that motherfucker ever just lays a single fucking finger ...

She nodded immediately. "Yeah, I'm okay, I just..." she started, not sure what to say, and she shifted, sitting up and she started to look around for Edison. Where was her cat, anyways? She needed him for a nice distraction. "I dunno. Immortal's kind of a thing to be dealing with, isn't it? Because...with...and I mean I'm not, and I know about it and shit but I don't know what to think about it and I dunno, there's just...it's a lot."

He wasn't sure if he believed that that was it. Because ... well yes, that was true, it was a lot to be dealing with. It was just that she'd known before apparently and she looked so thrown just now, and ... yeah. He wasn't sure what that meant. "Yeah it's a lot," he agreed, watching her look around. "Anything else I should know?" Because it was Kaysen, and she got nervous when she was lying to him. Or keeping something.

Oh god. Was there? Of course there was. There was this huge, amazingly large Thing that was hovering over their entire existence. Fuck. And now he was looking at her like he could read her mind and like she was just transparent and maybe she was and she didn't usually lie to Isaac, and she hadn't meant to keep anything from him only she had because of the weird and the bad and she'd told Thom and he'd freaked out kinda sorta and fuck. Just fuck. "Um. No?" she suggested, but she looked guilty as all hell.

Isaac tilted his head and gave her a Look. "I don't believe you," he said, quiet but flat at the same time. Now he was positive that something was up. Something more than he knew, and when it came to the dude his baby sister was dating that was questionable anyway ... yeah, that did not bode well. "What's going on, Kaysen?" He didn't know which thought that popped into his head as a possibility was worse: that there was more to his fadeness or that they'd slept together.

Kaysen fidgeted a lot. "Um." she said. God, where did she even start? She looked everywhere but at him. Wow, what fascinating posters on the wall! Edison! There was her cat! She bent and picked him up, pulling him up onto her lap to snuggle, which Edison was not at all prepared for, and he took a swipe at her arm, before meowing and trying to get away. Kaysen let go, putting her hand over the scratch. "Traitor." she accused the animal, though there wasn't much rancor behind the words. Fuck. What did she even say? She blanked entirely.

Okay now? He was officially Really Fucking Worried. Like ... a lot. A little bit of him wanted to stand up and go make her look at him and start talking. Because there was some shit that was really wrong here, and he goddamn well wanted to know what it was. But Isaac stayed where he was sitting, gripping one wrist with the other kind of hard. "Just spit it out," he encouraged. "What's wrong? You're not pregnant, are you?" Yes, worst nightmare, and he really didn't think so -- he fucking hoped not, that was for sure -- but he knew either way, it would probably get her talking.

Kaysen sputtered. Totally. She also turned a deep, deep red. "No!" she cried, in a high pitched, panicky sort of way. At least, she didn't think she was. But now that she was thinking about it she hadn't used protection with Chance and god, she possibly could be but oh god oh god oh god...that sort of derailed her entirely and had her forgetting everything else that was on her mind.

There was the denial, but not the total outrage that he expected. That was not a reassuring tone, not reassuring at all. Isaac stared at her, really thinking for the first time that they'd maybe slept together. Which really just made him sick to his stomach. He had no idea what to say, and everything that flashed through his head was accusatory and probably not good to say at all, so he didn't. Just sat and stared and tried to wrap his head around that idea that he'd hated ever since she hit puberty.

Kaysen felt like she was hyperventilating. Which was pretty close. She was definitely panicking, if absolutely nothing else. Panic, panic panic. Yeah. Shit. Shit shit shit. With a side of holy fucking shit. "I'm not--I mean I don't really think so and anyways that wasn't...and I'm not--I'm not pregnant!" was her totally incoherent reply.

'Don't really think so' wasn't a definite 'no, I'm still a virgin, of course not!' And yeah, he pretty well thought he was going to yark on her carpet. He felt kind of dizzy for a second, both hands moving to run through his hair. Dear god, she'd slept with him. With Chance Reed. She was sixteen. She'd just fucking turned sixteen and Chance had ... oh god. He couldn't breathe very well. In an abrupt sort of movement, he pushed off of the dresser and stood up, yanking her door open kind of hard and heading for the stairs. He wasn't sure where he was going, just away from the fact that his baby sister had ... yeah.

Kaysen blinked as Isaac abruptly left, and she didn't know whether to hide for say, like, the rest of her life, or follow him. In the end, the fear of him marching downstairs to tell their parents had her dashing after him in terror. "Isaac! Wait up!" she said, trying to catch him up, taking the stairs two at a time.

Being that one of their parents wasn't there, and the other had more than her plate full, that was not Isaac's destination. He pushed through the back door onto the porch and then stopped, hands coming up to rub over his face again. "Just gimme a minute," he muttered as he heard her come up behind him. "Fucking hell."

Kaysen felt like she was in trouble, but she went and sat on the edge of the porch, letting her legs swing down from it and she stared into the back yard. "...don't tell mom n dad, okay?" she asked in a quiet, tiny sort of voice. "I'll...give you that minute." She hopped down from the porch and went to go sit on the swing instead, her back to the house and her brother. She just hoped he didn't like...fuck off and leave or something, even if she didn't especially want to talk to him about any of it.

The fresh air helped a little bit, but he still didn't feel good. In the slightest. Don't tell mom and dad. That was all she had to say? He wanted to yell at her for a minute, ask her what the hell she could've possibly been thinking. But what had he just done not that long ago? ... even though that was different and they were older and ... stuff. After a moment, he stepped down off the porch and walked up behind her. "Tell me you were careful," he said quietly. "Even if it's a lie, just say it, Kaysen."

Kaysen winced. Because...well, it would be a lie. She didn't like lying to him. But she repeated it for him, because he said to. "We were careful." she said. Her tone was flat though, quiet. Not at all that terribly convincing, because she wasn't very good at it anyways and she didn't really want to lie.

"Oh god." Okay now he really was going to throw up. Because she was lying, and they hadn't been careful, and he'd been hoping he could believe her, but he guessed not. Isaac crouched down in the grass, then rocked back into a sit, scrubbing his face again. God, if only he could like ... wipe that totally out of his mind. He was quiet for what felt like a long time, literally biting his tongue on a few things. "Please just ... tell me you'll be careful from now on, okay?"

"Okay." she said, sitting there on the swing, even if she wasn't swinging at all. She didn't have the heart to. "I'm sorry, Isaac, it was just...I mean we were there, and in the moment, and he never pushed or anything, but I dunno, I get really...and it was just something that happened and he wasn't trying to get it or anything, I promise, and I didn't even think about the careful thing really and I'm sorry. Are you mad at me?" she rambled, all in a huge gush of words.

Oh god shut up shut up, I don't want to hear about it! He winced behind her, and tried to get a grip. A real hold, because he needed one. So his sister had ... had sex. Really, lots of girls her age did. He heard plenty about them when he was her age. When he was her age, he really wanted to have sex. So ... yeah. He was a hypocrite if he was going to be mad at her for this. And while that made logical sense, she was still his baby sister. Augh. "No ..." he started. "No, not ... mad. I just ... I mean, I just lost it not that long ago too, I can't ... it was your choice, and if he didn't -- ... god, just be careful, okay? Please?"

She finally looked back at him twisting the swing to do so. "I promise, I will." she said. "Promise-promise." she added. "I didn't mean to not be the first time. And I guess I haven't really thought that much about it since then, it's just...I dunno." she admitted. She got like that when she was in the moment, it was weird, but when she wasn't, she didn't think about it much. But in the heat there, when everything seemed to kick into overdrive so easily...when passion just burned up and consumed, she didn't think about anything but what was happening right then. She knew fundamentally it was a fire elemental thing. She'd read about it in the book, but it was another thing to experience it. She just didn't know if Isaac wanted to hear, or even if she could talk to him about it.

"That's three times you promised," he said, though it was still kind of weak and sick-sounding. He looked up at her, and tried not to focus on how young she looked in the mostly-dark. Like ... still eleven, when he would push her on this swing and tell her to go away and leave him and Thom alone. Back when things were simple, and he didn't reminisce about shit like he was already 95. Fuck. Because she probably needed it, he stood up again and gave her a hug from the side. "Sorry, just ... wasn't ready to hear that," he muttered.

She hugged him back. "Don't be sorry, I'm sorry, I'm just...it's all kinda confusing. All of it." she said. Which included all the Chance stuff she hadn't told him about, that she still didn't know if she could. Again, she was left with the idea that this was Isaac, her big brother who like, knew everything and while she was learning that he didn't, and he couldn't take care of everything, it was still her gut instinct.

"Yeah," Isaac agreed, and gave her a little squeeze before letting go. She was growing up, much as he hated it and had been telling himself that same thing for months and months now. Growing up and he couldn't stop her from doing it. He tucked his hands in his pockets and looked out at the yard for a second. He wondered if Thom knew. Then thought it was probably best he didn't. "Are you ... still like ... happy with him?" he asked, looking at her again.

God, what a hard question to answer. "He loves me." she was the first thing that popped out of her mouth, totally not at all checking with her brain first. He did love her, he said it all the time. And she missed him when he wasn't there, and she wanted him around and she had really strong feelings for him, and...yeah. There were the issues she had but they weren't because of him, right?

"That's ... not an answer," he pointed out gently. "I mean ... good and all, if he does, but ... how do you feel?" And now he very genuinely wanted to know. Because his sister's happiness was important to him. And if Chance was ... if they were sleeping together, then her loving him back was pretty like ... key. In the ideal situation, at least.

"You mean like, do I love him?" she asked, looking pained. "I dunno. I mean, what is love, anyways? I didn't even for really believe it would ever happen to me til like, he said it. I know I feel really strongly about him. But how would I even know it's love?" she asked, hoping he actually had an answer for her because she sure as shit didn't know.

Isaac shifted his weight from one foot to the other uncomfortably. "Well ..." he started slowly. "I mean ... for me, it's like ... with Peyton, I trust her. Feel like I can talk to her about anything, and it's okay, she'll try to help. And vice versa, like I want to make things better for her if I can, protect her from stuff ... It's like she's a safehaven for me, like when I'm just with her, the bad shit doesn't matter so much." He felt a dull heat in his cheeks. To say he didn't talk to Kaysen much about that kind of thing was an understatement. "But I mean, that's me. How do you feel about him? Without saying yes or no to love."

She paused and thought. "I dunno. We fight a lot. But we've been fighting less lately. And I want him around. I really miss him when I don't see him. And like when everything's going to hell? I wish he were here. I know there's this huge...this huge feeling for him in me. I just don't know what to call it. Maybe it's love. I dunno. I just don't wanna say so til I'm sure, y'know? That wouldn't be fair."

He was nodding and trying to control the internal cringing at hearing all that about Chance. Really, if that was how she felt, he really had to get the fuck over it. Which he would work on, really. "Well that's good. Don't say it until you know, you're right. But I mean ... don't worry if you still like ... question it. Most people aren't real clear on what love is, so you're not alone." Which he hoped was sort of comforting, maybe.

"You sound sure." Kaysen said. She knew for herself, she just hadn't ever figured it would happen. The majority of people didn't like her just on principal it wasn't like she'd ever figured she'd have a boyfriend. Or anything like what she had with Chance. And then there was the other stuff. The stuff she wasn't saying, and she was feeling worse for not. Fuck. But she knew it would make everything worse. A lot worse.

Isaac shrugged a shoulder. "I think it's different for everybody. Kinda just ... like everything else. I mean, the movies cookie-cutter it and make it seem all sparkly-magical and like it just fixes everything. But it doesn't. It's just a warm thing to have, if you do, and everybody can't feel it the same. That's what I think, anyway," he added in a half-mutter. "The only thing I can be really sure about anymore is how I feel, so ... maybe that's why I actually sound it."

"So you're in love then?" she asked. Which she kept her own feelings out of. She didn't like The Girlfriend. She'd ignored her. She like...was all about her brother and that was cool, but whatever. She had always figured it'd be like that, it just kinda sucked now that she knew for sure.

"As I know it right now, yeah," he answered. Which wasn't the simplest one he could've given, but it was how he felt. He didn't think things would change much, but who was he to say? Look what had happened to Thom, after all. Isaac tucked his hands in his pockets and looked at her.

She nodded, then let the swing untwist, and she pushed it back a little to swing in a short arc, slowly back and forth. "Good for you." she said. She was genuine, even if she didn't like his girlfriend. Isaac deserved to be happy, regardless of her opinion on shit, or people. So...she just gave him that instead.

He didn't answer for a second. That sounded genuine enough, even though he knew they weren't exactly ... close. But then again, neither were he and Chance. Like, at all. "Good for both of us," he said. He untucked a hand to give her a little push in the middle of the back, to swing her a little farther. Habit, maybe.

She smiled a bit at that, the little gesture sort of making her feel better about things. Or, at least, that he wasn't going to be upset with her anymore. She had a whole lot on her mind now though. It was buzzing, all under the surface, all thoughts she couldn't quite latch onto properly. Or maybe she just didn't want to. That was probably more the case. Either way, she let them lapse into silence, albeit a much more comfortable one for her.

Since she didn't get all 'I'm not a baby' offended, Isaac pushed her again as she swung back, though it was still gentle and slow. Nothing else bubbled to the top of his mind to say, so he didn't break the silence just yet. That whole conversation had taken an insane turn, and he wasn't sure he wanted to really risk getting into another one. So ... he just pushed his sister on the swing a little.