Marvel, Saranac Lake: Sylvie & Dec & Clem
[In typical Declan fashion, he offered neither sister a ride, only an address. The travel arrangements were up to them, he felt that he'd already done more than enough by extending an invitation to his private lake house. Private was the key element here. Nobody came to this house, not ever. It'd become a mausoleum after his divorce, and the solitude of it felt fitting with trees all around and placid water that stretched toward distant mountains. It wasn't an ocean, but it was still and it was blue until the sun went down, then the water got black like the night sky. That was where he'd spent most of the evening sitting, out on the dock with a beer curled tight in his fist. He watched the water, and he figured maybe another beer might help the ache that was beginning to cause a twinge in the muscle of his thigh. Maybe he wanted something stronger, but he thought that he'd save the pills for after dinner, or until he just couldn't stand the company of his sisters with much more of a sober mind.
Fish caused ripples in the black water, and it disturbed that pristine reflection of the sky so that all of the stars seemed to shiver outwards. There were headlights climbing down the long drive to the front of his cabin, and Declan could see them from where he sat at the dock. He sipped the last of his beer and started for the house, coming on through the back and striding through the expansive living room. He opened the front door before Clementine could reach it, glancing beyond her to the red truck that was parked in his driveway.] That new?
[He wore baby blue with sleeves that stretched long, his blue jeans were a few shades darker than the shirt. The mountains and the lake kept everything a lot cooler up here than when down in the city, and it wasn't a trial to wear sleeves in August after the sun went down. He looked down at the bag she carried with her, his frown was slight and immediate. Of course, he remembered that she wanted to stay, that he'd teased her about maids making up the room. Declan really needed to stay off of the journals when he was in the deep end of some muscle relaxers. It made him too genial, he decided.]
No Sylvie yet. [A beat, and then he gestured for her bag because he might have been a grouch, but he was a grouch that was raised right.] Let me carry that.