Brianna Winters (winters__breeze) wrote in birthrightrpg, @ 2021-11-18 14:40:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | brianna winters, flynn russo, gabe santorini |
Questions and Answers
Who: Brianna & Flynn
What: Post-gnome thank you dinner
When: Follows this
Where: Le Breeze Brasserie
Ratings G
After the gnomes had been sorted and some of the spectacular mess had been cleaned up, Flynn had run outside to his Challenger to change into a spare clean shirt he kept in his backpack, and once that was accompanied had sat down for a meal with Brianna. He had forgone his usual beer — he had quite enough of the substance for a while — and opted for a glass of chardonnay. After poring over the menu, he had opted for the wild mushroom risotto and peach iced tea sorbet, which he started eating first instead of as a dessert. As he dipped a spoon into the icy sorbet, his eyes flicked upward to meet the other psychic’s. “So,” he began, setting the spoon down after successfully avoiding brain freeze from the first bite. “I assume you’ve been like this all your life?” Flynn had suggested a quid pro quo question-and-answer session. They would each get a turn to ask something. While he waited for her response, he picked up a cloth napkin and wiped his mouth before taking a long sip of the chilled white wine.
It was fancier fare than he usually went for, but then again, Flynn mostly stuck to Searchlight when he wasn’t traveling to Las Vegas or Henderson for specific purposes. It was good, of course, much better than what waited for him at home, which was a frozen DiGiornio’s pizza and a recording of the Seahawks vs. Packers game. “By this, I mean…well, I think you know.” The medium offered her a smile.
Brianna nodded slowly, making sure not to check over her shoulder as to how the evening service was going. It was rare indeed that she actually ate downstairs, usually retiring alone to her apartment for her meals. She had been careful to place herself with her back to the room, which felt both odd, and in a way liberating, though she could tell the staff were very aware she was there, despite her telling them she was ‘off duty’, and Tarek was in charge.
“Yes, I can’t really remember what it was like to not know what others were thinking and feeling,” she admitted. “At first I thought it was just the twin bond thing, that I was just knowing what my sister was thinking, what she was up to, when she wasn’t feeling right. Early on it was only when I touched someone else that it happened, whereas with Juliet it was always there.” She picked up her glass and took a sip of the wine before continuing. “It became stronger over time, as I grew up I guess, and it’s only recently that I’ve learned other … skills,” she concluded.
“What about you? What, or how, do you do what it is you do?” she asked. During the cleanup process Flynn had confirmed that they were ‘ghosts’ she’d seen, but she hadn’t listened in while he’d talked to Chet, so she didn’t know what had passed between the two men.
Flynn listened intently as she spoke, working through a couple more spoonfuls of the sorbet before moving on to the mushroom risotto. When she mentioned her sister, he tilted his head and fixed Brianna with a curious stare. “You’re a twin? I always wondered what that would be like. I’m an only child,” he explained. Wow, that risotto was…basically meant for the phrase ‘compliments to the chef.’ He was also intrigued by what she might mean by other skills, but recognized that it was his turn to spill.
“I don’t really know much about the how,” he admitted, setting down his fork and leaning back slightly in the chair. “The first time I remembered talking to someone who ‘wasn’t there’, I was maybe five or six? But my dad once told me that I had been weird since I was a baby.” Flynn gave her a rueful smile. “His wording, not mine. All I know is that I can practice — I guess it would be called conjuring — and lately it feels like I’ve been getting more…powerful.” He fiddled with a corner of his napkin. “What other skills have you learned?”
A myriad of questions rose, but again, the ‘tit-for-tat’ agreement took precedent. She looked down at the risotto she was also enjoying, and thought for a moment, a smile slowly spreading across her face. She lifted her head again, her eyes meeting his, an eyebrow arching slightly as she ‘pushed’ toward him, ’This risotto really is delicious, I will let Chef know we’ve enjoyed it.’
She was curious to see whether it would work without the adrenaline of the scenario they had just gone through earlier. And whether it was dependent on proximity, or the person’s intuitive strengths, of which she felt Flynn had a good deal given his own abilities.
He heard it as clearly as if she had spoken aloud, though her lips never moved. Flynn raised a contemplative eyebrow before breaking into a grin. “Neat trick,” he told her, leaning forward a little with interest. “Were you doing that earlier? Communicating with Chet?” He had noticed the looks the two had been exchanging while they were all trying to deal with the havoc of the gnomes. “Wait, no, it’s not my turn for a question.” He rolled his eyes at himself playfully and picked up a piece of flaky bread that had been sitting in a basket off to the side.
Her eyes widened and smile brightened a little at the positive response, confirming what she had suspected, and hoped she was able to do - control what she could hear and feel while still managing to communicate, at least in close quarters. Or under duress. She smiled at his question and shook her head lightly, answering his question anyway. “Not really, or at least not with any assurity it would work. Like I said, new skill, still working on it, still finding what works.”
She forked another small portion of the risotto into her mouth as she considered her next question. After swallowing she angled her head a little. “When you ‘conjure’, are you able to call specific people, or individuals? Or is it more a case of whoever happens to be … well, in earshot?” she asked, giving a wry smile and small shrug as she wasn’t sure how to word what it was he did.
“A little of both, depending,” Flynn told her, bringing the wine glass to his mouth. As he drank, it gave him time to gather his thoughts a bit. “It used to be a lot more general when I was younger. I didn’t call anyone in particular to me, it was just like…I would go somewhere and the spirits followed, I think they’re attracted to my energy because they know I can see them. And most just want that, you know, to be seen. Some are benign and calm like the pair you saw earlier. Some are angry and malevolent and are harder to shake.” His eyes drifted down to the table and he shifted a bit uncomfortably, thinking about his father’s house and trying not to. If Brianna saw what he had done that night, she might not be so keen on spending time with him, and he was actually enjoying this conversation.
“I didn’t start reaching out to specific people until last year, when I helped a friend out. Another telepath, actually,” Flynn told her, his smile returning as he met her eye. “Someone from his past with unfinished business. I helped him move on.”
She couldn’t help but notice the slight shift in his emotions, it was more his face that gave it away than her ‘feeling’ it as she did have shields in place, mainly to prevent the ‘noise’ of what was going on around them, the people in the brasserie, and the highly charged emotional state of the staff who’d volunteered to stay on for the evening shift after the day’s events. “And this friend, could he see the one you called? I mean, can people usually see them? Or is that up to the spirits?” she found herself asking before realising it was actually his turn again. She gave him an apologetic smile. “Sorry, it’s your turn,” she told him, picking up the wine glass and taking a sip.
Flynn chuckled softly, shaking his head as he set the glass down carefully. They didn’t need any more spills or broken serve ware. “No, it’s really okay. I know what it’s like when your brain just keeps coming up with questions.” He tilted his head a bit, a habit he had when he was thinking deeply about something. At that moment, he was searching for the right words to explain it. “It takes extra effort on my part, but I can channel them so that others can see them. But it’s hard to sustain it for long. I get exhausted, and the more I do it, I start to take on their emotions, even their motivations.” He recalled the night in the mortuary with James, how he had felt Brandon’s influence and the desire to attack the other man. “And other times, they haven’t been visible, but they’ve spoken through me. Either way, I’m the intermediary.” Flynn shrugged and grinned. “In other words, a medium. Like um…Whoopi Goldberg in Ghost.”
He fussed at the rolled up sleeves of his shirt for a moment. “I apologize in advance if this next question is too personal,” Flynn began. “But have you had trouble sort of…connecting with other people? Due to your gifts?”
The fork paused midway to her mouth as she looked at him, then down at her plate as she lowered the mouthful of food. The question was almost a surprise, because very few understood how difficult it could be, but him asking it led her to believe he actually understood, and possibly experienced something similar.
"Yes," she answered simply, her eyes lifting from where they'd been studying her plate, up to meet his. "Though it's more often been a matter of trust."
“It’s difficult to find people you can trust in most ‘normal’ circumstances,” Flynn agreed, spearing a mushroom with his fork. “I can’t imagine what it must be like, to be able to hear someone lie right to your face or think things about you that they would never say out loud.” He brought the fork to his mouth and glanced away briefly toward the rest of the cafe. He had gotten somewhat lost in the conversation and forgot that other people were there, too.
“My parents had a strained relationship beforehand, but after I started telling them I could see and talk to people that no one else could, and strange things started happening around the house…” Flynn trailed off and shrugged. “My dad told me it was inevitable but I still feel like she would have stuck around longer, maybe, if I wasn’t the way I am. But it colors every relationship I have. I expect people to leave one way or another, and then they prove me right.”
"Don't let her failings colour your belief in yourself, you're not responsible for her..." she returned quickly, possibly a little more vehemently than another might and cutting herself short. She immediately realised how that sounded and drew the inside of her bottom lip between her teeth, pressing her teeth together, a habit borne of the instruction to 'bite your tongue!' when she was a child and spoke out of turn, or blurted out the truth of what her mother really was thinking. She reached for her wine and took a sip, glancing around the room before looking back across at him. "I'm sorry, I… have a rather strained relationship with the woman claiming the title of 'Mother' to us," she found herself explaining to him, giving an apologetic smile as her fork played absently with the food still on her plate.
He watched her carefully as she spoke, the words seeming to pour out of her with a force he had yet to see from Brianna. The corner of his mouth turned up a bit, not in amusement but a sort of appreciation. “Hey,” Flynn told her, meeting her eye. “You don’t have to apologize.” She almost looked like she was physically trying to rein the words back into her mouth. “Too many people don’t say what they mean, or really feel, and I think it can be healthy to have...outbursts, sometimes,” the medium told her. “Especially about things that hurt or stick with you. And I can’t speak for everyone else, but as far as I’m concerned, you don’t have to censor yourself with me. Do you do that a lot?”
The psychic sighed. The sound was a combination of relief - that he wasn’t offended, or upset by her outburst, and that he seemed to understand. For the first time in longer than she could remember she didn’t feel like a fraud, having to put on a face of calm serenity despite whatever turmoil she was truly feeling. Those feelings were supposed to be suppressed, weren’t becoming for a ‘young lady of your standing in the community!’. A momentary grimace crossed her face as she heard that voice echo in her head before pushing it away.
And she didn’t feel tempted to peek from behind the shield to be sure either. Her abilities had, over the years, given her skills to be able to read microexpressions which had stood her in good stead when she suppressed her ability to know for sure what someone was thinking or feeling. But every so often she was tempted to check, and be sure. But when she looked at Flynn she saw someone who understood what it was to have abilities that scared people, that made them avoid you, or in some cases in her past, tried to use you.
“You could say that, yes,” she replied quietly, nodding slowly as her eyes drifted across her plate, lowering the fork until it was resting on the edge. She rested her elbows on the table, fingers interlaced and her chin resting on them as she looked across at him. “What about you? You think your mother left because of your abilities. What did your father think of them?”
“Well, like I said, you don’t have to pretend or whatever when you’re talking to me. No one can be one hundred percent calm all of the time, unless they’re on some really strong drugs.” Flynn smiled and took another bite of the risotto. As a member of the waitstaff popped by to refill their water glasses, he nodded his thanks to them before turning back to Brianna. “He pretended for a long time that there was something wrong in my head. I think that made him feel better about it, that maybe it was something that could be fixed with some pills or therapy. He was more of a concrete thinker, a ‘fixer’, and when he realized he couldn’t fix it, it made him feel helpless. So he just closed up.” Flynn looked around to make sure no one was listening or watching, and lowered his voice a touch anyway.
“He died on Christmas Eve last year,” he admitted to Brianna. “And then he came to ‘visit’ me at my house. I, um, got to have one last discussion with his ghost. It wasn’t much of one, but it made me see him a little more clearly. No pun intended.”
As she listened to him talk about his father she felt how hard that would be, one parent having just gone, the other closed off, imagining you needed ‘fixing’. She had always had Juliet to confide in, so between the two of them they had kept her abilities secret, only Bartholomew had known, or at least had guessed, and it was never discussed.
“I’m sorry,” she said softly, with regards to his loss of his father. “Did your talk with him … after… was he the same, just able to talk more openly? Or … well, I don’t know, does dying actually make them see things differently?”
“It’s okay, really,” Flynn assured her, and he was being genuine. If anything, the only thing he had felt bad about was not mourning his father’s death more. Sometimes he envied people who had close relationships with their parents, like Ellie and her mother for example. But on the other hand, it could also make things easier to process and deal with. “It might sound off, but I wasn’t overcome with grief or anything. Partly because I know better than most that death isn’t the end, and also because, well…things aren’t much different now that he’s gone than they were before.”
It was a pragmatic way of thinking, one Flynn knew he had inherited from the very man he spoke of now. His mom leaving had been more difficult. “He was about the same. Asked me about work, and my girlfriend at the time. Avoided the tougher questions.” He drank some of the water. “You said earlier that you’ve had issues with trusting people. I kind of assumed that extended to romantic relationships, too?”
As she listened to him talking about his father she couldn’t help but think of her own parents, and the strange relationship there was there. But his questions about relationships tugged at her in an unusual way. She had sometimes wondered if she would ever be able to have one, find someone who could be honest, that she could trust, and want the same things she did. She had begun to doubt it, and nodded briefly. “Yes,” she admitted, staring down at the food on her plate again, toying with it. She cleared her throat and straightened up. “Trusting someone and letting them get close, only to find out they’re all ready to talk the talk, but when it comes to walking the walk, they’re either all talk, or walking away, or…” She paused and after thinking for a moment added, “... or not worth the air they breathe.” The last words carried a tinge of bitterness that was born of the lies told to her face.
“Wow, yeah, that’s…a lot of bad luck.” Flynn’s issue wasn’t really about being lied to, but he could imagine how much that would hurt. Not to mention it would only make it harder to trust the next person who came along. “It must be hard, too, to resist the temptation to ‘listen in’ on people and make sure they’re telling the truth, because trust should go both ways,” he mused, pushing his plate slightly to the side as he focused solely on the conversation. “If the other person knows about your abilities, then they have to trust you won’t use them without their permission. Not saying that you would do that, I just mean...the temptation would always be there if it were me, I think.”
She eyed him thoughtfully, fully aware of his words, ‘... girlfriend at the time…’ and asked, “and how have your romantic partners handled what you can do?”
He glanced downward contemplatively as he considered her next question.
“I’ve tried different ‘tactics’ over the years,” he admitted with a smile that held little mirth. “Sometimes I wouldn’t tell them, but they would always figure out something was up. Either they would push it and I’d bottle up not unlike my dad, or they would leave because I was being distant, which to be fair, I was.” Flynn brought his shoulders up slightly in a noncommittal shrug. “But with Ellie -- my last girlfriend -- I decided to try something new and just be completely open from the start. And at first, things were good.”
It was clear things had ended, and painfully for him. Even with her shields up she felt a wave of rejection sweep through, and recognised it immediately as she had felt it herself, first hand when she’d confronted someone with the truth and admitted how she knew.
“But that didn’t last?” she offered, and then after a moment’s pause added, “Or something else happened?”
How could Flynn even begin to explain? He looked up at Brianna and studied her face silently for a moment, thinking. While she could understand a lot of what he had personally gone through, it seemed, would she get why he did what he did...and how he felt about it afterward? He also wasn’t sure exactly why that mattered so much, that this person he had just met understood and didn’t run away from him. “I think she...I don’t have a bad thing to say about her, I just want to make that clear. Ellie is a caring person, for sure. But sometimes it felt like I was cast in this role I never auditioned for, like she thought I was perfect or something. And that sounds like a weird thing to complain about, maybe, but then I did something out of character and I think it sort of shattered how she looked at me.” Flynn swallowed and glanced away.
“Because I’m definitely not perfect. I don’t even know if I’m...good, per se.” He chanced a look at Brianna, gauging her reaction.
Her twin is a hunter, her pseudo brother is a sorcerer, her mentor had already walked on the Earth for over 3 millennia, and her friends included were and a vampire. She knew there was a wide and cavernous distance between good and bad, and so many different interpretations. Her mother had berated her if she believed Brianna and Juliet didn't live up to her expectations of perfection and how painful that had been, especially for a young child. Her witnessing some of the horrific acts inflicted by humans on others, experienced by her guardian during the last 600 years, had widened and deepened that chasm.
"None of us is perfect, regardless of how hard we might try, or how much someone else wants us to be," she returned quietly. "And how we react in one situation might be completely different to what we do in another, depending on the circumstances."
Her fingers toyed with the base of her wineglass, smoothing over the surface then slowly turning the slender stem. "And I think if you ask every person here tonight you would hear a different definition of what classifies as good, or bad, or the gap in between." She huffed a soft dry laugh before adding, "and of course all those who would become offended by simply asking the question." She looked up at him, bringing her chin to rest on the heel of the hand that had been toying with the wineglass.
"From what I've witnessed in the huge amount of time I've known you," she said, with a small wry smile and roll of her eyes, "you chose to do what was needed even when it involved revealing a part of you I don't think you openly share very often, understandably. And I am very grateful to you for your choice. And trust. I imagine it can't have been easy."
Flynn listened to Brianna, and largely, he would agree with the things she was saying. But he was still confused, and he wondered if it was the strange brand of self-imposed loneliness he had been living in the past few months that made him long for acceptance. There were only a few people in his life that saw him and what he could do and didn’t turn away from the darker aspects of it, James being one of them. Would it be entirely impossible to come across another person like that by chance? He could have just as easily gone to McDonald’s that day but something about Le Breeze had caught his attention. “Yeah, well…” He smiled and took another drink of water, ice cubes clinking pleasantly in the glass. “It wasn’t one hundred percent selfless. The gnomes were kind of funny. Dare I even say cute?” He grinned and set the tumbler down. “I wonder if they get hangovers.”
His reference to her earlier comment, in the microbrewery, caused her to duck her head slightly, to hide the smile and slight rise of colour in her cheeks. Her head angled to one side as she schooled her features back into their usual calm appearance, though there was a humorous light in her eyes. “I’m guessing we’re going to find out at some point,” she replied, then added, “maybe I should get Chef to prepare some food, and I know Adrien, our head barman has a hangover cure that’s helped many a guest, and more than a few staff members, recover rather quickly. Has there been any word from James, or anyone, about what to expect when they wake up? And what to do with them, I mean, we can’t keep them locked up all the time, that wouldn’t be good. For any of us.” The conversation between Tarek and Chef about the use of his drygoods pantry as a holding cell had been colourful and a little fraught, but her assistant manager had handled it rather well, given how high tempers were running throughout the establishment at that time.
She’d called Radek to let him know what had happened only to find out Gabe had had a rather eventful trip down the 95 and was still to arrive at ‘the farm’. She’d then left Gabe a message, telling him he might be needed back at Le Breeze when the tiny guests woke up, but hadn’t heard back from him. Now her phone was sitting in a bowl of rice behind the bar, so it didn’t accidentally end up in the risotto while it was drying out and while she did feel rather disconnected without it she realised she was also feeling rather comfortable sharing things with Flynn she’d never really shared before.
He realized that he hadn’t looked at his phone since texting the group to let everyone know that Brianna was okay and that the gnome situation was being handled. Flynn slid the device out of his pocket now and checked. “Not as of yet, but they’re still all probably dealing with whatever happened on the highway. I guess I’m lucky that I avoided that particular traffic jam and came here instead.” He looked up at her and smiled before putting the phone away. “I’m sure they’ll figure it out. If they wake up before then, I’m sure some good food will placate them. I hope.” The medium looked down at his mostly finished plate. It had been an eventful few days, and he certainly hadn’t foreseen it all coming to this, having dinner with a fellow psychic and talking shop.
“Thank you for dinner and letting me bend your ear,” Flynn told her. “I think this is the most I’ve talked to someone outside of work in…an embarrassing amount of months.”
Brianna realised while they’d talked about so much she still didn’t know anything at all about him in the everyday sense. “Thank you for your invaluable help in getting our tiny guests contained!” she smiled. “I really don’t know what we would have done if you hadn’t been here. And tell me, what do you do for work, where, and are you a local?” She had guessed, given he seemed to know some of the same people she did, given his being on the group text, that he at least wasn’t a tourist - they did all appear to be locals, or at least the ones she knew were. There were a number of names she hadn’t recognised, until that day Flynn having been one of them. She was rather glad that was no longer the case.
Flynn chuckled and briefly drummed his fingertips against the table. “You’re very welcome,” he told Brianna, putting on a gallant tone. “As for me, the excitement in my life never stops. I live in a town called Searchlight, you may have heard of it. We’re very cosmopolitan. We even have a whole store dedicated to jerky.” He grinned and leaned back slightly in the chair. “As for me, I’m a shift manager at the truck stop, particularly the attached convenience store. That’s actually where I also do most of my shopping, so this risotto is a welcome change of pace. Mostly, I forget about food until I’m starving and the only thing available is a microwave burrito.” He shrugged good-naturedly.
“If I hadn’t been looking for a meal earlier, I never would have stopped in here and made your acquaintance. So I guess that’s fate, right?”
“And fate dealt me a good hand today!” she laughed, enjoying the way he relaxed and talked openly, with no pretense. “I do know Searchlight, as it happens, a friend, who happens to also be the manager of one of our clients in Lucky’s Saloon, lives there, Brian? And a very good friend, well, you could almost say he’s a resident here in our accommodation, and like an adopted brother, also has a place there, Gabe. Though if you are at the truck stop you might recognise his car? A rather lovely blue Porsche?”
Little did she know, due to her attention being completely on Flynn, the owner of said Porsche was approaching their table, Adrien having pointed out where Brianna was seated when Gabe had arrived and asked. “Are you going to now say, ‘Speak of the devil, and he does appear!’?” he said, leaning down to deliver the words in a stage whisper beside her ear while looking across at Flynn and giving him a grin and wink.
Brianna jumped, the surprise clear on her face as she both pulled back and spun her head to come face to face with the sorcerer. “What … Gabe!!” It was a combination of relief, embarrassment and chiding that sounded in her voice as she rolled her eyes and shook her head at him. “If you’re not careful you might get into all sorts of bother frightening someone like that,” she continued, admonishment strong, but brief in her voice as she collected herself again and turned to Flynn.
“Flynn, this is Gabe, the one I was just mentioning? Gabe, this is Flynn, who has kindly rescued Chet and his brews from the bellies of some rather belligerent tiny guests!”
“Yeah, that sounds familiar,” Flynn told Brianna, casting back in his memory for a blue Porsche. It was definitely the kind of car that would stand out, though he didn’t always get a good look at what people were driving from his vantage point at the register. He had noticed someone named Gabe asking if Brianna was okay in the group text. And he had been in Lucky’s more times than he could count, and had talked to Brian a handful of times while getting a beer. It was definitely a small enough town that people ran into each other on the regular. He looked up as the man called Gabe entered the cafe, watching the familiar way he moved and talked around his dining companion. “Hey, nice to meet you,” he said, holding up a hand in greeting as he sat up a little straighter. “I am indeed Flynn. I heard you had your hands full today.”
Gabe returned the greeting and eyeing the almost empty dishes in front of the two of them, realised he might have interrupted something. “It was… out there, let’s say,” he replied, “seems there’s some strange activities all over. And while I’m happy to share, I don’t want to interrupt anything here…”
Flynn glanced between Gabe and Brianna, unsure of how to answer that without coming off as presumptuous or dismissive. “Brianna here was kind enough to treat me to dinner after the gnome invasion,” he told the other man. “I heard you spend a lot of time here?” He looked across the table at the brunette, curious what was going through her head during this exchange. Should he offer for Gabe to join them?
It was an unusual feeling for Brianna. She felt torn between wanting to continue to get to know Flynn better, and continue their conversation, but also felt the vibes from Gabe about whatever had happened that day were fairly intense, he had long ago told her she didn’t need to shield herself from him, he was an open book to her.
Gabe nodded, giving Brianna a teasing grin. “Yeah, you could say I’m almost a part of the furniture,” he laughed, still not taking a seat until he received a signal from one or the other. He knew it had been a long time since Brianna had been on anything that vaguely resembled a date, or had a meal with someone other than him or Radek, and he was also guessing there was something ‘special’ about Flynn, given his inclusion in the group text, and he’d helped out with the gnomes. He gave her more time to think, explaining to Flynn that his family was in the shipping business, and he was in the US to consolidate some connections to expand into various locations. “And given Vegas is equipped with flights to many different locations, I have ended up making my base here,” he said in conclusion. “Plus it helps that I found a place with a very accommodating hostess! She has managed to charm even my dear sister, who is not the easiest and most amenable of people!”
Brianna nodded, and could sense that Gabe was waiting, and figured both she and Flynn would each benefit from hearing whatever it was Gabe had seen that day, and would definitely have more time, especially given the situation with the gnomes was still ongoing. Or at least she hoped they would.
“Flynn, he is about to burst a seam, would you like to hear whatever it is that kept him from being here, or at Radek’s, today?” she finally said, giving Gabe a knowing look, and then meeting Flynn’s eyes. “We can continue our conversation later, I hope?”
“Yeah,” Flynn agreed, gesturing to Gabe. “Pull up a seat and tell us what happened.” He smiled at Brianna to let her know he didn’t mind at all. They could always talk later, and he assumed this wasn’t the last time they would hang out, anyway. “Is everyone okay? No injuries or anything?” He looked down at his empty wine glass and considered ordering a refill since it didn’t seem like he would have to drive home any time soon. The medium tucked his feet in so that there would be room for the other man at the table.
Gabe signaled to Adrien as he pulled up a chair and sat down. There was soon another glass presented, and all three were topped up as Gabe started talking, telling them of the events that took place on Route 95. “If you believe in coincidences, it was the mega-event of the millenia,” he inserted. “A unicorn, dragon, Pegasus, carnivorous man-eating plant, like Audrey II, a harpy, an ogre, and this cute little guy, I’ve nicknamed him Diego, who is a dragurtle to all intents and purposes,” he explained, telling what happened with him and Maddy to start with, then adding in what the others had told him, or at least some of it, as it was still a conglomeration of bits and pieces. His wine glass was emptied by the time he was finished. “It was completely insane, and when I realised Brian and James were in the middle of it, with Nesryn,” he said, glancing at Brianna as they were all people they’d known from the gathering the previous year, “ and someone called Noah, I think James said? Plus the artist? You know her name, is it Evelyn?”
Brianna had been listening intently, realising quietly that they’d been lucky to only have ended up with gnomes. “Oh, you mean Elladine!” she corrected him, nodding.
“Yes, did you know she’s a telepath?” he continued, looking at Brianna who nodded. “So she was apparently throwing vehicles, managed to hit and pin down an ogre, then threw Pegasus, and broke its wings.” Gabe was still a little stunned that this particular mythological horse had caused anyone to feel threatened, but given a unicorn had tried to impale others, he was still trying to decide if it was the way they came to be all together, or the actual location itself.
Brianna nodded her head in amazement, and looked across at Flynn. “I really think we ended up with the better draw from the sounds of this.”
Flynn nearly upset his glass when he heard Gabe say that Elladine was in the middle of this purportedly epic battle of mythical creatures. She had fought alongside Brian, Nesryn, and James? And there was a dragon. Wow. She had come a long way from floating the remote control and shoving a car at an attacking vampire. “Sorry,” he told the pair awkwardly, putting his hands down by his sides in case he almost knocked over anything else. “Ellie — Elladine, is my ex-girlfriend. She…” The medium trailed off, looking down at the table, then at Gabe. “Is she okay?”
Both Brianna and Gabe looked at Flynn, both particularly different looks, but looks all the same.
“Yeah, she’s OK, she was with Brian, and Nes. Brian was a bit of a mess, took on the harpy, and…” He stopped himself from going into any more detail on that one, given the other two had just eaten, and it didn’t seem like the time or place to get into the gory details. “... let’s just say he came out with a few scratches and cuts, but he’ll be OK too.” He picked up his glass and realised it was empty, so placed it back on the table again. “And on that note, I’ve interrupted enough, I’m going to see if Chef has any of that risotto left, and head next door.” He pushed his chair back and stood up, holding his hand out to Flynn. “It’s been nice to meet you, sorry for the interruption, and catch you again soon, hey?”
He shook Gabe’s hand, nodding and shooting him a slightly inscrutable smile. “Yeah, it was nice talking to you. I’m sure I’ll see you around.” Flynn waited until he had departed before turning to face Brianna again. “So, on a scale of one to ten, how awkward does this have to be?” he asked, only semi-jokingly. “I guess I want to clear the air and say there’s nothing between me and her anymore. I haven’t even spoken to her since…” Why did he feel the need to explain this? The medium cleared his throat slightly and took a bracing sip of chardonnay. “I didn’t know you knew her, I forgot that she goes by both Elladine and Ellie. If it’s weird for you because you’re friends with her, I…” Flynn trailed off and shook his head. “I’m going to stop talking now.”
She almost felt a little mean, watching Flynn almost flounder his way through what, to her, was a completely unnecessary explanation of his relationship with Ellie. “Probably a smart choice!” she teased lightly as she took another sip from her glass. After a moment spent savouring and swallowing the wine she continued,
“It’s OK,” she told him, smiling softly as she shook her head. “We met when I visited her gallery, looking for someone to supply some special, unique art works for refurbishments of the accommodations next door,” she went on to explain. “I… felt there was something… that someone near to her needed her help, or… something, and it turned out to be her mother and sisters.” She stopped speaking for a moment, looking down at the wineglass again and wondering if she had had enough for the evening.
He closed his eyes briefly and took a deep breath. “Wow, that was...harrowing,” he chuckled softly. Flynn realized he had been tensing his shoulders and clenching his jaw, and let them relax, his fingers sliding over the stem of the wine glass. “Yeah, she was in the middle of getting the gallery up and running before we broke up.”
“I’ve seen her only a few times since,” she continued, nodding, remembering how, at the Samhain and after-party breakfast, Ellie and Brian had appeared interested in one another, which is why it hadn’t clicked that Flynn was talking about the same woman.
He was glad for Ellie, really. It was something she had been talking about the entirety of their time together, and if she was picking up clients like Brianna, she must be doing pretty well.
She looked up at him again. “Would it be weird for you? If… you were … to see her again? Here for example?” It felt odd, almost presumptuous, but Brianna figured, given the topic of conversation, it was a question worth asking.
“Right, Samhain. I was a bit busy that night.” Flynn considered her next question carefully, searching deep in the feelings that weren’t always readily available at the surface. “I think it would be weird at first,” he admitted slowly. “But I could handle it, and I wouldn’t be an ass or anything. I don’t think it would be dramatic. Just a thing people have to deal with sometimes, regardless of our particular...situations.” What were the odds that all three of them had some kind of psychic gifts? Then he remembered that most of the people in his limited social circle were pretty unique.
“And given our particular situations are somewhat… specialised?” The activities of the restaurant were bustling around them, but she was completely focused on the conversation between them. Brianna knew, from the gathering the previous year, and the people she had met since, and events that had happened, there was something about the region that drew all kinds of gifted individuals, and different types to the area. She had had long discussions with Radek and Gabe about it, and her mentor had been advised. The security on the building had been updated, and the specific staff who were a part of the ‘inner circle’ had been briefed, fully aware of what they should do should a situation require their extra-curricular abilities and training to be put to use.
“Tell me something, you said earlier that you don’t even know if you’re good, per se… what did you mean by that?”
Flynn let his hand drop from the stem of the glass and rest lightly on the table as he looked down at it. Right, back to that unfortunate turn of phrase. Why had he brought that up? “I don’t want to lie,” he told Brianna after a moment of deliberation. “But there are some things I’m not ready to talk about, either,” he added gently. “It’s...it’s difficult to explain. And if that makes you uncomfortable or hesitant to be around me, I understand.” He definitely understood that. Even the most well-intentioned people sometimes became exhausted being around him. He wasn’t sure if it was because of his particular brand of psychic energy or something about him in general. “You’re not in any danger from me, if that’s any help.”
She believed him, and in a way his reluctance to talk about what he meant helped her trust him just a little bit more. Seeing the expression on his face lent weight to whatever it was he was holding inside. “As strange as it might sound, I understand. We all have secrets, whether our own, or those of others we have pledged to keep, things we can’t, or don’t want to talk about. Admitting these exist, and that you’re not ready or able to talk about them, instead of denying it all? Well to me that’s a good thing.” She gave him an encouraging smile.
“I don’t ever want you to feel you must tell me anything you don’t want to,” she added. “Unless of course it’s that I have something stuck in my teeth, or along those lines, because that? You must tell me, whatever the circumstances!”
He appreciated the fact that she wasn’t pushing him to talk. It would have been an awkward discussion to have upon a first meeting, anyway, despite everything they had already shared. Besides, if an unintended side effect was cultivating a slight air of mystery, was that such a bad thing? Flynn gave Briann an appreciative smile. His phone vibrated in his pocket, some app notification of little importance. What caught his eye, though, was the current time. He had spent quite a chunk of the day at Le Breeze. “I appreciate that,” he told her, sincerely. “And hopefully we’ll see each other again and I’ll be ready to talk about it.” He wiped his hands on the cloth napkin and made to stand up. “I should probably be heading back to Searchlight. Thanks for the adventure and the food. Oh, and the conversation. Definitely needed the social interaction.” His keys were retrieved from his pocket where they sat next to his wallet. Part of him was actually reluctant to go, and not just because he would be returning home to a dark, empty trailer with his mind full of thoughts he couldn’t entirely sort.
“I think we have each other’s numbers now, so…” Flynn trailed off and rubbed the back of his neck.
She nodded quickly, taking her napkin from her lap and placing it on the table. “Yes, we do and I’ve enjoyed it too, the conversation,” she said, genuine pleasure clear in her face. “And of course thank you for the rescue services, your abilities certainly came in handy today, that’s for sure! I don’t think Chet would have survived the apoplexy if our little guests had kept tossing away his ale, and heaven knows what would have happened if they didn’t like his cider!” She paused, thinking for a moment then asked, “are you going to Lucky’s Thanksgiving dinner?”
“I might pop in, yeah. I don’t really have any other plans that day. No family in the area anymore.” Flynn smiled and shrugged. He had already mentally prepared himself for the possibility that Ellie might be there, but Lucky’s had plenty of space and he had other people he could mindle with, especially if Brianna would be attending. It would probably be good for him, too, to be around other people and get a drink or two in him for the holiday. Unsurprisingly, days like that tended to stir the pot, spirits-wise, and the medium didn’t really fancy playing It’s a Wonderful Life’ with Clark County’s dearly departed. “Will I be seeing you there? I heard Chet mention something about a special Thanksgiving brew. It would only be fitting if you came to serve as a brand ambassador.”
She laughed. "Not so much brand ambassador, we're supplying the craft beers and cider for the festivities. It was a nice time last year, lots of people without family here, all getting together, enjoying a meal, sharing in the spirit, so to speak! It's a nice time to catch up." She paused before adding, "of course you're also welcome to come back here any time, you don't have to wait till then."
“Yeah, I might,” Flynn tossed off casually, hooking the keychain around his index finger. “Tell Chet I said good night, and thanks for donating his alcohol to a good cause.” He nodded at Brianna before tucking his chair in and giving her a wave of goodbye. As he pushed through the doors of Le Breeze, he smiled slightly to himself and shook his head infinitesimally, pressing the button on his key fob that unlocked the driver’s side door of his Dodge and prepared himself for the drive back home.