08•22•19 (backdated) | 05:00 pm
The Crimson Kestrel
More Adler Sibling Bonding
PG | Complete
So, can I buy you another beer, or are you done for the night?
Most people found it normal to head to the bar after a long day at work. They'd walk in, order a beer, sit down, get comfortable... drink until they either couldn't see straight, it got too late, or they knew it was time to go. It wasn't a rare occurrence to find Nora among them sometimes, occupying a seat at the bar (if she wasn't behind it) and sharing a drink and a story or two with another customer. The redhead was easy to spot in a crowd (much like her younger sister) but on this evening, in particular, it wasn't her hair that was catching attention.
It was the black eye.
Now, seeing Nora Adler with a black eye wasn't as uncommon as one would think. She had a temper and wasn't afraid of a fight, but unlike this past weekend, it wasn't a bar fight that caused this shiner. It was one of the creatures in the Reserve that she'd accidentally gotten on the wrong side of. It happened from time to time, as was expected with her class of animals, but it had been a little more brutal than normal today. And not nearly as much fun as a bar brawl. She'd just forgotten to go pick up some bruise paste before she left work earlier. But she knew Teo would bring some home.
Settled at the bar with a beer in hand, Nora nursed her wounded face and her wounded pride. Whatever was going on at the Reserve with the poaching and the wards... it was all causing the animals to be restless. Restless Gulons were not cute. They were mean little fuckers on their best day, but Nora knew she was lucky that all she walked away with was a black eye and not some claw marks. Little bastards heads were hard as a rock.
The alcohol was doing it's part to dull the headache, though. Which was appreciated.
"Y'know pretty sure you probably shouldn't be drinking that if your face is looking the way it is," he commented as he slid into a seat beside his sister. Freddy knew Nora, as well as Cate for that matter, could take care of themselves but it didn't stop him from playing the big brother card now and again. As for his being there, he had one of those rare nights where not only had someone offered to watch Iris but he also wasn't needed to help cover a shift here at the bar. Normally he would've used the time to catch up on any projects he was working on but they were all more or less on track. So he found himself with that rarest of commodities: free time.
After ordering a beer for himself, Freddy turned to look at his sister properly. "I guess at least I know it's not the result of a bar fight. You alright, Nora-bear?"
Turning her head, she smirked at her older brother while taking another pull of her beer. "Probably not," she agreed, "but when have I ever really done what I was supposed to?" It was a surprise to see Freddy around without Iris, but everyone needed adult time every so often. Freddy included.
It was nice to see him, though. Nice enough that Nora caught the bartender's attention and gestured to herself. Freddy's first beer was on her.
"We've got some bruise paste at the house. I'm going to put some on when I leave here, I promise. Gulons can be dicks," she chuckled. "Little fucker head-butted me. I wasn't expecting it, but I should have been." She'd been a little distracted, though she couldn't remember what by. It was odd, really... after her first round of losing time, she'd found herself blinking out for a few minutes at a time here and there. She hadn't told anyone yet, but she had made a doctor's appointment to get checked out.
Hopefully, it wasn't anything serious and was just a side effect of the magic being stupid.
After ordering a beer for herself, "How about you, Freddykins? How's life dating my best friend?" She couldn't help the smirk that found its way back to her features, even though it hurt just the tiniest bit.
He shook his head; because he did know what his sister was like and wondered why he ought to have expected anything different. "Your head would probably thank you for it if you didn't but then guess that's future Nora's problem, hmm?"
Freddy gave Nora a look. "Y'know I'm fine with paying for my own drinks but... thanks."
There was a slight wince and inwards hiss as Nora told the story. "Ouch. Shouldn't you have headed to medical though? And I don't mean just for bruise paste."
Freddy thanked the bartender when they passed him his beer before turning to glare at Nora — it was more for the nickname rather than the question she'd just asked. "I don't know, Norakins. We're not... I mean, we've gone on dates obviously, and they've been great; with and without yours and Teo's help. Bettina's... great, and Iris loves her — which honestly makes it a whole lot easier. But we're not 'dating' ...yet."
"There's nothing wrong with me buying you a drink every now and again, dork," she countered, rolling her eyes and grinning at him. "Just say thank you and get ready to return the favor later on."
"The problem with going to medical is that you know how Teo would react to this. He'd tell me I needed to go home and take care of it and lay down if I needed to because it was a head injury. Which, I don't doubt my husband loves me, but he's protective. He'd use his position against me."
"That prank the two of you pulled broke your best friend's heart, you know. You should be ashamed of yourself. The two of us were just trying to give the two of you a nice surprise." Hearing that Iris loved Betts made her smile. "She's great. And you couldn't do much better, big brother. If you haven't made it official yet, you might want to get on that. A woman like her doesn't stay single long once she's out and about." She and Teo were, unabashedly, the captains of the Frettina ship, thank you very much.
Freddy just very maturely stuck his tongue out at Nora. "Already said thank you."
He couldn't help but snort when Nora mentioned how Teo would be. Having known his best friend as long as he had he knew how the guy could get, and ever since learning he and Nora were a thing he knew how protective Teo got. "Funny thing is I'm pretty sure that's exactly what you're supposed to have done, and I'm not even a Healer."
Freddy rolled his eyes as Nora tried to guilt him on the turnaround that he and Bettina had given their best friends for having set them up on a date. "He's gotten over it. Well, maybe except for the part where I got the photo printed and framed for Bettina to have in the office. No, the two of you were definitely meddling. We were doing fine ourselves. Not everything has to happen in a rush y'know." Freddy gave his sister a long look over the top of his glass before he took a drink. "I'm well aware of that. But I'm gonna do it in my own time — even if that's slower than you and Teo would like."
"Come on, Freddy, you know that I don't like leaving work unless I'm forced to. Teo would have forced the issue. I still had work to do. It's just a bruise and I have a doctor's appointment in town tomorrow. I promise." It wasn't just for the head injury, but she didn't need to worry her brother with that bit of news.
"Of course we were meddling," she laughed. "We love you two idiots. And, to be fair, Bettina never told me why she wanted out of the blind date. When I set up the blind date between the two of you, you were not doing just fine. You hadn't even come with Iris yet." Sure, Teo might have kept her updated on what was happening when he had brought Iris in, but she wasn't about to tell him that, either.
"If you really think about it, we were making the best promise when it came to not meddling after. Either way it went, we knew our meddling days would be over. If you didn't like each other—which we knew wasn't going to happen—then there would be no more meddling. But, if you and Betts did hit it off—and we knew you would—then we wouldn't need to meddle anymore. So you see the genius and the gift we gave you there?"
She really did enjoy teasing him, but both she and Teo were sure that Betts and Freddy were perfect for each other. "We both just want you happy and loved, Freddy. And I want the same for Betts, too. Can you really blame us for seeing it and wanting to help it along?"
"I know but I'm your big brother — of course I'm going to worry, and at least tell you the right thing to have done. I'd say insist but we both know how well that'd go down," he commented, grinning. "Ok good. No skipping out on it even if you feel 'better'."
Freddy just gave her a look. He knew full well that he hadn't gone to the office yet by the time the blind date had been set. That didn't mean he wouldn't have found out eventually who his mystery partner at the masquerade had been. "Maybe she didn't because we both know what our best friends are like perhaps?" he pointed out. "Just because I hadn't found out who Bettina was yet did not mean I was doing terribly. Besides, you know I hate rushing things, and you and Teo knew how I felt about blind dates..."
"Yeah, and that's the only reason I even agreed to it so the two of you would stop setting me up." Freddy sighed and took a swig of his beer. "Look I'm not upset about it, and it's in the past now but... You know what would've been really genius and an even better gift? If you guys had actually been upfront about it to start with instead of thinking of how much fun you were having in being sneaky about it."
"I know the two of you do but both of you have to let me do it in my own time," he sighed. "Think I already answered that question, sis."
Nora smiled. Freddy was definitely a good big brother. Always had been. "I promise I won't skip out." Mainly because there was more wrong than just the headbutt from the Gulon. "And if you want, I'll even text you when I'm there." Just for good measure, she mimicked his gesture from earlier, sticking her tongue out at him.
"I know," she sighed, rolling her eyes. "But I did it more for Bettina than I did it for you, honestly. You should have heard her. She was lamenting about how dumb she was to not even ask you your name after you stuck your tongue down her throat. What was I supposed to do? Not set her up with the best surprise ever?"
She listened as Freddy laid out what they should have done as opposed to what they did do and, yeah, okay, Nora knew they probably should have just been upfront and uninteresting with things, but... "It really was fun," she chuckled, shrugging and finishing off her beer.
Ordering another, she leaned forward in her stool and braced herself on the bartop, popping her neck in the process. "We made you guys a promise and we're going to stick with it, I swear. It's just hard knowing what awesome people the of you are and seeing you not capitalizing on it."
"Pretty sure you could've just as easily accomplished what you wanted by telling her who I was without having to be sneaky about it or making it into some big surprise," he pointed out. "Maybe then we wouldn't have felt the need to get revenge. Even if it worked better on Teo than it did you."
Freddy just shook his head as he grinned. "We're definitely holding you to that — else Bettina and I will have to think up more revenge that could possibly end up with another embarrassing photo of Teo in the office again." He still had the photo on his phone, and couldn't help but grin when he caught a glimpse of it whenever he happened to be scrolling through the camera roll. "There's nothing wrong with the fact that we don't happen to be doing things according to whatever timeframe you and Teo have in mind for us y'know. Shockingly some people like letting things happen organically."
"Yeah, well, don't worry. It worked on me, too. I was just more frustrated and less angry and confused. As far as I was concerned, the two of you were perfect for each other." She shrugged as she started on her second—and likely last— beer. "But yeah, I get it. Freddy and Bettina good, Nora and Teo bad."
"Besides, if it's just embarrassing photos of Teo you're after, I've got plenty of those you can pilfer through."
Big brother always did manage to know how to make Nora feel bad for trying to help, but she supposed that was what siblings were for sometimes. Was she really so wrong for wanting the people she cared about to be as happy as she was? She didn't think so, but—
"So, how's my favorite niece?" she questioned, looking for a change in subject. School had started recently so surely her brother must have some good stories to tell. Freddy was always happy to talk about Iris and, well, Nora was, too.
Freddy laughed. "I'll keep that in mind. Though gotta say it's way more satisfying catching the embarrassing photo as it happens — as I'm sure you know."
It wasn't hard to figure out that Nora was changing the subject but since the question was about Iris he was happy to go along with it. "She's doing great. Chatters on even more than before when I pick her up from school. Telling me everything from about what the teacher's like to the kids to what she's been doing. Which is as sure a sign as any that she's enjoying herself," he replied, grinning proudly. "Seriously, when you next see her and ask her about school you'll have a hard time keeping her quiet."
Nora smirked, knowing full well how much fun catching him like that could be. Her husband was extremely expressive and he made some of the best faces. "Oh, absolutely."
She listened as Freddy started on about Iris. It was always satisfying seeing the joy in his face when he talked about his daughter. The shine and pride in his eyes, the grin he always seemed to wear, even the inflection in his tone was brighter. She couldn't help the thought that she came by talking a lot about what she loved naturally. It was easy to see it when her father spoke.
"Well, you just say the word and Teo and I will take her anytime. I'd love to hear all about school while she dresses Princess Teo up in his tiara and tells him where to sit." She also may or may not have started putting away a little of her and Teo's savings for Iris' Christmas present as well…
"Thanks, Nora. That'd be great, and I know Iris would love spending time with you guys some more," he responded. Freddy gave her a shrewd look for all of a few seconds before grinning. "Would there be an underlying hint there about how I should ask Bettina out whenever it is you happen to have Iris?"
The redhead just gave her head a slow shake, wincing slightly at the movement. "Freddy and Bettina good, Nora and Teo bad. I'm not going to tell you what you should do," she assured him, smiling a little. "Besides, I don't need a reason to want to hang out with my niece."
Freddy couldn't help but frown a little as he watched Nora. "I know, I was only teasing, Nora-bear. You feeling alright?"
"Hmm? Oh, yeah. I'm absolutely fine. It'll take more than a headbutt from a furry to put me on my ass. You know that." The problem was, it wasn't just the headbutt that was an issue…
"I know how tough you are, Nora, but that doesn't stop me from worrying about you," he said. "Besides I'm your big brother - so even when you say you're absolutely fine I'm not sure whether to believe you or not. I just worry about you is all."
"I know. And I know I'm lucky to have such an awesome big brother who worries about my health and happiness. I promise, though, I am going to the doctor. And I will let you know what's figured out." She could give him that if nothing else. For the life of her, she couldn't figure out what it was, but she hoped like hell it wasn't anything serious.
"Good," he responded happily. For a moment Freddy studied her, as he took a drink from his beer, thinking if he didn't know better he'd almost suspect that Nora was... He chased that thought away for now because obviously if that was the case then Nora'd probably already know and have mentioned it. "So can I buy you another beer, or are you done for the night?"
Thinking about it for a moment, Nora smiled and shrugged. "You know what? I think I've got a little extra time to spend with my big brother." The smile morphed into a Chesire-like grin as she leaned in and nudged him with her shoulder. For Nora, spending time with family was important. She loved them and if anyone ever asked, there would never be enough time with them.