An Unexpected Return Who: Bronte and Ben Where: Avarice When: Afternoon(Friday - October 2nd)
Normally, an afternoon at Avarice was busy for Ben. Since he spent most nights living it up at the club, he normally spent the afternoons doing his work before the club itself opened. During this early part of the day, all that was open was the bar, which got the occasional straggler but not much else.
But considering Ben had spent all the previous night talking to Skylar, the girl he'd held feelings for for close to two years, needless to say it was going to be more a day of deep thought than of work.
Sitting at the bar, a beer in hand, Ben honestly was paying no attention to anything around him at the moment.
The last time Bronte had been within the city limits of L.A. was almost a year ago to the date. She had left to collect her thoughts and figure things out with the intent of absenting herself from the City of Angels for a month or two, but those couple months turned into a couple more and before she knew it a full year had lapsed by before she found herself winding through the familiar streets in her jet black, 1998 Corvette convertible. The blonde had only one destination at the forefront of her mind, and that wasn't to stop at home. Stopping at the beach house could be held off for the moment as she had more important business to tend to with her arrive back in the city.
Slipping the vehicle into a vacant spot in the parking lot that was closest to the entrance of the club Bronte locked the Vette up and made tracks to the door. It didn't take her long to locate her brother, who was quite recognizable even from the back, sitting at the door. Wasn't the brother she had come looking for, but he was family and she'd have sought him out soon enough. "Surprised you haven't burned this place to the ground yet." Bronte said in way of a greeting as she stood behind her brother with a smirk playing at her lips. Surprise seemed to be on her side at the moment as her entrance into the place hadn't gained any kind of reaction from her sibling. Bronte knew that if Ben had even had an inkling she was there he wouldn't still be sitting on the bar stool consuming the beer he held in hand.
Ben certainly was surprised... Yet the year that they'd been apart had been a year of growth for Ben... He'd taken full responsibility, both for the club and for his own life. He spun around, trying to force happiness to overcome the depression that had been threatening to set in.
"Bronte... Welcome back, sis... Bout damn time you came back. Don't want me getting TOO responsible in your absence..."
"Pfft." The blonde rolled her eyes at her younger brother. "Like that would ever happen." She said with a bit of a teasing grin. And though she was playing a bit with her brother Bronte didn't think that Benjamin Bale would ever reach the stage of responsible adult. He might grasp at it on occasion, but in her thought he'd never hold onto it for any real length of time. If he should by chance accomplish it though it would be quite the surprise to the middle Bale. "So, care to give me the short version of what's been happening since I've been away?" She asked scooting up onto the stool next to her brother's.
"Well, the part you obviously know... you have a brand-new niece to introduce yourself to. Can't wait until we have get the inevitable questions about why Aunt Bronte is so mean."
Of course, Ben smiled all while saying it... he and his sister really did seem to enjoy antagonizing each other.
"Avarice has been bringing in easily quadruple per month what The Bronze did... and I'm branching out. Yes... within a few weeks, I'll have my very own gentlemen's club to obsess over. Oh, that's so going to be my baby."
And then, almost as an afterthought,
"I believe I've finally gotten completely over Perdita. I dated Meredith for a spell... but I think she and I are more suited to be friends. Got me a Slayer right now. Must say, they're every bit as... energetic as any vampire or werewolf I've ever dated."
"Which was why I was hoping Bretton would have been wandering around the premises." She told her brother. Bronte was now needing to pay a visit to her older brother's place to meet her little niece. "Don't you dare try pitting my one and only niece against me by trying to get her to believe I'm a mean person at heart." Giving her brother a glare and a huff at the idea her little niece could ever think her a mean old aunt.
"Gentlemen's Club?" The blonde quirking a brow at that idea. "You mean strip club, don't you." That was just what Ben needed, a strip joint where probably all his fantasies could be realized. "I suppose that'll leave Bretton to obsess over Avarice." Not that Ben could give attention to both businesses it was just that Bronte knew her brother well enough to know that one would definitely take precedence over the other. "Can't you ever find a normal woman to date, Ben?" Bronte said half teasingly. She doubted that would ever be a possibility as her brother seemed to have some kind of aversion to the normal, average woman that resided in the area.
"Well. Of *course* I mean a strip club. But it's much more ambitious than that. I want this to be someplace that people, not even just MEN, want to visit. A place that everyone is dying to party at. And sis? I have ideas that are going to make it JUST that."
Still, he shook his head when she asked about Bretton and Avarice.
"Actually, while I'll still own Avarice, I was hoping Bretton AND yourself could take over the basic day-to-day operations. After all... the three of us managed to combine to turn The Bronze into something amazing... imagine what, together, we could do with Avarice?"
And then? A glare. Mostly because of the relationship comment.
"And Bronte? We're WEREWOLVES for Christ's sake. Why would any of us date someone... 'normal'? As for dating just other wolves, well... we all know how well that turned out with me and Sofia years ago. So for now? I'll stick to vampires and Slayers, thanks."
"Have you ever dated anyone normal, Benjamin?" Why should their being werewolves have anything to do with who they dated, were normal humans suppose to be outside their dating pool? Bronte hadn't found anything wrong with it, in fact thet guy she had been seeing before she returned to Sunnydale had been your normal, everyday human. It was unfortunate though that he felt the need to wander and get caught doing it by the middle Bale. The guy wasn't so pretty anymore after Bronte had finished with him.
"A valid question. And my answer?" Ben said with that cheshire grin he wore so well, "I find that 'normal' girls lose their luster once I've fucked them a few times. I find the ones with... a little extra more interesting in the long term."
Hey. She'd asked, after all.
"So, speaking of relationships... is The Ice Queen actually seeing anyone right now?"
Sure, it sounded mean, but Ben and Bronte frequently picked on each other, and almost always in a loving way. To her, he was a horny miscreant. To him? She was a frigid robot. But they loved each other.
"Why do I even bother talking to you." Bronte grumbled with a shake of her head removing herself from the bar stool to move around behind the bar to get herself something to drink. "And since you found the need to ask, no." Hey not everyone bounced from bed to bed with the frequency of her younger brother. To say that Bronte was the polar opposite of her brother in regards to relationships would probably be correct assumption.
"Because I'm your little brother and you looooooove me." He chimed in with a too-innocent-to-be-true grin. "And hey. In all seriousness. You'll find someone eventually. You're too good of a person not to. I mean, you're beautiful, and a really true and loyal person. Can you be a little harsh and direct? Yeah, but... once you get past that, anyone would be lucky to have you."
Ben rarely dropped the act and really let his guard down, even around family, but he'd really started to change in some ways lately. And he really DID miss his sister.
"Yeah, well guys have a tendency to not stick around if they can't get some action going within the first 48 hours of a relationship." Bronte had never been into one night stands, and never would be, she wanted something that was consistent and meaningful, and didn't always have a sexual basis to it. There was more to a relationship, like actually getting to know another person, then sex.
"Well, yeah. But that's what makes us guys." Ben said with a smirk and a shrug. "But thankfully, not all men are like me. There ARE a few out there that are more like Bretton. Boring, responsible, and morally intact. Just gotta find yourself one of those."
Almost as an afterthought, he shrugged again and blurted out...
"Oh yeah. And Uncle Dave is here now too. Working as a bouncer. Don't worry, he hasn't hospitalized anyone. Yet."
He smirked, waiting to see her reaction. Pretty much the whole family thought of David Cromwell, a fellow pureblood that had entered their family through his brother marrying into the Bales, as a loose cannon, as the huge tattooed biker had been in more violent, brutal brawls than anyone in the entire family.
"You're an ass sometimes, you know that, right." Bronte found herself saying to her brother. She loved both her siblings equally, and probably more then any others in this world, but sometimes Benjamin could grate on her nerves just a little too much.
"You actually let the man step foot into Avarice?" Bronte looking to her brother as if he could possibly have a screw or two loose. That he had said Dave hadn't injured anyone yet, that wouldn't prevent the man from causing physical harm to someone in the future. That definitely would be a good thing for the club if he chose to give a showing of just how much muscle he had.
"He's been good. We had... a bit of a brawl recently. Wolfram & Hart went up against the slayers, I made the call and got the family involved. Tried to find you, to ask for your help, but obviously you weren't easy to find. Bretton and David even tried to find you. You really DO know how to hide when you want. Anyway... he came through big for us. Took down probably the toughest vamp warrior the evil fucks had."
Ben smiled at her, laughing.
"And an ass I may be... but I really DID miss you, sis. Welcome back."
"The sentiment's the same here." Bronte remarked back with a smile after listening to Ben's recount of what had recently happened and that Uncle Dave proved his value in a good way. And she really didn't realize it until this moment that she had greatly missed both her siblings and was in fact glad to be home again.
"Got a place to stay yet? If not, my place is actually the loft directly above the club here. Feel free to stay until you can get a place."
Sure, it would likely put a cramp in his.... extracurricular hobbies, but this was family.
"Thanks for the offer, Ben, but I think I'm gonna head to the beach house from here. Bretton was suppose to be keeping an eye on it, so it might be a bit dusty in places, but otherwise should still be livable."
"Hey, that's cool." Ben laughed, kinda thankful that he'd have his home all to himself. Faith should be healed soon, after all...