Tayne Peregrine (hunterperegrine) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2009-08-31 12:07:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-06-14 |
Brotherly Meet-up
Who: Tayne and Torshael
Where: Sushi place
When: Lunchtime
Lunch with Torshael. For the first time since he'd been bitten. Tayne was, to say it plainly, a little bit nervous. He didn't have on the ring their granddad had given them-- silver wasn't a good thing for a were, newly bitten or not, to be wearing-- but he did have the charm from Justin on his wrist again. He couldn't risk jumping a a sound he ought not to have even heard, or getting distracted by a scent no human could pick up. But he did like seeing his brother, even if he still wished he could be him sometimes, and Granddad had said to keep in touch with each other, so... here he was.
Tayne had shown up first and was sitting at the table for two, menus sitting out in front of him and the empty seat across from him. His foot tapped restlessly on the floor as he waited, eyes on the door and the parking lot beyond it, rather than on his menu. He always ordered the same thing here, anyway.
Torshael hummed a hymn under his breath, one that had been stuck in his head since his family had met up. One that sung of God's protection. They needed it now. He had the ring on his finger, hadn't taken it off since he'd gotten it. It hadn't warned him yet of any blood hunters about, which was a relief. Torshael was happy to meet his brother for lunch. He opened the door to the sushi place, scanning the crowd for Tayne. A waitress came up to him, and he explained that his brother was right over there. Torshael walked over to Tayne's table and took a seat across from him.
"How's it going?" He asked, smiling across the table at his brother. Torshael noticed that his brother looked nervous, but that was no surprise, considering the circumstances they were in.
"Hey, Tor'." Tayne gave a slightly lop-sided smile as his brother sat down with him. "Going 'bout as can be expected, and all. Spending too much time helping with the search parties to really enjoy my weekend. How about with you? How was church this morning?" Tayne probably should have gone, but... yeah. He didn't often show up at church anymore, and not to Torshael's services in particular; it just felt too awkward. He was always sure that someone would see him looking guilty and guess things about him.
"Right, I think I'm heading out this afternoon to help with the search parties. I hope those children are okay." Torshael had been praying for them nightly. "It was good, there was a new woman there I met at the library a while ago, very nice." He had asked her to go out to dinner with him the next night, but he wouldn't mention that to his brother until it worked out for the better. Which he hoped it would.
"Have the search parties found anything yet?" He asked, concerned. Those poor children. At least his brother was keeping busy, even if he wasn't at First Baptist. Torshael missed his brother at services, and hoped he was going to church somewhere, but he didn't want to pry or push. There were many different kinds of people who went to his church, so he knew it wasn't that Tayne was a hunter.
"Not the search parties, but there's new news 'bout a vampire having one of the kids' blood on him," Tayne sighed, fingers tapping on his menu. "So they're stepping things up today, or trying to, anyway." And today was the first day since that he wasn't going. He didn't think he could face another night our in the rain. He just couldn't.
Torshael hated the rain, and storms, and wouldn't go out during them yesterday. There had been a break in the storm when he went to the park, and he was thankful for that. "Damn. I wonder if blood hunters have them. Starting to cause more trouble than just for us," he said softly, not wanting anyone but his brother to hear him. "It would be a miracle for them to come home safe, but I hope they do. Anyway, on to slightly happier things. What do you usually order here? I have no idea what to get." Even though he ate out more than he should, the sushi place was not one that he frequented often.
"Oh, bro...." Tayne chuckled a bit, quite happily moving on from talking about the search parties and missing kids and blood hunters. "You still don't do sushi? I was hoping you'd have been converted by now. Well, I am getting the rainbow roll and the spider roll." He picked up the menu thoughtfully. "I might suggest for you... umm... the philly roll might go over well, that's smoked salmon, cream cheese, and avocado. Or the hawaii roll, that's pretty simple, just tuna and cucumber."
"Well, if this is good, maybe I'll be converted after this." Torshael smiled. "Philly roll sounds good." Thinking of Julianna prompted him to ask Tayne if he'd met any lovely ladies lately. "So, have you met any lady friends as of late? I can't remember the last time you had a girlfriend," he said teasingly. He didn't know about the terrible secret his brother hid, or he wouldn't ask about that sort of thing at all. Usually Torshael was pretty perceptive, but with such deep secrets like that, he was oblivious.
"That's because it's been a while," Tayne shrugged, a little awkwardly, thinking of Johan and Justin and, irritatingly, even Krist. "I'm not really all that interested in dating right now. Feel like I'm too busy, with everything going on, the Light, the job...." He shook his head. "I could be asking you the same question, you know. You're climbing up there on thirty, you gotta get moving."
"I feel the same way. It's so busy, taking care of the church and the people that go there. Very fulfilling, but time consuming. What's going on with you lately? I feel terrible I haven't kept up with you guys. If there was only more time in the day." Torshael ran a hand through his hair with a sigh. "Well, there is this one girl. I decided to ask her to dinner tomorrow night. She seems very nice." Torshael said with a grin.
"Oho, so you are interested in somebody, then," Tayne said with a grin. "Good for you. What's she like? Who is she?" That seemed far more important than talking about things that were going on with him, especially since most of the things going on with him he'd either already mentioned, or couldn't-- wouldn't-- talk about.
"She's a librarian, very keen on learning. Her name is Julianna. Pretty new to town. And pretty, not that that matters. But interesting, far more than myself. I might ask her out again if this date works out well." Torshael smiled, glad to have something nice to talk about. Better than blood hunters and kidnappers. He had been thinking about his own angel blood since he had dinner with his family, and it was strange to think about. If he was part angel, was he still saved? It was a silly question to think about. Of course he was. God accepted everyone, and he was far from the worst person he knew. Torshael thought again for a moment, then realized that Tayne was sidestepping most of his questions about his life. He knew Tayne was pretty closed about his life, and he assumed that being a hunter had something to do with that. But was that it?
Tayne had to grin. "Librarian who's keen on learning. Somehow, I'm not that surprised." He paused when the server came by with drinks, and he ordered for them both. "So are we all gonna meet this girl, then? If you wind up getting a second date with her?" He was really rather relieved by the news, hoping maybe his mother would leave him alone if it looked like Torshael was getting involved. At least she could get grandkids from someone, right?
"Yeah, maybe. I don't know how I feel about her studying grey or black magic, but as long as she's not hurting anyone, the knowledge can't hurt. Right?" Torshael himself wasn't so sure of this, but it wasn't like he was marrying the girl, just asking her out on another date. "Has work been..okay? I know you don't want to reveal much, but you're okay?" Torshael worried about his whole family, including his brother. It was hard when they were in such dangerous fields of work to not worry about them.
"Work's been okay," Tayne assured him with a warm smile. "Had some fun on the night of the moon, but it turned out okay." Mostly, anyway. Mostly because of Justin and his amazing magic skills and generosity. "I've not got anything going right now, anyway. Last one was exhausting, I'm taking some time to be a regular short-order cook, for a while. I've got enough to last me."
"Good, I'm glad." Torshael said, after Tayne mentioned the crazy full moon. He hadn't run into anything crazy on the first night, which didn't bother him at all. "Glad to hear you're just cooking for a while, one less thing for me to worry about." And pray over. But his brother didn't want to hear that. Now it was just hunters after them for their blood, his sister hunting, and his granddad hunting. At least Mom didn't do much crazy stuff.
"Don't mean to worry you," Tayne said with a sheepish little smile. "But somebody's gotta do it, you know?" Keep the town-- the state-- whatever-- safe from the ones who didn't know how, or didn't want, to play by the rules of society.
The sushi came up, or the first round of it, and Tayne grinned a bit more cheerfully. Or, rather, more teasingly. "So you think you can manage the chopsticks, bro?"
"Yeah, I understand why you guys do it." It was something that he'd grown up with an understanding of, but it didn't convince his worried mind not to stress about his family.
"Oh, geez. Probably not." Torshael laughed, and it ended in a bit of a cough. He'd had a cold for a while now, lingering around but not bothering him unless he exerted himself. "Ah, sorry. I'll do my best." He picked up the chopsticks and eyed them warily.
Tayne laughed at his brother's expression. Poor guy. Chopsticks were kind of hard for the first try or three. "Here, hold it like this--" He demonstrated with his own, twisting around a little so he could show Torshael more clearly. "And if you still have trouble with it, we'll ask for a fork for you. Or maybe the training chopsticks," he teased. "The ones kids use with the bright colored rubber bands to hold 'em in place."
"I'll figure this out, I'm not using the training chopsticks. A guy my age should know how to use chopsticks." Torshael said, watching Tayne's demonstration. He didn't fail miserably. At least he got the first piece of sushi in his mouth without it going all over. Oh, the accomplishment! "How often do you eat here, that you're so good with yours?" He asked, eying another piece of sushi and then tried to grab it. Not as successful this time.
"Pretty often," Tayne chuckled. "A couple of my friends really like sushi. Hell, so do I. It's about the only thing I can't say I could make better." He was fairly infamous among friends and family for being critical of restaurant food. "So what do you think?" He got it in his mouth all right, but did he like it?
Torshael paused to taste it, and nodded. He swallowed, and smiled. "It's good, really good. I didn't know sushi was this good, or maybe I would have been coming here before. It's a bit daunting though, all the raw fish and seaweed." He ate another one, the flavor getting better as he went.
"Just gotta be adventurous, bro," Tayne said with a teasing grin. "We'll make a Renaissance man outa you yet." And with that, he turned quite happily to his own sushi. Maybe someday he'd learn how to make this-- but probably not.