Who: Tori Mulligan, Jake Hobbs, and whoever else decides to show up.
Jump it to a new thread if you plan to join us. Just so that Tori and Jake have their first interaction without having to worry about random people hopping in. What: Mr. Mulligan's gone. Leaving two kids and a broken friend in his wake. Where: Mulligan residence. When: Right after Jake finds out. Rating: PG-13 for language. Status: In progress.
Most people wouldn't have pegged Jake and Chuck for friends, but they were. Definitely as close as was possible with the age gap. When Jake had been eleven, he'd been partnered with Chuck Mulligan for a program they'd had through the school. Jake, then Joachim, had been concerned about Chuck's life choices in respect to his family. Originally, he'd resented the man for the things he said and the things they had to do together. But by the end of the program, it was Chuck who had picked Jake's new name. And it was Chuck who took him down to help him get it changed when the time was right.
Jake shoved his coat on over his shirt, shaking as he did so. His dreams had been vague as of late, glimpses--feelings. He'd seen a fire. But he hadn't understood who would be the victim. He hadn't understood that he would lose his best friend. That his dreams were warning him. Usually, he saw fires all the time. People dying. He sighed, leaning his head against his doorframe before pushing himself to put his hand on the knob and leave.
"Fuck you, Mulligan."
He swore the entire time to Chuck's place. He cursed himself. He cursed Chuck. He flipped off an old lady who made him wait for her to cross the street at a stop sign. He held his hand down on the horn of his car for two whole minutes because she decided to stop dead in front of him. She took so long that when she was finally not blocking him as much as she had been, he swerved into oncoming traffic to get around her. And she threw her cane at his car. In particular rage, he sent a hex to knock her down and sped off, using every swear he knew as he came up against other obstacles that kept him from getting to Tori and Zoe.
Those poor fucking kids.
"You know, Chuck, this was a pretty shitty thing to do," Jake called out to the roof of his car, honking at someone in front of him--despite it being their right of way. "You're a fucking idiot. A fucking fuck of an IDIOT, Mulligan! Your fucking KIDS. You--" He held down the horn again, finally falling prey to a sob that he couldn't keep from escaping. "You fucking FUCKER!" he screamed, suddenly pounding the steering wheel with a ferocity that sent a wave of power soaring through his arms and into his hands. The leather under them burned. "You fucking left your two kids all alone for what?"
He finally pulled his car onto Mulligan's street, the silence reigning inside as he struggled to settle himself. His shaking slowed as he called on the power he needed to keep himself calm. "You can do this. This might be fucked up, but you can do this."
The swarm of cop cars around the house made him nervous, naturally, but he ignored them and pushed past into the house. "Kid," he called out, seeing the small form settled in the room. "I'm here."
Jake remembered when Chuck had told him about Tori. He'd known Chuck for five years by then--and the new kid was a pretty big thing. He remembered holding Tori at the hospital--because while Jake wasn't technically a part of the family, he was as close to the real deal as was possible by that point. They all knew Chuck. They all knew Amelia. And Amelia's passing was incredibly hard on all of them. Jake's heart broke for the kids. Now, his heart broke for them again. It was hard enough to be two girls without a mother. But two girls without parents at all?
Zoe was old enough to live with the memory of him for the rest of her life. But would Tori? Or would she simply forget with time?
"I'm sorry it took so long."
His red rimmed eyes were the indication that he cared because his cold exterior was all that was holding him together right then. He wanted to punch something. To rip something apart. To scream until something somehow made itself right.