search within (searchwithin) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-07-31 15:31:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | #group scene, #november 2017, brianna, james, ophelia, sebastian |
Who: James, Brianna, Sebastian, and Ophelia
Where: The McCarthy House
When: Evening, Tuesday, November 7
Status: Complete
The McCarthy household had become something of a chaotic battlefield lately and it was time to rein it in. James called a family meeting. They needed to talk, all of them together, leave nothing out. It'd be best if they started so he could just nod along and pretend he'd known everything from the start but he supposed he needed to take a small blow to his pride if he wanted to straighten all of this out. Family dinner seemed like a good idea but James decided they'd all sit down together in the den after dinner. Why spoil a good meal if things got ugly.
The dinner was awkward since they all knew they were going to talk but they somehow managed to keep the conversation light until everyone was done. The kids gathered the plates and loaded the dishwasher and James poured himself and Brianna drinks because he had a feeling they'd need them. When Ophelia and Sebastian finally came to the den, James gestured at them to sit and did the same. "Well, this has been an eventful week," he said, looking at each of them in turn. "There have been a lot of secrets and a lot of anger and we need to straighten things out to keep this family strong."
Sebastian stared at a spot in the center of the coffee table, unwilling to meet his father’s eyes. He figured something like this would happen, but that didn’t mean he was happy about it. If this was just another exercise in asking him who was teaching him magic, they weren’t going to get anything new out of him. There were things he did want to talk about, questions he wanted to ask, but neither of his parents had seemed interested in anything else. So he kept his mouth shut for now, waiting to see what his mother would add. He cast a small glance towards Ophelia, feeling bad that she’d been dragged into this. But there was more to it than his mistakes. Their mother was a witch and she deserved to hear the explanation for that as well, if they were even going to go there.
Brianna wasn't terribly worried about who taught Sebastian magic anymore. She had a feeling James would be figure it out. He was powerful and well known in town and there were only so many magical families around. On the other hand, she had an easier option ready and had plans to ask James to give Sebastian his phone back... now that she had enabled the 'Locate My Phone' feature on the family phone plan that only she had access to, since she paid the phone bill.
Gathered with her family now, Brianna sipped her drink and listened to James. She was well aware that a lot of those 'secrets' James spoke of were her secrets, but she still felt somewhat justified at keeping them. "The important thing is that we’re all on the same page," Brianna said, glancing between her two children, "in order to stay safe. Your father has agreed to teach you both magic, and he should be the only one doing it."
Ophelia had an uncomfortably tense weight in her stomach all through dinner and sitting down to do this. They only had Family Meetings when something Really Serious happened, and she hated that sick, on-the-spot feeling. She sat on the couch with her brother, legs crossed in front of her, one arm crossed under her breasts while she gnawed on her opposite thumbnail. She knew that Sebastian was probably the one in more trouble, but her cheeks burned anyway. “Okay,” she said softly to Brianna’s directive. Phee felt a tiny relief -- that wording indicated that their father still wanted to teach them, at least.
James watched his kids for a moment before pulling Sebastian's phone out of his pocket. It wasn't something he had discussed with Brianna but right now it felt like they needed all to give in a little bit to make this work. He'd also taken the phone in a state of anger and he didn't want to push Sebastian too hard. "You'll need to charge it," he said as he tossed it at his son then looked at his wife. "Your mother will be learning magic too. None of us knew about her magic until now but something happened last week that woke it up and made your magic go a little crazy at the same time. You both say you did nothing to wake it up so we need to find out what did." He looked back at Sebastian. "I was hoping your teacher would know something but since you won't give up their name, maybe you can ask them."
Sebastian caught his phone and turned it over in his hand. He hadn’t realized how cut off from the world he’d feel without it. Losing his phone was worse than his car. And in combination with him being grounded, it made him feel especially alone. He looked up finally, glancing from his father to his mother, reluctant to say something that might get him in even more trouble, but the threat of having his family hunted down because of his decisions was enough to make him speak up. “You don’t have to ask them,” he said quietly, trying to keep his pronouns vague. “I think I know what happened. I just… didn’t know it at the time.” He hadn’t been lying to his father that night, but now, looking back, he was sure it would look that way. “I helped them break a curse. They said it had been on their family for centuries. That they could die. They broke the curse Wednesday night.”
"A curse?" Brianna's brows drew together in confusion and she straightened a touch in her chair. "What are you talking about? What kind of curse?" If they knew who had been talking to their son, it was possible some of this would make sense, but he was remaining tight lipped about that, apparently. It made her heart start to race to think of Sebastian helping witches break a curse without she or James knowing. She didn't know much about magic, but she had to assume that was complex, or dark. What if he had been hurt?
This was the first that Ophelia was hearing about Sebastian being involved in some curse-breaking ritual too, and her eyes went a bit wide as she looked at her brother. He’d been keeping even more secrets than she knew about, hadn’t he? She wasn’t sure how other people breaking some curse would affect the three of them in the McCarthy family, but she also knew she didn’t really know jack shit about the rules of magic, so Phee kept her mouth shut and let her parents ask the questions about that.
James had to remind himself that he'd had every intention of having a calm chat with his family, to keep them safe and get on the same page, but the urge to start yelling rose in his throat like bile. He got up from where he was sitting, grabbing his empty glass off the table with a jerk and stalked back to the mini bar. Breathing. In. Out. Everything he wanted to say - or yell - sounded like his own father in his head. Magic can be a tool but it's also a weapon, it's not to be toyed with, how could you be so fucking stupid. He could sense Brianna's tension too but he wanted to yell at her as well. This was what you got when you didn't teach your kids to use magic. Like handing a toddler a loaded gun. He wanted to ground Sebastian for life now, to scream at him until his throat felt raw, take away his phone again. "What exactly was your part in breaking this curse?" he asked instead, his voice level but only because he was putting a lot of effort into keeping it that way. He knew he radiated rage, how could he not when it was bubbling like this right under the surface.
“I told you,” Sebastian said, looking straight at his mother, unable to believe she was going to act like this was the first she’d heard of it. “You said you knew…” It was what they’d been fighting about, wasn’t it? That he wouldn’t tell her who he’d talked to or what he’d done? At least, that’s why he thought he was grounded. Now he wasn’t sure, since from his father’s reaction he seemed to be hearing this for the first time, rather than just getting clarification. It made him want to backtrack, retract everything and keep his mouth shut, since he was clearly making things worse. Sebastian shrunk back slightly, certain that his answer would make things worse, but no longer sure he could get away with not answering. “They needed my blood,” he said softly, eyes dropping away again. They were going to say he was foolish. Stupid. Careless. But he knew how big a deal it was. And he still believed it was worth it if it saved their lives.
Brianna set her glass down and rubbed her hands over her face. She should have just called her mother to get the details, to know the specifics so she could either defend Sebastian or tell him what a stupid boy he'd been. But she wasn't sure who she would be getting the truth from anymore. And yes, she was well aware of her own lies through the years, but those still felt justified. Look at the mess they were in now. Perhaps she should have told James everything. He didn't like being blindsided. But she hadn't expected Sebastian to be so goddamn honest. The conflicting emotions warred inside of her, but she realized there were more important things to deal with right now. "You gave them your blood," Brianna said, though her words were muffled by her hands before she dropped them away. She kept her voice calm and steady, despite her temper simmering. She already knew James was likely to erupt, and she needed to keep things from imploding. "Sebastian, why would you do that without telling one of us," she asked. "Don't you realize how dangerous that is?"
Moving slowly, like some sudden gesture might set off the tension in the room, Phee pulled one of the couch pillows into her lap and hugged it. Her eyes ticked around the room to the rest of her family, and she really wanted to disappear into the upholstery. She hated it when her father was angry, being a daddy’s girl very in tune with his moods. This was a very bad one, and Phee really didn’t want to be in the room with it. Why was she even there? She hadn’t known about any of this, so why couldn’t they bitch out Sebastian in private? She was just going to stay quiet and be glad that she wasn’t in the hot seat.
Phee did serve one vital purpose in the room and that was anchoring her father. James was furious, near a boiling point and so absolutely baffled in his rage that it only made it worse. He remained calm mostly because his daughter was there and she had no part in this. "This family is cursed," he said when he'd downed another drink and this time he left the glass at the bar as he strode back to the couch. He didn't sit down but stopped behind it, leaning over and resting his hands on the back. "The three of you and Trip are all in danger now and I don't know how to keep you safe yet." He turned a somewhat cold gaze at his son and while he didn't say it out loud the implication that he was to blame was very much implied. "Clearly it was a mistake not to teach you anything because you are treating a dangerous weapon like it's a toy." He bit back on the insults that threatened to follow, knowing they were cursed should be heavy enough.
Sebastian would have answered his mother’s questions, but his father’s fury brought him to silence, even more confused than before. How were they cursed? He wanted to ask, but he blame was so loud that he didn’t want to utter another word. The last thing he’d wanted was to put his family in danger. Guilt curled in Sebastian’s stomach, a knot so tight that he thought he might be sick. He’d put them all in danger. It was the very last thing he wanted to do, his intention only to help Reagan and Caius, and instead he’d unleashed… something. Something that was hunting their family. Sebastian stared off into nothingness, properly chastised, aware that his reasoning no longer mattered if he’d just traded one curse for another.
It was instinctual for Brianna to want to remind James that he wasn't responsible for her safety, but given she knew next to nothing about magic, she knew that right now it wouldn't be a valid argument. "Let's just calm down," she said, glancing between James and Sebastian. Phee looked as if she was trying her hardest to sink into the couch cushions. "If we knew who talked you into this, we could talk to them and try to figure out exactly what happened and how, but you seem to want to continue to protect them, which I find rather disappointing, considering you should be prioritizing your own family's safety over someone else's," she told Sebastian simply. "I understand your intentions were good ones, Sebastian, but without knowing the details, it makes our job that much harder. We're all dealing with the fallout. So are you going to help us fix this or not?"
Sebastian couldn’t very well say no to that. He’d really been hoping to keep Reagan out of this, because he was pretty sure his parents showing up on her doorstep was the last thing she needed, and it would definitely ruin his chances of her teaching him anything else. But he couldn’t help fix things if he insisted on keeping silent. “Reagan Kelly was teaching me,” he said solemnly, eyes still downcast, that sick feeling still rumbling about his stomach. “She said she and her husband were cursed. I was just trying to help. I… I didn’t know it would affect us.” He still had a hard time accepting that Reagan might have been lying to him, but maybe they were right. Either way, he was clearly in over his head.
This gave James some pause because Reagan Kelly's husband was Caius D'Onofrio, Anthony D'Onofrio's son. He hadn’t known they were cursed but then his friendship with Anthony was somewhat shallow and mostly work based. They didn’t exactly talk about their personal problems. "Why did they need your blood?" He asked and it was as really beginning to look like whatever was hunting Brianna's bloodline might be related to whatever cursed Caius and Reagan. That meant they could work together to fix things and the D'Onofrios were valuable allies.
Sebastian sighed and ran his fingers through his hair. “They said the curse was placed on both their families by Abigail Baron, and that they needed a descendant’s blood to help break it. They said they’d been looking, but-- but they thought the line had died out.” He understood now that that wasn’t the case, but felt like it was important to note that Reagan hadn’t set this up as some elaborate trap. He didn’t see how she could have known who his ancestors were if he didn’t. But then his mother did, so… He just didn’t know. He continued speaking, still uncomfortable with the conversation, but seeing no way around it. They were going to find out anyways when they spoke to Reagan. “Except then I did this spell that set off this...um…I think it was a tracking spell of some sort. It reacted to my magic. That’s when they asked about mom’s side of the family. I told them only the McCarthy side had magic. They said no, that it had to be on both sides, that the blood and the bones don’t lie.” He glanced at his mother then, not even bothering to hide the bitterness and betrayal he felt. It would’ve been one thing to find out from her, but through all this they still had no explanation for why they’d been kept in the dark.
Well, that would make sense as to why her mother had insisted no one in their family learn or use magic. Because it provided a tracker of sorts for others who might want to find them. Which is what had happened now, with Sebastian practicing. Did that mean her family was at risk again? Not just Phee and Sebastian, but her parents and brother? Other relatives? Was whoever was hunting them still doing so? Or had it been the D'Onofrios and Kellys this whole time? Brianna wrinkled her nose in distaste at the thought of anyone using blood and bones in magic, but she understood it happened. She didn't look away from her son's pointed gaze, because she wasn't going to apologize for keeping certain things from him. He was the one who had gone against her wishes to learn magic. "Did they explain why they had been cursed?" Brianna asked him. "Did they give you any details other than it could kill them?"
Phee had been trying to keep up, her gaze ticking from one family member to another, all of whom seemed to know more about what the hell was going on than she did. Being the baby of the family, that wasn’t unfamiliar, but in this case it was distressing. She was shocked at what she was hearing Sebastian had been up to -- and couldn't help but wonder if Greg knew about all this and hadn’t told her -- and keeping a secret, but the part that really caught her attention was the meaningful glare he gave their mother. Phee’s brows drew together and the words really registered. “Wait, what?” she interjected, too surprised to worry about getting into trouble for speaking up at the moment. “What does that mean? You’ve got magic in your family too?” They were double-witches? That had to be significant, right?
Phee's voice startled Brianna. She had nearly forgotten her daughter was even there. Her gaze snapped to Phee and Brianna realized she didn't know about Brianna's family. Brianna had just assumed Phee had been able to sense Brianna's magic the same way James and Bash had, but then again, now that she was thinking about it, she hadn't seen her daughter much over the past several days. That wasn't unusual. "My family doesn't practice," she explained. "Something was tracing them through magic, hunting them. If we didn't practice, we were safe. Obviously that's no longer the case now. Your brother was apparently getting private lessons from a woman who has no business spending time with a seventeen year old boy." Brianna sounded angry now and she stood to refill her own drink, trying to resist the urge to get into her car and drive to Reagan Kelly's house now.
James was not bothered by the use of blood or bones in magic but it was an entirely different story when that blood belonged to his son. He had calmed a little though because secrets were getting spilled and he didn't even have to demand them anymore, they just rolled off their tongues and all he had to do was listen and try to put together the pieces. It was becoming clear that the big threat to the family might have been the other families. Maybe the curse had really needed a Baron's descendant to die for it to be fully broken, maybe that was why it had been a big deal. Sebastian was alive and well but was the curse broken? He was itching to go talk to Reagan Kelly, for completely different reasons than Brianna wanted to go. "Your mom's magic was dormant, I couldn't detect it either," he said. "Breaking the curse woke it up." His voice was mild, because he was technically replying to his daughter and she was blameless in all of this. His expression darkened a bit when he looked at Sebastian. "Why didn't you come to me?" he asked. "I didn't raise you to act so stupidly."
Sebastian stared at his father, not even sure how to answer that. Nothing about this situation had convinced him that going to his parents earlier would have helped things. In fact, it made him even more reluctant to go to them about anything at all. Maybe he was being contrary, but what they fuck did they expect? “And you’d have… what?” he asked slowly. “Told me no. Told them no, we won’t help them. They said this had been going on for forever. Every generation, one or both of them dying. You wouldn’t have helped.” And they would have become desperate. Reagan had been kind to him, but he had to imagine that if he’d said no, that he wouldn’t help when it wasn’t going to hurt him, then things might have turned ugly. When it came down to it, it had been his decision. Even though he still wasn’t sure what they were dealing with, it still felt like the right thing to do.
Ophelia was still stuck on the idea that their mother had been a witch -- or come from a family of witches, anyway -- all along and hadn’t told them. It seemed like something that should’ve been important for them to know, especially as they hit puberty and all this magic started leaking out of them. Did their parents even know how naturally powerful they were? James had seen it kind of out of control, but Phee knew that she and Sebastian could do a lot even without training. She set her jaw and hugged her couch pillow tighter and felt sullen about all of these secrets from all sides. Not that she didn’t have her own, but hers were normal teenage secrets, not giving blood to break curses or keeping a whole family history under wraps. And now something was after them?
"I would have looked into it, Sebastian," James said harshly. "The D'Onofrios are friends of the family, of course I would have wanted to help but I am not a seventeen year old child without any training in magic, I wouldn't be going in blind." The frustrating thing was that he could see himself doing something similar if he was in Sebastian's place but James McCarthy Senior was nothing like him, he was obstinate and self serving on levels James could never aspire to and yet here they were, history repeating itself. Everything he wanted to say even sounded like something his father would have yelled at him back in the day and it was infuriating.
"You have no idea how we might have reacted," Brianna told Sebastian. "Maybe it would have been a difficult decision, but if we had known, maybe we could have gotten some more insight into what was going on. You keep saying they said, which tells me you've taken everything they've told you at face value. No questions? No checking into their story to make sure they weren't duping you? If this has been going on for generations, Anthony D'Onofrio could have spoken to your father, we could have figured this out." She hadn't wanted anyone in this town knowing who she was related to, but that couldn't be helped now. Brianna wasn't thrilled with how any of this went down, and she felt exposed and vulnerable. "Your intentions were good, Sebastian, but you made some poor decisions."
Sebastian sat quietly, no longer interested in talking or trying to defend himself, so angry and hurt that it was rolling off him in chilling waves, literally dropping the temperature of the air closest to him. He had asked questions. He had taken this seriously. And yet no matter what he said, they only saw him as a selfish child, a stupid one, by his father’s words. They didn’t trust him, not with magic, definitely not with knowing anything about their own family, and so he didn’t trust them. There was nothing left to be said to people who thought so little of him. With his jaw tight and his hands in fists, Sebastian stared off into nothingness, just waiting for them to be done with him.
Their parents might not have been close enough to feel the dip in the air temperature, but Ophelia did. Her brows knitted together, she glanced over at her brother, but didn’t dare look at him too long. He looked about ready to explode, a very unhappy flush to his skin and his jaw set. She wished there was something she could do to help him, back him up somehow ... but she hadn’t known any of this either. Phee started chewing on her thumbnail again. She hated all of this, it was painfully uncomfortable, and she could feel her brother’s misery and she hated that too. “He was just trying to help people, like we’re supposed to,” she said, glancing sullenly between parents. “And it’s done now, can we move on?”
"It's not done though," James muttered though the words weren't nearly as harsh as if Sebastian had spoken them. "We need to find out just how bad the repercussions are and how to protect ourselves from here on out." At least now they knew who had been teaching Sebastian. "From now on you come to me no matter what. Magic is not a toy. It can be a tool but it's a dangerous one. No more curses, lessons, whatever else brilliant ideas you might have without talking to me first, understood?"
Leave it to Phee to think that was that, and that this wouldn't have long reaching repercussions. Brianna hoped it wouldn't, but they wouldn't know for sure until they got some more details and figured this all out. At least they were friendly with the D'Onofrio family, although if this curse business turned out to be true, Brianna had no idea how they would react to it being Brianna's family who had cast it. One thing at a time, she supposed. She studied Sebastian, waiting for him to answer his father. Her son hadn't exactly listened to them when he had been grounded, so she had no idea if he would obey James's orders either.
Sebastian stayed silent, unwilling to agree to anything at this point. He wanted to learn, but there was no way he was learning from his father. He didn’t even think he could talk to the man at the moment. He’d rather figure it out on his own than spend time around someone who thought he was an idiot. If they wanted to continue to ground him, fine, but they couldn’t control his life forever and he was done making it easy for them.
Phee barely resisted rolling her eyes -- she’d meant the deed was done, not the whole issue. They just couldn’t keep sitting there and berating Sebastian for something he couldn’t change and expect to get anywhere. He was already grounded, yelling at him was just going to make him more stubborn. Which they should already know. No wonder he didn’t want to come out to them. A tightness came into her mouth as her own temper flared, not just on Sebastian’s behalf, but on hers too. The two of them had been cheated out of so much knowledge for reasons she didn’t even fully grasp, but their parents expected them to just know how to wield it -- or not wield it -- safely? Without any guidance at all? “No, it’s not a toy,” Phee said, her tone coming out snappish. She was probably going to get in trouble, but oh well. This wasn’t fair to either of them. “But it’s a part of us. It’s just there and it’s strong and we can’t help it and maybe if you guys had taught us about it a long time ago, we wouldn’t be looking for other people to help us learn to control it. We’re not like, raising the dead on purpose or anything, magic just leaks out sometimes -- Dad saw it! This is like-- it’s like being mad at your kids for going through puberty because sex can be dangerous, you know? I didn’t even know Mom had witches in the family until like, just now. If it’s a bloodline thing, you think two magically powerful families are gonna spit out kids with no magic at all? It’s overflowing on this couch. I’ve been playing with plants for years now, just by instinct, how am I supposed to resist that? Sebastian just wanted to learn, I just want to learn, and you guys never made us feel like we could ask you, without this happening.” She waved a hand wildly around at all of them and stopped to take a breath.
James listened to his daughter as she all but exploded at them and he knew she was right. He gave Brianna a somewhat pointed look knowing full well that siding with the kids against her wouldn't be productive at all. It was hard not to though. He could say they all made mistakes but in all honesty it had only been Brianna and Sebastian. That didn't give him much wiggle room to be diplomatic. "Not teaching you was a mistake," he said and he thought he could feel Brianna glaring daggers at him as he looked the kids again. "Not telling you the true reason why you couldn't learn was also a mistake, one I wouldn't have made if I'd had all the facts. Sebastian, you messed up and Brianna, so did you. I suggest we let go of that for now and focus on where to go from here.”
Siding with the kids wouldn't have been productive, but specifically blaming her for Sebastian's disobedience wasn't helpful either. She wasn't going to apologize for her decisions, and she was still of the mind that none of this would have happened if Sebastian hadn't gone against her wishes and sought out another witch in town to do something he knew he was forbidden to do. And yes, she was glaring daggers at her husband now, her irritation split three ways between every member of her family. Leave it to James to get his digs in and then suggest they let it go. The urge to storm out of the room was strong, or to stay and lash out verbally. But she managed to stay put, though her displeasure was more than evident in her body language despite how cool her tone was. "All right, so where do we go from here, James?"
"I would think that was obvious," James replied. "We research your family's history as well as the D'Onofrio and Kelly histories, find the connection, try to get ahead of whatever may be threatening our family. Until we do, you all study magic to perfection. If something does come after us we'll make it wish it never did." He straightened up and in his mind, this meeting was over. He had a feeling his family wanted to yap on about something else though so he looked between them with a cocked brow. "Anything else?"
Sebastian was fine with the conversation being over. He would’ve been fine with that five minutes ago, though that would’ve mean he’d have missed out on Phee tearing into his parents, which was really the highlight of his night and the only reason he was no longer chilling the air around him. He stayed quiet this time, no longer seeing the point in even arguing with them, and prayed that everyone would just leave it at that.
That wasn’t very obvious to Phee, but she wasn’t going to point that out. Vague threats to the family aside, she was glad that her father was actually going to teach them something know. Hopefully some of it would actually be practical and not just ‘only ever use this in case of emergency’ bullshit. Phee was doing so much self-discovery lately, she wanted to know every part of herself and what she could do. She’d already said what she wanted to say, so she shook her head mutely at the question, gaze ticking to her mother.
Oh, lord, her patience was wearing thin now. Beyond thin. It took a great deal of effort not to snap at James in front of the kids. I would think that was obvious, which to Brianna, sounded like Are you stupid?. She inhaled deeply, remembering the breathing exercises her therapist once told her about when her temper used to get the best of her. She didn't have it completely under control now, but she was at least better at bottling it up when she felt like exploding. Exploding could be dangerous now. Brianna felt Phee's eyes on her and Brianna shook her head, already wanting Sebastian and her daughter to leave the room and do whatever they decided to do. She wanted to be alone, or maybe not alone, but certainly not with her husband. "I think we're done for tonight," she said, essentially dismissing the kids since it felt as though they were both ready to disappear.
Everyone was angry now and in a way it felt like James had purged his own anger by giving it to his family. He felt calmer, although at this point he wasn't sure how much of it was artificial, a lie he was telling himself so he wouldn't explode. His rage had morphed into something more haughty and self righteous and it was pissing his wife off. It wasn't the first time, but he didn't remember ever being so disappointed and angry with her. Oh, they'd fought before, but it all seemed so trivial in hindsight. He nodded sharply at Brianna and took a moment to assess whether they should continue talking once the kids were out of the room. In this case it would probably be yelling, so it was better to let things cool down. He didn't want her to accidentally burn the house down or anything. "I'll be in my office," he muttered, in case anyone needed him. He knew for a fact that none of them were going to come talk to him at this point, but that was okay. At least they all had the facts now and going to their separate corners to lick their wounds was not a bad idea.