Miriam D'Onofrio (lady_miriam) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2018-11-12 09:26:00 |
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Entry tags: | #november 2017, brianna, brianna x miriam, miriam |
Who: Brianna and Miriam
When: Late afternoon, Monday, November 20
Where: Waterfront Gym
Status: Complete
It had been a fairly productive weekend that left Brianna feeling a bit worn out and groggy by Sunday evening. James had taught her her first bit of magic, which admittedly felt really good, but also left her with conflicting emotions. She had been taught for so long that magic was wrong, that it could lead to terrible things. So far none of that had happened but Brianna was just waiting for the other shoe to drop. After their lesson James had left for one of his business trips, essentially leaving Brianna alone in the house. Her kids were off doing their own thing with their friends so she took advantage of the silence to soak in her tub with a bottle of wine.
Things got back to normal on Monday morning as Brianna drove into work. She managed to close on a house on Green Street before a lunch meeting at noon, and when she finished up for the day she headed for the gym to meet Miriam. It had been awhile since they spoke and she knew they would need to start finalizing plans for the holiday gala at the country club. Obviously her family’s problems were at the forefront of her mind, but it would be nice to join a friend and work off some aggression that had been building for the past few days. James wasn’t available at the moment to be that outlet for her.
After changing in the locker room, Brianna tied her hair up into a ponytail and headed out into the gym to find Miriam.
Miriam had her own family problems on her mind, but her lack of inability to do anything about them kept her pushing them aside. Weeks rolled by and Caius’ memory was still gone, yet Miriam had to pretend all was well and good with her son and his wife. It would be easy if they live elsewhere, but everyone in town knew them and they were newlyweds. Questions about holiday plans and grand-babies grew more frequent and she just had to hope that her son could work out this puzzle. Miriam hated relying on hope as much as she hated being useless.
The one thing Miriam could do was throw herself into projects and with the holidays coming up there were plenty of those to go around. Her Sunday afternoon was spent doing charity work for the Cheerleader’s booster club, which turned out to be more of a social hour than anything else. By the time she left, she’d not only completed at least fifty gift bags for the needy on Thanksgiving, but she felt like she knew what was going on with every single cheerleader on the squad.
Monday was back to her routine and a chance to catch up with Brianna. She’d only been on the treadmill for five minutes when she saw her friend exit the locker room and she gave her a wave. “I wasn’t sure what you were in the mood for, but I thought I’d go ahead and start warming up.”
"No, this is fine," Brianna said, climbing onto the treadmill beside Miriam and setting her small towel over the bar as she began pushing the proper buttons on the panel. "I wasn't sure if I was in the mood for spin class today." The treadmill slowly began to move beneath her sneakers and Brianna decided to take it easy for a few minutes. "How are you?" she asked her friend. "Ready for Thanksgiving?" She had no idea if any of Miriam or Anthony's family would be in town for the holiday. It was bound to be a quiet one at the McCarthy residence, but she was thankful for that. There was just too much going on for Brianna to have to put on a happy face for James's family.
“I’ve been keeping myself busy,” Miriam answered, a standard response, but true enough. Things were fine at home, Sera was an easy enough child and Anthony didn’t bring his work home with him, but she worried enough about Caius to make it feel like there was a lot going on when really there wasn’t. “Technically, I’ve got everything lined up for the big day, but I have no idea how it’ll actually play out. I think it’s going to be a quiet one this year, but we’ll see. It depends on Caius.” There was so much more she wanted to say, or even ask Brianna about, but she didn’t know how much the woman knew. As tempting as it was to meddle, this was Caius’ life at stake. “How about you? Things okay at home?”
Brianna felt an internal bristle at the mention of Caius, but that seemed to be a knee jerk reaction whenever the names of the witches who had drawn her son into magic were spoken. She couldn't begrudge Miriam for the actions of her children, but it was difficult not to be a little resentful. She just wished things could go back to how they were before. It probably didn’t help that she saw on her calendar that morning that he had set up an appointment with her to look at his house. She could assume it was for business purposes only, but it was hard to think there wasn’t some ulterior motive. She kept that from Miriam for now. "How is Caius?" Brianna asked, her tone carefully neutral. "I know he's been going through a rough time, considering..."
Miriam glanced over at Brianna, silently trying to discern how much she knew. Until recently, she would have guessed nothing, but their children had been busy complicating things. Caius could be tight lipped at times, but he didn’t keep her in the dark. Then again, she couldn’t compare Caius and Sebastian. She didn’t know the boy well, but from what she knew he had very little in common with her son. “Things have been difficult lately. He and Reagan… You know, they’ve always been complicated. And what they’re dealing with now is above and beyond anything they’ve had to face. But he’s strong and smart and I think he’ll figure it out.”
It sounded as though Miriam was hedging around the obvious, trying to decipher just what Brianna knew and what she didn't. That was all right. Brianna would have been doing the same had the roles been reversed. None of her friends knew Brianna's family history, or what she was. Did Miriam know Caius had taken Sebastian's blood to break some centuries old curse? How much did Miriam's son and husband actually tell her? "The curse," Brianna said, low enough that no one but Miriam would hear her. The treadmill beside her was empty, but people in this town seemed to have supersonic hearing. "I thought that had been broken. I wasn't aware there was more going on."
It was good to hear that Brianna knew something of what had occurred, since her family was tied into it, but Miriam knew that being a part of the family didn’t always mean you got all the details. Maybe she should keep her mouth shut and maintain appearances, but the number of people she could confide in was so small that she couldn’t resist the chance to vent just a little. “Apparently you can tie things together so that breaking one triggers another,” she said, keeping her voice down. “Caius has no memory of Reagan. None. They’ve been together so long that there’s this hole in his life. He says they’re working on it, but it’s been difficult for both of them.”
Brianna had no idea about curses, or tying something to another to trigger something else. It all sounded complicated and dangerous and Brianna focused on speeding up her pace a bit. Miriam's son had parts of his memory erased? Was it because of Brianna's family's curse? Or something else? "That's terrible," Brianna murmured. "I don't know what I would do if James suddenly forgot who I was. Is there nothing anyone can do to help them?" Preferably someone who wasn't her son, but she left that alone for the moment.
Miriam didn’t want to lie, but she also didn’t want to get into what Caius had recently told her. If he had a plan, she was going to let him make his plea and hopefully Brianna would understand. “I’m frustratingly useless in this whole endeavor, but even Anthony seems at a loss. I think if they could understand the cause, they might be able to reverse it, but I don’t know or understand how complicated that might be. They have a bad habit of giving me the Cliff Notes version of whatever’s going on.”
"Men." Brianna snorted softly. It seemed clear that Anthony hadn't told Miriam about the McCarthy's either. Had he? If he had, maybe he hadn't known about Brianna's family. Maybe they assumed it had all been on James's side. It was difficult to talk about when she didn't know much herself. Still, telling Miriam what she did know might irritate Anthony and, or, Caius, so why not. "I don't know a lot about it," Brianna began, glancing at her friend. "But they told you about Sebastian? About what he did?"
“Sebastian?” Miriam asked, then shook her head. She knew they’d found the Baron family and that they had helped Caius and Reagan break the curse, but she’d never learned the specifics beyond that the Baron’s were tied in to the McCarthy’s. She’d assumed that meant Brianna and her extended family, but hadn’t thought about how that included the McCarthy children. They were just teenagers… “No, what did he do?”
Brianna glanced at Miriam and studied her for a brief moment. Even if Miriam knew some details, she apparently didn't know about Sebastian's involvement. "Caius and Reagan discovered that Sebastian had the proper blood to help break the curse. I guess Reagan was teaching Sebastian magic, and awakening the magic... well, it tipped them off that he was a descendant of Abigail Baron. They took his blood... willingly," she added, just so Miriam wouldn't think her son forced Brianna's into it. "Enough of it to break the curse, apparently. We only found out because... breaking the curse triggered magic within Trip and Ophelia. And myself."
Miriam’s expression hardened, her disapproval coming through. Her husband didn’t talk to her about magic, nor did her son, but she knew that using blood in magic had to be a big deal. As a mother, it felt like a big deal, and if another adult had asked her son to give his blood for any reason, she knew she would’ve lashed out at them, magic or not. “I knew they were looking for a Baron descendant, and that they’d found them. I was surprised to learn it was your family, but I never dreamed they’d gone to Sebastian, of all people.” Obviously, they’d not known what breaking the curse would entail, but if they’d gone to an adult, then at least the Baron line would be aware. “Is he okay? Are you okay? That’s a big deal.”
"I'm not entirely sure they went to Sebastian as much as he was already receiving lessons from Reagan and it just made sense to ask." Brianna shrugged. She still felt a bit in the dark about things, and she hated that feeling. Everything just felt confusing and up in the air and she wished more than anything for things to go back to normal. "Sebastian is fine, though. James is teaching both he and Ophelia, and... me, in a way. I'm fine too." She sighed. "It just feels as if this entire thing has opened a can of worms. I feel out of control, like I can't rein anything in. James was angry at me for a long time. He might still be," she added with a faint smirk. "But what's done is done. I just have to move forward and do what I can to protect my family."
“Still… they should’ve taken his age into consideration. And if he’s just learning himself, he might not’ve known the repercussions,” Miriam pointed out, but then realized that was probably exactly why they hadn’t gone to Brianna or James. It would’ve been much easier to convince an inexperienced young witch that they needed his blood. Even though she knew Caius and Reagan’s intentions were pure, it felt soaked in manipulation and she wouldn’t have blamed Brianna for being upset with them. “If they all know magic, you’ll be in a better position to protect them if you do too,” Miriam said, speaking as someone who didn’t have that going for her. “Did you know this was a possibility before? I always… well, I thought you were like me,” she said with a little smile.
Brianna felt a little vindication that Miriam seemed to see things the way she had. James certainly hadn't, blaming Brianna more than anything for what had happened. For not letting their children learn magic sooner. Sebastian had been curious and naïve and now look where they were. Reagan Kelly should have known better. She sighed softly and smiled faintly at Miriam. "I suppose I always knew it was a possibility, but my family hasn't practiced in decades, maybe longer. Life was just... normal for me. Maybe I was naïve too. It was not malicious intent, keeping it a secret. I was just trying to protect my family."
“Why weren’t you practicing? Was it just the danger of what it is?” Miriam knew that magic could be dangerous, but Anthony had convinced her that they were safer with it than without it, and that Caius could only benefit from learning. Of course, Miriam knew her husband well enough to also know that he wouldn’t have taken no for an answer on this one. She could never tell how much magic he used in his daily life, but she had the feeling he used it to pull strings when necessary. Seeing as how it had supported them, giving them everything they’d ever really wanted, she couldn’t complain.
It seemed like so much to try and explain to Miriam and for a moment Brianna wanted to shut down the conversation completely. But that wasn't entirely fair to the other woman, given how her family was involved in all of this. "I was told it was dangerous," Brianna explained. "That someone had been hunting my family for decades, using our magic as sort of a GPS system. So they stopped using magic all together to stay safe. And it worked. Now," she sighed. "I don't know what was true and was wasn't. It's been a frustrating few weeks."
“I get the impression that it is dangerous, to an extent, but not usually for those reasons. Hopefully whatever was tracking your family has moved on or died out,” Miriam said, wondering to herself if it was her own family that had been doing the hunting. Again, she wished she knew more, of her husband’s family history, of the curse on her son, of whoever or whatever it was that continued to plague them all. Because she saw now that it wasn’t just her family tied up in this. It made her wonder just how many old families had been roped in. “You have a right to be frustrated,” she said, trying to get her mind back on the subject. “It’s a lot to sort through, a lot of change, especially on top of Sebastian’s news. How’s James taking it, by the way?”
"Well, I'm not entirely sure anything was," Brianna said. "I'm thinking maybe it was a lie? I don't know. I haven't spoken to my mother yet and James doesn't seem to want me to. He seems to want to fix this all himself, but unless we have definitive answers, I'm not sure he can." She reached out to quicken the pace of the treadmill a few notches. "He's handling it as well as can be expected. We had a few, rough days. I think he feels betrayed that I kept it from him, and while I can understand that, I didn't do it maliciously. I didn't want to risk putting him or anyone else in danger. How did you handle it when Anthony told you what he was?"
Miriam stared at Brianna for a moment, mildly confused, her question about how James was handling Sebastian coming out not aligning with the answer she received. It wasn’t until she asked about Anthony that she realized they were discussing something entirely different and she smiled. “It was a shock, of course, but I already kind of suspected that there was more out there than most people believed. Maybe that’s what growing up in Point Pleasant does to you. It makes anything seem possible.” It was more than that for her, but she often wondered how people could buy into the belief that their town was normal. Too many weird things happened for her to accept that at this point.
"Well, James certainly knows plenty about what's out there. But I can understand where he's coming from. I suppose I would have been angry to, had I been in his shoes." She continued to walk for a moment before she blinked and looked over at Miriam, clarity settling in as she pushed aside her thoughts on James. "Wait, Sebastian's news?" That had nearly gone over her head, so focused on Brianna's own secrets coming to light. Miriam could have been referring to Sebastian helping Caius and Reagan with a curse, but that's what had triggered all of this in the first place.
“I can see why you kept it from him though. I would have, too,” Miriam said. She didn’t have magic in her family though. She had...something else. If she thought either of her children might inherit it, then maybe it was worth mentioning, but Miriam didn’t see the point of ever saying a word to anyone. “About him coming out?” She assumed that was the only news she could have been referring to, but it was hard to know when it came to teenagers, especially with college on the horizon. “There was a cheer booster thing yesterday and all the girls were talking about him and his boyfriend.”
Brianna's confusion deepened. Coming out of what? But Miriam continued and Brianna nearly tripped on the treadmill at the mention of Sebastian's boyfriend. She grabbed the arm handles of the treadmill to keep from falling and quickly pulled the emergency cord to stop the thing from moving. "What? His what?" She was breathing heavily now from her brief exertions and the news that Sebastian's coming out apparently meant his coming out as gay. Something he hadn't done with her. Or James, she was certain, otherwise she would have heard about it already. "Are you talking about Sebastian? My son?"
Perhaps it was wrong of Miriam to assume that Sebastian would have already come out his his parents, but she couldn’t imagine he was trying to hide it if he’d taken another boy to the dance. From the way the girls had been talking, the boys had been very comfortable with public displays of affection, something that didn’t exactly jive with keeping it a secret. Miriam hit the stop button, flustered by her misstep and unable to see any way to back out of it. Even then, she wasn’t sure she should. “I… I suppose there could be another Sebastian on the football team,” she said hesitantly, though she doubted that was the case. “Did he date Margaret Cooper’s daughter?”
Another Sebastian on the football team? How many Sebastians were there in town? Brianna was willing to bet her son was the only one. With her heart racing, Brianna stared at Miriam before her gaze shifted away, scanning the gymnasium as she tried to work over in her mind what she had just been told. Sebastian was gay? Girls were talking about it? He went to the dance with his boyfriend? All these people knew but her? No wonder he was insistent that he and Jules wouldn't be getting back together. It killed her that so much was going on in her son's life and she had no idea. "I should go," Brianna breathed, turning to step down off the treadmill. "I need to go home and figure this out. I need to talk to Sebastian before James finds out from someone else."
Miriam nodded in understanding, but reached out to her friend, lightly laying a hand on her arm. "I'm sorry, Bri. I didn't mean to stir things up." Normally she would have enjoyed it, but this wasn't just a little harmless gossip. This was the kind of thing that caused all kinds of havoc in families and Brianna already had enough on her plate. And if James was anything like Anthony this would be a huge fucking deal. She couldn't imagine what would possess Sebastian to go public with it if he hadn't told his parents. "If you want to talk, you know I'm always there to listen."
“No, it’s okay, you didn’t know,” Brianna murmured. Maybe the girls were just gossiping and spreading untrue rumors. Maybe she would talk to Sebastian and he would laugh it off. “I’m sorry for cutting the afternoon short,” she added, stopping to look back at Miriam. “I just need to talk to Sebastian and find out what’s going on. At least before James finds out. Can I count on you to be discreet about this until I know the truth?”
“Of course,” Miriam said. “Go on, do what you need to do. We can do this any other time.” If it was her, she’d want to know the truth as soon as possible, but it was also something to be handled delicately. She couldn’t just rip Sebastian out of whatever he was working on— at least football season was over— and demand answers. Well, she could, but Miriam doubted that would go over well. Hopefully James would be busy and obvious at work. “I’ll see you later.”