gainingghosts (gainingghosts) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2021-12-07 08:20:00 |
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Entry tags: | #june 2018, caius, caius x tessa, tessa |
Who: Caius and Tessa
Where: Black Cove
When: Early evening, Friday June 22
Status: Complete
It had only been a couple of days since Tessa met Anthony for the first time and while she expected him to reach out to her, he hadn’t. That wasn’t super surprising, she supposed, since his wife seemed to be… well, high-maintenance. Tessa figured Anthony knew it would be easier to talk without an audience and he knew where she was staying so Tessa decided she would be staying put in Point Pleasant until she got what she came for. His wife might not be pleased about that but frankly, Tessa didn’t much care about that.
What she did care about was meeting Anthony’s other children. She found out one was overseas doing whatever it was newly graduated young women did and the other… well, he was a few years older than Tessa, living in a nice looking neighborhood with his wife. It really didn’t take much to get people in this town talking. It seemed like everyone had something to say about the D’Onofrio’s.
Tessa wasn’t really expecting a warm welcome from Caius. She wasn’t looking for one either. But they shared blood and Tessa needed to know about this part of her life, the one that had been denied to her since birth. Whether or not Caius had been warned about her arrival, Tessa had no idea. But she wasn’t going to hide at the Inn until Anthony decided to finally accept that she existed beyond his checkbook.
So she stood on Caius’s porch now, reaching out to push the doorbell.
Another evening, another visitor. There had been Chase and Mara, then his mother dropping by, and now the doorbell was ringing again for a third night in a row. As he got up from the desk in his home office, Caius had a gut feeling that he knew who was at the door now. No one had texted him and Reagan was out, so he was fairly certain it was the woman Miriam had come to warn him about the evening before. Caius had had a bit of time to process the fact that he had a half sister, but he still didn’t know how he felt about it. He adored Sera, even though she lacked magic ... would he adore this sister too? Would she even want that type of relationship with him? There were so many unanswerable questions.
Unanswerable without the woman herself, at least. But now she was here, he knew it in his gut, so perhaps they could enlighten each other to some degree. Caius paused at the mirror in the foyer to run his fingers through his hair a couple of times. It didn’t help the unruliness much. He took a couple of deep calming breaths, then unlocked and opened the door. The first thing that struck him was that she was beautiful, but that wasn’t surprising. She had the same full lips that he’d inherited, though her eyes were lighter than his.
Caius stared at her for a silent moment, looking entirely unsurprised to see her there. Then he blinked as manners caught up to him. “You must be Tessa,” he said. He stepped back and gestured for her to come in.
Caius definitely favored his father though he was certainly more handsome than the older D'Onofrio. Tessa felt a very strange tug in her chest now that she was actually face to face with the man who was her half-brother. He was a stranger, yes, but there was the undeniable pull of blood too. She was about to introduce herself when Caius spoke and Tessa blinked, quickly understanding that he had been told about her already. That was good, actually. Maybe it would make this easier. Somewhat surprised that he was inviting her inside, Tessa stepped into the house. "And you must be Caius," she said, once she was inside, her hands resting loosely in her jacket pockets. "I take it your dad told you I would probably be coming by?"
He pushed the door closed and gave a little huff at her question. “No,” Caius answered. “He hasn’t said a word to me about it. My mother told me. Do you drink?” He needed a drink, whether Tessa took one or not, so Caius started leading the way to the kitchen, motioning for her to accompany him. Maybe it was foolish to invite her in so readily, but she was apparently blood kin to him, and that meant something to Caius too. A deep something. He didn’t think she was lying, Anthony had already acknowledged her, from what Miriam had said. So why not try to get to know her? If she started trying to scam them or begging for money, they would deal with it.
The reception was far less cold than the one she had received from his mother, but Tessa could understand that. Miriam hadn’t been warned of Tessa’s existence the way Caius had. She followed him, unable to help but look around curiously. It was such a nice house. There was lovely art on the walls and photos of Caius with a dark-haired woman whom Tessa assumed was his wife. Furniture that Tessa would have never been able to afford herself. “I’ll have a drink,” Tessa said, a touch belatedly. Maybe she ought to be more wary of taking anything from her father or his children but Tessa wasn’t going to last very long in this town if she let paranoia and suspicion guide her. “I’m sorry for upsetting your mother. I wasn’t aware that she didn’t know about me.”
Caius escorted her to the kitchen and gestured for her to sit at the breakfast bar if she wanted to relax a little. He couldn’t blame her if that was difficult -- Tessa had been on his mind for the past day, and he’d found some sympathy for the scary situation she’d walked into. It had taken balls to show up here to face Anthony, and even more to show up on his doorstep, and Caius had to admire that. Maybe they would end up being more alike than they anticipated. “Not your fault at all,” he assured her as he moved behind the counter. “Telling her was his responsibility and he shirked it, no need to apologize. Wine? Beer? I’ve got scotch and whiskey and vodka too, if you want something mixed ...” Caius looked at her with a quirked brow.
He had a point. Anthony should have told Miriam about Tessa but why he didn't was none of her business. That was between the two of them and Tessa would prefer to stay out of their marital issues. Taking a seat, Tessa licked her lips, caught between comfort and uncertainty. She wasn't sure how she would have reacted if she had been in his shoes but it was hard to imagine herself from his point of view. But Caius seemed to be taking it rather well. Having a head's up probably helped him prepare. Anthony had been pretty calm and collected when Tessa showed up on his doorstep, so maybe Caius took after his dad in that aspect. "Scotch would be great. I'm not big on mixed drinks." She paused. "I already told Tony this but I didn't come here for money or anything like that. I didn't know any of you existed until last year. It felt wrong not to be curious."
Tessa immediately endeared herself to him by asking for scotch, and Caius gave an approving smile as he turned to fetch the bottle and a couple of short glasses. Maybe taste in alcohol had a genetic component. “Tony, huh?” he asked as he stepped up to where she was sitting on the other side of the counter. Caius couldn’t help but chuckle. “I don’t think I’ve ever heard anyone call him that.” He poured them each a glass and picked one up for himself, setting the bottle aside. “I know we probably both have a lot of questions for one another ... if you don’t mind me starting -- how much did you know, growing up? Had you ever met him before now?” His dark eyes stayed on Tessa’s face as he took a sip. He was calm on the surface, but all of this felt like it had poured buckets into the ocean of anger he held toward his father. Part of Caius desperately wanted to know how much of a relationship Anthony had pursued with this girl, if he’d shown up for her more than he’d shown up for them. Irrational, probably, but he had to know.
Tessa sipped the scotch when he handed it to her, immediately impressed by the taste. That was quality shit for sure. Caius apparently had good taste in liquor. "Tony is the only name I've ever known," she admitted. "That's how my mom always referred to him. That was all I knew though, his name." Setting the glass back on the counter so she didn't down it in one more gulp, Tessa focused on Caius, not wanting to look meek by not making eye contact. "He wasn't a part of my life. It was just me and my mom. No birthday cards, no Christmas gifts. Just a monthly check. Which, of course, stopped coming when I turned eighteen." And her mom had been struggling ever since. Though Tessa didn't want to admit that and make Caius think she was there for money. "I don't know why, but she gave me his full name last year and... I put it off for a while, but then I started trying to find out what I could about him. So that's why I'm here. I just want to get an idea who he is."
The child inside of Caius who’d always needed more from his dad relaxed a bit. It was probably cruel on some level to be relieved that Tessa had even less fathering from Anthony than he had, but he still felt it. At least Anthony hadn’t been living some double life with a family he loved more than them. He’d just knocked a woman up by accident, it sounded like, then done his bare minimum financial duty. Caius was tempted to apologize on his behalf, tell Tessa he was sorry she’d grown up without his presence in her life ... but if he really thought about it, she was probably better off. Absence had to be better than cold indifference, like Sera got. He took another sip of scotch and considered his words, then gave Tessa a wan smile. “I can fill you in on most anything you want to know,” he offered. “But I have to warn you ... if you’re looking for any relationship with him, or even any warmth, you will probably be disappointed. My -- our father is a difficult man in a lot of ways.”
Tessa took another drink of the scotch, savoring it for a moment before she responded to Caius. It was difficult to explain why she was there, or what it was she wanted, exactly. The two of them were strangers and she certainly hadn't expected open arms from anyone in Anthony's family, least of all Anthony himself. If he had wanted a relationship with her, he would have shown that when she was born. "I don't know what I'm looking for," she admitted with an amused huff. "A sense of identity, maybe? Knowing there's another part of you out there, probably with another family, you can't help but feel like... half of a person?" Tessa snickered softly into her glass and shook her head. "I don't even know what I want to know about him. I guess, based on what you just said, you're not very close either?"
Caius understood what she meant, or at least he thought he did. When Miriam had told him about Tessa, he’d felt sort of incomplete all of the sudden too. Blood meant so much in his world, it was central to his magic, powerful and important, and the fact that Anthony had hidden a blood relative away from him made his insides churn with anger. Caius was keeping all of that on a tight leash, however. He knew it wouldn’t get him far with his father. “We’re ... I’m probably the closest to him,” he told her, his tone thoughtful. “That just doesn’t mean to us what it usually means with other people, I suppose. I’m sure he loves me in his way, but he’s not a touchy-feely man. I’m an heir to him more than anything.” Heir to the family business, the family fortune, the family magical legacy. That was a whole layer he couldn’t get into with Tessa tonight, though. She would probably think they were all insane if he started talking about magic. “But I hear you ... as soon as Mom told me about you, I wanted to meet you. You’re family, I don’t give a shit what he says about it.”
An heir. Usually only wealthy families had heirs but based on this house, and Anthony's, it was very clear to Tessa that they had money. From everything she had read, Anthony owned half of this town. It was mildly surprising that Caius admitted that he wanted to meet her. Being called family felt strange but maybe there was also a spark of warmth deep in her chest at the mere possibility of finding something worthwhile in this town. It could be she and Caius had nothing in common beyond their blood and they would end up despising each other, but maybe Tessa was willing to take that risk. "So, no father of the year awards for Tony, got it." Tessa lifted her glass a bit in a mock salute. "What about you? Do you have any kids?" It would be bizarre to think of herself as an aunt even if she wasn't sure she was ready to take up the mantle of that right now.
Maybe it was foolish of him to think of a stranger as family, but she was, and that meant something to Caius. More than he would’ve guessed, honestly. He would consider her his sister unless he learned that she wasn’t worthy of the connection, something that would only come with getting to know her. So of course he wanted to do that. He didn’t often let people in, but the vast majority of people weren’t kin to him. The first part made him smirk and shake his head a tiny bit, and part of him wanted to start casually dropping ‘Tony’ into conversations with his father, just to see his reaction. “Uh, no, no children yet,” he said, setting his drink down. Caius pulled his phone out and leaned forward against the counter, thumbing through things until he found a good picture of him and Reagan, then turned it to show Tessa. “This is my wife, Reagan. We got married in September, so not even a year yet. Sera doesn’t have any kids yet either, but she just graduated high school, so we count that as a win.” Caius chuckled faintly. “What about you?”
Tessa recognized the woman as the same one in the framed photo on the wall and it was nice to have the confirmation that it was his wife. She was beautiful, which made sense. Tessa just hoped she wasn't a stuck up bitch. "No kids," Tessa said with a quick shake of her head. "I have no plans to change that anytime soon, if ever. Your wife is very beautiful though. Your kids are going to be heartbreakers." He had said no children yet so she assumed they were part of some future plans. Sera, she knew, was his younger sister. A high school graduate so there were some years there between Caius and Sera's births. Tessa seemed to land right there in the middle. It was such a strange feeling. This whole day had been strange. "Do you have any other family living in Point Pleasant? I promise I won't show up on their doorstep like I did today."
“Thank you,” Caius murmured. He felt a tiny flicker of disappointment that surprised him -- so he wasn’t an uncle. Caius had no idea what he would even do with that information if he had it, but for a second he’d kind of hoped. He’d never been close to either of his uncles, and he had the vague idea that a niece or nephew would be kind of fun to practice parenting on. Oh well, maybe eventually. “No, my uncles, cousins ... most of them live elsewhere now,” he said with a shake of his head. “It’s just the four of us here -- well ... three, now. I’m still not clear what Sera’s college plans are, but I’m pretty sure she’ll be leaving for a while.” Caius glanced down at the picture on his phone screen again before he set it down and refocused on Tessa. “Do you have any other siblings?” She hadn’t mentioned any and she probably would have by now, but he was curious.
That was actually something of a relief for Tessa. She had no real interest in meeting any other relatives but for Anthony and his son and daughter. Tessa was fairly certain they wouldn't be offended. She was essentially a bastard child, right? "It's just me," Tessa said, taking another drink of the scotch before continuing. "Me and my mom. She didn't have any siblings either, so I don't have any aunts or uncles, or cousins. I know that might sound like a sad story, but we got by all right." Already she had spoken to Caius longer than she had been able to talk to Anthony. Not having Miriam hovering nearby probably helped, but he was a hell of a lot more welcoming than their "father" had been. Tessa finished off the scotch and set the glass down, already feeling warm from the liquor. Warm and relaxed. "I don't expect anything from you, or even Tony. I want to get to know you and maybe that'll be enough. I don't really know. I'm staying at Juniper for now, but I do plan on staying for a while, so I hope maybe we can do that... get to know each other, I mean."
Caius could hardly imagine only having a mom for family. The D’Onofrios weren’t a huge clan or anything, but he’d always had both parents in his life and then Sera to dote on. It sounded a little lonely, but he supposed you could get used to anything. He gazed steadily at Tessa through her words, seeing more and more of Anthony in her face the longer she sat there. Part of him wanted to sense magic too, a bit of latent power she just didn’t know about, but he felt nothing from her. It was too bad. “I would like that,” Caius told her sincerely. He gave a faint smile. “Maybe it’s old fashioned, but blood means a lot to me, and you’re blood. It was brave as hell to come here, and even if Anthony is incapable of giving you much of anything, I hope I can at least fill in some gaps for you.” He didn’t know yet if they would get along as people, or end up disliking each other, but he wanted to find out too. He stood up straighter to finish off his own drink, then looked at her again. “Dinner, we’ll have you over to dinner here sometime soon. I know Reagan will be curious to meet you too.”
“I would like to meet her too,” Tessa said, wondering if she ought to leave now. There was such a thing as overstaying one’s welcome. There would be time to get to know each other better and even if she ended up leaving Point Pleasant without forming any kind of relationship with Anthony, maybe she would have a half-brother she could keep in touch with. “I can give you my number,” Tessa said belatedly, reaching into her bag to pull out her phone. “Or I suppose you could just call Juniper. I’m in room nine. I’ll probably be there until I can find something cheaper.”
Juniper, room nine. Caius made a mental note of that, and impulsively decided he was going to call the Inn and pay for Tessa’s room, for a couple of weeks, at least. Juniper was expensive, and he knew the only other motel option was the shitty place out by Cherries, and he didn’t want any sister of his staying there alone. He believed that she wasn’t there for money, and that she wasn’t asking or expecting him to do that, but ... it would be nice. Something he didn’t often take the opportunity to be. Why not do it for a sister? Caius picked up his phone again to create a new contact. “Go ahead and give it to me,” he murmured, inputting the numbers as Tessa recited them. Once he had her saved, he sent her a simple Caius text so she would have his too. “There, we’re connected,” he said with a little smile. “Does your mom know you’re here? Just curious. Where are you living, anyway?”
Juniper was expensive and Tessa was currently maxing out her credit card to stay there, but she really had no other choice. She had taken a look at the motel nearby but had found it a bit too seedy, even for herself. Not to mention she didn't feel like driving fifteen to twenty minutes every day just to be in Point Pleasant. She had no idea how long she would be staying, but the debt seemed worth it. At least right now it did. Tessa saved Caius's information and slipped her phone back into her bag before smiling. "She knows I'm here. She wasn't exactly thrilled with it, but I guess she knows enough about Tony to know I would probably end up disappointed, just like you told me. We live in New Haven though, so it wasn't too far a drive for me." Connecticut was a nice place to grow up and while she did miss it, and her mother, this place held a lot of answers for Tessa, so she was willing to stay as long as needed. "Point Pleasant is a lot smaller than I expected it to be. You must like it here, not to want to move to a bigger city." There was something about Anthony - and now Caius - that seemed so much bigger than a small town like this.
Connecticut was definitely closer than Caius had been thinking -- for some reason he’d been sure Anthony hadn’t had a bastard that close to home, that perhaps Tessa was from the west coast or something. It was just another layer added to the anger, because Anthony could have easily had a relationship with her if she lived that close. Caius knew exactly why he hadn’t, and it was pretty tragic. He gave a soft huff at her observation and smiled back. “There are a lot of deep roots here on both sides of my family,” he explained, though it was so much more than that. “Believe me, I’ve thought about leaving. But there’s a lot of business here that I’m set to inherit, and Reagan has her own business here, both of our families ...” Caius trailed off and tilted his head from side to side. It was mostly the magic, and the fact that Point Pleasant held onto its residents with an invisible iron fist, but Tessa would either learn that in due time or stay blissfully oblivious. He hoped for the latter. “There are always excuses, I suppose. Have you ever lived anywhere besides New Haven? College, or anything?”
In Tessa's mind, business to inherit meant money. And she couldn't blame him for wanting to stick around for that. He was only a couple of years older than she was, wasn't he? And yet the world was at his fingertips. Tessa couldn't help but wonder what her life might have been like if Anthony had been a part of it. If he had given more than the bare minimum. She had meant it when she said she didn't want money, but she was only human, so yes, there was some envy there. She shook her head at his question. "Born and raised in New Haven. I took some online courses, but never pushed through for a degree. College just wasn't for me, I guess." Not to mention it cost more than she could afford and Anthony's checks had stopped coming as soon as she turned eighteen. Tessa's lips quirked as she studied Caius. "Were you an Ivy League kid?"
Caius did stand to inherit a lot of money and stocks and the family business, and while he was looking forward to that and the power that came with it, he’d always been more interested in the magical inheritance. He wanted his father’s library, his grimoire, his secrets. He wasn’t sure that would happen until after the man was dead, which would likely be decades in the future, but Caius still had his eye on the prize, so to speak. He gave a soft laugh at her question and shook his head. “I wasn’t a good enough student for that,” he admitted. He could’ve been, but school always seemed so boring and pedestrian. “I went to Bates and got my BA in History with a minor in Economics. But that’s as far as I went ... in academics and geographically, I suppose. I like to travel, but I’ve never lived very far from here.”
A BA was still impressive to Tessa. She didn't feel lesser for not having attended college, but she sure as hell didn't have a house like this, or a job like Caius's. It probably helped that he grew up with a wealthy, influential father guiding him, though Tessa knew it wasn't exactly fair to judge Caius for that. He didn't come across as an entitled prat to her, so that was something. He could have very easily dismissed her as quickly as Anthony had when they met. "This doesn't seem like the worst place to live," Tessa said after a moment of thought. "It's small but it's pretty. You and your wife... she grew up here too?" Tessa hadn't researched much on Caius's personal life, only because there really wasn't much to find beyond seeing his name in the records of Anthony's businesses.
Caius had no concept of what he would’ve been doing if he’d been born into another family, another type of life. His focus was on magic, not his career, that was a secondary priority, perhaps because he’d never really had to think about it. His future had been plotted for him, and so far it was all what he wanted, so he didn’t chafe under it. He had a vague idea of how privileged that made him, but he saw no issue with that either. “Yeah, she did. We always lived pretty close, her parents are up in Overlook too. So we went to school together,” he answered with a fond smile that turned into a grin. “We were only high school sweethearts about half the time though. Reagan’s always been fiery. It’s gone smoother since we both got back from college.” He took another sip of his drink. “She owns a beauty shop downtown, Belladonna. So if you need any shampoo or flowery soap or anything, let me know.”
Tessa wasn't sure if "fiery" was a good thing or not. Was that code for bitchy? Tessa didn't think Caius would talk about his wife like that, but some men could hide their dickishness pretty well. Grinning at Caius's offer of flowery soaps, Tessa realized she had seen Belladonna the other day, when she had been exploring the town. "I walked by her shop yesterday," she admitted. "I didn't go inside, but... it looked like the kind of place I could browse in, but probably not afford." And she wasn't exactly ashamed of that. Tessa wasn't necessarily poor but she lived on a budget and she was already pushing that to the limit just by being in Point Pleasant, rather than working. "So you both have your own businesses... that's pretty impressive, considering how old you are." Obviously, Caius worked for his dad, but by all accounts, it sounded like those companies were going to be Caius's soon enough. He wasn't even thirty yet.
Caius didn’t think much about Belladonna’s prices, but he was sure Reagan would be fine with giving Tessa a family discount. He made a mental note to get her a little something from the shop, just to do it. Though maybe paying for her Juniper room was already too much, he didn’t know. That one was practical, at least. Caius chuckled and shrugged a bit. “Don’t be impressed with me, my dad built it all -- our dad, sorry,” he added in a mutter. “Going to have to get used to that. But anyway ... I don’t own anything yet, I just stand to inherit responsibility, and I’m learning as much as I can to be able to run it as well as he does. Reagan built Belladonna from the ground up though, so I’ll agree she’s impressive.” He smiled again, sure she would just love overhearing this conversation. “We’ve been lucky though. We’ve had the means to do stuff like that.” Maybe he was downplaying it a bit, but Caius wanted to come off as relatable to Tessa. He was fine with coming off as an elitist snob to most people, but most people weren’t family.
Our dad sounded strange to her ears. Anthony was her biological father but he was still a stranger to her. That didn't mean she didn't want to try and get to know him, but it would probably be a while before she could say my dad and mean it in the way she should. Tessa understood that Caius was trying to downplay his achievements and that was fine with her. She had done her research on Anthony and she doubted he would have left so much responsibility and money to Caius if he didn't think his son could handle it. Then again, maybe he was so ego-driven that he would have left it all to Caius anyway, even if he was a total fuck up. "That's still a lot for someone your age," Tessa pointed out. "Though I guess it could be decades before you take over, right? Unless he's close to retiring." Anthony hadn't looked like retirement age to Tessa, but people with that kind of money could probably stop working anytime they wanted to. "Do you like your job?"
Anthony hadn’t been a father to Tessa, but outside of business and magic, he hadn’t been much of a father to Caius either. Affection and encouragement were scarce, but there were plenty of expectations on him. At least she’d gotten to skip that part. A cold comfort, probably, but still. Caius nodded his agreement that it was a lot for someone his age, and Anthony could hang around and rule their lives for years and years yet to come. He wasn’t sure how he felt about that, but he knew retiring was the last thing Anthony wanted to do right now. Tessa’s question made him lift a brow and chuckle a bit. “I do, yeah,” he said after a moment’s thought. “It’s a lot of ... on my feet problem solving and overseeing things. Pulling stuff off in spite of problems, because something always comes up. So I like that part. What about you, what do you think you’d like doing?”
Tessa wasn’t sure how good she was at problem solving. It was easier for her to run from the problem than try to fix it. That didn’t mean she wasn’t okay with creating problems for other people though. Tessa was well aware of what she was doing, being in Point Pleasant right now. Caius seemed agreeable to it, but she knew Anthony and his wife probably weren’t pleased by it. That didn’t really bother her much. She existed, whether they wanted her to or not. Pulling a face at his question, Tessa tittered softly before shrugging. “I hate that question. Only because I don’t have an answer. I’ve been working as a hair stylist for a while, before I came here. I think I’m just trying to figure out my place, you know? Coming here to meet Tony, and you, is a part of that.”
Angry as he was with his father, Caius didn’t see any problems with what Tessa was doing. She should’ve been known to them years before now, and if her presence made Anthony uncomfortable or made his life difficult ... then good. He deserved all of that and more. Caius couldn’t even imagine how angry Anthony would’ve been if he’d learned Caius had some love child he’d just never mentioned. He nodded a bit to what Tessa said and gave a faint smile. “Not everybody’s life is work, it’s probably healthier that way,” he said. “I’m not sure how long you plan to stay -- and you don’t sound sure either -- but if you want to pick up any work, I have a connection who owns the only hair salon in town. I’m sure he’d love some extra hands. No pressure, of course, just a thought.” Caius wasn’t sure he would want to work in her position either, and since he planned to take care of her housing bill, maybe she wouldn’t have to. “I’m curious what your first impression of him was,” he added, and a smirk surfaced on his lips. “Tony.” That wasn’t going to stop being funny to him for a while yet.
"I appreciate that," Tessa said with a small smile. And she did. She had no idea if she would end up staying long enough to blow through her meager savings, but it was possible, especially with how expensive Juniper was. Knowing Caius might be able to help her out with employment was more than Tessa could ask for. It was a bit strange that someone who barely knew her was being so generous, but maybe he really did have some deep-seated loyalty to blood. Asking about Tony again made Tessa laugh a little and she shrugged, not at all concerned with being tactful. "I felt like I was meeting a car salesman, to be honest. A really successful one. Not much emotion there other than... uh, amused nonchalance? Maybe he was putting on a show because your mom seemed really angry in a repressed sort of way."
The comparison to a car salesman made Caius bark out a laugh that he couldn’t really stop, and he pressed his lips together through the rest of what Tessa said. He could only imagine how much it would piss Anthony off ... or maybe not, considering the source. If Caius called him that, definitely, but one of his ‘useless’ daughters? The comment might not even register. It was so strange to think of the darkly powerful man he’d been afraid of most of his life as a type of grifter in a cheap suit and a fake smile, but he could understand how Tessa had seen him that way. “Yeah, amused nonchalance is kind of his MO,” he murmured. “My mom is really angry, and she has every right to be. Not at you, of course, none of this is your fault, but at him. He kept you a complete secret from us. He’s very good at secrets, and very good at stonewalling, so ... be ready for that, I guess. If he agrees to see you again.” Caius couldn’t make any promises there on his father’s behalf.
Tessa was simply being honest. She probably would have told Anthony the same if he'd asked her about her first impression of him. He came across as slick, but not necessarily in a good way though she was sure it helped him out quite a bit in terms of his businesses. Weren't most wealthy dudes corrupt? Was Caius? Sure, his house wasn't as grand as Anthony's, but the guy oozed money in his own way. "He's supposed to come see me at Juniper," Tessa admitted. "I don't know when though. Maybe he's just hoping I'll get tired of waiting and leave. I figured I'd just go knock on his door again in a couple of days if he doesn't come by. Hopefully when your mom isn't home. No offense, but the look she was giving your dad... I'm surprised he didn't burst into flame. What's your sister like?"
Was Anthony D’Onofrio corrupt? Absolutely. Was Caius? Probably also yes, but it wasn’t something he thought about much. He had his own weird moral compass, and maybe all of his business practices wouldn’t be on the up and up, but he would take care of his family no matter what. That was what mattered the most, wasn’t it? Caius honestly wasn’t sure if Anthony would actually show up at Juniper or not, he could see it going either way, but Tessa was probably right about their father trying to wait her out. He bit his tongue on correcting her that Sera was their sister. Caius didn’t expect her to start calling him brother or anything, so that wasn’t really fair. “She’s ... pretty much how you would expect a girl who’s always had a silver spoon in her mouth to be,” he said, lifting one shoulder slightly. “She’s spoiled and she can be really shallow, but ... she’s smart too and she’s got a soft spot for animals, too. She’s still really young, figuring out who she is, you know?” Caius loved her, regardless. “Did you ever even want a sibling growing up?”
That wasn't really surprising to hear. Tessa wanted to meet Sera too, but one thing at a time. Something told Tessa that trying to bond with a teenage girl would be more difficult than attempting it with someone closer to her in age. Sera might feel protective of Miriam, and maybe even her dad, and view Tessa as the enemy. But she had expected that from Caius too and he seemed pretty open to getting to know her. "Sometimes," Tessa admitted with a faint grin. "Growing up an only child can be a lonely experience. But my mom and I were close... are close, so I never really felt like I was lacking in family. Occasionally I wonder what things would have been like if I had known about you and your sister growing up, but it always seemed a bit pointless to think about what ifs. If Tony had been a part of my life, I might have become a completely different person and I don't really know if that would have been a good or bad thing, you know?"
Maybe pondering the what ifs was pointless, but Caius was still angry about them. Maybe if Anthony hadn’t been keeping so many other hugely important secrets this wouldn’t be hitting him so hard, but the way his father had been puppeteering his life was really starting to chafe. Caius didn’t know if knowing Tessa would’ve changed much of anything about his upbringing, but he was pissed that they’d never even gotten the option to know each other. On the flip side of that, Tessa was right, they could have just fucked up her life. “Yeah, I know,” he agreed in a murmur, lifting his glass again. “Things are how they are. It just ... really pisses me off that he would’ve just gone right on pretending you didn’t exist if you hadn’t shown up, even though we’re all adults now.” Caius couldn’t exactly give her all the background, but he hoped she understood well enough.
She understood. There was a part of Tessa that was angry her mother had waited so long to give her any information about her father, but at the same time, she understood why. Anthony had been married with a son at the time of her own birth. It certainly hadn't seemed like some huge love affair between her mother and Caius's father. Just a one night stand that resulted in Tessa. "What was he like?" Tessa asked after a moment. "Growing up, I mean. Were you two close? Are you now?" Caius wasn't defending Anthony and he seemed rightfully angry about what was going on. Some children were designed to protect and defend family at all costs, but Caius was being welcoming and understanding. Maybe he and Anthony weren't all that close after all.
Caius scrunched his nose slightly in thought, trying to put it all into words without revealing too much about the things Tessa likely wouldn’t believe. But it was so hard to talk about his upbringing without talking about magic. “We’re ... I’m probably the closest to him, out of anyone. This is going to sound bad, but I was the golden child, as a first born boy and all that. He wanted an heir and he got one, first try.” Caius chuckled faintly and sipped from his glass again. “So growing up with him was more like getting trained from a young age. We were together a lot, but he was never very warm or emotional, more ... stern, high expectations, you know? I was deathly afraid of disappointing him, as a child.” He wondered vaguely if all this sounded like some Poor Little Rich Boy whining to Tessa, but it was all true.
It didn't really sound bad... but more or less what Tessa expected. She had simply assumed that men wanting sons for some outdated purpose of inheriting the family business was some kind of fictional trope but apparently it happened in real life. "Deathly afraid of disappointing someone who never showed any warmth or emotion..." Tessa pursed her lips briefly. "I assume you're in therapy now." She was only half-joking there. What would it have been like to grow up desperately seeking approval from someone who withheld affection and love? Tessa liked to think she would have told Tony to fuck off had she grown up in that manner... but maybe things would have been different and she would have been in Caius's shoes too. "Does it help you at all to know he's flawed?"
He chuckled at the question and lifted a shoulder -- there were probably a lot of reasons he could benefit from therapy, but Caius had absolutely no desire to bare his soul to a stranger. No one was going to understand him better than the people already in his life. Tessa’s question was a rather interesting one, and he gave a slow and thoughtful nod. “As an adult, I’ve become very aware of his faults,” he murmured. Had that helped him? He wasn’t quite sure yet. Maybe mentally. Caius definitely felt like he was becoming more independent from the old man, even though he was still working for him. Magically and personally, he was moving away, and it gave him mixed feelings. “It’s been a difficult year or so, and he has not helped matters,” he told Tessa, then gestured at her with his glass. “You are just the latest thing on the list. So I’m glad to see you didn’t come here with stars in your eyes and too much optimism.”
She probably should have felt a little guilty about piling onto a tough year for the family, but Tessa shouldered no blame in that and she was sure Caius would agree. The blame rested solely on Anthony's shoulders and maybe he was the only one involved who didn't see or accept that. "It'd be kind of naive to come here like that when the only involvement he's had in my life is a steady run of checks. I think it's pretty obvious how he feels about me. But this was more about me than it was him. I want to find out about this side of my family. I don't really care if it isn't welcome. He's just going to have to get used to it." Tessa paused and then arched a brow. "Maybe I won't be so bad, right? A pleasant surprise instead of a dreadful one."
Caius nodded a bit as she said it was more about her. He could understand that. It was good to see that she wasn’t stupid -- he would’ve been surprised if any of Anthony D’Onofrio’s children came out as idiots, but Caius didn’t know anything about her mother, so it had always been a possibility. Tessa’s stubbornness about being there made him smile again. She had spunk, he liked it. “So far, so good,” he agreed with a chuckle. “For me, at least. Can’t speak for him or how open he’ll be to pleasant surprises. We’ll see.” For a moment he entertained the amusing idea of having a dinner party for the entire family, but he knew that would upset his mother more than it would be worth, probably. Anthony likely wouldn’t even show up. So he would get to know this new sister independently from their father. “A few days ago I didn’t know you existed, but I’m glad you’re here, Tessa. Honestly.”
"I never expected a warm welcome from him but he didn't try to scare me off, so I guess I just have to take it one day at a time." Meeting Caius had gone much better than she thought it would and she could only hope meeting his wife and his sister would be just as easy. "I'm glad I'm here too. I guess we have a lot of time to make up for." And Tessa certainly didn't want to overstay her welcome the first day. So she smiled and glanced around the kitchen. It really was a nice house and even though she barely knew him, she hoped Caius was happy here. "I should get going. I promised my mom I would call today and I know she'll worry until I do. But hopefully we'll see each other soon? I'm eager to meet Reagan."
Anthony might have been watching his behavior because Miriam was present, Caius could very well imaging him finally turning up at Juniper to tell Tessa to fuck off or he would ruin her life ... but he hoped it wouldn’t happen that way. Or if it did, that Tessa wouldn’t listen. He’d picked up on hints of a stubborn streak that he had himself, which could really come in handy when dealing with Anthony. He straightened up and gave her a smile, moving around the counter to escort her to the door. “We’ll definitely get together soon,” Caius said. “She’ll love meeting you, I’m sure, we’ll plan for a dinner or something. I’ll be in touch, but feel free to text me anytime.” He didn’t often genuinely mean that sort of open invitation, but he did this time. This was his sister, half or not, magical or not, and Caius wanted to give her a fair chance.
Tessa honestly didn't know what to expect from Anthony. But even if he did show up and tell her to leave, she had no plans to ditch town yet. If she couldn't have a relationship with her "father", at least she knew she could get to know her half-brother and see what could become of that. He seemed to have an open mind, at least and that was much better than what she had faced when she knocked on Anthony's door. "I will," she told Caius as she stepped outside onto the porch. She smiled at Caius as she headed for her car. "I'm glad we got to talk today." And hopefully, he meant what he said when he told her he would be in touch soon. Tessa still didn't really know anyone in this town, though she hoped to change that, and soon.