gainingghosts (gainingghosts) wrote in shadows_rpg, @ 2022-08-14 09:25:00 |
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Entry tags: | #group scene, #july 2018, caius, caius x tessa, reagan, tessa |
Who: Tessa and Caius (and Reagan)
When: Tuesday, July 3
Where: Caius and Reagan's
Status: Complete
Tessa had put it off longer than she should have, waiting to see if this whole brain-to-brain connection with Quentin would fade and go away completely. But it hadn’t. She knew because she kept testing it, reaching out to him with her mind. Trying to scare him. Singing. She was likely driving him crazy, but Tessa wasn’t really sure how else to deal with something that was so abnormal and impossible.
Tuesday afternoon she texted Caius asking if she could come visit. She knew better than to stop by his work, since that’s where their dad worked too, so instead she drove over to Caius’s house once he was home from work, thinking she should have brought something with her. Food or alcohol. But it was what it was and her mind was solely focused on one thing now.
After ringing the bell, Tessa sort of marveled at what she was doing and where she was. She was standing on her brother’s porch, about to ask him about the possibility of telepathy and if there were really witches in town. He would either confirm what Quentin had spoken about, or he would kick her out for sounding like a loon.
It was an extremely busy week for Caius -- or half-week, he was swamped until at least the Fourth festivities were over. Just like everything of that scale, it had been in the works for months, and Caius was ultimately in charge of all of it. As with every project, things got more frantic the closer the event came, and now they were just one day away from showtime. It wasn’t the first year that Caius had handled the Fourth of July himself, but he hadn’t done it many times like his father had, so he wanted to make sure everything came out perfect.
Despite being as busy as he was, Caius had answered Tessa’s text right away and invited her over. He could’ve stayed in the office working late into the night, but he needed to force himself to rest, and his sister needed him. It was so strange to think of a sister who wasn’t Sera.
She arrived not too long after he’d gotten home and gotten changed. Caius answered the door and gave her a small smile as he gestured her inside. “Welcome. How’ve you been?”
"Well, that's a loaded question," Tessa said with a short laugh as she stepped inside. It felt wrong to just unload on Caius before she had even said hello, but Tessa had never been very good at small talk. "I think I'm starting to get used to the town, finding my way around without fumbling with the GPS on my phone. I did have a little fender bender last week when it was raining... nothing too bad, just... very odd." She couldn't help but glance around the house again, very faint slivers of envy racing through her. It was such a nice home. As content as she was with most things in her life, it was human to wonder what it would have been like to grow up with money. "Is your wife home?"
Caius quirked a brow as he shut the door behind Tessa. Her response seemed to indicate there was more going on than just a small car accident, but he figured they would get there eventually. He almost asked if she was all right, but she was obviously in one piece and chatty, so he knew that answer already. “I’m sorry to hear that,” Caius said instead, moving to lead the way toward the kitchen. “Yes, she’s here in her work room ... would you like to meet her?” He’d told Reagan all about Tessa of course, and given his wife a heads up that they might have company for dinner, but he knew Reagan would give them privacy if he asked her to.
Thanks to all of the photos in the house, Tessa knew what Caius's wife looked like, but they hadn't met each other yet. There was maybe a tiny bit of trepidation, because she felt like if Reagan didn't like her, any relationship she might have with Caius would be stalled, or cut out completely. A lot of women seemed to have that power over their men in some form or fashion. "Yeah, that would be nice," Tessa said, because she didn't want to be rude and say no. "What does she do in her work room?"
He was oblivious to Tessa’s nerves about it, but Caius would have wholeheartedly agreed that Reagan’s opinion was extremely influential. He didn’t think she would ask him to cut off a family member who hadn’t wronged them in any way, it wasn’t like he loved every member of her family either, but if he was going to be at all close to this new sister, it would help a lot if Reagan liked her. “She makes soaps and creams and such, for the shop,” he answered easily, giving Tessa a little smile. “Wine’s on the counter, glasses are right above it, help yourself to some if you’d like. I’ll be right back.” He left Tessa in the kitchen to go lightly knock on Reagan’s workshop door.
Tessa was a little surprised to hear Reagan actually made the stuff for her shop, since Tessa had just assumed it was all outsourced somewhere. But it was a small town and she had seen enough of the handmade, locally sourced stuff while being out and about. While Tessa headed for the kitchen, and the wine, Reagan was already finishing up what she was doing, aware that Caius's sister might be coming by. So when Caius knocked, Reagan was already pulling the door open. "Time to meet the sister?" she asked with an arch of her brow. "Or has another D'Onofrio child shown up on your doorstep."
“Not yet, but it wouldn’t shock me,” Caius said dryly. He smiled faintly at Reagan and leaned in to steal a soft kiss from her. It would of course be a surprise, but if Anthony was willing to cover up one bastard, he would surely cover up more. “She seems like a decent person, so ... be nice.” He gave her a playful look and smirked, well aware that Reagan would be however she felt like being in that second. Caius snagged a couple of Reagan’s fingers and walked with her back toward the kitchen.
“Tessa, this is my wife Reagan. Reagan, Tessa,” he introduced them, gesturing between the women before he headed for the wine to pour some for Reagan and himself as well. “Reagan’s heard all about everything, I hope you don’t mind,” Caius said, though he didn’t much care if she did. “We don’t keep secrets.”
Reagan would be on her best behavior. She knew what it meant to Caius to find out he had more family out there. And this woman had been raised outside of Point Pleasant so chances were she wasn't as dysfunctional as the rest of them. Inside the kitchen Reagan plastered on a pleasant enough smile and offered her hand to the other woman. She must favor her mother because she didn't resemble Anthony that much. But family traits could take other forms beyond appearance.
"It's nice to finally meet you," Reagan said.
Tessa already knew what Reagan looked like from the photos, but the woman really was beautiful. She and Caius made a ridiculously good looking couple. "It's nice to meet you too," she said, keeping her free hand tight around her glass. She never minded meeting new people, but again, this was someone Important to Caius, so she wanted to make a good impression.
"Will you be staying for dinner?" Reagan asked, taking the wine glass Caius offered.
"Oh." Tessa looked to Caius for confirmation. "If it's not an imposition, sure. I just... have some... weird things to ask you about. You may not want me here after I do that."
It was a little strange to watch Reagan and Tessa greet each other. Reagan had known Sera practically her entire life, they’d all suffered her ‘annoying little sister’ phase. But this was different. Everybody was an adult now, for one, and Tessa was an interesting outlier, raised away from the D’Onofrio shadow. He could see the assessing look in Reagan’s eyes, but it wouldn’t be obvious to anyone who didn’t know her. Once they all had wine in their hands, he put a light hand on the small of Reagan’s back. “No imposition at all,” he told Tessa. He didn’t seem at all surprised that she had weird things to talk about, because he wasn’t. She was living in Point Pleasant now, after all. “Weird things are kind of our forte, wouldn’t you say, love?” he murmured, shooting Reagan a smile before he looked at Tessa again. “Why don’t we sit outside and you can try us?”
A mere lift of her brow was all the answer Reagan gave Caius, because weird was probably an understatement. She wasn't about to assume anything, because for all she knew, Tessa's "weird things" could be incredibly tame to what Point Pleasant really had to offer. The three of them wandered outside where they sat. Tessa was comfortable enough, though she understood how strange this would probably end up being. If she hadn't been sharing a brain with Quentin, she might have thought he was just a jackass fucking with her.
"So I guess I'll just come out with it," she said after a quick sip of her wine. "The other night, when it was raining pretty bad... I hit another car. Nothing serious. It was just hard to see. Anyway, the guy I hit, we got out of the car to assess the damage and I think... I think we both got struck by lightning." Tessa grimaced because saying it out loud sounded insane, especially as she was sitting there in front of them unharmed. "I think it fucked with our minds somehow."
Caius crossed his legs as he settled on the chair, lifting his own glass for a sip as he listened to Tessa. His brows quirked up as she got to the punchline, so to speak, and he glanced at Reagan. Minds being fucked with was pretty common in Point Pleasant, but he didn’t think he’d ever heard of it being associated with lightning. “Do you have any burns? Where did it strike? And fucked with your minds how?” Caius knew she would get to that part, but he was also curious about the details of the supposed lightning strike.
Tessa shook her head, not entirely oblivious to the way the two glanced at each other. There was no amusement on their faces though, so maybe they weren't dismissing her outright. "No burns. No real injuries. None on him either. But we saw it and we were both knocked out to the ground for a few moments. I don't know what else it could have been. I don't even know where it struck... I just know it hit us. We didn't go to the hospital, which I know sounds insane, but... we checked on each other the next morning and I guess there was a little side effect." Tessa hesitated before huffing a soft laugh. "We can talk to each other... uh, up here." She tapped her temple with one finger.
Lightning that turned people telepathic? Caius was already fascinated, staring at Tessa with intense interest as he lifted his wine glass again. As far as he could read her expression, she looked like she didn’t really expect the two of them to believe her ... but she was a newcomer to this town, so that wasn’t too big of a shock. “Interesting,” he murmured after a moment, nodding slightly. “Is it a constant connection? Can you hear all of his thoughts or only the ones he wants you to? How much have you experimented so far?” He probably sounded like he was interrogating her, but Caius had always tried to approach the weirdness Point Pleasant threw at them with an analytical mind. This was a new phenomenon to him, and it had happened to his blood, when she’d been in town for hardly any time at all.
It was a lot of questions and Tessa wished she had some solid answers. But she was also kind of hoping Caius would be able to tell her something. Maybe it was nuts of her to think he could, but Quentin had made it seem like this stuff wasn't exactly unheard of in this town. "I can't hear all of his thoughts. At least I can't hear him now. But if I tried to reach out to him, I could. When we're in close proximity, I hear him more than he'd probably like. And vice versa. We experimented a little when I went to see him the other morning. I walked outside and we could still hear each other. Maybe it wasn't lightning?" Tessa glanced between Caius and his wife. "Quentin told me that weird stuff happens here... is that true?"
It was hard not to laugh, because that was putting it in the mildest way possible. Caius didn’t want to alienate Tessa though, not when she’d been brave enough to bring this to him. He sipped from his wine glass again and then set it down, uncrossing his legs to lean forward a bit. “That’s a vast understatement,” he told Tessa earnestly. “Crazy, impossible things happen here. And they sail right over a lot of people’s heads as completely unbelievable.” He paused to let that sink in, trying to read Tessa’s expression and hoping she wouldn’t assume they were fucking with her somehow. “We believe you,” he said. “Because we’ve seen much weirder.” This particular situation was new to Caius, but that didn’t mean it hadn’t happened before to someone else or that there was no way to fix it. He was already confident he could figure it out. He just needed trust from Tessa.
Tessa might have thought Caius was fucking with her, but in the times they had actually spoken, she got the impression that fucking about wasn't really his thing. Her heart was beating a little faster now, but more in curiosity than fear. Her brow rose at the revelation that he had seen weirder things - weirder than telepathy? - and Tessa could tell from his expression, and Reagan's, that they were telling the truth. "So... lightning telepathy is probably not all that shocking?" she asked with a faint smile. "Can I ask what it is you've seen? Or experienced?"
Caius chuckled over the possibly-unintentional pun and shook his head slightly. The next questions were more difficult to answer, and he thought it over as he glanced at Reagan. He wasn’t going to spill any really sensitive secrets, but Tessa was his blood, from the more powerful side, no less. She likely deserved to know where she actually came from, and Caius was absolutely sure Anthony wasn’t going to volunteer that information. “Well ... honestly it’s hard to narrow it down to just one or two,” Caius finally said, giving her a faint smile. “I’ve been exposed to strange phenomena since I was a child. Tessa, there’s something you should know ... Anthony, Reagan, and myself ... we’re all blessed with certain abilities. Magic is real, and we can wield it.”
Despite being able to read someone else's mind, it was still instinctual to immediately resist what Caius was telling her. But how could she possibly say that he was lying when she was literally hearing Quentin's thoughts not all that long ago? She could do it right now too, if she wanted. It took her a moment to digest the information, glancing between Caius and Reagan. Reagan, who was still sipping her wine like they were discussing mundane things like the weather. "So you're witches," Tessa said slowly. She had, of course, gone to the museum by the pier and had read all about the "Six". "Can you show me something to prove it? Not that I don't believe you, but I mean... who wouldn't want to see magic?"
Caius wasn’t surprised that Tessa heard ‘magic’ and jumped to witches -- the history of the Six was woven into the town’s whole tourist schtick, even though it was often wildly inaccurate, like Point Pleasant aspired to be Salem or something. Tessa was about to learn the truth, however, and Caius couldn’t see that as anything but a good thing. He nodded slightly and leaned back, thinking for a beat before he lifted his hands a little and focused. Caius thickened a layer of the air around them in a rough dome over their heads, cutting out all of the evening sounds from the yard and the neighborhood, then started pulling the light out of the bubble. He left them in dim shadows, the lights from the house and deck barely filtering in. “Air is my focus. Reagan’s is fire, so her magic is usually more flashy,” Caius said mildly in the near-dark.
Tessa held her breath until Caius spoke again, but she was busy looking around, trying to figure out if he had been able to trick her somehow. But no, this was real. And amazing. She had so many questions, but wasn't entirely sure which ones to start with. The mention of fire drew her gaze back to the couple and suddenly there was a spark and then a flame. Reagan was holding it out, away from her body but it certainly didn't seem to be burning her at all.
"Obviously we try not to be flashy in public," Reagan said wryly. "We don't want to draw attention to ourselves. But it certainly comes in handy."
"I can imagine," Tessa murmured. "So this is... genetic? Not learned?" She certainly had no magical abilities, so she wasn't entirely sure how it worked. But she knew she sure as hell hadn't inherited anything from Anthony the way Caius had.
Since the requested proof had been given, Caius let the shadows roll away from them like smoke, and the sounds of the crickets came back like someone turned up the volume on the world again. “It’s a combination of both, really,” he said, picking up his wine glass again for a swallow. “Magic tends to run in families, but it’s not always a guarantee. Our sister Sera doesn’t have it, but Reagan’s brother Nate does. It’s possible to get a magical child from a totally non-magical family. But once you know you have it, you have to learn to use it. Reagan and I have been training since we were young. Anthony wants me to inherit all of his legacy.” He paused, then arched a dark brow at Tessa. “I’m assuming you’ve never gotten the feeling there was something strangely different about you?”
"Well, who doesn't feel strangely different at some point or another?" Tessa asked dryly. She drank some more of her wine, trying to adjust her thinking to this new reality. Witches. Telepathy. Had her mother known about all of this? Was that why she never spoke about Anthony? Never wanted Tessa to know her dad? "But no," she said finally, "there have been no signs or anything that I might be able to do what you can do. So I must have been born without it. I don't know if I'm relieved or really pissed off about that." Tessa exhaled. "So if you two are capable of it... and Anthony... I mean, are you able to help me figure out what happened? And maybe how to turn it off? As much fun as it is now, I can't imagine I'll be laughing about this when my brain runs away with certain thoughts and Quentin's able to hear that happen."
Caius didn’t exactly need the confirmation, he sensed no magic from Tessa at all, but it was only polite to ask. He smiled very faintly when she mentioned being pissed off about it -- Sera would relate to that, he was sure. “We can certainly try,” Caius said with a nod. “I can’t make any promises, magic has its limits, but we’ve been able to resolve many things before. It might take getting both of you in a room though, do you think this guy would be cooperative with that?” Caius couldn’t imagine it was fun at all, except maybe for the five minute novelty of it. But the idea of anyone else in his brain was beyond repulsive to him. The Obscurities were different.
Reagan was starting to think magic didn't have any limits. Or wouldn't once she reached her own goals. But if anyone could try and find a way to help Tessa, it was Caius. And of course, she would do whatever he needed her to do, even if it was to help a woman she didn't know. But she was Caius's blood, so she was family.
"He'll definitely be cooperative," Tessa said, despite the fact that she didn't really know that for sure. "He doesn't like this all that much and he's kinda prickly. He's the manager of Joyland. Quentin... something. God, I can't remember his last name right now. And he'd probably not like me popping into his head now to ask. But I think if you can figure something out, he'll do whatever you need him to do."
His brows lifted at the reveal of who Tessa had run into -- Point Pleasant was too small for him not to know the manager of the best coffee place the town had to offer. Especially since they’d been in high school at the same time. “Quentin James,” Caius filled in for her with a faint smile. “I know him. Not well, but you’ll find this is a very small town.” He paused to finish off the wine in his glass and set the empty down on the table. “I’ll start looking into solutions, you try to find a time that’s good for you both. I hope it can wait until after the Fourth. My schedule is brutal right now, but it’s almost over.” The next big holiday wasn’t until Labor Day, and Caius was grateful for that.
James! That was it. She laughed a little and nodded. "My schedule is not as packed as you might think it is," Tessa said, sarcastic in a playful way rather than a malicious one. "I'll talk to Quentin though. If he has to suffer with me in his head until the end of the week, I think he'll have to manage. This all so very... surreal." She sipped more of her wine, wondering how on earth she got here. All she had been planning to do was find her birth father and try to get to know him. Now she was sharing thoughts telepathically with a barista and her family... well, her birth dad and half-brother were witches. "I think it's going to take me at least another bottle of wine to really settle into all of this. My life with my mom was so mundane... compared to all of this. I need to make sure I haven't gone completely insane and this is all in my head somehow."
Caius had to chuckle. He couldn’t really relate, since he’d been exposed to strangeness since he was a small child. How different it must have been, to be raised in the mundane world. It was difficult for him to imagine, and he was sure it probably was for Reagan too. This was part of the reason why they were so far above the ‘normal’ people in this town. He didn’t quite think of Tessa as Normal, of course -- she might not have had any magic, but she was still a blood relation to him, and now she had some psychic shit going on ... maybe there were hidden proclivities under that boring upbringing. “I would try to assure you it’s all very real, but that’s what a hallucination would say, isn’t it?” he replied lightly. “Really though, take your time with it. I realize it’s a huge paradigm shift for you. I’m here if you have any questions, about anything at all.” Caius couldn’t volunteer Reagan in the same way, but Tessa wasn’t Reagan’s sister.
Tessa wondered if maybe she crashed on her drive to Point Pleasant and this was all a dream, like the Wizard of Oz. There were witches, after all, though they didn't necessarily seem wicked. "I'm going to have so many questions," she said, feeling like she ought to warn him. "But right now my brain is sort of...pssh." She waved her hand near her head before sipping more wine.
"It's a lot to absorb," Reagan said, sounding almost sympathetic. "But you couldn't ask for a better family to help you through it. Well, a better brother, anyway." She thought finding out Anthony D'Onofrio was one's father would be pretty damn depressing. "We'll do whatever we can to help you out, both with the telepathy and, well, all of the rest of it."
“Right, Anthony won’t be any help at all,” Caius told Tessa, his tone a bit flat. He may as well be blunt with her about that part, so she could manage her expectations when it came to their father. “He’s incredibly knowledgeable and powerful, but I wouldn’t even try getting him to share about any of it.” Anthony was even closed off to the family he’d chosen to keep around, Caius doubted he would be honest with Tessa about anything at all, unfortunately. “But yes, we’re here for you.” That felt a little odd to say, he wasn’t inspired to support that many people in his life, but Tessa was on the short list now. She was family. “In the meantime though ... care to stay for dinner? I can whip up something fast for us.”
Just based on their one interaction, Tessa already knew Anthony wasn't going to be someone she could go to with her problems. That didn't mean she was going to leave him alone while she was in Point Pleasant. He was her father and she had come here to try and get to know him better. So she would try. If it didn't work out, she at least found herself a brother. It was a tiny bit startling to Tessa how ready Caius had been to welcome her, but she was grateful for it. "Yeah, I would love to," she said. Dinner in this nice house was so much more appealing than grabbing fast food and eating it in her bed at Juniper. "As long as I'm not overstaying my welcome."
Reagan shook her head and finally smiled. "Not at all." Their more recent dinner guests had been interesting, to say the least. Her cousin and his undead girlfriend and now Caius's half-sister who was sharing thoughts with a stranger. She turned her smile on Caius and lifted a dark brow. "I think Tessa and I will stay out here and finish off that wine while you throw something together."
Caius held Reagan’s gaze for an extra second, then smirked and moved to stand. “I think there are some beef tips still in the fridge,” he murmured. “You ladies enjoy yourselves.” He was tempted to tell Reagan not to tell any embarrassing stories about him, but he probably wasn’t in too much danger there. They didn’t undermine each other. Besides, he didn’t feel like he’d ever done much to be embarrassed about. Caius took his empty glass inside and slid the patio door closed behind him. Making a tasty dinner would be easy, and he looked forward to sitting down with this new member of his family and getting to know her a bit better.