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Tweak says, "Baby, baby, look at the baby!"

rob strange ✦ captain james hook (crocodilesmile) wrote in thereincarnates,
@ 2011-12-22 14:07:00

Entry tags:

acacia morgan, holly strange, lucy morgan, rob strange

Who: Rob and Holly Strange + Lucy and Acacia Morgan
What: A family reunion of awkwardly epic proportions.
Where: The Morgan house in Portland, Oregon
When: Thursday afternoon, December 22, 2011
Warnings: Well. Uh. Have you met this family?

Getting his wayward daughter to come with him on this trip had been a trick and half, partially because Rob hadn't wanted to make this trip in the first place. He'd been avoiding Lucy, both on the boards and in person. Strangely, it was the latter that was more difficult. He'd gotten used to seeing her, enjoying his time with her. As a man who enjoyed precious little in his life, that wasn't something he took for granted, and then the truth came out. Acacia was his daughter.

Rob didn't want another daughter. Brutal, but it was the truth. He wasn't cut out to be a father, never had been. All three of his children were proof enough of that, the one that was dead much more so than the ones who were still alive. So why was he here at all? Why had he told Holly that there was someone he wanted her to meet at this address? He honestly didn't know, and he really didn't want to think about it. Maybe this had been a bad decision, but he couldn't take it back now.

He cleared his throat and knocked on the door. Glancing over at Holly, he said shortly, "Be nice." And then they waited.

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herownmagic
2011-12-24 02:43 am UTC (link)

Acacia was going through withdrawals. Without any good television, staying with her mother for the winter holiday was almost torture. The Cirque was a dangerous place to be, and even though she still technically devoted her time to it, it wasn't where she wanted to be now. Instead, she was sprawled out over their living room couch in pajamas, headphones thumping in her ears and a bowl of popcorn on her stomach.

She just barely caught the sound of the knock and lifted her head up. One earbud dangled from her hand, screaming Karen O's version of "Immigrant Song", and the other still occupied her hearing. Worth a look, right? She frowned, settling her bowl over on the other end of the couch and ran a few fingers through her hair. Sniffing contemplatively, she opened up the door and came face-to-face with two complete (sort of?) strangers. Her eyebrows raised, one slightly higher than the other, and she folded her arms.

"Can I help you?" She recognized the man as Rob, the creep from the boards, but the girl was unfamiliar. And yet, somehow, that wasn't entirely the case. The thought sent a weird shiver down her spine. "How the hell do you know where we even live?"

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knifethrowing
2011-12-24 03:23 am UTC (link)

Lucy had been in the kitchen making up a pot of french onion soup when she heard the knock on the door. At first she thought nothing of it, it was probably just one of the neighbors dropping by for a chat. They tended to drop by without notice first, which Lucy never minded, it was definitely a step up from being the 'leper family' that the Owenses were for all those centuries. Lucy definitely preferred being around people to getting rocks thrown at her, though having her daughter home for Christmas was even better.

That's when she heard her daughter's voice rise above the noise her mother was currently making in the kitchen and after a few moments of genuine puzzlement, Lucy started. Was that Rob's voice she'd just heard? Without waiting another second, Lucy was tearing off her apron and stove mittens, tossing them carelessly onto the counter and rushing into the front entryway.

Her daughter was standing on what Lucy knew to be her offense position at the door, and the older woman walked up behind her to grab a hold of the door frame to pull it wide open. Only to be met with an even more shocking sight. Rob and... Oh, god. Was that his daughter? Lucy smiled widely though her eyes were just as wide, the smile practically frozen on her face as she mentally tried to collect herself. What was he thinking?

"Uhhhhhh hi! Rob. And - wow, are you Holly? You must be, Rob's told me all about you," Lucy lied, placing a hand on Acacia's shoulder and squeezing it gently. "Prettier than a picture. Do you guys wanna come in? I was just making cookies..." She wasn't, but hopefully she had something lying around somewhere besides soup. This was an unexpected disaster.

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crocodilesmile
2011-12-24 04:08 am UTC (link)

Rob rolled his eyes at Holly's typical response, then set his jaw as the door opened, forcing himself to smile. His lips pulled back slightly, but the cold, determined look in his eyes never changed as he finally saw Acacia for the first time in person. His other daughter, the one he never knew about. And she barely gave him a second to let it really sink in before she raised that eyebrow at him, challenging his presence on her front porch. Strangely, it made him laugh, chuckling softly under his breath. He should've expected an attitude. All of his daughters had one.

"'Cause I've been here before, that's how," he responded with half a smirk, which only grew as Lucy threw the door open and stared at him like she'd seen a ghost. That look on her face was almost enough to make him regret this, but like every bad decision he made, it was too late to take it back now. Part of him didn't even want to. Instead, he put an arm around Holly and steered her inside, glancing at Acacia and thanking Lucy for her hospitality with a nod, but not a kiss like the last time he'd visited. There was a time and a place for that. Now wasn't it.

"Sorry to barge in like this, Luce, but I just thought... 'tis the season, right?" From just inside the living room, he looked back at her and shrugged, his face set strangely, like he was bored and earnest all at once. "I figured... well. Think you know what I figured. You don't have to bother with the cookies." Even though he didn't say it, his meaning was still very clear. Rob didn't think they'd be staying long.

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ihateneedles
2011-12-24 05:56 am UTC (link)

Holly wasn't sure what was more shocking. The shocked expression on 'Lucy's' face, the extreme likeness of ...her daughter's face? To her own. Or her father smiling. All of these odd occurrences hit Holly simultaneously, but none harder than when she looked straight at Acacia and for a split second actually felt like she was looking into a mirror. A feeling she hadn't experienced since... well, since Tawny had still been alive. That feeling wedged itself deep in Holly's gut but she pushed it down, settling for staring disinterestedly at the group until her dad more or less invited himself in and she followed him.

She couldn't remember the last time he'd put his arm around her like that either. He was definitely up to something if he was putting on this much of a show.

Once they were all inside, Holly turned on her heel to fix her dad with a plain look before ducking out from under his hold and crossing her arms over her chest protectively. She didn't know what this was all about but she already didn't like it, it was painfully obvious that the two adults in this room were in on something their kids probably weren't. Holly wasn't stupid. "Alright. What the hell is going on? Why are we here."

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herownmagic
2011-12-27 05:07 pm UTC (link)

Acacia's eyes flicked from her mom, to Rob, and to Rob's daughter (apparently named Holly), but her expression didn't change. After everyone was inside, the door closed with a slam all its own, and she, too, folded her arms across her chest. Nothing like a little angry teenage magic to get the mood going.

She didn't speak again, trying to take in what everyone was saying, before Holly had her piece. She still couldn't get her mind around it. Around her. She hadn't seen her before. If she had, she'd have remembered. Sally didn't even look like Gillian the way that this girl looked like Acacia. Something was up, and she sure as hell didn't like it.

Acacia frowned, weaving out of her mother's squeeze to give her probably an identical look. "Seriously. I don't know her, and I'm already gonna have to side with her. What the hell are you two not telling us?"

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knifethrowing
2011-12-27 05:46 pm UTC (link)

Lucy was more or less frozen in place, looking wide eyed from Rob to Holly to her daughter. She had no idea what to do or what to say, if she'd known this was coming, she would have prepared herself a little better. Damnitt, Rob.

But all the silent hatred in the world wouldn't change the scenario in front of her. Unfortunately. So, she finally shook herself out of it and fixed her eyes on Rob. He wanted to do things his way? Fine, he could look like the ass then. This was about the most insensitive way she could have hoped for Acacia to find out, but there was nothing she could do about it now.

"Go ahead, Rob. Tell them." Her voice was flat and emotionless, betraying none of the inner turmoil she was currently feeling on the inside. Of course all of her concerns were for her own daughter, but she couldn't help feeling a little sorry for Holly as well. This was going to end badly, she could already feel it.

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crocodilesmile
2011-12-27 07:17 pm UTC (link)

Rob had long since abandoned his smile, right around the time when Holly separated herself from him and someone – Acacia, apparently – slammed the door from afar. He looked back and forth between the two girls, a practically imperceptible proud glint in his eyes even though his face was stone. They were smart, both of them, but still blind to what was right in front of their faces. Good. This might work, then.

At the sound of Lucy's voice, Rob's eyes met hers briefly before turning back to the girls. Lucy was angry with him, probably for the best. Maybe he'd make it up to her later – if she let him, after all of this. "Alright," he said, standing up a little straighter and clearing his throat. Then, keeping his distance, he addressed both Holly and Acacia for the first (and most likely the last) time.

"I'm not gonna treat you like kids. You're not, either of you, but both of you are my daughters." He paused briefly, then continued, eyes focused on Acacia now. "I only just found out about you recently, Acacia, and when it comes right down to it, you're not really mine at all – you're your mother's, plain and simple. You don't want me in your life? That's fine. You've got everything you need right here, and I don't intend to ruin it."

He turned to Holly, his voice a little more solemn now. "You have every reason to hate me, Holly. I let you and Tawny down since the day you were born, and she... well, she made all of us suffer for it. I've never been a good father, and you can add this to the reasons why if you want, but I wanted you two to know about each other. You deserve that much from me."

He turned to look at Lucy and gave her half an apologetic shrug. "I'm sorry."

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ihateneedles
2011-12-27 09:54 pm UTC (link)

For what seemed like an eternity, but was actually only a few seconds, Holly froze. For a split second she thought she'd gone deaf, and almost wished she had, because then she wouldn't have heard what had come out of her father's mouth. She was shocked sure, but even worse than that, for the first time in her twenty years of having Rob for a dad who was barely ever there she actually felt betrayed.

He had another daughter? ... Worse. She had another sister.

Holly's bright blue eyes, so like Rob's and this 'Acacia's', narrowed accusingly at her absentee father. "So, what, you thought you'd just. Give me another sister 'cos I lost the first one? Because a dead daughter is even easier to replace then a wife in the fucking nut house?"

She made a disgusted noise in the back of her throat, feeling everything she hadn't been allowing herself to feel for years, all the while her eyes never straying from his face. She couldn't look at the other two, not right now. Possibly not ever. "Oh no wait, you just cheated on mom for the hell of it like you always did, and now you're pretending to make up for that by giving me the new toy like I'm still five years old. Like it's that easy."

That was probably the most Holly had said to her father in one sitting in years, but she wasn't thinking about that. Every inch of her voice was shaking with anger as she finally glanced at her new 'sister', only mustering a grimace since she couldn't even fake apologetic right now. "Congratulations, you've just inherited the most fucked up family ever. Sorry we're not all you might have hoped." A glance back at her father, before finally forcing her feet into movement. "Forget this." And then Holly was storming out the front door and running down the steps at full speed, out of sight before anyone else could try and stop her.

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herownmagic
2011-12-29 06:49 pm UTC (link)

There were no real words in Acacia's throat. In a matter of split seconds, she'd gone from disgusted to literally sick with feeling too much at once. She watched everything, only her eyes revealing a flinch. She stood stone still, her arms having fallen from their defensive position as Robert had initially spoken. When Holly looked at her, it was a knife in her gut, twisting the moment she ran out of her mother's home. All this time, she thought the only person who could possibly understand her was her mother. Now, she didn't even know who her mother was.

Silence took hold over the scene. Her fists clenched at her sides and she shook her head. She blinked. Once, twice. There were no tears, there was nothing at all. Acacia had been lied to, betrayed. She was always told that her father had gone. An image in her head of him lying in a ditch somewhere had existed since she could remember, and now here he was. Hail the conquering fucking hero. She didn't know anger from numbness and right now she needed something to clear her head. If that was even fucking possible.

Her right eye gave a subtle twitch, and her jaw was clenched. She looked at Robert this time, not sure if she could handle leaving the room with her mother's expression burned into her mind. "If you didn't intend to ruin it, you wouldn't have come. Sounds like that's all your good at, Daddy." She hissed the word through her teeth, but her face remained neutral. "I preferred you when you were dead."

She didn't bother throwing on a jacket, or anything other than her pajamas. Instead, she did as Holly did, and walked through the front door. It wasn't fast, it wasn't meditated. It was almost as if she moved in a trance. Acacia didn't glance back at her mother. She kept walking.

And she didn't know when she'd stop.

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