Callisto (rageinmyheart) wrote in valarlogs, @ 2017-06-11 21:49:00 |
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Entry tags: | !complete, callisto, xena |
Who: Xena and Callisto
What: DNA test results are in! Callisto discovers her sister is actually alive.
When: Day after the singing plot ended
Where: Their condo
Warning: Pretty low, though there are feels
Xena had been lucky that Callisto hadn’t come home in a few days. It let her sing her heart out. Every song about being alone that existed, it felt like.
She’d gotten herself very, very drunk, and by the time the singing had stopped she never wanted to hear someone sing again.
It was amazing how much you could miss a person who didn’t exist and it was amazing how stark and obvious that was when you sang about it.
This hangover after a 2-day binge though, was not at all fun.
Likewise, it was best that Xena hadn’t heard the things Callisto had been singing. There’d been a lot of lewd songs that had been sung, but there’d also been some singing of the inner emotions she kept to herself. The ones relating to the experimentation.
When she finally returned to the condo, she was tired from the past couple days, but she was feeling relatively okay at the moment. The instant she walked in, she could tell that Xena had one hell of a hangover. She’d known her long enough to know when she had hangovers.
“Do I even want to know how much you drank this time?” Callisto asked, announcing her presence, though she was certain Xena heard the door. Xena didn’t miss many sounds, and being hungover didn’t help the sound sensitivity.
Xena held up three fingers. She left it up to Callisto to figure out what three meant. She grimaced at the sound of the door anyway, and pushed an ice-pack against her head. “Tell me you had a better weekend.”
Three. Xena drank three undisclosed measurements of alcohol. Callisto was willing to bet it was some large amount, enough to make Xena sit there with a bag of ice on her head. “For most of it, yeah.” She hadn’t liked the divulging her emotions through song part. At least the songs relating to the trauma she had.
“Good, at least one of us did.” Xena waved in some less than obvious direction. Probably towards a tablet on the table. “One of my guys found your sister. At least we’re pretty sure it’s her. Waiting on the DNA test.”
Callisto looked over at the tablet, suddenly going all rigid and distant, trying to keep her emotions inside. “How much longer will it take for the DNA results?”
“Uh…” Xena leaned over to look at it. “They sent it in yesterday. Tonight. Tomorrow morning at the latest.” Her eyes shifted over to Callisto, knowing exactly what this could mean to her. She’d already made a few preparations but had been too hung over for much else.
This definitely meant a lot to Callisto, though she wasn’t going to get her hopes up. She knew better than to do that. However, if it really was her sister, she wasn’t certain how she’d react. She wanted her to be safe, but she didn’t want to get too close to her for fear of accidentally hurting her.
“That’s a quick turn around,” she commented.
“It pays to know who to bribe,” Xena assured her. “Just wish my head would stop pounding. Be easier to read the text when it comes.”
“Hopefully your head will stop pounding by the time the text comes.” Callisto ruffled a hand through her hair, mussing it up a bit. It was a sign of anxiety, and also frustration but currently it was anxiety. She didn’t like wondering if her sister was actually alive or not.
Xena groaned, rubbing her head again. She missed the easy camaraderie they’d used to share. It would make a situation like this a lot easier to deal with. “Sit down, get comfy. Pacing ain’t gonna make it come any faster.”
“Neither is sitting.” Callisto went to the fridge to grab a beer. She doubted alcohol would have much of an effect on her, but she felt like drinking anyways and see what happened. Coming back in with drink in hand, Callisto sat down, but one leg was bouncing, another sign of anxiety.
“Calm your tits.” Xena snapped. She sighed and leaned back. “Tell me about her. What you remember about it. Might keep your mind off of worrying.”
Callisto flinched a bit, and stopped bouncing her leg. She crossed one over the other in hopes of keeping either of them from bouncing. “She was the opposite of me. She was quiet and introverted. Kids tended to pick on her at school until I’d fight them off. She was really smart, too, always made school seem so easy.”
“She’s going to college right now. Biology major and from what I can tell she’s going to specialize in neuroscience research.” Xena glanced at Callisto as she spoke. The young woman’s speciality might just make her a target of Hydra for other reasons. “She’s gonna help people.”
“Only if it’s actually her.” Callisto was going to wait for the test results before actually talking about her sister like she was alive. With Callisto’s luck, her sister was where she should be; six feet under and next to their parents. She managed to keep her expression blank, not wanting her emotions to get the better of her. After all, she didn’t know what would happen if her emotions did get the best of her as far as her powers went.
“Either way, she’s a target,” Xena gently reminded. “And I’ll still find a way to help her if I can. At least to take the Hydra heat off of her. And if she is your sister, that makes it that much more important.”
It would make her family, something that Callisto had in short supply. Xena could see why that would be terrifying. What if she found out her brother was alive? What then?
“I suppose.” If it really was her sister, Callisto didn’t actually know how she’d react to the news. Believing that someone was dead for twelve years only to learn they were actually alive? That was more than a little bit of a bombshell. And considering her unstable mental state, that could have very bad repercussions.
Xena still thought actually talking to Callisto’s sister would help. That it wouldn’t be a bad thing. That it might help and be healing. But then she really could be a sentimental sap at times. “We’ll find out soon. And then we’ll deal with it.”
And probably hit the road if Xena’s gut was right.
If it was her sister, Callisto wasn’t so certain talking to her would be a good thing. For one, Callisto was a cold blooded killer now, and she didn’t care about the lives she took. If Cassandra really was alive, she’d no doubt be disappointed by what Callisto had grown up to be. Cassandra was going into neuroscience, she was doing things with her life that would help people. And what did Callisto do? Almost constantly break the law and do nothing more than that. She’d dropped out of school to follow Xena.
Callisto definitely wasn’t the loving, protective older sister she used to be. And she knew she wouldn’t be that again. It just wasn’t who she was anymore.
“Soon isn’t coming soon enough.” She wanted to get up and go to the gym or something, but to keep Xena from snapping at her again, she just continued sitting there trying to stay still.
The tablet chirped at them, and Xena leaned over to grab it. She looked the message over, tabbed through something, then turned it around to show Callisto. It was a perfect match.
Cassandra was alive.
Taking the tablet, Callisto looked at it, reading the results. And then she promptly just stared at it, re-reading it several times before everything sunk in.
Her sister was alive.
That realization could only have one reaction. And it was one that no one could have predicted because Callisto had never done this before in the time that Xena had known her.
Callisto started crying.
Alarmed, Xena froze in her seat, the tablet falling from her hand to bounce on the couch cushion. She didn’t know what to do. WIth most people she’d comfort then, but Callisto wasn’t most people. After several precious seconds, she came over and pulled Callisto into her arms. She said nothing. What was there to say?
It was alarming to Callisto herself that she was crying. She really didn’t know what to do with herself. She wasn’t precisely fond of being comforted, but she hadn’t cried since her parents had died. There was a part of her that felt guilty for not knowing Cassandra was still alive. Of course, Callisto had been twelve and things had been so chaotic that night. But one would think the firefighters and other emergency personnel on scene would have found her sister and taken her to the same hospital Callisto had gone to.
But, for whatever it was worth, Callisto didn’t fight Xena when she pulled her into the embrace. She just pressed her face into Xena’s chest and just cried.