Log:Family Secrets

Family Secrets
Participants Cardinal, Jack Fry	9 May, 2018 Jack and Cardinal meet to finally share some secrets of their family to each other. Jack learns some truths he didn't expect, at all.
Location
============-< << Dair-ya Creamery - Farmland >> >-============= Cows. So many cows. Black and white-splotched bovines dot the landscape to either side of a long, long gravel drive in all but the bitterest and worst of weather, the hundred ladies of the milking herd meandering in twice a day for handling in the parlor. Heifers and calves, not to mention bulls, are given their own space, and sturdy fences given a clean wash of white each Spring divide the farm's land into pastures for its herds. Nearest the road and extending out over a good 200 acres, tillable fields for growing forage and feed extend in neatly tended rows, bridle paths among them gated such that a rider can open them without dismounting. Set up on a slight rise away from the road, a rambling blue farmhouse sprawls in friendly disarray, stabling and outbuildings for the creamery kept near, but not too near the several homes built up over the property. Sometimes Jack actually has to work - he's not drinking every day. He's actually stayed the night at the farm, having worked until very late in the night; he's suggested to Cardinal to meet him out here in the morning hours if she can. He looks alert and refreshed, just having had a shower, wearing shorts and a T-shirt and being barefoot out here under a copse of leaf trees near the farm. He's lying on his back, hands behind his head, chewing on a grass and staring up into the trees. Goblin is lying nearby, also just resting for now. Nearby wanders Troll - apparently Jack's brought his horse to the farm for today. Morning hours can be challenging, what with the farm she keeps with Gabe--really, it's mostly him, but she helps!--and the prep to open up the ice cream shop in the afternoon. Really, mornings are when redbirds get most of their work done. Still, she offered no objections, only made a few adjustments to her schedule and took off for the farm. She's in a faded blue tee shirt far too big for her scrawny frame with white lettering on the front reading EAT WELL WORK HARD LOVE TRULY TRAVEL OFTEN on four separate lines. Blue jeans, sneakers, some jangly bangle bracelets. It's a pretty low-key outfit for the oft-vibrant redhead. She has no animals with her when she approaches, though there's a big cloth bag slung over one shoulder. Goblin might smell the treats therein. And Goblin gets the first of her attention as she dips down to give him scritches even before she sets her bag down and settles in cross-legged in the grass beside Jack, signing, <<Eat yet?>> Jack lifts his head and watches her approach, and Goblin jumps up to greet her with happy bounces, licking her hands and running circles a few times before sitting down with a hopeful look; he sure smells those treats. Jack grins, shaking his head. "Nope, cause I knew you'd bring something." He's starting to know his cousin regarding food and treats. He sits up crosslegged and throws away that grass he was chewing on; he looks much younger like this, and seem care-free and in a good mood. "So, time to share secrets. Although I guess you sorta know mine already." He raises an eyebrow at her. Cardinal can't talk for a moment as her hands are too busy drawing little plastic containers from the bigger bag. One of the square, flat containers is set right next to Jack, a sandwich on dark, oaty bread with chunks of chicken, sliced pear, a sharp cheese and a creamy, herbaceous spread inside. One of those is set next to her, too. What she opens first, though, is a container of cut-up apples. Pink ladies, to judge by the color of the skin. This she sets in front of Goblin with bright smile. There are also containers of cookies and veggies and other assorted goodies--because she seems incapable of keeping things minimal--but most of it is ignored for now as she sets her bag aside and finally looks to Jack to give him a hand-wobble. << You're a surprise dad. You talk to animals. And... something happened to get you to move back home. >> There seems a quetion, implied by the arch of her eyebrows. Jack is in no rush, waiting for the food to be put up; he grabs for his container immediately, as he's quite hungry. Goblin? He nibbles his treats with lazy contentment, lying near Jack. Once Red begins signing, Jack studies her hands very closely - there's still many words he doesn't know, but he gets enough of it to put things into context and understand the meaning. "That sums it up." He looks back into her eyes, serious and thoughtful. "And you need to tell me about your sister." He takes out that sandwich and tears off a large bite, munching. "Wow. Wait, is that pear on it?" He looks suspicious - he's apparently the sorta guy who considers fruit to not touch his food - but gives it a go. He tilts his head. "This isn't bad at all. In fact, this is one really delicious sandwich. Thanks, Red." Cardinal beams brightly at the praise for her sandwich construction, her smile all wide and tight-lipped. Her eyes, though, are distracted, thoughts tumbling about in her head as she figures out how to address the trickiness that her sister presents. She's still and silent for a moment while he eats, her own food not yet touched. When she signs, she does so slowly, making sure he gets all the details. << I figure you heard what happened eight years ago, right? How Susan went nuts at our birthday party and stabbed me, utterly certain that I wasn't me anymore? >> She can't help but frown, her whole expression downturned as she talks about this. << She's been locked up since. Well, probably not locked locked up. It's not a jail. It's a mental health facility not too too far from here. And I'm not allowed to see her. Because I trigger all her stuff. Because she thinks I'm not mee. But I am. I'm as me as I can be now. >> Jack struggles with some of the words. Mental health facility - he stops her and asks her to do it in letters quickly - then nods his understanding and frowns. "I'm going to go visit her," Jack tells Cardinal. "Maybe I won't trigger anything." He speaks calmly and reaches a hand out to take her hand in his for a quick comforting squeeze, but he watches her thoughtfully too, because what she says last is a bit cryptic. "I got two people to visit there, actually, if it's the same one, but how many facilities can there be in this area? Some guy broke into Bronwyn's cabin, claimed he used to live there. He escaped from the facility. THey said they found him wandering the woods a year ago and he said he came from there, but nobody knows who he is and there's no record of a missing person. Frankly, it has my weird-sensor going up," Jack says grimly, knowing fully well what goes on in this town even if he lacks the deeper knowledge of what exactly. "Anything I can do to help you? Or Susan?" Cardinal's face screws up as she listens to the story about the escapee, her confusion poorly hidden. << Sounds like someone who needs help,>> she says of the man. It might sound like other things, too, but there are other people to handle that. She's not them. Besides, she's got questions of her own to answer. << Mostly, just having someone to go see Susan would be good. I know my folks go, but they never talk about it with me. Ever. >> Her jaw tightens as her hands both curl into fists for a second, silencing her. With a huff, she goes on, << I'd like to be able to go see her myself eventually, but I don't know if she'll trust you if you lead with that. >> She pauses a moment, thinking before adding, << And maybe tell her she was right, that you believe her. Even if you maybe don't. >> "Yeah, doesn't it?" Jack agrees, rubbing his jaw in contemplation. He has to stare at her fingers and focus still, it doesn't come naturally to him - but he's getting better everytime they meet, so he obviously trains when he's got the chance. "I'll go see her as often as I can, but I won't talk about you first time. I need to get a sense of her. I'll just be cousin Jack," he says with a smile. "Remember you two used to prank me, pretending to be each other?" He chuckles at the memories. "Drove me nuts." He finishes the sandwich and sits back on his elbows, lazy and comfortable, even if he watches her closely for signs of her emotions on all this. "I think maybe there's more to this than you're ready to tell me," he says calmly. "Maybe sometime later, eh?" Cardinal laughs in that silent way of hers, a quiet, shuddering breath, a shake of shoulders. <<Her idea!>> she claims. And, back then, that was probably more plausible. Elizabeth used to be the more reserved one, Susan the bright-eyed rebel. Where Susan went, though, her twin so often followed. Mostly, there's heartbreak and worry, a whole lot of uncertainty; this is a girl who misses her other half, who feels bad for the life she's been left. Why is she suddenly so concerned after eight years? << Maybe it's not important, >> she tries. << Maybe what matters is that she knows she's not crazy and that she's loved and that everything's okay. Maybe you should tell me about New York. >> Okay, and maybe a teensy bit defensive. "How would I know for sure? I couldn't tell you apart. You could just be fooling me, all over," Jack teases Red, trying to brighten her mood. He eyes the container with cookies, caves in and gets a couple - he gives one to Goblin, who snatches it up and gulps it down quickly. Beaming at them both, like only a dog can. The ranger nods at her, and leaves his questions for another time. All in her pace, as he said. "I'll make a long story short. I ran into things in New York - I mean, it's not as much as around here in a sense, but here it's all... part of the town. In New York, the supers hide and they're rarely good news. I saw the signs when the others didn't, so I tried to keep some of the worst assholes to leave people alone. Vampires - they were the worst, but also the most reasonable in a way; they really liked to keep a low profile. What got me wasn't a vampire - it was something else. I was looking into this gang that had some signs of weird shit going on. I was about to arrest one of them when they attacked me and my dog, Lucy." He speaks about it with a detached voice, as if wanting to distance himself. "They killed Lucy - clawed her up. Another one almost killed me, using claws, when I tried to save Lucy." He lifts his T-shirt, showing the prominent claw scars all over his chest and stomach. How he survived that is anyone's guess. "It wasn't a vampire or a werewolf - I couldn't even tell they /had/ claws. Think it was one of Them. The... I donno. Fair folk." Nevermind the sandwich she has yet to eat. As Jack makes for the cookies, Cardinal grabs one too. Maybe three. It gives her plenty to munch as she listens. Her eyes go wide at the mention of vampires, wonder plain, like maybe she's willing to buy that. She leans in when his shirt goes up, gawking at the scars, one crumb-tipped hand reaching over to run over some of those marks curiously. That touch pauses when he says 'werewolf' then drops entirely with the way he says 'Them.' She knows that Them. << Why? >> she asks after she sits back. << What makes you think that? >> The scars are only a few years old, so very obvious still, large pale lines crisscrossing his body. He drops the shirt and smiles at her - they don't bother him much. And Jack seems to have recovered fine, or he hides any pain really well. Her question has him thoughtful. "I'm not sure, it's just a feeling. I know what they weren't, and I know they'd kept themselves hidden - and Lucy didn't react to them until they attacked. She always noticed a vampire or a werewolf. BUt hey, there could be more weird stuff out there than I know about." Cardinal doesn't say anything for a long moment, her face all scrunched up in thought as she processes all this information. Is that a worried look angled down at Goblin before she goes back to her puzzling? When she looks up at Jack again, it's with a curious cant of her head as she asks, << What's your interest in monsters? Are you still hunting them up here? >> back to her patient, considerate pace. "I've never hunted them, Red," Jack clarifies, holding a hand up in a 'hold it right there, missy'-sort of gesture. "I left them alone if they behaved. Besides, it wouldn't have been smart riling them up when a cop in New York. Too obvious a target," he says with a grin. "I just tried to help people that got too dragged in, or that turned into victims unwittingly. Keeping the balance. I'd say, most of the supers were perfectly fine people. Like people in general, you know? They just sometimes, got a bit forgetful they're also human. I liked to remind them about that." He looks amused for a second. "I make it sound like all I did was wander around chatting with the ones hiding in the shadows. In truth, I had maybe ten direct encounters over the years. The rest was mostly just through messages to associates, things like that." He speaks openly to her about it, hiding nothing. "I came home because I almost got killed, and because New York wore me down. And I like to believe I can continue keeping an eye on the unaware here." Cardinal makes a double quotation marks gesture when Jack says 'behaved' to issue dry, silent commentary on that word. It's all she offers as she listens, her expression intent, open, like there's nothing else in the world right now but Jack and his story about how he doesn't hunt monsters. << Have you met any? >> she asks. It takes her a second to realize the ambiguity. << Any monsters. Since coming home. >> "Monsters? I don't call them that," Jack says, considering his response carefully. "I don't think there's a single word to describe them. Most of them just had rotten luck, seems to me, and didn't chose what they became and try to do the best they can. I've had to deal with many more plain human monsters than the super-monsters." He's fatalistic but also humble - he's long since realised the world is not black and white. "But I've probably ran into a super or two around here without knowing it." So no, he hasn't outright /met/ one - but he suspects he has. "Besides," he jokes, "I can't judge. Some might put me in the monster folder, too." To prove his point, and maybe to show off a bit, he takes his phone out and types in a text window and shows it to her (making sure Goblin doesn't see it, for some reason - can that dog even read?). The text reads 'Goblin will jump up and go fetch a stick over there behind you in five seconds.' One, two, three, four, five... Jack looks at the dog, quiet. Says nothing. Goblin shoots to his feet and bounces over behind Cardinal, picks up a stick and brings it back to Jack. Cardinal's usually energetic demeanor seems to have come to a complete standstill as she listens, though her responses are still, sometimes, easy enough to read. Like when he denies the word monster? She makes a face that might suggest disagreement. And when he brings his phone out, there's curiosity. Briefly. She pays more attention to Jack than to Goblin, watching her cousin as he does whatever it is he's doing rather than the dog who's responding. Right up until the dog's done fetching, then she's beaming at the beast. And staring at him all wide-eyed like Jack had. The handsome pup drops the stick in favor of the container holding the redhead's untouched sandwich, offering it up to her in exchange for some adoring pets and scritches. While she looks over at Jack. Expectantly. Jack obviously has a very strong bond with Goblin and the dog understands everything he says. But he doesn't have to talk to him verbally. Still, the Frys have had several of those with those gifts in the past and in the present; it's not that rare and Cardinal has seen it before. But, Jack wants to show her, or maybe show off a little - he grins. And then his eyes widen as Goblin seems to follow the redheads non-verbal commands, as well. "I didn't know you knew it too," he asks, squinting at her. "But I shouldn't be surprised." But, he is. Cardinal shakes her head at him, her sandwich set down. There's one last little bit of scritching given to Goblin for being so very good about these humans getting into his head before she signs back, << I don't know what you know. I know other things. >> That's the easy part. Her hands hover mid-thought, evidence that there's more to come, but it takes her several seconds before squaring up and deciding on, << I'm a monster. >> It looks like she's considering more, but then her hands drop to her lap, leaving it at that for the moment. Goblin looks at Red like he adores her. He might see her real self - or not. It's possible that he just doesn't care either or maybe he can see both? Because as Jack said, dogs never gave away that they met a Changeling to him. Or, it could be something else entirely. Either or, Goblin certainly doesn't think Cardinal is a monster. Jack blinks in some shock at Cardinal - and he's usually quite composed. His face turns grim for a moment, watching her scrutinizingly as if looking for signs of a joke. "Maybe you're /something/ - but you're not a monster," he says finally, with that dry tone of voice. "Well, alright, maybe a really cute monster. The kind you wanna aww at and pinch cheeks," he says, dead pan. His eyes give away nothing, but remain calm as he studies her. His deductive skills are good, too. "You got taken, didn't you." << I'm a monster, >> Cardinal asserts again right as Jack denies her that descriptor. When he relents and declares her a really cute monster instead, her smile returns. And then her nose scrunches. No cheek-pinching for her! But then he goes and says that and her expression sinks. << Susan was right. I wasn't me anymore. I was gone. Something else was left. She lived my life for years. And no one knew. And everyone thought Susan was crazy and they locked her up and it isn't fair because she was right and it's not her fault. >> All of that comes a little too fast. Slower, she adds, << And not mine either. I wasn't here. >> There's a vein pulsating at Jack's temple and his presses his teeth together so hard, one can see how tense his face is for a moment. Rage flares up in those blue-grey eyes, a cold, determined sort of anger. He fumbles in the pocket of his shorts and digs out a pack of cigarettes (rather crushed and beaten up) and finds a cigarette that's still whole, lighting it up. Just to do something with his hands and occupy himself from the fury - he can't do anything about it now, anyway. He's not angry at Cardinal. But at what was done to her, and her sister. He puffs the cigarette and is unable to respond in any sort of calm fashion, which is unusual; he doesn't get riled up easily. Not even C.B. manages that. Goblin knows something is wrong and he whines and buffs Red's arm and moves in to 'kiss' her, bumping his nose against her cheek. Finally, Jack is composed enough to say something, shoulders dropping a bit as he manages to relax. "We'll make it right." He doesn't elaborate, but his plan seems to be that Susan needs to get out of that place and he'll help see that happen. "So it wasn't the ice-cream died, was it?" He smiles at her, reminding her of when he commented on how young she still looks. "How much can you tell me?" Cardinal frowns at the response from Jack. She understands, and there's not an awful lot she can offer to quell that anger. She knows that. When Goblin noses at her, she leans in against the pup, wrapping an arm around him to offer affection and comfort, as if he were the one to need it and not either of the humans here right now. She keeps that hand right where it is, busy scritching at Goblin, when she shakes her head... and speaks in a very quiet voice, so terribly soft, almost fragile. "The thing that was living my life went by Lizzy. Liz. Elizabeth. It used my name. Lived my life. It had a girlfriend." She pauses at that, frowning. "I killed it. So I could be me again. Except that Susan doesn't know I'm me now and that she was right because all her doctors and everyone she loves has been telling her she's wrong for so long and... I just..." With another shake of her head, arm drawing back from around Goblin, she signs even as she voices the words. "What if she sees how much I've changed and still thinks I'm not really me? I mean, I'm not, am I? Not the me she knew, anyway." Jack nods at Goblin; he reassures the dog. They're fine, but he appreciates that he's comforting Cardinal. Then he gets the second shock of the day, almost burning his fingers on the cigarette as he gapes at the woman, forgetting he holds it. He stabs it out quickly in the grass and puts the butt away in the pack while he listens. "I didn't know," he says, looking a bit desperate. Like he blames himself for being gone so long, like he would've made everything /right/ had he just stayed at the farm instead of heading to the Big City. "I heard about that. I was told stories... that's why people don't know that their loves ones are gone. Fuck." He rubs a temple. "And you're /talking/, Red." He understands suddenly why she doesn't want to be called Liz anymore, so he keeps with the name she suggested. "You can be you and still be different than before. I am too, Red. But I knew you right away, I knew it was... you. She will know too. I'm sure of it." << It's not your fault. >> Cardinal may have found her voice, but it's a whole lot easier to talk over someone when signing. When he points out that she's talking, she lifts her hands and shakes 'em, the bracelets rattling about quietly. In ASL, that might be applause, but here, it reads more 'surprise!' She smiles for his assurance, but there's still an uncertainty, a fear she's not likely to shake until reunited with Susan again has solid evidence that everything might be okay. "Would you like to see how different? Promise you won't do anything silly and I will show you." Having only had the smallest glimpses of changelings true selves in the past, Jack has no idea what to expect. In fact, he doesn't even really know they don't look the same any longer; his knowledge is more of a 'there's them fair folks and they know some funny magic'-kind. So, he's about to get the third huge surprise of the morning. "It's not your fault either. Fuckers," he mutters, about those that Take people. It makes his rage flare up again for a moment and he stuffs his face with a cookie now, to distract himself while staring at his cousin intently. "Silly like what?" he responds with that customary dry voice, grinning slightly (even if he's on edge now - what does she mean?) "Laugh outrageously? Scream shrilly like a five year old?" She's still his little cousin that he has to tease, that won't change - probably. "I promise," he says, putting a hand over his heart, looking squarely at her. Cardinal doesn't seem to have a whole lot of anger toward those that took her. Not right now. Not in the context of this conversation. Mad about Susan's situation, sure. But her own? Nah. She shrugs for his question, eyes going wide, but she's not offering up any alternatives. She's just waiting for that promise. It's all she needs for the Wyrd to do its work. It's a simple pledge, unlikely to last past sundown, but until then, he'll be able to see her as she is: so thin that one might wonder after her eating habits, after her health, the body beneath that baggy tee even skinnier than she usually appears. She's terribly pale. Even her eyes have lost their color, from a deep brown to an odd shade of blue. And... it's hard to tell in the sunlight, but she looks almost as if she's glowing, as if that pale skin of hers is possessed of a silvery luminescence. And then she sticks her tongue out. Oh gods! A tongue should not be that long! Or black. Or pointed. It's decidedly demonic, that tongue. She's quick to slurp it back up between pursed lips as she waves a little 'hi' to him. That pledge? This vision? Poor guy might be stuck seeing fairies everywhere until sundown... There's something - Jack can sense it. Like a little wave in the air, a glimmering before his eyes as the veil that hides the Lost to human eyes is removed, at least for awhile. Goblin sense it too and chuffs and tilts his head, confused - he looks at Cardinal and doesn't really see anything different. She smells the same, and looks the same, to him. He doesn't care about a long tongue - he just sits and looks at her with tongue out and half-closed eyes, lazy and content. Jack's reaction is a bit what you'd expect from him. He's shocked, of course - who wouldn't be, seeing their loved ones change before their eyes? He had no idea, and that vein at his temple pulsates again as he watches her change before his eyes. But, there's no silly reactions - no screaming or running away or anything of the sort, not even when she sticks that long tongue out - that does make him blink rapidly however. He does, however, take out a cigarette and his hands do shake a little as he lights up another, squinting at her. Looking her over scrutinizingly as if wanting to memorize how she looks, how she /truly/ looks. He inhales smoke deeply, blows it out his nose, opens his mouth to say something - nothing comes out at first try. "Well," he manages, finally. "Red, you really should eat something else than just icecream." He jokes about it. He accepts her as she is, and reaches a hand out to...pinch her cheek. Cardinal swats at the hand coming for her cheek as those big pale eyes go wide. "I can eat the whole world and not gain a pound. One of the perks of being a monster," she tells him with certainty. The conversation's likely to devolve from there into minutiae about life since she's been back. No real details, just rambling about how strange it is to see the world so differently now, with six years removed from it. But, eventually, life will catch up, and she'll have to go to her job. The ice cream shop needs her.