what're you in for, love? (closed, o/o with @Dances_with_Shadows)

(ugh, I was in a similar situation. I managed to get it moved to just a hangout at a cafe, but it still sucked. I wish you luck, my friend)

She sighed and ticked off the names on her fingers. "Cinthia, Wulfric, Magnus, Rhydar. Siblings, okay? Koralia is Magnus's fiancé. Jamir is Wulfric's boyfriend. Demitri is Cinthia's childhood friend. Rae is my cousin. Tamaki, Kiriti, Carden, Archer, Junia, and Fenris are mutual friends. There's a total of fifteen of us, including yours truly."

(Ah, not the plant! I'd probably accidentally kill my own plant…)

(at least they tried to make up for it?)

She shrugged. "I know a lot more, but they're the only ones I consider to be friends. It gets…hectic…sometimes when we're all together, but it's otherwise not really anything different from not knowing anyone—and would you sit down normally!" she hissed, narrowing her eyes at him as she relaxed against the opposite armrest, "You're making me nervous."

"Better," she said, nodding, "Anyway, yeah. Knowing a lot of people isn't really anything special. It's just more people who can put up with my shit while simultaneously insulting everything I do out of platonic love. We're all parasites using this place as a shelter from our normal lives."

She tilted her head, raising a brow. "You have a sister?" she asked, genuinely curious. She had some half-siblings, but one hated her, another lived in Hawaii, and the youngest didn't know about her criminal life, and Tessa never wanted the sweet girl to find out.

She wasn't even going to start with her father.

Tessa nodded. "Half siblings—my family's complicated." She sighed and tilted her head back. "Ronan's 23 and lives in Hawaii with his father. Med school. Alexander's 17, lives with our mom and Ben—hates me. Angel's 6 and see's me as this hero. She's adorable. She and Lex are the only full siblings of us all. We're all related on my mom's side."

(it's okay, I sometimes get confused by similar names as well)

"I try to stay away from my mom and the younger two, as well as Ben, my stepdad. Ronan visits whenever he can, so it's kinda hard to give a definitive answer for him." Tessa shrugged, picking at her fingers. She never mentioned her biological father.

"Dysfunctional," she muttered, "is one way to describe it. Ben's in the government." She twirled her hand around lazily. "Makes for interesting family dinners—at least, the ones that I'm dragged into."

"Pffft, like I've asked him." She tilted her head as she thought about it, though. "I think he said something about being a part of some sort of independent agency?"

(it's okay! I'm getting the same way. Heads up—I might've told you, I don't know, just tell me if I did—I'll be gone all week next week)

"Noooo, don't do anything to Ben. He's cool, for the most part." She held up her hands and shook them, sorta like jazz hands. "I haven't been put into cuffs yet, so that should say something. If you want to fuck with someone, then have at it with Kian Black."

Tessa sighed and stretched out, mainly her bad leg. "Kian Black, the douchebag that knocked up my mother then hightailed it when she broke the news. Doesn't even have the balls to contact his child, but when confronted by said child, he has the audacity to say that he saved their life by not making her get an abortion. Calling him a hot head would be an understatement."

"I'm going with you," she said fiercely, her eyes flashing dangerously as she imagined his face when she showed up with Nik. "Call it a final goodbye." Nevermind the fact that she still had a limp and her stomach was throbbing now.

Her lip quirked up slightly. "You can probably guess why I want to go." She craned her head back and tucked her hands behind her head, looking up at the ceiling, heaving a sigh. "I should probably wait until I'm fighting fit, though."

She snorted, rubbing at her scratched cheek. It had hit the non-shattered one, which was to be expected as it stuck out more than the shattered one, but it still bothered her mind. It was like a little worm wiggling in the back of her head, reminding her of what her foster brother had done.

(?)

Tessa hummed a yes, dropping her hand. "Yeah, just…bugging me, that's all. Less to do with pain and more to do with the past."