Nothing like stirring in the family drama

Location | the park in Aston
Date | 3rd of June
Weather | Gloomy, warm
Attire |
- Victoria: clothing + hair
- Nessa: hair & clothing
Topic for | @Lauren & @Taylor x
__________________________

So, Nessa had texted her. Not something she had counted on really. But Victoria had picked up and showed herself, now sitting in the park. Her and Lauren had gotten here together, which was a nice little ride from their home in Southside. It was weird how fast time ran despite the events that unfolded around you. Just one month ago she had been killed by Anthony, just one month ago things had changed around Southside, and thereby the chain reaction was started leading them to his moment. "What do you think she wants?" Victoria wondered since it wasn't just her that Nessa had texted, she hadn't even known that Nessa was in town. Victoria sat down on a bench and placed her arms up along the back of it, while waiting for Nessa to come.

Nessa hooked her arm with Taylor's giving her a warm smile, "come on, you need this. We all need this," she assured her cousin. It had been even longer since Nessa had seen Lauren than Taylor, just having learned about few of the things that had happened to her. See, this was why everyone should just stay out of Southside, like her mother had always told her - that place was no good. But well, she couldn't blame her two cousins for being unfortunate enough to end up there - but she could perhaps give them a better hand in life, who knew? Then she spotted the two cousins sitting on a bench waiting for them. How they had all grown since they had last seen each other, not even kids anymore none of them.

Lauren sat with one leg up on the bench, so her elbow could rest against it while she was gnawing on her thumbnail. She glanced over at her cousin who spoke to her. She shrugged, almost closing her eyes while she removed her hand from her mouth, stretching the arm out. “I don’t know,” she mumbled, “Probably scold us like usual?” she sighed and looked around at the park. She took in the area. She took a small inhale, thinking about her words for a second before she let the words spill from her, “When did she even get to Athena?” she wondered with furrowed brows, still looking at the environment of the park.

Nessa pulled Taylor with her. She could almost look like someone who was too lazy to do anything the way she moved. Her feet barely raised from the ground beneath them, and her hair was in a messy, and of course, curly bun. “I’m coming!” she called back to her cousin, following her as quickly as possible, and started finding the normal energy that she had, looking a bit more alive. She looked forward and could see how Lauren moved her arm. “There they are,” she said with a low voice.

As soon as Lauren noticed them, she put her leg down, “Rise and shine, Vic. Best behavior for the princess,” she joked, even though there was something serious about the words. As they got close enough, Lauren wrapped an arm around each neck to pull them into a hug, “Hi,” she spoke softly.

"You would know, I haven't even spoken to Nessa since I was like seven," Victoria let out a sigh, well to be fair Lauren and Nessa's mothers were made of the same anti-Southside shit, and that clearly had made its impact on at least Nessa. "I have no idea, but to be frank I've been pretty busy over the last few months," Victoria took a sharper breath in looking towards Nessa and Taylor, Nessa looked so grown up compared to how she had expected her to look. Victoria turned her head towards Lauren, then towards Taylor and Nessa as they came along, making a small snort at Lauren's comment. "Oh please, I'm so passed pleasing anyone simply because they have their noses too high up in the sky," Victoria mumbled before getting up standing. Because well Victoria was for one already tired of Lauren and Taylor's mother, she had pretty much told Victoria a long time ago that she had no place in the family - so Nessa and Kamma's parents weren't much different, even if Kamma didn't share the same judgmental behavior as she was told Nessa tend to do. So, this was going to be amazing.

Victoria for a moment didn't even know if she should hug her cousins, greet them with a polite handshake, it became some sort of awkward mix between Nessa and Victoria, whereas Victoria at least had seen Taylor around so she was easier to hug. "No Kamma?" Victoria wondered, one could have hoped at least. "She might join us later, home work and stuff you know -" Nessa smiled a bit and nodded, then looking towards Lauren, "how are you doing? I heard from your mother it's been quite a lot."

Lauren scoffed a little as Victoria explained that she hadn’t seen their cousin since they she was seven, “I was only one when you last saw her,” She laughed. It was funny how the two of them talked so well together, even though there was such a big age gap between them. Lauren mostly heard the news from Taylor about Nessa and Kamma, since it seemed like they communicated. Lauren had only been good at hanging out with the cousins when she was a kid. She shrugged a little as Victoria complained about how she was done pleasing people who had their noses in the skies. A humored laugh was also formed in the back of her throat. She liked Victoria’s sight on these snobs. Lauren understood, and she wasn’t going to let ‘formal normal people’ step on who she was. But at least they could smile when they greeted their cousin.

Taylor hugged Victoria back. Even though she spent her time in Southside, it didn’t mean that she was mean or doing something wrong for society. A smile spread on both Martin’s as it was mentioned that Kamma might join later, however Taylor’s smile was way brighter than her big sisters. However, that blinding bright smile disappeared completely as there was a question pointed towards Lauren. Taylor felt guilty for not having explained more of what their mother had told, and she knew her sisters temper had gotten worse through the years. “Oh, she spoke about me?” Lauren laughed ironically, almost offended. The women who had given birth to Lauren, was not a woman Lauren believed talked a whole lot about her. She looked towards Victoria, already tired of the meeting. Lauren wasn’t here to catch up with the fucking Loch Ness monster “To answer your question, I lost my fucking finger,” she raised her hand up, with her fingers spread, so she could see the awful short finger. “I was sent into a bloody prison for a small pish accident,” that was actually something Victoria hadn’t even gotten to know. It had stayed inside the four walls of the Martin resident. “Going cold fucking turkey on everything, being a fucking biohazard for fucking months as a result. So how do you believe it has been going, ar-”
“Lauren,” Taylor walked over to her sister and placed careful hands towards Laurens shoulders.
“What?” Lauren looked at her sister with frustrated eyes, only to realize that Lauren might have taken the question a bit too far. It took a little moment before she cooled herself down. One could notice how her shoulders sank and how she leaned a little back. When Taylor noticed she pulled away from her sister, so she could think about her words herself. “Sorry,” she then said, furrowing her brows a little, “It’s… It has been rough,” she rephrased.

Nessa blinked a little bit, some would say she took the raised voice and act of violence that was spoken about rather calmly, it was almost uncanny. Victoria turned her head to the side looking at Lauren as she mentioned in her rushed speech that she had been in prison as well, which made her raise her brow a little bit in surprise. Then again, it wasn't like they had shared a lot of what had happened from being exiled by Anthony till they both had returned to their prime. Nessa just kept her arms crossed, mostly looking like someone who was superior to the situation, which wasn't the intention, but well she had her own things to take care off. "I can see that," she replied and cleared her throat a little bit.

"How about you, last I heard you were in New York, married and all - what are you doing back here?" Victoria wondered, and why had she even reached out to them? Maybe the past six months had made her a bit paranoid when it came to people just contacting her. It was hard to believe someone you rarely spoke to would reach out about just catching up, at least in this world. Nessa seemed to be caught off guard shortly by the question, funny enough, since it was the one she had prepared the most. How did you explain that your husband's crazy family actually were a bunch of hunters who now travelled around here in Aston, and she feared for her family here? Especially with Lauren having the temper she had, but then again, any turned werewolf would have some temper right? "We are in town - his whole family is here actually," she took a sharper breath in, no it was going to end in blood one or the other way - she needed to get out of it. Especially with her newborn son at home. "T, yuh din't tell me your sistuh is a werewolf now?" She looked over at Taylor, not even sure that Taylor actually knew - but what a way to throw the attention away from herself again.

Oh, this was getting Lauren’s piss cooking. Especially how Nessa was standing, looking like someone who barely even cared and didn’t even feel sorry for Lauren. Now, it wasn’t like Lauren wanted pity at all, but the way Nessa spoke just hit a nerve.
Luckily for Nessa, Victoria changed the subject. Lauren could almost see how the question surprised Nessa, but Taylor on the other hand understood why. The turned werewolf tried to push everything behind so her temper wouldn’t lash out at Nessa’s answer. “Oh, sounds quite interesting,” Lauren said raising her brows a little, “How is Mr... What's his name?”

Taylor looked at her cousin, who spilled some information about her sister. “What?” Lauren on the other hand got giant eyes. She wanted to tell Nessa that it was for Taylor’s safety that her sister didn’t know, but she knew that it would only make things worse. Taylor looked back at Lauren, “You’re a werewolf?” she wondered looking at her sister with both mistrust and confusion. Her eyes found Nessa again, “How can you tell?” Her eyes found Victoria. She knew Nessa and Victoria had ‘similarities’ since they were both shapeshifters. “Did you know?” Taylor wondered.
“Don’t answer that,” Lauren quickly said to Victoria, placing a hand a bit up, almost as if she was stopping her potential words from exiting her mouth.
Taylor looked at her sister with a sad pout. “You-” oh, how words wanted to run out of Taylor’s mouth like a sailor, but she knew better than that. “How-How long?” she almost hissed at her sister. How could she keep such a big secret from her?
“Two-”
“Two what? Hours? Days? Months?”
“Years,” she replied rather calmly to her sister who seemed to be losing her mind.
“Is that-” Taylor swallowed and looked at Victoria who seemingly had kept all of this a secret too. “Why didn’t you tell me? Why? Is it some kind of fucking Serpent codex not to sha-”
“Shut up, Taylor!” Lauren hissed.
“No, you shut up, Lauren,” she could see that Lauren was about to protest again, “No, Lauren!” she said and shook her head in disbelief, “You’re so fucking good at keeping your mouth shut, so why don’t you keep on doing that, hm?” she wondered, “You never care, Lauren. So, stop pretending that you care now!” she yelled with a cracking voice. It made Lauren shut up for good. One could see how she almost Lauren leaned a little back and how her shoulders sank as she gave up trying to calm her little sister down. “Thank you,” she exhaled. “Do you know how often I hope that you cared about me?” Taylor spoke almost dangerously low. “Every-fucking-day.” She let the words sink in, let them hurt as much as they could because that was how much they hurt Taylor every day. “But you are never there, and it doesn't help that you're unable to care when you got a fucking temper and a monthly trip to howl-land. You don't even see how fucking lonely I am,” The last words were words that she hadn't wished to say out loud which made her quiet for a moment. “I’m done with all of your fucking secrets. You even blew your own secret about having been in prison. It was something we all agreed to keep within the fucking four walls at least until your probation is off,” she said with her mouth getting gradually smaller from how angry he was.
“Taylor-”
“No!” she shut Lauren up again, “I actually thought you were done lying,” she whispered before she looked toward Nessa. “I’m really sorry but you really should figure out what’s appropriate to bring up or not,” she whispered, feeling like she was on the edge of actually leaving the conversation.

Nessa pulled an offended grimace when Lauren pretended that she couldn't remember William's name. "Oh you know that..." - "William Blanchard," Victoria whispered the answer pressing her brows together. Not because she was close with a lot of them, but Jack, it had to be Jack's brother. Victoria didn't get to share with the group before Nessa placed a bomb in the minefield and Taylor stepped right on it making it explode.

Both Nessa and Victoria didn't say much as Taylor snapped, and the two sisters argued like dogs in a fight. However as the angered speech went down, and they all seemed to have calmed a little bit, Taylor seemed to blame Nessa. "How would I know she hadn't told you? She replied back to Taylor and raised her brow a little bit, then shaking her head. Of course there was a slight feeling of it, because Lauren and Victoria had always seemed rather secretive, in their little gang away from everything. Doing everything else than getting on with their lives. "Okay, let's not get ahead of ourselves- all I wanted was to just see how we all were doing, not making a fuss out of anything," she exhaled a little bit, making Victoria raise her brow. "I guess I just hoped that" Victoria interrupted again, "That what? We had grown up, and left Southside for good? No, we aren't you, and don't give me all that I was too young to have a choice crap," Victoria sighed and crossed her arms a bit.

Lauren looked toward Victoria as she reminded her of who it was. “Mhm, yes, that sounds about right,” she mused while looking at Victoria.
“Well since I hadn’t mentioned it and I don’t have a snout like you, it would only be if Lauren told me, a-and we have been talking for… So long about how Lauren isn’t available,” The corners of Lauren’s lips turned downward. Now, even though Lauren had realized how much she had hurt people around her with her abuse, it was still heartbreaking to be reminded.
“That what?” Taylor chimed in with Victoria, even though Victoria got the lead. She slowly turned her head to listen to Victoria. Maybe Taylor would have the best of leaving the conversation because this truly was getting on all of her nerves because she did indeed think that Lauren and Victoria should grow up and get away from Southside. Get a better life. Their family could afford it, so why be so stubborn? “But you have a choice now,” Taylor told Victoria and looked towards Lauren afterward. “We are standing here,” She pointed with both her hands towards her chest, “With our arms, fully open,” she opened her arms up, almost as an invitation for them to come to her. “You just have to come,” she begged with a sad smile, hoping that all of this was getting closer to an end. Lauren knew the answer to this one, and it wasn’t the one her sister would like to hear, but as of right now, she couldn’t let her sister down any more than she already had. Her hand sought Victoria’s hoping for some kind of support in this. She knew that Victoria had the same answer as herself.

Victoria took a sharper breath in, they had to be joking - even though she knew they weren't.  The fact was just this, Victoria was so much more done with people telling here where she should belong than Lauren perhaps was. Lucas, Rafael the people whom she had thought would know her better than they had shown to do had kept telling her where she should belong. But no, she wasn't going to here more of it. She had thought way to hard to get back home to just be standing here and take another group that wanted the same thing. "There is what you two don't understand, this is not some game this is who we are; who we will always be," she replied making Nessa deliver a small unimpressed huff. Victoria exhaled a little bit, and looked at Taylor. "We are not going to leave Southside, so you two are the ones who have a choice to make. Accept it, or don't - because I'm not going to be a part of this family if it means you trying to keep on trying to change who we are," Nessa took a breath in spreading her lips like she was about to say something, which made Victoria lift a finger in the air. "And yes, we very well know the people who we are around, and we just like them. So, spare me of your bloody judgment, I will not hear it. From either of you," Victoria looked from Nessa to Taylor.

Lauren was disgusted with how Taylor was thinking about this and how much she put herself and Nessa on a pedestal as if they were so much better than them. It was almost as if when Nessa was around Taylor felt safer about saying things out loud, or maybe Taylor had just finally managed to find her guts. She tightened her jaw, agreeing with Victoria as she explained. Nessa’s scoff could lit Lauren up instantly, but Victoria’s sigh calmed her. Just like Nessa, Taylor wanted to disagree about how it was them with the choice to make but was silenced by Victoria’s raised finger.
“So neither of you wants to be a part of the family unless we fully accept that you are part of a gang?” Taylor wondered.
“Yeah,” Lauren said, feeling like she had run out of air for this conversation.
A scoff left Taylor a second later. “You cannot be serious-”
“But I am fucking serious,” Lauren said, still holding Victoria’s hand, though she took a step closer to her little sister. Taylor took a step away, almost scared. It was Lauren’s time to scoff disappointed. “I’m not coming home tonight,” Lauren told her sister with a low voice. The brown eyes found her cousin. “Don’t even bother telling your man about me. I quit this fucking Martin bullshit,” she almost growled before she took a small step back followed by another. She was almost certain that Nessa hadn't even bothered telling her family about her. Only Taylor. Sweet, sweet Taylor. “I’m leaving,” she mumbled to Victoria about to turn away from the whole conversation, so she could get to her bike.
Taylor could feel how her heart was aching from that speech. She had truly believed that Lauren couldn't hurt her anymore, but this was something grand. Without taking her eyes off her sister, she pulled her phone up and texted Eric. It didn't take more than a second for him to arrive, already having an opinion on the situation. “What the hell is going on?” Eric wondered standing between the two 'teams', mostly looking at the formal team. The quick arrival of Eric shook Taylor. She was out of words to tell him.

"Those people got your mother," she pointed at Victoria then looking at Lauren, "and your father killed, because that gang. Some day its going to kill you too if you aren't careful," Nessa pointed out, watching how Lauren held onto Victoria's hand as a need of comfort. No, it wasn't like she liked judging her family, but when it came to this. Things had just come too far, they had lost so much because of it. Her father had lost his siblings because they hadn't fully left Southside.

"Being part of the serpents had nothing to do with their deaths," Victoria pointed out seconds after Lauren had announced she wasn't coming home tonight, but well, Victoria was just done with people assuming and putting blame on things that were anything but the serpents fault. Nessa snorted a bit by Lauren's comment - no she wasn't going to tell her husband about her family, "I have better things to do anyways," Nessa looked at Lauren.

Victoria caught Eric's scent perhaps as the first one, always able to feel the vibrations from the ground beneath them, making her able to pick up whenever he was speeding around - and she was the one here at least who knew his scent the best. However, she let out a sigh as Lauren had involved Eric in the drama. "Just catching up, we were just about to leave," Victoria explained not taking her eyes off Nessa for long. Nessa however looked at Eric with a small smile, after all she hadn't seen him since he was what 3 years old or such - it was a long time, even longer for her to pick up the fact that it was him. "Thomas? It's been awhile," she clicked her tongue a little bit, well she didn't know he went by Eric mostly now after all.

Lauren had quite a lot of trouble with keeping her cool by now. Her little sister and Nessa were simply pushing and twisting every nerve they could. Lauren could have shouted with Victoria about how being a part of the serpents didn’t have anything to do with their death.
Nessa had better things to do; “Then why the hell are you here?” she growled, thinking her cousin should simply leave if she had much better things to do. Maybe Lauren was just blowing everything up now that she was already bothered.

Eric looked from his two cousins to his sister and Lauren. “And I wasn’t invited?” he huffed, though he noticed that not even Kamma was there. What the hell was this? His eyes, however, closed as he heard Nessa speak. He sighed a little before he looked back at Nessa, “Yeah, it-”
“Thomas? His name is Eric?” said Taylor, pointing at Eric. Yes, she had always been told that his name was Eric, or at least, she had forgotten the times when he had been called Thomas. She had been too young.
Eric took a sharper breath in, feeling bothered by the conversation already. “It’s been so long, that you don’t even know that I don’t go by that name anymore,” he replied. “I go by Eric,” he told her pulling a wider smile. “Maybe we can talk another day, hm? I think I gotta shove the cub back into its cage,” he laughed a little, not really looking as he reached back. He got a hold of Lauren’s shoulder, though she just shoved his hand off.

"I didn't think you would be interested," Nessa bluntly replied, clearly had been wrong on that note. She blinked once again when he told her he didn't go by Thomas anymore, but Eric. Well whatever he wanted, she wasn't going to go into that. "Alright," she replied. It also seemed the best to find another day to talk. Clearly Lauren didn't know how to control her temper, and Victoria looked like she would rather let her fists collide with something and Nessa didn't want it to be her jaw. Such a shame really, both girls had so much promise if they would just give up on that hell hole to southside. "Come T, we have overstayed our welcome," she placed her hand on Taylor's shoulder, knowing now was not the best time.

Victoria took a sharper breath in and exhaled. Not liking this one bit. But she didn't blame Nessa for her way of thinking, she blamed Nessa's mother. Vic remembered how much her uncle loved Southside, loved coming by to see his sister in secret - till one day they had moved away. So, she didn't envy the fact that Nessa had this perfect girl reputation she needed to keep up. Far from. "Lauren, come on - they are not worth your anger," she spoke lowly to her cousin. Making Nessa snort a bit, because she could hear it so easily, but Nessa didn't comment.

Eric would love to reunite with his family, and he was almost certain that he was more interested in it than his sister and his cousin Lauren. They had too much on their plate, and they would have to look at their own plate before they shared it. Nessa was clearly wrong this time. Well, she was wrong plenty of times, but he knew when he had to keep things to himself. Taylor looked toward her cousin before she turned with her to leave.

Lauren’s eyes were targeted at Nessa. They followed her as they turned to leave. She heard Victoria and noticed how Eric turned to her. She knew better. But such a little sound; it made the glass overflow.
She pushed Eric away. Even though he was quick he hadn’t expected his cousin, let alone a fellow serpent, would try and push him away, almost hitting him in the process. The strength of the werewolf also showed, which for once made Eric fall and roll. She targeted her cousin, her eyes glowing. “You bitch!” she hissed.

Or at least that was what she had the greatest urge to do. Eric turned her, so she faced her bike again, and walked right behind her with his hands on her shoulders. It would give him enough time to react if she was suddenly going to try and turn around, but they were soon going to reach the bikes and Lauren could soon be back in the welcoming Serpent headquarters.

"Lauren!" Victoria raised her voice at Lauren for pushing Eric, had she not been a few steps away from her, she would have grabbed onto her cousin, but she wasn't close enough. And her attention moved to Eric that within a few seconds had gotten his head back in the game and moved Lauren around. Nessa hadn't seemed scared, not even flinching as if the violence and rushed actions didn't surprise her, which actually worried Victoria. "That was something, see you around. Tell Kamma hello from me," she made a salute before heading towards her own bike and got on it, driving towards the Serpent headquarters once again.

Victoria jumped off her bike and looked at Lauren, then shortly at Eric then at Lauren again. "What the hell happened out there?" She knew it of course, it had been too much at once. Victoria had gotten used to people disagreeing with her life choices, so it didn't matter that two more did, but Lauren and her hadn't been out for the same things. Then there was also the prison thing no one had told her about.

Eric lifted his hand up to salute the cousins, but it only lasted a short second before he placed his hands on Lauren’s shoulders again. He wished for Nessa to greet Kamma too.

They ended back at the headquarters, and it didn’t take long before Eric was off his bike. Lauren sat on hers a little longer, as if she was collecting herself a little. She heard Victoria and processed. She shrugged her shoulders a little picking her lost finger while still sitting on her bike, though she wasn’t wearing her helmet. “Just got enough,” she mumbled she turned her head to glance over at Victoria, “It’s been rough,” she continued mumbling. Eric furrowed his brows a little.
“Care to share?” he looked over at Victoria. He hadn’t been there from the start and wondered what it was that had been so rough. He knew she was sobering up and that she had lost her finger, but since she had kept to herself for a while, he was honestly not even certain how much it had been tearing her. Lauren looked back at her finger, clearly not being the greatest fan of having to share. She was embarased.

Just had enough? What did those words even mean anymore? Perhaps it was because Victoria had had enough for quite sometime and even then, it was she didn't seem to be able to catch a break. Everything was rough at this point. She underwood that, after everything they all had been through she understood that things were rough. But not saying anything, not mentioning she had been into further trouble? How had she ended up in jail anyways? It wasn't like most of them hadn't been in and out of jail before - it happened with this sort of life. It didn't mean anyone enjoyed it. "What part of it? Because there are some missing pieces I would like to have found myself," Victoria looked towards her cousin with a slight frown.

Eric looked from one of them to the other. There was definitely something he would like to know. Why had Lauren been so mad at her cousin and sister, and what was it that Victoria needed to know more about?
“I was wasted,” Lauren mumbled, and just as she was about to explain more, Reina opened the door, almost slamming it against the wall on the other side, with a wide smile.
“Ey, how did the family-” she noticed how everyone seemed a little off and how Lauren still sat on her bike not really willing to look at anyone. “Okay, who’s the mood killer?” she said and crossed her arms, leaning against the doorframe.
“Fuck you, Reina!”
Reina’s eyes blinked a couple of times. “Alright,” she clicked her tongue and got off the doorframe. Eric shook his head at her, hoping that it would warn Reina, but she didn’t mind the warning. “Did you relapse again and these two found you? Or maybe you just started selling again?” she wondered smiling a little as she noticed how Lauren folded her hands into fists. “I know it’s a good way to earn money and all, but what do you need all that money for, Lauren?”
With an aggressive roar, Lauren stood up. The quick movement made every bike, except hers fall over, making a large amount of noise. “Get the fuck out,” she hissed at Reina who raised her hands up next to her shoulders as if she was feeling attacked.

Victoria raised a perhaps a bit of a judgmental brow for a brief second, not knowing when it had happened - but she also found some understanding in how Anthony had treated them had given forced them to find ways to survive. But getting wasted and ending up in jail - there had to be some line that had been crossed. And not a good one. But before she got to say or ask more Reina came outside. Victoria took a slightly deeper breath in when Reina asked who had killed the mood, looking at the fallen angel with a small smile. Lauren quickly to respond. "Reina," Victoria raised her brow at Reina, it wasn't fair starting it like that - no matter what grudge Reina could hold from the base of how Lauren and Landon's past relationship had ended - because of the drugs and the world Lauren had trapped herself in. "Ey, you just calm the fuck down - alright?" Victoria pointed to the angered werewolf who already was way to worked up because of all this. "And you, stop with the stupid questions, its been quite the afternoon," the shapeshifter turned her eyes to the angel at the doorframe.

Reina wasn’t that easy to stop except for the fact that Victoria seemed to wish for her to back off, just like Lauren. Reina had also been a little extra using some of her abilities to see how much Lauren could say before she would spit out every truth she had kept away, but she hadn't been able to go too far before Victoria had told her to stop. Eric was quick to get every bike up again. It was just a little too much,  wasn’t it? Giving everyone a harder time with those stupid questions? Lauren sat down sideways on her bike as Victoria told her to calm down. She picked at her short finger.
“Sorry, I just wanted to know how it had gone,” Reina grumbled, folding her arms once again. It was almost the truth. “And my questions aren’t stupid” she continued to grumble.
“Well, Eric wasn’t even invited so why don’t you just keep your fucking snoopy snout out of our family business,” Lauren hissed. One could almost believe that she showed her werewolf teeth. Reina squinted her eyes at the werewolf but was soon greeted by the only male in the room.
“What about we go inside, hm?” Eric turned Reina around and started to gently push her back inside the headquarters. Maybe it would be best if the two cousins talked alone, even though Eric happily would help if something got a little too heated. Of course, if he stayed close, he should be able to hear them and he was quite quick to get around.

Victoria raised her brow a little, no perhaps the questions weren't stupid. But right now, they did do more harm than good. Then leaving Lauren and Victoria outside, Victoria licked her front teeth with her tongue before turning her eyes over at Lauren again, breaking the silence. "Want to talk about it?" Victoria asked taking few steps closer to Lauren. If anyone could begin to understand how Lauren felt after the attack Anthony he hit them with, it was Victoria. Even if Lauren had lost her finger, Victoria had almost lost her mind trying to make sure Lauren didn't die from the injury or worse. She had even put herself on the plate to make sure Eric could take Lauren to the hospital, in which there was nothing Victoria wouldn't do for her family. "I know plenty of stuff has happened since we got out of the basement, and we never really talked about what happened after or while we were down there," Victoria ran a finger over her own hair, tugging a curl behind her ear still looking at Lauren, letting her figure out if she wanted to talk about any of it or not.

When Eric took Reina away, Lauren’s eyes were clued to the prey that her werewolf had targeted. Her eyes had even turned golden. Victoria broke the silence of the werewolf talking to her. The golden eyes looked up at the much calmer Victoria. It made the snarly showed teeth gradually lessen. Lauren covered her eyes with one hand, dragging it down along her face as if she had a headache or was exhausted. “It’s just the usual shit,” she groaned, looking down at her knees. But it was a lie. It wasn’t the usual shit. She just wished they could drop the topic of her faults and the shit that happened around her. She honestly just wanted everything to vanish. That people didn’t know about the faults she had made. There were way too many faults in her story.
She glanced toward Victoria as she spoke about the even in the basement. “Yeah, I was busy in the hospital,” she laughed dryly. “I hope it wasn’t too hard on you, you know, down in the basement having to take care of me and all,” she mumbled and scratched her arm a little before she removed some of her hair behind her ear, almost like Victoria did.

Victoria shook her head a little and took a sharper breath in, "no its alright," Lauren didn't need to apologize for it being busy or having wanted to get away from it. "You was putting distance to survive, I would never hold that against you," Victoria pointed out and took a smaller step towards Lauren, wrapping her arms around herself, finding some sort of fragile talking about it. It was a harder topic than one realized, but also just because people had a thing about forgetting what they had been through, or simply not understanding it. It was one of the reasons why her and Rafael had drifted apart, the lack of understanding. "You are not responsible for how the basement situation had, and I will admit it was hard, but there isn't a bone in my body that wouldn't to it all again to make sure you were save," Victoria took a sharper breath in and looked to the side for a second. "The last thing Anthony did was kill me before he died, he took out one of my oldest friends and he killed me right after," she informed knowing it was late news, but it wasn't like Victoria appreciated walking around talking about this. She had lost Mono that night. And she would forever hold onto some sort of guilt about his death. "I learned a lot about myself that night, and its what at least pushed the movement on Linus and Francis taking over - getting rid of Anthony, or most of him. There is more to that story."

Victoria said it was alright, but Lauren didn’t trust it. It was never just alright to take care of someone else. Lauren nodded a little as Victoria continued, trying to explain why it was alright. She wouldn’t want to discuss that.
Lauren looked up at her, as she started opening up about how she felt about the basement situation. A sad smile spread on her lips, as Victoria said that she would do it all again to make sure that she was safe. It meant a lot to Lauren. She was important to someone. Victoria still cared for her. The hope she had felt however was overshadowed by the story that followed right after. “What-” Lauren said clearly shocked. “That fucking cocksucker,” she whispered underneath her breath. She corrected her gaze forward, looking at the street, thinking about ways she would avenge Victoria if he hadn’t died right after he had killed Victoria. She looked back up at Victoria as she finished the story. “It sounds quite complicated.” She said and reached a hand out toward Victoria, “I can’t imagine how it feels to come back to live,” she spoke softly, and with a quite sad expression over her face. She wished to pull Victoria into her embrace. They both needed it. Lauren believed she wanted a hug before she would consider opening up about what had been happening.

Victoria had plenty of ways she wanted to torment Anthony. Wish of seeing the life leave his eyes, but when it came down to it, she was more than pleased that he was gone. Victoria ran a hand through her big curly hair and let out a sigh; “it’s lonely.” She replied. No matter the amount of people who stayed by your side, it was a lonesome feeling, cold. “Linus took out Anthony. But Orion one of their pals took over the body,” Victoria explained a little away from her own feels on the matter. Linus had done so much for her, and she was betting on him knowing so.

By now one could argue the two cousins knew each other well enough to understand most of their body langue. And Victoria picked up on what looked like Lauren wanting to embrace her but not sure if she overstepped or not. So, Victoria took a step forward and put her arms around Lauren, giving her a warm tight embrace.