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Blue wakes, and isn't sure what it is, at first, that has woken her. Her mind puts together the sounds slowly. Hywel is so often a collection of sounds: laughter, music from another room, the creak of old metal, the rustle of animals. Right now it's quiet.
No: her sock is wet. She blinks, and realizes it's Copper's nose. She's whining, a little, nosing at Blue's foot.
Blue blinks, lifting her head from her arm. She's not entirely sure when she fell asleep last night, but whenever it was it was unexpectedly enough that she hadn't changed into pajamas to do it, or closed the door. It's the sort of sleep that feels like she was dragged kicking into it and it wasn't keen to let her go, but it had no dreams, or rest to it.
"Hey, girl," she says sleepily, pushing herself up on her elbows and looking around. "What's up?" It's not entirely common for Copper to come wake her up; not, at least, without Adam in her wake. There's a tension to her, even as she starts wagging her tail at Blue's voice. Her speckled ears flicker back and she picks up her feet and puts them down as though she would jump up, but she's too aware that's not good dog behavior.
It could just be hunger, impatience. But why would she come to Blue to go out or be fed? It twists a strange knot into Blue's stomach, and she swings her legs over the edge of the bed, rubbing her eyes. Copper huffs softly, encouraging or urgent, and turns back toward the door, running out to the hallway and back to Blue. Blue frowns, trying to listen as she follows her, but the house is silent as though asking her to answer her own question.
"Did your boy forget to feed you, Cops," she asks with an unsteady tone of nonchalance, reaching to ruffle the dog's ears. He's always with her; it's as unsettling as seeing Chainsaw without Ronan or Tris without her tattoos. Maybe Ronan got him out of the house somewhere, or he got Ronan out of the house - both of them need it. Maybe he was called urgently into work. There could be an absolutely normal explanation. "Hey, Adam," she calls, "come get your dog."
There's no answer.
Blue clucks to her, light-toned as though speaking to a small child she was wary of upsetting. "Come on, girl, let's go find Adam. Yeah! Go find him."
"Find it" is a command Copper knows, and takes to with gusto, and she puts her nose to the ground, taking off eagerly, but then pauses and circles back, looking at Blue plaintively. Blue looks straight back at her, sort of willing her confusion away, as though it's Copper being difficult that is the problem here. Copper wags her tail a couple of times, heads toward Adam's room ahead of Blue, and whuffs gently, turning back around to look at Blue.
"Adam," Blue calls louder, looking around the common area of the house, following Copper their rooms. "Ronan? Guys."
Not even a raven answers her, and Blue can feel her lips tingle with anxiety, her heart pick up. They've all done this too recently for the idea not to be in her head -- what if he's gone? Or Ronan, what if Ronan disappeared and Adam left to look for him or had to get out of the house to process it?
She wants to be sick, a little. The warehouse feels impossibly big as she calls through the halls, ducks her head downstairs, plays a failing game with Copper and disturbs Persephone-cat. She checks their rooms -- they aren't in them. Ronan's is spare, but seems sparer, somehow. Adam's -- Adam's is full of everything that should be there. Textbooks, toolbox, the elderly floating rats that belonged to Noah and Bay before him and have been passed along again.
His phone, and his keyring.
They sit, patiently, insufferably, on the nightstand desk with his wallet, waiting for him to idly grab them on the way out of the house.
Blue stares. Her stomach has become some kind of hole, and she numbly, desperately fumbles for her own phone, unlocking it and somehow, she can't tell how, paging to the contacts. She finds Adam's number and dials, eyes fixed on his phone. It's going to ring. It has to ring.
We're sorry, Darrow tells her. This number has been disconnected....
She dials Ronan, already rehearsing the sort of thing she could say, should say, about one's only real love being gone, wondering if he knows already, the strange situation they're both in.
And maybe she knows, a little, already, the message she's going to hear.
Blue slides down onto the floor and sits there for a long time staring at her contacts list. The rats' wheel squeaks in their cage. At some point, Copper sighs and leans into Blue's side and she wraps her arms around the dog. "It's okay," she says to her, distantly. "It's gonna be okay."
It's not okay. She's the only one in Hywel, she's going to be here by herself for who knows how long and she suddenly can't stand it. She wants to cry, only she doesn't quite know how. She wants to break something.
She can't even call Gansey because he might never wake up.
She stares at her contacts list. Over half of her favorites are only there because she can't bear to delete them. Ellie she's not talking to really. Tris it seems like it might be a lot, all at once...
Biffy...Biffy might not be up, but he might be, and he'll at least have tea. Impulsively, she hits the call button.
No: her sock is wet. She blinks, and realizes it's Copper's nose. She's whining, a little, nosing at Blue's foot.
Blue blinks, lifting her head from her arm. She's not entirely sure when she fell asleep last night, but whenever it was it was unexpectedly enough that she hadn't changed into pajamas to do it, or closed the door. It's the sort of sleep that feels like she was dragged kicking into it and it wasn't keen to let her go, but it had no dreams, or rest to it.
"Hey, girl," she says sleepily, pushing herself up on her elbows and looking around. "What's up?" It's not entirely common for Copper to come wake her up; not, at least, without Adam in her wake. There's a tension to her, even as she starts wagging her tail at Blue's voice. Her speckled ears flicker back and she picks up her feet and puts them down as though she would jump up, but she's too aware that's not good dog behavior.
It could just be hunger, impatience. But why would she come to Blue to go out or be fed? It twists a strange knot into Blue's stomach, and she swings her legs over the edge of the bed, rubbing her eyes. Copper huffs softly, encouraging or urgent, and turns back toward the door, running out to the hallway and back to Blue. Blue frowns, trying to listen as she follows her, but the house is silent as though asking her to answer her own question.
"Did your boy forget to feed you, Cops," she asks with an unsteady tone of nonchalance, reaching to ruffle the dog's ears. He's always with her; it's as unsettling as seeing Chainsaw without Ronan or Tris without her tattoos. Maybe Ronan got him out of the house somewhere, or he got Ronan out of the house - both of them need it. Maybe he was called urgently into work. There could be an absolutely normal explanation. "Hey, Adam," she calls, "come get your dog."
There's no answer.
Blue clucks to her, light-toned as though speaking to a small child she was wary of upsetting. "Come on, girl, let's go find Adam. Yeah! Go find him."
"Find it" is a command Copper knows, and takes to with gusto, and she puts her nose to the ground, taking off eagerly, but then pauses and circles back, looking at Blue plaintively. Blue looks straight back at her, sort of willing her confusion away, as though it's Copper being difficult that is the problem here. Copper wags her tail a couple of times, heads toward Adam's room ahead of Blue, and whuffs gently, turning back around to look at Blue.
"Adam," Blue calls louder, looking around the common area of the house, following Copper their rooms. "Ronan? Guys."
Not even a raven answers her, and Blue can feel her lips tingle with anxiety, her heart pick up. They've all done this too recently for the idea not to be in her head -- what if he's gone? Or Ronan, what if Ronan disappeared and Adam left to look for him or had to get out of the house to process it?
She wants to be sick, a little. The warehouse feels impossibly big as she calls through the halls, ducks her head downstairs, plays a failing game with Copper and disturbs Persephone-cat. She checks their rooms -- they aren't in them. Ronan's is spare, but seems sparer, somehow. Adam's -- Adam's is full of everything that should be there. Textbooks, toolbox, the elderly floating rats that belonged to Noah and Bay before him and have been passed along again.
His phone, and his keyring.
They sit, patiently, insufferably, on the nightstand desk with his wallet, waiting for him to idly grab them on the way out of the house.
Blue stares. Her stomach has become some kind of hole, and she numbly, desperately fumbles for her own phone, unlocking it and somehow, she can't tell how, paging to the contacts. She finds Adam's number and dials, eyes fixed on his phone. It's going to ring. It has to ring.
We're sorry, Darrow tells her. This number has been disconnected....
She dials Ronan, already rehearsing the sort of thing she could say, should say, about one's only real love being gone, wondering if he knows already, the strange situation they're both in.
And maybe she knows, a little, already, the message she's going to hear.
Blue slides down onto the floor and sits there for a long time staring at her contacts list. The rats' wheel squeaks in their cage. At some point, Copper sighs and leans into Blue's side and she wraps her arms around the dog. "It's okay," she says to her, distantly. "It's gonna be okay."
It's not okay. She's the only one in Hywel, she's going to be here by herself for who knows how long and she suddenly can't stand it. She wants to cry, only she doesn't quite know how. She wants to break something.
She can't even call Gansey because he might never wake up.
She stares at her contacts list. Over half of her favorites are only there because she can't bear to delete them. Ellie she's not talking to really. Tris it seems like it might be a lot, all at once...
Biffy...Biffy might not be up, but he might be, and he'll at least have tea. Impulsively, she hits the call button.
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Blue gave him a quietly curious look and Biffy thought he really could take her at her words there. Good news, or at least the absence of bad, was probably welcome and if he was here to fill up the air, then he could talk. "Lyall and I have been thinking of trying to establish something like BUR was back home. We wouldn't have government sanction, of course, so we'd be acting as a private agency..."
Perhaps he ought to cut to the chase, to the part that involved Blue and that might give her some kind of project. "I know the back room of the café isn't being used at the moment and I wondered if you might allow it to be leased to someone else?"
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Besides, in this place, it's not as if otherwise un-thought-of marriages aren't a little rational. It's like going off to war, just living here. You never know what's going to happen or who's going to be gone tomorrow.
She looks up at that. Her mind feels a little foggy, distant, but she forces herself to keep up. Blue knows a little about what BUR was, not much. But there are definitely people who keep the supernatural in line here. Or kept, she realizes sadly. With Athos gone, Kingsman is -- well, she doesn't even know if it's still running, and a lot of the people who do that sort of stuff work independently and sporadically. Besides, as much as she loves Alec, it might be better to have werewolves investigating werewolves and that sort of thing, not working with an inborn confirmation bias.
She realizes he's asking her for permission for something pretty large, and Blue blinks. "Yeah," she says, in surprise and then realizes how good that might be. "I mean, there's some stuff that we've just put in there, but that's easy to clean up. Actually, that -- would be more than fine, that'd be great. We've been running in the red for, who knows how long, honestly. That back room hasn't been rented since before I started working there, and with Noah gone, I have to work twice the shifts, and so bookkeeping keeps getting put down --"
Blue rubs her face, suddenly overcome. "I have so much that I have to do. Like. Today. Tomorrow, anyway. I don't know how I'm going to go to work, or where I'm even sleeping..." She can't imagine sleeping in Hywel all by herself, with no one even maybe going back to it.
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"You are going to stay here," he said firmly, if she wanted that sort of firmness. If not, he quickly added, "But only if you want to." There was probably at least the dog to account for, based on the scents clinging to Blue, but it would probably be all right to give the dog the run of the barn. Daine might even be able to communicate with her to let her know not to cringe or challenge.
"You could get a hotel room for the night." Perhaps it was insensitive, given her comment about the café being in debt, but it seemed a better option than sleeping alone in that massive warehouse. A pain he knew well.
He could not speak for his lover and Beta, but already with Blue's tentative agreement, he was beginning to formulate a plan. Lyall wasn't Channing when it came to figures but he had a good head for sums and Biffy had recently acquired twenty years' knowledge of running a hat shop. Between the two of them, they'd probably be able to get the café's books in order. And he, at least, planned to invest handsomely into making sure the place stayed open.
After all, what good was a front for another business if it closed?
He would Manage this and he would find a way to make it all right.