brobeforehos | 003 ⇨ one day you will miss a step

I'm trying for a new decoration style. I'll call this one...bohemian hippy disaster chic. What do you think?

[She looks very satisfied with the name, and all.] I'm not sure, he can be scarily patient.

[A trait which Mae doesn't always possess. Like today - she's read that curse epitaph, and she's kept quiet for long. But she can tell by the way Jamie and Alan try to isolate her from it that they're worried she'll believe it'll be true. That she'll think it that way. And Jamie doesn't need those sort of thoughts. She'll have to be invincible big sister again.] Hey...Jamie?

It has the perfect ring to it. [He will make her a glittery sign for her door and everything. Don't think he won't.]

... You're right. Maybe it would be more like months. But I don't know, I am sure my abuse of the laundry basket is enough to reduce it down to weeks.

[He is absorbed in thinking that Alan must believe he's forgotten what a washing machine is, but Mae's tone snaps him out of it.] Yes?

[A glittery sign will be an amazing roomwarming gift. She pauses - unsure how to take up the issue. A roundabout way, maybe.]

You shouldn't worry about Alan so much, I think he'll learn the benefits of mess while living with us Crawfords. And, besides, when we're old and wrinkly and still fabulous and living together with our nineteen cats, I'll let you abuse the laundry basket still.

Maybe Alan will come around to our way of living eventually. [He grins.]

Oh, good. Because with nineteen cats running around the place, I think the cupboards will be stocked full of cat food rather than laundry detergent. But at least we'll always be in our natural habitat that way-- loads of mess.

If you can't beat them, join them.

It will be a purrfect environment.

[Raise of the eyebrow.] Really, Mae? Cat puns?

[... but he's still smiling regardless.]

I know, I have no idea how I went there, either. [Grins back, she nudges him with her shoulder.]

It'll be like that. [How we end.] Not dancing.

You're just getting into the cat lady persona. [He nudges her back, mock sighing.

... But the smile does melt off his face as he realises the implications of her last comment.] ... So you saw the post, then.

[She pauses and leans into him, head on his shoulder - Jamie can be the pillar this time, maybe he'll appreciate it.]

Someone told me it's a curse. I'm not going to pay any attention to it...[Besides - it'll be harder to dance and summon demons when she's been claimed by one already. She's one corner of the block that's been peed on, so she's pretty sure that no-one will try.]

[Jamie puts an arm around her shoulders. Look, he can definitely be the pillar when he puts his mind to it!]

Good-- I mean, great! You shouldn't pay attention to it. Because... the curses here can be very horrible, and strange, and apparently also morbid. And really, you're a very good dancer, so I'm sure you're fine in that department, too. A lot of people seem to have gotten strange epitaphs today, anyway... I'm sure none of it is accurate. [... though he doesn't know about the mark, hence why he's more panicked about it. And babbling is always a refuge.]

I won't fall to a circle, not any time soon. [She pauses, and thinks things through - she's going to tell Jamie one thing. One thing only about the outcome of the future, because it's something she found out after Jamie left for London. But she thinks it'll be something he'll like to hear.]

Merris named me and Sin the candidates for taking over for her. For leading the Market. So - see? I couldn't dance.

[Jamie is... surprised to hear this, to say the least. Just because it's something he doesn't know, not fully-- something that happens later. Totally unknown territory. It sort of makes him curious about what else happens, but...]

She did? [A frown, then he smiles again.] Way to go, Mae. I'm sure you'll win. And then I'll be able to brag about my awesome sister, leader of the Market. As well as all the other awesome things you are, of course.

Yes, beautiful and stylish and with a good hand at interior decorating? [She teases, but she does like the trust Jamie has in her.]

Sin'll be a fantastic rival. I hope we won't somehow become enemies because of this, but - I really want to win. There's so much I love about the Market, and so much I could change. [To make sure no-one scorns the Ryves. To make sure her brother is welcome because he cannot become evil.]

Not to mention witty, intelligent, courageous... [He could keep going! He is full of endless praise when it comes to his sister, okay.

He pauses a little. He knows Mae, and he knows how determined and stubborn she is-- and also how bossy. She'll make a good leader. And he knows that if she says she's going to change things, she will. It's comforting, in a way... especially after Nick's comment about the Market, and after all of Gerald's comments about him and his magic.]

You'll do great. You might even make magical history books. If they have those. Do they have those? You know, other than all the myths and legends.

[She stiffles a grin and a blush, and taps her chin thoughtfully.] I'll commission Alan to write one. In exchange for maybe five magic swords. Negotiable price.

[That's counting chickens before the eggs are even laid, but Mae can dream while she's here. She can dream of a happy ending, where they've mourned their dead, where the Market is bustling with activity, the Ryves brothers are laughing with Jamie in her caravan and Sin is her trusted right hand, where no-one hates and no-one discriminates, and no-one kills. A Market leader with a demon mark - won't that be new.]

Can we keep this between us, though?

You better get busy finding those magic swords, then. [... oh, god. Jamie would love for that to be the future-- a future where he is definitely no longer in love with Gerald, too, because that was quite possibly the worst decision in the entire world.]

Between us? Sure. [He frowns, looking a little contemplative.] Alan's... he's from before us, isn't he? I mean... not that he's said exactly when or anything, to me, but I think he gets confused sometimes when I mention things, so I'm wondering if it's because they haven't... happened for him yet.

[Like the whole Nick back at school with him thing. Jamie knows that Mae is ahead of him, timeline-wise, but he trusts her to tell him things if he needs to know them.]

Yeah, he's from before...[Everyone's from before her, as far as Mae knows, which makes for some probably wrong decisions taken with all the best intentions of the world. Telling Jamie their mother dies after proving she loves them, or telling Alan how both of them have a mark now and how he's under Gerald's control in exchange for Sin's brother's safety - she wants to avoid giving them that sort of pain in a place where they can't do anything to fix it. But she has a feeling it'll hit her in the face, eventually.]

I don't think I know how time works here, but I don't think it'd be safe to say what happens in the future, in case...we change it.

Neither do I. ... I was never very good at science, though. [And he thinks this is probably a bit beyond him, anyway. The space-time continuum and all that.]

But-- I get it. No spoilers. Well, other than the Market thing, anyway. But I've heard that people sometimes forget they were ever here when they go back home.

I think no-one's good at that sort of science yet. [Time travel. Pfft, ridiculous. Of course, so are demons, supposedly, and look who can't stop kissing one.]

I don't think knowing that part would affect you. Besides, I wanted to share...Bit of optimism.

003 ⇨ one day you will miss a step

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