“Biology. Shit, you can go anywhere you want with that, the possibilities are fuckin’ endless. You might be one of those badass scientists that cures cancer,” the male enthused with a genuine grin. It was no secret that neither brother considered post-secondary education as worthy of their time with the way the job system worked these days, but he did think it was necessary for degrees in science and mathematics. Liberal arts degrees, not so much. People had as much of a shot at making it with no education at all if they put their mind to it and dedicated themselves to their craft, in his opinion, or they could learn them in trade schools. As always, Carmen’s words about Maddox brought a smirk to his face, if only because he could relate at least a little. “Every day, twice a day, is too fuckin’ far, I will say that– every day until some time has passed until they get used to the fuckin’ separation is… alright, not unreasonable, but only once. But hey, don’t shit on boyfriends, we’re not all like that. I call my wife every day when I’m on tour and we can’t be together, and I guess I can be a lil’ clingy, but… we’re in love. Trust me, you’d feel different if you were in love– about your boyfriend anyway, not your fuckin’ brother. If a guy is callin’ you all the time, he probably just wants to smash… word of advice. Know you’re a bad bitch enough to ignore that shit, though.” To be fair, Cyrek had been his own independent from an extremely young age, and love had seldom been a word he could associate positively; he thought he could get a free pass on that part of it. Receiving genuine love from someone softened his rougher edges, soothed his often unpredictable temperament. “But, y’know, I come from a way different life… I never really had parents around all the time and shit. Guess I see it from that perspective,” he mused, momentarily wondering if he would have felt the same had his mother been able to be present in his childhood rather than out struggling to bring home groceries and pay for the lights. Laughing softly, Cyrek flipped his phone over on the table and unlocked it, pulling up a photo of Coraline from their wedding, sliding it over. “Coraline. Our daughter’s name is Mazikeen… She’s a ball of fuckin’ energy like me, but I promise she’s a well-mannered four. No terrible two’s.” His voice was gentle, leaning his head in his hand, a smirk naturally forming. The memories had, perhaps, been soured for him with time due to Kora’s behavior; Cyrek was never good with positivity, deep down. Pierced eyebrow quirking up with interest, he inquired, “Just moved, huh? I lived here on and off for a long fuckin’ time… you want me to show you the good shit? Like the best doughnut shoppe in all of NYC?”
“Hey, now that is something I could work towards. Maybe a bit of a stretch.” Carmen still wasn’t worried about it. She had a few years to go before she had to figure out what she was going to do. Right now, she wanted to focus on getting good grades, so that she could go into something even bigger. It wasn’t exactly important to make it incredibly big anywhere. She already had the fact that she was apart of a famous crime syndicate. Nobody would ever know her as an individual, but as a group, her family name would be known. She began to roll her eyes as Cyrek began to speak about her brother, but she stopped herself. Their first meeting in years wasn’t about to be soured. Maybe he wasn’t trying to lecture her, but to Carmen, it felt like one. He was right, though. She could ask Maddox to tone it down, even just a little bit. “He’s just worried I’m gonna get into trouble or somethin’. He hasn’t been away from me since I was born, aside from like, showering. He’s always been there. It’s weird for him.” She tried to give her brother the benefit of the doubt. This was weird for both of them, and even if he was being quite overbearing, he had reasons. Her parents still checked up on her, but only through email, and maybe once a month or so. Carmen tried to reason it. It was better than not having any family to talk to at all. At least he cared. “Yeah. We’ve had our parents. Half the time they were so busy though that he just taught me everything. The first word I learned wasn’t momma or dada. It was brother, and then Maddox. He pretty much taught me how to walk. I love my parents, and it wasn’t their fault it had to be that way, but he just had to do way too much. It’s not much different than a parent checking up on their kid.” Maddox had taught Carmen so much in life. How to walk, talk, eat. He was the reason she was even allowed to begin helping out her family. He taught her how to shoot a gun, how to kill someone. He taught her love. Being sheltered her entire life, he was all that she had, for everything. Although in the beginning she had complained, she now felt like she had to stick up for Maddox a little bit. His intentions were good, at the very least. Her face softened as he showed her the pictures, a small ‘Aww’ slipping out as she looked them over. “I need to meet this little one.” As he suggested showing her around, she was quick to nod, collecting her things and shoving them into her backpack. “Uh, yes! I need a breather from this work.”
