House O'Neill

Without Tradition, We Fall Apart

[exsousiis]

the-self-proclaimed-prince​:

“Mhm. Some Swiss guy she met in Zurich.”

“That seems...kind of sketchy.” 

[exsousiis]

the-self-proclaimed-prince​:

@runawaymun​

“So… my mum’s dating again.” 

“Wait...like...dating, like...a fella?” 

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

Of course they had ‘staff.’ It didn’t even surprise her at this point. What was next? Horses? A private jet? The Queen of England on speed dial? 

“If you make plans now and just kinda hold on to them, then if your parents ever are out of town, you’re already good to go, you know? I mean, come on. It’d be a rager.”

“Well we do have horses, and my dad’s not friends with the queen of England, but he does know a whole lot of ambassadors.”

It was said as more of an embarrassed joke than a boast. 

“But man-- a party,” he blew out a breath. “If I ever throw one, you’re coming.” 

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

Edna craned her neck like an owl trying to see everything on the way to the kitchen. There were so many rooms! What did they need with so many rooms?

“Leftovers would be grand,” Edna said. Though she made note of the snacks. Maybe she could ask for some later or sneak a few into her bag.

The kitchen was reasonably sized as far as kitchens went, but to Edna it felt huge. They had a dishwasher, tons of counterspace, an island, and really shiny-looking appliances. She hopped up onto one of the barstools at the island. 

“You’ve got to throw a party here. This house is way too big and cool to not throw a party.”

Daniel pulled some pasta out of the fridge to heat up.

“I mean, yeah. But I’d need to find a whole weekend to do it. Otherwise the staff’ll be around. My parents are nosy as fuck and there’s no way I wouldn’t get in huge trouble if I tried to throw a party in one night.” 

“It’d take some serious planning.” 

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

“I need a tour,” she said, excited and curious now that the surprise had worn off. “Start in the kitchen for snacks. We can work our way around and then, you know… end with your room? We have til eight, right?”

“Ok. Kitchen it is.”

He gestured in the direction of the hall and brought her down it, passing the cloakroom, then the glass french doors that led to the ballroom (the furniture inside all shrouded in dropclothes to keep out the dust), then the double doors to the games room, through the double doors into and into the private section of the house. At last, to the kitchen.

“So, I think we have leftovers from last night, or-- like, there are loads of snacks in the cupboards.” 

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

Hungry as she was, the house itself was way too distracting. She looked around, wide-eyes, at the room with all its windows through those open double-doors, the two-stories-high ceiling to the entryway, that split staircase with its polished wood. Even the rug under her feet looked expensive, not to mention art on the walls. 

“I knew you were loaded, but–” She slipped off her shoes and left them by the door. “Fuck.”

Suddenly his parents buying him a new vespa made perfect sense. They had to have money out their ears with a place like this.

Daniel winced. “Yeah, loaded might be a bit of an understatement.” 

He didn’t mention that this certainly wasn’t the only house of its type his family owned, nor that there were more in other countries across Europe, no less.

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

Edna couldn’t imagine what they needed all that space for on their own. Any thought of the garage, however, were entirely dashed away at first sight of the house.

It was huge. Unreasonably huge. Castle-level huge. She stopped dead in her tracks.

“This is your house?!”

Daniel glanced at Edna, then looked back at the house looming in front of him as if he was seeing it for the first time. Then, a shrug, a little laugh as he climbed the front steps.

“Yeah. My dad’s family’s house anyway.” 

He fit his key to the lock and let them in to the entryway, then shut and locked it after them. The staircase rose, straight ahead, split into opposite directions. The glass doors to the morning parlour were propped open. the late-afternoon light pouring in. 

“Um--” he almost looked embarassed. He just genuinely hadn’t thought to tell her. “My room’s upstairs. But if you want to eat something--” he gestured down the hall a little awkwardly. 

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

Edna thoroughly enjoyed the ride. It took a few minutes to get used to it, but after the brief adjustment period, it was just plain fun. As much as she knew it was for safety, she wished she could take her helmet off and let the wind blow through her hair. 

They left the city proper and started out into the nearby countryside. She was beginning to think he might live on a farm of some kind, when they reached the orchard and gates, the what looked to be a work shed of some kind. Or a huge garage. Or both. Either way it was bigger than her whole apartment.

Following his line of site, was a large house peaking up beyond the trees. She wondered how many other houses were around here. 

She took off her helmet and fluffed out her hair.

She pointed her thumb to the garage. “So do you like, share this with neighbors or…?” 

“Uh...we don’t really have neighbors? Not for miles, anyway.” 

He started up the gravel walk, which took them around to the front of the house. Thankfully it was Will and Cecilia’s day off, so there wouldn’t be any staff to duck either. 

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

Edna put on the helmet then got on behind him, arms around his waist. She was admittedly even more excited about the trip to his house then their plans once they got there. It was new, fun, and she’d been wanting to ask him to take her out on a ride for a while. 

“Should I just hold on? Hold still?” 

“Yeah, just hang on to me, feet up. You’ll be good.” 

He waited until she felt secure, and then started off down the road. It took them a little over an hour to reach the house and drive past the main gate and through the gravel drive. They talked most of the way, sometimes riding in silence and just enjoying the uncharacteristically good weather. 

Daniel pulled up to the detached garage (converted from a centuries-old Tudor carriage house), and then nodded back to the main house, just visible over the tops of the surrounding apple orchard.

“It’s up back that ways a bit.” 

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

Edna made a quick round of saying bye to her friends and stopped by the girl’s room to change out of her uniform before meeting up with Daniel.

“I didn’t even know two people could ride these.” 

It made sense. It was basically like a motorcycle and she’d seen pairs of people on those before. What she didn’t comment on was how loaded his parents had to be that they bought him a shiny new vespa at age sixteen. She didn’t know how much they cost, but it looked expensive.

“I think you’re technically not supposed to do it, but no one’s ever stopped me.”

He climbed on and offered her his extra helmet. 

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

Edna closed her locker and leaned against it, as if contemplating, though she already had her answer. She looked him up and down, tall and fit with those gorgeous blue eyes and wonderfully kissable lips. He really did know how to show a girl a good time.

“Meet you outside.”

“Great.” 

He went past her to his locker, collected the stuff he’d need for his homework, and then met Edna out by the front door.

“Ready? Vespa’s over this way.” He gestured. 

[exsousiis]

thexunextraordinary​:

Edna was at her locker, tucking away a couple books she didn’t need to bring home, and taking out the ones she did. Why were textbooks so big? They never read the whole things in class anyway.

“You inviting me over or throwing a party?” Either way her answer was yes. Whatever Daniel had in mind would definitely be more fun than homework. Plus she was hungry. Hanging out that late pretty much guaranteed dinner.

“Oh uh-uh. I wouldn’t even attempt to throw a party unless they were gone all weekend. But, you know, if you want to come over...” 

[exsousiis]

Class had just let out for the day. Daniel caught up with Edna, shouldering his messenger bag. 

“So...I have the house to myself until eight tonight. Everyone’s out.” 

[ethicalmemes]

Bro… (๑•́ ω •̀๑) #EthicalMemes

[exsousiis]

@the-self-proclaimed-prince - It’s Orla and Tristan 😂

[exsousiis]

the-self-proclaimed-prince​:

Sinead was too aware of Delta’s mounting anxiety to appreciate the normalcy of the lower district as she might have otherwise. They drew eyes, of course. A few people snapped photos. She expected to hear some gossip about her walking hand-in-hand with a clone around Cavan later.

“Just a little further,” she said when the were two blocks away. It wasn’t quite so busy the further they moved from the thoroughfare. 

Soon enough they came to Dr. Kaïs’ house. Sinead knocked on the door and, when it opened, offered Joka a warm smile.

Joka’s eyes traveled first from Keahi down to Sinead, then slowly settled on Delta. Curiosity, trepidation, and mild annoyance all mixed on her face. She returned back to Sinead and offered her a lukewarm smile, ushering her into the house.

Delta was grateful for Keahi. He was huge and comforting, even if, in his own words, Delta ‘freaked him out a little’. He felt safer with him nearby.

Joka let them into the sitting room where Dr Kaïs sat with his tablet. He looked up as they came in and offered Sinead a curt nod.

“Good to see you again, my Eldina. Please take a seat.”

[exsousiis]

the-self-proclaimed-prince​:

Seeing the way Delta shied back into the cab, Sinead offered her hand.

“We’ll be with you the whole time,” she assured him.

Tentatively, he took it and climbed out of the cab. There were people everywhere, everywhere. In Wetan they were more spread out. LevTek had been full, but everyone was always wearing the same colors and fading into the background. Here, everyone looked different, and they all talked together, laughing, shouting, calling out, playing games on the sidewalks. So many colors-- red, green, blue, lemon yellow, turquoise...

And so many smells. He couldn’t even name or recognize them all. 

Delta craned his head as they started down the street. He wanted to cover his ears. 

[exsousiis]

the-self-proclaimed-prince​:

With groves of trees, soil beneath their feet, the winding river, and wind and sky, in Wetan it was easy to forget Thol’s mechanical structure. Two years and she still found the Faeden jarringly surreal.

“Just past the Park District,” she said, as their descent slowed in the Market and Customs traffic. She had priority as an Eldina, which meant even in the worst traffic delays would be minutes rather than hours.

Delta held his breath as they sank. He expected to stop at the Science District, fingers gripping the arms of his seat. When they passed it into dense traffic below, he finally relaxed. Eldina Sinead had been telling the truth.

It took them ten minutes to finally break free from the swarm of cars, busses, and freighters that spiraled around the planet’s core. At last they came to a Cavan dock, and the car switched lines to run horizontally into the south section of the district. 

At last they came to the intersection. Keahi got out first. Delta stayed behind in the cab, hesitating, chewing on his lip. He’d only ever been to LevTek and House Grace. It was noisy here, and bright, with so many colors, so many tall buildings, so many things to look at. It was easier when all the sound had been muffled by the cab, the light filtered through the windows.