#romy 001

[howlthorne]

Who: @romythorne When/Where: Late July, After the Conclave, Romy's House

This was starting to get ridiculous. He’d dropped everything, packed up his truck, and driven across the country weeks ago, and what did he have to show for it? Nearly a month in this town, the town his only family was living in, safe and happy, and he hadn’t even gotten it together to go speak to her.

That had to change. He was being stupid. The porch was right there. What could go wrong? Pull your shit together, Thorne. You’re a grown man, act like it.

Kind of a terrible pep-talk, but he’d pushed this off too long. He had to at least see her, had to at least get in-person proof that the night that had torn his whole family away from him hadn’t really taken everyone he’d loved. 

He really didn’t know how he was going to approach this. Weeks of trying to figure out what he’d actually say when he finally met her had boiled down to “Hi, I’m your brother, surprise!”, which was probably a terrible idea. He had a good couple of seconds to mull it over, before the door opened and he got to see who answered: Avi’s date from the gala, one of the humans he’d tried to keep a close eye on after things went bad and he started to worry that they might get hurt. 

That was enough to make him freeze for a moment, trying to put things back in order in his brain. Would Avi have had any obligation to tell him about her? He'd made it clear he was worried about being dangerous to her since she was human, that might have made him hold off on telling him, but still... if this really was her, that was a bit of a dick move.

Why was she even there in the first place? Was his sister dating the alpha of his new pack? That can’t be her, right? Could it?

Either way, he had to talk. Sometimes it helped that he wore his heart on his sleeve, but freezing up on the porch with that dopey hopeful-sad look he knew he couldn't keep from his face wasn't going to get him anywhere right now.

“Hi, uh... is Blue—” Nope, wrong name. Already off to a bad start. Just because he got to name his baby sister and had been keeping her in his head as Baby Blue for the past two and a half decades doesn’t mean anyone else knows what he’s talking about. “I mean, um. Romy Blue, is she here?”

[autumnshowell]

bookends

who: @romythorne

Autumn comes out of the back of Bookends from downstairs, carrying a box of books that, just over half a year past would have been groan worthy to get down a hall, let alone up a flight of steep, narrow steps.

She'd only vanished for a few moments, to grab some stuff to restock the new fiction display up front. She moves past the antique display cases first, and threads between a few shelves before setting the box down and setting about shelving. They're romance novels, nothing too spectacular though she does occasionally stop to read the back of one, just in case it appeals.

Then the bell rings, the old, silver bell at the door that gets stuck sometimes and she has to have Aria unstick it, both because she's taller and, well — Autumn has learned recently what silver does to her skin.

"Hello!" She says, standing from where she's crouched in front of the shelf, and picks the box up, moving it with her back around to where the counter is. Her tone's chipper, in stark contrast with the storm going on in her mind. If there is a reply back, it's quiet enough to blend in with the quiet ambience of the store itself, and so she decides to just give the customer their peace. Scribbling something down on a checklist, she looks back up, and calls over to the shopper. "Let me know if you need any help finding something!"