nctcricusâ:
Regâs narrowed survey on his nephew lingered following the tease. Although the surface taunt bore a touch affectionate in his own way of it, in those beats between, a deeper concerned creased his brow line on the eve of a smooth exhale. Watching.Â
Maybe it was the way heâd said it. Familiar â and yet a fixture of verbal abnormality in the rapport between them all the same. Â
âSeeinâ fingsâŠem?â A hint of something rhetorical â dogmatic. He lifted the end of his cigarette to fill something of the assessment between his nephew and predisposed presumptions already forming in his own head over it. The beat thick, delayed, he turned to lift a stacked cup of china from behind the bar, before he connected it in front of him on the countertop. âHowâbout coffee? Youâre old eânough tâdrink aâbitâaâblack by now aintcha?â His browline softened, adjacent to the bleed of tobacco on a loose hold of his smoke as he poured.
ââWhaâ thâ fuck you mean youâre seeinâ fings, Jimâmy?âŠ.. Your birfâdayâs cominâ up â need meâtâgetchaâoneâa âose olâspinâstâahâ strings tâ keep them specâiâcles up âround your neck where you canâkeep trackâovâem? â   Â
Much to his surprise the coffee he didnât ask for had a calming aroma that caused him to lean further into the counter. Reg was always concerned for him in some capacity or another, and he certainly had cause to be.Â
Jimmy entertains the thought that maybe Reg knows what heâs done, but their conversation would have begun much differently he thinks. His uncle doesnât appreciate needless violence. Itâs not something Jimmy ever asked to be good at, but heâs learned that itâs more or less acceptable as long as itâs not your own neighborhood.
He travels more now. Ever since heâd fallen out with Johnny he does everything solo now. Heâs learned how to become more self reliant, and he hasnât spiraled out of control yet. Mostly for that fact that picks fights and prays on people far from home who have no clue who he is. No one around here cares about spikes in crime as long as its kept far away. Thereâs nothing to link it back to him and he comes home to carry on with things as if nothing ever happened.Â
Heâs quiet until he finally picks up his glass, sipping at some of the piping hot coffee with ease, relaxed by the warmth it provides him from the cold heâd come in from. âPlaces,â he corrects before setting the cup to the counter, his other hand coming to hold it in place, warm his hands. âShouldâve said, sâjus a smol visit. âFraid youâll have no need buyinâ anyfin like thaâ. Long trip. Finkinâ Iâll find someplace I like. Anâ anyway, Iâm too old for birfdays now, hm?âÂ
















