For Good Times and Bad

This wasn't somewhere that Kiyana would usually spend time, but she was still new to the island, and needed to chill out a bit before she focused on her work. 'A drink maybe', she thought to herself as she entered a weird looking store. As she entered, she was welcomed with the smell of wood, and a hunter like warmth around her.

"Wow." She said quietly to herself before taking another step. Even though she still wasn't sure as to whether she was going to drink anything tonight, she slowly walked over to the bar, and sat down beside an older looking man. She looked at him for a second, wondering if she should say something, but she turned her head forward as the bartender asked if she wanted a drink. She looked at them, and waited a few seconds before making up her mind. "I'll have a beer please." She didn't specify, just wanting to try it as she sat there, slowly letting herself relax.

She sighed lightly, looking around the room as she waited for she drink. She missed her family, she missed Kira. It wasn't the easiest to adjust to such a change, as most of her day was spent around people that ignored her or thought that she wasn't mature enough for her age to be at the school. They thought that she was worthless. It wasn't anything new to her, but she really just wanted to start over, to have new friends and people that she could talk to. People that could be silly, but at the same time be themselves and be able to talk to, which wasn't always the easiest to find.

'It will get better, you just have to wait a while and let yourself adjust.' She reassuringly said to herself right before her beer arrived. "Thanks." It was weird that they didn't even ask for her ID. She took the drink and raised it to her mouth, unsure if she wanted to drink it at that moment. She sniffed it and wrinkled her nose a bit at the bitter and weird scent. It took her a second, but then she took a spit, and then another. After a few sips, she put it down and smiled a bit.

Calloway

Don't you think you're going a little too far? the words on the screen of the laptop said before the entire thing went black.

Deliberating with chin resting upon carefully bridged fingers, Calloway marveled through the initial rush of annoyance. It could seem that Gabriel had gone and grown himself a spine at last. Fish bones, of course, but yes, it did appear that somebody was moving up in the world. The evolution from worm to roe was not one to be taken lightly and Calloway marveled at the implausible progression. For the time, it deserved more than just disdain and a good sweep under the rugs.

So Calloway thought for a while, not quite ready to heap praise onto that older brother for something that he could have and should have decades earlier. It was, ultimately, though, a leeched achivement. Even though nothing had seemed odd about the entire message, that one line was a tip off.

Gabriel, Calloway knew, was a coward.

And it was really truly irrational to be so frustrated about the email. Everything about it was so utterly Gabriel that it was clear which parts had been co-authored. There was a method to how these two siblings communicated across the distance. Calloway had it down to a script.

And as for the parts that were ad-libbed, well. The lack of the usual polite awkwardness always pointed to the pair of eyes hovering over Gabriel's shoulder.

Take care of yourself the previous line had read.

That was probably Gabriel but knowing that it could have come from somebody else ignited an uncomfortable spark of fury.

'And here I thought that I'd grown out of that,' Calloway thought. 'Pity.'

Take care of yourself it said.

Out of spite -but no, not that, that was just so petty- Calloway turned into the first bar in sight, resigned to the fact that there was a perfectly good reason for this, just not one that came immediately to mind.

Inside, it smelled unappealingly of people. So much so that Calloway felt a mild need to turn right around and leave. The sight of the trophies on the walls strengthened that urge -how base. In a strange way, however, it was reminiscent of undergraduate biology class.

Probably not what the owners were going for, but for the time, it seemed a little like a joke that Calloway could hide away from the rest of the world.

There were a few people sitting at the front -a older man and a woman who seemed to have either just walked in or was well on her way to getting completely smashed.

"Wine if you have it," Calloway told the bartender boredly, settling into the seat next to that woman. "White, whatever kind will work."

It came fast enough but maybe that was because Calloway had switched from absent half-smiles to a frown.

Take care of yourself.

Yes, whatever, "Gabriel."

The wine wasn't any good, of course. That was the point.

Kiyana leaned forward a bit, taking small and far apart sips as she looks at all the alcohol behind the counter. She smiled a bit to herself as she saw that the beer was half empty, which surprised her. The room started to have a weird feeling to it, as if everyone behind and around her was watching her, studying her. The last thing she wanted was to get wasted and need a ride home from one of these men.

As she was thinking, she jumped a bit as she heard the door to the bar open, coming out of her thoughts. She glanced backwards to see as to who it was, and to her disbelief, it was another man. She sighed a bit before he approached the table, but she then got a bit worried as the man sat right next to her.

Kiyana tried not to care, but it felt weird to be in a closed room with so many men. She sipped her beer lightly, not wanting to cause any attention towards herself. She was then alarmed as the guy to her left sprayed out his beer, lightly touching her left arm. Kiyana moved to her right a bit, wondering as to what was wrong. It took a few seconds, but she then laughed a bit and looked at the man as he asked if he got any on her.

"Yes, a bit, but it's nothing." She said, picking up her drink and taking a big swig of it. Kiyana then looked over to the guy on her right, and smiled before looking back to the guy to her left. "We kind of do." She said, deciding to rest her head on her propped up right hand.

Kiyana paused and looked a bit more towards her drink. "And it's Kiyana."

Calloway

As the girl sitting on the immediate left leaned to her side, Calloway instinctively conducted a brief check for bugs, explosives, mysterious chemicals, Kick Me signs -really anything that could be easily planted onto a person without their knowledge. If something was found, then options would range from quietly depositing it back to its original owner to slipping something ten times nastier into the drink. Preferably something fast. Maybe the vial of sulfuric acid that Calloway kept in the left sleeve. That would require some type of distraction, however, which could possibly be provided by faking some kind of medical emergency -not exactly a difficult thing to do when one had an already existing condition.

And in case there was actually something wrong with that girl, Calloway went ahead and started formulating excuses and escape plans. Oh dear. No, I've never met this person in my life. Let me run outside and call for assistance and never be seen again. Or perhaps, something Cyril would say. Wait, no. On second thought, nothing that Cyril ever said should be repeated unless hospitalization was the desired result.

He never could keep his mouth shut.

This entire stream of thought occurred in a span of roughly five seconds. Then the girl straightened out of Calloway's bubble of personal space and the doctor concluded that no, nothing appeared to be wrong at all.

Swirling the still nearly full glass of wine, Calloway glanced to the side as the girl introduced herself to the disheveled looking man to her left.

How odd, Calloway thought, finally responding that question. But the doctor refrained from saying anything out loud. As far as Calloway was concerned, it was still a closed conversation.

Maybe I should respond to Gabriel. Calloway sipped at the wine. Maybe not. Probably not. They're probably watching his email right now.

Calloway

Calloway blinked, first at the man and then just over the top of his head, as if in prayer. "Please, let's not continue that comparison," the doctor said blankly in a neutral voice. There was a mental image dancing around of Thomas Lovejoy wearing a hideous sombrero and a fake mustache, which was frankly still one of the most embarrassing Family, what family? For heaven's sake, I swear I must be adopted childhood memories that the doctor possessed. There was a reason why Calloway had taken Joan's surname instead.

However, abandoning old grievances for the time, the way that man grinned -which, combined with the presence young looking girl next to him, would have suggested something unpleasant had they been alone -it seemed like there was no getting out of this conversation. There was still wine left in the glass and Calloway was enough of a miser to be reluctant to leave it more than half full.

Oh, I suppose I should decide what voice I'm supposed to be using, the doctor mused. Or at least, choose a gender to work with. At the moment, Calloway was leaning more towards male than female. It seemed to be the general expectation these days. There was some temptation to go ahead and mimic Cyril but mostly out of amusement at the younger brother's nasally springtime voice.

There are people around, the doctor thought with some regret. So Cyril was out, and Gabriel was mimicked so often that Calloway was starting to see that voice as the default baritone. Well, I certainly don't want to sound like Thomas.

Gabriel it was, then. A minor adjustment to the pitch and then it would feel just different enough to use.

Calloway took another sip of wine and bit back a smile. Mars, Martin, Marlow, Pel, Pelleas, Pelagius, why not try something new?

"You can call me Kiril."

"Well." She smiled confidently."Nice to meet you both." She laughed a bit. "Isn't this nice?" As she smiled, she wondered as to where this would go, if they will even talk after this little introduction.

She looked down at her glass and asked the bar person for another. She wasn't one to drink, but just the thought that she could do it, without being questioned or looked at weirdly, made her want to drink, and just let everything go for once.

She looked around awkwardly at everyone again, watching their every move. It was strange to be around so many men, that all looked they had a sad back story as to how they came onto this island in the first place. "Why are you two here?" She asked the two guys that were beside her.