her brother looked like shit. she’d hardly been faring any better on sleep – not that it was the fault of the loyal three, but the terror did linger, a haunting in the back of her mind.[break][break]

cillian’s unexpected hug was met with rigidness that only softened some after a moment. ”you too.” she squeezed back the lightest bit before stepping away, and smiling at temp in his apron. ”hello!” she called after him as he hurried back into the kitchen.[break][break]

when asked for her drink preference, she considered. before, when they’d drank together, it had been scotch, but life had proven too fragile, too unpredictable recently not to drink what she really wanted...[break][break]

and then there was temp again, back with a hug too crushing to get out her answer in time, followed by a chef’s suggestion for a wine pairing she couldn’t simply turn down.[break][break]

”white wine it is, then,” she agreed.[break][break]

her eyes slid over to cillian at the mention of denying a fish head dinner. ”did he?” thank you, read the look in her eyes, before falling back to his husband. ”everything smells lovely. looks, too. thanks for having me.”[break][break]

how different it was from what she and her brother had once known in galar, and how different from the floor of an alien spaceship prison.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn Tempest Quinn [break]

her eyes were grateful as she nodded to her brother, knowing she’d always be welcome. as angry as she sometimes felt at him, he would not turn his back on her.[break][break]

”maybe i should,” she answered temp with another smile. by the sight of her family, she was reminded of their power; of gods like shadow lugia, and beside them, the monster that was necrozma, and there was still hope for their city.[break][break]

after they were all seated and the wine was poured, she welled with pride at cillian’s hint. however, as she opened her mouth to make the announcement, she stopped short, caught entirely off guard by temp's question about Shred .[break][break]

“what? no. i mean, i checked on him i guess. he’s got that weird mark.” she stared at her brother-in-law, brow furrowed as she put together that it only made sense they knew one another, and wondering what conversations had gone on behind her back. “um.”[break][break]

there was another awkward pause, before she proceeded, ”actually, i’ve been promoted. i’m back in my old office.” her smile returned, and she sipped her wine.[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn Tempest Quinn [break]

“he says it burns him,” she told cillian, of shred’s mark, and idly realized again that fate seemed to persistently torture the beast – though perhaps that was not giving near enough credit to poor decisions.[break][break]

velmos’s funeral was a mess lulu hardly wanted to remember. the effort she’d gone through to appear mournful had seemed to benefit her none in the end, on top of being utterly ridiculous. “a silly thing that was.”[break][break]

at temp’s comment that shred thought highly of her, she played unaware. “hm. does he?” wine met her lips. she wished only to know less than she already did.[break][break]

about the promotion, she smiled, “thank you! it is good to be back.” but then she shifted, the joy fading coolly, a familiar twinkle of suspicion and spite in her eye. ”but, speaking of the death of velmos, in my return i’ve come to realize something troubling.”[break][break]

”Greyson Connors must die, yes? his actions are irredeemable.” she paused, head tilting as her eyes fell across the meal. the dead fish. the cutlery. ”so, why is it that Naomi Sato is seeking to ally with him?”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn Tempest Quinn [break]

‘a necessary thing, to maintain an alliance.’ lulu had thought the same, until people like THEO BECKETT and jayden cross had gone and butchered it. she pursed her lips, only just refraining from arguing it, but she had another certain blue-haired fish to fry. and hell, Naomi Sato had been at the funeral too.[break][break]

her brother-in-law’s violent sentiment about Greyson Connors earned a tip of her wine in agreement. ”yes, temp. my thoughts exactly.” after a sip, she placed it down, and in the immediate wake of a dropped bombshell, proceeded to cut into her fish.[break][break]

cillian’s expression fell and she noted her brother’s grip on his dinner knife. a well-timed bite hid her smirk. the look in her eyes as she set her fork down then, smirk already faded, was not unlike the one she’d had when casting doubt about the unown’s previous avatar, at rocket’s round table.[break][break]

”mysterious, isn’t it?” she picked up her wine again, swirling it. ”they were imprisoned together. he was 'kind' to her. now, she thinks we need him, to fight the drk triad – our real enemies.”[break][break]

[attr="class","ooc"]Cillian Quinn Tempest Quinn [break]