DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Jan 29, 2021 22:34:19 GMT
 ━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
Surprise seemed too happy, a word you’d use for a party━something to induce excitement. This wasn’t that. Darcey was happy to see Nicky again, of course, but the reason for him and Mandy dropping in wasn’t anywhere close to joyous. So, Darcey refused to make contact before or even when they’d arrived. He’d do this his own way.
He’d find Bastien, and then he’d get to Nicky.
The same freckled hands pushed his body up from where he sat on the edge of the mattress, and then pulled on a pair of trousers and a long, black coat. The cigarette hung from Darcey’s lips as he smoothed back his hair, though the longer strands on the top of his head still hung over the faded edges. Edges that were beginning to feel fluffy again, the need for a haircut past due. He still wore the dark sweater he’d slept in, not bothering to change into a new one━one that might’ve smelled a little better. He didn’t bother with most things these days, caring very little about anything other than getting to Nicky. As if his brother was some sort of saviour; as if he’d wave away Darcey’s grief with a hat trick.
Darcey knew that wasn’t true; he knew he couldn’t rely on either of his siblings to make him feel better, but Nicky had known Lorna better than Mandy ever had. There was only a five-year gap between them and Nicky, while Darcey had already been moved out by the time Mandy was born. They’d watched Nicky grow up together from the age of six; Lorna had become a staple in their household before he’d even asked her to be his girlfriend. And now… she was gone. Those memories were worthless, but maybe Nicky would be able to feel an edge of his pain. Empathize, because Nicky had lost his sister-in-law, too. He just didn’t know it yet.
Maybe a phone call would’ve been better. Maybe he should’ve let somebody else call and warn Nicky that they were coming and why━because Darcey was already shaking at the idea of having to relive that pain. Of having to say it. Every day he sat with the knowledge that she was gone, but speaking it out loud made it real. It tore open the wound each time, causing enough pain over and over again until Darcey swore he’d never say it again.
If he didn’t say it, it wasn’t true. He hadn’t lost his partner, his soulmate━the only woman who’d ever understood him. He hadn’t lost the woman who’d promised to be by his side forever, who’d always pushed him to be better. Who could flare up his anger in the blink of an eye and calm it just as fast. She wasn’t gone━she’d always be with him.
Darcey glanced towards where Mandy lay, still sleeping, while he headed to the door. He could’ve woken her up to tell her where he was going, but he didn’t want to run the risk of Mandy jumping out of bed and demanding to go with him. He had to do this on his own. Darcey quietly opened the door to their motel room, slipped out and then closed it with just as much consideration. He stuffed his hands in the pockets of his coat, keeping them shielded from the cold until he had to pull the smoke away from his mouth. His body━though it was sluggish for many other reasons━was still working five hours ahead, and Darcey needed coffee if he was going to stay alert. The plane ride had been horrible, and he hadn’t been able to sleep once they finally got to the motel━not that he did much sleeping nowadays, anyway.
His first stop was for coffee, and he was sure that Bastien’s shop was closeby. Nicky had described it the last time he was home, though Darcey wasn’t sure when that was. He’d lost a lot of time in the siren’s den; his memory still spotty because of it.
His second cigarette was finished by the time he entered the Coffee Bean, last bit of smoke exhaled while he squished it under his boot, and then tugged open the door. He ordered a coffee for himself and Nicky, figuring that━even if he couldn’t find his brother right away━he could always finish the second cup himself. There was no use saving it until it went cold.
The bell dinged behind Darcey again while he exited. With one cup in each hand, he turned his chin up, blue eyes glazing over the shops in front of him. He tried to remember Nicky’s description, slowly beginning to walk to the square’s centre for a better view. Finally, he found it. Against the Thorns. Just as he had when Nicky’d first told them the name, Darcey snorted, a smile creeping up on his lips. Despite the self-righteous name (as Darcey called it), he’d found the store, and hopefully with it came his brother.
He managed to survive the short walk without another smoke, the warmth of the cups heating his palms while the freezing air bit at the outsides of his hands. He juggled both cups in one arm to open the door, his deep and rough voice booming throughout the mostly-empty shop. Darcey didn’t even know who would go shopping at that hour, but if there was anybody inside, he didn’t see them. “Oi, I’m lookin’ for th’dodgy bloke from yesterday!” He walked towards the front counter, trying to use humour to push away all the heavy emotions that were soon to come. “Sold me a fuckin’ music box that don’t work!”
Darcey was forcing himself to smile as he laid the cups onto the counter, raising one hand to idly scratch at the scruff on his jaw. His lips were pressed tightly together, every part of him simultaneously tense and drained as he waited for his brother. Maybe he’d make an arse out of himself and Nicky wouldn’t even be there, but he prayed for his brother. For anything good, at that point.
NICHOLAS REID | hope dis is okey  |
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NICHOLAS REID
Warlock
Posts: 81
Age:
36
Occupation:
Co-owner of Reid's Pawn Shop
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 2, 2024 16:29:32 GMT
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Post by NICHOLAS REID on Jan 31, 2021 19:24:10 GMT
Sat on a chair in the rear of Bastien’s shop, Nicky waited for the moment business would start for the day. It wasn’t usually his place but Bastien … or that thing in him … had taken off for the day. It had been a matter of shut the shop up, or leave it in his hands for a little bit. His more than capable hands. Teeth raking at his lower lip Nicky stretched his legs out and opened the copy of the Daily he’d started getting delivered every morning across his thighs. He flicked through as he always did, bypassing the other stories until he found her name on the by-line. Stella Devoi. A blunt thumbnail traced it, blue eyes narrowing until he was reading the crisp black type through a shield of lashes.
He hadn’t lied when he told he was familiar with the paper, although he hadn’t put the name together with the stories, not until she’d admitted to where she’d worked. Now they were entwined in his head, with that mental image of her from the bar, hair damp, the collar of his coat up around flushed cheeks. Nicky shifted on the chair, lifted the newspaper to cross his legs properly. The coat hung from the rack in the corner, the scent of her gone from the thick wool fibres but for more than a day afterwards he’d caught it there. His lips curled faintly as he let go of the newspaper with one hand to reach for the cup of tea he had set next to him. Sweetened just enough, brewed the proper way not the way they here with cream or honey or those other bizarre touches.
A slow sip, the familiarity of it rolling warm through him and warding off the chill of the back room of the shop. Nicky rubbed his tongue against the roof of his mouth, his brows drawing together as he read of the town’s latest animal attack. There’d been plenty of supernatural activity back home, his own the least of it, but very little of what happened here in this town would’ve been allowed there. The locals would’ve stamped it out before word got out and the trouble spread. Mystic Falls seemed a nexus for all that violence though.
Thinking of his partner he looked up, studying the room around him with a deeper frown. Something had certainly bound its way into Bastien, something old and dangerous that he couldn’t trust, no matter how much his partner tried to reassure him about it. When you got claws in your head that way you couldn’t tell up from down, sane from barmy. Nicky cleared his throat, let himself drift through the last of the article. It seemed that Ms Devoi was certainly getting herself deep, in the way that she said her sisters didn’t approve of. They were likely looking out for her in the way that Darcey had always done him, that he should’ve been doing for Mandy now.
Nicky rolled his lower lip between his teeth, worked at it until it was red as he stared at an advert for some town event without actually seeing it. It was past time for another trip home. Maybe in a week or two, once he was sure that the thing walking around in Bastien wasn’t something behind half of this blood shed in town.
He blinked at the sound of the door opening. Setting the newspaper aside, he pushed to his feet, ready to paste on the same congenial face he’d perfected as a seven year old, trying to negotiate with some old dear on the old suitcase of tat she bought in. He was halfway to the door that led into the shop when that rough accent that added some gristle to his own boomed out.
No fucking way.
Nicky ducked through the door, the grin touching his lips even as he was shaking his head. He would’ve said Darcey was a sight for sore eyes but it wasn’t that far from the truth. There was something rougher around the edges than normal with his brother. ”You’ll ‘ave to come back tomorrow to argue with ‘im,” he said on a laugh. Ignoring the coffee, he rounded the counter, pulled his brother into a hug that ended with a hearty slap on the back. ”He ain’t gonna be ‘appy with you callin’ ‘im dodgy though. Bit prissy like that. Look what the cat dragged in…” Nicky drew back, his eyes narrowing again, studying the grizzled lines of his brother’s face. ”Whatchu doin’ ‘ere anyway? I didn’ expect you to ever get on a plane.” His gaze flicked behind Darcey then, looking for some sign of Lorna. The last he’d known of any of it his brother seemed like he only would’ve left the shop feet first, being carried out.
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DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Feb 9, 2021 16:03:55 GMT
━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
Darcey clapped his brother on the back as they embraced, hugging him a little tighter and for a little longer than Nicky had, putting more into the hug than he was getting. He wasn’t offended by it, though━Nicky had no idea why he was there, and he hadn’t signed up for this. He was the younger brother, never meant to be leaned on, and yet Darcey found himself wanting nothing but to do just that in his time of need.
“Not my fault ‘e’s a barmy git.” Darcey muttered under his breath as they pulled away from each other, though he held onto Nicky for another moment or so, hand resting on his brother’s arm. If it had been Bastien walking out from the backroom, Darcey would’ve christened him with his first fight in America. Well, it would’ve been less of a fight than it would’ve been two hits, Darcey hitting him, and Bastien hitting the floor━but that was mostly Darcey puffing up his own chest about it.
‘Whatchu doin’ ‘ere anyway? I didn’ expect you to ever get on a plane.’
“Me neither.” His voice was a low grumble, blue eyes falling to the floor while his hand left Nicky’s arm, breaking all connection. He scratched at his chin for a moment, following Nicky’s gaze to the door, and then back to their feet. “Mandy’s ‘ere, too,” He added, thinking that was who Nicky was looking for. He didn’t think of Lorna; he knew there was no way she was coming back to him, no chance of her walking through that door and hugging him as he’d just done with Nicky. God, he wanted it, though. That was all he wanted. But as his eyes finally rose to his brother’s face, he was grateful for what he had. Grateful that, if he’d lost everything else, he at least had Nicky and Mandy.
“‘Ows business?” He asked instead, not finding the words to tell Nicky what had happened. The lonesome feeling was creeping in again, telling him that he was all by himself if he didn’t let them in. He’d never been a man of many words━speaking was always Nicky’s game━but he knew he needed to now. To say something━anything━just to inform Nicky of why he was there. Maybe Nicky would be able to use the words he was so gifted with to make Darcey feel better━if anything would at that point.
He turned, cold fingers curling around his coffee cup and lifting it to his lips, drinking enough to clear the thick blockage in his throat. It would be back in a moment or two, but that was all Darcey needed to turn his glassy, blue eyes to his brother’s and spill the truth. “Lorna’s…” He still couldn’t say it. It caused too much pain━he just wanted Nicky to read it from his expression.
But then Nicky would know, and Darcey would be the only one left who couldn’t accept it.
NICHOLAS REID | no notes. |
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NICHOLAS REID
Warlock
Posts: 81
Age:
36
Occupation:
Co-owner of Reid's Pawn Shop
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 2, 2024 16:29:32 GMT
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Post by NICHOLAS REID on Feb 23, 2021 20:31:04 GMT
He’d been leaving home and drifting back for a decade at least now. A yoyo tethered by an invisible string to those he loved. Always coming back to them even if the route was far more circuitous than he’d intended. Embraced when he’d returned, basking in the squeeze of ropey arms, feeling complete with Mandy rushing in to ask without ceremony what he’d brought back for her and his mum putting on the tea, watching as she stirred that extra spoonful into their dad’s. God he’d missed it, Nicky thought, clapping his hand onto that nobbly curve of Darcey’s back. It’d been too long since he’d gone home and just allowed himself to sink into that feeling of being back where he’d belonged. The journalist, Stella, had left pangs of nostalgia of it in the pit of his stomach as she’d teased about what he’d said about it and they intensified to a sucker punch now.
Nicky huffed out a laugh, feeling the ache of it all releasing as they pulled back and Darcey took another jab at his missing business partner. Bastien had been anything but a barmy git at first. A decent business man, shrewd, persuasive. Things had only start sliding sideways enough that he thought his brother wasn’t wrong now when he’d returned to find him host to something else. ”Pot ‘n’ kettle brother,” Nicky winked though, clapping his hand back on Darcey’s arm as he held him. Like he wasn’t ready to let go. He knew the feeling, that ache in the throat as suddenly everything seemed to be right.
Narrowing his eyes shrewdly at his brother as he looked back from the empty doorway, Nicky lifted his hand, clapped it lightly against Darcey’s cheek. The family had always seemed so entrenched at home, like that corner of the world wouldn’t ever change, except for his absence. ”Thought I’d ‘ave ta drag you onto one at some point, kickin’ ‘n’ screamin’ ‘n’ hangin’ on to the doors.” Darcey had always seemed so settled in London, caught up in that endless dance with Lorna, the two of them circling around one another until she’d caved and accepted his proposal. As inseparable as Darcey was from the shop. Blue eyes going wide, Nicky rocked back on his heels slightly, let out another faint, startled laugh. ”Was there pigs in the sky when the two of yer flew in?” Both of them away from the shop. Another alarm bell ringing, cut short by Darcey’s compliment.
Tilting his head, Nicky went to encourage his brother into the back of the shop where they could at least sit and talk. There was a chance another customer would come trotting in but they could be dealt with when it happened, instead of the two of them standing here for their catch up. He circled around the counter, fingers tapping lightly on the top of it as he got to the other side. ”Gettin’ better all the time. This area’s a gold mine fer everythin’ you can think of. Thorn’s got most of what’s valuable out back. Keeps the normal folks from stumblin’ into something they shouldn’t. You should see this grimoire I brought in a few weeks ago…” The two of them had always poured over them at home, heads bent over those tanned pages. Now it was something other than awe on his brother’s face though.
He turned slowly, the pit of his stomach feeling as though a fist had closed around it as he stared at his brother. That glassy look in Darcey’s eyes tried to jump to his own, dread burning the backs of them. Their parents … no. Lorna. Not divorced, that might’ve brought heart break, anger but Darcey would’ve stayed, fought for it. Nicky curled his hand into a fist on the glass top of the counter, the colour leaching from his face. Gone. Lorna’s gone. ”God, Darce, I’m sorry,” The words rasped out as he started back around the counter, hauling his brother into another of those fierce hugs, a hand at the back of his neck, squeezing as that burning spread to his throat. ”How? When? Why didn’t you call me? I would’ve come home.” His brow furrowed as his eyes slipped shut. No matter where he was in the world he would’ve abandoned it all for that.
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DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Mar 2, 2021 22:13:10 GMT
━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
Very little had made Darcey smile in the last few weeks, but the image of Nicky dragging him onto a plane, and his brother’s stupid comment, made the edges of his lips turn up. It was true━Darcey wouldn’t be there unless it was serious, especially without calling first. He knew that had to be dawning on Nicky now while his little brother beckoned him to the back of the shop with promises of a grimoire, one not unlike the ones they had back home, he was sure. Nicky always had an eye for the best, most interesting bits that belonged in the back of their own shop in London, but Darcey supposed this was keeping him content now. It scored somewhere deep within his chest━the idea that maybe Nicky didn’t need them anymore. He’d thought of it before, especially when Nicky had first gone away, but it had never been as obvious as it was now while standing in his brother’s new business partner’s shop, in his new home.
Darcey’s head lifted slowly to watch Nicky move around the counter, heartbreak and loneliness pulling down each of his features, making him feel a hundred years older than he was. Once the coffee was swallowed, and her name left his lips, it all came crashing back down as if somebody had thrown a brick at his chest. Or dropped a pile of them on his body. Like the weight was tied there, above his head, waiting for him to say it so that it could fall on him again, driving him deeper into the depression that already had its claws in him.
Just as Darcey suspected, Nicky knew. He couldn’t say the words, but Nicky could read it from him just as they always had, there for one another no matter the circumstances. Even if Darcey still sometimes felt like he’d been left behind, that didn’t change how close the boys were, an almost telepathic-like connection between them. Or maybe it was just a regular sibling bond, a shared childhood wrapping them together and making them able to read the feelings off one another. Nicky knew when something was wrong, he’d always been intuitive like that━and he was just about the only person that Darcey could almost always read, too.
Now, though, Darcey didn’t have the energy to do much of anything.
Nicky came to him again, wrapping him up in a hug that Darcey needed, stronger than the one they’d had for reuniting. His own arms laid limp at his sides for a moment or two longer, hand dropping from where it was curled around the coffee cup on the counter.
Even if he hadn’t fully admitted it, the reality of what happened came crashing down anyways. His life partner was gone now, leaving him all alone. The thought had tears streaking down his cheeks and, finally, his arms slowly raised to toss around Nicky, hugging him just as tightly. “Two weeks.” Darcey croaked first, avoiding the ‘how’ for the moment, wanting a few more moments of this half-peace before his mistakes were revealed.
“I know ya would’ve,” Darcey mumbled, and he did. Despite feeling betrayed or left behind in the worst of times, he knew Nicky would always be there for the family. For Darcey. “I just wanted t’come see ya. Wanted t’tell ya myself,” A sob bubbled up, and Darcey tucked his chin downwards, pressing his forehead to Nicky’s shoulder as he cried. Fingers clutched at the fabric over his brother’s back, holding himself up while his body rattled with each sob. He hated how uncontrollable it felt; as though he could never stop, even if he wanted to.
“She was pregnant.” He admitted, another cry rocking him. They’d been trying for so long, and they’d finally gotten what they wanted. Finally. And then it’d been stripped from them before they could tell their family.
“Abou’ three months ago I…” Darcey slowly pulled back, his head hung as he wiped his tears away, not meeting Nicky’s eye. He needed to get the story out, even if it disgusted him. “We were seein’ a fertility doctor. Didn’t realize she was a siren, an’ she took me.” The words were strained, as if each one of them drove a knife further into his heart. “I was locked up in some fuckin’ place with ‘em. Didn’ even know how long I was there. Thought it was a couple ‘f nights gettin’...” He shook his head slowly, already feeling the bile creep up his throat at the memory. He skipped over it, moving on instead. “... Lorna an’ Mandy came lookin’ for me. God, I fuckin’━I screamed at ‘em to get out, Nicky. I was so lost in it.” Blue eyes came up then, finally finding his brother’s and searching for any sign of Nicky ready to turn on him. To tell him this was his fault.
“They got Lorna before we could get out.” He sighed shakily, reaching for the coffee cup again. “They got ‘er and now she’s gone. An’ I don’ know how ta… she’s been around since you were six, Nicky. She was always fuckin’ there.” She’d always kept Darcey in line when Nicky wasn’t around, or somehow worked with his little brother to do it. But without Nicky home, and no more Lorna, he didn’t know what he was supposed to do. He felt like all his purpose was lost, burned down like the siren den in the end. Nothing but rubble and ash.
NICHOLAS REID | no notes. |
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NICHOLAS REID
Warlock
Posts: 81
Age:
36
Occupation:
Co-owner of Reid's Pawn Shop
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 2, 2024 16:29:32 GMT
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Post by NICHOLAS REID on Mar 17, 2021 17:46:26 GMT
When he’d first brought the proposal about taking the business international you’d have thought he’d hit them all with a sledgehammer. J. Reid and Sons had been based in Camden for well over a century, watching the area’s fortunes rise and fall, a bastion in their little shop, the world outside of changing while everything behind that spotted glass remained the same. The old man behind the counter, mum pottering in and out, a kid usually under foot, the next generation being trained up to one day be the son … or daughter … behind that counter when enough seasons had come and gone that the old man decided it was time to retire. Nicky knew he’d have likely gone home then, for a time at least. To witness the changing of the guard as Darcey had taken up his spot with his elbows on the counter in the same place, his birth right as the eldest. Lorna right there next to him.
It should’ve been the way of things. Not this.
There was a faint, greasy sensation in the pit of Nicky’s stomach despite the smile he had lighting up his brother’s face with the mention of pigs flying. It clung like something that needed to be smudged out, maybe would be later, once the two of them were at a table at the Grill or at Campbell’s. Mandy with them too, although she’d have a coke, their rules were different here. The liquor she might’ve been allowed back home beyond reach now and he would stick to those rules, especially in a town as small as this one.
Not home, but the place where he’d settled temporarily. This shop his in a way that was only a faint echo of theirs back home. Ready to be set aside the minute he had to and God, if Darcey had lifted up a phone, if any of them had to tell him …
Nicky was back around the counter in an instant, the idea of showing his brother around that part his space tossed aside in an instant as that grief seemed to strike his brother like a tidal wave again. Face crumpling into those heart-breaking lines. He could feel his own throat thickening at what had gone unsaid but was known all the same. Wrapping his arms around Darcey, he pulled him in again, that greasy feeling in his stomach growing as his eyes started to burn. He’d never known Lorna the way Darcey had, not even before his brother had finally worn her down on dating him but she’d been family, he’d stood, best man for his brother, when the two of them had gotten married. Nicky shook his head as Darcey’s stupor seemed to break and the arms that had laid limp in the embrace came up to clutch at him. He’d half expected to hear he was being made an uncle the next time he’d hone home.
That was the way it should’ve been, not this. Not the broken voice and the shattered mirror image of the brother he’d known.
Jesus. Just two weeks. He could’ve gone, abandoned Bastien to that think in his head. ”I’m sorry…” Nicky managed hoarsely, knowing that made no difference. He hadn’t been there. ”Should’ve, not just would’ve.” The words rasped out as he squeezed the back of his brother’s neck, feeling the heat of Darcey’s tears wicking into the cotton of his shirt. ”I should’ve come t’you.” No question of it. The front pew of the local church, his hand on his brother’s shoulder, the arrangements taken out of the hands of the grieving husband instead of dumped at his feet.
Husband and father.
He hadn’t thought that the punches would keep coming but the revelations were rattling free of Darcey’s body with those sobs and each only seemed to make it worse. Grieving husband and father. Christ. ”No. God, Darcey…” The words were hollow, ringed with his own guilt but vacuous at the same time. He knew they’d been trying, had failed time and time again, his brother’s desperation for a child of their own palpable even in his own bones. Nicky turned his head, pressing his mouth against the side of Darcey’s head until his brother pulled back.
Nicky stayed where he was, his arms falling away from Darcey as he seemed to draw himself together. Hands swiping at his face, not looking at him, maybe not able to. Letting out a long breath of his own, Nicky raised his hands, scrubbed them over his face. His own tears had crested his lashes quietly, without the shudders and sobs that had racked his brother. He ran palms over them, pressing fingers to his eyes as Darcey finally started to find the words to explain the tragedy that had struck without him having a fucking clue. ”A siren?” There was a cold edge to his voice as his hands fell away. Three months … Lorna had only died two weeks ago. Darcey had been gone for two and a half months and his parents, Lorna, Mandy, not a single one of them have called to get him home. Like he’d been the one dead, cut off.
A thin edge of temper rolled through him before Darcey’s eyes came up to meet his and it was all washed away with that tidal wave of his brother’s grief again, a rip tide that pulled him under and had him slumping back against the counter. ”Why didn’t they call? I would’ve come, saved either one of them goin’ in there. I would’ve torn them all the pieces….” With his bare hands, with his power. Darcey had always been the one with blood on his hands in the family, the one to carry that burden for them but his own would’ve done the damage for him. He shook his hand, mute, the thick feeling growing until it felt like the words were stoppered up.
He shook his head, straightening up. Stepping in, he curled his hand around the back of his brother’s neck, pulling him in until he was resting his forehead on his. Blue eyes locked on blue, so close that Darcey couldn’t look away now. ”They did what they did to save you. You know she never woulda left you there on your own. She went in for you and she did it because she loved you.” In the end Lorna and the child she’d been carrying had died for him. ”She’da wanted you to go on. She’da wanted this … you ‘avin’ family, you holdin’ the fuck on. You hear me, Darce? For her and that baby you’re gonna hold on ‘ere wi’ me … and you’re gonna hold them, right there.” He brought his other hand up between them, thumping his fist as hard s he could in that tight space against Darcey’s chest.
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DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Apr 5, 2021 15:40:15 GMT
━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
Nicky’s presence had felt unbelievably comforting until he spoke those words. ‘I’m sorry’, as if he’d done anything to cause it. Maybe he had; maybe because Nicky left, Darcey felt lonely and sought friendship in that doctor. Maybe…. maybe it wasn’t anybody’s fault but his own, and he needed to stop passing blame wherever he went, anger and guilt bubbling up and transforming into the most venomous of monsters inside his mind.
Normally, Darcey was the one to react with anger and violence, but he’d seen his brother lash out more than once. Those things never bugged Darcey, it was how he lived, yet somehow this did. There was no use dwelling over what they could’ve done; no point in leaving the elder brother with even more what ifs than the ones that already plagued his mind.
Because if Nicky had been there, then they could’ve…
Darcey shook his head weakly, partly to stop Nicky, and to halt his thoughts from multiplying. For just about the first time in his life, Darcey felt helpless. He didn’t know what to say or do, where to turn, everything reducing to ash━just like the siren’s den.
A warm mouthful of coffee was swallowed thickly, the liquid feeling as though it was forcing itself down Darcey’s throat━like something was blocking its passage. Once the cup was down again, Nicky’s touch was on the nape of his neck, feeling like fire against his skin. A welcomed sensation as he drew in, forehead resting against his little brother’s. His eyes met Nicky’s finally, a slow breath escaping, attempting to calm himself, and the burning that seemed to last forever.
‘They did what they did to save you…’
Darcey knew that. He knew it was out of love, that they wouldn’t risk their lives for just anybody. He would’ve done the same for either of them; would’ve died for Mandy and Lorna a thousand times over. It didn’t stop the guilt, though, and maybe nothing would━he’d just have to learn to deal with it. To live with the heartache, because Nicky was right. No matter how badly Darcey thought this would be easier to deal with if he was dead, he owed this to Lorna. If nothing else, he would live for her; otherwise she died for nothing━and he wouldn’t allow that to be true.
The thwap on his chest knocked the wind out of him, lungs weakened by cigarettes, a nasty habit which only got worse during the last two weeks. The sirens hadn’t lit any for him, and Darcey completely forgot about it during that time━all he craved was them.
“Yeah,” He finally released the one-word response, underwhelming maybe, but Darcey was still struggling. “I know. I know,” A slow blink of his eyes followed his words, letting them stay closed for a moment before they flicked open once more and met Nicky’s matching ones. “She was the only one who’s ever…” There was a dull ache in his chest, right under where Nicky had thumped him. It wasn’t from his brother’s fist, though━it’d been there long before, always hurting, occasionally sending shooting pains through him. “She knew me, Nicky. Not ‘ow you or Mandy or mum and dad know me, she…” He broke off once more. The loneliness flooded in once more. “... and I’m never goin’ to find somebody like that again.” He didn’t want to. He’d lost Lorna, and that was it for Darcey. He was too old now anyway; nobody would want him━at least, that’s what he told himself.
MANDY REID & NICHOLAS REID | no notes. |
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MANDY REID
Witch
Posts: 46
Age:
Twenty One
Occupation:
College Student
Status:
Single
Partner:
Future: Rhys McEvoy
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:23 GMT
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Post by MANDY REID on May 7, 2021 15:18:07 GMT
| Not long after having arrived in town and Mandy and her brother Darcey were due to surprise her other brother with their arrival. Their plan was to leave the motel together, intending to surprise Nicky at his shop. Though when Mandy awoke that morning, she found herself alone in the shared bedroom. Looking at her phone for the time and realised she had overslept, " Could have woke me Darce..." She muttered under her breath as she rushed to get ready.
As she neared the town, she spied a coffee shop along the corner. She needed her morning caffeine kick… and if something she learned is that tea in America was crap. But they did make good coffee. Deciding to get them all something to drink, even if it wasn't deserved by one for ditching her in the motel room.
Hurrying along and it was a good twenty minutes by the time she made it from the coffee shop to Nicky’s shop. Bursting inside with her usual flourish, bell overhead jingling her arrival, ” Well I never…” Mandy commented as she approached as she swung the door closed clumsily with her foot. Walking toward both her eldest brother and gave him her best glare, ” You little sod. Thanks for ditching me! Could of woke me up..." She growled at him. Then she spied similar cups already on the table, " And you get yourself drinks... Well... Your list of transgressions is just growing here Darcey..." Mandy warned shaking her head at her eldest brother.
Smiling brilliantly turning on her other brother Nicky, ” Nicky!” She smiled wrapping her free arm around him, ” It’s so good to see you…” Mandy murmured during the hug. She stepped back away from him and placed the takeout cups on a small coffee table. Pulling one from the cup holder she handed it to Darcey, ” Got them to spit in yours. Next time you’ll think twice about ditching me.” Mandy told him but backed it up with a small wink, as she was only kidding about spitting in his tea.
She knew what she had just walked into, and it wasn’t that she was ignoring her brother’s pain. She had always been cheerful, and this was her own way of masking her own feelings from everything that had happened. That way no one would ask her questions… and she could work through her own grief.
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NICHOLAS REID
Warlock
Posts: 81
Age:
36
Occupation:
Co-owner of Reid's Pawn Shop
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 2, 2024 16:29:32 GMT
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Post by NICHOLAS REID on Jun 16, 2021 21:50:14 GMT
It had seemed as though their corner of the world was caught in some sort of time warp. The shop, their parents, the little old dears who’d reel in with their bits and bobs looking to supplement their pension never changing. It wasn’t a world free of darkness, there was still plenty of blood on hands in that nook in the city, but it was one that hadn’t ended up shrouded in grief. Sitting at the kitchen table, telling him that he wanted to go and see the world, to take J. Reid and Sons out there, Nicky had known that no matter if he succeeded or failed he could always come home, have it be the same as it ever was. He’d been so sure.
With one broken admission, his brother had changed that. God, he wouldn’t blame Darcey for it, couldn’t. The weight of it was already pressing on Darcey and no apology was going to allow him to slip in and share that burden with his brother. No amount of sorry or guilt at his own absence was going to bring Lorna back. Nicky felt the grief wrap tight around his chest. It stifled the power that usually burned there, the hottest edge of it snuffed despite the part of him that wanted it to burn, the part that wanted to return to that nest and incinerate anything left of the things that had destroyed his brother.
Nicky’s head shook in echo with Darcey’s as he stepped in, fingers tight on his brother’s neck again. Biting into the thick muscle to make sure Darcey couldn’t pull back, that he heard. Brows pressed together, blue eyes on blue, an electric lock that finally seemed to drag that breath from Darcey’s lungs. Nicky held on, his own breath slipping free with a truth he wasn’t sure his brother would believe even now. He was here because Lorna and Mandy had gone to that place for him. A sacrifice willingly made, no matter how hard it was to accept.
At the silence, to drive his point home, Nicky brought a hand up between them, thumping his hand against Darcey’s chest, too skinny, like grief had sucked the flesh away from his bones, leaving a skeleton animated by grief and that coffee alone. He heard the exhalation, only breathed in again himself when Darcy finally found words. Weak, non-committal, but words all the same. Nicky’s brows rose, that hand on his neck squeezing tighter for a moment. ”I’m gonna make sure you do. Keep tellin’ yer it until you feel it here.” That fist lodged between them, just pressed hard against Darcey’s chest now. Lorna had been his for so long, even before she’d told him, allowed him to be and Nicky had always been able to see it. The woman whose love would keep his brother on that straight and narrow path without him there. One of the reasons he could go. ”I know.” Honesty in that soft exhalation of words. A sigh, a shake of his head as those tears burned at the back of his eyes. ”Never another like ‘er but … she’d wouldn’t want you alone, Darce. She…” She had loved him too much for that.
Eyelids flickering, Nicky closed his eyes for just a moment dropping his fist from between them, slinging his arm around Darcey to draw him in and hug him hard again. A flinch went through him as the bell over the door clattered, someone flinging themselves through it. Pulling back, Nicky was dragging a hand over his face, ready to tell whatever customer it was that it wasn’t the best time but Mandy was stood there in the doorway, coffees balanced, already stalking in with a glare on her face. ”Can’t blame ‘im for wantin’ to come see his brother first chance he got.” The low mutter did nothing to ease the edge of his sister’s temper.
A smile tugged at Nicky’s lips, his gaze cutting to Darcey to see if her arrival had offered up a plaster to slap over the near mortal wound in his heart. Mandy’s lash of temper was already easing as she turned to him. He stepped close, pulling her into a hug the same way he had done Darcey … careful of those cups. ”You too, Mand. So glad you’re both here.” An emphasis on that. Glad she hadn’t let Darcey come alone. He took the cup from the holder Mandy held, shooting Darcey an apologetic look. ”’s hotter and she was prob’ly happy enough to see me that she didn’t get the baristas in on the plan to punish me. You wanna come through to the back? It’s not every day I get to shut up shop for a bit and get family time in.” There’d be more. Not in the shop, tears staining the wooden boards of the floor with that Vesuvius like welling of grief, not in the motel either. He had room at the apartment if he dragged the sofa bed out in the living room, suffering the slightly ropey springs to give his bed to his brother, the spare room he’d half filled with the bits for the shop he hadn’t gone through yet for Mandy. Not home but as close to it as he could get for the two of them here.
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DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Jun 20, 2021 20:17:08 GMT
━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
It wasn’t fair that he suddenly became angry over the mention of someone else, and Nicky’s agreement. The ‘but…’ that hung in the air though it was never spoken. Darcey said it first, he’d alluded to finding another, and yet he became defensive over Nicky saying it. It was just a fire in his chest, dull with the energy he lacked, and never came to fruition. Darcey was never one to turn down a fight, but it wasn’t worth it. Wasn’t worth putting a wedge between him and Nicky, either, because Lord knows Darcey was already scrabbling for confidants.
Especially when Mandy came in, a little ball of fire that reminded him of the old tapes incinerating. Nicky and Darcey, just boys at the time, when the older one’s anger got the better of him (as always) and he lit up those irreplaceable treasures. Maybe she’d stolen the fire that brewed in his chest, now just merely hot coals to warm his body on, nothing more. Maybe he was gettin’ too bleedin’ old for this.
And maybe Darcey’s flinch at the door chime was because of Nicky’s, though the older Reid reacted a hundred times worse━as if he was actually getting hit in the face. He felt Nicky’s surprise due to their proximity, arms slung around each other for some brotherly comfort, but in a moment Darcey was flinging his arms back, stumbling a step or two to lean into the counter next to them, muscles all tense. Mandy was a force to be reckoned with, but she was still only about half his size, a little tree nymph flittering her way into the shop.
‘You little sod. Thanks for ditching me! Could of woke me up…’
Darcey tried to play off his episode as nothing more than getting a little startled, leaning back into the counter, one elbow propped on it to hold himself up. He began to grin as Mandy came closer, though his grip on the coffee was almost ironclad, free hand worked into a fist. His breathing━he had to focus on his breathing.
“Aye, ‘es right.” Darcey mumbled, nodding towards Nicky, though that blue-eyed stare stayed stuck on his little sister. “Not my fault ya sleep in so late. Didn’ wanna bother ya. If ya think about it, it was really nicer ‘f me t’let ya sleep.” He sneered, watching them greet each other while he continued to calm himself down. Of course, he’d purposely left Mandy behind. He wanted to see Nicky, give him the news by himself, and not have Mandy lurking around with sad eyes. Darcey knew this was weighing on her, too, and the more he could protect her from any reminders, he would. Darcey was old, he could handle this. Mandy, though? She was practically fresh out the womb.
He knew she wasn’t truly angry at him, but the wink helped remind him that this wasn’t all bad━not everybody was out to get him. Darcey flashed a more genuine, albeit softer, smile at her, reaching out to take the coffee. “Just the way I like it.” He mused, draining the last of his old cup and setting it down behind him before lifting the fresh drink to his lips. Draining about half, he straightened up finally, humming with contentment. “Ah, damn good cup’a coffee. The spit adds somethin’ extra.” Darcey chuckled, trying to put on a better face for Mandy. The emptiness still echoed each word in his hollow chest, and most smiles didn’t quite reach his eyes, but he didn’t want to put any of that burden on her anymore.
His eyes ticked back to Nicky, a curt nod following his baby brother’s words. “Ya got the interestin’ stuff back there like dad does?” Darcey asked, remembering when he was finally allowed to go into the rear of the store by himself━a privilege in every right. “Any new pieces ya picked up? Somethin’ interestin’?” Darcey shifted a little in place, beginning to walk towards the edge of the counter to round it, though he waited for Nicky to lead the way. Eager as ever for another distraction, another talking point━a way out.
MANDY REID | no notes. |
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MANDY REID
Witch
Posts: 46
Age:
Twenty One
Occupation:
College Student
Status:
Single
Partner:
Future: Rhys McEvoy
Played by:
Lissa
Last seen Nov 13, 2024 15:45:23 GMT
|
Post by MANDY REID on Jul 17, 2021 18:05:32 GMT
| Mandy and the whirlwind of energy which always seemed to surround her, burst into her brother’s shop. Not stopping to care if she was being loud. Looking around wondering exactly where her two older brothers were until she seen Nicky’s face peak out from behind the counter. Stalking in closer she then seen the brother she was mad at. She heard Nicky’s words trying to placate her, but it did nothing to curb the wrath toward her brother, ” Don’t defend him!” She told Nicky with a petulant tone.
Mandy however wasn’t stupid. As annoyed as she had been she had known why her brother had decided to ditch her this morning. Retelling the tale was hard enough, not without her as a tag along. As she arrived, she was relieved to know that he had passed on the news. With a few choice words to her eldest brother, she turned to the younger one greeting him with a hug.
As Darcey tried to get out of it by saying he was trying to be a nice brother by allowing her to sleep. At those words Mandy tried to hold onto her anger but found that she couldn’t. They were both plagued by nightmares from that night, it was rare for them to get anything measuring a good night sleep. If Mandy had woke up first, then she would have let her brother sleep as well. So, since she couldn’t come back up with a scathing retort to her brothers sneered words she chose to simply ignore and pretend to hold onto her anger.
Focusing on something else she began dishing out the fresh drinks that she bought. Handing Darcey his and told him that she asked the baristas to spit in his. After he accepted it she gave him a wink, indicating that he was forgiven. She laughed when he said that it added something extra, ” I’ll keep that in mind for future cuppa’s then.” Mandy smirked back at her brother, petulantly trying to get the last word in.
Turning back to Nicky he asked if they wanted to come to the back and that he would lock up for them. Mandy was also curious as to what he had out back. Their father usually kept the more dangerous stuff out of the way of prying eyes. Or as Darcey would put it ‘interesting’. To them it would be, though to anyone else who didn’t know what they were doing, would potentially cause more harm than good. It was only when she came into her magic that she was actually allowed in the back of the store for that very reason. Smiling at them both, ” Lets go!” She agreed with them both as she lifted her own cup of coffee and waited for her brother to lead the way.
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NICHOLAS REID
Warlock
Posts: 81
Age:
36
Occupation:
Co-owner of Reid's Pawn Shop
Status:
Single
Played by:
Ange
Last seen Nov 2, 2024 16:29:32 GMT
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Post by NICHOLAS REID on Sept 2, 2021 18:59:21 GMT
Love had never struck him the way it had done Darcey. That grip that didn’t loosen through the years of courtship and the push and pull of two teenagers who’d ended up a couple who would give anything for one another. He hadn’t been in love that way and that was a shame for him. Nicky had seen the way his brother and sister in law had been together, he had seen the devastation in his brother’s face and felt the broken air around him. It wasn’t a matter of having loved and being able to appreciate the blessing of it right now. What Lorna would’ve wanted for him didn’t matter because she wasn’t here to tell him that herself. To thump it into him until he could believe and hold on to a future where maybe the pain and grief didn’t have him in such a tight grip.
His own grief for a woman he’d known more than half his life was shunted aside to make room for his brother’s, no matter how hard Darcey tried to sweep it back under the carpet that had been thrown back to show just a sliver of it when Mandy came bustling in.
Nicky’s smile was wan as he pulled back, the flinch he’d felt roll through Darcey at the sound of that bell still echoed in his bones. All those quiet admissions and assurances melting away under Mandy’s quick bite of temper. Maybe it was a relief, being able to draw back from it again and find a grip on what they had known in those few months he’d be home every now and then. So easy to slip back into it then, all he wanted to do again now as Darcey leaned back into the counter. The tension was still there in the line of Darcey’s body but the tension in his own had begun to loosen. Nicky’s brows rose, his hands following like he had to hold her back. ”Didn’t say I woulda done the same, ‘specially not when it’s been way too long since I got t’see you too. I’m not as charitable as ‘im.” A nod back in Darcey’s direction before he was pulling Mandy into a hug. Not as charitable and feeling like some part of him had been cleaved away without him even realising.
Cause he was away. He’d left them and that blame, that guilt, hung like a pall of smoke in the air. Tiny spears of light breaking through it as he saw those hints of something other than pain in the three of them. Nicky huffed out a breath, his fingers shifting on the paper wall of his own cup, restlessly juggling the heat while those unspoken apologies flew back and forth between Darcey and Mandy. ”Keep tellin’ her you like it that way and you’ll get it dosed every time,” he said, mock weary warning punctuated by a cluck of his tongue. His lips curved though, his own cup lifted to his lips to take a sip, one that scalded all the way down. It was almost welcome though, a distraction from that look in Darcey’s eyes, the pain a smile couldn’t eclipse entirely.
Distraction, disguise, anything to hold it all down beneath the surface until time could start to perhaps heal what words alone wouldn’t. And he could do that for them both.
This wasn’t home but in the store Nicky had seen the bones of it. The glass cabinets not all that different to the Victorian ones that lined the shop back home. The shelves here were scattered with things more set to these American tastes but there was enough of the tatty and cast aside to leave him nostalgic. He shifted past Mandy, flipped the sign on the door, the lock on it for good measure. Rounding the two of them he lifted the hinged gate at the end of the counter, leading the way into the back through the door he’d left crooked open when his brother had arrived.
Nicky’s face screwed up slightly as he glanced back at Darcey. He might’ve tried to take the firm on the road but it hadn’t been in an attempt to entirely redesign J. Reid and Sons. More, not different, and the crowded shelves in the back room spoke of it. A desk tucked against the back wall, the battered leather sofa he’d been propped on when Darcey had arrived squatting against the one bit of bare wall. Boxes of various sorts were held cheek by jowl with trinkets of all sorts on those shelves. ”You think I’d put ‘em out front there where anybody could get their ‘ands on ‘em? Welcome to J. Reid and Sons, the Mystic Falls franchise.” He swept his cup around, indicating the place before he scooped up a sheathed knife on the desk, tossing it lightly in his brother’s direction. Symbols stretched around the leather sheaf, were echoed on the blade itself. ”The town’s full of stuff. You’d never believe what’s here. Show Mand. What language is that?” Blue eyes cut to his sister, his head tilting towards the weapon Darcey held. Dozens, if not hundreds had been used by their own kind, more by others. Words had power, even if it you couldn’t see them at the time.
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DARCEY REID
Warlock
Posts: 59
Played by:
Julia
"The thought of this was heavenly at first, now it's where Hell will be."
Last seen Nov 17, 2024 23:19:14 GMT
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Post by DARCEY REID on Sept 22, 2021 2:51:24 GMT
━ there is good in my heart, but these hands belong to the devil ━
It wasn’t an exact replica, and Darcey was almost relieved by that. And, he hated to say it, but it was nice to see Nicky’s own touch on the place━would he have done this back home had he stayed and taken over with Darcey? Partly, it had been the attempted abandonment that upset him when Nicky wanted to leave, though some of him also wondered: did Nicky want a way to become the head of his own business? Had he truly wanted the shop at home for himself and left to find his own version? Taking over seemed… like less of a prize when Nicky went hunting for something else.
“The Yank franchise.” Darcey muttered, a small grin on his face if either of them cared to look, trying to make it obvious that he was only jesting. Somewhat.
He was mid-sip when Nicky tossed him the sheathed blade, a small sputter when Darcey realized, though it took almost no effort to reach out and snatch it. If it had, he would’ve used a little extra help to get it into his hand anyway. Darcey━once his sip was completed━set his coffee down on the nearest surface and used both hands to slowly pull out the blade, leaning over to show Mandy.
“Latin.” Darcey answered without hesitation, blue eyes flicking up to Nicky, then Mandy, and back again. “Sorry,” He chuckled, lifting the knife out and turning it in the air, admiring it from every angle. “‘ere? Mystic Falls ‘s full, really?” Darcey asked in disbelief, furrowing his brow at his brother. It seemed like a strange choice to move here, though if what Nicky was saying was true (and Darce was sure he’d done his research), then it began to make sense. An odd place for it, a tiny town in the States, though he supposed that was the beauty: a hidden gem.
“Pick up any old grimoires? Find somethin’ new in ‘em?” Darcey asked, at first just desperate to find a distraction, though he became intrigued by the idea that Nicky had struck gold here. And, in the end, while they spent what felt like hours discussing, catching up and sifting through Nicky’s collection, it worked as both, and Darcey was reminded of what he still had.
MANDY REID & NICHOLAS REID | zeeee end! |
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