Unexpected Greatness

[Carthrat]

[23:00] <El-Cideon> As Yomi busies herself getting her newly-purchased airship in order and making sure it's adequately crewed, and Brunilda settles back into normal life after being in captivity, Erin finds herself left to her own devices for a couple days before the group decides to set out again. What to do with the time?
[23:03] <Erin> There's never an end of research to be done, but Erin feels like it's time to take a break from that, as well. What she discussed with Suzume earlier hasn't left her mind since, and she finds herself pacing in front of her phone.
[23:05] <El-Cideon> After enough of this, Erin finds herself with company as well. There's a Suzume at the door, looking at you oddly. "Are you expecting a call, Erin?"
[23:06] <Erin> "Oh, no. Just thinking," replies Erin, reaching for the phone. "Well, I'm expecting to make one, see if I can get a ticket to Dublin."
[23:07] <El-Cideon> "Well, um, usually you make a call by picking up the phone instead of pacing in front of it waiting..."
[23:09] <Erin> "Very astute. I must be nervous, then," replies Erin. "I havn't been home for a decade! It's a mite, you know."
[23:10] <El-Cideon> She nods. "Never? It's only an island way, isn't it? I'd visit my parents all the time if they were that close."
[23:12] <Erin> "It's not about the distance," replies Erin. "Well, the physical distance... ah, hell, I said I'd go back sometime, and we have a few days, so why not now?" She promptly picks up the phone and sets about ordering tickets!
[23:14] <El-Cideon> "You should," Suzume agrees. "We might not be home again for a long time! Especially if Yomi likes her airship so much that she never wants to land..."
[23:17] <Erin> "I just hope it's a helium-based one rather than a hydrogen-based deathtrap. Still, after the Hindenburg, I'll bet flammable gases have seen a downswing in use. Good thing, too!"
[23:18] <El-Cideon> She nods!
[23:19] <Erin> OOC: Sure
[23:23] <El-Cideon> Dublin. the old neighborhood hasn't got much nicer since the last time you saw it. Row houses stained by factory smoke, unswept rubbish building in the gutters, a child crying from an open window somewhere down the street.
[23:28] <Erin> Erin opted to take her trip down memory lane alone, for the time being. She already stands out a little, in her too-nice clothes, at least at this end of town, but aside from her mode of dress, her appearance hasn't changed all that much- a frown line, perhaps, maybe an unsightly wrinkle- well, it's nothing she can't cover up with magic, anyway. (More)
[23:29] <Erin> It's possible her family isn't even living here, though it wouldn't surprise her to see them still all crammed in. She takes a slow walk down the street, deciding to take it easy until she goes by her old house.
[23:37] <El-Cideon> Stray noises as you walk along. Bottle crashing in an alley, a passerby coughing raggedly. This isn't a lively neighborhood. A couple boys sit on the front steps of your old house, both maybe in the vicinity of ten years old. One of them is playing tug with a mutt over a newspaper, in rather desultory fashion, while the other watches with dull eyes. The fact that this increasingly renders the paper unreadable does n
[23:37] <El-Cideon> The fact that this increasingly renders the paper unreadable does not appear to be a concern.
[23:41] <Erin> Not a lot appears to have changed. If the kids out front live at her place, she doesn't have any real way of knowing whether or not they're related. "Excuse me," she says, approaching the children; her accent still quite British in tone. "Is this still the Callahan house?"
[23:44] <El-Cideon> The unoccupied one glances up, gives you a long look. "What else would it be? Who're you?"
[23:48] <Erin> "Erin," replies Erin, walking forward to knock on the door. "A relative. I haven't been home for a long time," she clarifies, uncertainly exactly how she would be related to the boys.
[23:51] <El-Cideon> "Da talks about an Erin sometimes," the distracted boy says, without looking up. "Only when he's drunk too much." A yell from inside, a command of some sort, and a girl answers the door, long brown hair, probably early in her teen years. She looks up at you, waiting for you to state your business.
[23:59] <Erin> "Yes, I suppose he might," mutters Erin, shaking her head. She's already starting to remember why she left, but now that she's back. "Hi there. Is Annie home at the moment?" she asks, deciding it can only be counterproductive for her father to learn of her presence just now.
[00:01] <El-Cideon> She shakes her head. "She moved out when she got married. My mum is home, though?"
[00:02] <Erin> Erin nods, somewhat gratefully. "Thanks. Would it be alright if I came in?"
[00:06] <El-Cideon> "I think so. She's in the kitchen. This way." She leads you into the house, down a familiar hallway. It doesn't look like the wallpaper's been changed since you left--the same old blue floral pattern, though faded and nicked through in places by careless playing children. There's a woman at the stove in the cramped little kitchen, peering into a pot. (more)
[00:08] <El-Cideon> The air is thick with steam and the smell of boiling meat. The girl walks up and tugs at the woman's apron--she turns, and you can recognize your mother, though she looks much older and worn down, hair mostly given way to gray now. Her mouth opens in obvious shock. She doesn't say anything.
[00:13] <Erin> Erin's face is rather neutral, though she doesn't feel up to letting the silence drag on. "Hi, mum," she says, slightly abashed, and she spreads her arms for a hug. "Sorry for not visiting sooner."
[00:18] <El-Cideon> She nudges the girl towards the door. "Go on, Helen. Make sure your brothers are doing their schoolwork." After the girl's left, your mother approaches you. Steps close, jaw working soundlessly for a moment, then accepts your embrace. "I should slap you for not writing."
[00:23] <Erin> "It took me a while to get over myself," replies Erin, a smile coming unbidden to her lips. "You're looking well," she adds, sincerely. "And Helen's grown up well. She could barely speak the last time I saw her. And I've got some new brothers? How old are they?"
[00:26] <El-Cideon> "Carl's ten. Erik's eight and big for his age. He's the last of them." She steps back, gives you a good looking over. "You're looking...healthy and successful."
[00:31] <Erin> "Not successful in some ways," notes Erin, glancing dismally at her ringless fingers. "But I'm doing well enough. I got a science degree, and I guess I've been doing research for a while, now," explains Erin, not particularly wanting to go into the last few months, nor what her research entails. "How's Annie? Helen said she got married?"
[00:34] <El-Cideon> "Yeah. Yeah, she did." She goes back to monitoring the meal in progress as she speaks. "About a year after you left. Married and move out. Only a few blocks away, but we don't see much of her anyway. She's got her own little ones now."
[00:35] <Erin> "What's her husband like?" asks Erin, feeling slightly down at that revelation.
[00:41] <El-Cideon> "Huh. Well." She sighs. "Well, her first little one, he was born six months after they married. You're a smart girl, you can guess all that happened. But he doesn't drink more than he can take and he keeps a steady job and he goes to church regular, so from where I'm standing she can't complain."
[00:49] <Erin> "Well, I bet that ain't gonna stop her," replies Erin, starting to take on her old accent more and more as the conversation goes on. "Funny, being an aunt and not knowin' for so long..."
[00:51] <El-Cideon> "That's what happens when you go and forsake your family for ten years," she says, some of the old reproachfulness also creeping in. "Going to visit her?"
[00:55] <Erin> "Sure will," replies Erin, not finding it so hard to suppress a hint of the old anger that used to rise up in her just before she left. "Can't come back and not see everyone I can see, can I? I can go visit later, though," she notes. "How's Dad?"
[01:01] <El-Cideon> She glances at a clock on the wall. "About as you'd remember. Still working hours now, but I...think you shouldn't be around when gets off. I'm sorry."
[01:03] <Erin> "Heard he's been yelling 'bout me some. Guessing it's nothing kindly," replies Erin, still with a half-hearted smile.
[01:06] <El-Cideon> "No. You've heard it before. Just use your imagination, you were always good at that. Something in him can't leave things behind. Ten years is a long time to think about things, but you don't do much thinking when you're, well, you know." She shakes her head. "So, had enough of the world yet, or does coming home just make you want to run back to it? Any thoughts about starting your own family?"
[01:11] <Erin> "I've got a house in London that would be great for a family, if I had a decent man to go with it," replies Erin. "Don't have much time for socializing, until quite recently. Something about me seems to make men run away as is."
[01:17] <El-Cideon> "Yes, well." She seems about to say something, then shakes her head. "It's just good to see you're getting by fine." She fishes around in a counter for a moment, retrieves a scrap of paper and writes something on it before handing it over to you. "Annie's address. You shouldn't have much trouble finding it. Couple blocks north, take a right, about eight more blocks and you're in the right area."
[01:18] <Erin> "Yeah, I am. But what about all of you?" asks Erin, glancing around the house. "Helen's gonna be out of school soon, if she isn't already? She's.. fourteen? How're the boys doing there, for that matter?"
[01:21] <El-Cideon> "Not so good. They haven't got any real interest. Can't sit still. Not taking rulers to them often enough, if you ask me." She sighs. "I don't know what they'll do after."
[01:28] <Erin> "Or they're using them too much," replies Erin, grimacing. "Schooling's something I'm thankful for, hateful as it was at the time. If they're not doing so good in school, maybe an apprenticeship, or something might be to their taste?"
[01:30] <El-Cideon> "Might be. There's a dressmaker a few streets over we thought about sending Helen to for that. Doesn't wear you down like factory work. Not a bad job to hang on to 'til it comes time to get married."
[01:33] <Erin> "Think she could get into a secondary college?" asks Erin, unwilling to concede that none of her siblings will at least get the opportunity to go beyond the expected.
[01:34] <El-Cideon> "Huh. If there was more money saved maybe. Things aren't much better that way than they were when you left."
[01:42] <Erin> Erin glances at the clock, trying to gauge just when it'll run out. "Well, on that, it's 'bout time I paid you back for seventeen years of getting raised," she replies. "Just don't want to see it going to drink, 'stead of something worthwhile."
[01:45] <El-Cideon> "Then I think we don't tell your father too much about where the money's coming from," she says, investigating the peeling wallpaper instead of meeting your eyes as she speaks. "Could tell him it's coming form her 'prenticeship, maybe. I'll think of something."
[01:49] <Erin> "Not right, that I have to hide it," replies Erin, frowning. "Should just tell him myself. Would, were it not for the boys." She bites her lip, looking upset. "Ain't right," she repeats.
[01:51] <El-Cideon> She shrugs. "Lot of things aren't. Are you going to fix all of them?"
[01:55] <Erin> "Found that some things aren't so easy to fix," replies Erin. "Looking to do what I can. Not sure fixing everything as I see fit would be all that appreciated," she notes.
[01:58] <El-Cideon> "Well, let's just start with what you can do about Helen and then just see where things go? Unless you want to talk to your father about it. Two times you can do that: after he gets back from working in the steel mill all day long, or after he gets back from what he does in the evenings. I'm not sure which mood you'd like more."
[02:02] <Erin> "I'll be here for the week. Guess I'll find some time. Sooner or later, the kids will get to talking 'bout me within earshot, if I know kids," she replies, producing a notebook and scribbling down her hotel. "I'll be around for a week, give or take. You have any trouble with anything, mum, give me a call."
[02:03] <El-Cideon> She nods. "...Thank you, Erin. It's good to see you again."

[Carthrat]

[09:09] <@El-Cideon> Erin passes the time entertaining her younger brothers with stories of her globetrotting adventures. They make an effort to dismiss it all as something Erin pulled from a radio drama, but it's difficult to pretend one is truly unimpressed with eyes that wide. After some while, the mood is broken by heavy footfalls down the street. (more)
[09:13] <@El-Cideon> He approaches with a "What's all this, then?" Stopping before the step when he's close enough to recognize Erin. His face is more lined then you remember, hair and bristly mustache gone to gray. He stands there, staring, for a long moment. Then, with all of that accent Erin's mostly lost: "What are you doing here?"
[09:17] <Erin> "Paying a long-overdue visit is how I would put it," replies Erin, standing up from the chair she was using and levelly facing her father.
[09:21] <@El-Cideon> A grunt. "Supposed to welcome you back with open arms after nary a word for ten years, am I? Don't count on it." He starts up the front steps, apparently meaning to walk inside, right past Erin/
[09:27] <Erin> "Don't expect open arms, but I'm here regardless," replies Erin, shaking her head and standing to the side. "As long as you don't mind me visiting here and there. Can't make up for absence quickly."
[09:32] <@El-Cideon> He stops at the door. "Got tired of playing the proper Englishwoman, then, is that it? Or maybe they got tired of you pretending to be one?"
[09:35] <Erin> "I live there. Still do." replies Erin. "I'm not here looking to move in. But it's just hours away by plane. Practically neighbours, we are."
[09:38] <@El-Cideon> "Neighbors, is it, not family?" Another grunt. "Too right. And don't be filling you brothers' heads with any of your fool ideas. Come on lads, inside." Erin's brothers shuffle inside.
[09:42] <Erin> "Guess it's not entirely up to me if I can call m'self part of the family anymore," replies Erin. "But I'm here, right now, and as long as least one of you seems to enjoy my company, well, I'll keep calling myself a Callahan."
[09:44] <@El-Cideon> "As long as you don't do it around me." He turns as if to go inside, then stops. "Which one, then?"
[09:50] <Erin> "Well, then, I ain't rightly sure myself, save that home feels a home. Guess you'd better be asking them, mmm?" replies Erin, brushing off her skirts. "I got one more sister to see, though I ain't thinking you need to be worrying about her."
[09:55] <@El-Cideon> "I'd bet not." He stands there with his hand on the doorknob, spares you a single glance. "Don't give your brothers and sister bad ideas, or the visits stop. Don't be here when I'm here. That's all you get. We'll get along fine as long as we don't see each other." He heads inside, closes the door behind him.
[09:57] <Erin> "Guessing we're gonna be having some contention over what constitutes a bad idea, then," replies Erin, to the empty air, before turning about and striding off into the street.
[09:59] * Hahn (Ebiris@95.146.2.110) Quit (Quit: bedtime)
[10:00] <@El-Cideon> Annie's house is not far away and almost indistinguishable from the one you just left. Music plays from an open window, some pop song blurred by a cool evening breeze.
[10:03] <Erin> None of these places has nearly the character Erin's has! They also, for the most part, don't appear as well-maintained, which is truly saying something. Erin walks towards the door and raps on it a few times.
[10:07] <@El-Cideon> A baby starts crying inside. A moment later, a man answers the door. Redheaded, athletic, shirt unbuttoned a few as if he'd just come home from work. "Yeah?"
[10:10] <Erin> "Name's Erin Callahan, was wondering if Annie's in," replies Erin, looking the man up and down with some curiosity.
[10:17] <@El-Cideon> "Minute," he says, closing the door. Words exchanged inside, then it opens again. This woman's carrying more padding than you remember and sporting the signs of fatigue under her eyes, but...it's definitely Annie, if no longer quite the eyecatcher she was when you were young. "Erin," she says flatly. Then a sigh. "There's tea or coffee if you want. Come on."
[10:21] <Erin> At some point, Erin will definately encounter a woman with whom family life agreed. "Better than a kick in the shins," replies Erin, stepping inside. "Introduce me to the husband? Seems you did well," she adds, approvingly.
[10:27] <@El-Cideon> "Well enough. The little ones wear you out, is all. More ways than one. Sam can watch 'em for a bit, give me a chance to catch my breath." Annie leads you into a side room with a couple patched chairs and sofas, leaves briefly and returns with two cups. "You didn't say anything so you get coffee." She sits down. "So."
[10:30] <Erin> "Thanks. So he's a Sam, eh? How long've you been together?" replies Erin, taking a seat herself and reaching for the cup.
[10:37] <@El-Cideon> "Since not long afer you left. We, well, got a bit ahead of ourselves, and pretty soon there was nothing for it but getting married, you know?" She sips at her coffee. "It's alright now, but it was rough for a long time, for both of us. Knowing what the rest of your life's going to be all of a sudden, you know? Just stumbling into it."
[10:40] <Erin> "Kinda hard when the choice is thrust upon you," admits Erin. "Seems like things have a way of working out, but, well. You've got a ten-year-old running around, then?"
[10:42] <@El-Cideon> "He's around here somewhere, little hellion. I expect he'll run off someday just like you. Sometimes I think I shouldn't stop him." She looks out the window for a moment. "I hated you for a long time, you know?"
[10:46] <Erin> "Didn't use to have the most pleasant disposition myself, if I do recall," replies Erin, taking a sip from her coffee.
[10:50] <@El-Cideon> "It was more than that. You got out, you know? On top of you just being...you. You got to make your own fortune and one night decided my future. It's not awful here, as I said. That just ate at me for a long time. 'How does she deserve it all?' and all that."
[10:55] <Erin> "Often seemed to me that what people deserve and what they get aren't always the same," replies Erin, sighing. "Far as I'm concerned, we were young. Both of us went out and did something we maybe shouldn't have. Sort of thing that can go any which way, you know?"
[11:00] <@El-Cideon> "True enough. I haven't got anything to hold against you any more--if I ever did it was just jealousy, that and maybe a bit of following mom and da's lead. And I can't run on that now that there are little ones to watch. I just thought you should know. Of course, you have to tell me what you've been doing all this time. You already know what I've been doing."
[11:00] <Erin> "Well, I got a house, it's surrounded by hedges. I got a black cat, a pointy hat, and at night, I get on my broomstick and fly around London, cackling to myself."
[11:03] <@El-Cideon> "The neighbors don't mind?"
[11:08] <Erin> "They do, they keep it to themselves," replies Erin, setting down her cup. "Seriously? I got myself into London University, did chemistry, theology, history, a lot of things. Wound up doing some private research, but recently, I've been travelling." (More)
[11:09] <Erin> "One of these little trips saw a friend of mine dead. You know, how you think things will be alright, the same forever, then it's yanked out from underneath you? It was like that. 'bout then that I decided to come back here."
[11:14] <@El-Cideon> "The world's a terrible dangerous place outside Dublin, as da'd never let us forget. There's still a lot I'd like to see, but the closest I'll get is magazines, I know. I'm sorry about your friend. What happened? No, forget I asked."
[11:17] <Erin> "You think that's so, huh?" replies Erin, raising an eyebrow. "Well, might be that you've got kids to take care of. Kids grow up, though- when they do, by the way, if they want to leave, see 'em off with a smile, and they might not take ten years to get back to you," she adds. (More)
[11:18] <Erin> "Don't want to wait that long, though, you've still got options. Don't think mum'd be too ornery about taking care of 'em for a week or two."
[11:20] <@El-Cideon> "You think any of us has the money for it? You really have been away too long, Erin."
[11:25] <Erin> "Sorry. Do get ahead of myself, sometimes," replies Erin. "Well, how 'bout I make you an offer and leave it standing?"
[11:26] <@El-Cideon> "What do you mean?"
[11:27] <Erin> "A friend of mine does possess a private vehicle," replies Erin. "I guess it might find it's way to Dublin someday, maybe sooner rather than later. Now I can't make a promise, but she's a generous sort. Might be that she's willing to take you anywhere in the world, and back again. If you can find the time, that is."
[11:28] <@El-Cideon> "I...What do you mean? A boat? What kind of friends have you made, Erin?"
[11:31] <Erin> "My work necessitated that I travel," replies Erin. "So I made a few, here and there. Pretty interesting folks, too. I guess you can say like attracts like?"
[11:32] <Erin> "And it goes a bit higher than a boat," she adds.
[11:34] <@El-Cideon> "So they're all...I'm sorry, I almost said something unpleasant. Old habits. So what is it? You know someone with a plane? Army surplus after the war maybe?"
[11:39] <Erin> "You'll see it when we drop in," replies Erin. "I guess I wanted to give you something to think about. I mean, not expecting a decision on the spot, you know?"
[11:42] <@El-Cideon> "I'd hope not. I couldn't just overturn my life here on a whim." She finishes her coffee, picks up Erin's cup as well and stands up. "Let's go see who else is about?"
[11:46] <Erin> "Sure. Not got a family of my own or anything. Hope you don't mind if I play the doting aunt."
[11:51] <@El-Cideon> Annie walks to the kitchen. There's a battered table here, a couple chairs, the requisite utilities, not much else. Well, there is a Sam sitting on one chair, holding a baby. The child looks up at you, goggle-eyed. "Sam, this is my sister, Erin. Erin, Sam. And that's my youngest, William."
[11:51] <@El-Cideon> Sam nods. "Heard a lot about you," he says simply.
[11:52] <Erin> "I can imagine. You mind letting me pretend it was all good things?" replies Erin, smiling.
[11:53] <@El-Cideon> "You break even in the end, I think," he says with a grin.
[11:57] <Erin> "Ain't that the greatest thing? So, you've got me at an advantage, since I wasn't knowing I had a brother-in-law until just the past few hours. What's your profession, mister?"
[11:59] <@El-Cideon> He shrugs. "Assembly line. Never did have time for an education. But it's a job and it's more than some have got."
[12:03] <Erin> "Long as you're taking care of Annie here, who's to say's wrong? True enough that times aren't the easiest," replies Erin, before walking a little closer and bringing her face level with William's. "Hey there, kiddo. I'm Erin, your aunt."
[12:04] <@El-Cideon> William is baffled and enthralled by this strange new shape looming in front of him, and stares with all his attention.
[12:07] <Erin> "How many months?" asks Erin, briefly hiding her face behind her palms, before- surprise! There she is!
[12:10] <@El-Cideon> William boggles at this greatest of mysteries--where did she go?! "Running on five," Annie says. "It's a good thing we held on to the older ones' clothes, the way he's growing."
[12:16] <Erin> "And the other one's still in hiding, I see. Two boys, eh? Gonna be a handful. Older one doing right in school?"
[12:18] <@El-Cideon> "So far," Sam says. "Aim to keep him that way. Things'll be better for them in the end that way." Annie nods. "You saw the rest of the family already, I take it, Erin?"
[12:19] <Erin> "I sure did. Dad doesn't care 'bout me being here, so long as he doesn't have to see me." She shrugs. "I guess that'll have to be enough."
[12:20] <@El-Cideon> "Well...next time you can stop by here, wait 'til he's gone if you have to."
[12:24] <Erin> "It's most of the day. I'll find the time." She stretches. "I'll call again sometime, Annie. I'm here for a week or so, you know? Gotta cram it in while I'm here."