Relaxing at home. {For Alodia}

[chasingtwisters]

Moira's a decent cook; not a chef sous by any stretch of the imagination, but she can cook well enough when she feels like it. Tonight, she has several trays loaded with various cookies, cupcakes, and scones laid out on the table in her living room, a kettle of rosemary tea simmering at the perfect temperature over the fire, and a couple of mugs next to the food. Alodia should be along shortly, and Moira wants to have everything ready for an evening of catching up and gorging on junk food.

She knows her cousin must have questions; she's seen the look in her eyes every time they've met, she just hasn't felt comfortable confiding in her surrounded by so many people. But tonight, it is just the two of them, and Moira is happy to have her cousin over after so long away from Siren Cove.

She casts some light charms, bounding about the room in the shapes of horses, while she waits.

Comments

[chasingtwisters]

"Yes," Moira answers back without any hesitation. "I checked to see who it was that found Fabrice and well. It was Jenkins, Violet's lawyer."

[summersong]

"Could be a coincidence," Alodia says, frowning. She knows Moira doesn't trust her mother, has accused her of overreacting more than once, and she can't quite picture her aunt attacking her own nephew. "I mean, yes, Aunt Violet's weird and overbearing and probably crazy, but why would she want to hurt Fabrice? He's family."

[chasingtwisters]

"Family didn't stop her from killing Fabrice's father or mine," Moira says softly, knowing that Alodia usually provides reasonable doubts to her claims. "And I think Fabrice was finally catching on to what Violet is capable of."

[summersong]

"You still don't have any proof of that," Alodia says, voice just as low. "And if you're right about what she's capable of - which I'm not convinced includes murder - even if Fabrice was catching on to that, why attack him? If you're right about her, you've known what she's capable of for years, and she hasn't touched you..." Except Moira had disappeared with the Thornton boy for days, and it probably wasn't willingly. "Has she?"

[chasingtwisters]

"Not solid proof, no," she says, thinking of the rune letter she'd turned over to James the other night. "But I refuse to believe that Uncle Reginald and my father dying at sea is a coincidence. I mean, come on," she points out, though she also knows that the points Alodia raises are valid ones. "I think she attacked Fabrice to keep the blame off herself and the Coombs name - I mean, what with the town curse and rivalry and all, a Thornton girl ending up dead? People would talk and fingers would point. Violet's an expert at this game."

She sighs, taking another long swig of wine.

"She attacked Fabrice both for his suspicions and to feed the frenzy around the whole town curse bullshit," Moira says. "I still haven't figured out why she hasn't killed me yet, though, sending James and myself to a labyrinth with motherfucking Medusa is an attempt, I'll give her that."

[summersong]

"Oooooor maybe one of the Thorntons attacked Fabrice for revenge?" Alodia raises her eyebrows and fixes Moira with a skeptical look. "Or maybe whoever killed the Thornton girl went after Fabrice, or maybe it's totally unrelated and this town is just crazy dangerous sometimes, or maybe it's literally any other explanation that doesn't sound like some convoluted conspiracy theory. Because no offense, Moira, but 'she murdered her husband and brother years ago and covered it up, and now she's killed one of the Thorntons and attacked her own nephew to keep blame off her family' kind of sounds like a conspiracy theory."

At Moira's next words, her eyebrows go even higher and she shudders theatrically. "You were in a labyrinth? With Medusa? And James Thornton? Ye gods, I'm honestly not sure which one is worse."

[chasingtwisters]

"Yeah, well, apparently my life is now the X-Files or whatever, so, color me a conspiracy theory nut, I guess?" She sighs, knowing Alodia is right to question her on her lack of evidence and the way she makes things sound, even if it does frustrate her.

"Yeah, actual Medusa, snake hair and all. It was...trying, to say the least," Moira says. She takes another long gulp of wine at the mention of James. "Honestly, he's not that bad, Alodia."

[summersong]

She drops it. They've had this conversation before, and Alodia knows Moira isn't going to change her mind about Violet. Besides, there are more interesting things to discuss.

"I didn't even think Medusa was real. That sounds awful - how'd you get out?" She blinks, then stares. "Sorry, did I hear you correctly? James Thornton - of the "oooooh all magic is bad and evil burn the witches" Thorntons - is not that bad? Are you sure the labyrinth didn't fuck with your brain?"

[chasingtwisters]

Moira finishes her glass of wine at Alodia's next question, recalling with horror the way the mist that brought them back seemed to do so at the expense of another man's life.

"The same mist that took us, and also killed that poor baker, Tristan," she says, barely suppressing a shudder. The memory of that moment has yet to cease haunting her in her sleep. "He saved my life, and he could have easily left me to die and fend for himself," Moira shrugs, thinking that kind of thoughtfulness is well worth pointing out. And besides, she secretly enjoys her banter with James, the more she thinks about it.

[summersong]

"I heard about that," Alodia nods. She hadn't heard about the mist part, but that must have been what Spencer meant when he'd said Tristan had died of natural causes.

"Oh, well, good for him for not being a completely horrific human being," she mutters. She's grateful the Thornton boy didn't abandon her cousin, of course she is, but there's a world of difference between 'not letting someone die' and 'being a good and trustworthy person'.

[chasingtwisters]

"Yeah, it was pretty terrible," Moira says, running a hand through her hair and letting out a long sigh at the memory of it.

"You weren't there, you won't understand," Moira almost snaps at Alodia, which she wouldn't have done before the labyrinth.

[summersong]

"No, I wasn't," Alodia shoots back, annoyed. "All I have to go on is my previous experience, which, in case you'd forgotten, consists mainly of years of anti-supernatural sentiment from his charming family, so you'll have to forgive me for not declaring him my new best friend just because he did what anyone with an ounce of common sense and decency would have done."