LTSV - Harbingers of Change - 22 (Patreon)

Somewhere in there, the group all realized that anyone with family outside of the Tower needed to be charging their phones in order to call home.

Mira kicked herself for not thinking of that, but she was also aware that coming down off an extended adrenaline high did strange things to one's empathy. Fighting to survive temporarily made one very self-centered and it took a moment to recalibrate your priorities once the danger was past.

She found some cords in a junk drawer and there was enough for everyone. Mason Dietrich might not have stocked food in his bachelor's den, but he's had multiple charge cords of every shape and size.

Adra texted her with the details of how Cece and the boys' families could come pick them up. In short, the Bowler Hats would set up a checkpoint at the barricade and family members could wait there.

Once the others were able to get in contact with their families, Mira was able to witness the full gamut of family dynamics.

Cece cried on the phone with her mother for a full fifteen minutes before breaking the news that she didn't have to be a maid for terrible rich people anymore. Mira gathered from the half of the conversation that she could hear that Cece's mother was struggling to find a way in which fighting monsters for money was not a better career choice than walking Helena Bellamy's tiny dogs, but had so far come up blank.

Meanwhile, Alan's phone call was comparatively brief and went something like this; "Hey, I'm alive. I need a ride home. By the way, I got a new job. It comes with housing so I'm moving out. Cool. See you then."

Randall and Will, by comparison, had more normal conversations with their parents.

Randall spent several minutes calming his mother down before getting to the meat of the call. Mira could hear her hyperventilating even from across the room. Mira recalled that one of the global announcements had his name on it so she'd had some proof of life, but apparently that was not enough for Mrs. Zhao. It was not immediately clear, though, if she'd been more worried about his safety or the fact that he'd missed a meeting with his grad school advisor.

Hopefully, he was in a low residency program. Otherwise, Mira wasn't sure how he'd juggle being a hunter and finishing his master's.

Will had a slightly less fraught conversation with his grandfather, who seemed relieved that Will was alive and dubious about the fact that his grandson suddenly had magic powers. Will spent equal amounts of time reassuring the old man that he wasn't hurt and that, no, he had not sold his soul to anyone.

Of them all, only one conversation both surprised and upset her.

Bryn took his phone into the foyer, where there was a plug and hunkered down on the floor to make his call. This was, perhaps, not the private nook he'd imagined it was because the narrow space actually amplified and channeled sound into the part of the livingroom where Mira was sitting, trying to mind her own business and failing at it.

It was the hesitance in his voice that got Mira's attention.

"Cariño, soy yo."

There was a quiet bit as the person replied.

"Estoy bien. Había otras personas allí también y nos cuidábamos mutuamente. ¿Qué? Sí, él también estaba allí…" he paused again and his voice picked up a little more urgency. "Cariño, no. No fue asi!"

It took Mira a minute to recognize the dialect and get her rusty memory going, but her understanding of Spanish wasn't too far off from what Bryn was speaking, aside from some occasional vocabulary word that she could figure out from context.

He was saying he was ok and that there'd been other people in the dungeon with him and they'd all taken care of each other. Aw.

Then the other person had asked a sharp question and Bryn said 'Yes, he was there too,' before he started trying to defend himself. That last bit was something like 'Babe, no, it wasn't like that!'

The person interjected and must have gone on at length. Mira could see Bryn pull his knees up against his chest and drop his forehead onto them.

"Lo siento," he murmured, once he could say anything "¿Puedes venir a buscarme? Quiero ir a casa."

It took her a minute to realize that Cece had come to sit next to her and also eavesdropping. Given how wide her eyes had gotten, it looked like Mira wasn't misinterpreting anything.

Also, it was just like Cece to be bilingual in a culture where that wasn't actually all that common.

"¿Por favor? Prometo que será diferente. Es solo que..." he winced and pulled the phone away from his ear. "Mierda."

Mira and Cece both pretended to be looking in a different direction when he came out of the foyer and headed straight for the bathroom. She let him go, but as soon as the door closed behind him they both went straight for the foyer.

Cece hung back, but was hovering around the end of the hall giving every evidence of being on the lookout. Bless that woman.

Mercifully, the screen hadn't locked yet when Mira picked it up and she dialed the last number without questioning her choices.

The person picked up on the first ring, so there was that. They'd been expecting him to call back immediately, which was normally a petty antic that Mira had no time for. This time, she was willing to overlook it because it meant their ears were open.

"Now, look here," she snarled without waiting for a 'hello.' "That man has been through hell and spent almost the entire time looking after everyone except himself. The only thing he has asked for, this entire time up until now, was you. So, I don't care what you two have going on right now. Get your shoes on and get down here. Someone will meet you at the barricade. If you don't, I have plenty of hot friends I can introduce him to that would be happy to show him what higher standards look like. Understand?"

"Excuse me?" a male voice asked. It was deep and faintly accented, but Mira was conversant enough with the local language offerings to guess which one it was. If she had to guess, it sounded like one of the more lyrical-sounding Spanish languages. "How do you have Brayan's phone?"

Oh. Well. That was a surprise—although maybe it shouldn't have been. Mira vaguely recalled one of the 'routes' in Lost Daughter ended with Andrei, Bryn, and Cece in a loving throuple. Mira had assumed that arrangement was a more of a 'V' structure with Cece as the fulcrum, but maybe it had been more of a proper triad.

Also, this was the second time someone had called Bryn 'Brayan' in front of her. Was 'Bryn' a nickname here? Andre's name had been spelled a little differently when she saw it in System windows, so it seemed like the names weren't a perfect carryover from her last life.

"He left it unlocked when he left to be upset about whatever you said to him," Mira snapped. "Now, are you coming or not?"

"He has Andrei," the man replied tightly. "He can kiss it better."

She snorted. "That'd be difficult. Andrei left and Bryn told him to keep going."

"….what?" the man's tone changed completely and Mira heard something fall over in the background. "What the fuck happened? I thought nothing could get rid of that asshole." The was more fumbling in the background. It sounded like someone putting on their shoes. Good.

"You should ask Bryn when you come get him," Mira told him.

"I'm coming!" he said. Keys jingled. "Where am I going?"

"The barricade on the far end of Pacific Promenade," Mira said, feeling somewhat mollified. "There will be men in bowler hats. Go up to them and tell them who you've come for."

"I'm on my way."

Mira ended the call with smug satisfaction that evaporated when she realized the shadow on the wall in front of her was too tall to be Cece's.

Bryn was standing behind her with a neutral expression and damp hair. He silently held out his hand for the phone when she turned around and she meekly put it on his palm.

"He's on his way," she said, hoping that would keep her out of trouble.

There was a long silence as Mira struggled to raise her gaze and reflected that that had probably not been the best choice on her part. It had worked out, but she probably shouldn't have gotten involved.

"…thanks," Bryn said at long last.

She felt a large hand land on top of her head and for a second she didn't realize what was happening until he ruffled her hair.

Cece was staring at the ceiling when Mira escaped the foyer, leaving her dignity behind.

"Some lookout you are," she hissed.

"He's sneaky for such a big guy!" Cece defended herself, holding her hands up. He was already past me before I realized he'd left the bathroom."

The other boys were studiously looking away when she joined them in the living room. Good. She sat down hard with her arms crossed over her chest and ignored the way the shadows seemed to be laughing at her.

Was this what having friends was like? Mira suspected she hadn't been missing out on much, if so.

Note:  Girl, quit lying. You're having a great time.