Title: RealmspeakerGenre: Urban fantasy
Characters: Brett, Isadora
Prompt: 108 ~ Devil
Word Count: Approx. 566
Rating: PG-13 (just in case)
Type: Series
Summary: Brett can't get Isadora's cooperation.
Warnings: (Arguably) stretched prompt, general vagueness
*
August 4, 2059
17 Lockland Road, Lockport, New York
"Oh great. You're here." Isadora's hazel eyes vanished beneath their heavy lids, then snapped back to the computer screen. Her broken gaze might as well have been his broken limb. "Funny, I was just thinking my day couldn't possibly get any worse."
Brett slid the door shut and sniffed. As always, he was about as welcome here as a half-decayed rat carcass. "Good to see you too. The new place seems nice."Isadora minimized what looked like an email message and drummed her fingers against the curve of the mouse. She was busy--good. That meant she'd cooperate, if only so she could get back to work more quickly. "Well, we needed the space. What do you want?"
Frowning, he cast a glance around the kitchen--fresh, immaculate, the high chair empty. Must've been elsewhere in the house. "Are the kids around, or--?"
"Forget it." Without so much as a sidelong glance, she opened the menu and started up a game of solitaire. Solitaire--like she'd just forgotten he was there. Once upon a time, she never would have done that. Not to him. "Stay away from my kids, Brett. These ones aren't yours, in case you've forgotten."Forgotten. Like the damn ring on her finger wasn't enough of a reminder. Brett sighed. "Dora, I have to know--"
"You do not." She pushed back the keyboard and groaned. "You already screwed up one of my kids. What makes you think I'm letting you near the others?"
He screwed up one of her kids? The nerve of her. "Farrel is just as much your fault as he is mine, you know."Isadora glowered. "I never said he wasn't. But we were young and stupid back then. You wouldn't do the same to your new little son, would you?"
He said nothing. Disbelieving, Isadora raised an eyebrow. "Okay, so you're still stupid. I'm not. EDEN screwed us over and I get that--don't pretend I don't know it better than you do--but you've taken this too far. Leave me and my family out of it."
Brett kicked at one of the floor tiles. They were still new but he couldn't make himself care about Isadora's goddamn floor--Orlando's goddamn floor. "Dora, you know what they're up to...""Damn right I do--and you're doing the same thing." She finished off her virtual card game and opened the email again. Compelled by human curiosity, Brett tried to peek, but she'd clicked 'send' before he'd had a chance. "Get out of my house, Brett. Don't bother coming back; my answer won't change."
Ridiculous. He rarely had any problems with anyone who knew anything about EDEN and few people had as much reason to hate them as Isadora did--and yet, here she was, refusing his help, refusing to help him. She'd always been a stubborn one, but this was just downright unreasonable. "Fine, have it your way. But if I can't get to the kids first, you know EDEN will come after them--and they won't take 'no' for an answer."
She broke away from the screen and looked up at him. Her eyes lacked their former youthful spark and her soft features had hardened. He wished he had a mirror he could have held for her; it would have done her well to see just what they'd done to her. "I already told you to leave."
On the plus side of everything, I love how a lot of the new (okay, well, maybe just new for me) EAxis content can pass as non-Maxis-match.
ReplyDeleteAh ha! So EDEN is not a person, it is a....group or a thing, or something like that. I didn't pay attention to the fact that it was in all caps before. I'll assume that it was wherever Brett woke up in his "dream" and first saw Isadora.
ReplyDeleteSeems that there was more than a casual biological swap with these two; something that didn't go the way Brett may have wanted it, but, of course, that's just conjecture.
Brett seems to be the only one seriously concerned with EDEN and what they can do. Does Isadora know something he doesn't? Or is he just one of those crazy conspiracy theorists?
The plot thickens :)
And can I just say that you've done a hell of a job with the genealogy!
ReplyDeleteIt'll be a while before we find out exactly what EDEN is and what they/it do/does and/or want(s), but it has everything to do with the first chapter, definitely.
ReplyDeleteThere was something more at some point--it'll probably come up later. But Brett does seem a little bitter here, and Farrel did note in the last post a few physical similarities between Isadora and Libby, which is rather telling.
As for Brett's concerns with EDEN... well, there are a few things going on there. To a certain extent, he is one of those crazy conspiracy theorists, but he does have enough evidence to at least justify his suspicions. Isadora knows everything Brett does, but she seems to figure the best revenge is living well.
Thanks :) I love plotting the genealogy of my characters, especially for pieces like this where it plays a rather significant part.
LOCKPORT?!?! Dude. That's where I grew up! *cues Twilight Zone theme music* Although I don't remember a Lockland Road. But that doesn't mean it doesn't exist (or wouldn't exist in an alternate universe placed fifty-ish years in the future).
ReplyDelete*ahem* Yikes, poor Isadora. Somehow, I get the feeling that if EDEN came after her kids, though, she'd fight them tooth and claw. Maybe a little harder than Brett seems to be fighting anybody.
And poor Farrell, too. Seeing both of his parents lets me see why that kid is so messed up. I wish Isadora would talk to him, though, if she's got any love in her for him. He seems so alone and abandoned, it might do him good to see that somebody else cares. Maybe?
Really? Oh wow, I just picked a place practically at random XD Pretty sure I made up Lockland Road, though :P
ReplyDeleteEDEN isn't a big concern for Isadora at this point. Her kids from her marriage are very young (all four of them are toddlers in-game, although the twins are close-ish to the child transition--she and her husband are a pair of rabid Family Sims). Also, only the youngest is a daughter. As the first chapter sort of implied, EDEN has little use for boys, and I don't think Isadora's daughter is even a year old yet. But yeah, I can't imagine she'd let Ariana go without a fight.
As for Farrel... well, his relationships with both of his parents are quite complicated. He gets along better with Isadora than he does with Brett, but not by all that much and there's still a lot that goes unsaid between them. At this point, I do think both of his parents love him in their own ways, but they've both got him written off as a lost cause and that's only the tip of the iceberg. They were never a happy family :(