Moonlight Nocturne

Nick gives her a broad, chipper smile. It's good that Miri's interested in being her friend, it's fantastic!

He gives her a gentle bap on the shoulder, then goes back to his own breakfast, reaching his fork over to gently bap Miri's knuckles as she tries to steal some bacon from Elena. "Not cool," he mumbles.

 

Miri pouts, leaning against Elena's shoulder with a huff. "Fine..."

 

Natasha smiles wide, moving to sit across the table from the trio. "Absolutely. It's very important to help people."

 

"... It's okay," Elena says, passing Miri her bacon. "I don't mind. I'm not really supposed to eat pork anyway..."

Mom doesn't really keep kosher, but... Eating pork still feels weird. Mom doesn't make it, she says it would make her parents turn over in their graves. Elena doesn't mind, as long as she doesn't have to eat holubtsi or kaspusniak. Why were Grandma and Grampa so into cabbage??

"Um. If you're hungry, you can have some of mine," she says, leaning on Miriam as she eats her pancakes and eggs. "It's really good. Um. Thanks."

She smiles shyly up at Natasha. "Do you fight a lot of monsters?"

 

"You're not?" Nick gives her a look of surprise, scrunches his brow. "...wait. like. Allergy, or, like... a religious thing?"

 

Miri beams. "Thank you."

She gives a bump of her shoulder against Elena's, smiling brightly and accepting the gift of delicious bacon.

 

"Very. Very often," Natasha replies. "But less often than we used to. We're tidying things up."

 

Elena looks up at Nick, blinking. "Um. We're Jewish. So it's religious, I guess. Mom just doesn't like it. She says Grandma and Grampa lived through the Holocaust so it's really important to them that we stay Jewish Even though they're dead."

She blushes again when Miriam smiles at her, looking down. "You're welcome."

Cute girl.

Elena frowns at that. "... so you take care of this city? Isn't there anyone else helping? Where do the monsters come from?"

 

Nick blinks. "...oh. huh. That's pretty cool. Uhm. Sorry about your grandparents?"

"Grandpa wasn't in Europe, 's not our fault, Nick." Miriam replies precisely, looking up. "Gram-gram's side of the family had folks in the RAF, anyways."

She grins at Elena. "We're all corking, right?

 

"Oh, there are other people. We're part of The Union, which is a group of hunters that are loosely affiliated. We have plenty of friends and family, too. It's a bit of a... hmm. We all do it, in the family."

She's quiet, considering, then takes a slow sip of coffee. "...that's a complicated question, and not one we can easily figure out. It's... plenty of them come from... or used to be... human. Some still are."

 

Elena shrugs a little. "... it's okay. It was a long time ago. ... Corking?"

Does that mean they're crazy? Corking sure sounds like it means 'crazy.' Like 'barking.'

She fidgets with her knife at the talk of monsters, thinking about that vampire-monster. She hadn't really considered that it might have been a person once. It looked like a person, but she kind of thought of it as a boogeyman, a thing made of shadows, not someone who went to school once, who'd had friends, who was like her.

It's a scary thought. Especially if it didn't have a choice about becoming... that. The memory of molasses-thick blood on her hands makes her mouth go dry, and she puts her fork down.

"... Can I help? Will you teach me?"

 

"'S excellent. Stellar. Cool. Corking."

 

"Wh... well, yeah, absolutely!" Nick looks up. "That's the idea, isn't it?"

 

"As long as your mother gives you permission to go out." Natasha clarifies.

 

"... Totally," Elena says, smiling at Miriam. Possibly crazy, too. But definitely corking.

She slumps, looking down. "What if she doesn't? I can't just... just stay home and do nothing..."

She'll go crazy, if she has to just sit on her hands. It makes her so angry, sitting and waiting and doing nothing, knowing that the police don't care the way she does, they don't know what she does. And no one will listen, because she's just a kid.

 

"If she doesn't, Nick can be your eyes and ears outside. You tell him what to look for, and he'll do his best." Natasha smiles reassuringly. "Gabriel is pulling what information he can get on your brother as we speak. We're going to help."

 

Elena smiles shakily, uncertainly back at her. "... thank you."

It's... it's such a relief, to have someone to help. And maybe she'll learn to jump and run through the city like Nick does, and how to really fight. Maybe she can learn to fight monsters, and then Peter won't leave her behind, won't come back covered in bruises and cuts, with his eyes staring off into nothing.

She tucks into her breakfast, going quiet. Maybe... Maybe things will be better now. She likes Nick's family.

 

(( Mrs. Wilkins gets a Critical on her persuasion roll.... followed by another crit... and... holy shit. another crit. OKAY. ))

Elena's mother is more distraught than she was in the middle of the night, looking between Natasha and Nick with pronounced concern when they arrive. Nick smiles brightly, giving his best, friendliest impression, and his sister smiles and sweeps in, already controlling the room with her presence, asking Mrs. Yakir if they can talk in another room for a moment, oh, what a lovely house, mhhm, oh, tell me more about what's going on -

It's a long conversation, but Mrs. Yakir is convinced.. Nick is a young, responsible adult. If Elena is going to sneak out anyway, it's better if she has permission and goes with someone who will keep her safe. ( 'Indulge her, I know it's hard on both of you, but at least this way she feels like she has some control over everything...' ) ...and is back by Ten PM on school nights, only goes out if her homework is complete, and gets her grades up first.

Nick looks like a deer caught in the headlights when she returns with Natasha, hugs her daughter tight, and then tells him that she'll start training him on register when they open the shop.

 

Elena fidgets while they wait, sitting on the couch with her phone. "Do you think Mom will listen to her?"

She can't really hear anything from in here, but Natasha seems really good at this. She's still nervous. "I'm going to be grounded for the rest of my life."

The hug is ... startling. She looks almost as much like a deer in the headlights as Nick, like she can't quite believe things are going that well. She stiffens, flinching a little, her hand twitching toward her pocket. She's not really used to being hugged without warning, especially when she's on edge like this. "Sorry, Mom."

"... you're going to work here?? I can show you the shop now, if you want."

... this is going to be awesome. She can show him the table she's helping Mom restain, and the weird old knives, and ask if the silverware will really work on werewolves. Do werewolves exist? She should ask. If they're anything like vampires, she wants to be ready to stab them.

 

"Yes, his sister just told me he's volunteered," your mother smiles.

"I did? I am?" Nick looks a bit baffled. "Oh. I. I guess?"

He looks a bit lost, but smiles at Elena. "Oh. Uh. Yeah, sure! That would be cool."