Legion clutches at the ID cards like they're a lifeline, eyes big as she mouths the name, quietly, to herself, studying the birthdate, everything, with a clear hunger bright in her eyes.
no no no no no Having strange fae around so they could help each other was one thing. Grafting in even more replacement family members- Once again, it makes her feel sick. And she needs Ethan in her sight again just to reassure herself that one person is still the same one they started out with. But then she'll have to explain about the illusions, which is stretching the limits of the possible. If she has to make him cry, Arie really thinks she may go completely insane.
Even pulls Mutt over, hesitating before picking up the rest of the papers that Legion discarded in her lack of interest, stares at them in stone-cold silence, then gives Arie a panicked stare. He moves closer, holding them out. "....I don't know what we're supposed to do," he manages, leaking more smoke.
Arie gapes for a moment at being consulted- isn't it obvious how far out of her depth she is? But she takes the sheaf of papers in her numbed fingers and starts paging through.
"This is our name." She actually sounds calm, in a distant kind of way. "Apparently we're 'family' now."
"I don't know," Even says hoarsely. "...Miss Kl... Arie? Do you know how to deal with any of this? I... we haven't had to do this before. I mean." His face is indistinct, eyes red, but it's clear he's nervous. "...I was still in high school. Before everything."
"Because someone thinks family members are interchangeable!" Why are you asking me? Arie's not angry at Nul, but she is angry and it's not terribly far under the surface. "...someone needs to tell Ethan what happened. I'll figure out money things until we find them, but that can wait. He can't."
Even winces, flinching visibly, clearly taking it as a given that some of her anger is at him - it was his name on the envelope, after all. Legion straightens, looking up at him with concern, but he holds up a smoking hand in a clear 'no, I'm okay' gesture. "...because I'm pretty sure the three of us are the adults, here, and while we understand the weird stuff, you've probably got a way better handle on what life out here is supposed to be like." He hesitates, nods slowly. "Okay. Okay. I..." He hesitates. "....lying is probably an even worse idea than the truth, right?"
Deep breath. Deep breath. Arie stares at the floor, and the iron fish stares right back up at her. It's weirdly calming. "You... you can go look through Mom and Dad's room. I'll take the study. Any keys or... or any kind of paperwork or anything, anything that looks like it might be a bill or from a bank or something. Bring those to me. We can check if these-" she rustles the papers again to illustrate- "fit with any of those. And. Yeah. Don't lie to Ethan unless you can actually think of some way to make the obvious facts not terrible."
"Yeah. Okay. I'll. Do that." He goes to say something else, but decides against it. End of the hall. Okay. He leaves the room probably more quickly than he should, but he's just grateful for an excuse to be out of there. He takes a moment to breathe, and heads over to their room to see what he can find.
Arie stoops to pick up the fish and put it in her pocket, ready to hand just in case, before she does anything else.
"Help?" She meets his eyes with a very bleak gaze. "...do you know anything about where to start looking? At all?"
"...if anything is locked up, I can get it open." He presses smoking fingers to his mouth. "...it's your house. Maybe a garage?"
"No, I know where to start looking for those. But you understand the weird stuff, like you said. I can't just do this and not even bother..."
