Plain To Be Seen • •

[kael erickson mcallister]

Kael kept himself busy these days. Lottie knowing his big bad secret did feel like a weight lifted from his shoulders, but he did wish it was easier. Nothing exactly put the pieces back together or made it any less painful to think about. More than anything, his ego was bruised to match his broken heart. He wasn’t known for making colossal mistakes, and admitting to them was even more of a rarity. He just wanted to keep his head down and get on with things in his life now. With Gotham, and his sporting hobbies, it made that a little easier for him to do, but Kael sometimes felt like he was going around in circles. Endless circles, full of sparring and liquor bottles; only he was pouring and not drinking the liquor. That was probably a good thing. He’d be a terrible drunk if he made a habit of it. He only ever made good company for Reilly when they were a few bottles in because she was the entertaining one of the two of them. Kael was often in tears laughing at her shooting down men or taunting him about something he had done, or failed to do. Seeing double was only fun when the Russian was around to encourage him. Else, it was a miserable venture, and one Kael tried to avoid at all costs.

Still, he liked it when he had the chance to work behind the bar at Gotham. Sometimes he hated playing boss and he just wanted to be like the rest of his staff, serving drinks and having a grand old time on the always sober side of the bar. It gave him a chance to catch some of the acts outside of their auditions or sign ups, and he got to actually prove he wasn’t just the grumpy manager who grunted his way through paperwork and forms that needed his signature at the bottom whenever a delivery showed up, or a maintenance guy finally came by to fix that flickering light in the basement. He enjoyed partaking in the jokes with the team he had stitched together through interviews, replacing those who left for other careers with people who were going to feel right at home with the Gotham family. He also made sure he had people who could be relied upon when he wanted a break himself. There might have been days when he felt like he lived in that small, cramped office at the back of the comedy club, but it definitely wasn’t the case. He collapsed into his bed almost every night. Again, the only exception was if he blacked out somewhere in Reilly’s company. Then he was left to sleep it off wherever the blonde deemed it safe to do so.

Kael leaned on one of the few dry areas of the bar, his lips quirking up into a small smirk as the amateur comedian on the stage hit his punchline. When a set was good, it gave the bar time to breathe. Most people surged for their refills when there was a dull act on, or a break between one rising star and the next. Normally it was a chance to dry down the surfaces, top up the stock and collect in the empties, but Kael was having a moment to himself. It wasn’t very often he got one, so he was savouring it. That was, until a figure came into his peripheral vision. Then he pushed himself up and turned to the woman, a friendly, lopsided smile on his handsome face. “What’s your poison?” He asked her.

• • •

TAGGED! Everly Cameron Beaumont
WORDS! 604!
OUTFIT! Handsome Hunk!
LYRICS! Door Number Three - - - Sara Bareilles
NOTES! <3

[Everly Cameron Beaumont]

Everly loved what she did for a living. Dancing and routines were what she thought about when she fell into bed at night and the first things into her mind when she woke up in the morning. It had been that way for so long, it was hard to remember when it started exactly. Her brother, Tommy, teased that it had started the second she was born, that dancing was what she had been meant to do with her life. It wasn't until she was older that she really started to believe he was right. And that was only because she'd stumbled across a quote about writing that she had connected with and she finally started to think he was right. And he believed his youngest related sister so much, he paid for all her dance lessons; and there were so many, it was a miracle they managed to keep track. All she ever wanted to do was dance, which was why her disinterest in dancing at nightclubs came as such a shock to those who didn't know her well. She did dance when she went out, but she practically had to be dragged onto and then off of the dance floor.

Her breaks only seemed to come while she was flying from place to place. Those were usually her only breaks from dancing so when she went out for a night on the town, she wanted to relax, sit back and enjoy a few drinks. Sometimes a song took her and her friends saw it and dragged her out, sometimes she wanted nothing more than to nurse whatever drink she'd ordered from the bar and ignore the thumping bass. So when the twins suggested a comedy club when she returned from a trip to Germany, a show she was choreographing but not in herself, it was a nice change of pace. Her dancers were out there and she knew she would have to meet them again in Amsterdam but she could be home for a week before heading out again. She was a busy girl with five crews under her and four of them working with mainstream artists and one currently filming a movie right there in New York that she needed to be around for more often.

Wes and Tommy were her favourite brothers, though she loved them all but they had families of their own and couldn't always go out when the younger siblings wanted to. The twins habitually decided to head out on a whim and occasionally, it was possible, like tonight, for Ever go be back to go with them and sometimes it wasn't possible, like when she was out of the city, or country entirely. Though tonight, if they would have suggested somewhere else, she probably would have said no. But the comedy club was a good place to chill out and unwind with some laughter. She'd been sitting with them most of the night, allowing them to treat her, like they'd asked. She was one of the only siblings that wasn't always in New York so her siblings liked to treat her every once in a while. But she needed a minute away from the twins who were really more interested in Ever introducing them to some dancers. She loved them and would be there for them but they were total idiots and not people she would want distracting her dancers. She knew how they operated and it wasn't going to happen. Standing at the bar, her mind wandered a little bit and had to blink when the bartender approached her and asked what she wanted. "Single malt, top shelf, two fingers." She said after a couple drawn out seconds. She needed something strong to offset the 'who was the blonde in that music video…' moments.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || kael erickson mcallister
Words || 633
Clothes || Dancing Queen
Music || If You Want A Bad Boy --Brantley Gilbert
Notes || <3

[kael erickson mcallister]

Kael liked being in charge of a place like Gotham. It sure beat an office job any day of the week. He was never entirely comfortable in a shirt and tie, and sitting staring at a computer screen from nine until five was not a suitable career for a guy who had spent his life actively pursuing sports and martial arts. At least here he did his fair share of lugging boxes and changing barrels when it needed doing, as well as chipping in with the cleaning and serving when he didn’t actually have big old boss stuff to take care of in the office. He could actually boast keeping busy and active while he was at Gotham, and he never needed to show up wearing a shirt and tie; not even when the owners were swinging by to talk to him about something they were going to implement in the coming months, or to check over the figures and stats with him in person. Those visits were few and far between anyway, but they trusted Kael to handle the business without peering over his shoulder every five minutes to make sure he wasn’t about to run them into the ground.

In fact, Kael liked to assume he was doing a damn good job with the comedy club. Nights like this when the place was packed out made him confident of it. People wouldn’t come if the place was terrible or the drinks were bad. He had to believe the shows were good, worth the money, and gave people a good reason to leave their apartments. Kael wasn’t a genius when it came to human behaviour, but he didn’t think people would suffer through crap comedy, and bad beer time and time again. Surely no one would torture themselves like that, even in a city as bizarre as New York. Plus, after the shit storm of the last few years he needed something good in his life and he liked to think that Gotham was the start of it. He was doing something good with the place, booking good and reliable artists, and had decent offers on at the bar to keep people coming back through their doors.

People drank for a plethora of reasons; good news, bad news, celebrating…the list went on, and Kael had served them all. Very little surprised him now when he was up at the bar. He’d heard all kinds of stories since coming to work there, and some were absolutely ridiculous. Kael raised his eyebrow at this woman’s request and reached for a glass all the same. “That bad?” He asked, turning to reach for the high up bottle. People rarely requested top shelf stuff unless it was needed to help them forget, or they came bounding over to the bar with a full wallet and a grin like the Cheshire Cat’s. They usually had a crowd with them and made quite the entrance, laughing and hollering at each other like they were going to buy the place out.

• • •

TAGGED! Everly Cameron Beaumont
WORDS! 507!
OUTFIT! Handsome Hunk!
LYRICS! Door Number Three - - - Sara Bareilles
NOTES! <3

[Everly Cameron Beaumont]

Ever loved her brothers, she loved all her extended mash up of siblings but there were days, like all siblings had, when they got to be just a little too much. The twins were usually the first to hit that particular nerve but they were always the ones that had the most fun out as well. It wasn't an ideal situation but as long as Ever could sneak away for a few minutes away from them, she could deal with a night out with the pair of them. They really were good fun, as long as he they didn't bring up any of the artists she was currently working with anyway. The older lot and Tuck were all just interested in what she was up to and how she was doing, the twins and most of the younger lot without girlfriends, or boyfriends, wanted the details they thought she had. And in truth, she did have the information they wanted, she got to know the people she was working with very well but she also considered them friends and was not about to introduce them to her brothers; especially the twins. Tucker, Thomas and Wesley without a doubt but the rest would be purely by accident.

There was a long tour coming up and Ever knew the only way she would see any of her family would be if they flew out to see her. She knew they would, hoping to get the chance to see the people she was working with, maybe hook up with them. They were as transparent as glass sometimes but Ever loved them all the same. For better or worse, they were family and always would be. This would be the last night for at least two months where she could even see any of them. When she woke up in the morning, she would have to start packing, and repacking, her bags for Amsterdam and whichever city came after it. And at one point she had to head over to Thomas's place for dinner, Tucker's to take back the clothes she'd left there after a night out in his neighbourhood and ended up borrowing some of his girlfriend's clothes to get home again in the morning. She was a bit of a mess but all that meant for Everly was that she fit right into the hot mess that was her extremely extended family.

The bubbly brunette wanted nothing more than to sit back and relax, laugh at some comedy bits and her brother's trying to get information out of her. She never gave them anything they didn't already know but they tried so hard and it was so fun watching them struggle to try new tactics. Except when they pushed her just a little too far. Ever shook her head and rolled her eyes. "That idiotic." She returned with a sigh and a roll of her neck, attempting and failing to get relief from the stress headache she could feel building. "Siblings for you, I suppose." She added, reaching for her wallet and her cash. A few minutes at the bar would be more than enough to reset her irritation levels and return to the fools who constantly set her off on walks around to get away from them for ten minutes.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || kael erickson mcallister
Words || 549
Clothes || Dancing Queen
Music || If You Want A Bad Boy --Brantley Gilbert
Notes || <3

[kael erickson mcallister]

Kael believed very much in family. A few years ago, if anyone had asked him how he pictured his life now, honestly he would have thought that his siblings would have been an uncle and aunt, himself a father. That was just how keen he was about families. He had been close to his own growing up and thought that once he had met the woman he was ready to spend the rest of his life with they would waste little time in starting their own batch of mini people. That hadn’t gone to plan, and Kael’s taste of heartbreak wasn’t one he wanted to repeat again. Not only did it hurt, but it had left him feeling foolish. He felt as though he should have known sooner that something was amiss in his relationship, but he was blinded by his own feelings. He overlooked the obvious, and turned a blind eye to what was happening right in front of him. They were mistakes Kael wasn’t willing to make again. It had hurt too much the first time, and he wasn’t in the habit of repeating stuff like that.

At least Kael knew that for all the lovers he had in his life, his siblings and father would always be there. He hadn’t told them everything about every moment of his private life, but then he didn’t go poking around in theirs either. Kael was just thankful that they were there. Even if it was just a trip into the mountains to ride their way down on snowboards, or a fierce fight in the dojo, it was a bond that he was certain nothing could break. They had been through plenty together, and he was sure that they could go through so much more without being broken apart. Kael’s family meant the world to him, and there was no one on the planet who could entice him away from them. He would sooner die than give them up for another person. Plus, anyone who even asked him to sacrifice his family for them was not a person Kael wanted to give his time to. They weren’t worth it as far as he was concerned.

Kael let out a deep chuckle from somewhere in his broad chest. He scraped his fingers through his rough stubble and reached for a clean glass from under the bar. Pouring a drink, his eyebrows moved towards his hairline. “That, is something I understand only too well.” He confessed, putting the bottle down once the drink was perfect. Kael slid the drink across to her and took the payment. “Want to talk about it? Some people seem to think it helps.” He said with a light shrug, but a cheeky smile. When he was working on the bar Kael morphed into a more sociable version of himself. Almost like the self he used to be before his heart had been broken and he had chosen to start over again in New York City.

• • •

TAGGED! Everly Cameron Beaumont
WORDS! 501!
OUTFIT! Handsome Hunk!
LYRICS! Door Number Three - - - Sara Bareilles
NOTES! <3

[Everly Cameron Beaumont]

Despite how crazy her family was, how many of them there were, Everly wouldn't change a single thing about how she'd grown up. She'd been the reason her brother was married with babies of his own, if she hadn't wanted dance lessons, he never would have met his wife. Everly liked to think of herself as a bit of a matchmaker when it came to her siblings but the truth was they were a surprisingly lovable bunch. Except maybe the twins, she thought they might be a lost cause for a few more years. Then again stranger things have happened. Having to explain her brother wasn't actually her father should have been on that list but he'd been old enough when she'd been born to be her dad so it was absolutely plausible, and it was something she didn't often do anyway. People would think what they wanted and Everly wasn't about to waste her breath on something as ridiculous as her parentage when it was with someone she wasn't close to. Her friends knew the truth and whenever she found a man worth settling down with, he would be corrected, too. As far as Ever was concerned, people only needed to know the basics of her life and only when the information was required. She spent so much time with celebrities that she understood the need to keep mum about personal information.

Nothing about her life was a secret but she didn't go around spouting it all to whoever would listen to her. If she ever felt the need to say something, she would elaborate otherwise, it wasn't really worth bringing it up. Everly was more than her extremely large family. She was a damn good dancer, a great sister and an exceptional friend if she did say so herself. She might not have been great with handing out advice but she at least had a shoulder to cry on and an ear to rant to. She was much better at working out the issues dancing and drinking until the sun came back up again and everyone thought they were so screwed for the day ahead. It was the only downside to being a professional dancer and choreographer. The day after a night out, usually meant a late start but Everly was almost always up at a ridiculously early hour to get in a short workout. She needed to keep limber and starting up in the studio didn't always start with warm-ups because they were too busy talking and laughing at each other.

It was never like that when she was home, or when she went out with her siblings. The next morning usually saw Everly waking up usually on top of her bed covers, her curly hair a total rat's nest and knotted up like nobody's business and her mouth as dry as the Sahara desert. At least she had the sense, even blackout drunk, to take whatever makeup she was wearing off, even if she couldn't always say the same about her clothes. Everly smiled innocently. "First things first, how many siblings do you have?" She asked first. "I won't bother asking if you're close, it's obvious just by that you are." She continued lifting her drink to her lips. Ever honestly couldn't wait to see the shock on the bartender's face when she finally divulged the ridiculous number of siblings she had.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || kael erickson mcallister
Words || 566
Clothes || Dancing Queen
Music || If You Want A Bad Boy --Brantley Gilbert
Notes || <3

[kael erickson mcallister]

Kael would do just about anything for his family. He knew they weren’t likely to get in trouble with the law (at least not the kind of trouble that led to a felony conviction), but he’d always give them an alibi or take the fall with them. There were people out there who were estranged from their brothers and sisters, who hated their parents with the burning intensity of a thousand suns, and Kael felt sorry for them. He realised that some people made bad parents, that some others were just selfish or careless, but he believed that everyone should be able to enjoy and fall back on a good family; be it biological or otherwise. He understood that in this day and age the nuclear family didn’t work for everyone, but there were plenty of people who called friends family, or who had that Aunt who wasn’t actually a blood relative or married in, but who had simply been there for as long as anyone could remember. Families took on different shapes, but he knew he would be nothing without his. If he’d been completely alone when his heart was ripped out of his chest and shattered on the ground Kael honestly didn’t know what he would have done. He could have drank himself to sleep every night or driven his car off a cliff, but the knowledge that he had his dad and his siblings kept his head above water. He stopped wallowing in his own pity to think about what he could do for them. It was definitely a way to distract himself and avoid dealing with his own problems at the time, but he felt better for it then and felt great now.

He was in no way ready to give his heart to someone again. There was still some healing to do there, but New York made him feel better in himself. His job in Indiana may have paid a little more than this one, but it was never about the money. Kael just needed to figure out who he was, to take the hard lesson and learn from it. He thought he had done that now, so it was getting back to enjoying life, remembering all the stuff he loved in the world and finding the time to enjoy it. It was easy enough to talk Lottie into a weekend up in the mountains now that he lived in the city – and there was a great climbing place a few blocks away from his apartment for when he wanted something different than the usual gym workout he crammed in around his shifts at Gotham, or the classes down at the dojo. Kael needed sports in his life like he needed air. He imagined he would be one of the old men jogging along the harbour front when he was grey and fighting against bad eyesight and arthritis.

Thinking about the two thorns in his side, Kael smiled. “I have two. A brother and a sister. Both younger.” Being the big brother often left Kael frustrated when he was younger, but he secretly loved looking out for the two of them. Gavin might not be with them right now, but Kael made sure to check in regularly and pester him if he thought something was wrong. It was a little easier with Lottie since he lived there and saw her pretty much every day again now. “They’re both pains in my ass…but I wouldn’t have it any other way. Life wouldn’t be as fun without them.” He would likely wish he could kill both of them intermittently throughout his life, but Kael didn’t think there was anyone out there with siblings who hadn’t thought about strangling them at least once.

• • •

TAGGED! Everly Cameron Beaumont
WORDS! 629!
LYRICS! Door Number Three - - - Sara Bareilles
NOTES! <3

[Everly Cameron Beaumont]

Everly was aware her family was ridiculous and chaotic. She'd known her entire life when it was this brother or that brother, once in a while, this sister picking her up from school instead of her parents. As a small child, she hadn't really had a sense of just how strange it was but as she grew older, she understood that most people only had a handful of siblings. Everly lost count on a regular basis just how many siblings she had. At last count, there were thirty-odd of them but her father had just started seeing a new woman fairly recently so that number might have gotten bigger. It was probably time for another sibling dinner just to see what was going on. It hadn't been strange to Everly though, that was the point. She'd believe, as a small child, that it was completely normal to have a couple of siblings old enough to be her father. Hell, she claimed her one brother was her father all the time still! Although calling him Daddio in public habitually made him cringe which made her continue the game. If he'd learnt the lesson the first time, she would have quit a long time ago but he still visibly cringed. At least his wife found the humour in it.

These nights out with a couple of siblings meant they could catch up on the gossip and whatever was going on with the ones around. It was easier in the smaller groups to do that because they weren't trying to shout over one another. With that many siblings, it was only a matter of time before someone raised their voice to be heard over the din. Everly wouldn't change a second of those gatherings but sometimes, it was just nice to be with a smaller group. There was always just less of everything whenever only a couple or handful got together and no one could fault her for wanting that every once in a while. She knew other siblings got together and hung out with a few of them. Hell, some only ever spoke when they were in the big dinners or family events. It wasn't that they didn't love each other, it was just that there were so damn many of them and not everyone's schedules aligned so well. Everly was one of the luckier ones in that she could open her day up to whatever she needed to do whenever she was in the city. The first couple weeks after returning from a long job were usually left completely wide open so she could get in visits with everyone, in and out of the city unless they were away for work or vacation.

"Only two? My god, your house must have been quiet." She said with a low whistle. Of course, she knew her number was shocking, which was why she habitually waited to tell people. She wasn't ashamed, she had nothing to be ashamed of but it was ridiculous. And sometimes she just didn't like the looks she got from people when they found out as if it were her fault her parents practically adopted every child they ever came in contact with. Sometimes she felt like they did, despite the fact that they were always married to the mother or father of each of the children that were then forever a part of their brood. Everly secretly feared the day her mother or father actually stopped showing up at family events with new "children" to add to the ever-growing list of siblings for their children. It would mean that they've died and it would be depressing. "Wanna guess my number? You guess it right, and dinner's on me. Guess wrong and it's on you." She offered up, bringing her drink to her grinning lips. Never in a million years would he guess. Hell, even she didn't know what the real number was. She had to update it every time she ran into someone and they mentioned a name she didn't have on her list!

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || kael erickson mcallister
Words || 675
Music || If You Want A Bad Boy --Brantley Gilbert
Notes || <3

[kael erickson mcallister]

Kael wasn’t the type to believe that children should be seen and not heard. In his opinion, a loud house was a happy house. He never really enjoyed being at home when things were too quiet. Yes, there were times when it helped – such as for homework, or whenever he’d had a terrible day, but typically bad days were resolved with something physical; an escape where he could switch off his anxious thoughts and focus solely on martial arts or archery. Normally, however, Kael loved hearing his siblings in the house, even if it was just their dad shouting at them to get up before they were late for school. He didn’t believe in those picture perfect families where everything was spotless and tidy, where the kids were dressed in matching outfits and the mother looked like something out of The Stepford Wives. They always looked too fake, like they were wearing masks to hide their dark, forbidden secrets.

Kael wanted to settle down someday, start a brood of his own. He wanted sports bags and mud trails through the house. He wanted the chaos of the morning before school runs and drop offs. He wanted to show his kids all the things he loved and hopefully have them love it too. He wanted weekends camping, swimming, enjoying time away from screens and technology. Kael was pretty tech-savvy since studying business meant it was a pretty big requirement, but he didn’t want to live in a world where people were glued to their screens and their phones, watching people do the things they could be doing themselves. He didn’t understand the craze of YouTube or those who lived through someone else. It was the stuff of nightmares for the athletic charmer. Hell, Kael hated being sick because he couldn’t go for a run or spend an hour on his treadmill! He would never understand those who were glued to the TV, who couldn’t miss an episode of their weekly TV show in case something dramatic happened (they lived in a world of DVRs and Netflix after all).

Raising his eyebrows, Kael scratched his jaw and chuckled, giving the pretty brunette a shake of his head. “Never. If my house was quiet something was definitely wrong. Or I was going to find my underwear drawer empty and a sock missing from every pair.” Bad weather oftentimes led to goofy pranks, to driving each other crazy. “That many, huh? Okay…twenty-three.” It was the first number that popped into his head, plucked from the realm of obscurity. He didn’t expect it to be anywhere close to that number, even though he wanted a large family of his own – although in his head a large family was four to six kids and a few dogs to keep everyone entertained and happy. He had stopped thinking about the fact that he could have already began creating that life. It was only a depressing thought, one that made him turn to the bottles he served to the customers of Gotham on a nightly basis.

• • •

TAGGED! Everly Cameron Beaumont
WORDS! 512!
LYRICS! Door Number Three - - - Sara Bareilles
NOTES! <3

[Everly Cameron Beaumont]

Family had always been a big deal for Everly. She'd been surrounded by them her entire life and the family just kept growing. There were so many of them even when she'd been a toddler. It was a miracle she didn't think half her siblings were her parents, a fair few of them were old enough to be. She didn't actually mind that her parents seemed to collect children like most wealthy, bored people collected shoes, weird crystal figurines or stamps in their passports. At least with children, there were people to talk to; people her own age, or thereabout anyway and the house was never empty. There was always someone shouting around looking for another person and considering just how big the estate was, hearing them and keeping up the noise was impressive. Everly always felt uneasy when it was too quiet. She needed the loud. Even after she'd moved out on her own, there was always music playing in the background, even when the TV was on. She really couldn't stand silence of any kind.

It was kind of foolish for her to move out on her own, especially since she was hardly ever home but she had needed her own space that wasn't just a suite of rooms in her mother's house. Everly had needed to feel like she could move in her own space without someone just barging in on her. She occasionally liked just walking around in a towel after her shower but that couldn't happen in a house with so many people. Even if she had a suite of rooms all her own, someone would ignore the boundaries and just run right in; and it was usually one of the twins because they had no self-control and just needed their "baby sister" to settle an argument or share her opinion on something that could have waited. Inevitably, Drake would use his handy skills and pick the locks on her doors; something he'd been doing since the twins were brought into the family fold.

Everly had never been able to keep track of when people came into her life or the family. They were just there from one memory to the next. Some, though they hadn't actually been there for some event, felt like they'd always been there and Everly often inserted them into her memories of things without realising it. So many people, so many parties, it was too easy to get them all jumbled up in her mind so she stopped worrying about it when she was still a teenager. It was just easier, especially since the number seemed to change so often. She sucked air in through her teeth and shook her head disappointedly as if she had high hopes of him actually getting the number right. "Oh, that's too bad." She paused for a second to prolong the suspense of the reveal. She really didn't need to but teasing the cute bartender was so much fun. "If only you'd reversed those numbers, dinner would be on me. Guess you're buying."

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || kael erickson mcallister
Words || 509
Music || If You Want A Bad Boy --Brantley Gilbert
Notes || <3

[kael erickson mcallister]

His family was the one thing that Kael would drop everything for in a heartbeat. It didn’t matter if they had been fighting the last time they spoke, or if he wanted to wring their necks after some silly prank or because they’d done his head in when he’d seen them last; family was the most important thing to him. He had thought – almost foolishly now, he believed – that he would have started his own by now. Kael hadn’t been in any kind of rush to settle down, but he had fallen hard for Emily and his heart had allowed him to believe that at this point in his life he’d have some mini version of himself greeting him when he came home from a job that wasn’t based in a bar. Of course, all of that had changed when she’d crushed his heart under her heel, grounding his naïve beliefs into dust.

He had moved on from her, but like every bad taste, sometimes it came back. It never came back for long, but long enough to remind Kael of that dark hole he’d found himself in and why he’d come to New York in the first place. He was much happier here, and somewhat relieved it hadn’t worked out, but hindsight didn’t take away the pain from back then, or make it easier to move forward. Reilly was the one who usually had to listen to him ramble his way through that and she did it well, considering she seemed familiar with past heartache and hurt; although unlike Kael alcohol did not loosen her lips to talk about it. She was one of the very few people he knew who could be completely and utterly wasted and yet hold herself in exactly the same way as if she was sober. It was both impressive and terrifying – and he had seen a lot from behind the bar in Gotham.

His eyebrows moved towards his hairline and Kael let out a long whistle. “You guys part rabbit or something?” He asked with a joker of a smile. He had always thought about having a big family, but big to him was like four kids, not twenty-four. He had once joked with his dad that between the three of them they’d fill the family home with grandkids and he’d be thankful the holidays were over when they all left again. “Ah, I’m afraid by the time I get out of here it’ll be time for breakfast, not dinner. The best I can do is a bag of nuts.” He tossed a packet on the counter as part of the offer and gave a rue smile for the rest. It was order night and Kael liked to check the stock and get it sent off before he went home so that if there were any mistakes he still had time to call the suppliers or amend the order before Gotham opened again the next day. It was a pet peeve of his to have deliveries scattered across random days because then his desk in the small back office ended up covered in invoices and some of the staff weren’t the best at actually signing the dockets or making sure the paperwork was correct before tossing it into the plastic tray – and that meant another afternoon chasing phone calls.

• • •

TAGGED! Everly Cameron Beaumont
WORDS! 560!
LYRICS! Door Number Three - - - Sara Bareilles
NOTES! <3

[Everly Cameron Beaumont]

It was odder for Everly to have free time, where she was able to just sit down and do absolutely nothing than she'd care to admit. She was always on the go, even if it was a movie night with some of her siblings or nieces and nephews. Tonight, if she hadn't promised the twins a night out, she would probably be at the studio working on new choreography. There was a tour coming up and she was in charge of choreographing every song for it. There was a huge difference between working out a routine for a music video and one for a tour. The iconic ones, like Single Ladies, were obviously repeated. But with other songs, when they didn't have such an iconic dance routine to them, they needed different things. And it meant that she had to work with other experts on the tour, such as the pyrotechnics crew so they would hit a specific spot at the same time. Everly absolutely loved her job, no matter how many hours she was found in the studio, working up a sweat.

It did make getting out and meeting people hard, which is why she made a point of promising her siblings nights out. They would keep her at her word unless she found out at the last minute she wasn't even in the city or the country. You couldn't party in the city if you were in LA or London. She found it easier to go out while she was on tour but she was rarely in the city for long so it was pointless to get to know people well. She preferred getting to know people over long periods of time, not just a couple of nights. She was not that kind of girl; even if she flirted with the best of them.

Ever laughed, shaking her head. "You'd think so. We're not all blood." She offered, running her finger absently around the rim of her glass. The truth was, she was only one hundred per cent related to one of those siblings, half of a dozen or so more and then step to the rest. But she'd already revealed quite a bit about her family than she usually did. "The horror stories I could tell." She added with a laugh. There was never a dull moment with so many people in their family and no one ever really knew how the night was going to end when they were all forced to get together. They were a strange mix of ages and personalities. Some people didn't understand why they had to go to the family function, even if their mum or dad was no longer with Ever's mum or dad and others felt like they'd finally found their home. Everly had a habit of staying away from the people with the bad attitudes or the ones that were clearly only using some of them for the second-hand celebrity status they thought they could get from them. Ever knew so many high profile names and counted many of them among her friends but she would never name drop intentionally. Most of the time when she said something, it was offhand because she didn't consider them famous anymore. They were just her friends and just normal people who deserved to be treated as such.

♦ ♦ ♦

Tag || kael erickson mcallister
Words || 556
Music || If You Want A Bad Boy --Brantley Gilbert
Notes || <3