The rain is still pouring down as Evie gets on their train late in the evening. After a long day of meeting up with Henry Green's contacts throughout the city the only thing she is looking forward to is a warm meal and a comfortable bed. A quick glance around the carriage that's used as common room confirms that her twin brother has not yet returned as she sits down at an empty table and removes her drenched hood. The fire crackling in the hearth finally brings back some warmth in het ice cold fingers and the friendly chatter that is surrounding her from the some of Rooks that are present lightens up her mood a little.
The endless rain notwithstanding, is has been a productive day for her. Now her only hope is that Jacob has been successful in his errand as well. Speaking of which, now that she thinks about it, it's kind of odd that her brother is not on the train yet. Normally he would be waiting for her by now to share a meal and tell her about his day in detail before heading of again and gallivanting around London with his Rooks. As she casts a look around again, the only familiar person she sees is little Clara O'Dea who has just entered the carriage from the study at the middle of the train. As soon as the girl notices Evie she bounds over to her table.
"Evie!" she skits to a stop, "Have you seen Jacob? He promised me to teach me how to throw knives."
Evie rolls her eyes. It's typical of her bother to try and teach such violent things to a little girl, not for a second thinking about how it's not particularly safe to have a child handle knives. But Clara's question does raise a question of her own. If Jacob promised to be here tonight, where is he?
"I haven't seen him, Clara. In fact I was hoping that you would know where he is."
The sullen look on Clara's face clashes with her earlier business like tone and for a moment Evie is tempted to offer her to teach her to throw knives herself. But before she can console the girl the door of the carriage is thrown open and her twin brother, cocky as ever, comes barging in.
He spots them immediately and strides over to their table, throwing his soaking wet top head on the table before grabbing a seat.
"Good evening ladies." he says with a grin, extracting a giggle from Clara and laughter from some of the Rooks.
Evie studies him for a moment. His clothes are soaked through leaving a small puddle under his chair. His dark hair is in it's usual disheveled state but his cheeks seem rather pale today, but that might just be from being out in the freezing rain all day.
"Evening brother." she greets, "How was your day?"
"Ah, it was great!" he says, "I managed to get the location of another gang leader."
And with that Jacob launches into a detailed description of his, rather violent, interrogation with one of Starrick's goons. Evie tries to gesture discreetly with her head at Clara, to clarify to him that the young girl doesn't need to hear all the gruesome details, but her subtlety is lost on him.
Clara listens with great interest while patiently waiting for an opening in his story to remind him about the promised lessons. And as soon as Jacob pauses his story to take a breath she takes her chance.
"When are we starting my knife throwing lessons?"
Jacob gives Clara a bewildered look for a second and then seeks eye contact with his twin sister. The questioning look on his face tells her that he has obviously forgotten all about his promise.
"Yes Jacob, when are her lessons starting?" she tells him with a cheeky grin.
The look she receives from him in return could not have been more satisfying.
"Uhm, yes. Well..."
Again he looks at Evie with pleading eyes, but she's not about to help him out of this predicament. He sighs before turning his attention the eagerly waiting girl again.
"I can't tonight, Clara. I'm sorry."
The look on the girl's face is heartbreaking. That should teach him to remember his promises. But Clara wouldn't be Clara if she couldn't twist the situation in her favor.
"It's alright." she says, and the familiar glint is back in her eyes, "But tomorrow I not only expect a knife throwing lesson, but a fighting lesson as well."
With that she turns around and strides away before Jacob can give her any sort of response.
"Why, that cheeky little mouse." he mutters and Evie can't contain her grin anymore.
"So what are you up to tonight?" she asks as he finishes throwing glaring looks at the door Clara just disappeared behind.
"I found out that there will be a meeting with several of the men on Starrick's payroll tonight. I intend to get all the information I can get from that meeting." he tells her, his eyes already lighting up at the prospect.
"You not going out in this weather again, are you?"
Her own clothes have finally started to dry a little and she can't imagine going out into the rain willingly for a second time. Not when they can afford themselves a night of rest.
"Well, how else am I going to eavesdrop on that meeting?" Jacob responds and he rolls his eyes, "I promise I will be discreet. Just listening."
"You better be." she tells him as she gets up from the table. Let him do whatever he wants, she's going for a hot cup of tea now and a change of clothes.
"When am I not?" her brothers says and he has to nerve to actually look disgraced.
Instead of answering the question, Evie pats her twin on the shoulder and walks away.
When Evie gets back to their train the next day after running several errands she is quite surprised to see Jacob's top hat and coat still hanging on a peg. The morning is already drawing to a close and she would have expected him to be up at least by now. Last night she only woke for a moment when he came stumbling in before falling asleep again. But she does remember that it was not that late when he returned.
Time to wake him up then. A task she is not looking forward to. Jacob can be in a notoriously bad mood when he doesn't wake up voluntarily.
As soon as Evie enters the study, she's taken aback by the musty smell that's hanging in the room. Since there is only one bed on the train, Henry immediately offered it to her to give her a little sense of privacy, seeing that he has his own rooms at the curio shop. With not much of a choice Jacob has taken up the couch in the study. The room is full of papers and other mess but he doesn't seem to be bothered by it though, since he's still asleep on his couch.
Sidestepping several piles of books she reaches one of the small windows and with vigour pulls the curtains open, exciting a groan from her brother as the bright sunlight streams in.
"Fuck off, Evie." His muffled voice doesn't sound pleased at all.
She turns and looks at him. He has his blankets drawn over his head almost entirely and the only thing visible is his mop of messy hair as his face is pressed into his pillow.
"It's almost midday already." Evie says calmly, ignoring his rudeness, "Did you have too much to drink again last night?"
When Jacob hangs out with his Rooks he has a tendency to consume too much alcohol to her liking.
He mumbles something she can't quite catch.
"I'm sorry?"
With obviously a lot of effort Jacob raises his head from his pillow and looks at her, "I didn't drink anything." he croaks out.
For a second time Evie is taken aback, but this time because her twin brother looks absolutely horrible. His cheeks are flushed and his eyes are puffy and glazed. Sweat is beading on his forehead and his sleep shirt looks sweaty as well.
"You look terrible." Evie says, feeling sorry now that she has woke him up, while he's clearly sick.
"Thank you. I feel terrible." he responds, his voice all stuffed. He lets his head fall back on his pillow with a long suffering sigh.
Evie walks to him and places a hand on his forehead that Jacob tries to swat away in vain.
"I think you have a fever." she sighs, "Do I need to say 'I told you so'?"
"No thank you. I get it now. Go away and leave me to die here." with that he pulls up his blankets over his head again, while groaning almost continuously.
"You're pathetic. I'm going to make you some tea." she picks up a relatively clean shirt and throws it on top of her brother, "And you are going to put on a clean shirt and use my bed. You need rest."
"Oh, now I'm allowed to sleep in the bed." He says sarcastically but slowly gets up anyway to make his way to her bedroom on wobbly legs.
When she gets back in the room Jacob has just mustered the energy to struggle out of his sweaty shirt. He looks up as he notices her coming in and gives her a glare. That does not really come across as angry as he hoped due to his groggy eyes.
"Don't you dare to ask me if I need help."
Evie puts down the tea on the bedside table and raises her hands in surrender.
"I'm not saying anything."
"But you were thinking it." Jacob says as he finally manages to get out of his dirty shirt and into the clean one. His little walk seems to have taken up all his energy because he lies down on the bed with another excruciating groan and pulls the covers over his shivering body.
"Come on." Evie says, her voice more gentle now, "Drink your tea. You'll feel better once you have something in your stomach."
"I doubt that."
But he struggles into a sitting position anyway and takes the cup from his sister's hands. Evie watches him and shakes her head. Jacob doesn't get sick that often, but when he does he's always all in.
And then he's suddenly sitting suspiciously still, with a pained look on his face, the empty tea cup still in his hands.
"You're not going to throw up are you?"
He looks at her with a pleading expression and just in time Evie manages to snatch an old wooden bucket from the floor and throw it in his lap.
When Jacob is finished emptying the meagre contents of his stomach, she takes the bucket away from him.
"Alright, I guess the tea didn't make you feel better." She says, but Jacob is too exhausted to respond to her quip. He just lies down again and closes his eyes.
After cleaning the bucket and getting her brother some water to rinse his mouth she sits down in her armchair with a book. Jacob is looking at her through half lidded eyes, clearly struggling to stay awake.
"You just sleep," she tells him quietly, "I'll be right here."
"Thanks, sister." Jacob mumbles then closes his eyes and drifts of to sleep.
Hours later, when Evie has spend her time studying maps and planning their next moves while keeping an eye on her brother, she hears movement again from the bedroom.
Then a loud crash and something that sounds a lot like swearing. Before she can get up the door opens and Jacob comes shuffling into their study, the bed covers tightly wrapped around him. He still looks like he could fall over any minute, but the fact that he's (trying) to stand up means he must feel a little better.
"Back to the land of the living?" she greets him, "What was that crash?"
He looks at her blankly for a moment, then seems to remember.
"I almost had an intimate meeting with your rug, thanks to a bucket." He says, before going into a coughing fit that makes him sway on his feet. Evie grabs him by the arm and guides him to the couch.
"Sit down, before you fall down."
Jacob sinks down on the couch and lays his head on the armrest, still cocooned in his blankets, the cool fabric of the couch soothing his headache.
"Why did you get out of bed?" Evie asks him with a sigh, Jacob can be such a trial when he's sick.
"Bed is boring." he says, sounding like a little child. What if his Rooks could hear him now? She would love to see that. She knows that there are some gang members hanging out in the next carriage, she's got half a mind to get them just to teach her brother a lesson.
"Yes. But this is not helping you get better." she says instead, getting up to manoeuvre the covers that have slid down from the couch back over his bare feet again.
"Oh, so you do care about my actions." The tone he's using tells her that he doesn't actually mean his words.
"Of course I care about you." she says, "You're my twin." she ruffles his hair and he pulls back his head in annoyance. He never did like to be treated like the little brother, even if she's only four minutes older.
Their bickering is interrupted in the form of Clara O'Dea coming in, who's obviously in search of someone who promised her lessons. When she notices Jacob's sniffling form on the couch her face falls.
"Are you sick?" she asks, poking him in the shoulder.
Jacob gives her an annoyed look.
"No, I'm just laying here for my own amusement."
Evie chuckles as Clara rolls her eyes at his sarcasm. The girl studies her brother for a moment, then pokes him in the shoulder again.
"You know," she says, "You are terrible at keeping promises."
Seeing the disgruntled look on Jacob's face, Evie decides to humour Clara.
"Tell me about it." she tells the girl, then turns her attention to her brother, "Remember that time you promised me to catch the cat?"
Jacob groans, and tries to bury his head under his covers, "Are you still not over that?" his muffled voice comes out.
"What happened?" Clara asks, her interest immediately piqued.
Jacob's head reappears and gives Evie a pleading look that clearly says 'please don't tell her', but she's having way too much fun messing with him.
"I wanted to conduct an experiment, and Jacob promised to help me." she starts, but Jacob interrupts her.
"She read in a book that cats always land on all fours, so she climbed a tree with a cat in one hand." he coughs, then regains his voice, "She was going to throw it out of the tree and I was supposed to catch it just in case."
"But you never did." Evie says, throwing him a heated glare.
"We were six years old!"
Clara doubles over in laughter and by the time she manages to pull herself together again, tears are streaming down her face. Even Jacob in his miserable state manages a chuckle at the sight of her.
"What happened to the cat?" Clara asks, wiping the tears from her cheeks.
"He ended up with a bloody nose and our grandmother never allowed us to play with him again." Evie says. She never forgave Jacob for that, losing her favourite subject of her experiments.
Jacob looks at Clara with his glassy eyes, "But I'm really sorry about not keeping my promise again."
"Well I suppose being sick isn't really your fault." the girl says, "So I forgive you this time."
Jacob gives Evie a triumphant look, who rolls her eyes at him.
As she turns around to gather her papers she can feel Jacob following her with his eyes.
"So now that you two have made your peace with one another, I'm sure I can leave you in the capable hands of each other for a while can I?" She turns around again to look between Clara and Jacob, who both look a bit confused, "I have a meeting with Mr. Green."
Clara seems to get the idea and grins, "Of course I can take care of Jacob!"
"Thank you." Evie says as she squeezes the girl's shoulder, then looks at her brother, "I'll be back in a few hours, don't do anything stupid."
As she leaves the train Clara and Jacob are already bickering behind her.
A few days later the first thing Jacob notices when he wakes up in the afternoon, is that it is afternoon. Which means Evie has not come to wake him up. That is not necessarily a strange thing because usually she only wakes him up when he's sleeping too long to her liking. So why did she not wake him up today? As he looks around the study he sees that her books are still lying unopened and that her coat is hanging on the peg. Time to figure out what's going on.
He gets up from the couch and on his bare feet he makes his way to Evie's carriage. Carefully he knocks on the door.
"Evie?" he listens for any sign that his twin sister is in there. It has taken him a while to remember to knock on her door before entering, and he's sort of proud that he remembers it this time.
At first he doesn't hear anything but then there's the sound of covers rustling, so he opens the doors and walks in.
Evie is still in bed, attempting to sit up. Her long hair, loose from her usual braids is hanging in tangles around her face. She looks at him with bleary eyes, her cheeks unusually flushed looking quite confused.
"What time is it?" her voice sounds all congested.
Jacob chuckles, "Time for you to stay in bed and for me to return the favour, dear sister."
I kinda started writing this before the game came out and afterwards made some changes so it would fit better. I hope I was able to keep everyone in character.
It hasn't been checked, so forgive me for any mistakes.
The story the twins are telling Clara is actually something my brother and I did (!). Although I was about 8 or 9 years old and my brother 3 years younger. He still claims the cat fell on his head (which is not true). Just so you know, the cat survived ;)