After hours, he'd finally stilled himself completely, when he heard the wooden door tentatively creak open. Eyes closed, Braxiatel was sitting in one of the armchairs by the fire in a sort of silent meditation. Today he needed to take a long break, but it was fine now. The pain and fear was gone, and the struggle was over again. Despite not opening his eyes, he knew exactly who it was. It couldn't have been anyone else, after all.
Bernice flopped down on the other chair, and he finally opened them to stare directly into hers. "Benny," he started, but she shushed him.
There was clearly something interesting going on, at least. "Hey, Brax. I've got something I was talking to you a little about earlier- here it goes..."
In a sort of frenzied shuffling, she pulled out a medium-sized holocorder and placed it on the table, before punching in a couple of buttons and turning it on. There was a shaking noise, and it showed a large picture with mild depth about six square feet in size. While nobody was yet visible in the feed yet, the location was more than familiar.
Braxiatel gave a suspicious glance, then his eyes widened when he realized he knew exactly where it was. It was the White Rabbit Bar. His bar. After all this time. Decades, centuries? It was a bit of a surprise, to be sure.
As a face finally came into frame, Benny finally presented them. "So while I was gone I made some arrangements... You're going to meet Diego!" she introduced enthusiastically.
The man looked to be in his early twenties, with what was probably olive skin, and long, dark, unruly hair. He glanced back at them shyly, not making eye contact. "Uh... Hi?" was all he managed to utter.
Brax offered a calm, welcoming smile. He wasn't quite sure he remembered who this man was, whether mentioned in passing or something more important, but her enthusiasm for them to meet seemed to suggest a friend. "Oh, hello," he simply greeted.
"Meet Peter's husband, Diego Karus-Summerfield. We're still working out the in-person stuff. I mean- hundred years in the future, and everything."
The corners of his eyes crinkled as his grin widened into something of genuine fondness, and the soft, joyous look made Benny's eyes twinkle. "Oh, so this is the husband! That makes more sense. It's a pleasure to meet you."
"And, yeah. I- I hope you come see us on Legion. It isn't exactly very easy to leave. Just expensive, and everything..." Diego rubbed the back of his neck. Braxiatel still hadn't been informed that the Irverfield broke down a long time ago, had he? Or that they could only afford one ticket off-planet, and Jack gave it to Ruth so she could live a better life, then stayed behind with them himself? It was all complicated. And nobody quite had the entire story.
"I'm sure we can find our way back to Legion," he answered, in a diplomatic and reasonable manner.
"I've heard a lot about you. Could I- uhh, call you Irving?" Diego murmured.
Amicably, just glad to be part of the family again, so to speak, he subtly grinned. While nowadays it was usually odd for someone to just call him that, it was somewhat nostalgic coming from who it was. "Oh, yes, I suppose that would be alright."
"We plan to try and see his actual dad soon too, but he's probably a lot harder to get ahold of. ...And I can't go back to my own family, so Bernice and you, apparently- are all we've really got." Diego hadn't told Benny much about his family- other than that he was lost and couldn't be found. It was a sore spot. One that she for good reason agreed not to poke at.
Braxiatel shuffled awkwardly in his seat now. That wasn't exactly the best position to be in regarding Peter's father though, was it? "Ah, yes, I couldn't tell you where your Adrian is right now... haven't heard from him in a while. Which is probably for the best. I can't imagine he's a fan of mine..." he glanced away.
"Well, we'll cross that bridge when we get to it. I hope you're doing well otherwise," she added, starting up a bit of small talk.
Diego scratched the back of his head in thought, then looked at Brax. "We're okay, I think. You're someone I've wanted to meet for a while, Irving. Everybody had a lot of stories about you."
"All good things, I'm sure," he certainly hoped so, anyway. A lot of stories was probably an understatement.
The young man stuttered back. "And, well. Umm, that. We are thinking about a kid. On Legion, that's not exactly the best idea. We have thugs, and slavers, and assassins, and... ahh- Jana the Knife..." he muttered, fear in his eyes.
That was a name Irving Braxiatel was unfortunate enough to have recognized, and he understood the anxiousness in Diego's manner immediately, shaking his head. "...Not a pleasant girl, no."
Benny nodded. "I want you to have a safe place to raise them. I wasn't always afforded that luxury. And you know how I feel about that," she then stared at Braxiatel pointedly. He wasn't quite sure which way to interpret that- whether he was to blame or that he could offer it. Perhaps both. ...Likely both.
"It's just that before a kid we want to know where... we could go. I don't want to raise a newborn in a bar here... if I could avoid it. -And neither does Peter." There really couldn't have been a much more reasonable request, all things considered.
While Braxiatel was hardly a charity worker, these were lost members of his old family in a sense. And it was a kindness to them- and to Benny, that he'd happily offer. "Well, you're always welcome at the Braxiatel Collection, if you wish," he suggested, looking at Bernice for some sort of approval. Something she happily seemed to grant upon his words.
Diego thought about it for a second, brows furrowing in thought. "That... doesn't sound so bad, actually. We could live with family. And I- haven't gotten to know Bernice very well, since she only visited a few times," he added.
Bernice perked up at their agreement and clapped a little. "That's an excellent idea! I'd love to actually see Peter and you on the regular, and I'm sure I'd feel the same about a grandchild."
"Yes, well, I'm afraid Legion is a very long way away," Braxiatel paused. He didn't want to sound too soft, after all. "-But, it would be nice to have you two around- and to have an infant at the Collection again."
"Aww... Brax." Benny smiled at him, then stepped over and came to sit with him in his chair. He was rarely forthright about being sweet to anyone else. That practically deserved an award.
While he didn't protest her cuddling up to him, he kept up the act of him not being sweet, and there being other, less sentimental reasons. "What? Peter was amusing... when he wasn't gnawing on my cuff links, that is."
Diego nodded softly. "I'll- I'll tell Peter about your suggestion. I'm not sure how he'll feel about it though, -he says he had a lot of conflicted feelings about that place."
He fiddled with his cuffs as he settled. "Ah, yes, that's... understandable," Brax looked away.
"It still seems like a good idea to me though. Maybe." He still didn't seem particularly sure, but it made sense. It was a big move, there would need to be agreements, and Diego had obviously been used to a world where he just couldn't live if he was sure of himself all the time.
"Communication. Love it!" She gave two thumbs up towards the projection and an attempted, but somewhat disturbing wide grin.
"You're kinda weird, Ms Summerfield," he commented, wincing at the look of her smile.
"Oh, I know. I know," she made a soft laugh.
"But... in an endearing way." Braxiatel added, her mop of brown hair rested comfortably on his shoulder.
She looked up at him and gave a huge, fawning grin. "Brax..."
Diego looked between them awkwardly, trying to parse the interaction. From everything he'd been told, the whole idea was completely absurd- but he asked anyway. "Are you- uh? Are you two a thing? Maybe?"
Looking back up at the holocorder awkwardly, flushing a bit, Brax managed to answer, barely. "Oh, um, uhh- yes... it's rather a new thing, actually."
"Yeah..." Benny nodded.
"You haven't told Peter yet? -He'd definitely have said..." With how weird it was, yes, he certainly would've. And Benny realized her mistake. Head in her hands, she shook it in embarrassment.
"Oh goddess, I forgot..." she trailed off. That certainly made things a bit more complicated.
"I believe that ball is in your court on that one, Bernice," Brax huffed, kissing her forehead with a mischievous grin.
"I was originally planning to tell him once we came over but, guess things changed, came out early... I've got to tell him! Be right back-" Benny dashed off to the hallway.
While shy, Diego did seem to find it mildly amusing, because he chuckled before answering to Braxiatel. "I'll wait," before the image froze.
Ducking into a corner of the hallway and sitting on one of the many chaise lounges so she wouldn't be listened in on, Bernice flicked on her holowatch and tapped a few buttons on the screen. Wincing, she finally made the call. 'This is the White Rabbit-' she heard the switchboard say in its obnoxiously shrill, feminine voice, before groaning at it and immediately hitting the direct call number for who it would make pick up.
It took a bit for the answer to come, but it did eventually. Her eyes glinted as she saw a familiar young man with dark eyes, a sort of short snout of a nose, and big floppy ears come into frame. "What is it- mum!?" he reacted with mild surprise.
"Hello Peter. I know we're supposed to be on a call with Diego right now, and I haven't talked to you much recently, but I have something to tell you. I was going to when we came and saw you, but... we've already spilled the beans to your husband," she muttered awkwardly.
He scowled slightly and crossed his arms at her. "How are you, Peter?' I'm good, thanks mum," he snarked, before stopping. "...Oh goddess, who died now?"
Taking a big breath and just wanting to get it all out at once, she explained it to him. "I'm sorry I haven't visited lately... And this is probably a bit of a bombshell..." Bernice finally let it out of her system to the thing that mattered most to her in the whole universe. "I'm- dating Braxiatel. Bit strange, I know..." It still didn't seem like the right word.
For a good couple of seconds, his mind completely froze at what she was saying, before his expression went from confused to unreadable. "...I'm not sure what I expected, but that was not it. You're sleeping with Irving?!" he shouted, completely flabbergasted.
Forcing a painful sort of grin, she tried to look on the bright side. "Nobody died though, hey! That's an improvement on last time, at least."
He didn't seem so sure. "...Is it?"
"I'd hope so... And, well. Yes," she ran a hand through her hair. This was happening. She told Braxiatel. Then she'd told people outside the Collection. Then she'd told Hass. The fact that her own son was so far down the list definitely said something about her lack of confidence at the start of this. It was going up, slowly. But Benny was forgetful about some things. And this was apparently one of them.
He sighed and rolled his dark eyes, over-familiar with her sort of shenanigans and decisions. "I guess you've made worse choices."
She shook her head and looked down onto the carpeted floor. "Sorry, sorry... Bizarre, I know. And I agree, probably not the best choice either."
"Yeah... I do like Irving, though," he thought about it a little.
That gave her something to latch onto. "And he likes you! I'm not just doing this for myself, you know. After I heard your plans- I've been trying to arrange ways to get you off-planet." Yes, Bernice had an ulterior motive for keeping this going. A small one, all things considered- but an ulterior motive nonetheless. For the most part things were genuine between her and Brax, though that wasn't to say a few little favours wouldn't help for filling in the existing cracks.
He raised a suspicious eyebrow. Yes, he'd known about his mother doing this before to a lesser extent. But depending on how serious this was, that was rather a lot, even for her. "You're sleeping with Irving... to get me off Legion?"
Him only so far only using the phrase 'sleeping with' wasn't being particularly useful to her. But she continued, "Not just that. But that's one thing I've been trying to do for ages and he wants you to come live with us now. I'm also not only sleeping with him..." Benny trailed off.
For once, Peter seemed to be giving her the benefit of the doubt, shrugging. "Well, maybe you're not, but I'm not quite ready to have another dad, right now. And move back in with my mum? Aren't I a little old for that?" he pointed out. A reasonable question.
She kept it plain and simple, making her intentions clear as crystal. "I have no intention on making you treat him like a dad. And I'd hardly count living on the same planetoid as moving in with mum."
"Well... he was already kind of like my dad on Legion. But I'm not considering him like my dad because you're with him - ...Let me talk to Diego about it." Without another word of warning, the call ended like nothing happened.
Stepping back into the study, Bernice fell back into the chair opposite Braxiatel by the fire. He'd been waiting for her patiently, hands folded.
"What did he say?"
"Well... you know how kids are when their parent dates someone else-" she tried to allude to it without it seeming negative.
Braxiatel wasn't following. "I'm afraid I don't."
Bernice sighed. "For what it was, he took it well. By most standards other than about this topic though, that was not a great reaction."
"Oh."
The holocorder unpaused and now Diego was perfectly lively again. The image of the Rabbit in the background was shaken a bit as the position of his camera moved.
"I mean, that could've gone worse... A whole lot worse," Benny leant down, massaging her temples.
"He looks so confused..." Diego glanced past the image on the holocorder.
Peter stepped into frame with him and it finally focused on the both of them together. He did, indeed, look absolutely and completely baffled. Following his usual trend of being quiet about things, all he answered to Bernice and Braxiatel with was, "It's a lot to take in."
Head in her hand, she answered, "I knew it would be. That's why I wanted to tell you in person. But now the word's out..." Benny sighed in resigned contentment.
"I worked it out because they were flirting," Diego stated.
"Diego!" she shouted indignantly. But it was true, more or less.
"Gross!" Peter grimaced.
"We weren't flirting exactly," Braxiatel tried to protest, an awkward laugh escaping his lips.
Bernice scowled and crossed her arms. So far, Braxiatel mentally collapsed whenever he even attempted to flirt, so that part of it couldn't have been more wrong- it was all her, really. And while close, what she said barely qualified. "We were sitting in the same chair. I don't think that counts."
Finally drawing his attention to Braxiatel after that little squabble, Peter greeted him with the minimum number of words possible, his demeanour just barely suggesting something other than disinterest. "Hey, Irving."
"Peter," he responded in kind.
"Family reunion, huh?" With the sudden sound of a bold and flamboyant, charming voice, a different face popped up on the holocorder, from a separated video feed. His features were all sharp points and narrow angles- pointed ears like those of an elf, large eyes that glowed as if lights in and of themselves, shark-like fangs in his grin, and fluffed hair in a shorter sort of not-quite pompadour- the look was so distinctive, there was nobody else it could be. "Do I need an invitation, or is my pretty face a free pass?" the alien winked.
"JACK?!" Benny gasped.
"Hey, Jack," Peter waved, casually.
Jack shrugged, showing off what he considered his good side. "What? They're using the same connection as the rest of the Rabbit. Thought I'd hop in." The pun he offered was painful, to say the least.
"Happy to have you," Irving shrugged.
Putting down a pointed finger, Bernice finally made sense of it. "It was just- surprising, is all. I thought this was private. But apparently not. Well never mind that. We're walking in circles, aren't we?" she looked up at the three people in the image now.
"I've been stuck on Legion for over eight years. I want to take them up, if it's okay- Peter?" Diego gave a watery-eyed begging sort of look. Adorable and hard to resist- apparently he was better at making puppy dog eyes than the part alien dog.
"Maybe... I'll think about it," he uttered.
Jack made his own attempt at big, sad eyes- unfortunately rather disturbing given that they glowed. "You're really leaving? Oh, I'm wounded. Who's gonna clean the bar now?" he declared melodramatically. But Benny knew with the bits and pieces she'd been given that this wasn't exactly sarcasm, that was the problem.
"You-" Diego started what was most likely about to be something profane, but then he and Peter's feed cut out.
With it seeming to be Jack's fault, and him barging in, Bernice started lecturing him, pointing her finger aggressively at the screen once more. "Jack, this was a personal, private conversation. It doesn't involve you."
"Well, it might..." Braxiatel mused, quietly.
"What?" she whispered back.
Jack sighed and pouted. "Ah. Well, it seems I'm not needed. Or wanted. Apologies for the inconvenience, you two. Farewell, Irving, Benny- but I'm always just a hop skip and a jump away! Mwah!" He blew a kiss to Bernice and Braxiatel, and his end of the feed closed itself, leaving the room in confused silence.
"Goodbye, Jack," Braxiatel muttered. There was something on his mind, clearly.
Raised eyebrows, Benny laughed just a little. "Well, he certainly hasn't changed. Even the puns. But that was still weird..."
"A little, but it did get me thinking-" Brax paused and started stroking his chin, the gears turning in his head as an idea started forming. What was most likely a terrible, but simultaneously absolutely genius idea.
She looked on in mild concern, or perhaps just morbid curiosity. "Oh no, not a scheme is it?"
He shrugged. "Not at all," then paused. "What if I just... moved the White Rabbit to the Collection?" Brax suggested.
Her face scrunched up in contemplation. "Ahh- mmm... I mean, you could. Interesting solution, certainly..." she trailed off, looking back at him not really quite sure what to think.
He stared off a little. "I... I miss my bar."
That really wasn't quite what she expected to hear at all. Considering the Braxiatel Collection and the White Rabbit could not be more starkly different- perhaps with his detachments, this was his way of expressing fondness for the people there nowadays. There was no Ruth, and Diego was a fresh face to him- that generally made more sense. Or there was a secret part of him that had a nostalgic, guilty pleasure for that less refined and rustic place.
Benny smirked. "I miss regretting drunk karaoke... A proper bar on the Collection though? Not just the Agamemnon- while I'd personally love the idea I can only imagine what it would make the students get up to..." she commented, biting her lip at the thought.
"Well... that's what Peter is for, isn't it? To keep things orderly?" he asked.
She took that into consideration. Being a bouncer or security officer here meant he was much less likely to get hurt, at least. "I suppose..."
"After Legion, how hard can a college bar be?" He huffed and gave a thin, amused smile.
"You must not have been to the closest one to campus on Dellah," she put it bluntly, crossing her arms again.
"Only on faculty nights. The best nights," he shrugged.
While she still wasn't sure, Benny explained, "If you can deal with it I wouldn't mind seeing the Rabbit again in a more welcoming climate..."
Brax nodded. "Perhaps I will. Yes- a considerably more elegant solution that means no separated parties. Even Jack, if he wants to come."
"Hey, and you wouldn't have to find me on random planets after going for a drink," she joked.
Glancing away, that was something he considered too. "Yes, I could just call and ask if you're there. I'll draw up plans. There's someone I need to start earning their keep..." he murmured.
She nodded. "I'll tell Peter when I'm alone on a break tomorrow. It's probably best if he hears it from me."
"Yes... I should think so," he agreed.
"Well, now that's done- I'm feeling hungry. Care for another round?" Benny winked.
"I wouldn't mind."
"Bedroom?" She nudged her head in its general direction.
He shook his head. While she had been before, he wasn't quite yet ready for her to be in his most private space for this particular reason. "Not right at this moment, sorry. But I do happen to have a penchant for mahogany..." he suggested.
The fact that she knew what he was alluding to almost instantly about made her almost snort. "Your desk?"
