Everyone is good at something

[Miles]

Miles gave Teagan a soft glare, coming up with a list of numerous comments to reply to hers with. On them included various things such as height, not having demons attack their base, and actually getting along with his faction (although it was hard not to for Keystone). Instead, he settled on a less harmful approach. "Yeah, I know it was sarcasm," he said, rolling his eyes. "Not only do I have to be good enough to detect it in text online, but you must forget who I'm now living with," Miles said, referring to Deacon. "Come on Teagan, you need to learn to read people better."

His little tale didn't stir the reaction he was looking for within her, instead there was a brief moment of contemplation before she sneered at him and then went into speaking. Right, there was definitely an underlying issue here, and he was determined to find out what it was. Did she like Art? If the jealousy route wasn't going to work, he'd just have to find some other way.

"You gave him a dating website link?" Miles asked, stifling laughter. He then heard the seriousness in her voice, and he shrugged. "As far as I know, Art would never touch that stuff. He lives in the Wesson half the time, and hasn't ever touched a bottle of alcohol. As for the dating website, he spends his time researching, playing soccer, reading, or he's off at his par--my...'grandparents' house," he said honestly. "But lately he's been more social, or so I think. I could be wrong. Why?"

[Teagan]

"No reason," she replied before realizing that answer probably didn't justify as a decent response to his question. Normally she would have explained, but how would she start that? Oh, I-asked-because-his-future-self-is-a-creep-who-smokes-and-drinks-and-has-tattoos-all-over-and-I-want-to-make-sure-the-future-where-we-all-die-doesn't-happen. Yeah, like that would satisfy his curiosity.

"Drugs aren't healthy and teens get into them a lot," Teagan shrugged, coming up with something off the top of her head. "Just wanted to make sure ya'll are on the right track."

[Miles]

Teagan's question had come out of nowhere, but her reasoning for the question didn't make any sense at all. It was...random, rather far-fetched, actually. Of all the things in the world, did it really look like Art was on drugs? Rather, did she realize who his older brother was? And then the attempted cover up by saying that she was concerned about them all, who technically just included Miles and Art. His brows furrowed slightly as he tried to make sense of it, and when he couldn't, he decided to press on.

He looked back at the game for a few seconds, and then phrased his question so anyone that might overhear them would think nothing of it. "Do you have any regrets about taking up our hobby? You've been at it longer than I have, I mean, just by a few months. But don't you wish for some kind of normalcy? You know, school, vacations, relationships, that sort of thing?" Miles was determined to hear Teagan admit that she had something going for Art...and if that was the case, he'd see if Art felt the same way.

[Teagan]

"Normalcy?" Teagan laughed, playfully messing with his hair. "Miles, I don't know what normal is anymore." She drew her hand back before actually considering the question.

No, she didn't know what normal was anymore. Growing up, normal was defined by going to school and hanging out with friends on the weekends and socializing at parties. More recently, normal warped into something dangerous, a life that she never asked for where every day she battled for humankind's right to live.

"When I first picked up this 'hobby'-," Teagan borrowed Mile's word, understanding the sensitivity of the subject, "-this was my vacation. My parents had sent me to these insane and bizarre summer camps, but I ran off and ran into Deacon. Quite literally." She smiled at the memory before she realized that he had never bought her that make-up drink. Now that they were back in Keystone, she would most definitely call him out on it. "I tried to return to a normal life a month later, but the reality is Miles, once this life pulls you in, you can't escape it. You'd think I would've learned that the first time, but a few weeks after that I tried to attend college. That lasted all of a week. So regardless of whether I want a normal life, I can't have one." Teagan's gaze turned toward her shoes, focusing on the weathered edges from walking in the forests of Portland.

"If I could have normalcy," she suddenly looked at him, changing the tone of the conversation, "I'd never have gotten to pull the best pranks of my career. Or meet some crazy, fascinating people. " Nothing beat an Uno game with Aiden and Yuki. A grin spread over Teagan's face. Good times.

[Miles]

Miles wasn't quite sure what normal was anymore either. He was kind of living in both worlds; student by day, supernatural hunter by night. When he wasn't studying for his tests or doing homework, he was studying old texts and researching cases online. It was rare when he actually got a break to enjoy himself, such as right now. In fact, he had been researching a wendigo the day before, trying to find out about them, though he wasn't too concerned considering they were primarily found in the Wisconsin and Minnesota areas.

But things were starting to blur together. He was reading supernatural texts at school, and switching between history and lore at home. He didn't even really have a home, anymore, nor did he have parents. What he had was a place to stay, and an adoptive dad and uncle just to ensure his safety from some demigod. Yeah, life was crazy when you became a hunter.

He listened carefully to Teagan, nodding along at all the right parts. You couldn't just leave. Miles had wanted to try, before his aunt had betrayed him. Luckily he was able to get into school, but between hunting and academics, it was taking a toll on him. But Teagan said that hunting was a good thing, in essence, and that last line of hers made him raise his brow yet again. Crazy, fascinating people? Like the Rooks? Or, more specifically, a certain Rook, that was walking over to them. "They want me in?" He asked.

[Casey]

Back on the field, Art didn’t really think of much. After giving the two his stuff to look after the game of chicken was over and the game really start. Richie, was thankfully on the other team and forward. That meant that Art got to steal the ball from him a grand total of four times within the first fifteen minutes. Each time the ball was safely on the other side of the field, Art sent him a smirk afterward. Only person to get past him was Linus, a kid from one of the other team. Dude was fast so Art didn’t take it personally, Linus was like the flash. He also didn’t have a bone to pick with him.

As the game got on he took his position toward the back of the field. From where he stood Art could see just about every player except those behind him. Vantage point was good for spotting what the other team was up to and where his was slacking off. Acting as the impromptu coach he yelled out instructions to those midfield and further, he mostly just had to send the defenders a look and tilt his head in the direction they needed to go. Each message was met with a nod and occasional yell back in confirmation. More importantly they did what he said, long ago they learned to follow his suggestions to the point that the team treated them like orders from the coach. That power would have been awesome, if he wasn’t so worried about steering somebody wrong.

Four points up and Lee jogged back as the ball moved back to center field, “You wanna take a break?”

“Uh,” Art crossed his arms, “Is that an honest question or rephrase of what you really wanna say?”

Lee chuckled, “You wanna let the kid have some fun now?”

He glanced over at Miles then back at Lee, “I’m not sure this is what he would consider fun. Not enough buttons to mash.”

With that Lee held up his hands and walked back to center field where the other were waiting. Art just shook his head and jogged off the field toward Miles and Teagan. He slowed to a walk as he got closer, noting the two were possibly deep in conversation.

“Only if you want to,” he replied with a shrug, “hope I’m not interrupting anything.”

[Teagan]

Her response sent Miles into a thoughtful silence, and for a moment, Teagan wondered if she had said too much. Taken the conversation in a place it wasn't meant to go. He had to learn that eventually, right? She returned her gaze to the soccer field. Innocently, this time. Not scouting out any boys and accidentally admiring the one that would bring complications.

None of the hunters Portland had met ever mentioned successful relationships in their realm of expertise. The only stories they relayed all ended in one spot: something dead. It reminded Teagan of how short life could be-a shiver passed down her spine and she unconsciously ran her hands over the bumps on her arms. Death frightened her still. The thought of its icy grasp laying claim to her soul still lingered in the back of her mind, even if the nightmares had fallen to only four nights a week.

But back to the game on hand...

Teagan raised a brow in surprise as the players on one of the teams turned to Art for direction. Art? Her thoughts raced in confusion. How did a socially inept child develop leadership skills? And perfect them to some degree no less? She couldn't help but feel impressed as he discussed something with one of his teammates before jogging back over to the bench.

"Not really," Teagan shrugged, wondering what Miles thought of her after that random conversation. "Go get'em, squirt." She flashed an encouraging smile.

To Art she threw one of the towels she had found on the bench. "Here. You might need this." She smiled in amusement as he wiped off the accumulating beads of sweat. "So what's the score now?"

[Casey]

Art caught the towel and gave it a quick once over before putting it anywhere near his face. Sadly he didn’t trust, because well most occasions he’d been with her she was pulling a prank, or in a prankster-ish mood. He was still a little disgruntled about the whole dating website thing, he didn’t want to give his information to people just to tell him who he should be with. His parents already did that enough. Finding nothing on the towel, visibly he wiped of his face. Hopefully he could get to know her outside of being “Little C”.

“Eight to Four,” he answered sitting down.

He looked down at the towel in his hands and spun it on his finger. Truth was he had another reason he was hesitant to be sitting next to Teagan other than the threat of a prank, he had no clue what to talk to her about. Sure, Miles liked to talk to her online and Deacon thought she was a riot but he didn’t know her. Talking to her would be the most likely source of a solution, which created an annoying cycle since he didn’t know where to start the conversation. They could talk about hunting but she dealt with that every day and so did he vicariously through his brother. Wasn’t knowledgeable with tech so that was a dead end, only thing he knew about was books. She’d just make fun of him for that.

Smirking Art turned toward Teagan, he couldn’t think of a better way to break the ice than giving her an in to tease him, “So, read any good books lately?”

[Teagan]

"Eight to four huh? Someone's getting their rear handed to them on a plate," she replied, very amused. Teagan wondered briefly which team held the lead, but Art didn't seem to want to elaborate on that fact. It was only the most important detail beside the score...and he had left it out. Odd. Was he on the losing team and didn't want to admit it?

Alright, she could avoid that conversation. Poor kid seemed quiet enough as it was-Teagan didn't need to give him another reason to stay that way. Although, to be fair, she couldn't call him a kid anymore. His height and statute were well beyond that of a child. An image of what was under his tight shirt flashed in her mind. God, she had to get this out of her head! This wasn't like her! Instantly she started calling up math formulas, reciting the equations over and over again silently until the thoughts had disappeared. When her thoughts were under her complete control again, the teen looked up and received a smirk.

How....appropriate. Art would talk about books, Teagan's eyes lit up in amusement. A boring topic, in her opinion, and the deciding evidence that no matter how much more physically fit he was, Art was still the same socially-awkward teen who needed to join a dating website.

"Wish I could say I haven't," Teagan sighed, giving a sarcastic eye-roll. "Aiden's all gung-ho on getting the supernatural lore drilled into our minds. I read more books these past few months than I did in high school!" Her hand nervously scratched the back of her head. "Who knew reading could be important, right?"

Of course, that was one of her more 'duh' statements, but she didn't quite care at the moment. "What about yourself? I'm sure you've read one or two by now." She sent him a smile to let him know that she was kidding and knew he had probably read way more than that.

[Casey]

“You could say that,” Art chuckled lightly and looked back at the game. If Richie and Eric didn’t stop trying to show of they’d never catch up. Linus was good but he wasn’t a miracle worker. For some reason he seemed to be one of the few on the field that remembered there were other girls on the planet. It was kinda weird to because during real games, everyone was totally professional, now they were trying to look like Beckham and while flashy, failing.

He smiled at her mini rant about books and nodded in agreement. The thankfully had the edge of reading and retaining information. Also helped that he enjoyed books, and his latest homework was actually useful to people other than folk lore professors. He raised his hand slightly at her last part.

“Probably read the same stuff you are,” he said and looked back at her. He looked at her trying to picture her reading but got the image of her bent over a pile of books with only a candle to aid her and Aiden standing menacingly in the background. Yeah, Disney had rotted his brain. Looking back at her though he did not something that he had been too distracted (at the Wesson and the soccer game) or it had been to dark (the van) to see.

Reaching out gently Art picked up her forearm and examined it. She was healing, and from something relatively nasty. Didn’t get those for roughhousing that was for sure.

“Looks like you’ve been doing more than reading,” he raised his eyes back to her face.

[Teagan]

Teagan froze as Art reached for her arm, tense and wary. He had seen the scar, hadn't he? Her smile slipped away as he confirmed her thoughts by gently rubbing his thumb over it.

"Real life application and such," she nervously jested, pulling back her arm and hiding the scar with her other hand. Of course she would forget to wear the armband she normally donned if she wanted to wear a short sleeved shirt.

"I hate Halloween. Now I have a good reason to." Her thoughts drifted back to that terrifying evening. All she could remember from the night was a dark, shadowy figure looming at the door. And the pain that followed. There was more to the story, as Aiden and Yuki had vaguely told her, but she could barely remember else besides flickering lights, the feel of water cascading down upon her arms, someone shouting "code red" and knocking her staff into a demon's -if she recalled correctly- head.

Overall, not a night Teagan fondly turned back to.

She had dozens of cuts, most of which had healed and disappeared quickly. Except for two: one had scarred, and the other was in the painstakingly slow process of doing so. Art had discovered the latter.

"It's just a flesh wound," Teagan quipped, trying to shrug it off as not important.

[Casey]

Art let Teagan’s arm slip out of his grasp with little resistance. He nodded solemnly as she spoke but his mind went to all the types of monsters that could have injured her. Everything from the unlikely to the horrible went through his head before he stopped himself. Hopefully Teagan would tell him if she wanted too, stop him from assuming the worst.

“I bet,” Art said half heartedly, “To bad, that’s one of my favorites.”

She got a far off look in her eyes and Art frowned. He put a hand on her shoulder, giving her a look of concern. Hopefully, she wouldn’t spaz out about the touching, or think he was pitying her or anything. Art didn’t really touch others unless they were family or close friends, but he figured Teagan was probably going to become the later eventually. Plus sometimes a little reassurance and comfort goes a long way.

“The person that said that wasn’t doing to hot. Wanna talk about it?” He tilted his head a little, trying to meet her eyes.

[Teagan]

"I'd rather not, thanks," Teagan replied politely, pressing her lips together. Hoping he'd remove his hand without prompting, she didn't bother shifting away from his touch. Awkward. Truly, she was touched that he seemed to care. Yuki and Aiden took everything that happened to them like water to a rock. Teagan had never lived a life like this before. Sure, she had seen action and horror movies, but to live one was a different story.

Good thing she remembered to pack the sleeping pills. Otherwise all of Keystone would hear what the norm sounded like around Portland.

Still, it was nice to know someone had noticed. Not a living chance on earth she'd talk about it though. Especially not to Art. "How'd school go?"

Switching the topic was safer than reliving nightmares.

[Casey]

At her refusal to share Art took his hand off her shoulder and set it on his lap. Somehow it no longer seemed appropriate. She didn’t look comfortable and he probably wasn’t helping. He wished he could though, he hated seeing people unhappy or troubled. Teagan fit those categories in his opinion. If she was gonna talk to anyone about what happened it more likely be someone she knew.

He smiled at the topic change. Every time someone brought of school he felt instantly happier and allow himself to be distracted for a bit.

“Terrific, especially since I don’t have to go back now,” Art pleasantly sighed, “Had the end of the semester worries but it was mostly over nothing. Some teachers said good bye, some didn’t really seem to care. Only people really sad to see me go is the team.” He gestured toward the field with his head.

[Teagan]

Teagan's eyes narrowed in confusion, Art's statement so peculiar that it brought her out of troubled thoughts. "Wait, what do you mean you don't have to go back? You still have a semester left of high school, right?"

She could've sworn he was a year younger than her. Really. So technically he wasn't quite done with school yet. "I can understand why you'd want to leave, but wouldn't it be smart to just stay in until graduation in the summer? I mean, keep a hold on your life as long as you can. Don't give it up for this supernatural business."