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 Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 8:20 pm
Bang.Bang.BANG.Click.Carson lowered the handgun and ejected the clip. He considered his target for a moment - his first few shots had been messy, but once he'd gotten warmed up, his aim had been steady as ever - and then turned his attention to the next lane and Nell's target. She was getting good, he thought, holstering the gun. He hopped out of his stall and looked around the barrier into his sister's. "Ready for a break?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 9:46 pm
Nell was never going to be ready for a break. She hadn't gotten to go to the range since coming to Destiny City, and that was a tragedy, because she didn't want to become rusty. Not in this city, not now. Only an idiot would go around incapable of defending herself, and Nell was no idiot. Either way, her clip was empty, and she guessed that was as good a time as any to make Carson buy her a soda. "Yeah, okay," she said, flicking the safety on her Beretta. She tucked the handgun into its holster and clipped it for good measure: safety conscious! That was how it had to go. "Will you buy me a Dr. Pepper? I am feeling the sixteen flavors."
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:22 pm
A Dr. Pepper was a small price to pay for his sister's continued good graces. "Yeah, sure," said Carson, digging his wallet out of his jeans. He fell into step beside her, adjusting his stride to account for their difference in height. "So," he said, as they headed towards the snack bar. "Do you know any more about why Dad aborted his campaign? Did someone have dirt on him?" Their father had his proclivities - every politician did - but he was also very, very careful about loose ends, as Carson knew from experience. "Or, just, not a good time? Crowded field and all that?" If something had threatened to come to light, Carson wanted to know what - so he could buy the person responsible a drink.
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:29 pm
Nell waited imperiously for her Dr. Pepper. Once she had it in hand, she shrugged over its crack-hiss. "He said that running against Trump only legitimized a stunt contender. Also I told him I wasn't taking time off school for his campaign and if he tried to make me then I was going to send pictures to the Washington Post. I mean, I don't even know if that's DC-local or like, the state? But I would've." She sighed. "Then he took my phone away for a week because I was ' abusing the privilege'. Like, Dad. Dude. I can pay my own cell phone bill, you know?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 10:58 pm
Carson couldn't help but laugh at the idea that all the political opponents and pundits who would have loved to score that kind of dirt on their father had been pre-empted by Nell. She was wicked smart, of course - but he hadn't counted on her being wicked wicked as well. "Wait," he said, narrowing his eyes at her as he twisted the cap off his own soda. "You have pictures? Of him ******** one of your friends?" How deep did this rabbit hole go? " How?" he asked incredulously, but then quickly added, "I just decided I don't want to know." Better their father go down on this scandal than make Carson confront his own demons. "Anyway, so now he tries to discipline you?" he asked. "Can't imagine Mom took that well."
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 11:03 pm
Nell shrugged and kicked at a piece of debris. "You know Mom. Luke, she's going across the country, do you really want her there without a cell phone? It's called the Cloud." She'd gotten the pictures at her birthday party, actually. Not that Carson needed to know exactly how, or why her first impulse had been to take a picture instead of raising bloody murder. It was just, you know... she was a girl in a world where Ke$ha got stuck producing records for her rapist. And if something happened between her parents, that was going to splash back on Nell, too. Olivia Pope was not a real person, was what she was getting at, and no one could fix it if the world found out what her father had done. It was selfish, and it was awful, and she was playing it like she'd made some kind of big, mature decision when really she'd just panicked. "What's gonna happen if Mom finds out," Nell asked, fiddling with the cap of her soda. "Do you know?"
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 11:13 pm
Carson considered the question. Some politicians' wives could smile through a sex scandal and stay with the a*****e. Some politicians' wives were not Jenn Lawson. "She'd leave him," he said, with utmost certainty, not even considering that that might not be the answer Nell wanted - she was probably much more invested in the idea of their parents staying together than he was. "Take him for everything he's worth in the divorce. You know how she hates to be embarrassed - and it's almost guaranteed he's done this more than just once." He paused - had he said too much? Come too close to his own truth? Carson busied himself with drinking before he could say anything else stupid.
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 11:16 pm
Nell's shoulders slumped. "Yeah," she said. "I know." Her appetite for Dr. Pepper and its many flavors was pretty much dead by then. She screwed the cap of her soda back on and set it aside. "Well, I'm bummed now," she said.
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 11:22 pm
Well, s**t. Carson reached over, putting an arm around his sister's shoulders and pulling her into a side-hug. "I'm sorry," he said. "That was mean of me. And I'm biased." Which was putting it lightly. Nell was clearly much more invested in their parents as a couple than he'd ever considered - and she was having a hard time being even a little bit in the know about how much of a sleaze their father was. She could never be allowed to know the whole of it, Carson decided - it would break her heart. "I'll buy you another round of ammo," he offered. "Or we can go to the comic shop. Or the music store."
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 11:23 pm
"I want to shoot more things," said Nell, propping her head against her brother. "I mean, obviously, paper things, not real things. I mean, please buy me another round of ammo, I want to shoot stuff."
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Posted: Sat Feb 20, 2016 11:27 pm
"Right on, then," said Carson, feeling terrible but trying to hide it. "Let's go shoot more things."
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