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Jordan had just gotten off kitchen duty, and he could really use a cup of coffee. And it would probably be a good thing to talk to Melvin and see where they stood after the strangeness of being children together for a while.

Jordan knocked on the doorframe shortly afterwards to announce his arrival. "Hey," he said, and came into the room, holding up an unopened bag of chips. "Thought I'd contribute. Kitchen duty has its privileges. How're you?"

Jordan kept away from the various projects and machines as he crossed to Melvin's desk and took the indicated chair. He looked around with curiosity, though. He hadn't been to the runic lab too frequently.

He set the chip bag down on an empty space on the desk, taking care not to let the food touch anything runic. "I'm okay. It was ... kind of jarring, the difference between being a kid and being an adult again. Mental whiplash, I guess." He paused a moment, then added, "I went and told Rep that you and I aren't a thing. I think he believed me this time."

Jordan leaned back in his chair and crossed his ankles. "I'm glad not to be fourteen any more," he said thoughtfully. "I was a different kind of a mess back then. A couple of people didn't get older again. Don't know why."

"I think he's lonely too," he said, and then, "Don't tell him I said that." He laughed a little, but without much humor. "I told him I'd try to come around more often. Maybe he'll talk to you, now that you're not on my couch any more."

"I could wish he cared less, sometimes," Jordan said, and sighed. "It doesn't make anyone's life easier."

"Yeah. Knowing that there were more of us around would have been a good thing, I think," he agreed. "Thanks, man. I won't say anything about what we talked about as kids, either." A small smile, and he mirrored the cross-my-heart gesture.

"It's okay," he said. "Mom ... didn't make it. She hung on as long as she could, but ... it spread." His eyes went distant and his expression quietly sad, looking back into a past that had been the immediate future not so long ago. After a moment, he took a breath and refocused. "Our aunt took us in, after that. Andy and I were both recruited while I was in college. But they didn't tell me about him. I thought he was dead too, and that really ******** me up for a while." He grimaced. "I only found out later that it was a golem in that car, and Andy was asleep in a pod."

"He's awake now. In Sun, even." Jordan gave the dismayed expression on Melvin's face a slightly puzzled look. "I was worried when I found out. He'd been asleep for a long time. But I'm guessing his weapon got brought in after he did." He smiled, a soft-edged expression. "I'm just glad my dumb kid brother made it here. You know? But I genuinely regret what we must've put our aunt through, losing us, too." The smile slipped off at that thought.

"Thank you. It never goes away, not really, but the edges soften, over time. You learn to go on. I appreciated the sympathy." It didn't cause an upwell of tears, not now, when it wasn't so immediate. Just a familiar ache of sorrow. "Tia Rosa took good care of us. I know we made her life harder, but she was always good to us. We were family, and family was important."

"They thought I suicided, after everything." Jordan sighed. "I check their pages now and then. Not every time I go off-island, but sometimes. It bothers me more if I don't know, but it was hard to see myself mentioned. I'm sorry about your sister," he added, sympathetic.

"Andy's adapting well. He seems to have a pretty good bond with Rex, and he comes by if we haven't seen each other in a while. It's weird, in some ways. It's not what I would've picked for him, but it was his choice, and it's good to be able to see him and talk to him again. I guess might've been less okay with it if I hadn't believed he was dead for so long. The relief went a long way toward reconciling me to the whole thing."

He sipped his coffee, wrapping his hands around the mug.