we're all broken inside anyway [echo]

Well this sucked.

Echo was coming over later tonight for a wine and cheese party (private, just the two of them), and Eden had gotten some special cheese under a friend’s recommendation. It cost her an arm and leg, and she specifically told Tyler not to touch it. So what did he do? He went and touched it. Now she had a box of half-eaten cheese and what was she supposed to do besides go out and get more? She didn’t really want to, but she put on her coat and got an umbrella anyway. She could smell the rain coming, and given how gloomy it’s been the whole day, it was going to be a big one. Ugh Tyler. He better have an explanation for her when he got back from wherever, and a present too. Now she felt decidedly less sorry for chasing him out of his own apartment for the night.

Stepping out into the frigid London air, she shivered and hastened her steps. This wasn’t going to take long, just a quick trip to the grocer’s around the corner. Eden didn’t even know why she was going to so much trouble just for some cheese. She just wanted to do something nice for her cousin she supposed. She knew Echo has been hurting ever since the war ended, and struggling to get back into a routine lifestyle was not easy. How could it be if she probably still smelled death and ashes at every turn? Even she herself still had trouble convincing herself that strangers she passes by didn’t want to hurt her or kill her, and that people were normal now, they’ve put the war behind. So why did she have such a hard time believing that? Why wasn’t she able to move on?

A big, fat, raindrop splattered on her cheek, but she scarcely took any notice, letting a burly man bump into her as she squeezed into the small grocer’s. After deliberating, she paid for some Brie and Rabiola. Might as well get something she liked, because who was she kidding; she knew Echo didn’t really care about the cheese part. Just like she didn’t particularly care for the wine. She smiled, in a bitter sort of way; a look she’s been told didn’t really suit her. She should be so lucky. What she’d give to be able to be inebriated with wine, to drink till she forgot everything, to live day-to-day by the bottle. But she was forced to be sober, to remember every single excruciating detail she wanted to forget. With an offhanded comment for the cashier to check the display for some moulding Gouda, she left the warm little shop behind her.

Outside, the wind slapped her cheeks mercilessly, and the rain came down like icicles. Eden hurried back to the apartment that she shared with her stepbrother, and reminded herself to put out some towels for Echo, just in case the worst part of this brewing storm hit her. At least the apartment was looking pretty nice. Most of Tyler’s junk had been cleared from the living room, and the floor was covered with soft rugs and colourful pillows. A blanket was thrown over the foldout couch, and scentless candles gave the room a subtle glow. Try as she might, she could never get used to the artificial smell of scented candles. It was too strong and heady for her delicate nose, and the different scents just ended up giving her a headache. Besides that, there wasn’t too much stuff lying around; she knew Echo wasn’t one to fuss over small details.

No sooner had she finished laying out the food, the banging that threatened to break down her door signalled that her cousin has arrived. “Come in, it's unlocked!” She retreated to the bathroom to get some towels, and was greeted with the sight of the younger girl dripping all over the floor. “Got caught in the storm, huh?” Eden said sympathetically, holding out a towel while she tried to suppress a small smile. Tough, strong Echo looking like a shaggy dog who almost drowned in a pool? It was a little funny. “I’ve got the food ready. You should eat a bit before you show that bottle of wine who’s boss. And try not to get too drunk before you tell me everything?”

Echo wasn’t sure what she was doing, or even why. She stared at herself in the mirror, not noting anything in particular, just staring. Should she put on something fancy? It had been a while since she’d gotten out of the house for any other reason than picking up groceries or running. She was such a homebody, and the worse part was that she didn’t even have any hobbies to be wasting her time with. No, when she wasn’t working (which was a good 35% of the day at least) she mostly just sat around aimlessly watching the sky or reading one of her many medical textbooks or throwing a little red plastic ball against the wall. It was a boring existence, but Echo was stuck in it. To break out of it seemed to invite danger.

So when Eden had, in the course of their conversation, decided they were going to have a nice girl’s night in, Echo was wary of whether or not to accept the invitation. Eden wasEcho’s only friend at the moment, and honestly she wanted to get out. She knew how her older cousin loved people and had a soft heart. Not many people could go through what Eden had gone through and still see the world with such gentle kindness. Perhaps that was why Echo was willing to do literally anything it took to protect that kindness. Since the war ended, there weren’t many things Echo was willing to get in a fight for, but Eden was certainly one of them.

She fingered the hem of her oversized and fraying Puddlemere United t-shirt, letting her eyes wander to the halfway open window. Outside the sky was dark and there was a noticeable heaviness in the air, signaling rain. That as the jolt Echo needed to snap her eyes out of her stupor and get her rear into gear. Deciding it was probably too cold to wander out in just her t-shirt, Echo pulled the worn blue shirt over her head and tossed it into the hamper. She picked out one of her nicer shirts (aka no holes, not stains, actually fit her), jeans, and a heavy cardigan. Eden’s flat wasn’t far from Kit’s offices so it wouldn’t hurt to walk. She liked to walk.

Another glance outside and the rumbling thunder was practically a challenge: Can you outrun me? Echo smirked and set her jaw, stuffing her house keys into her pocket, and picking up the two tall paper bags laying on her bed. They were decorated with pretty vines and pink flowers and had cost her almost three pounds each from the fancy paper-things shop. Well, Eden could never accuse Echo of not loving her.

The blond exited her apartment and jumped down the stairs two by two before hurrying out the door. The first leg of her journey was dry as bone, if not windy, and Echo was feeling very confident in her ability to beat the storm. She was almost halfway there when three fat raindrops hit her in the cheek and it was as if the sky cracked open, water falling from the sky as if that was a thing water did sometimes. By the time she arrived at the flat and pounded on the door, she was soaked to the bone and feeling very defeated. Mother Nature: 1, Echo: 0.

The door swung open and Eden greeted her with a smile, allowing her to come in. Echo took the proffered towel and started to dry her wet hair as Eden made a casual comment about alcoholism (Echo smiled guiltily) and then offered her food. Yesss, food. Echo took off her cardigan and left her wand to the work of drying the fabric off, as the younger girl dropped bodily onto the floor of pillows and allowed herself to become one with the soft fabric as she reached for a piece of fancily cut cheese. How did Eden have so much more class than she did?

Echo took hold of one of the blankets and wrapped herself up like a fat caterpillar before pulling herself into the sitting position and turning to her cousin. “What’s there to tell? Work is good, haven’t had anyone die on me yet, which is always great.” She pretended to not be wiping her dripping nose on the blanket, but only rainwater came out. "Umm, I’ve been cooking a lot. Kit’s office has a nice kitchen and all so I can actually make us a decent meal sometimes.” Us. Why did that sound so… grossly domestic? Ugh. She rolled her eyes. “Kit, that guy i work for, he's a buffoon, as always. He keeps doing nice things and giving me that look, you know the one I talk about with the sexy eyebrow raise and all that shiet. Pisses me off. If he would just stay mean and craggly and old forever, that would be great so then I wouldn’t have to worry about wanting to—“ she caught herself before she said something she hadn’t even admitted to herself yet. “Well you know.”

She sat up and opened the bottle of wine, pouring herself a glass before opening the second bag and handing the dark purple bottle to her cousin. “Since you don’t drink, I got you some sparkling grape juice. It’s basically the same thing as wine, except I think this is organic. See, there, organic.” She pointed to the curly black lettering and then handed the other girl a glass too. “And while you dig into that, we should really move off of me and my extremely unsuitable man and onto you. What’s been going on with you? How’s molding the mind of our next generation going?”

A shadow of an amused smile crossed Eden’s face as she watched her cousin dry herself off and sink into rugs on the floor. Echo has always had this wild side to her, even when they were younger. It wasn’t something she could put a finger on, but sometimes it felt like she didn’t belong in the city, but one with the woods. She was like a little wolf child sometimes. Although now, as Eden observed, leaning her body against the frame of the archway leading to the kitchen, she was more like a disgruntled little kitten making a nest for herself. Her smile kicked up a notch as Echo reached for a piece of cheese. And here she thought she’d be the only one crying into them tonight.

Stiffening a little at the mention of death, she returned silently to the kitchen and brought out some napkins, offering one to Echo and leaving the rest on the table. She took a seat on the edge of the couch, her legs barely brushing Echo’s side. Her bare feet traced circles on the threadbare carpeting, and she ignored the way it chafed her toe and the slight burning sensation as she listened to Echo chatter about work. “Kit’s a bit of a strange name though, isn’t it?” Her smile got more Cheshire-like as her cousin continued talking about her boss. “I don’t know. What exactly is it that you want to do to this Mr Kit now?” Eden was only teasing, but it felt good to be able to do that, to feel like a normal girl again. Or at least pretend to, if only for a while.

“Seems like you have it pretty bad for him.” Eden scooted closer to the younger girl and patted her sympathetically. Boy did she know how that felt like. So she wasn’t surprised at all when she broke out the wine. What she was surprised about was the bottle of grape juice that she brought as a present. Echo was more thoughtful than she let on sometimes, and the twenty-two year old felt that she wasn’t really given enough credit for that. She poured herself a glass of the dark liquid and laid a warm hand on Echo’s shoulder. “Since you’re so thoughtful I feel like I should extend the courtesy as well. There’s also some leftover pizza if you want. Homemade.” The ‘maybe that would be more your speed’ was unuttered but very clearly implied. Same with the candles, Eden just didn’t like the taste of store-bought pizza; there was nothing like fresh tomatoes and homemade flatbread.

As she took a tentative sip (mmm, not bad, Echo really sprung for something semi-decent this time. A plus for effort), Echo shifted the topic over to her. Eden cradled the glass in her hand and sighed. She really hoped they’d avoid talking about her life tonight, or at the very least, put it well out of the way until Echo was too sloshed to remember anything the morning after. What was there to even talk about? She took care of other people’s kids for a living because she didn’t really have any other marketable skills. That didn't really seem like a desirable topic of conversation for anyone. “It’s been… good. Jaimie’s really well behaved and he likes me, which makes the job a lot easier. Although his father… I guess I could say the same for him too. I’m hoping.” Merlin, why did she always end up talking about Owain? Had she always been so needy?

She shook her head slightly in a childish attempt to clear her thoughts. Tonight was about Echo, not about her and her non-existent problems with her employer, who was always perfectly nice to her. “Don’t say that,” she chided gently, frowning a little, ”He may be unsuitable now, but it doesn’t mean he’ll always be.” Eden quirked her lips into what she hoped was an encouraging smile. Echo was pretty, smart, and a good person. She didn't see how her cousin could be unsuitable for anyone, to be honest. “Want me to heat up that pizza for you? You can’t survive on cheese alone.” It was a blatant change of subject and Eden knew it, but hey, who could say no to free pizza?

Seems like you have it pretty bad for him. Ugh, that was the last thing she wanted to hear. Was she that obvious? “Kit is a stupid name and it suits his stupid face.” Even through her scowl Echo knew she sounded like the most petulant child and it wasn’t helping her adult image whatsoever.  What Echo really wanted to know about was that guy that Eden had been mooning over. She wasn’t clear on the details but she knew the older girl was about as smitten with this guy as Echo was with her dumb boss. Eden needed a little light in her life, and a guy with a kid sounded like the perfect place to start. Usually people with kids, despite being all self-righteous— ("Oh big deal, you popped a baby out of your body. It’s not like no one else ever does that. Get over yourself. Having a kid doesn't automatically make you a good parent.") –were usually pretty nice people. But Eden seemed about as eager to talk about it as Echo was to talk about Kit. Oh, the parallels.

Oh! Food. Eden sure knew exactly what Echo wanted. Echo had always liked Eden, and that was only amplified when the older girl had offered her couch to the suddenly-homeless ex-soldier when Selena had kicked her out. Eden never made Echo feel like she was unwanted or an intruder, and Echo remembered what she’d been like post-war and that must have been quite a chore for the older girl to keep up. Eden had this way of knowing that Echo had problems and never prying. Both of them had been through hell and back and there was a certain sense of comradery that came from knowing that. Trying to explain what the war had been like for either of them was too hard to put into words. The silent understanding the two blonde girls shared was something both of them needed right now.

Echo swirled her wine around fancily in the glass as she listened to Eden speak, finding the gentle sound very soothing. Eden had a nice voice and Echo had gotten used to listening to it while she fell asleep. Eden had taken good care of her when she was curled up in the post-war darkness and Echo owed most of her current sanity to Eden’s constant, warm presence. Echo took another sip, finishing the glass, before resting the glass back on the table. She laid herself back on the soft bedding and spread out like an X, stretching loudly as she stared at the ceiling.

She rolled her head to the side to face her cousin. “One day you and I are gonna find men that can handle us. Once you find guy who is gonna treat you right, you guys are gonna have a million cute little babies and I promise I’ll actually like them, probably. And if he mistreats you, just call me and I will rip out his throat. I promise.” She really shouldn’t be smiling while she said stuff like that. Echo knew she had little to offer the cousin who had saved her, but if the war had done anything at all, it had toughened her to the point that she believed in her own strength and would gladly lend it to protect someone she loved, and she did love Eden.

Oh right, back to the pizza. Pizza. Echo loved all the food Eden made. She was a genius. Back when she was bumming off her cousin, Eden’s cooking was one of the few rays of sunshine in her life. Echo did love her food and Eden knew it. Echo rubbed her head against her cousin’s leg and looked up at her pleadingly. “Can we put the fancy cheese on the pizza?” she asked with a guilty grin. She made a motion with her hand that was supposed to be a layer of cheese on top of the pizza. “I feel like eating everything until I die and then washing it down with about another gallon of wine.”