for fatherlesskind

[scales_and_silence]

An Only Moderately Creepy 3-Story Home in Suburban Columbus

How atypical are we talking? Alistair had asked.

"Well," Alex replied. "Let's put it this way. Even my family has a shoot-on-sight order for Cuckoos. And these two have been family members for years, without any large-scale destruction, bankruptcy or anyone killing anyone else. My cousin's even saved lives. And my grandmother makes the best tuna-noodle casserole I've ever had."

He got out of the car to open Alistair's door (yes, he'd engaged the child safety lock) to guide his... guest? Could you call him a guest when he was blindfolded? He really didn't want to think of another sentient being has his prisoner. He'd been in that kind of situation himself a few too many times.

He guided Alistair inside, making sure he didn't trip on any steps or wrinkles in the front-hall rug before calling out "Grandma? Grandpa? Sara? I kinda found... uh. Someone we should probably all talk to."

Comments

*arrives 15 minutes late with Starbucks and an arsenal*

[cake_and_chaos]

Oh. That's adorable.

"Thought you liked girls," says Alice, grinning at her grandson for a moment. She gives him a wink after a moment, and munches on a cookie. "Didn't think I'd have you bringing home a nice Covenant boy too."

Can she resist teasing him? No. Flustering your grandchildren is one of the privileges of having grandchildren in the first place. And maybe it'd keep the new boy from making an unfortunate bolt for the door.

[scales_and_silence]

"Shelby and I are still very much-" Alex started to protest, stammered, stopped. "How do you know he's Covenant? And we're not- I'm not-"

One flustered grandson, two unnaturally young-looking grandmothers to enjoy it.

"Shush, dear," said Grandma Angela. "I can tell this one's Covenant, and it's not like I'm reading any minds. Nice of you to remind everyone not to chew on his head, that was thoughtful." It was that projective-only telepathy that had let Angela Baker avoid the Cuckoo trait of total and utter psychopathy.

Leave it to Sarah, now suddenly in the middle of the kitchen, to make things clear. In her own way.

"His flock sent him far, far away hoping he'd find a bigger birdy that would peck out his eyes, but he found Alex instead. So he's keeping his eyes and might actually use them now that there's no constant caw-caw-cawing at him for hunting and praying. But I don't think he's pair-bonding with Alex. Shelby has as many knives as Verity, and I don't think she wants anyone else in her nest. Can I have that cookie?"

She does, to her credit, wait for Angela to nod before plucking up a snickerdoodle and dripping ketchup on it.

"...Sarah actually kind of covered it there. This is Alistair, probably less suited to the Covenant than even Grandpa Thomas. He was giving Crow ear scritches for the entire ride over. Can we please find something to do for him that isn't killing him and sending his corpse back to England as a warning?"

"Of course, Alex," said Grandma Angela. "You know we'd never pay for the cost of shipping a whole body. Expensive, and leaves far too many chances for trace evidence."

"She's joking," Alex assured, lying through his teeth.

[fatherlesskind]

A choked sound escaped Alistair at the suggestion that Alex had brought him home for the, well, the usual reason as far as the traitors - no, the Healy-Price family, if he wasn't planning on making a run for it he should try to stop thinking of them like that - went. It was gratifying to hear Alex fumbling about in response too, though it did nothing to stop Alistair flushing bright red.

That was taken care of when what he assumed was the second of the identified grandmas spoke. Talk of mind reading was unnerving enough to make embarrassment take a backseat and his nerves weren't helped by a third voice joining the conversation. A third voice that belonged to a mad person. Or some kind of monster he'd never heard of that sounded like a mad person. Not reassuring either way.

And not getting better with talk of killing him, as not-unexpected and definitely not funny as that was.

"Right. Ha."

He could still try running. But that option hadn't gotten any more appealing now that he was distinctly outnumbered, even if he was beginning to wonder if the reason he was still alive was that Alex hadn't wanted the hassle of dragging a corpse home. Maybe one of his other family members was a ghoul and it was easier to get groceries if they carried themselves inside.

No. Thinking like that would get him nowhere. He'd chosen to come when he could have fought back in the marsh. He had to have at least a little hope that he wasn't just being toyed with before they sent him back to the Covenant in pieces.

Drawing himself up straight Alistair squared his shoulders and addressed the approximate space where to two older women were. "I don't want to cause any trouble for either of you or your family. I swear that the Covenant will never hear about any of you from me, no matter what happens." He paused and then, unable to quite help himself, "If I'm still alive tomorrow. Which I'd really like to be."