A Family Reunion {CC, closed}

They found his mother before she found them. She quickly patted down the folds in her black dress and put on a smile of her own.

"Thank you for coming to our home tonight. I'm Firay Hartford, and this is my lovely daughter." The voice was formal with the mandatory pleasantness that a host of such a party required, polite in every way possible. No wonder it made his mother fiddle slightly. It belonged to a women around his mother's age, he could tell be her stance. Yet she seemed younger somehow. A girl stood beside her, which Tristan guessed was the 'daughter' she was referring to.

His mother nodded. Smiled. Spoke. "Thank you very much for having us. It is absolutely wonderful to see the whole family again."

Again? Tristan had never even met his mother's parents, nevermind his father's side. Maybe this was it. Maybe this was his father's side... He wondered vaguely whether, if that was true, they were fazed by his dissappearance. Whether they had put it behind them, or whether they didn't care in the least, whether they were gald he was gone. Whether they even knew. But they probably did. Showing up to a party without the one person who connected you to the party was a dead giveaway.

"... Tristan?" His mother's voice flooded his thoughts, sounding small and far too high-pitched. Reality caught up with him, and he looked over towards the girl and her mother. Tristan hadn't looked at the girl closely before, but now he did. She had dark hair like him, but, unlike him, she had blue eyes and fair skin, and he couldn't help but notice the freckles that dotted the bridge of her nose, reaching her cheeks. Her arm was outstretched.

Oh. Right. Reaching out his hand, he shook hers.

"Hello, I'm Ixia."

He offered a half-smile, which, as usual, turned into somewhat of a smirk before his thoughts were clouded again by other thoughts, memories from the night before, apprehensions for... what was to come. They always seemed to muddle his thoughts when he needed his mind most, for some reason. They always tried to distract him.

Yet, he still managed somewhat of an introduction.

"I'm Tristan."

Loosening his grip, he removed his hand, which was replaced by his mothers.

"It's a pleasure to meet you." She smiled again, and this time, it was an honest one. "Gabriel, would you care to shake--" Her voice was cut off as she looked down, expecting to see Gabriel's cheeky face, but was instead met with a view of the asphalted ground. She looked around hurridly, then returned her gaze to Ixia, then back to Firay. "I'm sorry, he was just here..." She trailed off awkwardly. Tristan smiled inwardly. That was just like Gabriel... always running off.

Tristan's eyes followed his mother as she walked away. He hoped she loosened up a bit, although he doubted it on a whole. His mother never seemed relaxed nowadays.

The sounds of the two womens' voices faded away, and Tristan was left alone with Ixia. He glanced at her, then glanced back towards the punch table. Maybe, if he could get home early, he could go ahead and break out the base early...

"Well, why don't we check outside? Or maybe upstairs?"

Oh right. Gabriel. Tristan exhaled slightly, flexing his hands into fists, then loosened his fingers again. Gabriel... the kid was always running off. Why was his mother so surprised? If it was up to him, Tristan would probably just let him be. But then again, he could be getting into trouble. He was a bit violent sometimes, although he didn't really mean it.

"Might as well check outside first. If he's not there, then he'll be probably upstairs, or downstairs if you happen to have a basement."

Gabriel had always been attracted to small, quiet places. Tristan didn't blame him; he was the same exact way.

His dark eyes set on Ixia, he raised his eyebrows slightly. "A wine cellar's good too." The words slipped out before he could stop himself. But the girl had probably already figured out that he wasn't right in the head. Might as well go along with it. He watched her carefully, the smirk playing across his lips from earlier. Even if they did have a wine cellar, they probably sure as heck weren't going to let him near it.

Ixia's eyes widened at his last comment about the wine cellar. He was silently wondering if she was just going to take the suggestion as something innocent, a potential hiding place for his brother. But she obviously didn't.

She seemed to be compemplating his words now, probably putting two and two together about his main priorities. Yes, he could tell by her stance, and by the way the tension in the room changed from an awkward politeness to a simple awkwardness. It was one sided though; the girl seemed rigid, or nervous or something of the sort, while he, on the other hand, was lax and at-ease. His smirk probably wasn't helping his cause either. Yet, Tristan kept his gaze fixed, not jsut because he suddenly found the whole situation amusing, but because the girl intrigued him. She obviously didn't want to look for his brother. Tristan could take a hint when he needed to; she probably just wanted to get out of the party. He didn't blame her. Atleast his mother wasn't introducing him to random, delusional strangers.

"Why don't we check outside first? It would be a good way to...clear our heads." With that, Ixia turned towards the door, leaving Tristan behind to chuckle under his breath, before he slowly followed her out the door.

"Sounds like a plan," He muttered.

Tristan ambled behind Ixia as she made her way through the crowd, bumping into various people along the way. A few people turned to glare their way, but Ixia didn't seem to be too offended about it. Actually, she looked pretty annoyed herself. He considered offering the disturbed adults some sort of condolence, maybe an apology or two, but he didn't really have time as hey approached the door leading outdoors. Besides, these people looked like they were able to get over it. Or at least, their forgiveness wasn't worth his time. If they couldn't get over something so simple, well then, that wasn't his problem.

They finally reached the door, and Ixia immediately stepped outside. She walked furthur outside as Tristan paused at the door. A moment passed; he was facing her back so he couldn't see her expression. The breeze picked up a bit. It contained a good bit smog, mixed with the slightest scent of a fire somewhere close by. Burning District Twelve's famous coal, no doubt. Ahh, home sweet home.

Suddenly, Ixia turned to face him, her voice calm and collected like usual, although he thought it had a bit of an edge as well, or was that his imagination? Either way, he was starting to figure this girl out, bit by bit. She obviously didn't like... parties. Or stuffy houses. Or lacy dresses, by the he saw her tug on it when they had first been 'introduced'.

He wondered vaguely how much she had figured out about him; he hadn't exaclt been secretive about himself, but then again, he hadn't exactly been open about things either.

"Well, I suppose we should look on the side of the house. Clearly, he's not here."

No, he's probably long gone by now, getting into his own kind of trouble. But of course, Tristan didn't say that. He owed his brother that much; if the kid wanted to ruin his life that way, he could go ahead and do it. Who was to stop him? His mother? The woman couldn't even pull herself together for this so-called family reunion, let alone discipline a violent kid. So who else then? Tristan? That would just be the pot calling the kettle black.

"Follow me," Ixia instructed, guiding the way to what seemed like a very small alley beside her house.

Finally, a place that was familiar. Not that he had ever been in this paticular alleyway, but alleyways in general were his terrain. The silence and solitude they always seemed to supply really provided a nice place for certain things. In fact, it was almost tempting now to do just that. The small morpling tablets he had traded for at the HOB were still tucked away in his back pocket, ready for use whenever he had time. But for Ixia's sake, he would behave. She didn't seem like the kind to approve of such things.

Sighing deeply, Tristan leaned against the side of a building [he wasn't sure if it was a factory or a house, but it was made out of some kind of cement]. He stuffed his hands into the front pockets of his suite, hoping to god that he had enough self-will to keep the substances hidden. Well, there was nothing better then a distraction. And Gabriel seemed to be really useful for that kind of thing these days.

"I think Gabe's gone. I doubt he's still at the party right now." Sliding to the ground, Tristan released his hands from his pockets only to clench them into fists again. "Or in the neigborhood," He added, grimacing slightly.

"I don't mind this though... unless, of course, you would rather return to the party." His tone was slicked with a slight mocking tone, but Tristan's words, themselves, were sincere enough. Honestly, he would rather hang out in a dark alley any day then reunite with the large crowd.