sliceitwithwind

Nevada blinked and watched Elcy take the drinks out before sipping from his own. "I, hmm, didn't exactly expect you to take that suggestion." To put it mildly. He expected the parents to veto the idea!

Tape. He could totally do tape. "I had to seal a house once, for quarantine. It would involve an adult having to unseal the tape with a knife on each room. That alright or do you just want a standard taping like crime scene tape?" Which...might be traumatic.

"That would be perfect." Yinsi said, "The quarantine tape, not the crime-scene. And Elcy is a very practical woman."

Out on the couch, Braig was watching in awe as Dilan went from shaky to snoring in almost the same amount of time it took him to drink the half-shot.

"It's like magic!" He accepts his full shot, Elcy remembering Aya's weird reactions at the last moment, while watching Dilan.

"Let me get you some juice, Aya. Kiwi, orange, or blackberry?"

"I can do that tonight, once I leave here I'll hit a store for materials. That way it's sealed before the boy wakes up." And he didn't have any other plans for tonight anyway! "What else should I lay in while I'm shopping? There has to be something I can get for them, and you." SOMETHING!

Aya blinked at the snoring Dilan and swallowed. Obviously they were being drugged and...and Dilan was asleep. Asleep was good right? "Blackberry Orange? Then it looks the same color?" She switched her gaze to Braig, waiting for him to pass out too.

"...I'll bring you three cups, sweetie." Elcy said, "You can mix and taste-test." She's a scientist. Sometimes she siences at people.

Yinsi thought about it, seriously, "If you can make food arrangements for the next few days, it would be helpful. I'm not much in the kitchen and Elcy is going to be very busy. Talk to Aya's father about having photos of the guests at the funeral? He'd like that when he's older. You and I can trade the kids off between us, Aya is too young to spend helping Dilan pack his mother's things so one of us will need to be with her or she will go help."

"Okay," Aya noted quietly. She'd share the mixes with Braig as long as he was awake? And when they got the mix right, they'd set a cup in the fridge for Dilan when he woke up.

"So..." Nevada drawled, pulling a small notepad from his pocket. "Arrange catering at a place that will serve for a katzu diet. Arrange for boxes, tape, bubble wrap and all the supplies he could need for packing. Arrange a small storage unit for things he wants to keep. Talk to Jerrig about photos. Insist." He underlined that part actually. "And come up with useful things an eleven year old can do so she doesn't go crazy. Am I missing anything?" He was...very calm about it all really. Problems he could deal with. Problems had solutions.

Nearly nineteen year old Braig? He was going to just... "I'll let you handle the mixing, Aya. I don't think blackberry and orange is going to be my kind of drink mix. Besides, I'm still drinking my shot."

Dilan made a small, whimpery sound in his sleep and curled up tighter between the other two.

Yinsi nodded as Nevada spoke, "That sounds about right. There are probably things that we're missing, but we can cross those bridges when we come to them. I have your number and you have ours."

"Alright, but I may want to compare to the color in your glass before you finish." Eleven year old Aya was serious! Well, serious when she wasn't carefully petting Dilan's hair. The whimper had distracted her from the drink mixing! She'd get back to it eventually!

"There are always things we miss," Nevada admitted quietly. "I'll need keys, to the house so I can seal it up properly."

"Then I'll drink slowly." Thank you, powers that be, he has an excuse not to try Aya's mixes. He loves her (he'll marry her one day, he swears it) but...ew, man.

Dilan quiets under the petting, from both of them as Braig found a different patch to stroke, and settled deeper into sleep.

"Of course, I'm sorry." Yinsi turned to the key-rack near the kitchen door and pulled off Lenna's keyring. "House, garage, and her car."

It wouldn't taste that bad! And she had enough years spent with Dilan that she thought Blackberry/Orange was perfectly reasonable! "Do you think we should get him to lay down? There's room across our laps..."

Nevada accepted the keyring, then arched an eyebrow. "What should I do with the car? I'm not sure how well it could be sealed and still have any...resale value?"

"I'll hold him." Braig said, "That way you've got your arms free for mixing. Lets just take over the spare bedroom tonight, all three of us fit on that bed and it will be better for Dilan in the long run."

Yinsi blinked for a moment, then sighed, "I'll talk to Braig tomorrow, see if he wants to buy it from the estate. He's been talking about getting a car. If not, sell it. Katzu don't drive well and avoid it as much as possible. Considering Dilan's hunting skills, I'm betting he's got a fullblood's predation instincts and will fall into that category."

"Okay." To Aya that meant she was draping Dilan's legs over her lap. That way the boy tilted toward Braig more and she could still touch him! That settled, she leaned her elbows on Dilan's shins and started carefully pouring tiny amounts of juice and judging color changes! "And the spare bedroom is good! I'll move some of our stuff there after this." So Braig and Dilan didn't have to move until the bed was ready!

Nevada rubbed a hand over his head in thought and then sighed, "No. He will want a car with no associations so that Dilan can ride easy in it. If I purchase it from the estate, I can take it to be traded in...then let Braig negotiate to get the car credit from me, and then negotiate with the dealer to see how far that credit stretches." Because he was a big believer in making someone Braig's age earn their first car? It made them more responsible with it!

"Sounds good." Braig agreed, falling quiet and watching her mix and match. He wanted to hit something, anything, to bleed off some of his own grief and stress...and thinking about what this is doing to Dilan only makes it worse. He was smart enough to know that there wasn't anything to hit, but...that didn't stop the urge.

"That sounds about right." Yinsi pinched his nose and took a deep breath, "Good thought, Nevada."

He should possibly mention that to Nevada? Nevada was good with violence, truth told! As for Aya, well, it was matter of mixing, tasting, comparing to Braig's glass...mixing more...the 'proper' mix had more blackberry than orange and was never going to be as clear as the liquor. Oh well.

"I'll take it in the morning after I am done taping, if you will talk with the estate and see how much they wish me to reimburse them. This way Dilan doesn't even get the urge to clean it too." Nevada knew he was possible one of the better functioning adults at the moment since he hadn't known Dilan's mother well. It just meant he was thinking through most his decisions extra carefully before saying them aloud.

He probably would. Later. When Dilan was doing better...or at the very least when Dilan and Aya were tucked into bed together and he could get away without feeling like he was abandoning Dilan.

"I can do that." Yinsi agreed, nodding, "I can call the lawyer in the morning, and then call you and let you know what to do." It was, he had to admit, a hell of a relief to have Nevada around and helping out like this. "I need to call the labs, too. Have someone watch our experiments."

There was time. No matter how breathless and cramping, and utterly hopeless that time felt it was there. Nevada would be available when Braig felt like he could take his eyes off the other two.

"I will keep my cell on me then." Because normally, when he intended to work on something, he set it in a glovebox or on a counter somewhere. "If you're feeling stressed you should sit down now and start writing out care lists for your experiments. Sometimes the details help buy you an hour or two of calm." And he could get the children tucked into bed when they were unconscious.

For now, though, Braig was just going to keep his little ones close and slowly drink his alcohol. And, just a bit, cry for the woman who was his other mother.

"That's...that's a good idea." Yinsi agreed, glancing out at the kids and then sitting down to start writing out his experiments.

Aya was going to sniffle a little herself before drinking her juice and curling against Braig with Dilan and falling asleep.

Nevada...eyed the adults, and stepped past them all to take over the kitchen. He could assemble sandwiches with the best of them, set them at elbows, and then take a plate in to Braig. He wasn't sure whether to offer the food or the handkerchief first. "Do you need more to drink?" he asked quietly.

"Yeah." the older boy allowed, "But not until they're tucked in." He swallowed and admitted, lowly, "I'm not okay, Uncle Nevada. I'm trying to be, but I'm not okay. I want to hit things."

"It's not the kind of situation you have to be okay in." It was important to let him know these things. Very important. "When they're tucked in we'll get you another glass and you can show me the stances you were suppose to practice this week." If the boy had the stances down properly Nevada would show him some non-regulation throws and holds.

"Okay. You wanna grab Dilan? He's heavier than Aya." And Nevada is bigger. Braig is egotistic, but not dumb enough to think he can carry Dilan with ease. "Not sure how steady I'll be with three glasses in me." he figured a warning would be a good idea.

"Yes, I can get Dilan. Please try not to drop Aya too often." He set Braig's plate of sandwich aside and went to his knees by the couch. It was easy to get his arms under the sleeping boy...trickier to get him unwound from the other two children.

"The room you will all be sleeping in is...?"

"I'd never drop her." Braig said with a certain slightly-drunken dignity, "I'm gonna marry her someday. Both of them. My room. Dilan's and mine. We've got the big bed."

Blink.

Blink blink.

He followed Braig automatically, feet sure and easy on the stairs while his brain churned that little statement over. "I was not aware that this had been decided." It was as neutral a statement as he could manage right now. It was also designed to encourage more talking.

"Well, they don't know yet. Obviously." Braig had Aya cradled like she was the most precious thing in the world, and he moved her thirteen year old body with the ease of years of practise. She tried, bless her, but she was not as much of a night owl as the boys and they'd both gotten used to pouring her into bed.

She was set on the bed and he pulled her shoes and jeans off before tucking her in, without even the slightest hint of impropriety. "I...have known for the last eight years. Can't live without them."

Nevada settled Dilan in the bed beside Aya, tugging off shoes and shirt for him. He knew how young men slept, and shirts could get very tangled. Only when the children were tucked in properly did Nevada wave Braig back to the hall.

With the door safely closed to eyed him, then started back downstairs. "Obviously they don't know. And shouldn't. And you're going to explain your logic to me while we're outside. Don't forget your sandwich."

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