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adventureic2024-03-13 11:22 pm
werewho) wrote in adventureic2024-03-13 11:22 pm
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WHO: Maya, Broderick, Bracken (& Asher by proxy of being discussed so much)
WHEN: Tuesday, March 12th
WHERE: Maya & Sharona’s apartment, then Broderick’s apartment
WHAT: Maya makes a discovery, then checks in on how Broderick is doing.
WARNINGS: Mentions of health issues like heart issues and seizures.
The basics of druid curses had Maya writing down notes about finding someone who could read runes. Then scribbling the note, check with ByB, BrB & AS, underneath it. It didn’t seem like that was something that was specific to medical. On the next line she wrote, ask how many runes based languages there are.
Maya turned the page skimming the information about very specific curses, mainly trying to memorize what they looked like and the typical solutions for those curses. And, hoping, for some kind of easy solution like a potion for each one. Unfortunately, it seemed like Druids liked very specific solutions rather than a solution that could be applied to many different curses.
The names of them had already filled up two pages of her notebooks before she turned the page to that depicted ivy made of druid runes originating on the person’s chest, wrapping itself around different limbs depending on how much it had grown.
She read the section from start to finish three times before she closed the book, placed it back on the coffee table and just stared at it as she reconstructed what had actually happened on the Friday morning before the February moon. And after the hydra mission. He’d been quick to cover his arm as soon as she’d checked after that mission. He had tensed up when she was inspecting his shoulder before the moon but she’d thought it was because of what had happened between them, not that he didn’t want her to see his tattoo – no, she corrected herself, his curse.
Asher was cursed.
She knew it wasn’t on his chart.
He hadn’t ever signed up for a physical.
Outside of the two times she’d forced him to let her see his potential injuries she’d never seen his arm.
She picked up her phone and stared at it. What on earth was she going to do? Demand why he’d been cursed? No, she had medical reasons. If this curse affected his ability to be healed it was important. The books said that the curse varied in many ways depending on the words of the druidic runes, Asher was going to be the only person to be able to tell her the terms. But that would mean she’d have to ask him as Head of Healing, not as Maya. She put her phone back down on the couch.
She got up from the couch, suddenly unable to stay still but also unable to go much further than the stairwell either. Maybe she could focus on making something in the kitchen. She shuffled through their fridge until she found the bell peppers they’d bought and just started slicing them up for snacking.
There were four bowls of sliced bell peppers when her brain stopped focusing on the repetition again.
Why was he cursed? The question had to be dismissed, that wasn’t the type of information that the Head of Healing needed to know. That was what Maya wanted to know.
She went to the drawer with the ziplocks and started filling them up. Good enough of an excuse as any to bug Broderick when she could get back downstairs again. Where Asher also lived.
The text had made it clear that the curse was a punishment for wrongdoing against the druid who cast it. Asher did something that had bothered a druid. That could apply to tons of situations, it didn’t mean it was something as serious as murder. Maya shook her head, no, that wasn’t likely. If either of them had the skills to do that it was her, not him. Thankfully, she’d only ever woken up head first in an animal carcass, not a human one. But it was best not to think about that moon. She physically shook her head again trying to dislodge the memory.
It’s not like she could know if the Druid was even in the right to curse him. Maybe it was more of a get off my lawn Druid who got angry for no good reason.
Again, that didn’t matter. It wasn’t the kind of question that the Head of Healing needed to know, it was what Maya wanted to know.
She heard the ping of her phone, that particular tone letting her know there was a new post. Maya went back to the couch, finding that Byron had fixed things. Which opened the door, literally, to her talking to Asher about this. Except, well, maybe this time she needed to process before diving head first into that conversation. Or, at least, strategize on how to not get him to refuse the conversation.
It was easier to start with Broderick anyhow. Her experience was most closely aligned with his own. His feelings for Asher just weren’t as messy as hers were. Though she doubted that made it much easier.
She pulled out her phone, as promised, to warn them (but mostly Bracken) that she was headed their way in a bit.
***
She held up her ziplock of peppers when the door opened to Broderick’s apartment. “How do you feel about peppers as snacks? I know dipping them in ranch is probably a huge no-no for you.”
“Well obviously,” Broderick retorted, even as he stepped back to welcome Maya into his home. “That’s disgusting. I’ll take the pepper offering, though. Weird bribe,” his smile went sideways in amusement as he nodded for her to follow. He looked noticeably tired.
First Bracken's eyes peeked over the back of the couch, then the rest of his torso—clad in only an unzipped hoodie—followed so he could fold his arms over the back and grin at Maya. (Don't worry, the early warning system worked: there's also jeans!) "Ranch's in his fridge," he offered as though Broderick hadn't just spouted off more of his many wrong opinions about American cuisine. "Hiya, Doc."
Maya shrugged her shoulders, “I went a little crazy on cutting up some peppers we had.” She walked in, smiling at Bracken as he appeared. “And here I was thinking I was going to force myself to eat them dry for his peace of mind.”
Broderick rolled his eyes (because surely, that was the point of Bracken’s betrayal) as he shut the door behind him. “My peace of mind? In this place? I won’t hold my breath.”
He punctuated the statement with a sloppy peck to the side of Bracken’s head as he passed. “You just missed Byron,” he continued, moving to grab some water glasses from the kitchen. “Or I guess you can probably smell that, and Beryl.”
Bracken shuffled to one side of the couch and patted the other for Maya to sit, all while shooting psychic rays at Broderick to bring out the ranch. "So fuckin' cute. Won't steal her but won't claim I didn't think about it, neither."
Broderick couldn’t honestly say that he hadn’t had the same thought when they’d had to give the overgrown hellhound puppy back to Byron. His brother’s relief and joy though, after sorting out yet another spell cockup, had knocked the sentiment right out of his head. “Byron would kill you,” Broderick called back over his shoulder as he closed the fridge, ranch unfortunately in hand.
“With that smile on his face too. Here,” he sighed, and set the ranch and a small bowl down on the coffee table across from the two wolves. With a quick flick of his fingers, the three glasses of water made the jump to the table too. “How are you Maya?”
She smiled at their banter, glad to see it. “I’m okay.” Maya answered from her seat beside Bracken. It was honest enough without getting into the revelation of the day. That wasn’t really what she was here for. “I actually came here to check on how you’re doing.” She pointed out.
Broderick smiled ruefully. “Thought as much. I’m fine.”
(Bracken's mouth was occupied with a forbidden-dressing-slathered pepper piece, but even if it hadn't been, he wasn't about to blow Broderick's cool-guy façade with his own interpretations.)
When Maya’s glance towards Bracken didn’t reveal any additional information she plowed on. “If you weren’t fine less than 24 hours after losing control of your body I would get it. I just wanted to snuggle and sleep after my …” She trailed off, struggling to find the right word until she decided on, “incident.”
A muscle in Broderick’s jaw ticked, and he’d never had much control of his eyebrows to begin with. They furrowed briefly. “Maya,” he said carefully, “I appreciate that, and I know we unfortunately are members of a very fucked up club, but I’m fine.” So maybe it wasn’t the correct word, and by the looks on their faces, he wouldn’t get far with that one. “I’ll be fine.”
Maya’s eyes tracked the way his face moved during his answer. As someone who also didn’t have very good control over the emotions on her face she chose to pick up a pepper and dip it in ranch. “You will be,” she agreed, then munched on her pepper.
Broderick frowned at that. He didn’t particularly want to revisit the ins and outs of a malevolent spirit taking over his body without permission, shutting him out and smothering him in his own consciousness and forcing him, even briefly to watch as she used his hands, his voice, his strength to attack Asher. He could still feel the axe in his hand and the way the wood of the shovel gave. He remembered the certainty that he would split Asher in two.
He knew more intimately now what Maya’s own fears, guilt, and self hatred must have been. Or something close to it, but it wasn’t something he wanted to talk about himself. He sighed.
“He’s asked for space,” he shared, knowing Maya would understand.
She looked at Broderick with sympathy, nodding her head. “Yea, he loves space. And time to process things.” If he didn’t want to talk about himself Maya could talk about how she’d taken that at least. “It’s the opposite of my usual inclination, which is to talk and be present for people.” She motioned to herself being ‘present’ in this room.
Broderick made a considering noise. That was his usual inclination as well, though he understood why Asher needed the time to process as he did. Frankly, he’d understand if the witch chose not to interact with him again at all. Still, that Maya and Asher were able to bridge and overcome what they had (or were still in the process of it) was encouraging.
“I don’t begrudge him that,” he nodded. “Hard not to want to bust his door down anyway,” he admitted, though would never do so. He thought Maya understood that too.
Maya chuckled. “Yea, I imagined busting down his door and demanding he speak to me like a hundred times while I waited. Not that I wanted to really force him to do anything. He’ll be ready, eventually,” she promised. It was kind of empty since she didn’t really know what Asher was thinking, but she believed in it all the same.
Broderick shared a glance with Bracken before he cleared his throat. The thing was, between what Asher had shared with him about his past and what Dorr herself had let Broderick be privy to, Broderick could understand why Asher’s cards were kept so close to his chest. A very fucked up picture was taking shape, and it had Broderick worried.
“Things are better now, though?”
Maya would have answered the question, and had with Bracken, more confidently last night but there was one message that she kept thinking about. But that had been shoved down the priority list since the questions about the curse had entered her mind. It seemed like her list of Asher-based things to worry about would continue to get longer. “Yea, they’re different but they’re better. But your friendship with Asher is less…complicated than mine.”
Broderick did his best to ignore the worry that ‘different’ for himself and Asher might end up being friendly but no longer friends at all.
“Because of the feelings,” Broderick said bluntly what they all knew she wasn’t.
(Or what he assumed they all knew. The newsflash made Bracken, who was so good at minding his own business that he'd paid more attention to the ranch's texture than to the Asher-leaning portion of the conversation, drop a pepper on the floor. He quickly picked it up, brushed it off, and popped it into his mouth.)
She really should have known that Broderick wasn’t going to let her get away with the vagueness of her prior statement. Maya pressed her lips together, momentarily, trying to ignore the feeling of the blush that she was sure was creeping its way to visibility and Bracken’s reaction to this information (Broderick missed this entirely somehow, focused as he was on Maya). “Yes, Broderick, because of the feelings.” Though she rushed to add, to quickly pivot the conversation away from her own issues, “And the fact that you have the means to exorcize a ghost. This isn’t a forever problem.”
Broderick didn’t love the phrasing of that, or its implications. “In my experience, being able to exorcize a ghost or help it move on from the person it’s haunting isn’t the quick fix most people expect it to be. It’s rarely about the spirit at all.”
And that was really what was at the heart of things, though Broderick wouldn’t betray Asher's trust more than he already had.
“But you’re right, there's something a little more physically challenging to work through here, and it doesn’t go away with magic,” he said apologetically. He didn’t and couldn’t know what that was like.
Thinking of how Ophelia had reacted at the suggestion of exorcizing the stuffed animals, Maya returned his apologetic look with one of her own. Her magic ignorance leading her to the wrong conclusions again. And, maybe she ought to keep that in mind when it came to the curse too. “Sorry, you’re also right, I don’t really know how exorcisms work,” she admitted. “Or what it takes to deal with. Is there anything I can do to help? Not with the exorcism itself, I don’t imagine, but as someone who cares about how it affects your health both as my friend and as the Head of Healing?”
Broderick grew reticent again, mulling over the benefits of asking Maya to just leave things as they were, or to just be up front about it. She was worried, he could tell. Bracken had been too.
“Pulled the Head of Healing card,” he grumbled, and rubbed at his jaw. “No, there’s nothing I need. You checked me out for anything more immediate, but the only thing a possession really leaves is exhaustion, sometimes having to get used to your limbs again, but,” he shrugged. “I really am fine.”
She gave him a small, but not entirely apologetic, smile about the Head of Healing card.
He hesitated a moment, eyes flashing to Bracken’s quickly before shifting away. “In the interest of the Head of Healing knowing in general, should something like this happen again…” he trailed off, each word like it was being dragged from him. “Post possession, individuals are often anxious, prone to depressive episodes and occasionally psychosis or hallucinations. Physically, if a possession got violent, or if it was a long term thing and the thing possessing them had poor control, sometimes the heart gives out. Seizures are common.”
Maya nodded, listening closely as he listed the common side effects of a possession, another thing to add to her supernatural medical research.
At the mention of seizures being a common side effect she turned her body towards Bracken for the first time since they’d started talking about Asher, directing the questions towards him. “Do you know how to deal with seizures? Don’t put anything in his mouth that’s a dangerous myth that people still believe and don’t hold him down. Maneuvering him onto one side will help keep his airway clear though.”
The look Bracken shot her wasn't the most grateful — drawn in and irritated, anyone who knew him well enough could have pinned it somewhere between upset and confused.
He'd kept quiet because he was neither subject nor expert in their conversation so far—and playing support's always more comfortable for him, anyway—but now with both pairs of eyes on him, he felt like he was supposed to... say something? Without the chance to process any of it? Except he was at a loss. He dropped his gaze to study his nail, chipped off a little purple polish like that's what was causing his frown. "Good to know."
Fuck. Broderick’s lips pressed tight as he shot Maya a look as if to say thanks a lot; but really, the blame lay solely with him.
“I didn’t mean it would be a concern with me,” he said firmly, unable to catch Bracken’s eye again, so he directed it to Maya. “It’s just good to know.”
Maya’s confusion at Bracken’s reaction slowly turned into realization at Broderick’s look that Broderick maybe had not clued him into any of complications that can come after a possession. “It is good to know,” She agreed, suddenly feeling like maybe Broderick and Bracken needed time alone again. “Adding it to the top of my research list. Thank you for letting me talk to you about this and explaining the side effects.” She put her arms out for a hug towards Broderick.
“Um,” Broderick blinked at the sudden change in topic, but his arms went around Maya without hesitation. “Of course, if I can help I will. I just…” he cleared his throat and squeezed her tight, his hand a reassuring pressure between her shoulder blades. “Need a minute I think. Thank you for checking in.” He knew that they’d have a lot to talk about later, when things had settled a bit more, when they both had a better idea of how Asher really was.
She squeezed back, trying to give any comfort she could from the physical contact. “I get it,” Maya promised as they ended their hug. “I probably won’t be able to stop myself from checking in a couple more times throughout the week. But always feel free to be the one to reach out first.”
Maya turned to Bracken attempting to somehow plead ‘please don’t get too annoyed with him because I need Broderick not to refuse to tell me health information in the future’ with her eyes. Though she was unsure of how successful that was. (Middling; he mostly interpreted it as 'Don't take this out on Broderick.') But what she said was, “Thanks for stocking the ranch in the fridge.”
Bracken, long-winded as ever and feeling on the fringes of a situation he didn't have the right to monopolize in the first place, replied: "Thanks for the peppers."
... Okay, but he should probably be an adult about shit. He pulled up his (metaphorical) big-boy wranglers with a sigh and a shrug. "And for. Y'know."
Broderick cleared his throat and stood, looking away from Bracken. “Let me walk you to the door,” he said, grabbing the ranch bottle as he did, fully intending to banish it back to the recesses of the fridge once she’d gone.
“Let me know how he’s doing,” Broderick asked more quietly as they lingered at the door. The irony that it was now Broderick asking Maya this, a strange reverse of only a few weeks ago. “I’m respecting his space, but, just let me know.”
She nodded her head, having every intention of doing just that. “I will,” she promised. “It’s where I’m headed next.” She tilted her head in the direction of Asher’s apartment. Even though this check-in perhaps wasn’t the smoothest she’d ever had, it gave her enough space from her recent discovery to feel like she could look Asher in the eye without demanding answers immediately and just being there for him. “I’ll check in again tomorrow and will have an update for you. Promise.”
And with that she stepped out into the hall and gave him one final goodbye wave.
WHEN: Tuesday, March 12th
WHERE: Maya & Sharona’s apartment, then Broderick’s apartment
WHAT: Maya makes a discovery, then checks in on how Broderick is doing.
WARNINGS: Mentions of health issues like heart issues and seizures.
The basics of druid curses had Maya writing down notes about finding someone who could read runes. Then scribbling the note, check with ByB, BrB & AS, underneath it. It didn’t seem like that was something that was specific to medical. On the next line she wrote, ask how many runes based languages there are.
Maya turned the page skimming the information about very specific curses, mainly trying to memorize what they looked like and the typical solutions for those curses. And, hoping, for some kind of easy solution like a potion for each one. Unfortunately, it seemed like Druids liked very specific solutions rather than a solution that could be applied to many different curses.
The names of them had already filled up two pages of her notebooks before she turned the page to that depicted ivy made of druid runes originating on the person’s chest, wrapping itself around different limbs depending on how much it had grown.
She read the section from start to finish three times before she closed the book, placed it back on the coffee table and just stared at it as she reconstructed what had actually happened on the Friday morning before the February moon. And after the hydra mission. He’d been quick to cover his arm as soon as she’d checked after that mission. He had tensed up when she was inspecting his shoulder before the moon but she’d thought it was because of what had happened between them, not that he didn’t want her to see his tattoo – no, she corrected herself, his curse.
Asher was cursed.
She knew it wasn’t on his chart.
He hadn’t ever signed up for a physical.
Outside of the two times she’d forced him to let her see his potential injuries she’d never seen his arm.
She picked up her phone and stared at it. What on earth was she going to do? Demand why he’d been cursed? No, she had medical reasons. If this curse affected his ability to be healed it was important. The books said that the curse varied in many ways depending on the words of the druidic runes, Asher was going to be the only person to be able to tell her the terms. But that would mean she’d have to ask him as Head of Healing, not as Maya. She put her phone back down on the couch.
She got up from the couch, suddenly unable to stay still but also unable to go much further than the stairwell either. Maybe she could focus on making something in the kitchen. She shuffled through their fridge until she found the bell peppers they’d bought and just started slicing them up for snacking.
There were four bowls of sliced bell peppers when her brain stopped focusing on the repetition again.
Why was he cursed? The question had to be dismissed, that wasn’t the type of information that the Head of Healing needed to know. That was what Maya wanted to know.
She went to the drawer with the ziplocks and started filling them up. Good enough of an excuse as any to bug Broderick when she could get back downstairs again. Where Asher also lived.
The text had made it clear that the curse was a punishment for wrongdoing against the druid who cast it. Asher did something that had bothered a druid. That could apply to tons of situations, it didn’t mean it was something as serious as murder. Maya shook her head, no, that wasn’t likely. If either of them had the skills to do that it was her, not him. Thankfully, she’d only ever woken up head first in an animal carcass, not a human one. But it was best not to think about that moon. She physically shook her head again trying to dislodge the memory.
It’s not like she could know if the Druid was even in the right to curse him. Maybe it was more of a get off my lawn Druid who got angry for no good reason.
Again, that didn’t matter. It wasn’t the kind of question that the Head of Healing needed to know, it was what Maya wanted to know.
She heard the ping of her phone, that particular tone letting her know there was a new post. Maya went back to the couch, finding that Byron had fixed things. Which opened the door, literally, to her talking to Asher about this. Except, well, maybe this time she needed to process before diving head first into that conversation. Or, at least, strategize on how to not get him to refuse the conversation.
It was easier to start with Broderick anyhow. Her experience was most closely aligned with his own. His feelings for Asher just weren’t as messy as hers were. Though she doubted that made it much easier.
She pulled out her phone, as promised, to warn them (but mostly Bracken) that she was headed their way in a bit.
She held up her ziplock of peppers when the door opened to Broderick’s apartment. “How do you feel about peppers as snacks? I know dipping them in ranch is probably a huge no-no for you.”
“Well obviously,” Broderick retorted, even as he stepped back to welcome Maya into his home. “That’s disgusting. I’ll take the pepper offering, though. Weird bribe,” his smile went sideways in amusement as he nodded for her to follow. He looked noticeably tired.
First Bracken's eyes peeked over the back of the couch, then the rest of his torso—clad in only an unzipped hoodie—followed so he could fold his arms over the back and grin at Maya. (Don't worry, the early warning system worked: there's also jeans!) "Ranch's in his fridge," he offered as though Broderick hadn't just spouted off more of his many wrong opinions about American cuisine. "Hiya, Doc."
Maya shrugged her shoulders, “I went a little crazy on cutting up some peppers we had.” She walked in, smiling at Bracken as he appeared. “And here I was thinking I was going to force myself to eat them dry for his peace of mind.”
Broderick rolled his eyes (because surely, that was the point of Bracken’s betrayal) as he shut the door behind him. “My peace of mind? In this place? I won’t hold my breath.”
He punctuated the statement with a sloppy peck to the side of Bracken’s head as he passed. “You just missed Byron,” he continued, moving to grab some water glasses from the kitchen. “Or I guess you can probably smell that, and Beryl.”
Bracken shuffled to one side of the couch and patted the other for Maya to sit, all while shooting psychic rays at Broderick to bring out the ranch. "So fuckin' cute. Won't steal her but won't claim I didn't think about it, neither."
Broderick couldn’t honestly say that he hadn’t had the same thought when they’d had to give the overgrown hellhound puppy back to Byron. His brother’s relief and joy though, after sorting out yet another spell cockup, had knocked the sentiment right out of his head. “Byron would kill you,” Broderick called back over his shoulder as he closed the fridge, ranch unfortunately in hand.
“With that smile on his face too. Here,” he sighed, and set the ranch and a small bowl down on the coffee table across from the two wolves. With a quick flick of his fingers, the three glasses of water made the jump to the table too. “How are you Maya?”
She smiled at their banter, glad to see it. “I’m okay.” Maya answered from her seat beside Bracken. It was honest enough without getting into the revelation of the day. That wasn’t really what she was here for. “I actually came here to check on how you’re doing.” She pointed out.
Broderick smiled ruefully. “Thought as much. I’m fine.”
(Bracken's mouth was occupied with a forbidden-dressing-slathered pepper piece, but even if it hadn't been, he wasn't about to blow Broderick's cool-guy façade with his own interpretations.)
When Maya’s glance towards Bracken didn’t reveal any additional information she plowed on. “If you weren’t fine less than 24 hours after losing control of your body I would get it. I just wanted to snuggle and sleep after my …” She trailed off, struggling to find the right word until she decided on, “incident.”
A muscle in Broderick’s jaw ticked, and he’d never had much control of his eyebrows to begin with. They furrowed briefly. “Maya,” he said carefully, “I appreciate that, and I know we unfortunately are members of a very fucked up club, but I’m fine.” So maybe it wasn’t the correct word, and by the looks on their faces, he wouldn’t get far with that one. “I’ll be fine.”
Maya’s eyes tracked the way his face moved during his answer. As someone who also didn’t have very good control over the emotions on her face she chose to pick up a pepper and dip it in ranch. “You will be,” she agreed, then munched on her pepper.
Broderick frowned at that. He didn’t particularly want to revisit the ins and outs of a malevolent spirit taking over his body without permission, shutting him out and smothering him in his own consciousness and forcing him, even briefly to watch as she used his hands, his voice, his strength to attack Asher. He could still feel the axe in his hand and the way the wood of the shovel gave. He remembered the certainty that he would split Asher in two.
He knew more intimately now what Maya’s own fears, guilt, and self hatred must have been. Or something close to it, but it wasn’t something he wanted to talk about himself. He sighed.
“He’s asked for space,” he shared, knowing Maya would understand.
She looked at Broderick with sympathy, nodding her head. “Yea, he loves space. And time to process things.” If he didn’t want to talk about himself Maya could talk about how she’d taken that at least. “It’s the opposite of my usual inclination, which is to talk and be present for people.” She motioned to herself being ‘present’ in this room.
Broderick made a considering noise. That was his usual inclination as well, though he understood why Asher needed the time to process as he did. Frankly, he’d understand if the witch chose not to interact with him again at all. Still, that Maya and Asher were able to bridge and overcome what they had (or were still in the process of it) was encouraging.
“I don’t begrudge him that,” he nodded. “Hard not to want to bust his door down anyway,” he admitted, though would never do so. He thought Maya understood that too.
Maya chuckled. “Yea, I imagined busting down his door and demanding he speak to me like a hundred times while I waited. Not that I wanted to really force him to do anything. He’ll be ready, eventually,” she promised. It was kind of empty since she didn’t really know what Asher was thinking, but she believed in it all the same.
Broderick shared a glance with Bracken before he cleared his throat. The thing was, between what Asher had shared with him about his past and what Dorr herself had let Broderick be privy to, Broderick could understand why Asher’s cards were kept so close to his chest. A very fucked up picture was taking shape, and it had Broderick worried.
“Things are better now, though?”
Maya would have answered the question, and had with Bracken, more confidently last night but there was one message that she kept thinking about. But that had been shoved down the priority list since the questions about the curse had entered her mind. It seemed like her list of Asher-based things to worry about would continue to get longer. “Yea, they’re different but they’re better. But your friendship with Asher is less…complicated than mine.”
Broderick did his best to ignore the worry that ‘different’ for himself and Asher might end up being friendly but no longer friends at all.
“Because of the feelings,” Broderick said bluntly what they all knew she wasn’t.
(Or what he assumed they all knew. The newsflash made Bracken, who was so good at minding his own business that he'd paid more attention to the ranch's texture than to the Asher-leaning portion of the conversation, drop a pepper on the floor. He quickly picked it up, brushed it off, and popped it into his mouth.)
She really should have known that Broderick wasn’t going to let her get away with the vagueness of her prior statement. Maya pressed her lips together, momentarily, trying to ignore the feeling of the blush that she was sure was creeping its way to visibility and Bracken’s reaction to this information (Broderick missed this entirely somehow, focused as he was on Maya). “Yes, Broderick, because of the feelings.” Though she rushed to add, to quickly pivot the conversation away from her own issues, “And the fact that you have the means to exorcize a ghost. This isn’t a forever problem.”
Broderick didn’t love the phrasing of that, or its implications. “In my experience, being able to exorcize a ghost or help it move on from the person it’s haunting isn’t the quick fix most people expect it to be. It’s rarely about the spirit at all.”
And that was really what was at the heart of things, though Broderick wouldn’t betray Asher's trust more than he already had.
“But you’re right, there's something a little more physically challenging to work through here, and it doesn’t go away with magic,” he said apologetically. He didn’t and couldn’t know what that was like.
Thinking of how Ophelia had reacted at the suggestion of exorcizing the stuffed animals, Maya returned his apologetic look with one of her own. Her magic ignorance leading her to the wrong conclusions again. And, maybe she ought to keep that in mind when it came to the curse too. “Sorry, you’re also right, I don’t really know how exorcisms work,” she admitted. “Or what it takes to deal with. Is there anything I can do to help? Not with the exorcism itself, I don’t imagine, but as someone who cares about how it affects your health both as my friend and as the Head of Healing?”
Broderick grew reticent again, mulling over the benefits of asking Maya to just leave things as they were, or to just be up front about it. She was worried, he could tell. Bracken had been too.
“Pulled the Head of Healing card,” he grumbled, and rubbed at his jaw. “No, there’s nothing I need. You checked me out for anything more immediate, but the only thing a possession really leaves is exhaustion, sometimes having to get used to your limbs again, but,” he shrugged. “I really am fine.”
She gave him a small, but not entirely apologetic, smile about the Head of Healing card.
He hesitated a moment, eyes flashing to Bracken’s quickly before shifting away. “In the interest of the Head of Healing knowing in general, should something like this happen again…” he trailed off, each word like it was being dragged from him. “Post possession, individuals are often anxious, prone to depressive episodes and occasionally psychosis or hallucinations. Physically, if a possession got violent, or if it was a long term thing and the thing possessing them had poor control, sometimes the heart gives out. Seizures are common.”
Maya nodded, listening closely as he listed the common side effects of a possession, another thing to add to her supernatural medical research.
At the mention of seizures being a common side effect she turned her body towards Bracken for the first time since they’d started talking about Asher, directing the questions towards him. “Do you know how to deal with seizures? Don’t put anything in his mouth that’s a dangerous myth that people still believe and don’t hold him down. Maneuvering him onto one side will help keep his airway clear though.”
The look Bracken shot her wasn't the most grateful — drawn in and irritated, anyone who knew him well enough could have pinned it somewhere between upset and confused.
He'd kept quiet because he was neither subject nor expert in their conversation so far—and playing support's always more comfortable for him, anyway—but now with both pairs of eyes on him, he felt like he was supposed to... say something? Without the chance to process any of it? Except he was at a loss. He dropped his gaze to study his nail, chipped off a little purple polish like that's what was causing his frown. "Good to know."
Fuck. Broderick’s lips pressed tight as he shot Maya a look as if to say thanks a lot; but really, the blame lay solely with him.
“I didn’t mean it would be a concern with me,” he said firmly, unable to catch Bracken’s eye again, so he directed it to Maya. “It’s just good to know.”
Maya’s confusion at Bracken’s reaction slowly turned into realization at Broderick’s look that Broderick maybe had not clued him into any of complications that can come after a possession. “It is good to know,” She agreed, suddenly feeling like maybe Broderick and Bracken needed time alone again. “Adding it to the top of my research list. Thank you for letting me talk to you about this and explaining the side effects.” She put her arms out for a hug towards Broderick.
“Um,” Broderick blinked at the sudden change in topic, but his arms went around Maya without hesitation. “Of course, if I can help I will. I just…” he cleared his throat and squeezed her tight, his hand a reassuring pressure between her shoulder blades. “Need a minute I think. Thank you for checking in.” He knew that they’d have a lot to talk about later, when things had settled a bit more, when they both had a better idea of how Asher really was.
She squeezed back, trying to give any comfort she could from the physical contact. “I get it,” Maya promised as they ended their hug. “I probably won’t be able to stop myself from checking in a couple more times throughout the week. But always feel free to be the one to reach out first.”
Maya turned to Bracken attempting to somehow plead ‘please don’t get too annoyed with him because I need Broderick not to refuse to tell me health information in the future’ with her eyes. Though she was unsure of how successful that was. (Middling; he mostly interpreted it as 'Don't take this out on Broderick.') But what she said was, “Thanks for stocking the ranch in the fridge.”
Bracken, long-winded as ever and feeling on the fringes of a situation he didn't have the right to monopolize in the first place, replied: "Thanks for the peppers."
... Okay, but he should probably be an adult about shit. He pulled up his (metaphorical) big-boy wranglers with a sigh and a shrug. "And for. Y'know."
Broderick cleared his throat and stood, looking away from Bracken. “Let me walk you to the door,” he said, grabbing the ranch bottle as he did, fully intending to banish it back to the recesses of the fridge once she’d gone.
“Let me know how he’s doing,” Broderick asked more quietly as they lingered at the door. The irony that it was now Broderick asking Maya this, a strange reverse of only a few weeks ago. “I’m respecting his space, but, just let me know.”
She nodded her head, having every intention of doing just that. “I will,” she promised. “It’s where I’m headed next.” She tilted her head in the direction of Asher’s apartment. Even though this check-in perhaps wasn’t the smoothest she’d ever had, it gave her enough space from her recent discovery to feel like she could look Asher in the eye without demanding answers immediately and just being there for him. “I’ll check in again tomorrow and will have an update for you. Promise.”
And with that she stepped out into the hall and gave him one final goodbye wave.
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Also Asher teased Maya that her idea of comfort food was peppers
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