It's not going to make itself [Jocelyn]

[Rhys Freeman]

"Please look, I, I am the only one who need remain, huh. Look, look, look this man, he has a family, he will die without medical attention."  Rhys grabbed his soda and tipped it up to his lips, watching the screen from his spot on the couch, slunk low with his long legs stretched out in front of him.  Nothing like a little Call of Duty to calm the nerves.  "There's the prime minister.  Boss, look who's with him."  The last remaining drops of fizzy, black liquid dripped onto his tongue and he sighed.  He wanted another but damned if he was getting his lazy ass off the couch to get it.   "Hades." "We gonna bag him?" "The PM's our first priority."

The front door squeaked open and he was reminded that Elijah asked him to spray some WD40 on it earlier.  His pale eyes darted to the clock on the wall and he knew he had some time.  Elijah wouldn't be back for at least three more hours and if he went out he wouldn't have to hear his brother bitch until that night or maybe even the morning if he was in late and passed out on the couch instead of slipping into the bedroom they shared.  He could tell by the way Jocelyn came in the door that it was her over their brother.  She just had a certain way about her that made it obvious.  

"Hey." He called out in his deep, raspy voice, the characters on the screen still talking. "I'm hungry.  Go make some lunch or somethin'." He demanded, eyes never leaving the screen.

[Jocelyn Freeman]

People always seemed to think that once you were out of a bad situation, everything got easier. Well, right now Jocelyn wanted to tell all those obnoxious optimists that the truth was anything but. Sure, she had left her now ex-boyfriend, but that also meant quitting her job and moving in with her brothers. Living with her brothers wasn't really so bad, but the apartment was a little cramped with three of them staying there. Poor Rhys had given up his room so she could have some privacy in the apartment at least.

But as she entered the apartment only to be immediately greeted by a demand for lunch, her mood darkened further. Poor Rhys indeed. Sarcasm heavily intended.

She hung her jacket and bag on the coat rack near the door, counting to 10 before she answered him. "Rhys, I just walked in the door, okay? Can I get like, five seconds before you start asking me to do stuff for you?" She was trying to not snap, but her patience was wearing thin today.

With a heavy sigh, Jocelyn walked into the kitchen anyway. Just because she was annoyed didn't means she wasn't going to feed him after all. "Who knew that it was so hard to get a damn waitressing job?" she called out, trying to make conversation as she headed over to the fridge. Of course, since she couldn't exactly list her prior experience without inadvertently telling her obsessive ex where to find her... well, it was proving a difficult process.

"I hope you're okay with a sandwich, because we don't have much else," she called out, pulling out the lunch meat and cheese and getting to work on the assembling process.

[Rhys Freeman]

It never crossed Rhys' mind that demanding something from Joc the second she walked in could be rude.  He treated her that way because he could, because she let him.  He could do it, but if he heard anyone else insisting his sister do their shit for them he would put them in their place.  She was family. She was the closes thing to a mother he would ever have again and he liked the way she babied him.  He'd never been babied growing up, he'd learned to cope with it, but now that someone was willing to be at his beck and call he planned to take advantage of it.  Besides, he ate way better with her home.

"I told you to quit lookin' at them jobs.  Find somethin' better where no piece of shit's gonna push you into another relationship.  Go to school or somethin', Fuck, Joc." He scoffed, rolling his eyes as she started on his sandwich.  He didn't care what she made, as long as it was food.  His stomach gave a grumble as if to agree.  Maybe two sandwiches..

"Look, I told'ju I'd cover you for a while.  Stop bein' dumb."  If he had to add one more guy to her list of exes he'd like to stab, he might just kill her instead.  Not really, but he was sick of her putting herself in shady, stupid situations.  She was too much like mom.

[Jocelyn Freeman]

Despite her protest, Jocelyn didn't really mind taking care of her brothers. Sure, she might complain and give them a hard time, but that was just what the siblings did. Besides, it had more to do with her own mood than anything else really. She liked taking care of them though. It had been the one constant thing in her life really. Even when they'd been separated, she did her best to keep tabs on everyone, to make sure they all could be together again someday. Even after they were together again though, she never stopped fussing over them.

"You can't seriously expect me to just hang around here all day and mooch of you guys," she answered, a sigh in her voice. Waitressing might not be a glamorous job, but it kept her busy and made it easy to meet interesting people.

She bit her lip though as he made a not so subtle reference to her ex. "That happened once," she protested. "And so I made one mistake, that doesn't mean that every choice I make it going to be a fuck up, thank you very much." Well, so far that was exactly what it seemed to be, but it irked her that he was commenting on that fact. So she'd messed up a couple of times. Didn't mean that she couldn't make her own choices - especially when it came to guys.

"Oh, school, huh? I'm no brainiac, Rhys. What exactly would I study, huh? Not like I was ever any good at school stuff anyway and I'm not good at things the way that you guys are." As far as she - and a good many others - were concerned, things like makeup and hair and her style of art didn't count as skills. They were just silly little hobbies. Not even worth mentioning really.

So she focused on sandwich making. She was silent as he told her to stop being dumb, finishing up. Jocelyn didn't respond until she walked out of the kitchen and offered him a plate with two sandwiches. She knew he had a bit of an appetite and better to just fix two the first time. "I know what you told me. But I can't live off you forever and I don't want to. Is that such a terrible thing?"

[Rhys Freeman]

Rhys had a pretty good feeling that Elijah wouldn't mind if she hung around the apartment as long as she wasn't getting herself into situations.  He knew he didn't care, not unless he was bringing someone over, which was next to never.  If he wanted to get a girl alone he went to their place or shelled out for a motel.  It was easy with his cash flow, so what did it matter what Joc did all day?

"That's exactly what we expect, an' bullshit.  That wasn't the first dick you dated." According to him every guy she'd dated had been a dick.  She was the worst at picking out guys.  It was like she was drawn to the worst possible choices and couldn't see what waste's of life they were. "It's like you zero in on 'em." Had she been some other girl he might have made a comment about her spreading her legs, but he didn't like to insinuate his sister was a whore, because she wasn't.  He wanted to boost her confidence in herself, not drag it more through the mud than it already had been.  Plus, the thought of anyone fucking his sister made his blood boil.

She went on about school as she brought a plate to him, a little surprised when he saw two sandwiches.  She probably knew he hadn't eaten in a while.  It was common knowledge that once the video games went on, he stopped doing pretty much anything else, even basic human needs.  He would wait until he was literally about to piss himself before getting up to go to the bathroom.  

He snorted.  Rhys sucked at school, it wasn't a secret.  He got lucky with his hobbies and interests, they didn't need a degree, just a shit ton of training which he was begrudgingly doing and making bank at the same time.  He knew he got a lucky chance with Casey, which was the only reason he put up with the guys shit. "Do cosomotology or whatever the fuck it's called.  Do people's hair an' shit, you're good at that! And there won't be no sleazeballs working with you, just a bunch've bitches and fags." He reminded, which sounded a lot better to him than the pricks she worked for. "When's someone gonna offer to take care of you again? Why can't you just do it?"

[Jocelyn Freeman]

Jocelyn rolled her eyes as he remarked that her most recent ex wasn't the only dick she had dated. "Yeah, well he was the only one I worked with, so there." It was a technicality, but still. She pursed her lips as he added that she seemed to zero in on them and she really couldn't argue that. "Not all of them," she protested anyone. "It's not like you've met every single guy I've ever dated." Granted, since she'd gotten out of high school, that had been a grand total of 2 guys. But before that, she had had quite the string of dates... or hookups, but she wasn't about to tell her kid brother that.

A look of surprise briefly appeared on his features as she offered him not one but two sandwiches. As if she didn't know him well enough to know that he had likely been sitting there gaming for hours and was starving by now. She took a seat on the opposite end of the couch then, her body turned to face her brother rather than the television.

Her gaze turned downcast as he suggested that she gave cosmetology a try. She enjoyed messing with hair and doing nail designs and stuff, but she had never thought she was good enough for a career. Besides, everyone thought that stuff was silly and pointless. "I dunno. I mean, school costs money. Like a serious chunk of change. Besides, it takes like, thousands of hours or something anyway. Besides, I don't need a fancy job or anything. Just something so I have a little money of my own."

He had to add that last part. "Because, I don't want to spend my whole life being dependent on everyone else. Can't you understand that much?" Jocelyn huffed slightly. "It's just a damn job. It shouldn't be that big a deal."

[Rhys Freeman]

Rhys rolled his eyes as he dug into the first sandwich, fitting nearly a quarter in his mouth after the first bite alone. It always tasted better when she did it.  She put the right amount of everything on and it was all even.  When he did it there was too much of this in one bite and not enough of that in the next.  He was a sloppy sandwich maker.   

"Cause that changes everything." He grumbled sarcastically with his mouth full.  It didn't matter if he'd met the guys or not.  He'd seen what state she was in when things got bad, and it had been more than once.  He didn't see her after every relationship, but they ended for a reason, right? Though to be fair the last one was probably the worst. She'd done some quick talking to convince him not to go after the guy, something he still considered now and then.  He had too much to lose though, probably the only thing that kept him in his place. "I don't need to meet 'em to know what they do to you." He glowered at her, refusing to back down from this.

The more she talked the angrier he became.  He was willing to pay for it all.  He'd go into debt if it meant she could be self sufficient, because no one else was going to ever take care of her like this again. She was being prideful and it did nothing short of piss him off.  He understood her need to be dependent, even of the rest of her siblings, because he was in the same boat.  He was lucky with the job he had and Elijah was lucky with the brains he had and those things would carry them through.  She needed something more.

"Would you shut up about money? You got time to do that shit now and I said I'd pay!" He snapped, glaring at her.  "You don't even gotta pay me back, I don't even care! You'll make decent cash at one of those salons an' it's a fuck ton better than serving drunk dipshits fucking cheeseburgers at midnight for a handful of pennies while they stare at your tits."  Why didn't she see what a big deal it really was? "It takes like two years, you can wait tables after class or something, I don't give a fuck.  Why can't you just accept some generosity? Let me take care of you for once.  I only want sandwiches an' I don't give you black eyes if it ain't done right."

[Jocelyn Freeman]

Jocelyn fixed her younger brother with a hard stare as he grumbled in response, his mouth full. Part of her wanted to protest further, but just because she didn't want him to be right, didn't mean he wasn't. She certainly didn't try, but she had a knack for ending up with the worst sorts of guys anyway. When he continued talking... she couldn't meet his gaze any longer, pointedly looking away. What they did to her. It could mean so many things. The way they used her. The way her ex had hit her. The way the last had controlled her. Even just the way that every time she thought she might have begun to found something that made her feel worthy... they always left her feeling worse, smaller somehow.

"Still. You don't see me throwing every mistake you ever made back in your face," she said softly. Jocelyn's gaze was firmly fixed on an arbitrary spot on the floor as she spoke.

It was only when he snapped at her that she looked at him again. "But it's a lot of money. I know you've got a good job now, but..." her voice trailed off, seeing the determination in his eyes. She wasn't going to convince him. He'd made up his mind it seemed. Still, that last remark struck her deep, hitting a sore spot. "Fine!" she exclaimed. She still didn't feel right about it and the idea of trying any sort of schooling was more than a little terrifying, but he wasn't exactly giving her much of a choice. Besides, she had always been terrible at saying no to him.

"I still don't think I'm good enough... but for you, I'll try at least. Happy?"

[Rhys Freeman]

Rhys wouldn't care if his sister threw every mistake in his face.  He was used to it.  It wouldn't be the first time and definitely wouldn't be the last.  If anything, he wished she would throw something at him.  Then he would at least know she had a backbone.  If she couldn't stand up to him, her own brother, then who would she stand up to?

Rhys was getting agitated.  He grit his teeth practically glaring at her as she went on about money again.  He'd give up on her soon, and if that happened he knew he might say something he'd regret later, something he would have to apologize for because it would without a doubt bring her to tears.  He didn't want to hurt her.  She was one of the few people in his live he genuinely loved and cared for, but that didn't always make it easy to be nice.  She could still act like an idiot sometimes.  They all could.

Finally he relented and he huffed his annoyed satisfaction before taking another over sized but of the sandwich she'd so kindly fixed for him. "Yes." When would classes start, he wondered.  Until then she would probably still end up getting a waiting job, but he was fine by that as long as it didn't become her way of life.  "You can pay me back in haircuts."  He ignored the bit about her not thinking she was good enough.  He knew she was good enough, and deep down he knew she knew it too.  It may not afford her the best living in the world, but she'd get more than $2.15 an hour plus tips and no skeevy old shitheads would hit on her.  He'd feel better about her working in those places.  Maybe one day she could get her own salon or something.

"Was that so fuckin' hard?"