Eisenstern 3.7
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I decided to throw myself into something I’m actually good at, and won’t stab me in the back- cooking. ( If you mess up the recipes or ingredients, food will stab you in the back too, but that’s more of a you problem than an it problem. ) At least moms eat really well these days. Sometimes I make a little more than necessary, instinct I guess, but it works out. Moms have never been against eating a little extra.
To my surprise, neither of them seems to think the legacy needs to pass to Hilda now. Not sure why. She’s a lot more responsible than I am, at least. So the legacy continues in my hands, somehow. I guess your life doesn’t actually end at 25 ( just ask grandpa ), but it feels like it, especially when your life does get turned upside down…
I’m trying not to dwell on it, but it’s hard not to think about everything I used to have and don’t now. But, I guess eventually, in true Eisenstern fashion, I’ll get back up and start again. We came from nothing once. I can handle a setback like this.
“So, since you’re here,” Hilda started. Internally, I cringed. ‘Since you’re here’ never ended well for me. “Don’t look at me like that.”
“I wasn’t looking at you like anything,” I said.
“Uhuh,” Hilda answered, but she shook her head and smiled. “I have a friend that’d like to meet you. She’s wanted to since we were in high school, but, you know.”
Yeah, I was afraid of this. And I was dating Cassandra back in high school. … come to think of it, that was a hella long game she done played. But, in thinking about it, no wonder it hurt so much. “I really don’t think I’m in the mood,” I said.
“And when will you be in the mood, hm?” Hilda asked. “When you’re sixty?”
“You wouldn’t understand,” I said.
“Now you sound like you’re two,” she answered, crossing her arms. “I’m not saying marry the girl. Just talk to her. Get out somewhere that isn’t here. Do something with yourself.”
I sighed. Everyone talked to me like that anymore. Well, maybe that was a sign they had a good reason to.
Grandpa had a special room outside in the back, where the magic lived. The cauldron was out there, shelves of potions and magical ingredients stuffed into boxes with labels, and then to one side was a treadmill and a robotics station. I’ve never had any interest in robotics, so I sold it, and bought another treadmill.
After realising aunt Stella was gone, though ( well, in a manner of speaking ), I thought it might be a good idea to build downward, and create something of a crypt in the basement. And then, we could move the magic stuff down there at some point.
All just stray thoughts right now, but it’s better than moping, I guess. Hilda was right, even if I didn’t want to admit it. I’d been moping for months now, and maybe it was time to get my head back on straight and quit being so depressing.
Moms would sure be glad for it.
When I agreed to meet this friend of hers, I wasn’t really expecting her to bring her by, like, now.
“So this is Branwen,” Hilda said. “Bran, Gabriel, you know him though.”
“Yeah, I know him,” Bran answered, laughing. Her voice was on the high end, and her laugh was unbelievably cute because of it, but I was trying not to think dumb things like that ( I figure, I fall easily, and really hard, and it’s not a good trait ). “Nice to meet you properly, finally.”
“Yeah, you too,” I said. Er. And now I ran out of finesse. “Sorry, I don’t really know how this works anymore,” I said.
Bran smiled. “That’s fine,” she said. “I think this is the part we get to know each other. I can hang out here, that’s fine. Or we can go out…?”
Hilda nodded. “Yes, go out, go somewhere, great idea! Cafe in Windenburg? Calling your name!”
“I’m kind of hungry, actually,” I said. “How about a restaurant? Casual seafood place just opened up out in Sulani, and I’ve been interested in going, just nobody to go with.”
“Yes!” Branwen said, sounding excited. “I mean um, yeah, that sounds cool.”
“You like seafood, right?” I asked.
“Yep,” she said.
“Okay, and I’m going home, you two have fun,” Hilda said, patting Branwen on one shoulder, and ruffling my hair, before going down the stairs and across the street.
I shook my head after her. “Koloa it is,” I said, and then gestured for Branwen to follow. We had a taxi to catch. ( Never did learn transportalate… )
She seemed to know where she was going when we got to Sulani. Maybe she’d been here before. Well, she did kind of look like she might be a native here. That’s kind of cool. I knew my grandparents used to live here ( they’d later moved to Glimmerbrook for some reason, probably something to do with Morgyn ), but we’d never come here before.
The restaurant itself was really nice. We were seated next to a fountain, and I pretended otherwise, but it felt a lot like a date.
“Sorry, I’ve never been out with someone before,” Branwen suddenly said, sitting down.
“That’s fine,” I answered. “It’s nothing really special, I think. Just a lot more talking than there’d be if you were on your own, I guess.”
“That’s not so bad,” she said, smiling. Her smile almost lit up the whole room. I looked down at the menu in my hand.
“So…” What did people talk about anymore? “What do you do in your free time, anyway?” That was a nice timeless classic.
“Mostly, play video games,” she said. “And read, there’s a lot of reading. I write sometimes, but nothing published.”
“What do you write?” I asked. “I’ve gotten poems published in collectives, but I can’t say I’m published either.”
And somehow, from there, conversation got easier. We talked so much after that, we almost didn’t notice the waitress finally make it over to take our orders. That was a strange thing to realise we’d almost missed, but the waitress seemed more amused than anything.
The air was nice. A little saltier than I was used to, but Mt. Komorebi had a little bit of humidity to it anyway, and the stickiness wasn’t anything new to me. The intensity of the stickiness was new, but not the thing itself.
Bran didn’t seem to notice it much, either, if at all. And I started wondering about her, and her story. But, that was something to learn over time.
Fun fact, a lot of my poses are actually in-game animations paused at just the right time.
Our meal went by without incident. We spent most of it talking to each other about something or another, and for the first time in perhaps too long, I felt this weight come off my shoulders. But I was afraid of moving too fast.
“I’m not so sure I can do the dating thing again, at least, not right now,” I said.
“Oh, that’s okay,” Branwen answered. The light sparkled in the grey of her eyes, as she shook her head. “It’s okay if we stay friends. I don’t want anything from you but your company, if you can tolerate me that long.”
That was a somehow surprising answer. In looking at her, though, I didn’t think she was lying. And maybe right now, friendship was all I could offer, anyway.
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