Not Quite Dragons

Outfit (minus scarf) | @contessa

Ever since Brennan had moved to Ireland, his life had solely revolved around work - and not the good kind. Not the kind where he got to spend the whole day outside with dragons. Not the kind where he got to investigate some scale samples. No, it was the bad kind - the kind where he would be hunched over a desk filling out Merlin knows what papers or contracts or whatever other administrative bullshit he had had to deal with since making the move to Ireland and taking over his grandparents’ dragon reserve. It was desk work and, if anyone knew Brennan well enough, they would know he was not made for desk work.

Today, though, he had resolved to do something for himself. Not go out to a bar again - because he now realized that being in his thirties meant he couldn’t quite handle alcohol like he used to - and not anything to do with work. He would be adventurous and he would try something new, in the typical Brennan Flynn fashion. Whenever he moved to a new place, he often set out to try something new in that place. In Denmark, it had been ice climbing. In Romania, it had been trying his hand at distilling. In Peru, it had been climbing Machu Picchu.

In the UK, apparently, it was learning how to ride horses. Brennan was sure there was more to Ireland and the UK than equestrianism, but when he had asked his sister for something new to try, she had directed him to Western Sky Stables. Apparently, Aisling recognized the owner's name from Ilvermorny, which had been enough to pique Brennan’s curiosity and lead him to the horse-riding stables that Sunday morning. He figured, if anything, this could be relaxing - right? After all, he had managed perfectly well with ice climbing, of all things.

He was waiting in the front office when he heard the sound of footsteps and, looking up, Brennan’s eyes landed on the young brunette woman approaching him. She did look familiar, know that he had a face to fit to the name Aisling had given him - Tess. He stretched an arm out for a handshake and fixed a smile on his face. “Good morning - you’re Tess, right?” he greeted.

Not Quite

Dragons

Tess had been in the UK for years now. She had come looking for her father, and that had worked out… Terribly. He didn’t want anything to do with her. And she was tired of her half-sister only wanting anything to do with her when she needed money, and Daniel cut her off. Rachel was good at that though. She was almost gifted at being a pain in the ass. But still, Tess tried. Or she had tried. Now she wasn’t so sure. She wasn’t sure that they going to be doing that all over again. She didn’t think that she had the patience for it, and she wasn’t going to keep pushing it. She wasn’t going to make it harder and harder on herself. There was no point to it. Tess thought that she probably would have given up, and gone back to America by now, if it weren’t for everything that had happened with the Pack. She hadn’t been looking for a pack when she had come here. She had been looking for a part of herself, and so she had to believe that maybe that was exactly what she had found. She had found a pack of her own, and it was little, and they were all a touch broken, but that was how it had worked out.

She had decided that she liked it here, for the most part. She didn’t agree with the politics that were floating around. There was plenty that she thought that they could have improved on, but for the most part she didn’t think that it was a terrible place to have ended up. Most of the time she missed her mother, but Tess thought that that would have happened whether she lived across the ocean or two hours down Interstate 75. Moving away from their people would have been hard no matter where she was, and here there were less people to notice her. Here she didn’t have to try and explain to no-make that she had known her entire life why she was never around on a full moon. Werewolf. It was the answer that she gave, she never lied, but there were plenty of them that just assumed that she was kidding. And that was best, really, that they thought that she was joking, but she wasn’t. She had changed every full moon for nearly the last ten years.

Making it her mission to not let that hold her back had been something that she was convinced of early on. Tess heard plenty of stories about wolves that had been depressed, and resorted to some pretty bad things after being turned. She knew that she had been lucky on that account, she hadn’t fallen down that slope and she had had the teachings of her people to guide her. The wolf was not a curse, not really. Tess thought that there were plenty of those like her that thought that it was. That their lives would never be half of what they once might have been, but she didn’t think that was the case at all. Becoming a wolf was a matter of choice, much like everything else about their lives. It happened, whether you wanted it to or not, but there were just some aspects of it that you could attempt to control. You could make it easier on yourself. You could push yourself to embrace it, and that was exactly what she was trying to do. And trying to lead her pack to do. By embracing who they were, they could make a difference, they could make a change. And perhaps it was easier for her, she wasn’t registered in whatever system they had, she wasn’t that British.

To listen to her speak you wouldn’t think she was British at all. And she wasn’t. Her father was half Irish. But Tess was British, she had moved to England, and she had applied for dual citizenship. That made this place a little more grounded, a little more stable. A smirk crossed her face when she thought about it. That had been a coincidental choice of words. Heading back into the actual stable, Tess made her way to the front office, and her smirk changed to a smile when she saw the man that was waiting there for her. “You must be Brennan, Aisling said that you were coming.” She held out her hand to take his as she crossed the room. “Welcome to Western Sky.” Even after years here in England, her accent was purely American. She had been friends with his sister in school, and she thought that she remembered Brennan, at least by face, even if her was older than they were. Tess honestly had no idea if Brennan Flynn had ever ridden a horse in his life, but the way that Aisling had been laughing when she had asked her to take pictures, she would guess that it was a no.

@ brennan - 827 - contessa's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOXOGRPHY 2.0

not quite dragons.
● ● ● ●

something a little new and a whole lot of strange, even for me

Ireland, and the rest of the UK, was growing on him. Brennan hadn't really been sure how he would feel about being in the place so... indefinitely. The closest he had gotten to that feeling before had been the four years he had spent at Lig-na-Paiste, and even then he had gone home for a couple months in the summer. And then after graduating, it had been nothing but constant travelling. Never in one place for more than a year. Always looking for the next best place to visit, the newest research project that he could sink his teeth into, an exciting reserve to be a part of. This, though, was permanent. And that had been a little frightening at first, but now Brennan was starting to warm up to the idea. Ireland had a lot to offer, and it had been quite nice for Brennan to immerse himself in his family's history. Although the Kavanaghs tended to rule in that respect, Brennan had also learned much about the Flynns during his time, as well as of some other small branches of the family. It seemed, though, that the penchant for fire and danger was entirely genetic. Brennan couldn't say he was all that surprised.

But it wasn't just his reserve and the dragons and the exciting family history that made Ireland entirely worth it. The country was growing on him, one way or another, and Brennan was inclined to admit that his brief few weeks on the Aran Islands seriously reminded him of home on the west coast of the United States. Maybe his parents had moved to Washington on purpose, in that case. It would make sense. They had left for the sake of escaping a violent war, not because they didn't like Ireland. And, once again, it was the potential for a violent war that was keeping them well away from this place. His parents had considered moving back, ever so briefly, and then in practically the next moment, shit had hit the fan. The timing had been perfect. Or maybe imperfect, in this context. But Brennan had already signed his contract, at that point, and he figured it was best to just... take it all in stride. To try his best and make sense of it all. This wouldn't be his first time exploring a brand new environment. Merlin knew eastern Europe was riddled with its own drama almost all the time.

Horseback riding was not something Brennan had ever done before. And he certainly did not appreciate the smug look on Aisling's face as she redirected him to Western Sky for lessons. It made him a little suspicious that his younger sister thought he was incapable of this task - and Brennan really didn't see why. He had done far more dangerous things in his short life - yes, thirty-two was considered short, thanks very much - than ride a horse. Brennan smiled and shook Tess' hand, laughing a bit at her words. "Ah, so my reputation precedes me," he commented jokingly. Brennan glanced around for a brief moment before looking back at Tess. "You've put together a nice place," he admired. The stables really were nice, and he remembered Tess being even a year younger than Aisling, who was already quite young in Brennan's eyes... even if she did have a kid and a husband. Which was still - how? Where did his little sister go? That was beside the point, though. The point being that Tess had done a lot in a short time, clearly, and he was excited to see what more there was to discover around the area.

@ tess
603 words

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0

not quite dragons

but I think you'll see

horses and dragons are just the same underneath

Trying to figure out who she was here was something that Tess no longer did. She had figured out who she was. She had become someone stronger than she had ever been in the past. And that was who she needed to be. Not only for herself, but for her pack. For her pups. Because they were hers to look after. They were hers to take care of. And Tess took that seriously. She took her role as their leader seriously, even if it was one that she hadn’t seen herself in when she had first been turned. Being a werewolf was an adjustment, and it was one that she had had to make on her own. Her family, the family that she had grown up with, were no-majs. They lived a simpler life, on the reservation, and she was pleased with that. That was all that she had wished to do as well. She had wished to be what her grandmother was and become the medicine woman of her people.

But fate had intervened, and it had brought her here. The magic in her veins had been what had sent her to Ilvermorny in the first place. But it was what she had learned of herself that had brought her to England. Searching for the father had had left before he had even known she had existed. A wizard that had a life of his own here. A life that hadn’t seemed to have room in it. But that was okay. She had embraced that. Embraced the stepmother that had taken her in. Somewhat. Savannah would speak to her, ask after her health, and her well-being. She didn’t take the mothering to a place that Tess would have rejected, but she knew that she always had somewhere to go. So long as they didn’t know about the wolf thing.

Her mother knew. Her actual mother. And her maternal grandparents, but other than that Tess kept that secret very close. She knew that there were plenty of people in the world that would look down on a werewolf, simply for what they were. And she was not setting out to lie. If asked directly, she supposed that she would answer, but no one had ever asked. No one had cared to inquire about the scars on her side. And she hadn’t ever mentioned them. They were hidden under her clothing most of the time. And if a man in her bed was more preoccupied with her scars, than with what was in front of him, she didn’t need him there anyway.

That was the philosophy that had gotten her this far.

Do what you can and try and make a difference. If she could make even the smallest of changes for the better, then she would. She could try, that was all that she could do, but she could try and make a difference. For herself. For her pack. For everyone like her, and even everyone that wasn’t. She could do this. She could make that choice, and she thought that if they could all continue to make it, then maybe they could get something wonderful done in the end. Nodding she kept her smile, “It has. Your sister told me all about you.” They were friendly, the two witches, but Tess thought that it was interesting to have the older brother here in her stables of all places. “Thank you. I can give you the ten-cent tour if you’d like?” He was just as American as she was, and she appreciated it. Most of the people she talked to everyday were from around here, and there was only so much Britain you could take before you missed the states.

@ brennan • 620 • contessa's outfit

MADE BY VEL OF GS + ADOX 2.0