Closed What Brings Us Together

[Salem Lee]

The funeral had been weird, equal parts solemn and celebratory that left Salem a bit confused. She'd escaped from the stuffy hall the second she saw an opening, not particularly interested in any of the food that had been spread out on the table at the moment. She wasn't quite sure how she was supposed to be feeling right now, both her parents seeming uncharacteristically quiet during the whole thing left Salem unsure how act herself. She hadn't ever really known Grandma before they'd come here a few weeks ago, Mum wanting to be closer to her family while Grandma was sick. Now she'd died, Salem was sure she was meant to be feel sad, but she couldn't really managed it. Grandma was more a less a stranger, one who seemed to like to argue with Mum an awful lot, and Salem was mostly bored more than anything else. Did that make her a bad person she wondered?

Sitting on the rock wall nearby, Salem could still hear the murmur of voices inside through the open kitchen door. She kicked a loose rock with her foot, wishing she could be out of these uncomfortable funeral clothes already.

 

[Amber Chou Wilson]

dang it

 

[Tyler Lee]

This wasn't how Tyler had imagined his break, and that frustrated him more than anything. He was sad, he was. But... his grandmother had always been a rather distant figure to him. But now that she was dead, he did feel like it was a shame he'd never gotten to know her better. All he knew about her was that she didn't approve of his lack of Korean knowledge, and how she always made him feel like he was lacking in some way he couldn't put his finger on. But there had been nice moments too, he just didn't want to think about them because it made him feel bad. It was easier not to think about the few times she had told him he was growing up to be a nice young man, or the times she had sneaked him an extra treat after his mother had said no. Thinking about that made Tyler want to leave the crowded hall, and he pushed his way through the crowd to make his way outside. He blinked rapidly, trying his best to control his emotions. This was embarrassing.

It wasn't until then that he noticed a figure sitting on a wall nearby. Tyler quickly composed himself, straightening his tie quickly before looking at his cousin. He barely knew his aunt, let alone her kid. He vaguely remembered her being very small and annoying when Tyler was younger, and from what he'd seen, neither of those things had changed. "Oh, it's you." He said. "Shouldn't you be inside?"

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem looked up when someone else joined her outside, rather relieved that it was Tyler and not one of the adults. She knew Tyler about as well as her other relatives, which was to say not really at all, but at least Tyler was still a kid. A big kid, sure, but Salem didn't think he was more than a few years older than her and that was close enough. "It's boring and hot inside," She said with a shrug, picking at some lichen growing on the rock wall. "Should you be inside?" She asked him instead, grinning at the reversal, though she did hope Tyler wouldn't leave. Things were weird with all these family friends and people she just didn't know. Tyler was kind of stern looking too, like her uncle tended to be, but less scary. If Salem was going to have to stay in New Zealand longer, she'd kind of hoped they could be friends.

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler headed over to the wall Salem was sitting on, leaning against it and glancing sideways at her. He wasn't really sure how old she was, but knew it wasn't old enough yet to learn magic. So he knew he had that over her, at least. He rolled his eyes as she mirrored his question back at him. "I'm not a little kid who could wander off and get lost." He said pointedly. "My parents won't worry about me." He then paused, glancing at the door. "Though as busy as they all are 'reconnecting', I feel like they wouldn't notice even if we did wander off." He muttered. As long as Tyler had remembered, their family had always been pretty distant. But something about the death of his grandmother seemed to have changed something, at least between his dad and Salem's mum. He wondered how much she had picked up. "I heard them talk about how you guys should stay around longer." He said, watching her reaction from the corner of his eye. "Do you know what they mean with that?"

 

[Salem Lee]

Salem was pleased when Tyler came to join her at the wall, happy for the company even if Tyler was a little scary looking. She wondered if he was one of the bigger kids who acted more like an adult or if he was actually cool. "I'm not a little kid either," She said sourly, scrunching up her face at Tyler in protest, deciding maybe Tyler was more like one of the adults after all.

She was distracted by the talk of their parents though, joining Tyler in looking speculatively back through the open door, though she couldn't see much. "Yeah, Mae said Mum's having some sort of revelation about family and stuff, but I don't know what that's meant to mean," She said, mostly just repeating what she'd overheard. "I think Mum wants to stay a bit longer," Salem said, frowning thoughtfully. Family hadn't ever really been a big focus in Salem's life before, outside of her parents, she was pretty sure she could count the number of times she'd met Tyler before on one hand, but that seemed to be making her Mum sad right now. Maybe that's what Mae had meant then, about revelations.

 

[Tyler Lee]

Tyler smirked a bit when Salem reacted to his words in the way he had expected her to. He glanced her up and down, then snorted. "You're not not a little kid. You don't even go to a magical school yet." He countered. He listened with interest as Salem spoke about her parents, and how her mum was having some sort of revelation. He wondered what it meant, glancing back at the house thoughtfully. "I wonder what 'a bit longer' will be like." He said slowly. "Do you think you guys are moving here?" The thought intrigued him, despite himself. He didn't exactly like his extended family, though he barely knew them. But there was also something appealing about having family closer. He'd never really grown up with many family members around. It was just a shame the only cousin he knew was so annoying, and so much younger than him. "Would you want that?" He asked her, though he didn't really care that much about what she wanted. He doubted her parents would take it into consideration either, if he knew anything about how adults made decisions.