2019-08-02 - A Brood of Pheasant

Finch excused herself from the dinner last night, saying Gran needed her for something. Today, Finch is home. Gran is out at her weekly stitch and bitch with other ladies of her generation, where they work on their sewing projects and catch up on town gossip. It’s a very small town thing, and this is where Dove makes all the outfits for Mags.

Finch is cranky. The hot water in her shower ran out while she was still shampooing her hair. She some how managed to burn her poptarts. Then she got a call from Cornell to inform her she’s lost her spot in the Masters Program for non-payment. She pretty much gave up on the day at that point. She’s in sweatpants and a tank top, barefoot, and lying on the couch watching tv.

Ignacio might have been up all night at a diner getting shit service and going to the library at 4am after and having no real words come to the page. The art of being a screaming dumpster and make it look good takes a special skill set achieved generally only by the terminally screwed. Add into the fact that his friends seemed bent on diving face first to a hellmouth to bring it cookies? Yeah, it's not the greatest day from a safety standpoint. So he did what any sensible guy does He went home and stress cooked.

On the second try things worked.

Knuckles rap against the wood frame of the screen door. "Hey. anyone home" He pauses and follows it up with, "I brought food... you know... in case."

Well shit. Finch gets up off the couch and trudges to the door to open it for Ignacio and grunts something that might be a hello. “Gran is out. Just me here.” She heads for the kitchen since he said he brought food, never meeting his eyes the whole time. Someone is in a mood.

Ignacio observes this, naturally. He's a dipshit sometimes, but also a details guy. He pulls a Tupperware container out that has an armada of baby blueberry muffins in it admitting, "I needed something I could drown in butter." He looks around and back to her with some concern, "Gran okay?" His fingers hit the top of her shoulder to maybe see if something else is going on. It's instinct that yields few to no answers.

He gets nothing from her mentally, but her body language is clearly closed off, conflicted, and unsure. She moves to get some things together to make coffee since there are muffins. “Yeah, she’s at her sewing circle thing. It’s where she makes stuff for Mags.” Still no eye contact. That’s not good.

Ignacio takes a deep breath and pulls out a paper towel and sticks a muffin on it and hands it to her. "Eeeeeeeeeat." The coffee can wait. Hey, he played basketball growing up, he can play defense with the arms all day. "Finch... what's goin on? This about the hole cause... yeah I mean I feel ya on that. I'm concerned about the door too. Eveyrthing's just... super fucked up right now."

Finch takes the muffin and sets it down on the kitchen table. At his question, both brows go up in a look so incredulous it might be felt here and the other side of the Veil. “Seriously? That is what you think this is about?” she asks, staring at him like, well, like he’s an idiot. Because really.

Ignacio is really kinda an idiot. Her assessment's not profoundly off!

The look is a little wounded and the truth is he might not be running on all 4's right now and usually isn't. "Finch, I'm sorry..." He pauses and boggling also admits, "I'm not entirely certain what i'm apologizing for, but I'm not too proud I won't do it. Just..." He takes a deep breath and asks, "Talk to me. If it's not about the damn camping trip what? Julia? You don't like my friends? She said somethin to you? It's her talking to Itzhak? I need... help here. Did I let a cat in here last time I was here I need... words. I'm not good at this shit. I mean Roen expects I can read minds but I can't okay?"

Finch pinches the bridge of her nose, tucking the other arm around herself, and sighs. “Julia pointed out she constantly flirts with you. Which clearly indicates you and I?” She gestures between them, “are not a thing. And what happened after that nightmare we had was a one off. Which is fine. I get it. There is no future with me. That’s perfectly ok. I just wish we’d talked before you brought your boss girlfriend around so I could have already reconciled myself.”

Ignacio lets both eyebrows go up slowly."Woha woooooah okay... when you're done, I'd like to get an aside." and he waits it out tilting his head, brow furrowing with a slow nod. "Okay first? Roll back to Julia flirts with eeeeverybody. Flirting does not constitute dating. It is friendly witty banner. I mean hell she spent last night flirting with Itzhak. Doesn't mean there's anythin to anythin. When person does that it means... well it means they're comfortable around the people they're with. Maybe it's a culture thing, I dunno."

The look of concern doesn't shake though and waits for that nugget to be digested. "You wanna talk about nightmare night? ... yeah. I mean... Yeah we probably should." This is what brings a wince. "Look with us... I don't... know... I don't know okay. I don't know and I'm not assuming because that's not fair. Like... not to sound crass but I've hooked up will people without a relationship before. Not habitually or nothin but they're like two very different things and ...I mean..." He sighs looking up at the ceiling mumbling something in Spanish which can only translate to: Why am I so fucking bad at this!?

His hands rest behind him on the edge of the counter and his eyes find the tile for a pause. "Look... I'm just... trying not to complicate your shit, okay? The trust is I like you and I'm worried and I've been trying to just... not be an asshole like I'm entitled to anything and maybe it was the wrong call. The... not... bringing it up. I... I dunno . I mean, I'm scared alright? For you not... of you so that we're clear."

“Julia can flirt with everyone all she wants, but a guy who is in a thing with someone else, or wants to be in a thing, should be shutting that shit down, and definitely not flirting back.” In that moment just how hurt Finch felt radiates off her like heat. “I mean, she understands your culture in a way I never can so I get it. She’s really pretty and you both cook and you work together so I get it. I’m just a hot mess who will eventually boil over and become a murderbird and wind up in the nuthouse.”

Ignacio leans off the counter and stoops finding her line of sight and says, "Lo siento. Okay? I'm sorry. I mean she said that I can vouch I mean yeah I've seen her do this with a lot of people. It wasn't weird to me. I didn't catch that okay?"

His eyes squint shut murmuring, "You're not gonna let you become a murderbird okay? And I'm..." He takes a deep breath looking around eventually finding her again murmuring, " not going to let you wind up in meaty chunks either. I mean..." His cheeks pull in and his head tips to teh side, "If you're not so mad at me for being an oblivious dick that... ya know... you even want to work on it still..."

Finch looks up at him confused about working on it. “Work on what? What do you want out of this Ig? I just need to know where I stand so I can adjust accordingly. I know my baggage is WAY more than anyone should get shoved onto them, so I get it if you just want to stay pals. I can do that.” Probably. Maybe. “Just need to adjust to it.”

Ignacio does his best to dodge the waving hands. "I... Maybe it's..." Words- FUCK!!
OMG IGNACIO WHY ARE YOU BAD AT WORDING?!
YOU LITERALLY GET PAID FOR THIS SHIT!

Because if it's not written down it's hard as hell when shit is impotent and BS comes easy. Hands find the side of her face. He cuts of stuffing any more of his foot in his mouth, and kisses her trying to get right to the point and past the rambling.

His leg is burning from the walk and he's ignoring the short flares of neuropathy along the missing muscle. He's tired, and worse yet he's also sober. Yeah, all of that can wait until he tries to unfuckup everything right now by using fewer words. Too many feelings, not enough words. Okay way too many feelings held behind casual indifference of the world and bullshit commentary. Finally there's a deep breath and he rests his forehead to hers, thumbs brushing her cheekbones.

"I want... to know you're okay. I want you to know when you're scared about this murderbird shit your don't have to deal with it alone. I mean... am I concerned? Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeah... yeah. I'm more concerned about how scary as hell that has got to be not driving your own car and having something you don't want making decisions you don't want to make anking you do things you do not want to do... and it kills me to fuckin think you have more people worried about how they're gonna be okay than how you're gonna be okay and that's no fucking way to live."

He pauses wincing, "And I want to not just keep letting people I care about down. I told you I... do that... and I'm sorry I did that to you. I'm kinda super fucked up right now, but like... if this is somethin you want to work on? Yeah. I didn't think you did."

A kiss was not what Finch was expecting. She was expecting him to be all casual like we’re friends with benefits or something like that. She wasn’t expecting him to be worried about her. She’ll survive her curse, he might not. When the kiss ends there are tears welling in her eyes. “You don’t let me down. I let me down. I didn’t mean to make it weird, Ig. I didn’t expect to actually have, you know, feelings for you. Like that. But I do. So yeah, I want to work on this. I want us to be a thing. Even if it’s only for a little while. I’d like to know what it’s like to be in a thing.”

Ignacio just stands there forehead to forehead brushing her cheeks with his thumbs and listens. There's a nod and, sure, no one knows what changes and really what doesn't if anything. Damn them's a lot of feelings. Have fun visiting August!

And with a mighty exhale he pulls her into a tight hug. He kisses the top of her head and nods, "Yeah... me too. So... let's just work on making one another talk about shit cause turns out we both kiiiiinda suck at it but it's good to have things in common right?" Sure, now he's funny.

Finch curls into his arms and holds him tightly. "Promise me, though. If I start to, I dunno, turn. If I start to get all homicidal and shit, you stop me. Whatever it takes. Don't let me kill my cousins, ok?"

Ignacio rests his chin on her head and considers that terrifying reality with his usual glib commentary to downplay it into a bite sized chunk. "I'll get some post-its to remind you, hey maybe send a strongly worded letter instead." There's the hint of a smile. "Maybe with what we are learning maybe there's a way to even prevent it. Who knows. Let's... jsut worry about all these muffins and tu abuela not killing me first... I can't tell if she's mad or not."

"She's not mad, she was just embarrassed and worried. I talked to her. It's fine. She likes you Iggy. I think it's more because Mags does than because I do too," Finch says with a small, relieved chuckle. She's not letting go though, long hug is long.

Ignacio considers, amused, "Weeeeell I'll have to make it up to her."He pauses and snickers "Wiiiith my shirt on cause eeeeh that was a lil embarassing." Yeah long hug is long but at least it's less awkward. Well... one arm reaches out to swat and YES! grab a muffin stuffing the small thing in his face and then turns to let her be in reach. "Good thing I brought food. Seeeeems we might be here for a while. We do, eventually, have to go to work though."