Tripping Eyes And Flooded Lungs [BRENT]

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

Bree wasn't really doing anything, just sat on her sofa in her (strangely not blue) pajamas. She had her guitar propped up on the couch next to her, but she wasn't playing it; just looking at it and running a gentle finger over one of the tuning pegs. This guitar wasn't Skye - no, Skye was on her stand, in the corner of Bree's living room. This was Cronus, Bree's acoustic. She didn't know why she'd called him Cronus, but nyeh. She didn't need reasons. Cronus was a nice name.

She'd been writing songs basically all afternoon; putting Taylor in charge of the shop, of course. Hopefully, she hadn't upset too many customers. Honestly, Bree loved Taylor, but she could be a bit of a hard person to deal with if you weren't in the mood. But still. With Taylor being a Fallen of Happiness, Bree doubted that that'd been the case. Taylor liked to make people happy; hopefully that love would be manifested in her work.

Anyway, back to songwriting. She'd had a few ideas that she doubted would turn into something amazing, but she could give it a shot, couldn't she? All she had so far was a line about how she let some person see parts of her that weren't all that pretty, (which was technically what happened with Samson), but ideas, by this time, were escaping her.

She sighed frustratedly, snapping her notebook shut and pushing her glasses a little further up her nose. She put Cronus carefully on his stand, next to Skye, and placed her notebook back in the lid of her piano. Her piano didn't have a name. She'd need to think about that. All her instruments should have names; it was favoritism if only certain ones had names. And that was hardly fair. Bree wasn't one to have favorites.

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Outfit: Clicky! Tagged: Brent! Notes: Snuggly!Brentee :3 Words: 324

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

Brent just couldn't comprehend all of these feelings. He just felt so hurt and angry that the obvious thing to do was go ahead and burn something, anything. But... Brent didn't entirely understand why the anger inside him had suddenly sparked like that when seeing Chase and Mori together. It wasn't as if it was any of his business, or that he thought he even cared. But, for some reason, he did. For some reason he suspected that he was possibly even a little jealous of Mori. It just didn't make any sense to him. Brent couldn't be jealous... he didn't get jealous. At least, he never admitted to it.

By the time Brent had released a lot of the pent up anger inside of him (through fire, of course) he was feeling weak, tired and rather embarrassed for not managing to keep his emotions at bay, yet again. And Brent knew that going back to his house wasn't going to make him feel any better, it was far more likely to do the exact opposite. Before he'd even stopped to think about it, Brent was making his way to Bree's flat. He just wanted company right now, surprisingly. Everything hurt. Just when he'd thought everything was starting to get better... he was left feeling just as depressed as he had done before things began to pick up. He was hoping this wasn't going to last. He was just having a bad day, right? Well, that was what he tried to convince himself of as he knocked on Bree's door.

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Outfit: Clicky!
Words: 271
Notes: My brain's dead x__x
Tagged: Bree[/center]

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

It took all Bree had not to thank god when she heard a knock at her door. Maybe the guardians were paying attention , even if they insisted they could only watch over mortals. But hey. Bree was happy. She was allowed to exaggerate, wasn't she? She certainly thought so. It was great that someone was at the door; it gave her something to do. And she was bored out of her mind. She needed this.

As she got up to answer, she wondered who it could possibly be. Taylor, knocking because she'd forgotten her keys again? Samson, dropping in on one of those cute, unexpected visits? Well, knowing Taylor, Bree had her money on Taylor forgetting/losing her keys. Bree loved the girl, but sometimes, she was a bit of a daydreamer. Not that Bree really cared. She was one to talk, anyway. Her mind was almost always somewhere else, on other things. Yes, sometimes it could be irritating, but that was just how Bree was. She had a 'take it or leave it' kind of attitude.

However, who she really didn't expect to see behind the door was Brent. Brent? What was he doing here? He never came to her place; normally he'd go to the shop. And then, if she wasn't there, he'd just wait until he next saw her. That was how they worked, right? Apparently not. She gave her friend a confused smile. "Hey, Brent," she said, about to ask what he was doing here. But that thought left her mind on seeing her friend's face. Looking at him properly, he looked...absolutely exhausted. The smile slowly faded, and her teeth found their way to her lip of their own accord.

Why did he have that look on his face? It wasn't like his usual gaze, careful and cool. Nor was it like his trademark smirk. Nope, not even close. This look was a look she'd never really seen before. And...it wasn't a promising sign. It looked almost weak. Almost despondent. That wasn't like him at all. And it was slightly worrying her. "What's up?" She queried, pushing her glasses further up her nose and leaning against the door frame. "Did you...uh...did you wanna come in?" She moved out of the way slightly, just so that he could come in if he wanted. Which, judging by the look on his face, he probably would.

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Outfit: Clicky! Tagged: Brent! Notes: Snuggly!Brentee :3 Words: 413

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

He'd been expecting the confusion that he received from Bree. Because, really, this wasn't very like Brent at all... none of it was; excluding when he'd decided to go and create a huge fire, of course. The fact that he'd actually gone to someone afterwards instead of going home to numb himself with a drink or four was different. He knew the kind of state he could get himself into by going straight home; he'd only end up destroying more of the house or himself. Bree was trustworthy, his best friend. It was okay.

"Hey..." he replied, half-smiling kind of unstably at her. Just that seemed to take effort. Brent didn't know how bad he looked at the moment but, at a guess, he'd have to say that he wasn't looking as well as usual judging from the look on Bree's face. Now that her smile had faded away, seemingly after taking in his appearance, she looked a little worried. No, no, no, Brent didn't want that at all. Bree didn't need something else to worry about – she did enough of that already.

This was stupid anyway, since Brent was having trouble realising (or accepting) the reason for all of this. It just couldn’t be because he was jealous, he refused to let himself think that. "Um, nothing… everything’s great." he gabbled, avoiding looking Bree in the eye and once again forgetting that she’d know that he was lying. "Mm hmm."

[/b] He nodded his head at her briefly before stepping inside.[/color][/blockquote][/blockquote][/blockquote][/size]
Outfit: Clicky!
Words: 266
Notes: My brain's dead x__x
Tagged: Bree[/center]

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

The more Bree heard, the more she understood about how Brent was feeling. The half smile didn't fool her at all, however nice it was to see a smile on Brent that wasn't an evil one. No, that actually just made Bree worry more about him. A...smile? Something was up. And something was majorly up. f he was smiling, that usually meant that he wanted something or that he was trying to hide how he was really feeling. Bree guessed it was the latter.

His lie basically confirmed what she was thinking. He wasn't making eye contact with her which was how she knew that what he was about to say was going to be a lie. Ah, well, at least this wasn't like the time at the florist when she'd been totally unprepared for the lie that Brent told. At least this time, she could brace herself. She curled her fingers into fists as the pain struck, her knuckles white, and tried not to make any sound. However, she couldn't stop a small squeak escaping. It was only quick, though, so she unfurled her fingers and composed herself.

"Liar." she said, with a shaky laugh. "Come on. Spill it." She shut the door after he walked in, and motioned for him to sit down somewhere. "What are you doing...here?" She gestured around her, to show that she meant her house. It was really weird, him being here of all places. Why was he here? "Do you...uh...want anything to drink or something?"

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Outfit: Clicky! Tagged: Brent! Notes: Snuggly!Brentee :3 Words: 262

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

Brent did finally remember that Bree would be affected by his lie, he immediately felt a stab of guilt afterwards. He rarely did manage to think before he acted, no matter how many times he told himself that he needed to. Brent never did manage to learn his lesson. He noticed Bree's obviously pained expression and paused for a moment to glance over at her in order to apologise quickly. "Sorry... ugh. I didn't... I didn't think."

He didn't know what he was supposed to say or do now that he was here. So, Brent fell back onto Bree's sofa, taking all of its space up by laying across it. Brent sighed quietly, staring up at the ceiling blankly as he considered what to say. He was honestly unsure of what to tell Bree; of how to word this all. Everything seemed to sound a whole lot more stupid out loud.

"How can you be jealous of... of something you don't want, Bree?" he mumbled, brown eyes still glued to the ceiling. Brent had heard Bree's other questions directed at him but that didn't mean his mind had necessarily processed them, like now for example.

[/size]
Outfit: Clicky!
Words: 203
Notes: My brain's dead x__x
Tagged: Bree[/center]

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

Bree didn't even miss a beat, waving off Brent's apology, looking up from where her gaze was firmly fixed on her floor. "Meh, used to it," she said, with a cursory roll of her shoulders. "Not may people do think until after...but yeah, you know, it's fine. Don't worry about it." She knew that lying came second nature to some people, Brent included. It didn't really matter much; just hurt her a bit. Well. A bit. A lot. But hey. That didn't matter.

She had to admit now; she was quite worried. He hadn't done anything remotely Brent-ish since he arrived, and that was a warning sign in itself. He wouldn't normally have apologized, for starters. He rarely smiled. Something was seriously up with him. Well, okay, the way he was sprawled on Bree's sofa was relatively normal, but everything else...he had something on his mind. You could tell from the way he spoke quietly, the way he moved over to the couch, the way he seemed...rather subdued.

She heard his question, mumbled and bewildered, and she furrowed her brow at it. Jealous of something you didn't want...jealous of something you didn't want. If Bree was being honest (which, for obvious reasons, she was), she wasn't quite sure how that worked. Jealousy was a terrible emotion, but normally you'd have to want whatever another person has for you to be jealous of them. This was...really odd. Quite a strange question. It was the first time she'd ever heard it being asked.

"I'm not really sure what you mean," she said in reply, equally as quiet, and sat down on the other sofa in her living room. Brent wasn't looking at her; he had his chocolate brown gaze focused on the ceiling. Maybe he was still trying to figure things out for himself. But the, if he was, why had he come? Maybe he needed a hearing ear? Well. Bree could definitely do that. "Think you could explain the feeling a bit more?" If he could, great. That would be amazingly helpful. If not...that would be okay. They could just work back.

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Outfit: Clicky! Tagged: Brent! Notes: Snuggly!Brentee :3 Words: 374

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

Brent had to keep reminding himself that, yes, thinking before he spoke would be a really good idea now. Not only to prevent himself from saying something he'd much rather keep to himself but so he wouldn't cause Bree any more unnecessary pain by lying again. It was something that he had trouble controlling most of the time. Someone would ask a question and he'd fake an answer quickly and end up saying it out loud too before he stopped himself to avoid any suspicion due to his possible hesitation.

Now, how on earth was he going to explain this if he didn't even understand it? Everything was just so confusing and Brent wasn't used to it. He almost thought that hiding away again was easier, but it hadn't been... it had been so, so lonely and kind of frightening. All of the tricks Brent's mind had played on him still managed to scare him at the moment. Brent knew that the chances were he'd be around a long time, so maybe this was just going to be one of the darker periods of his life. Maybe he'd be happy again soon, maybe something would actually change for the better.

"I don't know. I don't understand. Because I don't care about him, I don't want to... but... but I do." Brent's voice grew quieter and quieter until it was nothing more than a whisper. He was being extremely vague, Brent knew that. He didn't know if Bree was going to get it though he hoped she would so he wouldn't have to go into any more detail.

[/size]
Outfit: Clicky!
Words: 283
Notes: Oh my god he's such a girl
Tagged: Bree[/center]

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

Bree was still puzzling over Brent's very ambiguous question. How can you be jealous of something you don't want? Bree was beginning to think that you couldn't be jealous of something you didn't want. Didn't you have to want what someone else had, what you couldn't have to be jealous of the person who had it? Bree thought so, at first. That was a basic principle, it had to be. Bree didn't really understand what Brent was saying at all.

Until his next words. Then, she suddenly got it. Well, it was a person now. Bree knew that much from the way Brent had mentioned the word 'him'. That...that was what did it for her. She finally understood, to a certain extent. People were a lot different to material possessions; that went without saying. She understood better. Because, not three years ago...she'd been in that position herself.

She blinked once, just to empty her head that was fast filling with awful, wistful memories, and focused on what she could pick out from what Brent had said. "So," she said. "What I'm getting from this is that there's someone who you're jealous of, but you don't know why because you're trying to convince yourself that you don't care. Am I correct?" She nodded, pulled her legs up onto the sofa, and crossed them. She started absent-mindedly fiddling with her glasses. "I get it. Been in the same frame of mind myself before."

She looked over at him, frowning slightly, nibbling her lip. "It's...I know it's confusing," she started, "But...it's not...uh...how do I put it...It's not...uh...forever?" Bree honestly didn't know what she was saying. What she was trying to say was that it would be confusing at first, but it would help him find out what he wanted and all that crap. That'd been what had happened for her. She'd figured out what she wanted. Or, at least, she thought she had.

"Look," she said, sighing a little bit in frustration. "You're confused, right? I was too. It'll all work out the way it's supposed to. It won't last forever. And it helps you to figure out exactly what it is you want. So...yeah." She looked down at her lap, not sure if she'd made sense. She really hoped she had. It was really hard to explain, so she hoped that Brent would get what she meant.

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Outfit: Clicky! Tagged: Brent! Notes: Snuggly!Brentee :3 Words: 432

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

Brent finally summoned up the courage to look over at Bree, it was only a quick glance though. "Mm hmm." he murmured in response, nodding his head once in his friend's general direction. Okay, Bree understood, Brent couldn't help but feel thankful for that. And she still didn't know specifically who all of this was aimed at too, something he was also extremely grateful for.

Bree having been through a situation practically the same as this one was kind of nice if you forgot the fact that actually being in this particular situation was far from nice. The whole her knowing what it was like was the okay bit. And, yeah, Brent's mind was pretty much lost right now and rambling on again.

What Bree had just said to him wasn't complete gobbledegook, although it took Brent a little while for his head to fully make sense of it. "Yeah... I hope so... I think." Part of Brent's mind was arguing with another part... he kind of felt like he could move on from Amy now but there was still that little nagging voice holding him back. "A-Amy.. she'd... want that, r-right?" The Demon's voice grew quieter still. Because maybe, if he did make an effort to pick himself up again, then he wouldn't be feeling so down all of the time.

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Outfit: Clicky!
Words: a number
Notes: Oh my god he's such a girl
Tagged: Bree[/center]

[Bree Anise Ripsen]

If she was completely honest, she felt an awful amount of pity for what Brent felt right now. She knew she shouldn't pity him; she knew he wouldn't like that. But she couldn't help it. Knowing how it felt actually mad the feeling worse, and knowing that she didn't feel that way anymore made her feel guilty. She didn't even know why she felt guilty - she was pretty sure she didn't have to feel that way. But it was just something about not going through it with him that made her feel...inadequate. Weren't best friends supposed to be there for each other through everything?

She just sat, cross-legged on her sofa, her mouth set in a thin, hard line as she stared at the floor. She wasn't really sure what else she could honestly say. She couldn't say that things would work out for the better, because she wasn't sure. That could very well be untrue. She wasn't sure what the future held, and couldn't say anything about it, as it could prove to be a lie. Something that she couldn't tell.

At her friend's next words, Bree literally felt her heart drop. She could have sworn it. Brent must have been serious if he was bringing his dead wife, a woman he loved more than anything (except maybe their son) into this conversation, Now, this was something that Bree could answer. It was kind of obvious; Bree and Amy had been extremely close before...that. And they knew almost everything about each other, except the deep, dark things. Fine by Bree. Her tale wasn't exactly one that she enjoyed sharing. However, she knew exactly what her friend would've wanted, had she been able to answer.

"I honestly...Brent...Yeah. She would've wanted you to move on." She drew her legs up, and placed her chin on her knees. "I understand that Amy...was special to you, but...She'd want you to be happy. And, if this is going to make you happy...then yeah. She would've wanted it."

And this was true. Amy was a wonderful woman, and Bree completely understood why Brent would worry about Amy when going after someone else. But...the vow was "'till death us do part". Amy was dead. They were no longer married. That left him free to move onto whoever he pleased. If he wanted to, of course. She just hoped that he understood that.

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Outfit: Clicky! Tagged: Brent! Notes: Snuggly!Brentee :3 Words: 424

[Brent Zachary McKinney]

Brent felt so strange actually sharing what was going on in his mind with someone. He'd just grown used to keeping everything to himself over the past several months, he felt more comfortable doing so. And if was going to share anything with anyone, right now, he'd probably only go to Bree. She'd known him longer than any other being on earth and now he'd grown to trust her an awful lot. Nowadays, Brent didn't go around trusting people very easily.

Moving on was something that had only really been on Brent's mind since meeting Chase, although he'd ignored it at first. It was kind of difficult to do that now. Bree had been Amy's best friend though, Brent was going to have to go with what she was telling him. But it still made him feel bad to leave her behind, or even just think about it. "O-okay." he let out a shaky sigh and draped his arm over his eyes when they started getting a bit watery. "Uh, th-thanks, Bree."

He didn't like thinking about this. Brent was used to the way he was living right now, without giving a damn about anything or anyone anymore. It was probably about time that he changed that.

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Outfit: Clicky!
Words: 218
Notes: Oh my god he's such a girl
Tagged: Bree[/center]