Aya Brea

Maya hitched the straps of her backpack higher and ran the last mile home; sitting in classes again meant she wasn't burning energy quite as fast as she was used to so any chance for some exercise! She felt half numb in classes, Aya being off at work instead of sitting beside her was just...different. Not wrong, exactly, but it was a system shock to say the least. Kind of like missing an arm or a leg she imagined; she kept getting tingles and hints from her sister since the college and the hospital weren't too far apart but...

...it was odd. Just odd.

It was alright though, she was going home now and it was Aya's day off. She could corner her sister until her body believed she was whole again! "I'm hommmmme!" Maya called cheerfully when she tromped up the steps and through the door. The kitchen was...sadly empty. "AYA YOU SAID YOU WERE GOING TO COOK DINNER FOR THE STARVING STUDENT TODAY!"

"The starving student is home hours early. What did she expect?" Aya's voice yelled up from her workshop.

"Psychic sister!" Maya called back, laughing as she dumped her backpack in the livingroom and trotted downstairs to see her sister. "What are you even doing down here?"

Aya glanced up from one of her worktables, expression mild. "What I always do in my workshop, Maya."

"Oh, fine, be that way." Maya went to go lean on the table near Aya and tugged one of the many sketches away to look at. "Aya...these are rings. Why are you fiddling with ring designs? You don't do rings!"

"Hence planning, so I do them right," Aya snorted and snatched her sketch back.

"Aya..."

"And why are you home so early?"

"...Aya?"

"Teacher got sick I guess?"

"Her kid did. Still, Aya, listen to me. Don't you think you're rushing a little?" Maya pinned her sister with a look and just...really hoped her sister wasn't being an idiot.

"No, I don't." Aya admitted easily. "These will take a while, that isn't rushing."

Maya sucked in a breath between her teeth and...tried to figure out how to phrase things. It was always, always like this. Her sister didn't do frivolous. Her sister didn't do fun. Aya was a serious woman and it was going to get her hurt. "Aya, it's not that serious."

"No, you're not that serious Maya. You never are," Aya sighed.

"I can be serious! But the guys, they're just fun. Sure, I love them but no one wants to rush towards getting married or anything!"

"My world, the world, feels right when they're here Maya." It was hard for Aya to put that on the level of 'just fun'. "I don't want to lose that. Ever. I want them to know I'd like them to stay."

"They are staying! They live here! Isn't that enough?! You know guys run when you get serious!"

"Maya. Shut up." Aya snapped. "I've only been serious once and remember I called it off because he hated you."

"I..." yeah. That was how it worked out. Still. "Marriage isn't fun Aya. It's responsibility, and work, and isn't it nice now? It's fine. We don't need to change it!"

"What if we turn around one day and they're tired of waiting for us to grow up?" Aya asked her sister softly. "I want them. I love them. And I need them, Maya. That's more than just dating or asking them to move in. It's more than some sitcom idea of romance and fun, flirty, hip dating or something. It's real and I want to hold onto it and I will."

"What if I don't want to get married?!"

"I won't ask on your behalf. I know this is selfish, but I will be doing it. I want you to want this too, Maya, but I can't force you."

"And asking them at all won't force me?!" Maya snapped, energy flaring and snapping in reaction to her anger. "What are my choices then huh? Ask, don't ask, leave?"

"I'd never ask you to leave, you know that. You belong here just like they do. If they marry me, if they want to, you will always have a place. You just won't be on the certificate, that's all."

"We're a set, Aya," Maya growled.

"But we're not the same and they love that about us. They won't love us any less or any more for separate decisions." Aya tried to be soothing, tried to sound calm, "What are you so afraid of Maya?"

"I won't fix it if they run, Aya. I won't. When they get spooked, and they leave, it'll be on your head!"

"I know." Aya tucked her sketches in a drawer before the ambient energy could start igniting things then stood and stretched until she popped. "We should go to the gym, we both need it. And you know they won't run."

Maya rolled her shoulders and started for the stairs. "I'll go change." No need to get scorch marks on school clothes. Half way up the stairs though she paused and looked back, eyes glowing "Do I?"

The Brea house, the house owned by the two sisters, their comfort and solace was...gorgeous. Built of wood and stone and yet still very, very open. The ground floor was all open, one room flowing into the next and the next; sitting room to dining room, to kitchen to the thin, clear glass before the deck. There was a bathroom, naturally, and the wood had grown up to form walls there.

They'd probably had a nature-caster as an architect because the walls for the downstairs bathroom, the banister for the steps leading upward, and the deck outside were made of knotting, twisted, flexible living wood. The leaves were small and feathery, the flowers in spring little and draping like string more than petals. Upstairs the living wood cradled the large tub and made a half wall for the privy, because up above there was even less division. The second floor was the bedroom, with bathing necessities tucked in a corner but certainly not hidden. The girls lived and worked together, two halves of one whole, they saw no reason for separate rooms.

They felt content with separate dressers for the clothes they didn't share. A balcony stretched from the large glass window upstairs, still living and alive, then there was the attic above (Maya's office and quiet area) before the tree finally twined through the roof and spread drooping branches over the whole to provide shade and shelter for the birds and like that chose to dwell within the cities.

The roots were in the basement below (Aya's workroom and quiet area), surrounded by soft dirt before natural slate was used as flooring. The girls loved the feel of their tree, a comforting solid presence of life when the world outside and at work had been a strain. And more there was the backyard, planted and cared for by the girls, blended from wild areas to grottos and paths knotting through small knolls and some tumbled stones. It was all so very much alive and they loved it, from gentle vines along the deck railing to sheltered little pool in the back corner before a high stone wall, they loved it.

And it was to these places, this home, they invited the boys. Certainly the boys had been there before, in passing, for glimpses, but not given free rein. They hadn't been pointed to an area of the deck that cupped a sheet of slate and told 'You can grill there, do as you will!" and they hadn't been invited upstairs.

Not when Maya couldn't bear to touch them.

But after the camping trip? When the girls had promised to allow a barbeque on their land? Yes. The boys were welcome, and well come, now. May and Aya had discussed them actually, having a serious conversation into the late hours where they debated over the men. Was this yet another case of men desiring one or the other and only being kind to the one twin out of desire? No, certainly not. The boys were genuine. They were understanding, attentive, and kind.

And gorgeous. And utterly gorgeous.

And they...might be falling no little in love with them. A date for the barbeque was chosen and told to the boys, but it was more than that. Mitochondrials did not share their sanctuaries lightly, or without thought. Active mitochondrials more so. Their home was their territory, their touchstone, and their peace. The boys were now...additions to such equations. Accepted as rightfully belonging.

Aya's office door was shut. In hospital terms that meant 'don't disturb'. In the Brea's terms it meant 'time to relax'. It'd been a good week actually. They'd finished early and there was a little bit of time before Aya had to report for her volunteer weekend shifts. "Any plans sister-mine?" Aya asked over her shoulder as she walked over to the discreet stereo on one of her bookshelves.

"For the weekend?" Maya asked, thinking it over "...no. I'm tired of tennis." she admitted. "Maybe some house cleaning? Or, hey, gardening! There's that one vine I'm sure I can get to curl along our railing. It's big enough to start anyway..."

Aya nodded, clicking the volume on the music up until it was just loud enough to be heard. She liked to sway along to soft music, it was relaxing! "And the Irises are ready to be thinned...maybe spread them to two new beds? And sprinkle some wild flowers around them?" she suggested, wiggling out of her coat and hangng it up while dancing.

Maya eyed her sister and then fished a bottle of nail polish out of her purse. They relaxed in different ways! "Irises are all you dear, they don't like me. And that little tree..."

"The Bonsai? What's wrong with it?" Aya blinked, worried for a moment.

"Nothing except the morning glories want to eat it! Move it back here! You need more plants in here!" Maya waved the bottle of polish for emphasis, then nodded to the slim window in the back of office "It'll get enough light now right?"

"Hmmm, I could do that..." Aya admitted, thinking it over. "It's a lot stronger than it was when we got it, so translocation might not bother it."

"Sweetie, I'm pretty sure being dropped three stories won't hurt it at this point. It'sa a tough little thing...except when it comes to my vines."

"Fine, fine..." Aya laughed "I'll bring it in with me tomorrow alright?"

"Good girl." Maya smirked and put her foot up on Aya's desk to do her toes.

Taking that as a signal, Aya turned the music up a bit more.

Aya glanced across the desk to quirk an eyebrow at her sister. She wasn't exactly surprised at what she'd just heard, but she did have to rag a bit. It was her sisterly duty. "Do I really think who'll want to go out to dinner?"

Maya snapped a rubber band across the distance between them then sighed "Dilan, or his group. I'm not picky and rumor says they're fun."

"He was being polite, Maya." she sighed, opening the next file in the pile at her elbow. They were winding down in her office after close. Just a quick review for tomorrows appointments, then they'd be headed home. "Besides, what happened to...Sam? No, wait, Alex wasn't it? Guy this weekend."

Maya made a face and added a sticky note to her own file "All hands, no brains, no fun." she summed up. "At least I could handle him, but still. I like to feel I'm a little more than a warm body..."

"Well, the weekends learning tennis helped with that at least?" Aya offered optimistically "Acclimation. Want me to go ruin his life for being a sod?"

"Hey, my love life is not part of a science project!" Maya squealed and seriously considering throwing a shoe instead of a rubber band. "Keep your scientific observations to yourself okay? Say, I don't know, I got used to him? And no. He'll ruin it himself the way he goes after blonds with money. Some angry husband will get their hands on him..."

Aya tried to diplomatically hide her smile, but failed as the edge of the file flopped down "Well, glad to know you got used to him. Maybe you should try new lessons for the weekend?" she offered "And I really would have fun. You never let me have the talk with your boys anymore."

"I get so much more use out of them when you don't. Marlin finally moved back by the way. I believe he wants to make an offering of his first born, a little girl by the way, to ensure his safety." Maya had run out of files now and was slowly folding a notes sheet into...something. Origami hodgepodge?

Aya tilted her head and thought that over "Well, I don't need a baby girl at the moment, and I bet she makes them very happy. How about we invite them to dinner sometime and I just get to act dumb over the baby. Think that'll reassure him?" she really didn't mind Marlin...all grown up and safely engaged elsewhere. He'd been a hellion as a teen.

"Hmmm, that might work." Maya agreed. "Anyway, back to the original topic. I haven't seen him in the hospital lately...think something drastic happened? The whole lot of apprentices didn't seem too happy that night..."

Aya sighed, closed her last file, and let her feet slip off the desk where she'd propped them "I think he's an intelligent man who has his own facilities and doesn't live here like we do. If you see him again, ask, don't speculate pointlessly." Aya just...didn't like rumor. She'd never picked up on gossiping, as much as Maya loved it. "Though, if he does stop by and you want...I can discuss your need to acclimate with him..." she almost made it through the door and into the hall.

The shoes hit her as the door gave under her elbow, and Aya laughed and dramatically tumbled to the ground outside. Maya seriously contemplated adding a kick or two out of sheer embarrassment, but she settled for slipping her own shoes on and huffing out into the hospital hallway.