Fighting for the Strange

Chapter 4: Attention

            "Your brothers are kind of dicks," Fiona said once they were safely in Meredith's room with the door shut.

            Her roommate nodded, leaning back against the wall as she hugged a pillow to her chest. "They're always like that. If they're not ignoring me, they're saying stuff. I don't know if it's because I'm a girl, the youngest, or what, but I'm sick of it!"

            Fiona grimaced. The rare display of temper and irritation from Meredith gave her an idea of just how much she'd been putting up with over the years. "Well, if you keep sassing them back, you should be fine. They didn't look they knew what to do. It was pretty funny. And I bet your mom won't get you in trouble, not with how they were talking to her. If your dad's the same, you've got them."

            "Da's not. He's...He believes in strength and protecting the village and our tribe. He's never really been big on how we talk and stuff, or what we do, just so long as we're strong. But Mom was the one who mostly raised us. We started off only spending summers with Da until we were ten. Then it was half and half until we were fifteen. That's when we only spent holidays with Mom."

            The more Meredith spoke of her father, the more Fiona got the impression that her roommate didn't get along with him very well. She could imagine how someone who was focused on everyone being strong could easily misunderstand Meredith's more quiet nature. Though the selkie seemed a great deal more confident and more willing to express her opinions, which were stronger than most of Fiona's. She wondered if that wouldn't change Meredith's relationships with the men in her family. She hoped it would win her respect at the very least.

            Which she thought it might, especially with the speculative way the selkie boys had bene checking out her roommate. She wondered if her brothers had noticed, and if they had, how they'd react to people trying to date their little sister. From what she'd heard, a lot of brothers didn't take well to that.

            Still, with the way Meredith was still clutching her pillow, a distraction was in order. "Well, we're here now. Do you want to unpack, or we could go outside for a bit? Did you want to go swimming? I don't mind watching if you want to get into the water."

            Meredith looked up and smiled. "It's too cold for you outside. I don't really feel like unpacking right now. We could go back downstairs. Mom might need help. And she'll probably have told them off if she heard what they were saying, so they should behave."

            Fiona grinned. "We can always throw something at them if they don't. Or do something they don't like. Oh! If you have a chess set I can teach you to play. Or kick your brothers' asses if they do. It's one of the things that bugs the piss out of Chay, not that he'll admit it. He just can't beat me."

            A touch of a smirk tugged at Meredith's lips. "Good. He needs to learn more humility. And he should still be apologizing to you. If I hadn't been...Well, if I had been awake I would have had some things to say."

            "The twins did plenty. I swear the story gets bigger every time they tell it too. Ah!" Fiona said, eyes flickering over to her backpack before she shrugged. "I guess it doesn't really count."

            Seeing her roommate's quizzical look, she smiled sheepishly. "I promised Chay that I'd wear the feather clip any time it wasn't just you and your family. He said it'd keep me safe, but I think being in the house counts as it just being us."

            "He's right. It's safer to wear it, especially around other Phasms. I think you should put it on before we go back downstairs. My b-...it'll just be better."