Bittersweet Homecoming [sparrow, NPCs]

[Mara]

(((Okay, this is the thread for Ean and his wonderful brothers
as discussed here.
Sparrow, you're welcome to have Felze leave whenever.
Reg/Corto/nightender, hop in when ready.)))


[...from It's Complicated]


Any elation that Ean might have had from finally settling things with Sam back on Zeltros had disappeared in an instant. All it took was one short little comm message that one of his brothers had sent to him before the whole transaction had been completed. Unfortunately it had gone straight to his personal device, rerouted from his ship. He hadn't wanted any distractions, so he had had it turned off, except to urgent messages. Any information from his contacts about his bounty could wait. Ean wasn't the type to leave any business unfinished, and he had to make sure everything was in the clear with Sam before he continued on his search.

And so it wasn't until he had been about to speak to Ryn and Sam about things when his comm beeped, denoting something important and urgent. If he had had any foresight about the unfamiliar sending number, Ean wouldn't have listened to it. A strange male voice who identified himself as his oldest brother Tyrell came on--strange, because Ean hadn't spoke to any of his family in years and barely recognized them, especially his older brothers Ty and Han--matter-of-factly stating that their father had passed away the night before. And could he please come back to Tyrena to help with the arrangements?

Ean had stood there, stunned, too surprised to act right away while he dealt with this news. He had had to listen to it multiple times. Though he and his father hadn't gotten along very well when he was a child--his mother being the only barrier keeping his father from doing anything rash--Ean still felt a bit of a loss at finding his father was no longer living. They had come to civil terms with each other when he was older, after his mother had passed. And up to this day, since he left home to train as a bodyguard all those years ago, he had sent a portion of his paycheck and later, bounty money, to his father. The old man was retired, and Ean knew that his brothers hadn't looked back since they left, assuming the government would take care of their father. The irony was not lost on the Corellian that Tiron Stenner's favorite sons were now the ones who ignored him, while now the son who had seemed misplaced in the household had been the only one who had cared.

From time to time, when he had had nothing else to think about, Ean would find himself regretting that he had never came back to Corellia to visit with his father. But things were happening so fast. He excelled in the bodyguard academy he intended and got two charges, one after another. When the place closed down, bankrupt, he hadn't had the heart to tell his father that he was again jobless; instead, he had found something else to do, another way to get paid for his talents. A job that resulting in him becoming a company hitman, merging later into more independent contracting and then bounty hunting. And still, he hadn't gone back home, though he continued to send his father money. By now his father would have had enough to live quite well-off, being able to move out of his old apartment in the lower section of the city.

Moving out of his retrospection for a bit, he had turned back to Sam and the Jedi, only to find that they had disappeared, left while his back was turned. Angry at this chance, he had took a few deep breaths before contacting the Zeltron. Their plans had just changed, and so he told Felze to set coordinates for Corellia and to set down to pick him up. Once again, his main task had to be put aside. First it had been for Sam; now it was for his father. Sam would have to wait; his father would come first. He'd worry about his bounty and finding Sam later. Leaving Felze to his business setting up Heleen's Hope for the trip from Zeltros over to Corellia, he had stood up and walked slowly to his cabin.

Once alone again, Ean had laid prone on his bed, staring at the metaled ceiling of his cabin. He was thankful the trip over would be long enough; he would need all his energy to deal with his brothers. It wasn't just the fact that he hadn't seen them since they had left after their schooling was done, getting jobs in the city. Despite his belief that his brothers had done nothing to help their father, he knew in his gut that the three of them would resent him, thinking that he had been the one to ignore their father, going off, leaving Corellia. They had remained, as the faithful brothers they tried to portray themselves. Unfortunately, Ean had no proof that they had been anything but good sons, except for an underlying feeling deep inside of him.

They might resent his job, the prestige and reputation that had gone with it, though he was sure they were all highly successful business. It had been a while, and by now they had probably moved up even farther, but one day, new at the job of bounty hunter, he had used his newly found system of contracts and information brokering to find out about his brothers. Ean found it silly that they might be jealous of him, when they were the ones with families and respected careers. He was the lonely one, without any true place to call him besides his ship.

No, meeting his brothers again after this many years, it could go nowhere but badly, he thought. And the fact that the meeting was initiated by their father's death made it all the worse. Tensions and emotions would already be high as they made arrangements and divided up their father's possessions. Ean didn't particularly care what he got; he could buy anything he wanted with the credits he had in reserve in various accounts. But it was just the principle of the matter; if any of the money he had sent was left he wanted it back. His brothers didn't deserve his hard-earned money, no matter how he had earned it. Plus, now that both his parents were gone, he was mostly hoping to find anything left of his mother's, the only family member that he was certain had truly loved him. Ean didn't care about his father's things; he just wanted some further memory of his mother.

So Ean decided then and there that he wouldn't put up much of a fight when everything came down to the nitty-gritty. He would get some trinkets of his mother's, jewelry perhaps, a holograph or two, her cookware. He would make sure the money he had sent was put to good use, if any was left. And then he would just let them at it. After all that had happened recently, he didn't think he was in the mood for any confrontations with his brothers. But he also knew that that would be near impossible; they were all Stenners, after all.


*****

The spaceport at Tyrena, Corellia. Ean Stenner and his new partner Felze Zeng were leaving the Heleen's Hope to make their way to meet up with Ean's brothers. A small pang tugged at his heart at the thought that he was arriving with a ship named for his mother to settle the pieces of his father's life. Thankfully the spaceport wasn't nearby the upper section of the city where he assumed his brothers and his father lived. They would have probably laughed at him to know that he had used their mother's name in any connection, while loose, to his less-than-respectable job.

Believing that his father, after all the credits he had sent him over the years, had most likely moved into a better home, Ean headed straight for the nearest directory to look up his address. There had be no location mentioned on the short message his brother had sent. He had decided to look their first, but just in case, he decided to copy down the addresses for his brothers as well. Not surprisingly, they were all in highly exclusive areas. Something he did not expect was that the address listed for his father was familiar to him-- the small 2-bedroom apartment he had grown up in in the lower part of the city.

With Felze trailing behind, Ean made his way to find the nearest airtaxi. He was beginning to feel his resolve not to get in any fights with his brothers beginning to wear down. For unless something had happened mid-transaction, there was no other reason that his father hadn't used the money to move out of his place, unless he hadn't gotten or had access to it. With his lifestyle of the last few years, Ean found it strange that Tiron Stenner wouldn't have found a better place to live; he deserved more for his hard work raising four sons on a factory worker's salary.

Fortunately, this would be a mystery quickly solved, as the two of them sped quickly towards the poorer area of the city to his childhood home. Where he was first hoping to find his brothers right away to get things over with, now he was praying that they wouldn't be there. Ean wanted some time alone to figure out what had happened to make his father stay and not use the money to find a better place to live. If they were there when he got there.... well, he couldn't make any more promises. Hopefully his brothers had good insurance policies because there wouldn't be anything to hold Ean back from using all his training against them, if they had betrayed their, no, his father in any way.

A deep breath, and Ean made his way into the building's lobby and to the stairs, remembering that the 'lift didn't work so well. He no longer paid attention to whether Felze was following him or not. There was only one thing on his mind now, and it was not trying to be civil to his brothers to get through these arrangements as painlessly as possible. What it was, was his brothers regretting that they had bullied and picked on their younger stupid brother so much.



(((Okay, guys, it's up to you whether you are at the apartment, or are waiting at one of the brother's homes.)))



[EDITS: Made to match with change in the plot regarding Sam.]

[sparrow]

In his years drifting around the galaxy, Felze had never been invited on a family visit before. Well, invited was probably the wrong word. "Tagged along" was probably the more appropriate choice here. Either way, it was a first.

Most of his old jobs had been quite professional. Slice this, crack through that firewall, access this database, pull up these schematics, those sorts of things. This job had turned out to be much longer and more involved than he had expected.

"You realize that I charge by the hour, right?" he had said when Ean had announced this particular detour. That had been a joke. He didn't mind going. Ean was a good guy to work with, friendly, not too demanding, though sometimes a bit of a stick in the mud. And Felze could understand the importance of family. He still sent money to this mother occasionally, though he had reason to suspect that it usually wasn't put to particularly good use.

"You want me to come up with you, or would you rather keep this one Stenner family only?" he asked Ean as he started up the stairs.

[Mara]

(((Well, guess I'll go ahead, so sparrow can post, and so the rest of you will have something more to go on. )))


Lost in his thoughts, it took Ean's brain a few moments to realize that the voice he heard was real and not fabricated. And coming from the Zeltron who was his new partner/employee. He stopped there, on the second floor landing, glad for a brief pause there. Though he had to go all the way to the fifth floor, to 5H, it would be slightly beneficial to his brothers if he didn't go rushing up there with all the things that had just running amok in his mind so fresh.

The large Corellian turned to Felze and pondered the question. Briefly he thought that it would be good to keep the other being with him, perhaps to keep him from doing anything rash to his brothers. Then again, it was supposed to be a family-oriented meeting. Ean rather doubted that his brothers would have brother their wives and kids with them. Besides, it wasn't as if he needed his pilot right now. All in all, though... Ean just didn't really care anymore. He just wanted to settle things with his brothers and his father. With any luck he'd just get some alone time in his father's home and go find his brothers later.

He shrugged at the Zeltron. Though he hadn't know the other man long, Ean sometimes felt that Felze was more like family to him than his blood relation. Him and... No, he couldn't think about Sam now. "Come or go. It's up to you." Ean started back up the stairs, the remaining three flights. "But it might get ugly up there, just a warning." He paused and tried a forced smile at Felze and added, thinking he would probably rather not deal with the Stenner clan, "Try and have some fun, before we get back to the job."

And with that, he continued up through the building, not bothering to check which way the Zeltron went, up or down. If he left, he wouldn't blame him. Heck, Ean knew if it were the other way around, he would be out like a rock to avoid something as awkward as this. And if Felze stayed, well, Ean would just have to make sure the man stayed out of the way if he pummeled his brothers.

Finally he stood in front of the door labeled 5H, gathering up the courage to step inside his old family home, one that he hadn't been in in almost two decades. Where he had cooked besides his mother, struggled to do his homework while his older brothers got to play because their schoolwork was over. Where he had said good-bye to his father and left for Coronet City, never to return.

Ean couldn't hear any sounds inside, so either it was empty, or his brothers were being quiet as they rummaged through their father's things. With a sigh and a deep breath, he turned the knob, the unknown waiting for him beyond it.

[Regnier]

Tyrell Stenner rubbed his eyes tiredly, then his clean-shaven head as he leaned over the balcony, the smoldering stub of a cigarra clenched between his lower two fingers, his suit jacket hung neatly on the railing, his tie over it, and the top two buttons of his shirt undone. My, what a day this had turned out to be. He'd already had to argue his wife into leaving him here alone to meet with his brothers, and he was sure he would be paying for that later. He had no illusions that the day would be getting any better, either, once the rest of the Stenners showed up. So far, he was the only one at their father's apartment. Oh, it would just be grand, one big, happy family reunion, especially when Ean showed up. Ty hadn't seen the youngest of them in...what, eighteen years? Twenty? He honestly couldn't remember anymore...

He wondered how he'd fared briefly, what he'd come to think about all of this, about his brothers. Nobody had all the same facts since going their separate ways from this place, so he was fairly certain all of them had differing opinions and beliefs, but Ean's would undoubtedly be the most drastically different. Did he know all of the facts?

Do I?

Ty plugged the remains of the cigarra between his teeth and puffed irritably. Oh, this was going to be one hell of day. Somebody was going to get punched, he could just see it. Of course, he'd promised Jacquelin that he'd mediate, so that someone would probably be him, but as a bored executive who hated his job and had too much time on his hands, he spent a lot of time in front of a punching bag. He wasn't too concerned with his odds against Han or Egan; Ean, though...he really didn't know. Tiron and he...well, the most conversation they'd had in twenty years involved the slight crook in his nose from the door making contact with his face. That was a pleasant memory.

No, the only information he had on Ean he'd dug up himself, and that small amount had taken a bit of trying. He honestly doubted his other two brothers had even done that much; he knew they hadn't tried to contact Ean themselves, as- oh, sod it, he was tired of all these thoughts running through his head. He just wanted to get this underway and done with.

His ears perked as the creak of the door reached them. Turning his head slightly, he waited a few seconds, idly wondering which one it was. "Balcony." He called into the main room with a low rasp, barely loud enough to be heard. Turning back to the 'view', he continued puffing irritably.

[Mara]

(((Well, since nightender and Nighthawk are a bit busy right now, I thought I'd post again and give Ean some time with Ty before the other brothers arrive. Nice 'quality' time.
So Reg, you can go ahead and post again; the others will come when they can.)))


When he opened the door, Ean was frozen in his tracks and couldn't go farther than one step over the threshhold. He felt like he was stuck in some kind of crazy time warp. As his eyes slowly wandered the small main room of the apartment, the one that had been the center of the family, he felt 30 years younger. He wasn't sure why he was so surprised to see that the place hadn't changed one bit since he had left, but he was. Just as Ean had been sure that his father would have used the credits he had been sending the past few years, he was sure the old man would have done at least a little redecorating. He knew his father had missed his mother when she passed, but he hadn't exactly fallen apart. They had gotten along fine. Maybe after all his sons had finally left, Ean being the last, he just hadn't a reason to tidy up. Or break away from routine.

His dark brown eyes found the small doorway through the kitchen, and he could see a little bit inside of it from his angle. And then there were the other two doors, his parents' room, the room where all four brothers had slept. Back to the main room he looked over the small dining set piled high with papers, not datapads like most beings were using nowadays. There was no fancy holocomm station or holo-viewing area; all the news and entertainment had to come from one's mind or the local flimsi-printed paper. Now more than ever the Corellian bounty hunted wanted to know why his father hadn't decided to upgrade his life. He had had more than enough credits to do so that Ean had sent him.

But he could think on that no longer. A voice called out to him. It was soft but his work-tuned ears heard it. Seeing the empty cluttered living area Ean had thought, and hoped, he had gotten there first as he had wanted. But apparently not. At least one of his brothers was there on the balcony. He fought back a chuckle at that; it resembled anything besides a real balcony. The poor apartment complex did offer outdoor spaces on some of its higher units, but all they were were really just glorified closets with railings instead of full walls. Ean hadn't used the 'balcony' much as a child. There wasn't much of a view, plus the odor wasn't too great either.

Ean wasn't sure which brother he had heard. It stood to chance that their voices would sound differently to a child than to the adult he was now. There was only one way to find out. He had to go out there. Or just stand near; the balcony didn't have room for more than one being on it. Taking one more glance at the room, he stepped into the apartment and closed the door behind him before going in the direction of the balcony entrance. He saw him then; it was unmistakable. Even from the back he looked just like their father when he was younger, when they were still children. Tyrell. The oldest. The one who had contacted him in the first place about their father.

He cleared his throat as he stopped a couple paces away from the open door where his brother was smoking out on the tiny closet of a balcony. Ean kept his hands at his sides, neutral but still within reach of his holster if necessary. Though, when it came to his brothers, they deserved more than just a shot to the head; a good old-fashioned beatdown always vented frustration a lot more easily. "Hey, brother." He knew it was quite the odd situation: this old dirty apartment, his well-dressed brother, and he himself in his worn trousers and boots, white tunic, weathered leather jacket. It would have been comical if not for the reason they were there.

[Nightender]

Life had not been the kindest to Han Stenner. It could be labeled to the thinning of his hair, the strain of having such a tedious job. Possibly it was his estranged wife, or his estranged mistress. He didn't blame his weight, since he only had a few extra pounds.

Most blamed his drinking, but that wasn't the real problem. It dulled his thoughts, kept his mind from traveling too far, too fast. He didn't like to think about some of the things he'd seen in his life, even though most could easily come to terms with them.

For all intents and purposed, Han was the middle child. Right between Tyrell and Egan, he'd always fallen under the radar. The father, Tiron, had given him little, only perhaps a few drops of love and hardly any credits at all, not even when Han offered to pay them back. They did have another brother, though he'd long since left, hardly to be thought of by any of them.

But Tiron had passed away and there were many things to attend to. Legally, Han had to be there, but he knew it would mean nothing in the long run. He was always under the radar, gone from his father's notice. That's how he felt, it was how he always felt.

The truth was, Han was heartbroken. It had been ages since he'd actually been able to express any love, joy, or rage to his father. So, when the news came to him, privately, Han fell apart, collapsing in the hallway leading to his bedroom. His hands reached out, hoping to find Naielle, but she told him not to call. Tanya had packed her bags months earlier, hinting that she might come back, though she wasn't certain. Regardless, Han was left alone to relearn breathing and to learn the first lesson in living in a galaxy without his father in it.

When the time came, he dressed properly, ready to take his place. He would stand with his brothers. He would shake hands and accept sympathies. He would do exactly as everyone expected, hiding his demons and his grief. He would hold on.

[Regnier]

Ty shifted his weight slightly and turned his head just far enough to the side so that he could see Ean. The man...yes, he was a man now. Ty had known he was full-grown adult the entire time, but part of him still expected to be faced with the teenage Ean he'd last seen. His brother stood in stark contrast to himself, sporting a worn and well-used look to him. So this was Ean Stenner. A great deal of the people Ty worked around probably would hardly have been impressed, by Ty himself saw around the wear; he saw the professional beneath, like a handful of the people he'd had to hire for himself before.

Pulling the cigarra from his teeth, he nodded before turning back to the outside world. "Ean. Didn't happen to see your idiot brothers on your way up, did you?" He asked in a tired tone, fully expecting neither of them to have even left their homes yet. Pushing himself off the balcony, he crushed stub of tobacco against the rail, turned and stepped inside, passing by his youngest brother, and walked across the main room. He offered no 'how are you's, no 'you're looking good's; meaningless words at this point, niceties that he had a strong feeling his brother would want about as much as he did. So, in Ty's mind, there were really only a few logical things to do right about now. Reaching the kitchen, he opened the fridge and pulled out the bottle of ale he'd put inside earlier. Setting it on the small counter, he dug around for awhile for a handful of glasses. which he set beside the bottle. He pried the bottle open in silence and poured himself a drink before setting the bottle down again, finally breaking his silence. "Drink?"

It was kind of funny, actually. They hadn't seen each-other in two-odd decades, and that was the most Ty could come up with. He'd been rolling things around in his head for days now, and still had no idea what to say. Then again, he hadn't made a career out of being exceptionally charismatic, he'd made one out of getting things done. In the corporate world, he'd gained a reputation as a bruiser, his company's heavy hitter and closer. He had a habit of taking over situations, but now...now he was having a little trouble just staying afloat. Gods, but he wanted to get this done and over with. He glanced down at his watch and quietly muttered something under his breath about Han and Egan. Honestly, he wasn't surprised that they'd be the last to show.

"Been doing alright for yourself out there, brother?"

[Mara]

(((Think I'll just go ahead and post, give Ean and Ty some 'quality time' for Han and Egan to interrupt later...)))



Ean grunted. So this was how it was gonna be, then? His brother had barely even spared the time to look at him before going back to the 'view' outside of the tiny balcony, out into the poorer district of Tyrena, Corellia, the few square kilometers they had grown up in all their lives, but all eventually left. He wasn't sure if the indifference Ty was showing him was just that, or if perhaps he was hoping his youngest brother wouldn't show up, to 'shame' the rest of them or so he wouldn't have to confront him. Or maybe Ty just had a strange way of dealing with grief, being aloof about it, dealing with the mundane things. Ean decided to just play along for the moment; there would be plenty of time to deal with what they had come to the apartment for. Having a few mundane moments might do him some good, too.

"I didn't," he answered, as he watched his brother finally put out his cigarra and turn around. Ean had never been one to mince words; long responses from him were few and far between. And not just because most of the world, and himself, thought he was a bit deficient in the intelligence department. The man just never had use for flowery language and wasted words. Why take an hour to say something you could just as easily say in a few seconds?

Obviously Ty had been expecting that answer, because he offered nothing further to Ean, leaving the balcony behind and going into the main room. Ean stood by the door there for a moment, looking out into the alleyway by their apartment, before taking a few steps after his brother. He was trying to remember if Ty had been all this talkative when they were younger, but he often confused him with his other brothers, Hannon and Egan. When they were all fighting, it was hard enough to keep legs and arms straight, let alone words. He figured that part of his childhood was why he had spent so much of it with his mother in the kitchen, and having no idea what his brothers were up to, most of the time.

The small contemplation of the past Ean was having was pushed into by his brother, speaking to him. Not asking more about his brothers, or even asking about Ean himself. Perhaps the two Corellian brothers had more in common than they thought; neither seemed to want to speak more than necessary to each other. The air in the dusty apartment seemed alive with more than just memories; now it held some electricity between the brothers, an uneasy truce for the moment, one that was close to the breaking.

He shook his head at the offer of a drink. Not that he was any teetotaler; he just wanted a clear head right now. No heavy drinker by any means, Ean would still enjoy the occasional glass to help him relax. But for the most part he avoided the substance while on jobs or occasions where he might need all his faculties, limited as they were. "No, thanks."

And there it was again, that strange silence that seemed both full of everything and void of everything. Ean turned away from Ty and the kitchen and moved towards the table where all the papers were piled high, hoping a glance a bill or something might reveal anything about the obvious poor state of his father's life. He shoved his hands in the pockets of his jacket--figuring his brother would behave himself at least for a while--and ambled over, portraying a blank face, as if he wasn't really caring what he was looking at, and hoping that Ty wouldn't notice his prying. That was one thing Ean was good at--a nice, blank sabacc face.

Something on one of the notices had just caught his eye, something he wanted to look at further when alone in the apartment, when his brother Ty finally spoke more than two words to him. Only slightly surprised, he didn't show any emotion on his face as he looked up to meet his brother's gaze. He shrugged at the older man, not willing to give up more than he had to and not just because of any bounty hunter/client privileges. "Doing well enough." Ean paused a bit, then decided to offer a small peace branch, very small. "You?"