#thread 1 ft. calliope wallace

[knoxwallace]

closed starter for @calxwallace at cal's home

Of the two sisters, Cal was without a doubt the more difficult one for Knox to randomly drop in on. He knew that there was every likelihood that she wouldn't want to see him, but he also was delusional enough to believe that the second she saw him all would be forgiven. He was, after all, just that charming. Or so he liked to tell himself. Zipping through town on his motorcycle, Knox came to a stop outside her place, revving the engine noisily and obnoxiously a few times to draw her attention. Hopping off as he cut the engine, he bounded his way up to the door, knocking loudly a few times before it opened. "Cal Gal. Brought some scratchers, you got any coins?" he greeted, making every effort to keep things jovial, to act like it was all good and that a few cheap scratch off tickets could make things right.

[knoxwallace]

"Excuse? You know what, I don't owe you a fucking excuse. I was in the same shit situation and I got myself out of it. It's not all about you, Cal," he scoffed back with a slight raise of his lip in irritation. Whatever guilt he'd been feeling had begun to dissipate as the conversation turned, replaced now by an overwhelming annoyance and frustration. As much as it had sucked to leave Cal behind, he wasn't sure that given a chance to redo things that he wouldn't end up doing the same exact thing again. He'd been suffering and he put himself first, something that he didn't think warranted a reaction like this. His head nodded a few times, irritation written clearly across his face. Were he a better person, he would have put himself in Calliope's shoes, tried to understand the hurt that he'd ultimately caused her, but Knox simply was not a better person. "Jesus fucking Christ, Calliope. You don't want anything to do with me, fine," he snarled back, tension building in every muscle of his body now. If she didn't want to talk, he wasn't going to force it, the petty side of him now ready to march right away and not bother at all. Knox wasn't a confrontation kind of guy, which was exactly why it had taken all those years with no note, no visit, and effort to show before he'd made it to Calliope's door that evening. The myriad of explanations and excuses he was ready to throw at her back were cut short at his lips as his sister stepped back inside, door slamming in his face. Immediately, he strode forward and kicked at it once, grunting with a smidge of pain as his foot collided with it. "Fine. Fuck it, I'll go have a fucking tea party with Giovanna instead. At least she doesn't slam doors in my face." His voice had raised loud enough that he was sure she'd hear through the door. Frame whipping around, Knox stalked back down to the street, hands now curled into angry fists as he sat back down on his motorcycle.

"Wow. All these years and that's the best excuse you could come up with?" Calliope shook her head, a hollow laugh coming out that was deprived from all humour. She had no mercy for him, and this entire situation made it perfectly clear why she was alone in the first place. People would always leave at some point. Use and then discard her. Her heart was beating out of her chest when Knox spoke again, lips pursed together at the news that he was living in town rather than just passing by. Of course he was. She decided to go somewhere to start anew and her past would follow her. Why could she never get a break? Yet the whole 'tea and sandwiches' attempt at what she figured was a joke just hit her the wrong way. Her brows furrowed even more than thought possible, cheeks flushing red out of anger. "Are you fucking kidding me?" She seethed. "What makes you think I want to have to do anything with you? I wasn't important enough for you to stay, I wasn't important enough for you to take me with you. All those bloody years and nothing. No note, no visit." Calliope berated him. "You and Giovanna are exactly the same. Not even caring enough to see me as a child and make sure I was okay while I was abused by those horrible people, and then years later come on knocking and expect I'll just let you walk all over me. Screw that. Screw you and screw Giovanna. I'm sure she'd love to accept your tea party." At this point she was basically yelling at him before she stepped back and slammed the door shut it shook the decorations on the wall. @knoxwallace

[knoxwallace]

"I stayed as long as I could," he said simply. The chance to leave, to get away from his aunt and uncle, from the memories of his then broken family, had been too enticing to pass up. He'd done what he could, stayed as long as he could endure, but Knox was not a strong man. There was a weakness in him that had made it easier to just disappear, to leave his sister to fend for herself when he couldn't handle it any more. They were realities about himself that he'd had to grapple with over the years, one of many reasons he'd been stuck in an endless loop of addictions and vices with no end in sight. "If you want me gone, say the word, I'll go. I'm still going to be living here in town, but I'll go and leave you alone," he answered back, teeth grit together tightly as the idea of coping mechanisms was brought up. Knox would be the first to admit that his methods of coping had only ever torn his life apart, but the less his sisters knew about what he'd been struggling with over the years, the better, as far as he was concerned. "And drink doesn't have to mean alcohol. If you're more of a tea person, I'll go have tea with you. We can even get those little sandwiches. I like those. This isn't me trying to cope, this is just me extending an invitation to talk. If you want to. When you want to."

@calxwallace

"Oh you didn't? Well you didn't stay because of me either." Calliope retorted. Having had this conversation with him in her head over and over and over for all those years. At some point she could've made herself forget, to get over it and not waste her energy on hating what was done to her, what she had endured. But if she had done that, him showing up right now would've shattered her in a million pieces. It wasn't like she had anyone to pick up the pieces. And it was because of her resenting her childhood for so long that she had so many things to say, to yell, to scream. But for now Calliope remained silent, instead looking at him with a death glare. Or at least, if it could, she wouldn't mind. She tried not to let it, but it was clear she grew frustrated with his self pitying. With his sigh, his defeated demeanour at her door. When he had the audacity to suggest getting a drink, she scoffed. "Amazing how both you and Giovanna think you can just barge into my life and feel like you have any claim to my time and attention. Get a drink with you, are you kidding me? What sitcom do you think this is? Is drinking how you cope with everything? Because that coping mechanism gets old, Knox." @knoxwallace

[knoxwallace]

Giovanna had all but warned him that things wouldn't be going over well with Calliope. Knox had expected some residual anger, but had also been hoping that after so many years to simmer on it that maybe his sister's anger would have faded. That most definitely wasn't the case and he couldn't help but cringe again when the door swung open to a very angry Calliope. "Again, harsh. That's not - you know I didn't leave because of you, Cal," he huffed out, hand brushing through his hair with a hint of frustration. There had been a lot of reasons for him to leave his aunt and uncle's place, but Calliope had never been one of those reasons. If anything, she'd been the only thing that had kept him there as long as he had been. Were it not for wanting to keep her shielded as much as possible from their aunt and uncle's ire, he would have left far earlier. All of that went unsaid, however, a sinking feeling hitting his gut that an excuse like that wouldn't get him very far. With a defeated sigh, Knox leaned over against the wall, not making any move towards her otherwise. "Alright, alright, I get it. It's not that hard to find someone, though, you know. Not that creepy." His counter came out a bit whiney, arms now folded in front of his chest. "I'll go if you want. Or you can come with me, get a drink. Yell at me some more if you want."

@calxwallace

For a moment, Calliope was still in limbo, trying to decide about if she was awake or if this was all one cruel dream. She just stood there frozen in place, her hands pressed against her cheek, both feeling ice cold, that no heating or rubbing could help. Her heart was racing in her chest, resembling a bird trapped in its gilded cage desperate to come out. Showing a bout of desperate violence that it didn't care if it would break its wing. Broken freedom would be better than being trapped. It was like a bad dream she couldn't escape; her aunt's taunting and her uncle's intolerance. Like she had been an inconvenience. She'd felt lonely when Knox hadn't come home, but hoped that the extra space would make them loosen up. Instead it had only increased tempers, something she'd never forgive him for. So when Knox called out towards her that she was being harsh, her heart started racing even faster, more furiously. She swung the door open, her face tight, brows pushed down as she looked at him. "And why would I let you in, Knox? I thought you preferred staying away from wherever I am?" She spat at him, the door open just far enough that she was visible, her foot behind it, as if she expected him to try and barge his way through. "Being a creep suits you well, since I never bothered to tell you where I lived in the first place." @knoxwallace

[knoxwallace]

There had been a lot of ways that his sudden reappearance in Cal's life could have gone and having the door slammed promptly in his face had been one of the many possibilities he'd considered. He wasn't willing to admit that he deserved it, but knew that it was a reasonable response after everything that had transpired all those years ago when he'd left. Leaning over against the door frame, Knox gave a few softer knocks to make sure Cal knew he wasn't planning on leaving. "Harsh, Cal," he called out, hand running through his hair as a sign of stress. He'd never been good at dealing with the hard things and this was one of the harder things he'd ever confronted. It was easy enough to believe he could just stroll in and everything would be fine and fun, but the harsh reality was that it wasn't going to work like that. "Are you going to let me in or do I have to stay out here and look like a creep on your doorstep?"

@calxwallace

Calliope was in the middle of changing for going out clubbing later. She was deciding what shirt fit better with her skirt when someone seemed to pound on her front door. For a moment, she thought maybe Riley had forgotten their keys and needed to get in to use the toilet or something, pulling on one of the shirts, she tugged it down making her way to the door, uttering an annoyed 'yeah yeah' to herself and swung the door open. She almost hadn't recognised the person in front of her, the last time she had seen her brother he hadn't been old enough to properly don a beard, or be this tall. And she hadn't done any effort to look him up on social media, not after how his betrayal had been unforgiving. Yet when he called her Cal Gal the memories rushed in like a tidal wave. Rather than going off at him, she panicked and threw the door shut before she could properly gather her thoughts, taking a step back with her hands pressed against her cheeks. This was not happening. @knoxwallace