The Majesty of Choice

Moving

"This is going to be really awful, isn't it?" Gerard asks Ray from the corner of his mouth.

"Oh most definitely," Ray responds.

"Should I jump off a bridge now, or wait until they're here?"

Ray rolls his eyes, and huffs, though he's not that excited either. He's not expecting much, and he doesn't like replacing things that can't be fixed. Gerard's mother is not someone who can be replaced.

"Oh god, they're almost here, this is my final chance to jump in front of the damn carriage," Gerard says.

"You will do no such thing," Ray replies.

"I wasn't actually going to do that you know. You worry too much."

"You'd be making quite the first impression if your first action was to literally display how much this all displeases you."

"But it does displease me," Gerard scowls, "I'm not fond of the idea of a stepmother, but god forbid, I'm about to have step sisters."

"They might be lovely," Ray says, not believing himself.

"Rumor has spread of them. They're not well liked in their old town. Arrogant, obsessive, rude."

"Don't believe everything you hear."

"Don't choke on your own clichés."

Ray doesn't respond because the carriage stops. Only a few meters away are the people who are about to overtake and habit their lives for possibly the rest of Gerard's life. Probably not Ray's, what with the eternal youth and all, but Gerard is still not looking forward to the fact that he's probably never going to be able to escape this place ever.

Gerard can't find himself a job because no one wants to hire him, he has no money, no room to ever leave this town, and probably no room to ever leave this house. He's probably going to die in this place working a job in town selling chicken feed or something equally as dull. And on top of that he'd be the most irresponsible employee ever because he wouldn't really be able to stop someone from stealing things as long as they told him not to interfere. Gerard's life is really setup for ever looming disaster. Really, it's a wonder that nothing really bad has happened yet.

"Stand up straight," Ray says before the door opens.

"You're not my mother," Gerard says, but he has no choice in the matter. He feels his back straighten as if on instinct.

"No, that would be," Ray starts, and the door opens as if on cue. The first to step out is Gerard's tired looking father. Gerard's not sure if he necessarily dislikes the man as much as he is indifferent to him. He's never been there. He's never been an overly horrible person, but he's just never been there to prove himself as anything other than the guy who Gerard has to thank for his own existence.

"Ah, good, you're here," he says, which his hello apparently after not seeing either of them in over six months.

"We didn't want to miss this," Gerard says, and his father is too unfamiliar with him to detect the sarcasm there.

"I'm sure you'll love them," he replies, and Gerard scowls to himself, trying to prolong this whole thing from happening at all, but his brains hopes don't make it any more possible.

Without even acknowledging Ray's existence, he smiles back into the carriage, and beckons for someone to come out, making Gerard's frown even more obvious. He turns to Ray quickly who sends him a warning glare to play nice. He's not a huge fan of people though, especially not rich people, which these people won't exactly be, but they're certainly richer than them.