Never Too Late

Family Matters

Khrysta sat in her car, deep in thought. What she just discovered was going to change all of their lives, not just hers. Then there was Briggan. She knew this would hit him the hardest. Especially since it has to do with him. She had a small, plain box in the back seat but she had no intentions on giving it to it's proper recipient. At least... Not yet. In all truth, she was scared to. She had no idea how Briggan and Mastavian would react, and that terrified her more than anything. She didn't want to lose a friend. Not again. She decided that it was best to let everyone enjoy their blissful ignorance while they still could. Besides, it was getting closer and closer to Christmas time. What kind of person would destroy someone's cheer during the Yuletide? In any case, it was best not to dwell on it now. She needed to be with Briggan and Mastace. She needed them right now, and it sounded like they could use her as well.

She stepped out of the car and walked up to the porch. Before she could knock or ring the bell, the door swung open and Mastavian was there to greet her.

"Hey, we saw you pull in. When you didn't get out right away, we wondered if something was up."

"Just some... family matters is all."

"Do you want to talk about it?"

"No, not really. I'm still pretty upset over it."

"Alright. Why don't you come inside and join us in our discussion of plans?"

Khrysta nodded and stepped inside the house. As usual, everything felt inviting and warm. Briggan sat on the couch, a different air about him. He looked to be a bit distant, like his mental self had clocked out for an unexpected vacation. "Is he alright?"

Mastace looked at Briggan and sighed. "Honey, you're spacing out again."

Briggan snapped back to reality after hearing Mastace's words. "Huh? Wha?"

"You spaced out again."

"Oh, I'm sorry..."

"You're alright, sweetheart. I was just making sure you knew what we're about to be doing."

And so, with the assent of the other two in the trio, Mastace made plans to go into the next town over and see where the ride takes them instead of just freezing their asses off in the park.

"Yeah, that sounds nice actually." Briggan said.

Khrysta nodded. "Sure, let's go. I just gotta move some stuff around in my car, then y'all can pile in."

"Sure," Mastace said. "Briggan and I will get ready while you do that. If you need any help, just holler."

"Shouldn't be a problem, it's all just stuff from my Christmas shopping. It all just needs to go to the trunk. See you two when you're ready."

"Alright, sounds good."

Briggan was the first to step out into the cold air, followed by a rather clingy Mastace. Briggan's first thought was that he wanted to make sure that he was near if Briggan spaced out again, but he noticed a slightly different tone that confirmed this was just him being snuggly. That was fine with him, he always enjoyed a lovely cuddle with his mate, private or public.

Khrysta shut the trunk door and locked it. "There, we're all set."

"Same here," Briggan said, feeling much more down-to-earth than he was fifteen minutes ago. Good thing, too. He didn't need to be conked out of his mind in the middle of the street. Having Mastace with him would definitely be of substantial benefit.

Everyone got in the car and within moments, the R and R trip began.

The triad of comrades walked around the square and surrounding areas, looking into the businesses to see if they could find anything of interest. There were mostly boutiques and secondhand shops in the square, but they still went inside quite a few and took a gander at what they had. Nothing really stood out to them, so they branched off. They found a café that wasn't half bad and got some hot drinks to help out with dealing with the cold weather. Briggan took a hot cider while Mastace and Khrysta each took coffee.