Farrington-Gores: Anstine's meeting part I

'I'm glad to see you, Nalini.'

'You too. I'd ask how you are, but... I can guess.'

'I'm not particularly impressed.'

'Aria! We're ready to go!'

'Thought you were ready.'

'...Ah. Sorry.'

'Nothing to apologise for. Hi. Nice to meet you.'

'You too. I'm Nalini.'

'Aria. Oh, you're the woman Stan farted at!'

'...Indeed I am.'

'Well done, Stanley.'

'I know. Caught a bit of it myself, it was bad. There's something abnormal about that man's digestive system.'

'You can say that again, holy Christ. If I was familiar with him at all I would've sprayed him with deodorant to try and take the edge off.'

'You should. Failing that I'll shove a cork up his ass.'

'Oh, I've threatened people with foreign objects up the ass before, it's fun.'

'Agreed. I did it a lot when I lived with Heath.'

'...We should probably go.'

'Hello. Come in, all of you.'

I'm Tony. This is my partner Anstine, though I understand you've both met him before.'

'That's right.'

'Yes, we have.'

'I haven't. Aria, by the way.'

'And this is Isai-'

'Oh, it's you!'

'You two know each other?'

'I met him earlier. His sister's moving into my place.'

'You're going to live with Topaz? Ah, lovely. She's great.'

'Indeed. And you two are...?'

'Nalini Faux, also nice to meet you.'

'You too.'

'And I'm Edward.'

'Sit down, all of you. Right, since I'm the one who gathered you all here, thus being a gigantic pain in the ass-'

'No disagreement there.'

'...I'll be the one to begin. Nalini and Edward already know I'm from the Institute of Arcane Research.'

'What's that?'

'A corporation that investigates supernatural problems on a large scale.'

'Yeah. My role tends to be on the violent side of things. That is to say, I'm called in to deal with problematic supernatural beings. I guess you could say I'm a demon hunter, of sorts.'

'Right.'

'About 15 years ago, there was a string of disappearances in Midnight Hollow. Any of you remember that?'

'I'm afraid I was in no position to keep up with news at that time.'

'It does ring a bell...'

'Well, in short, it turns out these people were being kidnapped and killed by a demon. She was doing it to absorb their energy to strengthen herself. So it was my job to deal with her.'

'Holy shit.'

'Her name was Aosoth the Relentless. Informally, after she got married... Aosoth Atwood.'

'Oh my God.'

'...Oh Jesus fucking Christ.'

'You killed Miles' wife!'

'Yep. It wasn't easy, either. I was pretty hurt coming out of that fight. But it was necessary. The shit she was doing was fucking awful. Anyway, since then I've been kinda loosely watching over the family. Emphasis on loosely... I've had a load of other cases too. So I'm sorry to say I didn't catch what happened to Tristan.'

'It's okay.'

'You can't be expected to watch over that lunatic twenty-four seven.'

'Mm... thing is, I didn't know he was a lunatic until Tony told me. I had suspicions because of his marriage, obviously, but I never expected anything like that.'

'And that's why I had to say something. I wouldn't have done it if I had another choice, but...'

'No, I get it now. It makes sense.'

'I'm really fucking sorry, Edward. I'm not gonna make you go over what happened to you in detail. There's no point in making you relive it.'

'Thank you.'

'I have a question, if it's not too upsetting. I understand that you went to his house and ended up putting him in the hospital.'

'That's right.'

'What triggered that, specifically?'

'Oh... Well, I'm not too keen to say it, but I suppose I should.'

'You don't have to. I have no judgement of you whatsoever.'

'Thank you... Miles discovered who my son's biological father is. Unfortunately, it happens to be Tate.'

'Seriously?! Oh God, that poor boy. At least you got him away from that fuckheaded dick.'

'I'm glad he doesn't have to have Tate for a father. There's no question he'd treat him horribly. Anyway, Miles decided it was a ripe opportunity for continuing his campaign of revenge, and told everyone the truth. Including Vincent himself. By going to school and telling him he was unwanted and nobody loved him.'

'...That nasty, fucked up, malicious cunt! No fucking wonder you beat the shit out of him - I would've done the same quite frankly.'

'That's horrible. Poor kid!'

'It was the straw that broke the camel's back. I was furious. I know making a six-year-old cry is low on his list of atrocities, but I'd had enough. That's why I turned. And I completely lost it.'

'It's no surprise.'

'Oh Edward, I'm sorry. It's not still bothering him though, I hope? He's seemed perfectly happy when I've seen him.'

'For a while, he was scared Miles would come back. Vincent is okay now though. I made it very clear that he's my son, and I love him more than anything.'

'Good. He's such a sweet little boy, he didn't deserve a run in with Miles. ...Nobody has. Well, apart from Tate, but who gives a fuck about him?'

'Not me.'

'Nor me, after hearing about the shit he's done. Anyway. You're not gonna like this next part. Aria, do you know what ORTOS is?'

'Yeah, the others explained it when you went to the Devil's Port one last week.'

'Right. And there's an identical facility in Midnight Hollow. Some time after Aosoth's death, Miles got a job there. That's why Isai's here.'

'I work at the same one.'

'Wait, you work at one of these fucked up facilities? The ones that involve using people as test subjects?'

'I'll have you know I'm in botany, thank you very much. I have never experimented on another person in my life. The only things I've ever harmed are plants.'