STRANGENESS
AND CHARM
ft/Cora Barrett

Of course Cilian never knew Cora was a huntress as well. He never thought about it, it never actually crossed his mind that, maybe, he was dating one. Adam only seemed to be the man of his dreams -basically-. Perfect on a lot of things, and even his flaws weren’t to him. He loved (loves) him with all his being and now he only felt betrayed. And it was unfair obviously because how would he expect his ex-lover to tell him what he truly was when he didn’t have the balls to do it himself, too? Something like a week after the break-up, Cilian texted Cora. She was their best friend; they were kind of a golden trio. Not everyone knew them of course but it was very unlikely not to see them together. She replied right back, as always (or almost). It was settled, they would see each other at the pub, in Glencullen. It was where he crashed for now. Could not really go back to his flat, otherwise he was pretty sure Adam would kill him even sooner than expected. Cilian put on his coat and his scarf, and went out. On the way to the pub, he lighted a cigarette and, by the time he arrived he smoked the entirety of it. Adam hated it, and ever since they were clearly not together anymore, Cilian smoked a lot more of these. The smell was all over him, and he didn’t care. It was mixed up with this perfume he was wearing for a few years now. Making his own scent, particular, singular but that his friends grew to -maybe not like- but accept.

Cora was not here. Not yet. Therefore, Cilian went to a table next to the fire which was burning in a corner, and ordered a Guiness. The guy who served him his beer smiled at him, but he did not notice. Cilian was not in the mood. When he was dating Adam, he always continued to pay attention to it, even if it meant having his boyfriend being jealous. He did not care, Cilian was a proud man, and needed to feel desire and wanted. He liked that probably way too much but, for now, his mind was elsewhere. He was just about to text Cora to ask her where she was when he saw her pushing the front door. A smile appeared on his features as their gaze met. She approached the table and Cilian pushed the chair with his feet, to invite her to sit. “Hey Cora.” She was one of his best friends, if he was attracted by girls he would probably be attracted by her. She looks gorgeous, everytime. No matter what, he just likes her aura. “How are you?” He said as she sat. Seeing her was such a relief. He had still no idea. No idea that he would loose her in a snap to Adam, because they were both hunter.

STRANGENESS
AND CHARM
ft/Cilian O'Callaghan

The rain was pouring on the streets of Glencullen as Cora was slowly walking with a soft feeling of freshness on her neck. Her head seemed heavy, too heavy to be carried alone. She always had that weird feeling of being watched every time, but she only started to have this weird feeling after the incident. Or at least that was how they were calling it. An incident. An ironic laugh came out of Cora's lips as she was still walking and slowing drowning in her thoughts. There were some times where she just couldn't take it anymore. Where she just wanted scream, to hit something to express her anger. But she just couldn't. Almost every nights she was dreaming of vengeance, she dreamt so many time of her burning down the Johnsons' Mansion for payback. But she had made a promise, a promise she could not break. But she had swore on her father's casket that she would avenge his death. Of course, she had to take her mother's wise advices but it was something that Cora could not understand. She could not understand how her mother was so calm about this, almost like she knew something, or at least had something in mind. But sometimes she just wanted to see her father make a slight cameo in order to advise her, to guide her on the good way. So to do that, she was spending a lot of time at the cemetery where she had the feeling she was talking to him. She knew it was only a feeling but that was everything she could have for now. Bur of course, she wasn't alone in all this. Apart from her family, she could always get to her friend and thus, forget everything for a couple of hours. And that was what she had decided to do on a this cold evening.

A smile appeared on her lips as her eyes crossed Cilian's. As she was heading to the table, she told a waiter to bring her the same drink as Cilian. She had never been crazy about beers but there were some times where she just wanted to drink to forget, to have fun for once. “Hi.” said she as she sat, smiling even more at her best friend. One of hers at least. They were usually three but it appeared that it was only the two of them that night. “Better than ever.” she responded with a slight tone of sarcasm. But she didn't want to talk about what was going on (for a couple months already), all she wanted was to have fun and forget about everything else. “What about you?” said she while her drink was brought by a random waiter. She nodded in response and then drank the liquid. It wasn't particularly pleasant but it would do it. Cora looked at him, again, and couldn't do otherwise but noticing that something was wrong. Something in his look seemed different from usual. Maybe she wasn't the one who needed a drink to forget something.

STRANGENESS
AND CHARM
ft/Cora Barrett

As she entered the pub, Cilian could see that her expression was completely different just right before their gaze met. But he wouldn’t ask any specific question tonight. If his best friend wanted to talk about whatever was putting weight on her shoulders, she would. Just as he would. And he was not actually going to. Adam was her best friend as well, after all, and even though a lot happened. Even though they fought, quite hard, he was not the kind of man who would try to get all the common friends on his side. Especially when the problem was a ‘surnatural versus hunter’ one. Cora probably was not aware of the surnatural at all, therefore he had to keep up with a classical story of breaking up because things took a different path, because they “were too different”, in the end. Bullshit, but not that much. “Hi.” She was smiling, and the way she said hi to him was like her voice was smiling too. Which made his smile even wider. “Better than ever.” Said the brunette. He frowned, the smile disappeared in a snap and he knew she would use a small talk. “What about you?” Cilian looked at the waiter who brought Cora’s drink. Especially when he left, his gaze went down just a bit, for like a second or two. Long enough to make a boyfriend jealous, if he had one. Which was not the case anymore, that actually was why he allowed himself to do that again.

Before she would notice –though she probably did- his gaze went back to her and he drank a bit of his beer. “Exactly the same answer, actually.” What a pair! Two best friends having a bad day, or a bad week… Or even a bad month, who knows? “What’s going on?” He wants to know, because focusing on his best friend’s problems would set his mind to ease, at least for the moment. The sorcerer knew his best friend would not let him go with it. Now that he admitted that he was not fine – not really – he knew that she would want to know, too, what was happening. And saying out loud that he broke up with Adam was kind of making it real, making it seem like there was nothing to do about it. Cilian knew that there was actually nothing to do about it, but somehow his mind was holding on to a strange feeling of hope. And it was driving him insane, more and more each day.