Brakus let's out a loud yawn as soon as he opens his eyes, ready for a new day. "Agh- okay now that hurts!" He is still sore from his wounds today, but the pain will subside over the next few days. He checks the bottom bunk and Brock is missing, "he must have went downstairs already" the smell of bacon and eggs in the air causes his stomach to rumble. He jumps down to the floor and with a wobbly landing, catches his balance and walks to the door. "Here goes nothing *ugh* this pain is seriously killing me!" he says while wincing from the intense pain.
Brakus continues to limp his way down the hall towards the stairs which lead to the bottom floor. He pauses for a moment and glances in the direction of his mother's room, the door was closed. But this was a usual thing, she never kept her door open and it was always so..uninviting for him and Brock; but she was always a truly loving mother. Brakus smiles saying "I hope she doesn't know that I snuck out, I really dont plan on dying young" he shudders at the thought of his Mom's head exploding with frustration and dissapointment.
"Brakus!! Breakfast is ready!!" Her voice interrupts his thoughts, cutting through the silence which consumed the house. Brakus struggles to descend the staircase, each step sends an intense shattering feeling up his legs causing him to keel over in pain. "Acute fractures, my ass" he snickers at the old man's words, as a bead of sweat slowly rolls down his forehead and into his eye causing it to sting. There is a mirror half way down the stairs and as he passes the mirror he notices that his face is unscathed. Admiring it for a moment he says, "I really am lucky aren't I, it won't be so hard to hide what I did last night from her".
[Kitchen/Dining Area: 1st floor]
As he makes his way into the kitchen the scent of breakfast intensifies until it overpowers his other senses, and his stomach continues to rumble. "This food smells amazinggg!" an intense feeling of happiness comes over him as he remembers the last family breakfast, where his mother made all of his and Brock's favorites, along with freshly squeezed juice. She wasn't always so cheerful though, ever since her husband was killed as a casualty of war she spent the majority of her time locked away In her room crying uncontrollably. It took years for her to come to terms with what happened to him.
Brakus walks in and is greeted with a large smile from his mother and he notices his brother Brock eating like a pig 'hmmph, always eating so fast, not a care in the world' he let's out a giggle.
"Goodmorning!" Brakus exclaims happily as he struggles to walk to the table without a limp, it takes everything just to stand up straight but he has to play it cool, worrying his mother is the last thing he wants to do and the trouble he would get in wasn't worth the stress. He imagines the face of the old veteran, deep in thought 'I need to go to the old man's shop today, and ask about those shadows. something about them gives me an uneasy feeling..'. The face of one of the shadows pops into his head, leaving Brakus with a sensation of dread and anguish. He pulls out his chair to sit at a plate stacked with bacon and eggs, and 4 pieces of toast, he has a smile on his face,but he cannot shake these unsettling thoughts 'I wonder if he knew my father'..
"Are you okay honey?" his mother voice shatters his concentration, bringing him back to reality. He gives her a false smile and responds, "Yeah.. I'm fine mom, I'm just really focused on this amazing breakfast" he let's out a uncomfortable laugh, almost giving away his innermost thoughts. 'Whew! that was a close one!'.
His mother has a look of confusion as she observes me for a few more seconds, then gives him a heart-melting smile "You're always so on edge with me, you don't think I would actually kill you do you?" she laughs uncontrollably. And his hearts drops as alarms go off in his head 'Shit, shit shit... she knows!! she knows!!!' as panic begins to slowly set in.
A mother's intuition overpowers all trickery, something that him and Brock learned many times in failed attempts to avoid trouble.
Brock grabs one of his pieces of toast and launches it at his older brother, slapping him In the face before he could even react causing last night's event to fade away. "What did you do that for?!? Weirdo..." his eyes light up and he sticks his tongue out , teasing his little brother "He's like a gremlin sometimes, isn't he Mom?" he cracks up at his own joke, finding it hysterical. "No way that's me, you must have yourself in mind!" Brock retorts cleverly, him and Brakus always had this kind of relationship, ways bickering and fighting but it was always in good fun.
Sylvis rubs the bridge of her nose in frustration, clearly stressed by her sons bickering, forks and spoons flying throughout the room and food covering every surface. A plate breaks, causing her to lose her cool "Stop fighting, or you'll be doing chores until the world ends!". Her voice shakes the entire house, followed by silence. Even the birds chirping and the noise of the wind rolling off of the wooden building could be heard. The brothers freeze in the middle of punching and kicking at eachother; the menacing sound of her voice would make the devil himself stop what he was doing, the boys slowly turn to her and sit back down
"Sorry mom!" they both say in unison. And almost like the changing of seasons she slumps back into her chair and smiles like nothing happened. After a few moments, she sighs and leans forward in her chair, both of her hands are intertwined with one another and elbows on the table, "No need to apogize , I'm just on edge lately, there has been trouble in my workplace and they are thinking of giving my promotion to another co-worker" her shoulders relax as if she dropped a thousand pound weight that she had been carrying for a lifetime, "I wanted you Boys to know, but I couldn't find the right words... so I decided to give it to you straight" she slumps back into her seat and continues "Things are going to change around here and I can't guarantee we will keep the house, but I've planned for this exact situation..".
Brakus softly touches his mother's hand with a determined look on his face "Don't worry mom, I will look for a job starting today" he doesn't want his mom to live in pain, not anymore. She pats him on his shoulder and rises up from her seat "You don't need to do that, honestly son" standing up from his chair, Brakus is determined to help his mom after everything they've been through. "Don't worry, I have to go see someone in the city anyways..don't wait upp!" and he charges out the door leaving his family with bewildered looks, prepared to find some answers to the mystery of the shadows.... and to find a job in the meantime.