if these wings could fly for the rest of our lives
Abigail knew she was being hopeful, so was Arlo for that matter. It was clear that his parents had purposefully made the effort to be gone...or something. After all, if they were truly ecstatic for their son's return, they totally would have been here...waiting, looking out the window occasionally, checking to see where he was. It was sad really, she couldn't imagine how it would be to have family who didn't care for her. It only made her all the more determined to ensure that she did ALL she could to make this whole trip better somehow. She wasn't sure how but...she really really wanted to try. She watched as he fished that key from a nearby flowerpot, only to thrust it into the lock on the front door. In no time at all, the pair were admitted to that quaint and otherwise quiet household. It was certainly dated, the interior altogether fascinating if only because she had never actually seen a home quite like this before, so meticulously put together while also feeling so....old? She was baffled by it all really and yet, she hardly lingered as Arlo led the way up the stairs, pausing only to glance over the edge at the distance between the banister and the floor.

She could hardly even imagine how he might slide down that banister, that story perhaps as baffling as the house itself was. Abigail was almost tempted to try it, even if she hadn't considered the whole logistics of how one even went about sliding down a bannister, to begin with. Arlo's assurance that it worked only when you were smaller, however, only caused her to re-think the whole affair. Maybe if she was a panda she'd be in expert banister sliding mode! Though, then there was that whole staying on thing. She was wholly content to dwell upon how to gain proper velocity while remaining upright on a banister as Arlo led them further upstairs and into a darkened hallway, claiming his own bedroom was only just ahead. Though Abigail had been entirely curious to see what her boyfriend's childhood room had consisted of, the last thing she expected was to find...a nursery? She was baffled nearly as much as Arlo was by the presence of that baby furniture. There was like....absolutely NO way this was Arlo's room! Unless his parents like...brought back all of his old baby furniture but that seemed....peculiar. She was just about to inquire after it before the man abruptly pulled her closer, that motion echoed but seconds later by the sound of screaming.

That sound was quite near ear-piercing, prompting Abigail to raise her hands to her ears as the pair shouted at one another. That yelling between the two eventually caused a starkly different silence to cut within that room, causing her hands to slowly fall as she eyed the pair with a measure of uncertainty. Her hazel eyes darted between the siblings as the two conversed, that hurt quite clear within Arlo's voice and yet his sister remained nothing but clipped and poised. It was unfair really, the way they had carve him out of their lives entirely. It certainly wasn't his fault for what he had become. Gingerly, the young woman reached forward, her fingers gingerly touched Arlo's hand as if to subtly remind him that she was there for him even in the face of his sibling's less than favorable demeanor. In the face of it all, however, she hardly expected for the conversation to turn towards herself. That talk of her being a groupie was wholly lost upon her. What she did understand, at least to some degree, was that insinuation of Arlo and.....sex. The sheer idea of it caused her cheeks to flush, even if she wasn't quite sure why vampires were....bad in the bedroom? Was that what she meant? Why?

Arlo's voice suddenly cut through that rush of blood to her cheeks, cutting off any further word that his sister might have offered. That silence was still and poignant, as if the pair were uncertain of what to say to one another now. Abigail stepped forward, clearing her throat with a sort of determination to... fix things for Arlo, even if she suspected her own attempts would surely fall flat. She remained polite, if only for the hope that maybe, one day, his sister might want to still be apart of his life and yet Abigail was entirely determined to stay on point. She watched as Addison regarded her with arms crossed over her chest, the little were-panda hardly surprised that the woman failed to return her cordialness in the slightest. Her restatement of Arlo's death and the absence of his things caused her lips to press together into a small frown. Even Abigail knew that this was just a continued jab at her boyfriend's state of existence. Thankfully, Arlo seemed all the more keen to call her out on it.

Her hazel eyes turned back towards Arlo, that worry clear in the depths of her irises. How was she going to get them what they wanted when Addison seemed determined at every point to treat her boyfriend as if he was little more than a corpse?!? She watched the man's outburst, quite near shouting how he was very much alive!. Frankly, she hardly blamed her boyfriend in the slightest. Her hand reached out towards Arlo and yet, she didn't quite manage to touch him before he took that steadying breath, trying to sound firm and calm as he quite near repeated those very words that she had offered. Abigail could tell that Arlo was all too eager to leave the room in favor of anything he might gain from the basement, the young woman entirely inclined to follow suit. Any departing words she might have offered, however, died on her lips as Arlo pulled her forward, his hand tightly gripping her own. It was only after he had dragged her from the bedroom that Abigail voiced her own concern for her boyfriend. "Arlo..." She voiced softly, as he hurried her back down the stairs. "Are you--" She never quite finished that sentence as he stopped abruptly, the young woman still settled on the bottom step as he turned to face her.

Her head shook vehemently at that apology, absolutely refusing to accept it. He had no reason to atone for his family. They had made their own decision and she refused to believe it was a reflection upon him in the slightest. "It's okay, Arlo. It's okay." She attempted to reassure him, her eyebrows knitted together ever so slightly as she took that final step down. Abigail wanted to comfort him. She wanted to make it all better and yet...she knew just as well as he did that now was not the time or the place when they still had a task at hand. Rather, her hazel eyes watched that grin he gave her, knowing with absolute certainty that it was wholly falsified. A soft breath left her lips as Arlo headed off with Abigail following in his footsteps. She approached that pile of boxes, uncertain exactly as to what she was even looking for...much less....at. She bit her bottom lip, bending down to choose a box of her own. She pulled back the flaps, glancing inside, all the while doing her best to keep an eye on her boyfriend all the same. It broke her heart to see him like this, especially when he was trying to pretend like it didn't bother him at all.

She glanced over the contents of the box, eying it as she sifted through the clothes within. This one, she was sure, was not what they were looking for. Though, maybe he'd enjoy having some of his old clothes back? After all, some of these would still fit, right? She considered suggesting it as she moved to the next box, opening this one only to prompt a soft sound of surprise from her lips. That noise, quiet though it was, seemed to quickly pull at Arlo's attention. She picked up one of those CD's from the top of that box, eying the cover with a blank look on her features. She'd certainly never heard of this band....and hey.....didn't that kinda look like Arlo?? She glanced up from that object in her hands as her boyfriend moved closer towards her, that exclamation on his lips promoted a small simper on her features. She found them?! Really?! Yaaaayyyyy! That meant this whole affair was not a complete waste! Abigail's gaze shifted downwards towards the notebooks resting just under that mess of CD's, reaching in to pull one of them from the pile. "This one?" She inquired briefly, fully curious about its contents. Her search, however, was momentarily distracted as Arlo announced that CD in her hand was his first album.

"Really?" The girl inquired, now far more interested in that sixteen-year-old version of her boyfriend. He looked so different! Sixteen-year-old her certainly would have thought he was cute, even with his dorky haircut. It was that comment of the loose bit of paper, however, that refocused her attention on the task at hand, the girl placed the notebook and CD on the floor next to her, her hands quickly beginning to sift through the box for any papers of any sort she could find. "Umm...there's this?" She commented, handing up several wrinkled, well worn loose leaf papers with scrawled ink on them. Maybe this was it? Her gaze shifted up from the box in front of her at a sound of car doors slamming shut, a sound Arlo seemed to hear just as much as she did. That sudden action on the man's part was hardly anticipated, at least, until he informed her that that was his parent's vehicle, though how he could tell she had little idea. "Okay, okay." She responded, quickly attempting to shove those CDs and journals and whatever scrap of paper she could find into Arlo's box.

Frankly, she had little idea how they were going to avoid his parents when they were already in the driveway! Abigail hardly saw a reason to point this out, however, as she handed him that box that was now filled with his music stuff. A final look was given back towards those boxes before the girl picked up that clothing box she'd initially found. Well, she did have free arms and...he might appreciate more of his stuff later! Who knows what was shoved in the depths of that box! Specifically, if they weren't coming back. "Okay, ready!" She declared, entirely prepared to face his parents on their way out. After all, she'd survived his sister...how much worse could they be?