"The time has come", the walrus said, "to speak of many things..."

Nils laughed a little. "Oh, Loki. I don't have the slightest idea what to think of him. He seemed very concerned, and he made a concerted effort to explain things to me, and he showered me in presents. I really genuinely think he was trying to be a good father. He even went out of his way to let me know that he thought highly of my mortal father. But at the same time... He was impulsive, everything he did was designed to make him look better. And I have a father, a good family that I adore. They've taken the news that I'm half god pretty well, which just kind of proves how awesome they are. I mean, they've changed their entire worldview to be good parents for myself and Mary. I feel kind of like a traitor thinking of anyone else as my father. Dad may not have contributed biologically, but he's more than earned being my father. Not sure I want to turn from that to a notoriously untrustworthy divine being who may or may not be playing me."

"Do you feel like that's what's expected of you?" Esperanza asked after a moment's consideration.

Nils thought about it for a minute. "I'm not sure. I mean, I know Loki wants me to view him as my dad. He made it very clear he wanted to take that position. I think Dad thinks I might. I dunno. I feel like I might should, if for no other reason than to try to protect Mum and Dad. The Nephilim have proven that they don't care who they have to hurt to get things accomplished. I... I've already lost one person, and look at me. I wouldn't survive losing anyone else in my family."
He swallowed, forced himself to stay sitting, and continued. "My family is pretty much all I've had my whole life. I mean, I've had friends, like you guys, but that's really just extended family. And now someone shows up out of the blue, gives me a bunch of presents and expects me to just consider him part of the family?"

Esperanza considered how hard it must be for the others to have to think of their fathers and mothers in a completely new light after what had happened. Ronnie herself had been lucky in one sense; she had no father figure to compare to Baldur. He was the only father figure she had ever known.

"It sounds like your family is very important to you." she said, "How did your phonecall to them go?"

Nils shrugged. "I explained what happened as best as I could, they took it pretty well. I think my parents are questioning how it happened, but they're close, I'm sure they'll handle it alright. They're just concerned about me. They're not exactly thrilled I'm in danger nowadays. Dad thinks I should go buy a gun. He's a military man, it makes sense." He sighed. "They're still pretty shellshocked. Mary's excited, really excited. She's never had the same troubles I've had. I mean, she's telekinetic, but she could control it. So the idea of being a Scion is just one big party to her. I just hope she takes things seriously enough to be careful."

Ronnie grinned.

"One big party, huh? We must be doing something wrong."

Nils shook his head with a smile. "I guess. She's still kind of a kid, in some ways. I mean... I told her everything. Well, not about the drinking, I don't want them to know. They'd be crushed. They don't know I drank even the amount I did before all of this. But everything else, I told her. Even about the vision. And she takes it all in stride, she always has. She has a gift for not letting anything get to her. That also means she almost never takes things seriously, though. I worry about her."

"That's only natural; you're her older brother. I'd be more worried if you didn't." Esperanza said, "Have you two always gotten along?"

Nils thought for a minute. "As long as I can remember." he replied, smiling a bit at the memory. "Our parents sent us to local schools, instead of base schools, and we moved around often enough that we were often all each other had. Especially me, I was never as popular as Mary tends to be. We helped each other with the initial trials of dealing with our power, I helped her walk, talk, ride a bike, all those sorts of things. She was the first person I came out to, I helped her through her first crush and her first breakup. She stood by me when we moved to Texas and found that an openly gay high school student wasn't exactly quick to make friends."
He shook his head fondly. "We never quite understood the whole 'siblings aren't supposed to get along' thing. When we were little, and we'd watch movies and see siblings fight all the time in them, we thought that was what we were supposed to do, so we'd fake loud fights all the time. Our parents didn't quite know what to think when they caught us hiding getting along."

Esperanza laughed.

"I imagine the two of you were quite a handful. How did your parents react when they first found out about the two of you having powers?"

Nils bit his lip, thinking. "It took them a while to figure out what was going on with me. I don't really remember much that far back, I could do it from the day I was born, as far as I know. Mum has a load of stories of how fussy I was as a baby, and how I tended to freak out if I got hand me down baby clothes or sometimes in high chairs, that sort of thing. From what I've been told, it wasn't long after I started talking that they realized the stories I was telling them were things that had actually happened. The story they have is of me walking up to them and telling them the story of when Dad proposed to Mum after I got a hold of Mum's favorite dress shoes." He laughed. "Apparently Mum fainted, and Dad spent half an hour trying to figure out where I could have heard the story. Child proofing our house must have been a real hassle for them. Apparently they gave it some thought, talked to their minister, and didn't like what he told them, so they left the church. They didn't believe I'd gotten the ability from any kind of darker source, and so they protected me, they always have." He smiled wistfully
"Mary I remember, and we all knew very early. She'd get bored in the crib and start levitating her toys. After me, Mum and Dad were prepared for weirdness, but they hadn't expected something so hard to hide. We all spent most of her early childhood watching for randomly floating objects, to hide them before people noticed. It took her a while to understand that she shouldn't do it around other people."

Esperanza nodded. It was one thing to have special powers, but to have them from birth? She couldn't even imagine that. They were getting close to the source of some of Nils' problems and she knew she didn't want to push him there just yet. They'd been at this a while now. Perhaps it was time to call it a day.

"So Nils... We've been talking for a while now, and I think we're about ready to pack it in for today. I know you haven't eaten yet, and I don't want you starving to death on me. Before we do, though, I want to ask you the same question I did when we started. How do you feel right now?"

Nils shrugged. "Alright, I guess. Now that you mention it, I am starving. I don't suppose you were planning on cooking anytime soon?"
The fact of the matter was, he wasn't sure what he was feeling at this point. This entire conversation hadn't seemed particularly productive to him, just a lot of back and forth and some amusing anecdotes. If this was all this was going to be, he'd be a lot better off taking his chances with the wine. Not that he would say anything to her, and he would definitely keep meeting with Esperanza. Maybe the first session was just slow?

Esperanza laughed and closed her notebook.

"Actually, yes, I was about to head home and make dinner for tonight. You're welcome to come with me and we'll see what I can find for you."

She looked up at Nils and smiled.

"Thank you, Nils. Thank you for agreeing to this. I know it doesn't seem like it will work, but... give it time."

Nils smiled. "That would be heavenly." He was getting hungrier just thinking about Esperanza's cooking. He himself was the kind of person who tended to burn just about everything he touched in the kitchen, and he was truly in awe of Esperanza's skill.
His smile turned a bit sad at her second comment. "I hope you're right." He replied, more or less under his breath. What he didn't add was that he wasn't sure he had the time it would need. "If you think it'll work, I trust you." He told her, trying to sound much more confident than he felt.