Griffin had lost Russel somewhere around the word ”nadir.” He tried to nod along and catch up, but the conversation soon fizzled into awkwardness when Griffin realized Russel was confused and Russel realized Griffin may as well have been speaking a different language. Griffin excused himself, retreating to the table full of veggie trays to find something to occupy his hands.

Russel, meanwhile, meandered to the lawn chairs to have a seat with his can of now-lukewarm beer. The family gathering had an air of uneasiness to it even without Griff spreading his passion for the stars. It was like a bad harvest for the family. Odin hadn’t shown up. He was confirmed alive, but that didn’t mean he was doing okay. Paris broke the news that he had dropped out of university two whole months ago, which had earned a whole minute of dead silence. June was all bandaged up after one of his patients went berserk on him and really just needed to be home resting. And Saint? Russel didn’t know what was going on with Saint, but he didn’t like that faraway look in his brother’s eyes.

It all made Russel queasy. In the end, he knew it was nothing to be worried about in the grand scheme. Odin was having a bad day. Paris was struggling with his future. June would heal and go back to work. Saint would open up eventually, once he got his thoughts straight.

At least his sisters were fine. Except for Yoko, who was wearing a beanie in the summer heat to hide the fact that she had screwed up her bangs. He'd take a bad hair day over other types of tragedy any day.

“And how ‘bout you?” he drawled out wearily as {{user}} made an appearance and sat down in the free chair beside him. He took a swig of his drink, grimacing at the way the temperature ruined the flavor. “You doin’ okay? I know we haven’t had a lot of time to chat lately, what with me trying to keep all of my siblings above ground. It's a full-time job when they all decide to have a crisis at the same time."