October 1889 - Arizona Territory
Beau Miller

here's a diamond sky that's waiting for us just outside of town
with the moon hanging for me and you, baby

Though she had a tent to herself and everything was still and peaceful under a full moon in the desert, Eavan was wide awake. Cool air drifted on the breeze through the slit in her tent and though she thought it a ridiculous notion, Eva knew she wasn't falling asleep any time soon. Her body was exhausted in every sense of the word. Long hours in the hot sun wore on a fair Irish girl after a while, and even though she was made for stronger stuff, Eva was feeling it. Unfortunately the reason for her restlessness was entirely emotional and there was little she could do about that. Only whiskey could solve this problem but that was kept in the mess tent and so with her hair loose and a blanket around her shoulders, Eva slipped her feet into her shoes and wandered that way.

The still of the desert air was punctuated by the occasional snort of snuffle- hard to tell if her was her compatriots or the birds, but it caused Eva to chuckle as she stole into the mess tent and back out with a bottle of firewhiskey in hand. She took the long way round back to her tent, definitely hearing snores or the male human variety. What caught her attention was the campfire that she thought had been put out was roaring merrily, the warm glow casting a shadow on a familiar figure. Apparently she was not the only one who couldn't sleep.

She crept up on him from behind, but he no doubt heard her. Gently she laid the bottle against his shoulder before taking a seat next to him. "Can't sleep Handsome?" She sighed, nudging him gently with her elbow as she pulled the blanket tighter around her shoulders.

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Exhaustion, it seemed, didn't inherently lead to peaceful rest. Despite his bone tired weariness and deep desire to turn off for even twenty minutes, Beau found himself, once again, wide awake and fearful of the demons in his nightmares. The faces of his opponents in the fighting ring — so many faces — all blurred into one hideous being with the combined roars of all the beasts he wronged. Guilt always had a way of plaguing him (be it his mother's death or the friend in school he betrayed) but this was inescapable. This was a guilt he could never properly shed.

He kept his focus on the stars above. The cloudless sky reminded him of the astronomy classes at school and the countless stories behind the constellations. It was easier to refocus himself out here than in the humid air of his tent — easier to pretend all his fsults weren't his own. If it were only people he fought Beau might have been able to reconcile the fights, as they had to consent on their own volition. But the beasts...those poor creatures had no say. In those years he became his father, torturing lost souls for no reason other than to have an outlet for his own rage.

And that was the part which ate relentlessly at him.

Beau didn't bother turning at the footsteps behind him. The camp was so heavily warded against outside intruders (a necessary precaution in these parts) that he knew it had to be someone on the team. Finding it was Eavan, though, only reassured him more. "No rest for the wicked." He replied with a teasing grin and took the bottle from her. Beau took a long swig before handing it back. "You?"

  

Eva made herself comfortable, accustomed to sitting on anything but a chair these days, while Beau took a long swig of the whiskey without even so much as a grimace afterward. She was no stranger to the taste of liquor, but it still made her lips pucker every time. "Easy there tiger, I only brought one bottle." Not that getting another would be altogether tricky, but it required effort anyway.

Taking a long pensive sip herself, Eva pondered his reply, wondering what it was exactly that had him out here tonight. "Wicked you say, hmm?" She didn't know much about his past, but then again it wasn't exactly her business either. The Tobias she knew now was good at his job, good with the animals, kind to an old man and his eccentricities and had a reasonable balance of treating Eva like one of the boys and like a lady when the time called for it. Plus she didn't call him "Beau" for nothing; he was pretty easy on the eyes.

"Everyone's got something that keeps them up at night," She shrugged, passing the bottle back. "No one's story is flawless. Mine sure isn't." This time she followed up with a quiet chuckle.

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He nodded with a soft chuckle at her warning. The supply of whiskey was plentiful in this camp (what was it with magizoologists and their love of the drink?) but to retrieve another bottle would mean waking half the camp. Beau didn't think he had one in his tent either, which was unfortunate. He'd likely only get just about tipsy if they shared the bottle equally. Better than nothing, he supposed.

Eavan was flawless. Perhaps not physically — the visible scars were a deterrent for some lesser men — but certainly in every other regard. To think she thought herself anything less only piqued his curiosity. After all, if she in all her Irish glory thought she was anything other than perfect what hope wss there for him?

"And what is yours?" He asked curiously, an eyebrow raised. Beau took a much shorter sip of the bottle and passed it back to her.

  

Eva supposed she could have had it worse. Her story more likely contained hiccups more than actual bumps along the road, but things were devastating in some places and part of the reason she'd ended up here this way. "Ach, well, it's a bit of a sad story really," She paused to take a sip of the whiskey, pulling a face at the after burn in her throat.

"Things were fine growing up. I was rough on ma for a pregnancy so needless to say, no siblings, but got through Ilvermorny alright." School had been one of her favorite periods in her life. "Grew up a little bit all over, was born in Nova Scotia, did a lot of time in Australia, came back for school and settled on a farm in the woods of New Hampshire where my parents ran a rehab center for magical creatures." And thus the origin for her fascination with the field.

Taking a steeling sip of the whiskey she passed it back. "Then my mum grew ill in '84 and passed away. Da didn't handle it too well..." Still wasn't, really. This was, thankfully the hardest part of the story and she tried to breeze through it as fast as she could so as not to give away too much of the emotion bubbling up under the surface.  "Never good with emotions that one. He packed up the farm and took a research trip to the Amazon. I tried to go with him, but the climate made me incredibly ill." She felt like she was rambling even though she was giving the condensed version of the story. 

Pausing, she eyed him carefully, but figured it would be best to plow on. "Landed at a zoo in Scotland. Fell in love, made some promises I never thought I would, but intended to keep, gave a little bit too much of myself away in the process and wound up regretting that after a huge argument. But here I am." She shrugged. That was the nitty gritty of it though.

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   Beau Miller

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"I'm sorry 'bout your mom." Beau said quietly. The deaths were different, for sure, but he knew all too well what it was to be motherless. In truth, Eavan was fortunate to have had her mother for as long as she did, not that Beau would ever say as much. There was enough guilt to be had in one's life without adding to it.

The rest of her story surprised him. Love was something Beau had little experience with, as it was hard to love someone else when he barely loved himself. What he did know, though, was love wasn't meant to drastically change a person. To have lost as much as Eavan claimed she did meant that the man didn't love her, but rather some other version of her.

Beau took a drink before shrugging. "And here you are." Because really, what could he say? It wasn't as though he knew enough about the man to say 'good riddance'. Beau took another drink and handed the bottle back to her. "Have you found yourself again yet?" He asked instead.

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   Eavan Miller

"And here I am," She echoed with a chuckle. "And yes, quite thoroughly myself again. Which I cannot tell is better or worse for you lot." Eva waggled her eyebrows at him playfully while she took the bottle back and took another sip, watching him over the bottle pensively.

He looked as though he'd rather she not turn the question back around to him, but Eva wasn't so sure. Crossing her legs beneath her, Eva shifted her position so she was looking at him a little more straight on rather than next to him. "How did you wind up here then?" Curious by nature, she honestly wanted to know. Prying was not so much a habit of hers, but with a good third of the bottle gone by now, she was likely to ask some questions sober her would not have. It was only fair though, after she had just spilled her life story to him, even if it was only the abridged version.

While she waited out the answer to her question, she studied his face carefully. Handsome as it was, there was indeed a story there. She wasn't the only one with scars on her arms- or her heart for that matter.

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"Better for sure." Beau replied with a smile of his own. While he didn't know the man she lost he knew the man was an idiot letting her go. It didn't take a genius to know there weren't many women like Eavan in the world.

He sighed heavily, unsure of how to go about his story without sounding like a poor fool. There was much in his life he felt others pitied him for, and he had no want of it. "Well, I was the fifteenth babe with the added feat of causing childbirth fever." Beau began and took a sip of the bottle. "Not much love to be had in that house. Once I went to school I never went home." Even to this day he'd yet to step foot within a hundred square miles of his family's ranch.

"Miraculously graduated. Spent a lot of years fighting. Then some more years fighting. Eventually ran into a circus and decided to take up with them." Beau continued, purposely leaving out the fighting with beasts he'd done. "Traveled about the continent until they disbanded. I had a demiguise under my care, Demitri. Found a zoo willing to take him and went to apprentice there."

Beau took another sip from the bottle, if for no reason other than to wet his throat. "Worked there for a few years and was asked to come represent the zoo. And here I am."

  

Eva's smile faltered a little, softening to sympathetic and she instinctively reached out with her whiskey-free hand to wrap her fingers around his. Though losing her mother as an adult was a hard blow to be dealt, she had at least had twenty years of of her mother's love and companionship. To not have that at all would have drastically altered who she was as a person.

It was a stark contrast to her own story, at least in the beginning, but there were far more similarities as he went on. Moving here and there, lacking a "home" per se, finding family in unexpected places. "And here you are, same as me. You survived everything thrown your way up until now." She raised the bottle in salute, took a sip and passed it back.

Unsure if it was the whiskey or the cold desert night, Eva shivered and pulled her blanket tighter around her shoulders with her free hand. "We must have just missed one another at Ilvermorny. Could you imagine? I was such a pest, this little redhead running around the school yelling about magical creatures all of the time. I already knew more than half of the older students by then." She'd grown up with it after all!

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Beau held her hand in his, happy to have a peaceful connection. Their losses were different, but she knew in a way most didn't the gaping hole left behind. "And then some." He added jokingly before taking a swig of the half empty bottle.

He didn't notice how chilly the night was until he noticed her pulling the blanket about herself. Immediately, he gestured for her to move closer fo him. His sisters always complained of how hot he was. Sitting besides him was often compared to sitting inside a roaring fireplace. And while that was likely an exaggerated childhood lie it still held some truths.

Once she was situated against him he allowed himself to relax. "I can picture it vividly." He laughed. "I wasn't much fun back then, you would've driven me nuts."

  

Eva gratefully accepted the universal sign of "scoot closer" doing just that, wiggling right up next to him, leaning in without a second thought. Warmth radiated off of him in spades, and Eva sighed contentedly. Though she hated to admit it and wouldn't aloud, she had thoroughly enjoyed the comfort of being snuggled up with somebody. The independent woman within cringed at the thought, but she kind of missed it too.

Resting her head on his shoulder, she chuckled. "I was truly a pest, an only child desperate to make friends. Which I did, but I was probably likely very annoying- and even smaller than I am now." She laughed, the whiskey in her system diminishing her filter, forgetting how loud it would echo in the empty desert and so she clamped her free hand over her mouth to stifle the following giggles.

"And I think you're plenty of fun now." She added with a hum and a nod of absolution, reaching out for the whiskey.

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He handed over the bottle without complaint. The fuzziness around the edges of his consciousness was enough for the moment. "Like a little pesky fairy running about." Beau teased as he rubbed her arm to warm her. "I'm sure you would've worn me down eventually." He had eventually made friends in school, after all.

Taking the bottle back from her, Beau took another sip and handed it right back. His hand moved from her arm to toy with the loose strands of her hair. "Want to find out how fun I am?" He then asked suggestively. The answer would likely be no, but he couldn't help but try. She was too beautiful and he was on the verge of tipsy.

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   Eavan Miller

"Oh I definitely would have." Eva laughed again, this time at a much more appropriate level. The took a messy swig of the whiskey and nearly spat it back out at him when his next words hit her ears. Trying not to cough or choke on it, she managed to swallow it with some concentrated effort. It was mostly to give her a moment however, as she'd be lying if she said her heartbeat hadn't skipped or that his insinuation didn't have goosebumps erupting all over her skin beneath the blanket.

On the one hand, she knew she shouldn't. She wasn't in a good frame of mind for that emotionally, it was the whiskey talking certainly. Though she wasn't inexperienced in the sense he was suggesting and she certainly wasn't saying no just yet, Eva also wasn't drunk enough to know this could possibly change things. Then again, what exactly was the risk?

With more grace than she should have been able to muster, (especially given the drink and her usual clumsiness) Eva moved slowly and carefully, bottle still in hand, though now it hung loosely over his shoulders, as did her arms, to settle one leg on either side of him. It put her more at his eye level and she quirked one curious eyebrow. "What kind of fun are we talking about?" She questioned half-seriously, even though she clearly already knew the answer.

Damn whiskey.

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Perhaps it was wrong of him to suggest it knowing she was recovering from recent heartbreak. It wasn't as though he was in the right headspace for such intimacy either. But, she wasn't saying no. And well, neither was he.

Beau settled his hands on her lower back, holding her gently to him. "The kind that involves a little less clothes."

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   Eavan Miller

Well, she hadn't been wrong.

Eva however, had learned her lesson. "I have conditions," She rather thought that a little drunken one-night stand might do both of them some good. Setting the whiskey on the ground next to them, she looped her arms around his neck casually. Eyeing him carefully, blue eyes locked on his, she didn't think her terms would be too hard to stick to, but one never knew.

Slowly she tossed her hair over her shoulder, red locks falling down her back where she could feel the heat of his hands even through her shirt. "This stays between us," The last thing she needed was the rest of the boys catching wind. "And we stay friends, no strings attached." She was quite fond of him and the friendship they already had. Eva would have been so pissed if that went south because one of them got attached.

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Terms. Beau had to stiffle a laugh at her seriousness. One shared night wasn't going to spark an affection deep enough to risk their friendship. Hell, two nights likely wouldn't do it either. Beau had several faithful partners over the years of which none developed into a relationship worth mentioning. Intimacy was more about the release to him than anything else.

Which made her terms easy enough to agree to. "That all? Should I wear a bag over my head so you don't have to look at me?" Beau teased as he lightly began to trace random shapea along her spine. He would if she asked him to, not that he'd be pleased to do so.