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The price of carrying a legacy was no easy feat. 

Aliana Brady knew this well. Upon her graduation from Salem U, the young woman had been appointed by her parents as the Assistant Manager of The Brady Pub: the oldest drinking hut of Salem, and a historic staple of the town. The pub had been run by the Brady family for over three hundred years, and there were no plans for new management outside the family any time soon. However, working with family came with a price to pay. As if impressing an unknown superior wasn’t easy, it was harder to prove to a pair of stubborn parents that their daughter had the capacity to handle the family business. Of course, in their minds, Aliana was still the rebellious child who fussed about cleaning her room or following instructions. No matter how hard she’d tried, Shawn and Caroline still refused to give her some leeway to show her full potential. This had lead to more than a few arguments, with them promising to cut her some slack then ultimately failing to do so. But even with these odds against her, she would be damned before she let anything come in the way of showing her parents all that she was capable of.

Completely oblivious to some skank making some moves on her boyfriend a few miles away, Ali was hard at work. She had spent most of the morning making inventory of what was needed in the pub, to make the order for restocking before that afternoon. This had involved some back and forth between her tiny office and the bar area; and it was during one of these times when she heard her older brother’s voice addressing her.

[i][color=00a86b]“I don’t know how you stand working here for him. I could never do it. I’d probably kill myself after the first day.”[/color][/i]

Aliana could only smile and shake her head at him. She was more than aware of Colin’s rocky relationship with her parents: it was a persistent, dampening cloud of resentment that none of the two parties ever let go of. The young woman understood were both sides were coming from, though. Shawn and Caroline had been notorious for shoving their aspirations for their children down their throats. The couple would make a point of always reminding them what they expected from them, and how anything less than that would make them an object of shame in their eyes. Enough to say, one would crack under the pressure; which is exactly what had happened to Colin. Hell, it had even happened to her back in her teen years! They were only human, after all.

On the other hand, Aliana knew their parents’ banter came from a good place (even if it was hard to see sometimes). The elders wanted their children to be successful in live, and to have more than they ever had growing up. The whole family also wanted Colin to stay as healthy as he could, and to stay as far away as he could from those disgusting drugs that threatened to fuck up his existence not that long ago. Sure, Shawn and Caroline could use better words and tone to express themselves, but it was as useless as teaching an old dog new tricks.

[color=crimson]“Who’s to say I haven’t tried?”[/color] Ali replied to her brother, rolling her eyes at him but keeping the smile still in place to know she was just going along with the joke. [color=crimson]“Seriously, though. You know I love them to death, Colin, but they’re so damn stubborn that sometimes I feel like I’m talking to a brick wall,”[/color] she complained, letting out a frustrated sigh. [color=crimson]“So if you know of any other place that they’re looking for a manager, hit me up. Lord knows I could use the money.”[/color]