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Post by The Jenn on Feb 23, 2008 13:29:14 GMT -5
Thyme lay against her sister, letting herself just nod and relax for a minute. That whole thing really left her feeling twitchy. She wondered what the guy's story was, if he would actually be allowed to go home, and just why his aunt had him in her basement? Was it really just amusement or information or something else? Unless she asked, she would never no. Even if she asked, she didn't figure she'd get to know very much. So... no asking.
She glanced over at Conway and watched him for a minute before nodding. Food... bleh. Was she hungry? Maybe.
"I don't think we really need to be trying to get Aunt's attention right now. Could you please bring something up for us, Conway?" That way Aunt Josephine could finish doing whatever she was doing without having to look at a pair of young girls and probably glaring at her sister, which she really didn't want to deal with right now.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 23, 2008 14:31:51 GMT -5
Well she sort of got it. Conway sighed. He really wished that more people understood sign language. It would make his life a lot easier. The wolf shrugged and went down stairs to fetch lunch. After an epic and silent battle with the rather annoyed and sleep deprived cook he finally managed to get three meals to deliver upstairs.
When he returned he found that Rosemary was still flopped in the same position. Apparently she was comfortable like that. Her ears perked when she heard the movement of the silverware the meals were being carried on, but nothing more.
He set them down on one of the tables. The guest room was set up a bit different than Thyme's room, which was much nicer. He sat down on one of the stools and waited for the girls to get their meals. If they didn't eat it all then he would get to deal with the angry sleep deprived cook again. Yay.
(( OOC: Feel free to time warp <3 ))
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 23, 2008 14:36:31 GMT -5
Three weeks later, Rosemary had left again, saying something about being bored with the same place for too long and she'd be back later to harass, er, visit her sister. Thyme was still none the wiser about Conway's plans to leave and hadn't yet been down to the dungeons again with her aunt. She figured it was only a matter of time, but hopefully it would be a good long while before she had to do something like she did with poor Edger.
It was just after lunch and she sat at the table with a satisfied sigh, looking down at her licked-clean plate. That was a habit Aunt Josephine hadn't managed to break her of in private, no matter how much the woman expressed disapproval of it. She wasn't going to let all that juice just go to waste sitting on her plate! When she got a human form, then maybe she'd stop. Until then, she didn't do it in front of her aunt and that was about it.
She looked over at Conway and frowned slightly. "You've been really antsy lately. Are you okay? You don't look like you've gotten very much sleep and Aunt's been giving you funny looks."
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 23, 2008 14:57:41 GMT -5
Conway snapped up to attention when Thyme spoke. He hadn't really eaten his lunch and was staring at the remainder of it on his plate. He just... felt ill. How could he explain everything to Thyme? He was leaving tomorrow morning. Breakfast would be the last time he saw her.
Maybe he should...maybe he should talk to her? Just explain to her that he was leaving. She still didn't understand sign language. He didn't think she ever would. All right. It was worth a shot. The worst she could do was bolt out of the room and Conway would get his money and run. He was close enough to his room anyway.
"I'm leaving tomorrow morning. I'm done here," he said quietly. He wasn't going to explain the whole mute thing to her. It was just very stupid at the moment. He just hoped she would accept this as a fact.
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 23, 2008 15:10:33 GMT -5
Thyme's whole body stiffened and she stared at Conway for a minute in shock, not quite believing that she had heard correctly. Had he just... spoken? Out loud? In the year they'd both been living in the Highlands, she hadn't once even gotten a hint that he could make noise, much less speak. Was this just her head supplying him with words and her going crazy or something?
Except her head would never have put those words in his mouth. She continued to stare, but tried to make it slightly less flabbergasted and more utterly confused. "I... you... you can talk."
Oh yes, genius, excellent thing to say there. Obviously he could talk if he just did so. She would have mentally smacked herself if she'd been able to get past what he just said, or the fact that he said it in the first place. Was it just her? Did everybody else already know he could talk? Were they just laughing at her behind her back for still interpreting his miming?
"Does Aunt know?" she finally managed to whisper, not quite sure if she meant the talking or the leaving. Probably both.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 23, 2008 15:26:14 GMT -5
Well. That was one of the better reactions. He couldn't help but smile a bit. "Yes I can," he said just as quietly before. Even if she was the only one who could hear him, he wasn't going to let her raise her voice. It would be a generally bad idea to get any of the staff member's attention.
"She knows I'm going. She doesn't know I can speak. No one else in the house does but you. Don't tell anyone either." He nodded. They wouldn't believe her if she did anyway. Stupid powers being so screwed up. They made his life more complicated than he needed them to be. That and his lack of proper suit and all. She didn't need to know that though.
He stared at her, waiting for a response. What did she think of all this, really?
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 23, 2008 15:35:03 GMT -5
His smile snapped Thyme out of her daze a little bit more and she blinked, realizing how dry her eyes had gotten from staring and waiting for the other shoe to drop or him to say something else, which he did. It was a lot nicer than the shoe, whatever it would have been. And he had such a quiet voice. She supposed that's what came of being so generally quiet all the time. Even when he walked, he never made noise. It had always made her wonder what kind of life he used to have, that he needed to be so quiet.
But... he was leaving. "Why do you have to leave?" she couldn't stop herself from asking, realizing even as she said it how immature and whiny it would sound. She grimaced and shook her head. "Sorry, never mind. I guess that's none of my business, if you've really made up your mind. I won't tell anybody you can talk, don't worry." If he'd decided to trust her and only her with that secret, she sure as hell wasn't sharing it with anyone else.
"But really, Conway... why do you have to go? Did she do something that was just too much to drive you away?" If she did, Thyme would be more than pissed. She very carefully avoided more questions about his voice. Obviously he didn't want to talk about it or he would have explained already. Still, she wished she could ask.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 23, 2008 15:51:42 GMT -5
"No. I just have to go." Conway said flatly. He did trust Thyme, but not enough to explain his personal business. How could she even understand? June didn't even understand everything. He closed his eyes and shook his head.
Why was this so damn complicated? It shouldn't have been. Going "home" wouldn't solve anything, but he really felt the need to go somewhere that wasn't like the Highlands. Something that was just... nicer where people wouldn't give dirty looks for being who he was. Well, less dirty looks anyway. He briefly covered his face with his hands, brushing away the start of tears. Ugh, he needed to focus.
"It's just the way things have to be. I can't stay in one place for too long, or bad things happen. I don't think your Aunt would appreciate my services any longer," he sighed. Just accept that as an answer.
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Post by The Jenn on Feb 23, 2008 16:06:17 GMT -5
Thyme was quiet for another minute, then just nodded and sighed. Fine, he wasn't going to tell her. She could take that. She'd only known him for a year and taken him into her confidence. It made her feel sulky, but at the same time extremely childish. She was the one who needed a friend. She was the one who'd imposed herself on him. It wasn't fair to expect the same thing in return, especially when he was such a private person anyway.
It still made her horribly sad. She'd gotten more comfortable with her aunt, but she didn't necessarily want to be without the closest friend she'd made in this place. It didn't seem that she had much of a choice in the matter.
"Okay," she agreed quietly. When he covered his face with his hands, her own eyes pricked a little bit and she wished she had hands to rub at them with. Instead, she just turned her head to the side and stared at the table for a minute until the sensation stopped. "Well, um. You're going to be missed. I can tell you that much."
She tried to think of something else to say, something that wouldn't sound quite so stupid as everything that had been coming out of her mouth so far. The only thing she could think of was the fact that she'd finally been told he could talk and now he was going to leave so she'd never be able to talk to him again.
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Post by Kari Muffin on Feb 23, 2008 22:06:23 GMT -5
It was settled then. Everything was working out and he could up and leave. Still he felt bad. What could he say? He didn't really like using "Goodbye." It hurt too much. The wolf shook his head.
"If you ever see me again I'll probably be in my human form," he said briefly before standing up and picking up his plate. He might as well clear the table while he was here. He still had to work until the morning. And he still had to go to the lesson today. Why Aunt Josephine wanted him there on several occasions he still had no idea. Half the time he wasn't even useful, and just stood there and watched the pair of them discuss theories. He rarely learned anything useful himself.
Just that keeping his mouth shut was a good idea, but he did that rather well already. After taking Thyme's plate and cleaning them off he went into the sitting room to "participate" in the lesson as Josephine requested.
Oddly enough the woman wasn't around... even if she was always on time. What was going on?
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