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Quiet Musings
Taryn lay on her couch, sprawled in a very un-ladylike manner with her legs crossed up over one arm as she leaned her head on her hand near the other. Something was just off about tonight. She didn't feel like studying, or like going out, or even like reading in the dim light. No... this was one of those lazy days people talked about, and the poor ghoul had no idea how to deal with it.
Alright, the chimera thought. I have to go about this objectively. What had happened in recent memory that could possibly spur on this destructive mood?
The small microwave perched on the counter gave a petulant series of shrieks. Taryn pulled herself up with some effort and turned it off, removing a steaming cup of cheap tea from within. The mug burned her hands and she gave an annoyed hiss, brow furrowing, as she used an oven mitt to move the liquid to a new mug. She didn't bother to clean the old one, instead leaving it to stain on the countertop.
Okay. Recent events... tea. There had been tea with Xiu, and it had gone absolutely pleasantly. There was no way that that had ruined the ghoul's work ethic. Taryn sipped the mostly-flavorless and unaccented tea without much enthusiasm. They'd have to get together again soon, if this was all the market could supply...
How about more recently? Roch had called her from a hotel room to update her on his vacation. That had been sweet, hadn't it? She saw no reason for that to make her feel so odd, either, although she did quite miss him now. So it hadn't been recently... think further back!
Acting class had not gone well. She'd handed in her homework with the hopes it would raise her grade, lest she go into academic depression and get scolded by her parents. This didn't feel like failure, though. She had mourned the bad class with actual tears, so it couldn't be that. Earlier, much earlier...
Oh, Jack, the haunted house! How could she have forgotten! Everyone had been doing such an excellent job of distracting her from it, certainly its true effect was only hitting now. Alright, so she'd have a good cry and get rid of this odd feeling in her gut. The ghoul stood, mug in hand, and approached the stone that sat on her book case and the shard of skull leaned against it. She reached out and ran her hand over the rough rock and a shock ran up her forearm. So many emotions mixed in her chest, grief and pride and determination. The ghoul's brow furrowed. At the very least, this was making her feel something. She did not pick up the shard, though, or the entire setup. It seemed... wrong. For a while now she had fought herself over the moral implications of stealing a shard of Red's petrified skull. It was something of a memento, but it seemed wrong somehow. It was a piece of her, after all...
Indecision flooded in, and instead of indecisive, Taryn felt sad. Ah, Jack, this wasn't helping. She wished she had a skellyvision to distract her further, but she couldn't allow herself such frivolity. If only, if only...
She moved back to the couch and placed her cooling mug on the coffee table before curling into a fetal position on the couch cushions. Something else was wrong here beneath the surface, but she still couldn't put her finger on it. Alright, take it piece-by-piece. Analyze it like a chemical compound. What did she feel like?
Sad.
Yes, that was a good start. What else?
Empty.
Oh, good, she was really getting somewhere. She was feeling sad and empty, for some reason. What else?
Lonely.
Lonely for who?
Friends.
No, not just friends, something more particular than that. She needed her best friends. Tset would certainly quell this awful mood... but something in Taryn disagreed. This was someone else and something else entirely. Sad and empty and lonely... and excited. Thrilled.
What in the world...
It was a wild mish-mash of emotions, and not one the ghoul had ever felt before. She was melancholy and uncertain, but thrumming beneath that was a kind of odd elation. Something was exciting her... but what?! Alright, she had felt a progression when she thought of the haunted house, the sad events within. Something had gone on. It certainly wasn't the puzzle. They had survived that without any real issue, and while she was glad they had, it wasn't quite reason for excitement. So had everyone else. So beyond that, she had fainted. She had been in the room with the Boos and--
Oh. Oh my. Taryn's cheeks went suddenly hot, so much so that she put her hands to them. One soon fluttered to her chest, though, and she was sure the moths fluttering around in there would make her heart beat straight out of it.
Roch. Roch, mostly naked, appearing before her. He had been so upset, she'd crossed her own personal boundaries in an attempt to comfort him...
...and he had held her.
He was so hurt that he had drawn his arms around her and pulled her to him. Good, strong arms... a real boil's arms. She had been so close as to feel his stomach moving with each breath, she imagined that she could feel his heart thumping against his ribs. She had held him back, his broad chest, his fit stomach, and she had been so near as to take in his scent. Odd tingles ran up and down Taryn's spine at the memory, and her cheeks were getting no cooler. A grin broke out across her lips and the ghoul buried her face in a throw pillow.
Sad because she could not have him, empty because his heart belong to someone else, lonely for his company, and excited for what she felt, for the affection and the bubbling warm-fuzzies he made in her stomach. So she had come upon the reason for her odd mood. Only time could tell if she would remain so uplifted.
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