• Ϯѻɼϯʉɼɛɗ • →ʂlคvɛ ɼp← f u l l

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Curiosity looked up at last, and his expression was heartbreakingly sad. "I can't tell you, Maxy," he said quietly, with what sounded like real apology. "I'm sorry. It isn't my story to tell. Ask Reticence. It's his business."

He blinked at the rumbling of her stomach, and a weak smile emerged. "And I'm doubly sorry," he said, getting up and offering her a hand. "I didn't think to tell you about food. You must be starving. Come on, I'll show you where the food is kept. The master doesn't mind us taking what we need, as long as it's not too extravagant."

Reticence and Naïveté wouldn't have eaten yet either, but Curiosity knew better than to get anything for them. Reticence was in one of the moods where he would turn down anything, and Naïveté probably wouldn't even come to realize she was hungry for another day or two, too lost in her own terrors.

He waited patiently for Maxy, hoping he'd judged the sound right.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Maxy bit her lip for a moment, before nodding, and stood to follow him. She was moving more slowly than when she had first come, her face just a little more vacant. Her fingers moved restlessly at her side, like they didn't know what to do...like they had a mind of their own almost.
She pulled a smile to her face and stared up at the ceiling as she walked, crossing her arms behind her head. If everyone was going to be sad, she should be happy right? She added a skip to her step, and looked to Curiosity as they walked, "So what's YOUR story, then?...If I might ask."  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Curiosity blinked back at her, shaken out of his silent reverie. "Huh? Oh. Didn't we talk about that already?" He smiled weakly. "Farming family, scraping out a living as best we could - you know the soil was never that good after...after."

He shrugged, then turned back the way they had been going. "I got picked out of my family a few years back - don't know why. I hadn't been doing any sculpting because I didn't do much of anything then, especially not where anyone could see, and I'm nothing really special to look at. Guess they were just low that year. But I went to be sold, and the master was the only one who wanted me."

With a bit of a sigh, he added, "Reticence was here when I got here. Naïveté came later."

He tried on a smile. "How about you? Any deep, dark secrets you've been holding back until now?"  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Maxy frowned, "You shouldnt think that. You're very handsome." she assured him. "I didn't know you came from a farm family...must have been nice." she smiled imagining a mom and dad maybe a sibling a little older or a little younger than Curiosity. A dog, probably medium sized, and a crop of corn. It was the best thing she had imagined in quite a while, and the vibrance it brought to her face gave that away.
She blinked at his question, and shrugged, "Naw, I'm pretty much an open book...um..." she scratched at her head, thinking, "Well, there's a lot of stuff wrong with me, if that counts." she smiled. This fact obviously didn't bother her.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Curiosity chuckled dryly. "It was a living," he replied. He could see the shine it brought to Maxy's face, so he didn't want to hurt her by telling her what it had really been like. Hard dirt that refused to yield more than a bare minimum crop, constant hunger, six children when there wasn't enough even for one, really.

It was all he remembered of home, though he supposed he must have loved it once. It went away after time.

They were probably all dead by now.

He managed a tired smile at her words. "Maxy," he replied, "there's something wrong with all of us."  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Maxy tilted her head to the side, "Really? You guys seem so normal though...to an extent." Everyone has their quirks though, so the small differences weren't much.

"So what do we do now....?" She didn't get it. Did they really just sit around or draw whenever they weren't needed? It seemed like it would get old.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

bump  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

((OOC: Sorry for the long wait. School was killing me.))

Curiosity gave a pained grin. "Sure, Maxy. Whatever you say." With that, at least in his mind, the topic was dropped - most people left things alone once they got the last word.

He shrugged. "Whatever we want, basically. Find food when we need it, explore - this house never seems to have the same rooms in the same place or sequence twice, except our rooms - go up to the art room, whatever. He doesn't care. As long as we don't go outside."

Staying in was not a hard-and-fast rule of Marc's. It was more one that had been made up by the three of them. They knew how most of the Keshval looked on humans.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

((It's okay))

As soon as he said that, Maxy felt the strongest urge to go outside, "Why can't we go outside? What's it like out there? Have you ever been out there? Is it like Earth?" She was full of questions, "Hey, do you want to go exploring? I think exploring sounds fun."
She messed with her hair a little, thoughtlessly, and leant against him, "Please please please?" She clasped his hand in hers and entwined their fingers, "Pleeeeaaaase? I promise to leave you alone afterward, if you go with me." She looked around almost frantically and whispered like a scared kid, "I hate to be alone when I'm not drawing." She'd hunched over as if expecting to have something thrown at her.
"So will you?" She fluttered her eyelashes hoping for the charming look, even though she'd never been very good at it. Usually, it just looked like she had something wrong with her eyes.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Curiosity shrugged. "The master doesn't care if we go out as long as we don't go too far," he said quietly. "But we don't like to. Most Keshval aren't as forgiving about our humanity as the master is. They don't like us. They'd hurt us if they could. And if we're out of the house, they can and will." He smiled a little at her childlike eagerness. "I've been out there. It's...dark," he said thoughtfully. "Quiet. No one seems to speak out there. The ground is all smooth black stone, and it's so shiny you can see your face in it. I don't know what Keshval eat or where they get it, but it's not here."

Then he looked uncomfortable. "I don't think we should go out, Maxy..." Looking at her pleading face, he sighed. "Not far, okay? We can go, but just...not far."

This was a terrible idea. But if necessary, they could run back. Marc would protect them.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Maxy nodded happily, "We don't have to leave the house, but I really wanna see." She hugged his arm close, since she really had no idea where anything was, "I meant to explore the house, too. You said no room is almost ever in the same spot, right? How do you ever find anything?" She rested against his side as they walked. Where exactly they were heading at the moment, she had no clue. "This house makes me confused."  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Curiosity glanced at her absentmindedly. "We can take a quick look out the door, but I'd rather not do more than that unless you're desperate to see," he said quietly.

When she moved on to talking about the house, he brightened up a bit. "Well, they're not," he said with a little smile. "But usually you can tell where you need to go. The house is only confusing until you've been in it for a while - Reticence thinks that..." He trailed off briefly, then continued - if Maxy had a problem with him talking about the other two, that was too bad. "That maybe it's a safety measure, too."

He kept walking, not too sure himself where they were going. Kitchen, right?  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

"Okay then, okay." Maxy shrugged, not really minding about the whole going outside thing. At his mention of Reticence's thoughts on it, she blinked, "So he thinks the master sets it up, or does the house, like, have a mind of it's own? That's kind of creepy." She couldn't help but giggle. She looked around contently taking everything as if she could actually try to remember where it all was. Never gunna happen, but oh well. Pulling away for a moment she stretched putting her arms behind her head, "You don't mind if I hang on you, do you? I have problems recognising when people need personal space, sometimes." This didn't look like it actually bothered her, but might as well be polite, right? Yeah, that seemed like the nidce way to go about things.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Curiosity shook his head. "No, it doesn't have a mind of its own. I think. The master has programmed it - don't ask me how, I don't understand most of that kind of thing - to do that." He looked a little distant. "He does it to protect himself, and maybe the rest of us, I guess. I--"

Several slow, loud thumps caused him to jump, and glance at the front door. He looked edgy now, just this side of terrified.

Marcelius descended from somewhere - where exactly that was, they had no idea. He glanced at them, apparently disinterested. Then he gestured once. Curiosity immediately grabbed Maxy's arm, the one she had already had hooked through his, and pulled her into the nearest nook. "Stay still, and stay quiet," he muttered. "And we might just get through this."  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Maxy blinked at the sudden panic that radiated from Curiosity, and let him pull her to the side. She kept close to him, watching their master go to the door. Was company ALWAYS trouble? She nodded to curiosity, pulling her index finger across her lips to show that she wouldn't make a sound, but didn't even think about blinking. No no no no, she was much to interested in who could possibly be on the other side.