Aqua Springs ~ ART GALLERY OPEN! ~ Geezerville

[Cuwen]

Thistle squeaked happily. Now they just had to get Kits and Amy to agree on it.

She started swimming toward Velcore, but then the squirrel she had been chasing came and jumped right on top of her head. Thistle arched and eyebrow and looked up, even though she couldn't see the squirrel on her head. She could hear it chattering away, though.

Thistle simply huffed and then continued to swim after Velcore. "I miss home... Amy house nice... but not home. I want to come home."

Amy looked down at her hand clasped with Karrie's. "What are some of the things you've been thinking about?"  

[Chef_Karrie]

I know, Thistle. But your home is where Amy is. You need to stay with her.

About what happened with Kits... the way my life has been going... and about us.  

[Cuwen]

Thistle nodded, completely in agreement. "I want to stay with Amy. But I want both us to come home."

Thistle looked up in annoyance as the squirrel started to chatter even louder. "Quiet!"

The squirrel just chattered louder, which caused Thistle to flick her tail, trying to splash some water on the squirrel.

Amy sighed softly and intertwined her fingers with Karrie's slowly. "Me, too... I don't know what or why.."

She stopped herself and tried to form a different question. She didn't want to lead the conversation, not yet. Karrie needed to explain and say what he wanted to say, if he knew what he wanted to say, that is.

"Do you know what you've wanted to say... about that night I mean? When I was gone and you were here... with Kits?"

She actually also wanted to know what Karrie meant about wondering how his life had been going, but one question at a time.  

[Chef_Karrie]

I know. That is up to Amy, not you. She must decide where to be. *starts getting annoyed with the squirrel and looks at it, bearing his sharp teeth* Squirrels make a good lunch.

I don't know. Not exactly because I don't know why that happened. No matter how much I think about it, I can't explain it, even to myself. *shakes his head* I've talked about it with Kits too, and she couldn't understand. It was... very strange. It was like something else was controlling what I was doing.  

[Cuwen]

The squirrel immediately stopped chattering, or even moving, when it saw Velcore's teeth. After a few moments of shaking, it quickly leaped off of Thistle's head, swam to the edge of the pool, got out, and ran away.

Thistle whinnied in laughter. "Thank you, Velcore!"

Amy looked up at Karrie in surprise and confusion. That was the last thing she had expected to hear. She believed him and knew he wasn't trying to shrug off the blame or responsibility of the mistake. Karrie always fessed up when he did something wrong and tried to make amends. If he felt he had truly done something wrong, he would admit it. This wasn't him trying to weasel out of something. Karrie was the antithesis of the 'weasel' type.

"Really? Almost like... magic? I've heard of magic being used to possess people. I mean, my first reaction when you were saying that if felt like someone else was controlling you was to think of magic... or a potion."  

[Chef_Karrie]

*nods* Much better. *continues swimming until he can touch the bottom*

*shakes his head* I don't know. It wasn't a potion, because I keep very close track of who is allowed access to the Jade Dragon storerooms. If anybody had slipped something like that in, I'd know about it. None of my staff would do anything like that. *thinks back to that evening, as he's done many times since then. All he could really remember was an overpowering need for somebody, and Kits had been the one he'd found. It wasn't until he'd felt her claws that he even realized that something was wrong.  

[Cuwen]

Thistle happily continued swimming around the pool, too, usually right beside Velcore.

Despite what had happened with this supposed magic, Amy actually seemed really interested in this new information. Her forehead was even scrunched slightly in focus.

"No, it definitely wouldn't be someone at JD... It probably wouldn't have been in your food, so you're right. Potions are probably ruled out. Your palate is too sensitive for that to go by unnoticed. So what did you feel like when this happened?"

She was a little wary to bring this up. She wasn't sure she wanted to know how Karrie was feeling at the moment he hit on Kits... but the part of her that was interested in this magic theory knew this had to be discussed in order to understand anything.

"How... how did you feel when you were around Kits that night?"  

[Chef_Karrie]

Hmmm... I am hungry. *climbs out of the pool and shakes himself to get the water off*

I just felt like I needed to find somebody... then, when I saw Kits... *takes a deep breath* Well, I didn't even realize anything was wrong until she clawed me. *hand unconsciously goes to his arm, which happened to be the one on the same side as Amy. While the scratches had healed, the scars were still clearly visible, white on his tanned skin*  

[Cuwen]

As soon as Velcore mentioned being hungry, Thistle started thinking about food. Maybe growing up around Velcore made her think about food often. But whatever the reason, it didn't take much for her to get excited at the possibility of eating.

Thistle jumped out of the pool and shook off as well. Then, she looked at the pet food area that Karrie provided food for. "Karrie's pet food ok?"

Amy watched as Karrie's hand went to his arm. She saw the white marks from where Kits had scratched him. She reached up with her free hand and lightly touched her fingers to the marks.

"You both got carried away... I'd hate to think of what would have happened if she hadn't stopped you, though, in any way she could. Karrie, when you said you needed to find someone... Do you really mean that you needed to find her? Did you feel the desire to be with her? It kills me to ask this, but do you still have feelings for her? You and I have been going out.. well, I'm guessing over a year now. I'm sorry, but I'm really bad with dates and can't remember when we first started dating..."

She sighed when she realized she was getting off track. "Did you feel a desire to find Kits specifically?"  

[Chef_Karrie]

Pet food is fine. *walks over to the pet food stand*

*shakes his head* I don't remember what I was thinking. I just know that I came here right after I got out of work... *sighs* Amy, Kits has always been with me, for almost as long as I can remember. Yes, I love her, and I probably always will. She's my best friend. That doesn't change anything, though. I don't even remember why I came here that night.  

[Cuwen]

Thistle happily trotted over to the pet food stand and looked up at the cook. He recognized both Thistle and Velcore, so he started getting their usual food.

Amy wanted to talk about both things, the idea that Karrie was practically blank on that night and that he seemed to not remember having any desire to come to AS or see Kits, yet he did. That was odd. Karrie wasn't exactly the kind just to do things randomly. But she also needed an answer about Kits. Both were important.

"Karrie... I don't have a problem with your friendship with Kits. I love her, too, and I always want her to be a part of our lives. But, I need to know if you have romantic feelings for her. She has a steady boyfriend now, and Rod is great. I know you broke up with her, which helps in this instance, but sometimes old boyfriends start realizing what they missed out on when their ex girlfriends start dating someone else seriously. I mean, do you wish you could be with her now? If you could be with anyone right now, who would you want to be with?"  

[Chef_Karrie]

*sits, silent for a minute* I... I don't know how I feel about Kits and Rod. that's one of the things that I can't stop thinking about. I just... *takes a deep breath* What I want most for Kits is for her to be happy. I can't stand seeing her sad, or upset. But... it's hard... seeing her with somebody else.  

[Cuwen]

Karrie's response was like a punch to her stomach. Sure, part of her could reason that any ex boyfriend might have trouble seeing their former girlfriend with someone else. But, another part of her cringed at hearing Karrie say that he wasn't sure how to feel about Kits being with Rod, that he couldn't stop thinking about that. His thoughts hadn't been filled with just Amy but with Kits and Rod also.

Slowly, reluctantly, she released Karrie's hand and dropped her other one from his arm. She felt a stinging sensation behind her eyes and looked over at the fountain in the distance.

"Oh... Well... I guess I don't really know what to say to that."

He hadn't even answered her question about who he wanted to be with, if he could be with anybody. What girlfriend, after being with a guy for a year, didn't want to hear her boyfriend undoubtedly say that he wanted to be with her above anyone else? Not hearing Karrie say that was so painful.  

[Chef_Karrie]

*takes a deep breath* I didn't answer your other question because I can't right now. Something's going on and I don't know what it is. For now, I think *swallows, not wanting to say this, but knows he has to* I think it would be best if I wasn't with anybody. I don't want you to get hurt by whatever this is. *leans forward with his forearms on his thighs* There are other reasons too, but that's the biggest one. *looks down at the ground in front of him*  

[Cuwen]

Tears started to form in her eyes, but Amy choked them down. She didn't want him to see her tears. It would seem like a cheap trick at trying to get him to stay. She didn't want him to stay with her if he didn't want to.

"Alright... But, after a year of us being together, you can't say that you want to be with me? Well... I... I want to be with you, but not if it's a one way street. What was this last year about?"