• Ϯѻɼϯʉɼɛɗ • →ʂlคvɛ ɼp← f u l l

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Reticence blinked slowly.

Once. Twice.

"This has nothing to do with you," he informed her. "Nothing." Well, that wasn't quite true. But it had nothing to do with him being mad at her, which worked out to about the same thing. He just...yeah.

He didn't know how to answer the rest of the statement. Friends? Did he have friends? Curiosity and Naïveté were friendly enough with him, but...friends?

Frowning a little bit, he got up.

"And you know it, too." His eyes were shadowy now, and his face quietly set. "Why do you really want me to come?"

He couldn't fathom Maxy actually being silly enough to think that he was supposedly 'mad' at her because of...well, because he was embarrassed, but also because he felt no need to eat.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Maxy stopped and stared and turned to stare at him.

What? "I...I just told you." she looked confused and her head tilted to the side.
What other reason could he mean?


She blinked, "I don't know what you want me to say...?"
the words sounded foreign on her tongue, and there was a hint of hesitation between each silable.

"If it's not me then what is it?"  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Reticence looked back at her, his face quietly set now. He would not blush. He would not look away. There was something else here.

Damned if he could figure out quite what.

"That's what I'm asking you," he breathed, getting to his feet in one slow and somehow threatening movement.

"What is it?"

He walked closer, and then closer still, and just when it seemed like he was going to walk right through her, he swung around to the side and went past her into the hallway.

"For now, walk. And tell me once you've figured it out yourself."  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Maxy gulped. He moved like a panther about to pounce.

What was he talking about? it made no sense. Somehow, she had a sense that he wouldn't hurt her, though. Not right now, anyway.

In the blink of an eye e was past her and in the hallway. "Yay! Thank you soooooooooo much, Reticence." she smiled widely, and hurried her pace to walk next to him, happily humming a tuneless song.

Yes, she won! Haha. That took a bit, but she felt a sense of accomplishment.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Reticence gave her a sharp look, but didn't respond. He walked quietly beside her, his attention focused on the floor. The last thing he needed right now was to have her start questioning him again.

He was already too uncomfortable for words.

As they moved towards the kitchen entryway, Reticence paused. He put his hand briefly on Maxy's arm to stop her from going into the kitchen, and then moved forward a step or two to glance around the entryway door.

He drew back after a moment or two, and there was a strange little smile on his face. Without saying anything, he took Maxy's arm and led her away from the kitchen.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

"Where are we going?" Maxy blinked, looking back to the kitchen as she let him lead her away.

Her sense of accomplishment dropped, and curiosity stung at her eyes, forbidding her from closing them.

His steps were faster now, more willing, she guessed.
Shrugging off her confusion, she pulled a smile back to her face and added a skip to her step.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Reticence smiled lazily. "Away from there," he replied easily. He didn't explain more than that. It could wait for a moment or two. They had to keep walking.

Once they got far enough away for his satisfaction, he leaned casually against a wall. "We'll give it fifteen minutes or so, and then we'll go in."

He didn't explain why. Maybe he figured Maxy ought to be able to figure it out on her own.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

"Okee." maxy still wasn't too sure what was going on, but she could roll with it.
"y'know, you have a nice smile, Ret. You should smile more." she grinned at him and leanynagainst the opposite wall.

Now, she took the time to wonder what it could be, why they didn't go in right away. Maybe the master was in there? Or were Curiosity and Naïveté doing something they didn't want to be disturbed from?

She closed her eyes and tapped her chin in thought, the tip of her tongue just barely visible from in-between the corners of her lips.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Reticence gave her a strange look, but didn't comment. He just shrugged absentmindedly and glanced back towards the kitchen. It would be a few minutes.

Did that mean he had to make conversation or something? He'd never been particularly good at that.

Hell.

He looked at the wall, just over Maxy's shoulder, and said idly, "So...you're an artist, right? That's your thing?"

That was her, right? Or was that someone else?

Damn it.  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

"Yup." her smile grew, but with her next words it looked more forced than real, "it's easier that way."

And just like that it was gone. The real smile was back. Or had it been there the whole time?

"I live through my art." she twirled in a circle and braced herself against it at last, "Everyone knows art. It's so pretty but sometimes only in the eye of the beholder."

Maxy took a moment to catch the breath she lost in her excitement, looked him straight in the eyes.

She wasn't a shy one, and sometimes she didn't realize others didn't like it. But her gaze wasn't piercing, it had a warmth in it.
How odd.

"and you write." it wasn't a question. She knew for sure. "I bet you're quite good. Everyone seems to think so."
She'd never read his work, though, so she couldn't judge for herself.  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Reticence gave her another odd look. She was weird. "Easier?" he began to question, but she was flying right along and he was trying to keep up with her.

To him, art was just art. Sometimes it looked good, sometimes it didn't, and that was how it was. But obviously it meant more than that to her. So he tried to figure out what to say, but was cut off by her statement. A little awkwardly, he shrugged. "It's not that good," he muttered. Hence why he wouldn't let anyone read it. He'd allowed it with Naïveté that one time because...he wasn't quite sure why. At the time it had seemed like a good idea.

She had left him alone about it afterwards, anyway.

"Needs work."  

[iiGypsy_Jazz]

Maxy calmed a little once the subject was turned off of her, "I'd really like to read some of your stuff sometime...if you'd let me."
She blinked at him from lowered lashes. The chance was doubtful, but she thought it was worth a shot.

Why was he looking at her weird before? She never really thought she was TOO out of the ordinary. Just a bit....excentric .
"I bet you're good."  

[SilentShadowDreamer]

Reticence shrugged, his gaze shifting away. "Maybe." It was an absent-minded response, all the more so because he didn't seem to think about it. He had no intention of following through with that semi-promise, however - no one, but no one, was allowed to see his writing.

The one time Naïveté had had been...more like an accident than anything. He didn't like to think about it, and had forbidden her to tell him what she thought of it in any way, shape or form. Maybe she had even forgotten it by now.

"Should be safe to go back now," he decided. "Let's hurry."

Maybe if he kept her moving, she'd forget that he hadn't actually said no.