The kitchen has been tidied recently. There's the smell of citrusy cleaning product in the air. The hardwood floors have been swept and mopped, the counters and table wiped down, and the dishes are all washed and drying in the drying board. Even the trash-bin stands empty with a new liner in it.
Mavis sits at the kitchen table, alone, and freshly showered with her hair still damp. She wears a fluffy, maroon house-robe with the belt cinched tight. Her slender, tawny arms poke out of the sleeves to set them on the table in front of her where the mortal's hands are curled around a cup of hot tea.
She stares vacantly over it, not seeing the wall in front of her. Mavis blinks now and then, statue still otherwise, and taking slow, shallow breathes as she sits there, alone and thoughtful.
Oh hey it's a Widget. She's bundled in winter clothes, having wandered in at the wee hours of the morning to see how Mavis is doing. The imp was kind of nervous that last time had scared her off a little. That much Wyrd in a weird situation...yeah.
Despite being bundled, she's also sneaky as heck, just staring at the back of Mavis's head for a bit until she finally pipes up with an entirely too-loud "Hi, Mavis!"
If Widget snuck in early this morning then she probably saw the mess in the kitchen before Mavis got to it. A cup of tea had shattered on the floor, the contents left to pool and cool there. The kitchen table was knocked askew and the counter-tops were in disarray. Mavis would have been easy to avoid, gingerly setting about cleaning up the kitchen and then pouring herself into a long, steamy shower.
She gives a start when Widget pipes up behind her, shoulders flinching. Mavis blinks and turns her head, smiling when her eyes land on Widget. Most might've asked the gremlin how she'd gotten in the house or how long she'd been standing there, but Mavis just goes, "Hey Widj," in a thick voice then asks, "Want some tea? We're out of coffee, forgot to pick up more yesterday."
Widget might've had a gun out when she saw all that, sneaking away when Mavis showered with only a minimum of creeping and light food theft. The imp is just glad Mavis is okay now, giving the woman a hug. "Okay. Yes. Doing okay?"
Even Widget could see Mavis was acting funny. It's easier for mortals because the rules are still the same. Faces mean what they show up as, usually. "Nice robe. Very soft. Yes."
A hug is pressed on her, warm and comfortable, and Mavis lifts one arm to give Widget a pat while she's still seated. She smiles and leans her head against the gremlin. "Yeah," she tells her friend. "I'm fine. Just trying to wake up, you know?" She leans back, negotiating enough space between them to peer back at Widget and show her the smile on her face. See? She was fine. Smiling and all.
"Oh, yeah? Maybe I'll get you one as an early Christmas present," Mavis tells Widget. "What's your favorite color?"
-> >> Widget to Here << <-============================================
Rolled 1 Success
< 2 5 6 8 >
==============================-> >> Wits + Subterfuge No Flags << <-
-> >> Mavis to Here << <-=============================================
Rolled 1 Success
< 1 1 4 4 6 10 >
======================-> >> Manipulation + Subterfuge No Flags << <-
Widget squeezes Mavis, looking at her face. There's doubt there, but she keeps on smiling anyway. Mavis wouldn't lie to her about anything important, Mavis was her friend! Yes. She trusted Mavis.
But what if Mavis /had/ to say that?
The offer a gift erases whatever was left for a few seconds. "Orange! Yes! Thank you!" The gremlin hugs Mavis again, pausing mid-tackle. "...Ask next time. To fix the kitchen?"
There's a little grunt-- "oof"-- when Widget throws her arms around Mavis. The mortal leans to the side under the weight of her friend and she hisses a soft wince. "Orange, huh? All right," chuckles Mavis. "Like a sunburst orange or felon orange?" She awfully interested in talking about house-robes and colors and then Mavis makes a little squelched noise when Widget brings up the kitchen.
She turns her head and blinks at Widget. "Hmm?" hums Mavis, adding, "What do you mean?"
-> >> Widget to Here << <-============================================
Rolled 1 Success
< 1 1 3 4 10 >
==============================-> >> Wits + Subterfuge No Flags << <-
-> >> Mavis to Here << <-=============================================
Rolled 2 Successes
< 2 5 7 9 9 >
======================-> >> Manipulation + Subterfuge No Flags << <-
"Sunburst! Sounds neat!" Widget smiles, hopping a bit. Then she listens to Mavis and the hopping stops. Her head turns, the rusty girl look about the kitchen. It's easy to see her brow crinkle as her eyes move around the spotless room.
"But...was...dirty? Earlier? No fight or...anything?" Widget's words are slow, the gremlin parsing things slowly. There's confusion and a hint of fear. Not a little amount, a /lot/ of it concealed the best she can. Did she just...think that...or...no, not....but....
"Sunburst IS a good orange," agrees Mavis forcefully, raising her eyebrows and widening her eyes to nod along with what Widget's saying. That slows, then stops, however, and her eyebrows lower. Her eyes take on a guarded glint and Mavis turns her head to peer around the kitchen, wiped spotless of all evidence from the night before. She shakes her head, telling Widget truthfully, "No. No fight." Then adds, "I was.. uh.. just a little clumsy last night. Had a friend over." Maybe they'd gotten tipsy, but that's strange 'cos there was no booze out and no bottles in the trash. She flushes, the tips of her ears tinting red. "We kind of made a mess down here."
-> >> Mavis to Here << <-=============================================
Rolled 3 Successes
< 1 1 2 8 9 10 >
======================-> >> Manipulation + Subterfuge No Flags << <-
-> >> Widget to Here << <-============================================
Rolled 2 Successes
< 1 3 8 9 >
==============================-> >> Wits + Subterfuge No Flags << <-
"Oh. Okay. Was it a sex thing?" Widget steps back, padding over to loot what was left of the fridge. "Coz face is red. And seen that movie. Yes." Well, more than one of those movies, but in her head, among the Lost a ruined kitchen means a cooking misadventure, a death-battle, or a lovemaking session that can blind nearby mortals. She's walked in on all of them at some point.
"Just...not hurt or a Fffffffriend....hurter. Yes. Had to be sure!" Yeah that's it now it's her turn to be all red.
Recalling her untouched cup of tea cooling in front of her, Mavis picks it up for a sip. She sputters on drinking it, though, when Widget asks her that outright. The mortal chokes, coughs, sets the cup down and covers her mouth, then coughs some more. "W-Whot?" She croaks, twisting her face toward Widget to peer back incredulously at the gremlin. "I-I... No! How?! Why?!"
-> >> Mavis to Here << <-=============================================
Rolled 0 Success
< 1 1 2 3 7 >
======================-> >> Manipulation + Subterfuge No Flags << <-
-> >> Widget to Here << <-============================================
Rolled 0 Success
< 3 5 5 6 >
==============================-> >> Wits + Subterfuge No Flags << <-
Widget just stares, confused at why Mavis looks like she's upset at this. "Trash is empty. Yes. No bottles and stuff. So." And Widget really wanted those bottles! For reasons. But wait if she was still worried was it...
Oh! Wait. Really? "With Amity? But...Wait. No. Yes? No sex thing? But."
Widget stands there, brain overheating enough that there's nearly steam. Imp confuse no brain good.
This was getting worse and worse. Mavis weaves her fingers into her still-damp hair and squeezes her skull, feeling as though it might burst the more and more Widget went on. She slams a hand down on the table and barks, "Okay!" The mortal heaves a sigh and turns her head to shoot a glare at Widget through her honey-colored eyes. They glinted at the gremlin sharply. "Fine, yes. It was a sex thing and, no, it wasn't Amity. She was," Mavis trails off, shrugging, and realizing she had no idea WHAT Amity was actually doing, "I dunno, at work or something."
Wow, it sounded bad when she said it like that. Mavis sighs again and puts her head down on the table, sliding her tea out of the way, and then curling her arms around her head. She murmurs, miserably, "Sorry, Widget. I wasn't.. expecting company just yet and all's we got is /fucking/ /tea/. The mortal turns her face, peering up at Widget with a timid smile. "But you can stay a bit?"
Widget nearly hits the top when Mavis slams her hands, reaching into her jacket and dropping into a crouch. Pause. Oh. Oh okay. Back upright like she didn't look like she was about to draw a /gun/ in Mavis's kitchen. The imp unwinds, letting out a small hiss.
"Okay. Yes. Can stay." Widget sits down, rattled. Turnabout is fair play? "Tea is fine. Can just be you. Enough for me. Yes." Huff. Slow down, heart.
Mavis had been a little too wrapped up in herself to notice Widget doing anything shady right here in her /grandma's/ kitchen. Ohgod. It dawns on Mavis that they were in her dead grandmother's kitchen. She buries her face back in her arms and groans. The raven-haired mortal remains that way for a few moments, head tucked between the floofy, soft sleeves of the robe.
Finally, she pulls her face up and sits up, gingerly, in her chair and pushes her own tea at Widget. "Here, have mine," she says to the imp then looks uncomfortable, gnawing at her bottom lip. "Could you.. do me a favor, Widget?"
Oh sweet free tea! Widget accepts, quickly sliding back into her usual bearing. See? All worked out. Mavis was...not dead. Making noises and scrunchy, but not dead! Or worse! Total success on Widget's part. She was such a good friend.
"Favor? Yes. What?" Ah! A chance to be even better!
Mavis clears her throat. "Well," she goes, twisting the ring around her right thumb. "I want to be the first to tell Amity about last night," the mortal tells her, honey-brown eyes beseeching Widget, "and it will hurt her, I think, if it doesn't come from me. It looks bad, you know? I'll tell her when I see her," promises Mavis, leaning a little closer to try to impress her seriousness, "but, please, don't go running off and telling her."
Widget stares at Mavis, nodding slowly. "Okay. Want to do sex stuff with Amity or really like her and want to tell her you did sex stuff with another girl so it hurts less so you can maybe still do sex stuff with her later when she's not sad about it?"
Inhale.
Exhale.
"Okay! Can do that! Promise. Yes."
Mavis closes her eyes and puts a hand up to her face to hide behind it while Widget prattles on. By the end of that summarization, the mortal's ears are hot and red again. Her bronzed cheeks are tinted pink, too. She sighs and mutters, behind her hand, "Yeah. I guess. Geezus." What a way to put it, but Mavis had a hard time refuting any of Widget's astutely observed points. Mavis rubs her temple then lowers her hand to the table, watching Widget with her tea. She squints at the gremlin, suspicious. Finally, Mavis states coolly, "You don't miss much, do ya?"
Widget smiles, hugging her knees to her chest. "People think I do so it's easy to not. Yes." She does miss lots of stuff, though. Usually she just remembers or picks up on what people don't want them to. Kind of a gift, really. The imp looks around, humming quietly to herself. "Who was she? Not-Amity?"
"Thanks, though.. I appreciate it, I'm going to try to catch Amity around tonight." Seemed worse to wait, especially with the cat out of the bag. It finally occurs to Mavis that she'd never asked Widget why she was /here/ in the first place. Christ. Get your shit together, Mavis! She doesn't get a chance to ask Widget that, not yet, because the little gremlin is ferreting for more information that Mavis wasn't keen to share.
"Oh.. Ah. A friend," she alludes vaguely, waving an arm and the sleeve of her robe slides down to bare her many bracelets. "I dunno how she feels about her business being put out there, you know?" Then, she prompts Widget with a sharp, curious, "Hey, I never asked.. why'd you come over? Everything all right?"
"Oh, okay." Widget peers at Mavis's bracelets, a new and interesting thing. Sure were a lot of those things, yup. Widget liked jewelry but not wearing it, for the most part. Jangly, shiny, ruined stealth and attracted the enemy. But...y'know...shiny.
"Why? Bored. Like this place. Feels old. Nice. Stories here. Want to hear them. Yes. But need to find some first! Other than the ones. In the machines. Yes."
Sip.
"Good tea."
Mavis stares across the table at Widget, her features still and eyes unblinking. After what seems like far too long, there! A blink. Her eyelids flick closed then opened and the mortal schools her voice into a calm, fluid tone to say, "Sure," to all of that crazy-talk. Then she adds, "Hey, when you finish your tea.. want to head to the junkyard?" Something Widget had said, absurd as it all was, made her yearn to go diving through scrap-metal. "I've got the whole day off, wanted to go for a drive. Trying to pick a name for the truck," she tells Widget with a wry grin. "Mebbe you can give the engine a listen and help me figure out what to call it. Thing's gotta have a name, right?"
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