Ben comes into the Wayhouse's living room calmly from the outside. The classy ogre looks a bit tired, but already up and ready to kick some asses. Upon seeing another Lost, he stops at the threshold."Morning, ma'am." He offers as he puts both hands into his pockets.
With a look upwards from her work, Adeline offers a craggy smile on wrinkled skin of a face. "Well hell there lad." She looks at him for a moment, then makes a reverse shoing motion. "Well? Come on, don't stand in the door. Mud room or not you keep doors in Vermont closed lad, else you let the heat out and the fae in. Come on, come on in." She resumes her knitting a moment later, though she has to pause to move a stray flower from the back of her hand that has gotten in the way. "Nuissance for anything except gardening," she grumbles. "Sit lad, whats your name?"
Once intimidating and of a very few friends, in the presence of Adeline, the ogre looks more like a child. When told to get in and have a seat, he does that quietly. When he sit, not close, neither too far away, he puts his elbows over his knees and, with his hands, he holds his head."I'm Ben." He comments as he watches the woman knitting."It's coming up pretty. This thing you're knitting, ma'am." His voice too is different. It's almost warmth, but still carries a tone of agressiviness.
Adeline offers another smile as he sits. "I'm Adeline lad, but everyone in their right mind - and many of those not - call me Nana. Ma'am works, but Nana is just fine." she does a couple more stiches, the yarn switching from blue to indigo in the pattern of the rainbow. "Its really to late to be doing this. I'll be done in a few hours and its not really suitable for summer. But well, one can only make so many cookies." She chuckles. "What brings you about the wayhouse Ben?"
"I just repledged to the Freehoold. After years around. And never came here. I though that now is a good time to do it." Ben explains calmly."Do you live here?"
A scratch laugh is given, and Adeline shakes her head. Her voice is like a woman who has smoked many packs aday for many many years. "No, lad. I just come here from time to time to spend my hours." She chuckles slightly. "I live at my families manor house, of course. Adeline Mabel Florence Desrochers the name, in full. But really. Nana, please." She considers the scarf then sighs, wrapping a temporary knot and the needles up so that it won't unravel. "Now. Ben. Talk to grandma. Whats going on that brought you back to the fold, hmm? Or what else is happening to make you be here?" Her voice, despite its scratchyness, is soft and warm, filled with honest interest.
It takes a while to the man comes up with a proper answer. But when it's fully formed on his head, he gives a sad grin to no one in particular."I fear for my sanity." He says in a confession tone."I'm a Magus. I dwell into the Hedge going all the way up the its deepest parts and back. It costed me some of my soul pieces. I don't want to lose any other piece. No matter its size and importance." And with that, he takes a deep breath.
Adeline's smile is wide, and she stands and moves toward him. SHereaches out with one hand to touch his. Her knarled paper thin sink fingers that are covered in bits of bark and flower pieces caress the back of his hand in a grandmotherly way. Glamour flares as she considers. "Well, you're not the worst I've ever seen, lad," she chuckles. "But you certainly aren't the best either." She returns to her seat. "As long as there is a piece left it can be regrown you know. It takes work, dedication, and a will to do it but our souls are like annuals. They come back every year as long as there a proper piece left. You have any bit of your soul left, you can do it ti."
Ben tenses up when touched and only relaxes back when Adeline is back to her seat. Upon hearing her kind words, he nods sagely."I'm good where I stand right now, ma'am. It gives me a lot of freedom to do the things I need done." And then there is a dramatic pause as he glances around, looking for the words, probably. Into his wicked yellow eyes there is uncertainty and fear."I don't want to become one of Them." He murmurs as his glance stops on the floor below his feet.
"Well, that's always good." Adeline says as she picks up her knitting again and returns to the scarf, wizened fingers moving deftly. "Couple of the folks around here forget that it seems. Ah well, I can't stop them from wanting if they don't want it. All ya can do is show them the paths." She gives another grandmotherly smile. "And the paths are there, Ben. So, if you know this, what do you do to help control it? We all need anchors."
"My family and the Red Clover Hotel. I accepted the offering to be the assistant manager and help my older sister out. Eleanor." He murmurs."And I'm trying to make friends among the Lost. But that's not working. People don't approach me because I look intimidating and I'm part of the Leaden Mirror."
A snort is driven from Adeline, and she shakes her head. "Leaden Mirror has nothign to do with it lad. You however, do have a sort of aura about you that is intimidating sure. Ya pretty much breath it out with each breath." She grins slightly. "But you know, thats just a thing. You can work on it." Her hands continue to move about with expert experience. "However, you should try and find some more mortal friends if you want more anchors. Spending more time around Lost is like a heroin junkie spending time around more heroin dealers when trying to quit." She eyes him for a bit, then returns her vision to her work. "Do you like being intimidating?"
"It has saved my life more than once. I learned to live with it by now." Be explains as he lifts his eyes to see Adeline knitting."It creates a social shell that most people don't manage to break to get to me, though. Up to very recently, that was a relief. But now something has changed and I want people to come to me. Without losing my shell."
An understanding nod of Adeline's head is given as she listens. "Well, lad, you've defintly got an aura. It is a hell of a shell. It ain't nothing I haven't seen or dealt with before but it is wsomething there for certain. Getting through it isn't something you can fix, really. learn to smile maybe." She laughs. "But you're probably not going to fix it yourself, that is something you'll have to just let others get the mining equipment for. Not a quick process that either.
Ben lifts his head up straight and stares at Adeline for a moment as if he's absorbing her advices."You're a wise woman, ma'am. How come I never heard about you before?" He asks and offers a very discreet and brief smile that comes as a twist of the far corner of his mouth. Even smiling is, apparently, hard to the man.
"Get a mirror and practice that lad. It needs some work," Adeline says before she reaches into her large purse and pulls out a small wrapped strawberry candy. "Her you go lad, for luck." She says and then continues "I've been here, all along. But I've been in my garden and content to keep my grandbabies safe from Fae. I was convinced to get myself out and help out more. Apparently, Lady Death isnt going to be taking me anytime soon despite everything else I thought, so I will just have to soldier on."
Ben reaches the straberry candy and takes it."Thanks, ma'am." He murmurs as he starts unwrapping the treat."I was Taken too young. I'll never have the pleasure to have a family on my own."
"Well, family is more than who you were born next to," Adeline says "Its who you work with an whom you deal with. Its whom you settle with and whom you protect." She shrugs slightly. "You said your a manager at the hotel eh? So you're an Utridge, no? At least its something. And you can always spend time here or another gathering place to meet people."
"There you go. You're on your way, my dear." Adeline says and smiling. "Now, also you have a bit of sugar and a chance to enjoy it. A little bit of luck goes with that. Take a bit of pleasure out of it and enjoy that fact, with the knowledge that its a sweet start to a journey that you are about to take." She smiles at him once again. "Now, dear" she says as she stands slowly, bones creaking. "I have to be getting back to my home and my garden. You can find me and talk anytime you need to, hmm lad?"
Ben nods as he swallows par to the sweet. And when he sees Adeline standing up, he does the same in respect."Do you want me to take you back home, ma'am?" He asks looking slightly worried.
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