untrueheart | Act 5

[Under a darkening sky, Rue makes her way 'home', released from yet another kidnapping that she cannot remember. Somewhere along the way she located a broken branch, a few inches taller than she, to lean on while she walks; it helps offset a small limp and some troubling dizziness. Entering the village proper on its western side, she sighs at the length of walk that remains. Why does this happen every time? Why is she always as far away as possible?

Rue stops twice to rest: once in the rec center, and once on a bench near the fountain. By the time she reaches the plaza she's also shaking, and it is the mural around the fountain tiles that really shocks her into noticing her other problem.

Tired, shaking hands open her journal and she clears her throat into as prim and proper a tone as she can before speaking.]

Is there an- experiment going on at present?

['Experiment' absolutely drips with venom and distaste; with luck, it will be enough to hide all of her growing apprehension.]

[[ooc: action stuff and voicey stuff yes let's go WOW I haven't made a post in a very long time.]]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

I'm sorry... I know how that can be.

[Repeatedly, actually. It just gets worse each time.]

Do you need anything? Or just some company?

[She wants to brush him off, the way she brushes off help from everyone. There's just...something in his voice. Something telling her he does know how this can be.]

Company? [As much as Rue wants it to sound like she questions his audacity, it comes out soft, almost a request instead.]

[...Yeah, that's close enough. He figures she's not the type to openly ask for help, especially after he'd had to wrestle her into the whole support group concept before.]

Yeah, company. Sit tight, I'll be there in a minute.

[Just need a handy location spell...]

[Her pride and dignity will not let her ask for help, even when she needs it.]

Fine. [But she doesn't sound particularly upset about it. Billy managed to talk his way through several lines of defense in just one conversation, after all.]

[Location spell + teleportation means that Billy is there within a minute as promised, stepping up to where she's seated and halting in front of her. She looks about as well as can be expected, he figures.]

...Can I sit with you, or... would you like a hand getting somewhere else?

[Rue sits up straighter when he arrives, wide-eyed. She knew Billy was coming; seeing him appear a few feet away is not what she expected.]

H-How did you-

[Oops, maybe he showed up too close/ He holds his hands up, apologetic.]

Sorry, sorry! Remember how I said I could do magic? I know how to teleport. I just figured it would be faster.

[Rue knows 'teleport' because of the spots in the village that take her from one place to another. A person achieving that on his own...]

That isn't the magic we learn in school.

No, it's not... this is my magic. It's, um. Genetic.

[Fortunately Rue is a good student and she knows what that means. It might have applied to her own "magic" before she knew the truth.]

It must be useful. [It's strange to see him in only grey tones. Rue's mouth sets in a line while she concentrates on the colors he should be, but Billy and the stones beneath him remain monochrome.]

There isn't anything you can do.

That's not why I'm here.

[He stuffs his hands back into his pockets, shoulders lifting in a small shrug.]

No one can magic away the side effects of whatever they do. Everybody knows that. Like I said... company. It helps, I think.

Not everybody.

[Not Rue. Rue never discusses these things with other people. She turns away, shoulder facing Billy, and tries to look into the fountain without showing how pitiful she feels.]

Company...is nice.

[He'll accept that as an invitation - the best he's likely to get from her - and steps forward to sit down on the bench beside her. Company is nice, and he hopes she genuinely believes that, even just a little.]

If it's any consolation, you didn't miss anything. [He doesn't really expect it to help, but it's the slightest of perks.] Nothing really happened here.

I suppose it is some small comfort. [Although, in equal measure, it probably means she wasn't missed.

She doesn't miss the feeling his presence gives her, either. The sense of safety. It's strange.]

Not that I could have prevented it, if something did happen.

Act 5

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