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 Posted: Mon Feb 27, 2012 10:18 pm
Abby gave Royce a huge grin. "Ask for my soul, and you shall have it," she said, selecting the slightly smaller piece. Well actually they both looked about the same size, but Abby fancied her piece was a bit smaller. She didn't want to deprive Royce of his meal, after all!
"Can't guarentee what shape it'll be in, mind," she added, taking a bite of the roll. She might have added more, but her brain was doing that thing where it temporarily blanked out from sheer pleasure. Seriously, fresh-baked goods were just amazing!
Thankfully the blank out was only temporary, and Abby carefully refrained from taking another bite of the roll until she had produced a few more speech sounds.
"Not a clue. It was awhile back, and I traveled a lot. I mean I still probably travel a lot compared to what most people do, but lately I've been staying in one place longer than usual. I've been around here....heck, a whole month! It's like a new record for me!"
She took another bite of the roll and made a little noise of happiness.
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 12:13 am
Royce returned Abby's grin and picked up the piece she left behind. "I wouldn't know what to do with your soul anyways," Royce remarked lightly. He took a small bite of his half, smiling contently as its flavor encompassed his mouth. Royce sighed, thoroughly content.
"Ah, I haven't been here much longer than you," Royce stated, a bit surprised. "I moved here only three months ago." The truth was much shorter this time, thankfully, so Royce turned the conversation back to Abby. "So if you don't normally stay in one place, what has got you sticking around here? ... If you don't mind me asking."
Royce watched her as she made her happy noises, almost unable to hold back another laugh. He beamed at her, happy to see her reaction. Royce realized in that moment that this was the first time he'd ever been present to see a customer truely enjoy one of his creations. It made him feel fuzzy with delight and warmth. "I'm glad you like the roll."
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Posted: Sat Mar 03, 2012 4:04 am
"Maybe you could bake it into something," Abby suggested as part of the whole conversation concerning the possession of her soul. "I wouldn't recommend baking it in something overly sweet, cause my soul would just sour it up. Then I'd be sad cause perfectly good sweets got soured." She winked at Royce, taking another bite of the roll.
While she chewed her mind was at work, trying to figure how to answer Royce's question.
Truth was it was this bakery that had kept her around for this long, or at the very least it was a big part of the truth. But truth could be a dangerous thing, gave a person leverage over another. Not that Royce didn't seem like a totally cool guy, and anyone who worked here had to be neat, but... Well geez, he worked in the bakery!
What if she did something to piss Royce off, like pry too much (apparently you could pry to much) or something, and he cut her off and banned her from the bakery. There went her whole reason for living! Dramatic? Perhaps a little. But hey, the baked goods had put the voodoo on her and Abby was gonna enjoy her curse to the fullest!
At the very least, before she told Royce the truth and revealed the full extent of her obsession, she was gonna have to find a potential cure for her curse. That way if the worst happened and Royce did cut her off, she wouldn't have to suffer too horribly.
Now, for some psychobabble and misdirection! She was good at that. It was the reason she never thought about going to see therapists. Last one she talked too ended up in a sobbing ball on the floor spinning out psychobabble of his own. Funny, but probably not the point...
"I guess the same reason all wanderers settle down for any period of time. The place speaks to me. I mean not literally, which is a bummer cause it would totally be rad if I could hear the town talk, but it could also be annoying cause you know it would chatter endlessly and probably moan about stuff to me. Town's probably love to complain."
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Posted: Thu Mar 08, 2012 12:15 am
Royce was pensive for just a second before shaking his head. "I wouldn't know what to bake your soul into, though. But maybe I could ask one of the more experienced bakers for some suggestions, hm?" Royce liked playing along with Abby, even if it did sound all a bit odd. It felt good to get a chance to be whimsical and child-like.
Royce watched her eat, enjoying the moment to observe her reactions, before remembering his own piece. He nibbled a bit at it to keep Abby from possibly getting upset with him. It seemed to Royce that she really liked the treat and held the potential to reprimand him for wasting his half. Then again, maybe she would just ask him for the remainder of his half if he took to long to consume it...
Lost in his own thought, Royce almost forgot the question he posed to his comrade. It returned to him quickly while Abby replied, though, so he did not have to make a fool of himself. He nodded in agreement to her statement-- "I felt the same."-- before laughing once again at the silly image she proposed. "Yes, I imagine a town would have plenty of things to complain about. Litterers for instance."
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Posted: Fri Mar 09, 2012 2:13 am
Abby rolled her eyes, groaning. "That would probably just be the tip of the ice berg. People who dump stuff on the ground, people who break things, building that need new paint, land being changed around, too many people hanging out in a certain place, and not enough plants. I mean the plants thing would be kinda silly cause lack of plants is sorta what makes a town a town, but I bet it would complain about it anyway."
Abby polished off the rest of her roll, watching to make sure Royce ate his. It was bad for a person not to eat, and this roll was too good to let it cool down and spoil!
"So. Did you come here specificly for this bakery, or did you sorta stumble upon the land of delicious baked goods?"
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Posted: Mon Apr 09, 2012 8:30 am
Royce chuckled. "My goodness, it is a good thing towns can't talk." He sighed, pretending to be annoyed with the complaints of the silent town. "Though I would agree on the plant front," Royce admitted while glancing out the window, "A little more greenery couldn't hurt this place." He turned back to his comrade with a pleasant smile. "At the very least it would help freshen the air more."
Royce noticed her eyes were observing him and he knew his assumption had been right. He picked up his speed a bit, but attempted to make it seem casual. Royce was afraid of looking like a slob had he just stuffed it all in his mouth at once, like her gaze was making him wish he could do.
With the new question on the table, Royce's consumption slowed once more. "Well, I was offered a job at this bakery, but I didn't come to this town just for it. I was intending to sell bread right on the street. It turns out, though, that is more old fashioned than I thought. Instead the owner of this place, after trying my home-made bread, offered me a job. He said I had 'potential' and took me in as an apprentice. He even gave me a place to live with his cousin." Royce was happy to relate all this, but he instantly felt silly for letting his tongue just keep going. The truth apparently would just not shut up. "Sorry," he muttered.
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Posted: Wed May 02, 2012 6:33 pm
"Sorry for what," Abby asked, seeming baffled by the apology. "For living with the owner's cousin? That doesn't seem like something to be sorry for unless.... Oh!" Suddenly Abby's face got all concerned as she leaned a little closer to Royce. "He's not mean, is he? That would stink, having to live with a no-humor meanie." She made a face, shuddering at the very thought. People with no sense of humor baffled Abby.
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Posted: Sat May 05, 2012 12:41 am
"Oh, no," Royce said while shaking his head. "No, his cousin is actually rather nice. He can be a bit irritable, but that's because he's used to being a hermit." Royce laughed, remembering the day the owner barged in to his cousin's place demanding he give Royce board.
"No, what I was apologizing for was the ... rambling I tend to do." Royce bit his lip, wishing he could stop. "I know it annoys a lot of people, so I've gotten into the habit of apologizing before anyone can yell at me. It usually stops people off from doing so. After all, I can't help but ramble when I have things to say." That was the end of that truth, so he could stop, right?
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Posted: Sun May 06, 2012 8:11 am
Abby nodded matter-of-factly. It made perfect sense to her after all, because she did the same thing. "Well when you have things to say, it's totally fine to ramble. I mean it could be worse and you could have completely nothing to say. Then I'd be sitting here just rambling at you while you probably secretly wish me to just go away so you can have some peace and let your ears rest."
Obviously she'd run into this scenario before.
She flashed Royce a wide grin. "Also you probably wouldn't have offered to share your food, which would have made a day a little more dreary. So see, it's fine if you're in the habit of rambling. Rambling people are friendly people."
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Posted: Mon May 07, 2012 9:25 am
Royce chuckled again as Abby soothed his worries. "Thank you. What you have said makes me feel much better." He returned her smile before continuing his own speech. "I wished a lot more people believed that. I find your rambling charming, Abby, just so you know. It feels much more like we're already friends than strangers meeting for the first time." Royce's smile brightened at the thought.
"Of course, you probably have an easier time of stopping yourself." Royce laughed in a self-deprecating way. "I cannot stop talking until I tell everything and anything involving the truth of my story."
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Posted: Sun May 20, 2012 8:10 am
Abby made a face. "Ick! That sounds less like rambling and more like I'm interrogating you or something. I mean not that I'm a habitual liar or anything, at least not about the important stuff, but it's gotta suck that you can't keep secrets or just drop hints." A spark of mischief kindled in her eyes. "It's especially fun to just drop hints."
She suddenly frowned as though a thought occured to her. "Do you have to tell people everything? I mean there's no minimum requirement when you're free to stem the flow or something?" A slightly horrified look touched her eyes. "Oh my god! Do you have to answer when someone asks questions, or can you choose silence?"
Obviously the thought of having to spill your life story with little choice was not an appetizing thought to the eccentric female.
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 7:48 pm
Royce's face paled as he realized what Abby's question just instigated. He took a moment to breathe before starting his lament with a grimace already in place. "I absolutely have to tell everything. If the question is direct enough, that is. My answer must be as direct as the question. I suppose it is sort of an eye for an eye kind of thing."
He sighed, knowing he could not stop there. "My brother was experimenting with potions; magic he should not have touched. He had me try one of his concoctions and..." Royce scoffed, remembering the stupidity of the whole situation. "At first we thought the potion had done nothing, but I've come to find out I wasn't so lucky." He would not dare to met Abby's eyes now. He had never had to relate his 'curse' before so he had no idea what to expect, but he was prepared for the worst.
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 9:46 pm
"And you can't just not answer, can you," Abby sighed, rolling a crumb around on her plate.
She was contemplating various responses. Her immediate reaction was to push back from the table, stand on something, and loudly declare an intent to help Royce break the curse so he could lie again, as was the deity-given right of all living creatures. She was able to suppress that one though, cause she'd learned long ago that when people thought you were raving-insane they weren't as keen to let you help them...
"Well this blows as hard as a trumpet-playing cricket," she declared, settling back in her seat and looking at Royce. "I mean I might be a master of lying and half-truths and all, but none of it's magic. Just a ton of experience and skill."
She screwed up her face in concentration. "What the heck was in the potion anyway. Do you have to be a magic user to fix it?"
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:25 pm
Royce shook his head sadly. "Not unless I do not know the information asked of me." He felt defeated but at the same time at least Abby did not leave, calling him a freak as the door slammed behind her. She seemed to be taking the information actually quite well. There was that.
The moment of silence was almost to the point that Royce began to worry he had troubled Abby too much when she finally spoke again. He laughed, unable to stop himself, at her unusual analogy. "I have never heard that one before..." he muttered to himself.
He turned somber once more as they continued to discuss his condition. "I cannot honestly say. Our parents left us while we were still so young that I have no recollection of them. For all I know we do have magic in our blood. I don't even know what my brother put in the potion. He had a habit of going off on his own... to the woods." His brow scrunched up, memories forcing themselves on him.
"I think there was sage in it. I seem to remember that he had been snooping in my make-shift herb garden sometime around then. And I could smell pine along with... some flowery scent. I'm not good with flowers." His mouth finally stilled. He took a sip of his drink before slowly nodding his head. "That's all I know."
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Posted: Mon Jun 04, 2012 10:45 pm
Abby's claws tapped a steady tempo on the table top, her face so scrunched up in concentration as she thought that it was kinda cute. Which, if pointed out to her, might have horrified her just a little.
"See-," she finally said when she snapped out of her thought process, "-all I know is your basic stuff that anyone can do. Salt for purifying, knocking on willow wood to chase off back luck spirits. All that stuff that people think is silly but actually has grounds in magic from a long time back."
She sighed, pushing her shoulders up in a helpless shrug. "But this is waaaaay above my imaginary pay-grade. I've got this one friend who might be able to help, but I lost touch awhile back." She grinned. "He asks all sorts of funny questions, and either's he's reeeeally good at what he does or he's a cheater. I personally think it's a bit of both."
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