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 Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 8:30 pm
Grete quickly looked down at the small piece of paper. Maxem. Maxem, Maxem, Maxem. Of course! Why couldn't she remember that? Grete quickly pulled out a picture frame that had been in a drawer of the vanity. She pulled the old photo out and threw in on the ground, then carefully slipped their written agreement to mentor-ship into the frame. Grete frowed at it until she had aligned it properly, then set it down on her vanity, beaming.
Maybe being a mentor wouldn't be too hard after all.
"Oh," Grete said, with a bit of disappointment in her voice, "If you don't need any of that, then, well. I guess we'll just find something else to do."
Grete pondered that for a second, then glanced back upwards at Maxem. She realized that she didn't know anything about this girl, really. That may lead to bad misunderstandings in the beginning of mentorship.
"So, Maxem," Grete stated, slowly, "Tell me about yourself. Any exciting life stories?" At this, she leaned back slightly in her chair, and took another sip of tea.
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Posted: Wed Dec 06, 2006 9:05 pm
Maxem glowered at the picture on the floor, wondering just what its contents were. She felt a little guilty, taking its place with a piece of paper they had made in five minutes, when the picture probably had so much history.
“Mmm. Not really. I grew up in Cherry Creek,“ With the little bit of information Maxem had on world hopping, she assumed they were still on earth, and more specifically, still in the US. Due to the scenery changes, she had assumed that they were somewhere in the Rocky Mountains, but was not entirely sure. It seemed absurd that they could not know where Cherry Creek was, let alone Nevada. Entirely different worlds were still a new concept to the poor girl.
“It’s fairly calm there… The worst thing I think I’ve done is blown up the court house, actually.” With a small chuckle, she lost herself in the memory for a moment before perking up to the task at hand; which was explaining herself, “I really had a strict father, so I didn’t do much else besides skipping my etiquette classes and blowing things up, actually.”
Hearing Grete’s story was something Maxem had actually been waiting for, so to get a chance to get a bit of a run down was almost like Christmas. She looked at the photo that had fallen to the ground again, reaching to rescue it from the clothes covered floor and see just what it was a photograph of.
“You realize I expect you to share next, right?”
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Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 2:54 pm
Grete nodded politely when Maxem responded. She wasn't quite sure if Maxem had been joking about the court house or not. So, she just nodded and smiled.
"I can't say that I've ever been to Cherry Creek." Nor had she ever heard of such a place.
Then, Maxem grabbed the photograph. It was of a man, standing next to Grete. Both of them were smiling, and Grete was holding a small bag.
"That's my brother," She explained, pointing to the man in the photo, "His name is Bernard."
Grete decided on what she would do about explaining her life. She would be brief. And not include too many details. Grete smiled, and began her story,
"Well, I never really got along with my family. They were never very proud of me, so, I left home at a fairly young age. My brother was the only one that kept in contact with me. He helped me find some place new to live. Then, I had a slew of jobs, but most of them, I quit. Either that or the place itself was shut down..." She paused.
"Then, eventually I found myself here. Though, my life has been sort-of filled with romances. Many of which, I really shouldn't have taken part in. I suppose that I haven't exactly been the type of girl that a mother would be proud of. I've been in one serious relationship. But it's over now. It was a prety long relationship, too. It wasn't good, though. He was a very bad man."
Grete then nodded, and looked back up with Maxem. Hopefully, she had been satisfied.
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Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:03 pm
Maxem looked to Grete once more, this time with a serious and slightly forlorn expression plastered on her face. She had imagined that Grete had had a hard past… But none of that included having a cruel family. The idea of a close and kind family was entwined into her psyche, so the very notion of Grete’s family rejecting her seemed unusually harsh.
All of Grete’s past seemed inhumanly cruel, as if the poor girl could never find a break. It didn’t seem fair that Maxem could have just a simple and happy life while Grete could be so miserable.
“You know… This is going to sound extremely forward… I may be taking things a bit too fast, I mean, I just met you.”
She inhaled, trying to think of how to say what she was going to say without seeming either crazy or drunk.
”But if you want, I can be your sister? You and I can be family, because... Uhm...”
Just how was she going to say this? She had no idea. As far as she was concerned she was just rambling like a loon now.
“Well, I can’t exactly say I’m proud of you, because I don’t know how far you have come, but I do respect you!” She had resorted to blurting the last part of her sentence out; trying to make sure her point was getting across.
“So maybe if I learn… If I learn how much you have grown and how far you have come, I can be proud of you. And then you can say that you are someone to be proud over.”
She sighed, realizing how absurd all of this must sound. There was no way they could actually be sisters, of course, but she meant this in a symbolic way. Grete was already her mentor, so maybe she could just pretend to be her sister too.
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Posted: Thu Dec 07, 2006 9:45 pm
Grete smiled. Maxem had made an extremely kind gesture.
"Sure. I'd take you up on that," She replied, still smiling. Grete felt a bit guilty, though, making this into some sort of pity-party. The idea of a close friend was comforting, even if she didn't know her too terribly well. Grete was mentoring Maxem, so, it seemed like it would be stupid not for them to have a good friendship.
"So," Grete began, sounding slightly cheery and trying to change the subject to something, hopefully, much lighter, "What should we do now? Are there any other questions that you need to ask me? Anything that we need for figure out for your act?"
Grete stood up from her seat and walked over, setting the dainty, chipped tea cup on the counter. From another cabinet, she withdrew a small box with a gold ribbon around it. She unwraped it carefully, and then slowly lifted the lid up. Inside were a dizzying array of small cookies, mostly with a shiny fruit jam on top. Grete selected a small apricot one, and extended the box out to Maxem.
"Want one?"
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 6:29 pm
After a short pause to think about which to choose, Maxem reached carefully inside the book and took a small strawberry cookie from it, nibbling on it a bit before thinking of just what she needed to know.
“I need to know how to get a trailer, or at the very least, a place to stay.” Nibbling a bit more, she tried to think of what else she would need.
“And I’m sure it wouldn’t hurt to figure out who to help out. Probably the headliners and the ringmaster, if anyone.”
Finishing off the cookie, Maxem looked around again, trying to find anything that may inspire her. Finding nothing, she fidgeted a bit, and tried to find something to say. For up until tonight, she had been an only child, and lacking any sibling experience, she felt terribly awkward.
Just what did sisters do, anyway?
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 6:41 pm
Grete put the box back down, and put the lid half-on, just in case one of them wanted more. She wiped her fingers on a small cup towel, and then put one hand on her hip.
"You'll need to talk to Aiden about housing. Scarlett might be able to fix it up for you, though. I'm not sure. I don't run those things," Grete rolled her eyes slightly at this. She suddenly picked up the photograph once more.
She frowned at it slightly, and tried to un-wrinkle one of the corners. It had been like that for a while, and it bothered her. She was afraid that it was some type of symbolical reminder of a large something that Grete would rather forget. She slipped the picture inbetween the glass and the wood on her vanity, and then stared at it a second. Going on better judgement, she took the picture out, and put it once more into the small drawer, face down.
"And about trying to find out who to help," Grete said, as she opened up the large, rectangular glass case that held in all of her jewelry, "I would just ask around and see who actually needs help. Or try to figure out what you're good at with helping. You can work behind the scenes, too."
Grete picked up a pair of shiny earrings, and then put them back down. Her hand hovered over the extremely expensive-looking necklace, but then she picked up a hair clip. It was oval-shaped, and had details of green flowers and vines. There were small gemstones in it, and the oval, as well as the vines, where made of gold. She walked over to Maxem, and slipped it into her hair, and then adjusted it slightly.
"You can have that, if you want it," Grete said, a bit plainly, "Mirror's over there."
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 7:20 pm
To suddenly accept such a gift would be unheard of. She opened her mouth to protest… But then closed it. Her brain wasn’t letting her mouth utter any sort of reprisal, but her heart was telling her to not accept. To her, Grete offering such a gift was the equivalent of if Grete had offered a bit of herself. In fact, by offering an item from her past, she was offering what had made her what she was.
And Maxem really had nothing to offer in return. She couldn’t just take without giving a part of herself back. Despite this, she slowly walked to the mirror, keeping a hand hovering over the clip as if she expected it to shatter at the slightest touch. Frowning, she tried to think of how to refuse without sounding rude.
“You know… Grete, “ She paused, taking the time to take the clip out of her hand and hold it as if it were a small bird in her cupped hands. “I really appreciate that… But right now, I don’t even have a place to stay. I don’t even know where my belongings are. So really, it seems to me far too risky for me to accept any gifts right now. “
“Besides,“ Her face lighted up in a large smile, “I got a sister tonight! That is plenty of a present. I’ve never had one before, you know.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 7:30 pm
Grete frowned slightly. She felt a bit useless, being unable to give Maxem anything. She quickly covered it up with a smile, however, and then shrugged.
"Well. I'll keep it here. And I'll be waiting for you to get a place to stay. All right?" She carefully closed the box, and looked back up at Maxem. She really couldn't figure her out. Whenever Grete thought that she would do one thing, she completely changed course and did another.
"I had a younger sister. A total brat, actually," Grete said, as she opened the box once more, and withdrew a pair of pretty dangling earrings. She fastened them in her ears, and then shook her hair back a bit.
"And then there's my brother. Those are the only siblings that I have. But now, we're sisters in spirit, so, you figure in there somewhere," Grete added, smiling to herself.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 7:48 pm
Before joining the cirque, Maxem probably would have accepted the clip. She had already accepted a shirt from Charlot, gotten help from Phillipe, and gotten information and guidance from Grete. This cirque was her first time away from home, and it was her chance to change. A chance to stop being a spoiled little daddy’s girl and start working for her own living.
It was supposed to build character, but all it was currently building was a knot in her neck and a good relationship with another person her age. Wait… She knew Grete was young, but she didn’t know how young. For all Maxem knew, she could actually be older than her mentor.
“Hey… How old are you? I know it’s a sudden question, but you seem pretty young.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:05 pm
This particular question made Grete laugh. Something about the directness of it seemed funny to her. Grete wondered if she really did look young, or if Maxem was just saying that.
"Oh, yes, I see we're already around to that question," Grete smiled, "I'm twenty-five. And yourself?"
Grete raised an eyebrow, but continued to smile. Then she walked right back toward her counter, and ate another cookie. It wasn't like eating a couple cookies would make her fat, she figured, and she was hungry anyway. Grete hadn't eaten in a couple days, as she hadn't really gotten around to going shopping for fresh food.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:29 pm
“Oh wow! I figured you might be younger than me. I guess not.”
She pondered over if she looked her age; she was often told she looked maybe sixteen.
“I’m twenty in body… But I have to be like… four in the mind.” She laughed at herself, trying to figure out just when she had gotten so old. She was just a youngin’ in class not too long ago and here she was, making a name for herself.
She was starting to like Grete. This was only their second meeting, but they had already formed a sort of bond. Somewhere deep in her mind, a little part of her brain was telling her that fast friends usually meant con artists, but her desire for friends quickly brushed that away. Besides, if Grete just wanted to con Maxem, why would she have offered to give her such a lovely clip?
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:41 pm
"Oh, really? You think so?" Grete said, not quite sure what to think of Maxem's answer. She wasn't offended in the least. She just wasn't sure whether to feel flattered because Maxem thought that she was younger, or slightly upset at the fact that she was, in fact, older. Grete shrugged it off. It wasn't like it made that huge of a difference.
"Four in mind? Well, just based off of today, you seem like a pretty mature four-year-old," Grete replied dryly.
Then she walked back over, and poured up some more tea. It seemed as if, until Grete got ahold of whatever kind of cash was used in this world, she would be living off of tea and cookies for a few days. She laughed quietly to herself, and smiled at Maxem.
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:49 pm
“Ahahaha. Don’t let me trick you. I’m actually pretty immature. It’s worse when I’m around men, though.” Hesitantly, she stretched her back out a bit, letting out a satisfied little noise as she felt something crack.
“You’d have split your sides if you had seen me earlier with Mr. M’Queen. Goodness! I was in such a fluster. I changed in front of him, even. Of course, like the gentleman that he was, he faced the other direction… But goodness, it was daring of me to change in front of a man. Girls are different, because they’ve seen themselves a million times… But a man!” She was fairly ashamed of what she did, actually, but what was done was done, and she had a new wardrobe to sport because of it.
“This is his shirt, actually. He was quite generous in loaning it to me. I think I may have an inclination towards him, actually.” She blushed, realizing she had just met him that same day.
“But like I said… I go nutters whenever I am around men.”
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Posted: Fri Dec 08, 2006 8:54 pm
Grete laughed, once again. She could actually picture Maxem going 'nutters'.
"I know what you mean. I'm a particularly flirty one myself. He, Charlot, I mean, loaned me his coat, also. It was cold, and I was stupid, and didn't have anything."
Now it made sense to Grete. Why Maxem's shirt had looked slightly odd. Grete vaguely remembered doing something to Maxem's top, but she didn't know exactly what. But she knew that she did something.
Grete resisted the urge to pressure Maxem about what she had said about Charlot. It seemed a bit odd, and Grete didn't want Maxem leaping into something that may be foolish right away. She kept her mouth shut, however, and didn't say anything regarding that.
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