|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
 Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 8:34 pm
These days, things were getting quieter in Barren Pines. The strain of bacterial meningitis had found yet another victim or two, in which the students had been called for yet another memorial service. It was dreary at best.
It had seemed like nobody was really in the mood to talk much during dinner time. At the Leprosy house seating, Yvette had been mildly picking at her food. It wasn't because the food was horrible. The food had always been pretty good at Barren Pines. It was more along the lines that she was a bit distracted. On her lap was a sketch pad. A sketch pad she had been drawing in since before dinner had started. All of the doom and gloom of lately had inspired her to draw some darker outfits, and so she was doing just that. Her food would still be there, even if she took 30 or so minutes to eat it. Temperature wasn't too big a deal, since it had already been cooked.
Even though the dark-haired girl was the quiet sort, she still couldn't help but feel a bit awkward with everyone else at the table being nearly as quiet as her.
|
 |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:09 pm
Joanne was not taking the deaths well. As each was announced, she felt part of herself break away. The worst yet was the memorial for Grayson Graves. That nice man had been so encouraging towards her, and now he was gone.
It was a considerably paler Joanne that sat down to dinner that night, eyes red, no less than three embroidered handkerchiefs peeking out of her pockets. She slid into the chair next to Yvette, pulling a hefty magazine out from under her tray as she did so and setting it on her lap. She was determined to make her next project a tribute to the person who had tried to help her. It was the least she could do.
The problem was not her depression, but her usual lack of creativity. The magazine was in fact a department store catalog, full of all sorts of fall and winter clothing. Joanne turned pages as she ate, dogearing pages of interest. As she did, her eyes slid over to Yvette's sketchpad. It wasn't in her nature to comment, but she did smile for the first time in days. It was nice to see she wasn't the only one with such an idea.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Sun Nov 22, 2009 9:39 pm
You know that feeling that someone was watching over your shoulder? The feeling that eyes are on you or are on something you were working on? Yvette was all too familiar with this feeling. At first, she tried to ignore the feeling, jumping to the conclusion that her mind was playing tricks on her again. Her mind liked to do that, thanks to thinking too hard over small situations. Hoping to drown out this feeling, she poked at her food with a fork before scooping some up and leaning towards her utensil. Her tiny mouth opened up and she deposited the food off. She chewed slowly, trying to push that strange feeling out of her head. Yet it didn't go away.
Timidly, her deep purple eyes began to wander, eventually coming across Joanne's eyes. They were right on her sketchpad. If her mouth hadn't been full of chewed food, she would have let out a tiny "eep." Instead, she just stared awkwardly at the girl, seeming to freeze up slightly.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 2:30 pm
In her defense, Joanne thought she was being inconspicuous. A little peek, a little glance, and nobody would have to know. It wasn't as though she wanted to copy the design- she had plenty of others she cared less about ripping off- but she was curious.
Slowly, however, it dawned on her that her attention was not going unnoticed. Joanne lifted her gaze from the paper, her bright blue eyes meeting Yvette's purple ones. In her shock, she dropped her fork back onto her plate. How could she have been so rude? Carelessly rude, even, which was worse.
"I'm so sorry!" she whispered, looking away. "I wasn't trying to copy. Or to bother you. Or... or..."
Or anything, really. Joanne swallowed and prayed that she hadn't accidentally caused some sort of trouble.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 3:31 pm
Her mouth had stopped working, so now Yvette had a lump of partially chewed food in her mouth. She attempted to remember why she knew the pale-haired girl, sorting through all the various things she had done recently. She recalled that one day in particular, she had casually looked over the list of who was participating in the school play. The moment she recalled seeing Joanne's name on the list for costumes, her mouth began to chew her food again. She forced the food to go down quickly, then in her tiny voice she reassured the other girl.
"I-it's okay... r-really... I'm just not used to people looking over my shoulder..."
Okay, maybe the girl was all too familiar with it, since Topher tended to have no sense of personal space if she was nearby and drawing. He'd be the first one to be practically on top of her shoulder and looking at the drawings, attempting to convince Yvette that they looked "nice."
"...do they look weird?" she asked, suspecting that was the whole reason why the girl had been looking in the first place.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 4:24 pm
"I didn't mean to bother you," Joanne said again, quickly. "It was rude of me, and I apologize." Her cheeks were rapidly reddening, flushed with embarrassment at being caught. She hadn't expected the girl to notice- or for herself to be so obvious, more accurately. Now that she was caught, she felt much like a Peeping Tom.
She faintly recalled Yvette's name, but little else. After arriving at Barren Pines, one of Joanne's missions had been to memorize the names of students she was likely to interact with: those in her classes and in Leprosy House. That way, as she watched, she could see who to avoid (assuming, of course, she didn't avoid everyone). She knew that Yvette was not on that particular list, and that she was an upperclassman, but little aside from that.
After a few seconds, she remembered the situation and straightened in her chair. She had to make her wrong right, somehow. "Is there anything I can to to repay for my error?" Nothing came to mind, but she had to ask.
"Weird?" The question caught Joanne by surprise, and she frowned. "Not at all. I was..." she hesitated, not wanting to be taken the wrong way. But after her slip before, she at least owed the older girl her honesty. "They're truly lovely. If anything, I was a little jealous."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 7:53 pm
Her voice hesitated slightly as she attempted to get a bit more clarity to Joanne's offer. "W-what do you mean?"
Being quite self-conscious, the girl's fingers began to close her sketchbook a bit. The pale-haired girl's compliments did not go unnoticed, but at the same time, Yvette had never been one to take the compliments well. For some reason she always thought they were a backhanded insult or just the person's attempts to seem "nice" at the time. Of course, she mentally began to correct herself, I don't mean that the person is mean spirited when they are trying to seem nice. I just mean even the nice person is trying to be nice and not tell me how bad it looks. The only comment that seemed to be a bit off was the hint of jealousy.
"...jealous?" she chirped quietly. "What do you mean?"
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Mon Nov 23, 2009 8:23 pm
Feeling again like she was caught in some nefarious act, Joanne couldn't bring herself to look at Yvette. This time, she couldn't quite tell what she was doing wrong, but clearly she had done something. "I was just asking... if I upset you, it's my responsibility to try to amend my mistake."
'Always make reparations for any breach in etiquette,' Grandmama had told her. 'You never know what can slight a person, and a simple apology may not be enough to make matters right.' Sometimes, Joanne learned, people wanted favors from her. If it would get her out of the spotlight, she was all too glad to do it and get out of the way.
"I just meant..." Joanne tried to collect her thoughts. What would be the best way to explain? "Your designs are very nice. I have tried in the past, but my attempts all lack something." Boring, as her art teacher had told her. While Joanne was skilled at sewing, she had no talent whatsoever for design, and had to resort to working from established pieces.
This was the closest Joanne had ever come to admitting how frustrating that was for her. "I didn't mean to imply... anything. Just that your work is very nice."
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Tue Nov 24, 2009 2:13 pm
Growing more flustered than anything, her tiny voice squeaked out "Oh no! Iamnotupset,youdidnothingwrong!" She brought her hands up and waved them in front of her, as if trying to get her point across. However, it only made her seem a bit more flustered than anything else.
Her hands stopped quite shortly after hearing about the jealousy issue. She was still uncertain, so she managed to utter out a tiny "R-really?" Yvette knew that Joanne could sew. However, she had no idea that she was unable to design. Wasn't that half the fun in sewing to begin with? With a sheepish smile, she attempted to look the girl in the eyes and make her an offer. "D-don't worry about it. I-if... If you ever need any help, I could try lending a hand... if... if you want." Shyly, her eyes sunk back down, this time landing upon her food tray.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 9:36 pm
Joanne recognized that apology. It was one she had used herself, to get attention off of her and assure that no feelings were hurt. More of the former than the latter. Whether correctly or not, she interpreted it as Yvette trying to shift attention away from herself, which Joanne could understand all too well.
Except that meant that she would be the focus again.
"I hope I didn't say anything... inappropriate." These days, Joanne was quite clueless on what was appropriate and what was not. Her guidelines had been outdated when she learned them, now they were simply irrelevant. That fact, while she knew it deep down, didn't stop her from clinging to her teachings desperately.
She was surprised by Yvette's offer, and touched, but shook her head. "I appreciate it, really, but I don't think it would help." It wasn't that Joanne hadn't tried. Nor that she was totally incompetent; her craft was impeccable, and given guidelines and references, she could even exercise a little bit of creativity. But coming up with things on her own was not something she could do well. Her designs were simplistic at best, just plain ugly at worst.
"I really liked seeing you work. Do you sew also?" This was a bold question coming from Joanne, who was sitting on pins and needles just thinking about talking to someone else. But at least this girl seemed to understand, and she was full of professional curiosity.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Wed Nov 25, 2009 10:41 pm
The dark haired girl could feel her self doubt once again bubble up inside of herself. And it was only confirmed by Joanne's refusal of her assistance. It obviously meant her work wasn't good enough. Her nerves were causing her voice to shrink even further, to a point where she was almost whispering. Fortunately for the pale haired girl, the room was so quiet still, that she'd still be able to hear Yvette
"Y-y-y-yes...I s-sew..."
In a vain attempt to calm her nerves, she scooped up a mouthful of food with her fork and plopped it in her mouth.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 12:06 am
Joanne's tiny bubble of hope burst. Why was she asking silly questions? Clearly, the older girl could sew. And design. And probably dozens of other things Joanne couldn't. She was being nice about it, but she probably wondered why someone so unhelpful was bothering her. That had to be it.
"Of course," she said, almost equally quietly. "I'm... truly sorry for bothering you."
This was why she didn't talk to people, she reminded herself. Really, it was the reverse that was true- her social awkwardness stemmed from the fact that she rarely held a conversation, not vice versa. As she picked up her fork and resumed eating, she couldn't help but feel like she'd ruined something. Maybe they could have talked more. Or maybe there really was no hope for her.
Her eyes fell on Yvette's sketchpad again, as she paused to dab her mouth with her napkin. While Joanne's mind was convinced that the conversation was over, her subconscious had other ideas.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Posted: Thu Nov 26, 2009 10:51 am
Her plan of chewing on food was somewhat backfiring. Her desire to reply back with a "no, it's okay" could not happen now that there was food in her mouth. Aiming to rectify this problem, she chewed and chewed and chewed until she could swallow the lump of food. Only once her mouth was free for talking did she say what had immediately come to mind.
"No, no! It's okay... you aren't bothering me..."
That was about all. She didn't notice Joanne looking at her sketchbook still. Instead of continuing to sketch, Yvette resumed eating. She could continue working later.
Silence soon enough seemed to fill the room again. It really was just a gloomy day.
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
Reply
