Emotional Triangles (Shin, Kealey)

The Full Circle. At this point it was pretty much the crossroads of Kealey’s universe. All the different little strands of her life seemed to come together in a perfect little bow above the independently owned book store. There were always friends here, now, and Kealey had a smile ready for all of them as she made her way down the street. Sam frequented the shop, and his brother worked there with Aurum , Shin worked there when he wasn’t on vacation and apparently the whole shop was owned by the woman who was married to the man who owned her apartment. It was an interesting little tangle, but a good one.

Sketchbook in hand, on a rare day off from library, clinic, and school, Kealey walked down the street, doing her best to concentrate on her own feelings as opposed to everyone else’s. Her coat was blue plaid and hit her in the middle of the thighs, and a matching page-boy hat sat over hair she’d left down and curled that morning. Her pants were black and skinny-legged, disappearing into long boots that folded over just under her knees. Her shirt didn’t necessarily go with the whole black motif, but it was cute nonetheless, a simple slim-cut turquoise t-shirt that stopped at the top of her thighs over a black long-sleeved shirt. A fashion student had to at least look put together in public, right?

Finding herself in front of the shop, Kealey paused for a moment, ready to see the sights and smell the smells of a familiar place. She wondered if Aurum was there, if nothing else, his emotions provided almost constant distraction…and an indicator of when a well dressed woman entered the shop. Kealey grasped the handle and pulled, walking in. Immediately…something felt wrong.

Kealey couldn’t pinpoint what it was, but it felt like there was a little black cloud centered over what was usually a cheery and warm atmosphere. The badger was back too, Kealey smiled slightly and let her head follow the path of the waving for a few passes…even that didn’t feel exactly right. She moved towards the tables in the back, and a sudden thought occurred to her. If the badger was back….

Blue eyes scanned the small shop until they fell on the familiar figure behind the counter. Kealey almost started walking that way, but then she realized the source of the little black cloud and stopped dead in her tracks. She hadn’t known Shin a long time, and she probably wouldn’t have counted him among her closest friends, but Kealey knew emotions and she’d never seen him this…depressed? It wasn’t the right word, but that escaped Kealey and she changed her trajectory, making her way towards the coffee bar in the shop. As she’d suspected, Aurum was there making coffee and feeling a bit mopey under his usually chipper exterior. The blond approached the counter, shrugging out of her jacket and pulling her hat from her head. Over her arm the coat went, and into her hand the hat, ”What’s with the little black cloud following everyone around in here.” she asked, frowning slightly, and only glancing at the menu for a moment ”White chocolate mocha.” she ordered. Hey, ifAurum was working, it didn’t matter what else was happening in the shop…coffee was a necessity.

... Didn't want her to feel... Okay, maybe she'd already felt. He was probably a wash of emotion, rolling over her like the tide on a tidy-cat beach. A tidy-cat beach that stretched for miles, big enough to get lost in, where every footstep spelled out an equation that pulled out infinitely, like taffy, and-- okay. Maybe he needed to stop distracting himself with weird metaphors that made no sense. Especially when cats were involved.

Shin's eyes veered away from the blond woman with the curly hair. Gosh, he hoped she'd wander elsewhere, and wouldn't walk over to make conversation with him. It was nearly closing time. He'd nearly escaped having to explain himself. Why couldn't things be easier around friends?

Why'd they actually have to care?

>> ”Drinking won’t solve the problem…” Kealey said to him, ”Trust me, I know.”

A nodded agreement. There was definite truth in that, and he knew it, too. Idly, he wondered how she'd learned. His had been a nasty breakup. Nothing too candid. Just... a her... and a her leaving him... and then, maybe a few shots of alcohol, when he'd been young. Hadn't solved much. Didn't really come off logically that it would. Now, manly talking-to's (Especially with father figures), those could solve things. It seemed Kealey and Aurum both agreed on that, as well.

"I couldn't agree more," He nodded seriously. Then, she made her next comment.

>> ”Geez Aurum, that’s good.”

Aurum's ego flashed a moment of overconfidence. "I couldn't agree more there, too." He commented. "But, seriously. He needs a friend."

Kealey sighed, and made her move. Even though he'd been appreciative of the comment, he darn well knew Shin's emotions were the important thing. They were probably overpowering.

While she didn’t feel a desperate need for Aurum’s approval of her actions, Kealey still appreciate the sentiment. Even if the man hadn’t really intended to give it, his emotions did. In some ways, that was even better approval than spoken encouragement would have been. What was better encouragement, was the way Shin reacted when Kealey spoke to him.

It didn’t feel odd to Kealey that she’d just informed Shin that they were going out. She was a little fuzzy headed from his confusion, though. Sure, she’d never really done anything socially with Shin, but they’d talked about books several times. That was about as well as you could get to know a person. There were people who would disagree, but the type of book a person liked was a window to the soul only rivaled by the eyes.

”Good.” the blond said, then grinned, ”I’ll wait over in the tables until you’re done here.”

She turned and made her way away from Shin, glad that his emotions had swung from the absolute desolation she’d felt in him earlier to the utter confusion she felt now. It was a testament to how bad things were before that this was an improvement. Aurum came back into view and Kealey grinned at him, using her free hand to give him a thumbs up before settling into her favorite table to people watch until it was time to go.

So, he guessed she was waiting, then? Shin smiled weakly. "Okay." He supposed she could wait. Though for what, he didn't know still. Didn't know much of anything anymore. Had she been...?

But, no... she couldn't possibly be... could she?

He swung his attention towards the next customer, and rang up a book on child psychology.

Naw, naw... They were friends. That was all. And she was pretty, but he didn't think of her like that. It was completely innocent. He waved off the thought as the cash register dinged. Couldn't possibly.

And he had Kasumi, so... but she was Kasumi, so... and he still didn't understand what her being Kasumi had to do with anything, other than that he was being hard on his friends while he worried about her...

so...

Shin waved off all the silly thoughts as he hopefully helped the next person pick out a book. He wouldn't worry about it. Hopefully, it was just dinner. Maybe they'd go to Aurum's restaurant and get curry... and maybe they were just trying to cheer him up.

Could they do that?

The time passed by quickly, and closing time came around, but he still hadn't answered that question for himself. Could they? Could they, really?

And did he want them to? Such were the thoughts burbling through his stream of consciousness as Aurum and the Asian ran through the closing procedures. After everything was done, they both stepped out onto the pavement in front of Full Circle. Aurum looked to Kealey.

Shin tilted his head.

"So."

It was a bar he hadn't been to. Aurum looked around at the place as they entered. It didn't seem so bad. The lightning was good, everything looked clean, and most importantly, Kealey had chosen it (so he knew it had to be good). Aurum glanced back at Shin, and decided for the kid.

"A table should be more private." If they were going to be talking, they'd want that. It wouldn't do to help Shin through his problems by shouting. Not that the crowd by the bar was booming right now. He glanced towards the sports bar, just out of curiosity's sake. "It looks friendly."