Recent Posts

The horse had ran through the field, Kealey had entered her name, and the game had started. Kealey had learned about the Deku tree and the “children of the forest” . She was playing as one of those children…except he didn’t have a fairy.

Hmm. This was definitely interesting.

Oh. Now she had a fairy.

And she needed to talk to the Deku Tree. Out of the humble little abode Kealey went as her little grin fellow. Then she ran around the town for what seemed like forever, trying to figure out the controls, and get accustomed to the way the controller felt in her hands.

It was distracting to say the least. At least until something more distracting came along…

By the time Shin asked her how she liked the game, Kealey had stopped playing and had started staring at him while he stared at nothing at all. Something strange was happening with his emotions. It was almost like….he was beating himself up.

”Oh, it’s good so far. I think it’s going to take me a calendar year to figure out how to play though. Are you okay? You were kind of far away for a minute there.”

Shin was pleased with her progress on the comment and for a moment Kealey simply basked in the glow of the happy feelings. All he’d say on the matter was awesome though. No spoilers. That was okay though, Kealey didn’t really want spoilers. She wanted to read it all herself. She glanced at the laptop again. What was going to happen next?

She’d have to wait. Shin had something new to show her. He noticed she was wearing his shirt, and Kealey grinned and snuggled into it further. Blue eyes widened at his revelation, ”There are Homestuck shirts?” and Shin said she could borrow his. ”I’m so definitely taking you up on that offer.”

Then, he launched into his description.

Apparently this was a Nintendo. Kealey had heard of Nintendo, and she knew that Shin had several of their products. It made her smile that he wanted to share them with her. He wanted her to be interested in the things he loved, he didn’t mind her stealing his clothes, and he liked being around her even when they weren’t doing anything. Best boyfriend ever. Seriously.

He worked on hooking everything up and Kealey watched with a grin. Good thing he’d come along to hook things up. There sure were a lot of wires.

Shin pointed out that he was supplying her with addictions, and Kealey laughed, taking the controller from his hand.

She was going to play Zelda.

One more glance at the computer, then back to Shin. ”Fire it up. Of course it will be fun.”

She tilted her head as the thing booted up.

”What is an Oc…oc….that thing you said?”

Kealey had to admit, she’d done a good job here. All the questions had been fielded with grace, poise, and sufficient information. Andrew had started to spiral a bit into pity party…but she’d helped him avert that too. He poked fun at himself, and Kealey shook her head.

”You’re a lovely friend, and I definitely owed you answers. Subterfuge is not my specialty…I’m a bit of an open book. Always have been, even if they weren‘t necessarily my emotions I was broadcasting.”

Ahhh, there it was, a legitimate smile. Kealey grinned back. It was kind of hard to help it. Andrew teased her and she laughed.

”Hey, you saved me there. That present went over ridiculously well.” “Well” Understatement of the year. Then again, the coat had been popular that day too…

Lest her mind wander too far, Kealey pulled it back to Andrew. He asked if there was anything else they needed to cover.

”Just how long you’re willing to sit here and watch me stuff my face.”

Oh man. Kealey realized too late that bringing up Romania had been a huge mistake. Huge. Apparently Lee had died…now Kealey was confused, hadn’t Shin just said that..

”She got better.”

”Oh…that’s good…” Kealey muttered into her glass as she drank and listened to Shin talk. And he’d gone blind…and Ghost had…ghost had what?

This was…Kealey gulped down the mouthful of wine she’d taken with her last drink at the panic that suddenly started to well up inside of Shin.

He brought his eyes to hers and Kealey’s widened at what was in them. Apparently there was a reason they’d never really spoken about what had happened in Romania.

One day, they would. Having all that inside was bad. She just nodded her head for the moment though and looked at her cup. Another drink. Yeah…two more.

Overwhelmed. So overwhelmed.

Kealey could tell he was working through the things she’d said. He didn’t feel better, but the situation didn’t feel as desperate. This was an improvement. He didn’t know what else, but he felt like he’d taken a load off. There was a bit of relief now that he’d said it, and Kealey nodded.

Deep breaths. Deep breaths were definitely good after the breathtaking panic of a few moments ago. He wanted his mind off of it. Kealey smiled and nodded. That, she could do.

Up she stood, moving to tip a little more wine into her glass, ”First, we’re going to drink this. Not because it makes us feel better, but because we already opened it and it would be a shame to waste perfectly good wine. So, unless you want to watch me be lush…refill at will.”

To the door she went, the lock clicked. Not that students often wandered into her room, but especially if they were drinking, Kealey didn’t want to take the risk.

”Now, for starters, I’m going to tell you about the crazy class I’m taking and how my teacher thinks we need to be ’wearing art’ “

She paused and gestured to the sewing machine, ”That pile of scraps is going to be my artistic interpretation of the four seasons…as a dress.”

The smile wasn’t a sincere one, but Kealey smiled back anyway at the effort it had probably took to manage even that. This was super serious…

Shin started talking and Kealey sipped at the wine in her glass. It was sweet and it actually tasted pretty good. Apparently Shin’s friend had lost his wife in some way or another, and it didn’t look like she’d left him on her own.

That really was terrible, and for a moment, all Kealey could do was feel sorry for this friend of Shin’s. There was something about the name though that sounded familiar, though, and she frowned, trying to place the memory. She’d met someone named Tarin before…but where? She stopped worrying about it for the moment and turned her attention back to Shin’s story.

The origin of the wine was revealed, and Kealey watched Shin as he watched the cup in his hands. He and this ‘Lenna’ person had done the right thing. They’d left Tarin, so she assumed it hadn’t been too much of a fight.

Shin stopped talking, and Kealey looked at him, worrying her bottom lip as she tried to figure out what to say.

”I can…that’s simply awful. I’m guessing that the police are involved? Is there an official investigation, or anything like that? Does he know of anyone who would want to take her? I’m guessing they were happy enough that she wouldn’t want to leave…even without her important stuff?”

They were questions that probably had obvious answers, but Kealey didn’t know anything beyond what Shin had told her. Background would help…it would also get Shin talking beyond the bare bones of the story. Talking helped.

The sewing machine whirred, and Kealey hummed as she worked on her first project for her, Modern Artistic Applications of Fashion class. According to the professor in this one, everything was going to be Avant Garde. She’d said that none of it should be ‘off the rack’. Shockingly, considering the amount of work she’d done for the X-Men. Kealey was struggling a bit. Sure, some of the uniforms looked a little outlandish, but when it came down to it they were practical.

This was a whole new realm of whimsical, and Kealey planned to make every outfit something she could wear…at least to a costume party. The project was due in a week, and the professor had handed each student three enviro-bags filled to the brim with scraps. The assignment was to make a clothing item.

Kealey, of course, had chosen a dress. It was going to be patchwork, and pieced together, and she’d separated out the cool colors from the warm colors. The bodice was going to start out cool, since she had more of those scraps. As the eye moved down the dress, a person would see it change until the skirt, which would be warm colors. She hoped it worked…and she knew that piecing everything together was taking a long time.

A knock came at the door, and Kealey stood. The room was far tidier than usual, with Kealey having organized everything before she started her first real project of the year. She didn’t feel embarrassed letting someone see inside.

To the door she went, blinking her eyes a few times to get rid of the multicolored ghosts that tried to stay when she left the machine. She grasped the handle and pulled.

It was Shin…and he had a bottle of wine?

Kealey smiled for a moment at how gallant the scene kind of appeared, with him in his coat and bringing wine…

Then Kealey took a good look at his face, and a good read on his emotions. The smile slid off her face. Something bad had happened.

”Come on in…what happened?” she said, heading back into the room. Shin had brought wine...and from what Kealey could tell, he needed some.

While she waited and listened to his explanation, Kealey went to her closet and grabbed two of the plastic cups she kept there.

"Go ahead and open that up while you tell me." she said, gesturing at the bottle.