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Fourth Floor Common Room, morning

Isabel always thought better when she cooked. That was why Friday morning she could be found in the common room making muffins. Lots of them.

Hopefully the smell would draw people in to eat them.

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"No starving!" A.J. laughed triumphantly as more delicious muffin went into his mouth. "I got enough going on right now to torment my art, so a little muffin won't hurt much. Can't be so weak that you can't even pick up a brush, right? And, good morning to you too. How've you been, River?"

She chuckled. "Sweet torments. Am good, myself, mostly. Heard about your mural." She took a bite out of her own muffin.

"The one for Beauty and Adah?" A.J. asked with a little bounce, his grin widening into a beam. "Good! From who? 'Cause I really do think it's some of my best work so far."

"Should come and admire it then." She grinned, thinking it a good reason to stop by and visit Adah too. "Adah told me," she added, pulling her muffin in two halves and biting into one of them.

A.J. bit his lip a little, shifting, head ducked a little nervously. "Uh, she, uh...mention anything about...how she liked it? I mean, Beauty likes it, I know that, but...I don't know, you're friends with her, but she doesn't really...talk," he winced at that, knowing Adah didn't really talk at all, and that wasn't quite what he'd meant by it, "..err, to me, so...I don't know if she likes it or not. I hope she does, but....y'know...I don't know."

River blushed a little. "Forgot to ask. Got distracted." She should have asked, really, but there had been so many other things on her mind. She stared at the two halves of her muffin.

"Oh," A.J. looked a little crestfallen. "But she didn't...mention one way or the other?" That didn't sound good; if she had liked it, she would have said something, right?

"Distracted her," River said, then added: "With ice cream." She gave A.J. an apologetic look. "Am sorry."

"Well," A.J. sighed a little bit, but it was for effect only, as he couldn't help smiling a little to encourage that apologetic look off River's face. "I guess if it was for ice cream, that's okay. Ice cream's worth it. Just as long as it was at least good ice cream."

As if there could be such at thing as not good ice cream.

River let out a giggle, blushing slightly again. "Very good ice cream. Will ask her for you later, if you want."

"Heh, I should...probably ask her myself," A.J. admitted, oblivious to River's giggling being any more than a just a good mood for the morning. "But, yeah, if you could, that'd be good. Beauty thinks she does, but Beauty can't get much out of her either."

Knowing Adah, River wasn't surprised, but she didn't say anything. "Will ask," she repeated, filling her mouth with one of the muffin halves. "Life apart from painting?" she asked with her mouth full.

A.J.'s eyes went a little wide at River's muffin consuming capabilities. "That's....impressive," he complimented with a little bit of a chuckle. He wasn't quite sure what River asked around all that muffin, but he think he figured it out. "It's been...well, I won't lie and say that it's been perfect," he said, still oblivious that lying and saying that to River wouldn't matter, "but it hasn't been that bad, either. Just some..." There was a slight frown. "...issues, but nothing I can't handle."

After swallowing that mouthful, River licked her fingers, then smiled at A.J. "Complicated love life? More the rule than the exception."

A.J. snorted, though it was mostly laugh. Damn that radio; everyone probably knew about it by now thanks to it, didn't they? "More the rule, huh?" he asked. "Good, then maybe I don't have to feel so bad about the fact that it keeps getting that way. I don't know...relationships are...hard. I don't know if I'm really built for them."

"Am uncertain too, myself." There was a hint of sadness in her eyes at those words, though. "Emotions toss you around, unable to resist."

"Yeah..." A.J. frown deepened a little, especially since he noticed that River seemed to be feeling what he was feeling, and he didn't want to make her sad, too. "It's hard. I think I'm just...gonna try to...you know...stay away from all that. It's not going to be easy, I know, but, hey...I'll probably put out some awesome work in all my torment, right, so I won't even have to starve, I can just pull from that..."

Then River looked straight at him. "Don't believe that pain feeds the work. Eats it away. Have to cling to the happy moments." Then she turned her head suddenly, looking down.

A.J. pulled back a little at that; it seemed sort of sudden, that look, and then the sharp turning of her head the next moment, and his frown deepened, worrying that he'd really upset River. "I...that was...I didn't really mean that," he said, trying to rationalize the joke a little. "But...it's...better for me to deal with all that than, you know, risk hurting someone else again...you...know?"

He realized that he was probably never, ever going to be able to get over what he'd done to Troy. Ever. Or the fact that there wasn't a single solution in this whole mess that didn't leave someone unsatisfied.

She hadn't meant to upset A.J. River shook her head. "Always do. Risks accumulating. Can't help it." She looked up again, smiling a little. "Could be worse. We could be all eaten by reavers."

A.J. didn't know what a reaver was, but he was smart enough to figure out that, hey, it was probably bad, and he nodded. "That's true," he said. "I kinda...like...remaining uneaten...by...things." But he got a small smile out of River, so he returned it.

"Reavers rape you to death, eat your flesh, then wear your skin. If you're lucky in that order," River clarified before stuffing the other half of the muffin in her mouth.

A.J..... really didn't have much to say to that beside, "Oh," and promptly set his muffin aside for more.

A wide smile appeared. "Put things in perspective," she said, then poked his arm. "Will inspect your mural, but I mustn't be late for work."

And that was....quite a perspective. "Uh, yeah. You got work today?"

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moonbrain-tam.livejournal.com - 2007-11-03 17:01 (UTC) - Expand

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