The Deck | Afternoon | Thursday | September 9

[therewaslife]

It was too nice a day to spend it inside, Bod decided. His one class had been easy so he'd gone into town after and picked up some pastries from the bakery. He hadn't ever had a sweet tooth before but he seemed to be gaining one now.

Miss Lupescu wouldn't be too pleased.

With that done, Bod hadn't even gone up to his room. He'd detoured onto the deck, dropped his backpack and settled into a chair to stretch out and let the sun warm his face. He could feel autumn in the air, smell it on the wind and he was anticipating it.

Summer wasn't the best season for an Englishmen especially an American summer that consisted of a huge sun and blistering temperatures. Bod would just take advantage of this nice day by lounging on the deck and eating sweets.

[Deck's open. It's really that gorgeous outside.]

Comments

[therewaslife]

Bod wasn't looking at the clouds at all anymore. His chin was resting in his hand and was frowning a little now.

"Kate?"

[vanillajello]

"What?" she asked, raising her eyebrows as she turned to look at him. "It totally looks like cotton candy."

[Good niiight!]

[therewaslife]

"No, I wasn't going to argue that," he explained, shaking his head. "Is everything all right?"

[Good night! Sleep well!]

[vanillajello]

"Yeah." Somehow she managed not to look surprised by how smooth and convincing that came out. Maybe it helped that she really had no idea how to express just what was wrong. "Everything's peachy."

[therewaslife]

Even if it had come out smooth and convincing, Bod wasn't completely satisfied with the answer. Having her tell him to be quiet only so she could talk about clouds was just...strange.

"Is it?" he asked, still frowning somewhat. "I haven't known you ever to want me to be quiet so we could talk about clouds before."

[vanillajello]

"I just shushed you for fun," Kate argued, lightly. Nothing to get upset about. "And the clouds turned out to be more interesting than I thought."

[therewaslife]

"So, you didn't really want me to be quiet?" Bod asked, proving that he could be easily confused by what was joking and what was not. Sometimes, it was just too hard to tell.

[vanillajello]

"Well, for a moment I kinda did?" Then it just turned out she couldn't handle it. "So you'd change the subject."

[therewaslife]

"Oh." Bod paused, going back over the subject he'd been on before she'd told him to shush. Of course, he couldn't see anything wrong with saying he was humble but he knew not everyone thought like he did.

"I didn't realize anything was really wrong with that subject," he said apologetically.

[vanillajello]

"Just sounded like it was gonna start verging on serious," Kate said, shrugging. Her gaze flicked up to the clouds for a moment, then back to him. "I don't want to do serious today."

[therewaslife]

"I...wasn't going to turn anything into a serious conversation," he said, twisting his lips a bit before settling back against his chair and turning his eyes back up on the sky.

Honestly, he'd had no intention of doing that. He couldn't even really figure out how he'd do that after talks of being humble. "All right. No serious conversations. Believe me, I hadn't intended on those today."

[vanillajello]

Kate was quiet for a moment, just watching him. Then she, too, turned her attention up at the sky.

"I meant more that I would've turned it into a serious conversation. I do that sometimes when I'm tired." A pause, a dry laugh. "See, I totally pretty much did it anyway."

[therewaslife]

"Do we have anything to have a serious conversation about?" Bod asked, curious. "Am I missing something that I shouldn't be missing?"

[vanillajello]

"No," Kate said, glancing at him, a little more quiet than before. "No, as far as I know, we're... all serioused out for the time being."

[therewaslife]

"So, how could you have turned an innocent conversation into a serious one if there's nothing we need to talk about?" Bod wondered, looking back over at her.

[vanillajello]

"It's a talent," she drawled, looking up at how the ice cream cloud was slowly sliding away. "And I mean, it doesn't have to be a serious conversation we should have. Just something that's... I don't know, deeper?"

[therewaslife]

"Deeper." Bod mulled over the word for a minute before nodding slightly. "Is there something deeper that you'd like me to know? I won't turn it into a conversation but you're free to tell me."

[vanillajello]

Kate shrugged again. "Not really," she said. "I think you know everything you should."

That... was probably never going to be entirely true.

[therewaslife]

Bod was near certain that that wasn't true. He had no idea what was going on right now, in fact, that was making her introspective and wary of serious conversations. Exhaustion, yes, but he didn't think it was just that.

"If you say so," he said gently, nodding. He kept the majority of the skepticism out of his voice and smiled a little. "I hope that remains true."

[vanillajello]

"Mm, and if it doesn't, we'll review the situation." Or something. At least she said it lightly enough.

A few more clouds got assigned shapes before she added anything. "Also, I got randomly bitched at yesterday, but you already promised not to make it into a serious conversation, so don't ask."

[therewaslife]

"Review the situation?" Bod asked, glancing over at her again. Curiosity at her latter statement was there but he'd promised so he didn't ask. "That sounds somewhat ominous."

[vanillajello]

"It's not," Kate replied, very very faintly amused. And relieved that he was refraining from poking at that other thing. "Just means you'll have to be filled in on things."

[therewaslife]

"Mmm. I feel like I should prepare myself for a test," he half teased, smiling again. "I have been studying a lot for purely personal reasons lately. It wouldn't be that much of a stretch."

[vanillajello]

"Don't worry, it's going to be multiple choice," she teased back, lazily, still watching the sky. "Are you taking independent classes or something?"

[therewaslife]

"No. This is research just for me personally," Bod said, looking off in another direction for a moment while his mind wandered. That didn't last long before he was glancing back at her. "It's curiosity on my part. And maybe a need for some closure."

Or lack of closure if he found out that group was still alive and still practicing somewhere in the world.