June
Thread Topic: June
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Asteria looked at him. Why was he silent about what she had just told him? Martino did say they were childhood friends, maybe he didn't want to believe that Quince would keep her here?
Or what if...what if he didn't know how to react to her being a klepto? What if he didn't want to associate himself with her anymore? And that could lead down a long road until he was bitter towards her the same way Martino had been when he had first met her.
Asteria pulled her hand out of Carlos' grip. "It's small, I can take care of it myself," she said quietly. She pulled a tiny spatula out of her pocket, the kind you use for transporting desserts onto plates and put it in his hand that had previously been holding hers. She had accidentally taken it while they'd been cooking.
"I'm sorry," she said quietly, and hurried out of the room to go find her own. -
Carlos's eyes widened as he stared down at the spoon. What Asteria had been telling him was true. She was a klepto. His hands clutched the small spatula tightly. But he didn't care. Nobody deserved to be put in such a situation as this.
"Well?”
Carlos flicked his gaze over to Martino, who was leaning across the doorframe with his arms crossed.
"What?" Carlos asked, his voice quiet.
"Aren't you going to go after her?"
"No, she probably needs space." The cook sighed, taking the white hat off of his head and placing it on the counter along with the spatula. "I think she should take her time.” -
Asteria remembered the way from the kitchen to her room from earlier that day. Carlos would either think she's lying because of her loyalty to Quince, or he wouldn't want to be around someone like her. Those were the two roads this situation could go down.
She made it to her room and closed the door behind her. After flopping onto the bed, she sat up, looking at the bright sunset. It had been a day. A horrible day. And tomorrow probably wouldn't be any better.
Not knowing what else to do she called Roxy. Her hands shook, hoping she'd pick up, hoping the one constant she'd had in her life, her best friend, would be there for her. -
Martino raised an eyebrow, a stern gaze settling on Carlos. "And when you were in a similar situation, did you want space or did you want a trusted person to confide in?"
Carlos stared at Martino blankly before lowering his head shamefully. "I guess I'm worried she'll crack under the pressure if I accidentally push her too far."
"Then sit down with her. Let her vent her troubles to you, but don't question her motives. Listen and offer advice when needed. It is intensely in-elegant to push a solemn person for information regarding their troublesome situation.” Martino sighed with a small huff. He walked away from the doorframe and patted Carlos's head, smiling down fondly at him. "Just do what you do best. Be an idiot, but be the good kind of idiot."
Carlos wrinkled his nose in disgust and swatted Martino's hand away. "Ew, get those rag water fingers away from me!”
“Pardon me! For your information, I always wash and sanitize my hands whenever someone filthy has been touched.”
"I haven't seen you cleanse yourself after touching Quince.”
"I- you imbecile!”
•~•~•
Roxy was busy putting away dishes when her phone had started to buzz on the counter. She squeaked in surprise, but promptly put the plate back on the rack before gleefully running to her phone. The caller ID showed Asteria’s number. Roxy happily picked up the phone before it could reach its fifth ring.
"Hey, As! How are ya doing?” -
"Roxy," Aster said. Her voice shook as she began talking. She told her everything that had happened that day. Everything that happened and everything it had made her feel.
After quite a few minutes she said, "I want to leave. I want to get out of this house, I want to go home. But I can't. And Martino may be somewhat nice now, but Carlos...Carlos probably hates me now. And I'm scared at what Quince will do if I act out against him. Right now I just have to stay here longer which is already bad enough. I want to go home as fast as possible. But what if it stops being a longer sentence? What if it gets worse? What if –" A sob broke through her voice cutting off her sentence. "I'm scared, Rox." -
Roxanne gasped with each word spoken. As if Asteria could see her, Roxy clutched the form tightly and glared down at the screen.
"I knew something was telling me this was good! I swear, people these days need to be taught a very violent lesson! I'm on my way, right now and I’m busting you out of there. No one, and I mean no one is allowed to hurt my best friend like that!” -
"No, Roxy, don't, he– he'll call the police, I'll be even worse off than I am now," Aster said, frantically shaking her head. "Maybe it won't escalate to that. Maybe I should be afraid of him taking advantage of me being his prisoner or getting angry and taking it out on me. Maybe it won't happen. And it won't if I stay docile. If I don't do anything that would give him reason to."
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(I read angry as angy and burst out laughing. I’m so sorry 😭)
"Since when have you been submissive to a person doing you wrong? Wake up, Asteria! If that man is keeping you under his roof forcibly, who knows what he could be thinking! Obviously, he needs to he put in a nut because he’s being a nutjob! I have the address and I swear, I will not hesitate to bust you outta there. We can get new ID’s and flee the states and move to another country. How does London sound? I heard their croissants are good.” Roxy rambled on and on about how they could be escapees on the run, and never get caught. “But really, isn’t he contradicting the law? Yeah, you didn’t mean to steal something, but he’s literally kidnapping you willingly? That’s the illegal thing here!” -
"I know," Asteria let out a sigh. "But as of right now it's better than jail. At least here I'm...a little more comfortable, physically."
She was silent for a moment before saying, "What if you come over tomorrow? To visit? It would probably make Quince upset and we can finally see each other. Only to visit, though." -
"What if I come over…? Did you think I wasn't coming over anytime soon? Of course I was! I can’t let you stay in that terrible atmosphere any longer! You need a friendly face around.” Roxy huffed. “Quince pince, who gives a flying cardboard about someone who has the name that’s close to that of a bird?”
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"No, that's one of the reasons I asked you over," Aster chuckled a little. "What bird does Quince sound close to?"
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"Quails!” Roxy declared. "Whenever I think of his name, I imagine his head on the body of a quail.”
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"Quail and Quince only have one grapheme in common, though," Asteria said.
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"Maybe so, but there’s still a similarity in the names! Just picture a Quince quail.”
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Asteria smiled and shook her head. "Sometimes I wonder how your brain works," she said. She then switched the topic. "When do you think you'll be coming tomorrow?"
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