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Post by Administrator on Dec 17, 2011 17:27:55 GMT -5
Toasty!
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Post by Brook LaRue on Jan 8, 2012 22:40:26 GMT -5
[[ New Day ]]
It had been two weeks since Brook had been released from hospital, she'd stayed with Medda but finally, finally returned home to the lodging house. Her face was clear and so were her eyes, it had taken a while for the illness to leave her. And though it had, the scarlet fever that had torn through her body had left its mark. The rashes were gone, but she was more covered than she had been before. She'd had delirium dreams, fantastic nightmares and was constantly being hovered over by a nurse with blond hair, hovering over her and speaking to her directly as if she could understand.
She'd not seen her friends during that time, but worried for them. Especially Blink since he had held her and refused to leave her until the mad doctor had instructed him to do so. They'd said that someone had taken care of her expenses, which had been shocking. Her weakness had subsided but they warned her when she left how easily she would be susceptible to some illnesses now.
On a sigh the tiny cajun tugged at one of her curls and looked into the fire, pulling her feet up as she leaned against the tattered sofa, letting the warmth calm her. She was home... it felt right.
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Post by Specs on Jan 9, 2012 0:17:09 GMT -5
Two seconds.
In the first second, Specs walked in the door and looked over at the fire. It was quick, because it was cold and raining and he didn't own a coat and the fire would be burning. It was then that he saw Brook, and for the duration of that second, he froze. Specs was more of a doer than a thinker, but at that moment his mind was filled with a torrent of thoughts--excuses, memories, everything. He remembered hearing Brook was in the hospital with scarlet fever. He had been worried for her--really, genuinely worried. But he had gone on with his life, and things progressed normally. He would think of her, and he thought about visiting her...like Blink did. But...something held him back. Scarlet fever. It was serious. And he...well. He didn't want to get sick. He was terrified of getting sick. It made him a coward, and so he never visited her. Not once. And he felt awful. At the same time, seeing her sitting there, well again, was such a relief. He had been afraid of hearing that something bad had happened. What if the worst came true and he had been too afraid to see her?
It takes something big to make a guy like Specs scared. It humbled him a little. Maybe just a little, but enough. Maybe not permanently, but for right now.
Two seconds. He sprinted across the room and, without word or warning, threw his arms around Brook, lifting her up off the couch. "You're back!" he said joyously. He didn't let go of her, half to be a little obnoxious, knowing she'd fight back a little...and half, well...just glad that she was alive.
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Post by Brook LaRue on Jan 9, 2012 0:26:45 GMT -5
It happened in an instant, the kind of delightful madness she remembered living in Manhattan. She was sitting with her eyes on the fire, registering the opening and closing of the door before she was off the couch and into familiar arms. It took her more than a moment to realize that it was Specs holding onto her before she started laughing and hugged him tightly. Truly, he was one of her closest friends and she knew that. She'd never blame him for not coming to see her, how could she? Being sick like she was, she didn't want him to get sick. Then where would they be?
"Specs!" she laughed, it was such a happy sound she hadn't made in awhile, she almost forgot herself. Still she hugged him tightly and gave him and excited peck on the cheek. she was often kissing the boys like that, a kiss on the cheek, a hug and her gentleness in it. But now it was that she felt like she was home. "I missed you, cher! You're looking smart today."
Fact was he looked like he did every day, she wondered what adventures she'd missed, what mischief she'd missed. "Sight for sore eyes."
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Post by Specs on Jan 9, 2012 1:08:12 GMT -5
"You, talkin' about a sight for sore eyes!" Specs exclaimed. He planted a kiss on both her cheeks (believing it to be the French style she would be more appreciative of) and looked her over. "You're lookin' a dream, beautiful!" he said with a wide smile, and pinched her cheek. "Lookit them eyes." He laughed and sat on the couch, and motioned for her to join him.
"I wanted to come visit you," he admitted, "but I didn't know...well, I knew it was contagious. And I thought, well, if I was sick...if I got sick..." Specs shook his head. He wasn't good with words, not when he really meant them. Piecing together a lie, he was a con artist. Stringing a pretty dame along, he was a Casanova. Talking about feelings, he had the brains of a beetle. "I'm sorry, I guess. Must have been lonely. Scary even."
He realized, all at once, that he was probably talking about the last think his friend wanted to be talking about. "Oh! I have something to tell you. Ready to be amazed?" Specs smirked and tipped the brim of his hat jauntily. "I've been...oh, you're going to love this... I've been reading."
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Post by Brook LaRue on Jan 9, 2012 2:35:59 GMT -5
Brook beamed when he kissed her cheeks, it was a proper home coming if she'd ever remember having one. Like being welcomed back by family, truth she probably would have smacked him in the head with his own hat if he'd kissed her on the lips. He knew how she felt about those kinds of kisses. As he was looking at her, pinching her cheeks she laughed and actually blushed. She'd missed him, his charm and his adoration. Even if it was the adoration of a friend she'd missed it.
As he moved she followed, her smile faulting just a bit when she heard his words and she did something she wasn't sure he'd expect. She reached over and caught his face, kissing the top of his head as she murmured in a rapid french. Pulling back she sat beside him and took his hand, "First... cher. I didn't want you to get sick either... Scarlet Fever kills folk an'... I was fevered an' havin' wild dreams. Prefer you as charmin' and as healthy as you are now."
She blinked at him after her continued and laughed, her curls bouncing around her face as she grinned at him. Specs, reading? "No? Really? What kind of book? Is it one of those books with the racy pictures my brothers were always on about, mon choux?" Her eyes were alight with the mischief that she had been missing, being so near death she'd realized what was important to her and who. There were a lot of things she needed to say, that she hadn't been able to get out. It would take some time but she would say them. "I am properly amazed, tell me more."
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Post by Specs on Jan 10, 2012 13:27:46 GMT -5
Specs scoffed. "C'mon, Brook. Really, is that all you expect of me?" She was absolutely right, at least about some of the books. But those had already been read and Specs, never one to read a book twice no matter what the subject, had passed it around to the other boys. He didn't know who was in possession of it now, but at this point he wasn't sure he cared. There were about five or six of those types of books, but almost twenty of the type he was telling Brook about.
A few months ago, not long after Brook had gone to the hospital, Specs was selling at his usual spot on 45th and 3rd. There was a bookstore he often stood in front of that was closing down. Specs never paid much attention to it. One day, though, just as he was finishing selling for the day, the shopkeeper waved him over. A little bewildered, Specs entered the store. Most of the books were gone already--whole walls of shelves were bare, save for a few boxes on the floor. The shopkeeper, eager to get rid of all his stock, explained to Specs in a muted voice that there were some books he couldn't sell to anyone and wanted them taken off his hands. In return, Specs could have all the books in this box for a penny.
The racy books were the ones the shopkeeper couldn't sell--was it any wonder?--and Specs had agreed to take the box for a penny, thinking he might be able to sell them elsewhere (where and how, he had no idea) but thinking it was a good investment. When the racy books had been passed around, Specs had picked up the books in the box and looked through them. He was interested, so he opened one. Ten minutes later, he was completely intrigued.
"I've been reading about sailing!" he exclaimed. "All these books I got, they're about boats, and knots, and parts of a ship. I learned to tell time by lookin' at the stars--can you believe that?--and I'm reading about all these places..." He looked at Brook with a smirk. "I'm pretty excited about all this. I must sound like...somethin' else..." He chuckled, a little chagrined.
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Post by Brook LaRue on Jan 14, 2012 19:20:42 GMT -5
"Specs I expect a lot of you," she replied with a bright smile, her hands setting into her lap as she watched him get excited. It made her smile, truthfully she'd missed him. He made her laugh, smile and though she knew that he did that for a lot of women. They were friends where it counted, as close to her as her brothers were. "Though, you and the racey things... that's just normal.."
A chuckle escaped her when he told her he'd been reading about sailing and she turned to lean against the arm of the soft to watch him speak. Her smile was fast as he told her about how he was learning so much about so many things from books. That's where she'd been the last while, getting lost in books but she'd been lost in adventures not really in learning about sailing. Though the way he went on and on it sounded so exciting she was hanging on his words. "That sounds amazing, cher! Like, you learned about the stars and how you can tell time by them? You sound happy. And I'm glad you are. Better than soundin' like the world is fallin' in on top a you."
[[ sorry its short this cold is killing me]]
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Post by Specs on Jan 31, 2012 20:19:39 GMT -5
"Yeah! It's somethin' else. People from the ancient times figured out how to do it... But it seems even harder than just a clock, huh? The street lamps here, though, makes it hard to see the stars." Specs shifted and slipped an arm around Brook's shoulders. "I think it might be something...you know, for me to do after. Once I decide papes ain't cutting it no more."
Specs scratched his head. "How...uh, how soon you think that's gonna be, Brook?" Specs couldn't quite remember if he was seventeen or eighteen... He remembered a birthday with a lot of wine and plenty of kissing, but the memories had no number attached to them. He decided right then that he could be either, depending on which one suited him at the moment. A year difference wasn't so bad, in any case.
He looked at Brook again, and asked her plainly, "What are you gonna do when papes don't cut it?"
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Post by Brook LaRue on Jan 31, 2012 20:46:34 GMT -5
Brook listened to him, the kind of excitement in his voice had her turning a bit, pulling her feet onto the couch under her skirts as she shifted to lean her head on his shoulder at the same moment he put an arm around her shoulders. There was a comfort in listening to him talk about things, it made her smile though his next question had her thinking hard. She let the silence hang, at least he had something he wanted to do later-- that was something wasn't it.
"Guess would be when sellin' isn' for you no more, cher." she knew it sounded a bit hedgy, but she didn't know how to explain it. When you were too old to sell papers what did you do? Go into the factories and shops? Try to learn a trade if anyone would teach you? She looked up into his eyes and met his evenly, "Might go home, mon choux. Back to the bayou, maybe get married." No there was that she closed her eyes. "I want a family, mon choux. I want to get married and have babies. I don't really have anythin' I could teach someone. Not bad with a needle if I've a mind for it."
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