houseofcards_rp | [ota] so much thought, so little time

Julien's trainees have all scattered for the evening. If he were to be truthful, they've all come quite a ways and he calculates most of them will be ready for their own assignments elsewhere soon enough. Then, he supposes, he'll have to take on a few more or find some other way to fill his time.

Which is why he's working, somewhat mechanically, against a practice dummy. The practice is good for keeping his body fit and loose, but the routine is rote enough to let him focus more on his thoughts and less on the exercise.

He could, of course, concern himself more closely with the rumors of unrest among certain factions of the Deck. Even if it wasn't strictly his duty.

Or, and the thought brings a twitch of a smile to his lips, he could surprise everyone by taking a vacation and visiting the beach. Might be worth it just for the expressions. Would be more worth it if he could make it useful, somehow.

Soon enough, though, Julien is finished and moving away to scoop up a waiting bottle of water and drop down on a nearby bench for a few moments as he towels his face and arms off. Somewhere in there, he'll wave at whomever is nearest, "your turn."

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"No?" He waves at the space next to him, "anything explicitly then?"

At least even if he was distracted, he's still making time for her. That hasn't changed.

"For the ambiance, I suppose."

Explicitly. The ambiance, of course, being that the world felt a bit more electric here in a good way than it did elsewhere in the world.

"And to see my friends."

"Friends." It's the 's' on the end that has him looking at her sidelong. "And how is that going?"

You know, because she's talking to him rather than anyone in her own peer group. Then again, anyone her age isn't really in her peer group.

Some people have more than one. People like Eileen.

Admittedly, he probably had her beat on the 'number of friends vs. number of friends in own age cohort' ratio. "Well enough, unless you're stopping me from seeing you."

That gets an extra-sharp sidelong look, "and what makes you think that?"

Seriously, Eileen, seriously. Are people telling you things about him?

Which gets her stopping briefly. Thinking quietly. Watching his face with a layer of uncertainty for just a moment because it's notable when he's sharp with her.

"You're just... not seeming particularly up to it, at the moment."

That causes him to force himself to take a deep breath, close his eyes for a brief moment.

"I'm glad you're here, Eileen." And it's not a lie. Besides, the sharpness had more to do with those suspected other people than Eileen herself. "I wasn't ignoring you."

"...I know."

She didn't. But when hasn't she gone against her own instincts to trust him? It served her well enough with a knife or an upper cut--shouldn't it serve well enough in her emotional life?

"Still. I don't like to be a bother." One shoulder lifts, her arms pulling slightly around her own stomach. "No one always wants to talk."

It was true. He didn't always want to talk. Truth was, he rarely wanted to talk with most people. But there were always those odd exceptions.

"Well, I am at your disposal. Or we can go somewhere else?" Or they can talk while she hits things, you know...whichever.

Hitting things is usually par for the course, particularly between the two of them. Today, however, it feels far too much like a distraction, despite the fact she doesn't have anything overly pressing to ask him about.

Still. One hand out in his direction.

"Walk with me?"

"As you wish," he murmurs as he stands and takes her hand in his. "Lead the way."

This is her talk, after all. Or her spending time in each other's presence. Whichever.

There's a real comfort to it. The normalcy of it--and the fact of it. She's coming up higher against Julien's side these days, and her hand fits differently in his, but it still feels familiar--almost back to a time before things had really started to feel unsettled all the time.

Surely he doesn't mind if they wander a while in silence, right?

He doesn't mind. He's pretty good at it, really. Particularly since he isn't really one of those people that has a need to always be filling the silence.

And it means at least some part of his mind can continue his ruminations until Eileen decides she wants to talk. Certainly there were very, very few in the Castle that would interrupt the two.

[ota] so much thought, so little time

Re: Kristina makes good faces the way Cassandra and Anna do. It is the unifying Eileen factor. \o/

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Do you know why I'm in thIS ACCOUNT BECAUSE FUCK EVERYTHING MY HEART ANA

<3? /o\

Smashing walnuts and reading about childhood trauma until I am coherenter again.

walnuts?

How else would you eat walnuts?

just wondering where walnuts came from

From I live in China and that's what people give you when you leave their house. Is where. Yes.

seriously? That's kind of cool