Silent Hollow High

[Thaedael]

He moved the dishes over to the kitchen table, a simple box styled seating arrangement around a large stock table, as lavish as the rest of the surroundings. He placed the plates, followed by the bowls, and then the cutlery, before spinning around to walk back to the island in the center of the room. "You seem to have gotten silent on me? Is everything all-right?" Gavin asked her simply with a smile. He moved towards where the giant creuset pot that had held the stew, the orange material catching the light of several hanging spot lights that adorned the kitchen ceiling, peaking out from around the molding that ran along the lining of the walls. He grabbed at the pot, lifting the heavy material with both hands, as he walked carefully over to the double range stove top that ran along the bottom of the window sills on the western side of the house. He placed it on top of the range, unceremoniously. "Don't worry about the food, I am glad we are eating it, otherwise the servants would just throw it out anyway." he said with a hint of sadness.

He turned the knob of the stove top in, pushing it all the way and waiting for the tell tale sign of the ignite to click a few times more before allowing the gas to flow freely, the sound of a small whoosh becoming the evidence of the stove working, simple blue flames dancing out along the bottom of the element. He adjusted the pot atop the element, before adjusting the heat once more and turning to face the tigress. "Don't worry about it, it's become such a defacto state of life I wouldn't expect any less from her on a daily basis." he said running a hand through the back of his hair like he always did, scratching at it as he went. "Besides, today was a little different, I haven't seen her that distraught in a long time." he stated simply. He turned back towards the stove top, lifting the lid off the stew to look at it as it cooked. He shook his head side to side, walking to the double large refrigerator, opening the freezer portion. He returned with a small glass jar, full to the top with a yellow frozen substance that looked gross.

"So what about you?" he asked as he moved towards the sink on the floating island. He turned the hot water valve completely open, running a finger below the faucet until he gauged the temperature was about right. "We never did finish our conversation on the park bench this morning." the sounds of cracking could be heard as the hot water ran over the contents of the jar, the ice inside cracking into smaller pieces and portions, some of them already turning to a gelatinous mush. "You have a bad rep, what do you do to plan and change it?" he asked simply, wondering if her own tactics would work as well for himself.

He rounded around the island once more, dumping a bit of the stuff in the jar into the stew, before grabbing an assortment of spice jars from the spice racks lining the counter tops on either side of the stove. He added a few more of the spices, before stirring the stew one last time. He grabbed a cork board from one of the drawers, walking to where they would eat and placed it in the middle of the table. "What will you do to prove that you just wanted to be left alone, and that you aren't some sort of a bad girl underneath it all. Unless now you want to have friends?" He turned off the flames of the stove, before grabbing two fabric grabbing cloths from the drawer, holding one in the palm of each hand before he picked up the pot. moving it to the kitchen table.

[MiscChaos]

When Gavin starts playing the dishes on the... holy fuck that's a nice table... anyway, Saigras snaps back to reality enough to take a seat and respond to Gavin's question. "Alright enough. Mainly just thinkin' I REALLY don't understand you and Angela's relationship. And shellshocked on just how much shit you've got. I'm used to... a lot less." She catches herself before she says "Used to nothing" and replaces it with what she actually says. He doesn't need to know just how bad off she is. Wait, what the hell is she offering up so much of what's on her mind? She supposes she has to do that to get those "friends" things everyone talks about, but she still isn't used to this at all, her thoughts usually hidden behind so many walls you need an armor piercing round from a tank to reach them."THROW IT AWAY!?" she snaps, surprised to hear such a thing and the response firing off before her mind processes it. She knows people throw shit away, but to throw out as much stew as he's got... usually she don't see waste that level outside of restaurants! "Woah, sorry about that. It's just... I know a lot of people who'd really appreciate warm food in their belly." Technically she's not lying since she's seen other vagrants die of starvation on a weekly basis, just too weak to drag themselves to a food kitchen anymore and having no one to look out of them. Usually she can steal enough to prevent that since, you know, who likes seeing someone die? Hell, sometimes she'll help frame one of them for a crime since prison food's better than starving. But every so often... well, that's the risk of living on the street, she supposes.

She brushes off his dismissal of the shit Angela puts him through, still not seeing the point in hanging around someone he himself says actively makes his life worse and moves- holy shit, that's a big fridge. She could fit all her stuff into it like 20 times over and still have room left. Of course, that's not saying much when "all her stuff" consists of the clothes she's currently wearing, her backpack, a uniform for school, another pair of jeans and some shorts, a blue sleeved shirt, shit to take care of hygiene, a taser, and a knife. You know, just the essentials. "It still don't say nothing' good about her that you expect her to fuck up your shit on a daily basis." she says as the only thought she'll divulge on that subject. She gives a small "Huh?" when he says what about her, but she begins to understand as he goes on.

"I figure that, with a new start and shit, I let people see a bit more of me than they did back at my old school. I ain't talkin' nothin' pervy or nothin' like that. Just I ain't gotta be 'Fuck with me and find your teeth across the floor' anymore. I can stand to let up a little, but still lay the beat down on if they go too far. I figure enough of that, people will either start to think my rep was bloated or it was a phase or some shit. Friends, I don't really care 'bout, but I'll take 'em if I can get 'em." Those are only the surface thoughts of her plan. It all centers on finding a certain person though, so she's not sure how much of this is subject to change. If old delinquent her will get her closer to her goals than true her, then she'll gladly fall back into it. The only limit is the same limits she'd put on herself long ago: No slutting it up, no breaking apart true friends, nothing too underhanded. As long as she's within those guidelines, she doesn't care what else happens. "What about you? Ya said ya had a rep you didn't want neither, right? Any idea how ta get rid of it?"

[Thaedael]

He took a seat in the cushioned booth chairs that wrapped around a bay window, a light from the garden feeding in through the stained glass. He pulled the ladle from the pot, serving three ladle fulls into a china bowl, the stew brimming against the gold edging of the Limoge china. He set it down in front of her, before stirring up more of the meat from the bottom of the cresuet pot. "This is going to sound silly, but I am the next head of this family. Everything around you is my prison." he said flatly, not really expecting his new acquaintance to truly understand him. "Just like you, people see me, and they just assume." He finished serving himself some of the stew, placing it on the plate in front of him before carefully taking the silver spoon in three fingers, properly holding it before dipping it at the side of the stew. "They all expect me to be some great man, to have great virtues and values, to be almighty." He carefully let the spoonful rest in one hand waiting for it to cool off a bit more. "The funny thing is, I never wanted it. People always thought it should go to the first born son of the family, and were happy to hear that my sister pretty much bailed out on the role."

He took a tip of the spoon into his mouth, before burning his tongue a little bit, some of the broth dribbling down along his chin. He place the spoon back down into the soup, before dabbing at his face with the point of a napkin. "Careful, it's still a bit hot." he said. He shifted in the seat, straightening his back a bit more as he leaned into the cushioning of the seats. "Most would call it madness, to turn away from a lifestyle like this. They just don't realize how suffocating it really is, how much shit is forced upon me by the family. Anyway, here I am complaining again. All I have done since I met you is complain, you must think I am annoying by now." He begun to pick at his food again.

[MiscChaos]

With the stew actually sitting in front of her, Sai's stomach starts growling and her mouth starts watering. To the point where she almost forgets about such things as "common courtesy" and "not looking like a pig at the table". Only her pride prevents her from tearing into it, not wanting to give the impression that meals come so infrequently that she needs to devour it before it disappears. Like he thought, Sai doesn't really understand the responsibilities of becoming the head of a family. But she does understand the feeling of being trapped in a prison. Not a gilded cage like the one he seems to be stuck in, but a system that seemed steadfast in its determination to crush her spirit and those who were in it with her. Foster care can be like that when it feels like nobody wants you. That's why she escaped and lives on the streets rather than in their system. It's almost certainly a slow death unless she can get off them, but it's freedom she couldn't experience otherwise. Taking a sip of the stew, she once again finds herself hard pressed to keep from looking like a complete and utter pig in front of the man. She doesn't get shit this quality unless she steals from the upper class! The richness of the broth, the tenderness of the beef, the blend of flavors! She doesn't care that it's still hot! This stuff is too delicious! Taking another reasonable sip, she turns to Gavin.

"Ain't no problem becoming a good man if it ain't forced on ya. It just seems fake if it is. Like 'what would you be like if you were allowed to grow free?', ya know?" She decides to skip right over the comparisons of their prisons, figuring he doesn't need to know THAT much about her and where she came from, instead going for things she can talk about without giving up too much information. "Yeah, to me, this pretty little cage ya got here seems like the perfect setup. But I understand the feeling of being choked up somewhere. The feeling that this ain't your scene and you want as little to do with it as possible. Yeah, I don't see me wanting to get away from this," she waves her hand at the kitchen at large, "but I sure as hell see wanting to escape from any prison I find myself in." she stops to take a few spoonfuls of stew, still in control... for now. Don't worry 'bout it. I'd let you know in clear, knuckle-print writing if I was annoyed. Where did your sis end up anyway?"

[Thaedael]

"Ah..." he said. He toyed with the food in the bowl, against his better judgement knowing that it was rude to do so, but it helped him clear his mind a little better. He didn't really like talking about his sister, the topic having been taboo to most people he associated with throughout his life since the event. She was a new acquaintance, so he couldn't fault her for it, but he was not masking the discomfort the question posed to him brought up. "She is probably out there, doing what she wants to do. Chasing what she wants to chase. Being happy..." he said dreaming of his own happiness away from home.

[MiscChaos]

She has the social grace to know that she just stepped on a landmine, so she makes a note not to bring it up again unless she needs a psychological weapon against Gavin. She can't think of a situation where she might need one at the moment, but it's always good to plan ahead. She still doesn't know him all too well and isn't keen on swapping the conversation back to Angela since that's another big red "NO!" button right now in her eyes, so she takes more than a few bites of stew to think over what to say. In the end, she doesn't really come up with anything better than similar, yet different topics, so she decides to shoot for that. "So what would you do if you could say the same?" Simple enough question she supposes. Then she can finish up her stew and take her leave. She's gotta get SOME sleep before school in the morning and it's gonna take some time to get to the roof from here.

[Thaedael]

He hunched his back a bit in the comfort of his seat, allowing himself the luxury of dropping appearances for a moment or two. He placed an elbow on the table, before cupping his chin in his hand, his other hand continuing to swirl the stew around in the bowl as he thought about it. "You know, I have been thinking about just running away from it all for so long I never stopped to think what I would do. I have been too busy chasing after my sister to really stop and think." he said lamely embarrassed the he actually couldn't put his finger on what he would do. "I guess I would play the piano, but that's not really a real option is it?" he said to himself. He knew that running away from the family would essentially never allow him to have the same life style again, and that a job as a musician would net him even less than an average job. "I haven't really thought about it enough have I?" he said rhetorically.

[MiscChaos]

"Sometimes it's better not to think about it." she says before popping another spoonful of stew in. She's really starting to run low. "Ya think, then ya get scared. Ya get scared, than ya freeze up. Ya freeze up, then ya never do it. Sometimes it' better to do first, then think later." At the very least, that's how she rationalizes her running from the foster care system to live on the streets. She doesn't regret it in the slightest, but she does wish that, despite her advice, a little more thought had been put into it. Like bringing blankets or coats. And maybe having a little more in her wallet before she took off. Despite being young when she did it, having a job lined up would've probably been nice too. She's sidetracking herself, having been down this road enough times to know it's a dead end. No use in thinking about what could've been done. Time to think about what can be. "So what's stoppin' ya from blowin' this joint? Retribution? Fear? Duty? Angela?" as she concludes her thought, she also concludes her stew. She could definitely fit more in if she tried, but she doesn't wanna eat up too much of this man's food. After all, she could almost literally eat someone out of house and home if she tried. Or at least she used to. She's not sure how much her stomach has shrunk to accommodate how infrequently she eats.

[Thaedael]

"Angela?" he asked confused. "I guess I never thought about it before. I always just assumed that if I ran away I would still be able to see her, but that is probably where they would look for me..." he said. Sai seemed to care a lot more than she wanted to let him onto knowing, surprising him that someone actually cared enough to give the input that she gave him even now. He spooned that last few pieces of the stew into his mouth, content to be finished. "This is going to sound lame, but you said you knew people that would enjoy warm food in their bellies. This is probably just going to get tossed out in the morning, I would appreciate it if you brought to those that want it. You can bring me back the pot tomorrow in school."

[MiscChaos]

Well, better he put this kind of thought into things now instead of after he runs out the door and finds himself unable to hang with Angela, though that seems like a plus in her book. "I guess, despite my words earlier, a little thought doesn't hurt. I guess it's overthinking that becomes the problem." she says with a shrug. She fights to restrain her expression of shock when he suggests bringing the stew to the people she knew. First that comes to mind is the local homeless, but she knows a few kids in the orphanage that don't get enough to fuel their growing bodies. As soon as they enter her mind, she knows she's feeding them first. Most of the vagrants are grown ass adults, capable of living and dying by their luck and skill, but those kids... well, they're kids. They're fucked unless they go the route she did or a worse one. She shudders just thinking about it, her eyes hardening as she turns back to Gavin. She won't give him the choice changing his mind on this. It isn't an option anymore now that she's mentally fed those kids.

"Alright. Thanks." she says, shouldering her backpack, moving to the stew pot, putting a top on it, and lifting it. Good thing it's cooled or else that may have been a bad idea. "I know this is a dick move, but I'd rather get the people I have in mind fed ASAP, so my see ya's rather brief. Matter of fact, that was it. Thanks and see ya at school." she says, bustling her way out the way she came, almost running in her haste to get to the orphanage, only not in a full out sprint because that'd spill the stew.

It isn't long before she arrives, despite the large distance between it and the high end part of town. Once she's at one of the walls, she places the pot at her feet for a second, then puts her ear to the wall to see if she can hear any of the "caretakers". It's quiet but for the sound of snoring, so it's safe to knock. It's a knock she taught the children who remained shortly after she busted out of this place. Hopefully either they're still there or they've taught the newcomers the knock. And there's always newcomers... Before she can think anymore on it, she taps the window softly, but firmly to get the attention of the kids inside, then goes "KNOCK, knock, knock, Knock, KNOCK, knock, knock." Almost instantly, the window pops open and a young girl looks down at her, surprised to hear the code knock. There are tears in her eyes, so Sai knows just why she's still awake to hear the knock and gives the girl a reassuring smile. "Hey, Koko. Think you can gimme a hand?" she whispers to the girl, same age as her despite looking much younger. Koko's a pixy of a girl, lucky if she clears 5', underdeveloped due to the diet of this place, and getting to be rather thin. Despite the sorrow she feels that Koko's gotten even THINNER since the last time she saw her, Sai keeps up her smile. She's the big sister of this joint even if she isn't here often. She needs to put up a brave front. Koko nods her head at an almost maniac pace and Sai hands her the pot, working together to get it into the window so she herself can hop in. By this point, more of the kids are up, looking up in glee at seeing their big sister Sai. "I brought dinner if any of ya'll are hungry." she whispers, though she needn't have bothered. The kids started swarming her even before the word "dinner" was out her mouth. It's all she can do to keep them from shoveling it in by the handful, instead silently instructing them to get a plastic spoon. She swears they've gotten better at creeping through the house since she's been gone cause she almost doesn't hear them leave and come back, even managing to get a bowl from the higher up cabinets. It worries her that they could definitely become thieves with that skill, but there isn't anything she can do about it in the middle of the night right now. With a bowl and spoon at the ready, she pours a bit of stew out, lets a smaller kid eat their fill, then moves on to bigger and bigger kids until she hits the oldest, Koko. With how wonderfully fit the smaller of them are looking, Sai figures out Koko must be handing them her food to help them out, much like she used to do. Luckily there's more than enough left for her to have her fill and more, though she has to slow Koko down more than a few times she, like herself, she's unused to high class food. There's still a bit left, but she'll polish that off so that it's empty for Gavin in the morning. That can be her breakfast.

"I'm starting high school tomorrow, so I'll be by more often with food. Keep your heads up everyone." she says as good bye as she slips out the window, the kids waving to her as she goes. Koko once again helps her get the pot down without a hitch, then Saigras takes off for the school roof to get some shut eye. She's not sure how late it is, but it's probably too late for a school night, so when she hits the roof, using a pair of pants as a blanket, she almost instantly knocks out.

[Taria]

"So... today's the day." Angela contemplate internally as she rides in the car with her mother. She feels badly about the events from earlier, this new girl stealing Gavin away. What's her deal anyways? Gavin and herself have been friends since forever... "But I guess it didn't take much for him to walk away." Angela sighs as the car pulls up to the side of the school. "Have a good first day, sweety." Her mother calls out as Angela smiles. Angela steps out of the car as she shoulders the single strap of her backpack. She pulls down the front of her cap to hide her face as she shuffles through the faceless crowd. Angel pulls a folded sheet of paper from her pocket as she checks her schedule.

[MiscChaos]

Eyes slowly opening as the first signs of students arriving, Saigras once again rises and stretches out, her spine curving as she lunges to the edge of possibility like a common house cat. That done, she jumps up to get her day started. It wouldn't do to have the other students asking why the hell she was on the roof. She'd have to fall back on delinquent mode to get out of any awkward questions and then her first impression would be shot. So she strips out of the clothes she wore the day before and changes into the dark blue jeans she used as a blanket the night before and the blue shirt. She's going to have to do laundry sometime soon. And find a bath too. She can probably use a local gym for that if push comes to shove. She just barely remembers to put on some shoes before scarfing down the last of Gavin's stew before descending with the pot, deciding she doesn't care if she gets odd stares or questions. Backpack over her shoulder, she's ready to start her day, starting with homeroom, she supposes.

[Thaedael]

"Have a good day young master" the servant said from the front of the car. He turned his torso to face Gavin, a kind smile on his face, a packed lunch extended from one white-gloved hand. He gave the young master a nod, before opening the car door for the younger kid. Gavin let out a small sigh, "You can call me Gavin." he said to older man. "You know I will continue to call you young master." he replied with a court nod. "Then surely you know I will continue to ask you to call me Gavin." he said with a smile. Thus begun a new year of awkward morning routines with the oldest and most trusted of servants. He spread his legs, before getting out of the side of a luxury car, a simple briefcase in one hand. He wore his best pressed clothes, a simple white shirt with blue pin stripping, hemmed black dress pants, leather shoes, a black sleeveless vest. He sighed, scratching at the back of his head with hand, the golden cuff-links catching the glare of the sun. He moved, heading towards the school, not sure where the first class would be.

[Taria]

Angela slips into homeroom quickly, one of the first few students there as she find somewhere quiet to sit in the back of the room, alone. But, I've always been alone... So why does it feel so bad this time?" Meanwhile a certain furry fellow purrs playfully as he gallantly gallopes towards Gavin. "Yo." He anounces with a grin as his tail swishes through the air. He makes sure to remain safely at a distance so that he may quickly dodge any righteous retribution that is likely to occur.

[MiscChaos]

Entering the room, Saigras quickly smooths her face over into a mask of neutrality as she sees Angela's already in the room in the back of the class. Usually that's where she would sit, but she has no desire to be near Angela at the moment, so she picks a set closer to the middle of the classroom, intending to blend in with the crowd if she's going to slack off instead of being invisible in the back like she'd done in her old school. Placing the stew pot on her desk, she plops down in her chair and waits. For what, exactly, she doesn't know, but with Angela around, she can't help but feel it can't be anything good. It's at this moment she takes a deep breath and releases it. She's not doing Gavin any favors by ignoring the girl because of her treatment of him. If anything, this would make things worse with awkwardness and such. So she turns around and gives a quick, "Yo, Cinderella." to Angela.

[Thaedael]

Gavin enters the room looking sharper for the new year. Right away Lanx walks towards him, the familiar giving him a warm smile, but knowing full well the reach of Gavin's furious swing, his body being place just outside of reach. "Lanx..." he said with a bit of hesitation. In the back of the room is where Angela was seated, and in the middle of the room where Saigras was sitting. He looked back to the cat, wanting nothing more than to pay him back in full. "I am sure you have your reasons for doing what you do, but you may have gone too far yesterday..." he said dismissing the familiar. He walked towards the middle of the room, giving a quick nod to Angela before sitting next to Sai.

[Taria]

Angela blinks visably as she lifts up her head and then she looks around the room as if Sai might have been referring to someone else. "Um... It's Angela." She finally responds as she deduces that there is no other person whom Sai could possibly be refering to. "You're... Sai, right?" Is she just here to rub it in? Or maybe she has more devious plans in mind. Angela closes her eyes and slumps down onto her desk. She too exhausted to care right now. "What do you want Sai? Going to beat the crap out of my cat again,?" Angela wonders if this means she's going to have a bully this year. It might be a little exciting, after all most people just avoid her. She's had other girls try to pick on her before, but she always ends up intimidating them away somehow.

Lanx facepaws as Gavin effectively ignores him. "I tried to warn him... This is going to be a mess." Seeing how there's no way he could follow inside without cause an even greater distrubance than there already is, Lanx lazily strolls down the halls. Maybe he'll find some nice freshmen girls to talk to.

[MiscChaos]

"Yeah, Saigras is my name." She says, putting extra emphasis on her name past Sai. There's only one group allowed to call her Sai and they usually do so with "Big Sister" tacked on. She takes a deep sigh as Angela brings up the damn cat. How'd she know what was going to come up almost immediately? "Only if the pervert tries going for my breasts again. I don't make a habit of kicking animal ass without reason." she says, casually brushing off the girl's complaint. She turns when Gavin sits down, giving him a "Yo!" with a bit more energy than she did Angela. She merely tolerates Angela after all. "Here ya go." she says, transferring the stew pot from her desk to his. "I'm not sure how you're gonna lug it everywhere all day, but that's your problem, not mine." she says in such a way that it should be obvious she's joking. Or not. She's out of practice with that. "The people really appreciated the meal." she figures she can say that much without giving the orphan kids away. Those are HER siblings and she's not gonna let them be threatened by anyone they don't have to be and she don't know Gavin NEARLY well enough to let him in on it.

[Thaedael]

The tension hung in the air so thick that not even Saigras sharp tongue could cut through it. He set down his briefcase to the side of his desk, opening the metal clasp on the outside to get at the contents within. He pulled from within a simple note pad, and a fountain pen. Saigras dropped the pot onto his desk, the heavy pot making a bit of a clang. He looked it over, before picking it up and placing it under the seat of his desk, before placing the notepad in it's stead. "Thanks for bringing it back in one piece" he said with a smile. He twirled the pen in one hand, the dark polished metal catching the light as they waited for class to begin.

[Taria]

Angela recognizes the pot as the one she used to create stew from earlier. "He didn't even eat it after I left?" Angela begins to seriously consider what kind of friend Gavin is if he starts replacing her in every way as soon as some new girl shows up. "I guess he never cared afer all... I'm just some back up friend for him to hang with when he's got no one else around." The classroom begins to fill out, and the ringing of a bell quickly silences all the students present. "Hello students, I am the teacher and this is your first day at school. Blaa blaa blaa lots of changes. Blaa bla responsiblity. Blaa blaa blaa blaa." The teachers voices drones on in the background as Angela just tries to ignore everything around her. She looks over her schedule as she imagines what she'll need to do for all of her classes.