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Tweak says, "Have fun storming the castle!"

Quinlan Hyde (quinlanhyde) wrote in oldwest_rpg,
@ 2008-05-13 13:41:00

Entry tags:

margaret may, quinlan hyde

Who: Quinlan Hyde and Margaret May Austin, etc.
Where: Outside the boarding house, and onward!
When: May 13, 1867, evening
Status: Incomplete
Summary: Quinlan swings by the boarding house for a visit after he closes up the shop.

Quinlan had been busy all day, working on the paper and getting all of the advertisements and articles in order. He did take Margaret May's word, and put in an advertisement for some help around the Press. He was looking to hire a few people, actually. At least three. That would put him at ease.

He'd fixed his delivery wagon and caused his hand to bleed a little more, but he'd rebandaged it and everything just like Margaret had told him to do. But absolutely no more alcohol. No. No, he didn't think he could pour alcohol into his cut all by himself. It would be too painful.

After closing up shop, Quinlan set out for the boarding house, making his way across the main street of town to the home that was Margaret's and Ashley's current residence. He curiously looked up in the windows, wondering if any of them belonged to his friends. He smiled and looked around for anyone as he stepped up onto the front porch. Reaching up to take off his bowler hat when he saw a woman approaching, he nodded to her and kindly asked if she knew Margaret May and if she could fetch her for him.

When the woman agreed to do so, Quinlan happily thanked her and wandered back over to the railing on the front porch to look up toward the sky. It was full of all sorts of beautiful colors, this time of the evening. He liked a sunset-filled sky.

He also wondered if Margaret would mind if he just stopped by to see her without asking. He really hoped not. He reached up to loosen his tie.

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boxedhershadow
2008-05-13 10:00 pm UTC (link)

Margaret had been busy at school all day and then the debacle that afternoon with the shampoo bottle had just made her want to curl up in bed and go to sleep to make the day end that much faster. She'd kept her door open so that Ashley could play back and forth in the hallway, and if some of her nicer neighbors went by they could pop in and talk to her. The day hadn't been to kind to her, but going to bed right after dinner wasn't an option, so after they'd eaten, Margaret had just settled in to her room. She was reading over one of her students reading logs when one of her kinder neighbors who was fond of her and Ashley popped her head by to say that there was a man outside asking for her.

Ashley, who knew that neither one of them got many visitors jumped up from the floor where he'd been coloring ran to the window and flung it open looking down to see if he could see who had come calling. "Mister Hyde!" he called out and Margaret who'd been taking her time to get up, immediately jumped to her feet and went to the window too. She grinned a little down at the man and Ashley took off running to go meet him. Margaret was about to do the same, but realized that wouldn't be all that lady like running down to meet a man...though that's exactly what she wanted to do, to run right down there, have him scoop her up and just kiss him. Sighing though, she headed down slowly, forgetting what a utter mess she looked.

Her hair was pulled back and her cheeks had a bit of print smudged on them, her dress was mussed from all the dust that afternoon when she'd run in to that poor person and she'd already kicked off her shoes and socks. No, Margaret May did not look as she normally did when she went to visit Quinlan, even when it was just on business. Had she realized how horrible she looked she'd taken a moment to at least look at her self in the mirror and comb her hair, but her eagerness to see him though had made her forget all that as she closed the door behind her and descended the steps to the landing where Ashley was already out the door and presenting Quinlan with what he'd been drawing, looking proud.

"And you see right there, that's you and your fixed wagon, and that's me and Joe and Lucy and there's mama in the pink dress." He said speaking up to the man in his little lisp. The boy had seen Quinlan a few days already this week, but he'd been told that he had to concentrate on delivering papers and hadn't gotten to actually talk to the man. Margaret stepped out looking apologetic already for Ashley.

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quinlanhyde
2008-05-13 11:10 pm UTC (link)

He jumped a bit when he heard Ashley yell his name. Quinlan looked up at the young boy and grinned, giving a bit of a wave. No sooner than he'd seen Ashley, the young boy had disappeared again. That's, of course, when he spotted Margaret May in the window and his smile grew a bit softer.

He didn't want to make a silly spectacle of himself so he gave her a little wave, but didn't take his eyes of of her until she'd disappeared from the window too. He glanced down to the front door when Ashley rushed outside with his drawing.

Quinlan chuckled, "Aye, I think it's a wonderful drawing. Is it an assignment you're working on? I may have to get you to draw me one to put in the Press shop. Because afterall, it was a very important event in the company's history!" He grinned and knelt down to look at the drawing better. He pointed to the drawing of Ashley's mother and smiled, "I like how you even added her crazy, loose hair there." What? When Margaret got busy, she had these little wispy hairs that liked to come loose and they were cute. "Ohp.." He pointed to himself, "You forgot the bandage on my hand." He chuckled and gave the young boy a pat on the back before he spotted Margaret and glanced up to her.

He got up and smiled to her, "Hello.." He nodded to her, "Ashley was just showing me his drawing..." His smile brightened, "And.. I hope I'm not interrupting anything.. I just.. Well.. I wanted to come by and say hello." Because he'd missed her!

And he didn't think she looked terrible.. He hadn't washed up much either. He still had on the sweaty shirt that he'd been wearing when he finished up delivering the papers. Not very thoughtful of him, but he sort of just decided to visit on umpulse.

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boxedhershadow
2008-05-13 11:43 pm UTC (link)

Ashley was all grins. "No, I just decided to draw it." he replied to Quinlan's first question. "I'm almost done it, I just have to add a few things." he said and then when Quinlan said that he'd want one to put up in his shop, Ashley looked at him a little shly, "You can have it Mister Hyde when I'm done. I'll make sure it's extra nice for you. And Mama's hair is always a mess 'cept when she comes to see you." he replied. Oh out of the mouth's of babes. When Quinlan made the comment about the bandage, Ashley took an extra long time once the man's attention wasn't on him anymore studying the man's hand. He wanted to get it just right you see. He was excited to know that his drawing might hang in Mister Hyde's print shop! How exciting would that be!

Margaret watched the exchange slightly amused and slightly touched. Ashley's enthusiasm was more or less hard to ignore let alone not catch. She crossed her arms leaning against the door frame until Quinlan rose back up to address her. She stood up and felt her skirts pull and looked down at them and then realized what a mess she was. Her cheeks went red, partly for realizing she looked right awful and partly because her stomach had done a little flop when he caught her eyes and smiled.

"Hello Quinlan." She said softly, her eyes looking down, shyly for a moment and then back up to his. "He's been working on that all afternoon apparently. Started it when he got home and worked until dinner and has been doing that all evening after." she replied. She raised her eyebrows when he said that he'd come to say hello. "Oh you're not interrupting anything. Just spending time together, he was coloring and I was marking." She replied quickly. She didn't want him to think he had to go quickly or anything. "I'd invite you in, but I don't want to step on anybodies toes." She said motioning to the inside with her head.

Ashley, who had decided he had enough of the details of Quinlan's hand walked over and pulled at his mother's skirts, "Mama, can I go upstairs and finish this for Mister Hyde?" he asked curiously.

"Of course Ash...take your crayons though and go down the hall." she said. He knew what that meant. He bustled off and back up the stairs to go finish his drawing for Quinlan and she closed the door behind him so they could have some privacy. "It's nice that you stopped by." she said suddenly feeling self concious. "Had I known though, I'd have done something with myself."

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quinlanhyde
2008-05-14 02:46 am UTC (link)

He smiled, listening to Ashley's responses. The lisp. It got Quinlan. It amused him. "Well, it's a very good drawing. You know.. I bet it could be on the wall of one of those famous museums in the bigger cities. What do you think?" He chuckled, "I'm just honored that you're going to let me have it for the shop instead of sending it off to hang in some fancy Museum of art!"

Quinlan looked a bit surprised when Ashley commented on Margaret's hair. It made Quinlan chuckle as he got up to look to Margaret May. "Hello..." He gave a bit of a wave. "Well, he's been doing a very good job--" he looked back to Ashley and then back to Marget, "did he show it to you, yet?"

"Oh, good. Good. I'm glad I'm not interrupting. I was afraid.. you know.. that.. well.. I didn't know if it was okay to come see you here. That they allow visitors?" He shrugged and smiled as he watched Ashley hurry back to his mother to ask if he could go finish the drawing.

Waiting until Margaret had closed the door, he spoke up, "Well.. I just.. I hadn't seen you today.. or.." he shrugged gently, "Yesterday.. and I was thinking about you.. so.." He smiled sheepishly and shook his head, glancing down at the bowler hat in his hands as he gripped at the brim. "You look just fine, Margaret May.." He looked back to her, "Though it may be a different look than I'm used to, You're still as beautiful as every other time." He smiled; but of course he appreciated that she wanted to look nice for him.

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boxedhershadow
2008-05-14 03:11 am UTC (link)

The lisp got most people it seemed. The most annoyed of men could be charmed by the little boy who seemed to be just too grown up for his little body sometimes. Her little man. Margaret would fully admit that sometimes her charm didn't work, but Ashley's always did. He was small, he had blond hair and blue eyes and he had a lisp, dressed in the cutest little trousers and vests, of course he won people over. Who wouldn't love him?

"I wouldn't say that they'd turn you away if you wanted to just visit in the parlor, but I can't imagine they'd want you upstairs in the rooms." She said quietly. "And the parlor always has people in it, so we can stay out here if you'd like?" She said stepping towards him after the door was shut. She was sure that the women that had shown her to her room when she'd first come to stay at the boarding house assumed that Margaret would not be entertaining male visitors considering she had a young child. It was more or less an unwritten and mostly unspoken rule that a young 'widowed' mother wouldn't be taking strange men in to their bedrooms. At least, that's what one would hope.

Quinlan however was not a stranger nor was he just random. He was Quinlan...he was....she wasn't sure what to say. If asked about him, her cheeks would just flush and she'd change the subject quickly muttering something about them being friends. But it would be obvious that there was something more there, a fondness that wasn't just friendly. However nobody had asked, and so Margaret May hadn't had to cross that bridge. "You were thinking about me?" She said looking rather pleased. She had guessed he might have been, especially after those kisses they'd shared in the middle of the night in the middle of the town, under the stars.

"I've been thinking about you too." she replied trying not to let her cheeks go pink. She loved that her presence made him go a little shy...she'd never had a boy act like that around her when she was younger and now that she was older, she'd never had a man do it either. Most men didn't do that when you had a five year old clutching your hand when out in public. "I'm a mess Quinlan." She said with a small chuckle, attempting to smooth back the wisps of hair that had escaped her bun. However when he called her beautiful, she tried not to beam. It was so very sweet of him. "I'm glad you dropped by Quinlan." she replied...she admit though, she really just wanted to put her arms around him and kiss him senseless.