Rowan Talia (justafleshwound) wrote in light_of_may, @ 2009-07-30 21:33:00 |
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Entry tags: | 2009-06-10, rowan |
making plans
Who: Nate and Rowan
When: Evening
Where: Phoneland
Rowan had meant to call Nate the previous day, but one of her job applications had lead to a random 'great, you start now!' and being thrown face first into a dinner shift. It had rather sucked, and there was the possibility of having a repeat. Once she had a few minutes to herself in the house, she grabbed the phone to give him a call, crossing her fingers he was still willing.
Nate was at home when his phone rang, placing a small bandage over a cut in his abdomen. He didn't answer right away, since he'd rather not stand there bleeding while he was chatting to whoever it was decided to call. But he finished quickly and let his t-shirt fall down over the gauze before snatching his cell from his desk. Noting the number and name, Nate grinned a touch before he answered. "Hey, Rowan." He was wondering if she'd been planning to call him, and it felt immensely satisfying that she had.
Rowan hadn't been sure what to expect, or if he believed she was actually going to call him, but she smiled a bit. "Hey yourself," she said. "I was going to call yesterday but work got crazy so... yeah," she rattled on, trying not to sound sheepish. "How's it going?"
"It's going pretty well," Nate said, since that was more or less the truth. Not that he'd be sharing any of the details. Nate flopped down on his bed, relaxing and staring up at the ceiling as he slipped an arm under his head like a pillow. "I wasn't sure you were going to call," he admitted. "But I'm glad you did. Where are you working now?"
"The Berry Bucket concession stand and waiting tables at Anywhere But Here." Rowan's tone was enough to say her thoughts on both jobs - they sucked ass, but a job's a job. She went through the house, cleaning up after the mess her mom had made before going to work. How had that woman ever lived alone? "I've been reading the book you recommended every chance I can get," she admitted. "I haven't had the chance to test anything out yet, though."
Nate smirked. "So you're a multi-job kinda girl." He wondered if that meant she'd have little free time. "Doesn't sound too bad. But then again, I work at a gas station, so... anything sounds better to me than that." He lifted his hand from behind his head to glance at his hand. He still had dried blood smeared on his fingers. "Learn as much as you can before you start testing stuff. The less blood you waste the better." Nate knew that sounded morbid, but it was the truth. He liked to make use of every drop if he could.
Rowan tried her best to keep it under control, but she couldn't help but laugh. It was by no means funny, except to her... yeah, it kind of was. "Right, yeah, wouldn't want to run out." she said, trying to get her shit together and not make herself seem crazier than she already was. She dropped a load of dirty clothes into the hamper as she thought about it. "What was the first thing you did?" She was anxious to try soon.
"Hey, that shit can get messy," Nate said, though he started laughing with her. "Maybe I'm just a little OCD about it. You don't have to be. At her question, he rubbed his hand over his face before answering. "I cursed a guy I went to school with... I know that sounds shitty of me." But he didn't feel like lying at the moment. Blood magic was dark stuff, and if she'd been reading about it, she knew what it was used for. "How'd you become interesting in this anyway?"
"What was the curse?" Rowan asked, without judgment. She knew that she, of all people, should look down on curses and those who cast them, and for a long time she did. Until the victim's mentality got old. Now she was somewhere in the middle ground, leaning towards something distinctively more aggressive. She smiled wryly at his question, unsure how to answer. On one hand, he might just believe the truth. On the other, he would know, and that was unacceptable. "Let's just say I think it's my calling. What about you?"
Nate grimaced and sat up, not all that sure he wanted to answer. It wasn't like he'd cursed the guy to fall and embarrass himself. It'd been much worse. So he decided to dance around actually answering. He focused on her answer instead, and felt himself smiling. "Yeah, I think it's my calling too. Sounds fucking cheesy as hell, but... it's in my blood." Ha. "I can't imagine doing anything else." Nate still felt like he was meant for something greater than a damn gas station. Meeting Ezra only cemented that.
Rowan noticed the dodge, but decided not to press him about it. If it was the first spell he ever cast, how bad could it possibly be? "I don't know that it's in my blood. My dad was into black magic, but I've never talked to him about it." And she wasn't going to. "So were you born into this stuff too?"
"Yeah, I was." He was thankful she didn't ask him again what he'd done. Generally he kept his spells to himself. And he didn't know her that well yet, so the trust wasn't in place. "It's a family thing, I guess. My mom was one, and my grandma. My grandma's the one who taught me everything I know. It was amazing how it felt like everything changed for me once I knew what I could do."
Though his answer made her smile, Rowan couldn't help but be a bit envious. It sucked to have to figure out everything on her own. "Sounds like you really lucked out." she said, dragging the hamper towards the laundry room. Not easily done with one good hand. "You think you're ready to be a teacher?" she asked, having to grin. She hoped so.
"Yeah, I guess so." Though his mom was dead, and his dad was who the hell knew where... and his grandma freaked people out. So yeah, he got a pretty great family tree. At least they had something to offer him. Nate knew he could teach her, he just didn't know how well. His grandma had taught him, and even Ezra wanted to teach him some more, in exchange for a few favors. This was a girl around his age, who'd never done anything more than read a book. It made him a bit nervous, but he pushed through that to at least sound confident. "Yeah, I could probably show you what you want to see. When's the next day you have off?"
"I'm always free during the day, all my shifts are night shifts right now." Rowan answered. "So I'm easy." Soon as she said it she rolled her eyes at herself, but shit happened. "So that is up to you, Grasshoppa." Nice save, Row. Well, she'd been locked up for six months. It was only natural for her social skills to have deteriorated some, right?
He would have snickered, but Nate could tell she was trying to save face for announcing that she was easy. That would remain to be seen. He decided not to make a joke, and instead cleared his throat, the smile in his voice, so she at least knew he found it humorous. "Tomorrow afternoon? Preferably a few hours before you go to work. You up for it?"
Rowan smiled in relief. If she could just get through this without looking like a crazy person, maybe she'd believe her luck was turning around. Well, probably not, but at least it would mean the universe had temporarily moved on to some other poor asshole to bend over all the time. "Absolutely. Where?"
Nate looked around at his messy room. He might have to clean up. Dammit. "Probably best for you to come to my house. I'm not really comfortable taking you out anywhere where we might be seen. Is that okay with you?" It would have to be, unless she wanted him to go to her place. And if she wasn't filling people in on her interest in blood magic, he highly doubted that was going to happen. "Where do you live?"
Oh God, him coming to her house would be bad. It'd be Rowan's luck that her mother would show up and all holy hell would break lose. "On the corner of South Byrd and Morris," she answered, at least not ashamed of being poor anymore. "I can go over there, no problem. Where do you live?"
"Yeah? Then you're not far from me at all," Nate said. "I'm at East 24th Street, which is right around the corner... sort of. It's like a two minute drive, if that. You want me to pick you up, or do you think you'll be okay in finding me?" He didn't see how she couldn't. The neighborhood they lived in was a small one. And beaten up. At least he didn't have to worry about impressing her. Rowan knew the score.
Rowan couldn't help but feel another sense of relief, knowing he was in the same neighborhood. "I can find that, no problem." she said, grabbing a pen to scribble down the address. "What time?"
"Ah... one o'clock?" That would give him time to clean up his shit, and hopefully give her time to get to her job once they were finished. "I don't work tomorrow, so any time you can come over would work, though I'm not usually at my best in the morning." He was a grouchy sonofabitch really.
Rowan smiled. "One's good, I'll be there," she confirmed, feeling rather geekily excited already. Maybe she'd be able to squeeze some practice in before then. "Thanks, Nate."
"Anytime, Rowan." Nate felt himself grinning, pleased that he was going to be able to show her what he could do. And she what she could do at the same time. "See you tomorrow then?"
"See you then." Rowan was grinning as she hung up the phone and went about cleaning up the rest of the mess. For the first time since she'd gotten out, she was looking forward to something.