Who: Quinn and Wren What: Quinn is visiting her bff and her bff's kitten Where: Aubade 402 When: Last week before full moon Warnings: Quinn and Wren being adorable?
Wren’s room in Aubade was like an oasis of color and comfort among the pale pallor of an apartment designed to be more showpiece than home. Now, there were dashes of color and signs of life around the place - shoes by the door, cigarettes on the coffee table, paints on the counter - but it still remained uncomfortably clinical, and Wren didn’t care for it very much.
Wren and Petti spent most of their time in her room, even when she wasn’t working. Things with Hal were strange, strained and different. Charlie spent most of his time hovering over Hal protectively or working. And Tristan, Tristan slept.
But today was different. Quinn was coming over, and Wren finished making the bed and pulling the blinds, letting sun shine into the room and grinning as Petti pounced on the newly smoothed out sheets. She kissed his fuzzy head, and she ran out to the living room to wait for the call that would announce Quinn was in the building.
Quinn felt awkward about coming back to Aubade after Alfie had died. It would be a strange feeling, knowing that strangers (and her friend) were living in the home of a woman who cared for her. Cared enough she put her time and effort in to finding Quinn tutors, ones who kept on even after the woman died. She wondered how much of it had changed, if it had changed at all.
She stopped at the front desk and talked briefly to the doorman to call up to the apartment. He offered the same condolences as everyone else had at the funeral -- quiet and not quite enough feeling behind it to be completely sincere. He called up to the apartment and Quinn was on her way up, hands tucked in her pockets until she got to the right floor. She knocked on the door quietly, waiting for Wren.
Wren was waiting on the other side of the door in overalls and a t-shirt, her hair in pigtails, and she opened the door almost as soon as Quinn knocked, tugging her friend inside and giving her a warm hug. She didn’t know that Quinn knew the house, which still looked the same. No decorators yet, no paint, and quiet from upstairs. She tugged her hand, and she pulled her down the hall to what had been Quinn’s room for her lessons - a fact completely unknown to Wren - which was now Wren’s room.
Quinn couldn’t help the smile that tugged at the corners of her mouth when Wren wrapped her in a warm hug. She returned it with the same strength as usual, hiding the smile in her friend’s shoulder. “Hi,” she murmured against the fabric. Letting her friend lead her back, Quinn felt her insides twist in an unfamiliar way at Wren’s bedroom. It was different, this used to be somewhat of ‘her room’ with Alfie. She hoped it didn’t show on her face.
Instead she didn’t look directly at Wren when the entered, more focused on the kitten curled up on the bed. She went over to sit on the bed, extending her hand to the cat and letting him sniff her fingers. “What is his name?”
The kitten batted lazily at Quinn’s fingers, purring loudly enough for Wren to hear him across the room, and she moved forward and sat on the edge of the bed, smiling when the kitten stretched and decided to rub himself all along Quinn’s arm. “Petti,” she said, rubbing one of the kitten’s ears between her fingers and tugging her hand back when he nipped playfully. “Pettirosso. It means Robin in Italian,” she said, and then she tipped her head to the side a little. “Have you been here before?”
Quinn couldn’t help but to laugh at the kitten, gently reaching down to pet her fingers down his back. “Petti,” she echoed the name, a smile crossing her lips when Wren told her what it meant. “Tell Luke that?” She was amused by the way he purred and stretched towards her hands. For a brief moment, Quinn didn’t say anything when Wren asked her. The answer came slowly, “Um. Yes. Was...office before. Tutor here.”
“No. I just told him the Petti part,” Wren admitted, watching the amused expression on Quinn’s face. The kitten wrapped its paws around Quinn’s fingers and kicked at her palm with him back feet, and Wren laughed a moment, sobering at the realization that this had been a room that meant something to Quinn. “I’m sorry,” she said. “I didn’t know. Tris just didn’t want me working upstairs, and this was the easiest room to get to down here. Your tutor, how are things going with him?”
“You should. He’d like that,” Quinn told Wren with assurance. Quinn pulled a face at the kitten, guiding him back so he was on his back and scratched his belly. She shrugged a bit as Wren explained, “Not problem. Just...not used to different.” With a shake of her head, Quinn looked back up at Wren. “Will? Things okay. He teaches me fun stuff. Last time was, ah...bacteria? Things make people sick.”
There was another hint of a smile as Quinn talked about Will, even if she didn’t seem to notice it. She continued on as she scratched Petti’s little belly. “Let’s me choose what to learn. It’s good. Like it a lot.”
“You like him,” Wren said plainly, seeing the smile on Quinn’s face. It was a nice smile, one she’d like to see more of. It was nothing like the sadness Luke had caused, and Wren wondered what choice Quinn would make, if she was given one. It shadowed her expression for a moment, but the kitten’s purring reaction to the belly scratches brushed away the shadows almost instantly. “Does he know you like him?” she asked.
Quinn pulled a face at Wren, showing her dislike of talking about how much she likes or doesn’t like someone. “No, cause he’s tutor,” she said plainly. She wasn’t about to go moon over her teacher. He was intelligent, she was just some dumb girl he happened to give up his Fridays for. With a shrug, Quinn told Wren, “He’s old anyway.”
“But you said you liked him,” Wren said, looking confused. “Did you change your mind?” Maybe Luke had changed her mind for her. It was possible. Wren wasn’t particularly certain how this whole falling in love thing was for girl’s her age, and she had a feeling that her own tumultuous emotions didn’t quite match with what other people felt.
“I do, but...” she trailed off for a moment before she huffed out, “Close to Oracle’s age? Older.” That’s what she worried about. He seemed around Oracle’s age, who was like a mother to her. Oracle probably would have a fit if she threw herself on her tutor anyway. “Won’t approve,” she said simply, gesturing vaguely. She thought of Oracle first, knowing the woman wouldn’t be happy. “Besides. He’s....very professional.”
“Oracle isn’t so much older,” Wren said, because she wasn’t. She wasn’t old enough to be Quinn’s mother, of that she was certain. And she certainly wasn’t as old as the Bat or Hal, which meant Wren considered Oracle fairly young. And if this teacher was Oracle’s age, she didn’t see why that was a problem. “Why won’t she approve?” she asked. “If he’s good to you, does that matter? How old he is?” Admittedly, Wren had never had to get anyone’s approval to do anything in her life. The concept was a foreign one. “Do you like him more than Luke?”
“Only cause she stopped,” Quinn said mildly, with a brief pause as she thought about it. She didn’t know how hard it was to explain to people about Musings. “Back in Musings. You stop grow older. Oracle stopped before met her. So, don’t know if he stopped. So, if he’s older than look. Be a problem. Oracle’s....like a mom. Disapproves.”
When Wren asked about Will and Luke, Quinn went quiet. She looked down at Petti and let him chase her fingers across the bedspread. “No. Like Luke. But...like Will differently. Will’s...very adult.”
“And do you like that about him?” Wren asked. She had been in humanity since she was five, and she looked confused by the whole concept of stopping. Her mother had never mentioned it, and she hadn’t ever discussed it with anyone, not having moved in Creation circles until she moved to Seattle. She smiled as Petti pounced on Quinn’s fingers with a victorious and tiny hiss. “Do you think he likes you?” she asked, hoping for the chance to see them together, because she’d be able to tell. If there was one thing Wren knew, it was when men were interested.
Quinn practically flopped back on the bed, letting Petti claim the new body in his domain as walking space. She stared up at the ceiling and told Wren, “Think he thinks I’m young.” She huffed out a little sigh. “Don’t know, Wren. He’s...older. Smart. Feel young.” She never felt as young as she did around Will. He seemed to know so much in comparison to her. “It’s different.”
Wren scooted back to sit against the headboard, her knees hugged close to her chest. “I think you’re very smart,” she said in defense of her friend. “And I don’t think age matters so very much. I think it matters that he’s good, that you like him, that he makes your heart sing,” and that part sounded silly and romantic, but it was a new thing she was learning about, that fluttering in her stomach when she saw someone she liked. “I think he’s silly if he discounts you because of your age.”
Quinn couldn’t help but laugh a little at Wren’s romantic words. “Heart never sings,” she said, sounding amused at the thought. She scratched the kitten’s back gently as he climbed on her chest. She never had a real fluttery feeling for either of them. She wondered if it was just her, in general. That she was so messed up that she couldn’t be in love like Wren or other pretty girls could. “For Luke or Will.”
“Either one,” Wren said honestly. “Whichever one you like best.” She meant it. She wanted Quinn to have whatever she wanted, even if Quinn didn’t know what that was herself yet. She curled on her side against the pillow, and she rubbed one of the kitten’s ears between her fingers. “You just need to figure out which one that is.”
“What about you?” Quinn asked, turning her head to look at her friend. She scooted over to be closer to Wren, reaching out to pull her to lay next to her. “Who makes you sing?” she asked, giving her friend a smile and a gentle nudge. She was genuinely curious to know about who her friend wanted to be with. She was tired of talking about the men who didn’t seem to really fit her life like she wanted. “Tell me?”
Wren shook her head. “It’s not like that for me. I’m just figuring those things out. I jumped to the sex first,” she admitted, “and now I’m confused about what I feel for everyone.” Then, more soberly. “And I think love always hurts, at least always that I’ve seen, and I’m not sure I want to be in love.”
Quinn turned over on her stomach, scooting close til she could rest her chin on Wren’s shoulder as she looked at her friend. “Why?” she asked, “Why sex?” There wasn’t anything confrontational or offended by her friend’s occupation. Just a curiosity to understand her, as if she was taking time to worm under the layers to know her friend inside and out. “You do for money. But why choose that?”
“I never finished school,” Wren said, “and it’s what my mother did. I saw, and I learned,” she shrugged when she said it, no anger in the confession, no pity, only truth. She smiled down at Quinn, fingers petting her dark hair softly. She sighed, and she closed her eyes. “I don’t sleep well anymore. Stay for a nap?” she asked, fingers going lazy slow in the movements, the kitten squishing itself between them and curling into a purring ball.
“Never did either,” Quinn told Wren, looking up at her with big dark eyes. “But we can learn other stuff, yeah?” She knew if people believed she could do it, then definitely Wren could. Wren was lightyears ahead of her in how smart she is. Concern crossed her face as she looked at her friend, gently turning her head and snuggled against Wren as if she was a second, larger kitten. “Okay,” she paused before she said, “One day you tell me why, okay? Why trouble sleep and everything? I tell you stuff too.”
“I listened to audio CDs to learn,” Wren said, curling onto her side and snuggling closer. She nodded, then, sleepy warm. “You aren’t allowed to get hurt and not tell me again,” she said, and it sounded a little imperial, even in a sleepy whisper.
“Got tutor,” Quinn chuckled a little and gave her friend a tiny squeeze. “Should tutor with Will too. Smart guy.” She nodded in response to Wren’s demand. She would try to, even if she didn’t think it was helpful. She never wanted Wren to worry. “Okay,” she whispered back, closing her eyes and resting peacefully along side her best friend.