Radha "Rye" Lawless (rock_and_rye) wrote in theunboundic, @ 2020-07-11 17:39:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | ! time: april 24 - 30, allen bellamy, radha lawless |
With my mind on my money
Who: Radha & Bellamy
What: A swing and a miss
When: Late April, backdated
Where: Outside a house that absolutely does not belong to her
Radha never did get weddings. Beyond the free food, of course. Seemed like the only reason for all that dancin' was just to make eyes at someone, and before you knew it, there was another wedding. She could hear the music and laughter even there, outside the groom's house. He wasn't there, of course, he was busy being hoisted up in a chair or made to feed his bride or some other sickening display like that, and she knew he'd be busy for awhile. No one would be home for hours. Which was exactly why she slipped an arm through the cracked window beside the back door and let herself in, quick as you please. He was Tilla, so he wouldn't have the finery of the higher castes, but there had to be wedding gifts. Maybe even some coin. Family heirlooms. Maybe a little nest egg they'd set aside to build an adorable little disgusting family. Rye perused the house like she owned the place, pausing to roll her eyes at the stack of love letters laying on the kitchen table. She helped herself to an apple from a sparse fruit bowl and took a bite, considering a tarnished pewter plate left out. Nah, pass. Up near the front door though, dropped off almost in a hurry it looked like, sat what looked like some wedding gifts. A couple boxes tied with white ribbons looked promising; she bit hard into the apple to free both of her hands to pick them up and shake -- sounded kinda heavy, and she didn't need to get caught with a mixing bowl and rolling pin, for instance. Pass. The envelope sitting alone on a small table really caught her eye, though, and when she picked it up, not only was it heavy, but it made a particularly satisfying jingle. So satisfying and exciting, in fact, that the apple fell from her mouth, and she fumbled a few times to finally, barely catch it. Now, she didn't take all the coin. Just most of it. Enough to make Aunt So-N-So look like a cheapskate. In the bedroom, on his nightstand, was another small present which she spent no time at all untying the twine from to lift the box lid up off of. "Bet it's a pocket watch," she said to herself, and sure enough, "I fuckin' knew it." Inside the cover, once she clicked it open, were some initials of someone-or-other, but she could buff those out just fine. She closed the empty box and re-tied the twine, placed it back just-so on the nightstand, then tucked the watch up into her headwrap. The coin, in a small velvet pouch, had gone right into her bra for safe-keeping and the least amount of jingling. At the last second, she changed her mind about the heavy gifts. But not both. Too conspicuous, so she flipped a coin. Then said "fuck it" aloud and ended up opening both gifts. One was a rather heavy, intricate music box that played some song she didn't recognize, and the other was a hideous cake stand. It didn't take too long to fit the two gifts into one box, fetch a couple bricks from out back, place them in the empty box and re-wrap it. Best case scenario, maybe it'd take the happy couple a few days to open it and they'd think someone was playing a wedding prank. That was a thing, right? Finished, with a box under her arm, her mostly-finished apple between her teeth again, and a ripe pear slipped into her skirt pocket, she started to slip back out the back door. Then paused. Froze, more like. Radha could sense the unmistakable hum a person gave off, the electricity firing through their body that made them run. They were close, and the back yard wasn't much of a yard, and didn't have a fence to speak of, it just backed up against a field. "Shit," she whispered to herself. Hurriedly, heart pounding, she pulled the door closed with the knob turned so as not to make a sound and stood in front of it. Gift under one arm, she used the other to knock on the door as if she'd only just arrived. Her eyes strained trying to glance so far to the side as if she could see behind her, just to get a glimpse of who'd very nearly caught her red-handed. With no clue who it was approaching, either a snooping neighbor or a clueless passerby, she'd rather play it safe than sorry. Just a well-wisher there to drop off a gift for the bride and groom. Nothing to see there. |