Ivory
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Pres 4 (Regal) - SL 1 (Noble) Fairest Hunterheart
Posts: 588
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Post by Ivory on Sept 11, 2020 22:24:34 GMT -8
There is a small, thankful smile as Anthony reiterates his concern is for Abigail rather than himself.
But then he offers more words... and seems to suggest Ivory did not mourn Pendragon. Her expression soon shifts to surprised disbelief.
"How can you say that?" she asks, genuine hurt creeping into her voice.
Her hand retracts and Ivory eases into the back of her seat. After a moment, she looks away.
"I couldn't just stop, Anthony," she says, her tone quiet, "I had to finalize adjustments with our assets, discuss your father's estates, and ensure property managers were informed. Then there was the house sale. The move. The world kept moving. If I didn't..."
She recounted the last several months over and over in her mind, trying to find the best words to give.
"It's not that they didn't get it," she said, granting her lovers her defense, "I didn't let them help. That was on me. I isolated myself. And maybe I kept myself a little too busy."
Looking back to Anthony, the regret was plain to see.
"That's the thing when you push everything to the front though," she said, "You run out of things to do. I didn't have any more excuses to keep myself away from everything. That's what I mean by 'time.'"
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Post by Anthony Cartwright on Sept 12, 2020 12:50:44 GMT -8
There was a brief look of panic as the fresh graduate realized he had bit off more than he could chew. "Oh! No, no, no," Anthony said rapidly, shaking his head, "That isn't what I meant. I meant, like... fuck."
His face flushed as he downed the rest of the latte, a new trick he learned to give himself a second. "Mnh- sorry. I'm not saying you had to do that stuff was bad, or wrong. I just, I dunno, you kept yourself busy and now you're just...jumping back?"
He was confused, as if he wanted to ask if that was really okay, but the dynamic between them was too weird to assume a role of authority with his ideas.
"It's cool that you are?" He finally offered, regretting the whole topic being explored.
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Ivory
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Pres 4 (Regal) - SL 1 (Noble) Fairest Hunterheart
Posts: 588
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Post by Ivory on Sept 13, 2020 16:17:45 GMT -8
There is a look of apology on Ivory's face as Anthony rapidly provides his explanation. It was not as Ivory had assumed and she felt some guilt by causing him to panic.
"It's fine, Anthony," she finally offered, "I shouldn't have assumed... I'm sorry."
She ponders his question for a long moment.
"You think I'm jumping back too fast" she mused, "I get that, okay? I really do, but... can you trust that I gave this a lot of consideration?"
The question was a genuine one. Anthony had a voice here and Ivory was willing to listen.
"There are others, remember?" Ivory prodded gently, "I need to show them that I'm stronger now. That they can lean on me if they need too."
She was confident Anthony would understand the term. Ivory and Pendragon didn't just love one another, their other partners mattered too.
"It is," she concluded, "Believe me, if they thought I was taking things too far too fast they'd sit down with me and tell me. We trust each other and part of that is making sure we're all okay."
There was a pause.
"How long has this been on your mind?" she asked.
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Post by Anthony Cartwright on Sept 16, 2020 14:22:34 GMT -8
When ivory prompted the question about his trust, Anthony simply nodded, looking resigned. When the Fairest asked about his misgivings, he flipped the hair that was still too short to brush behind his ear.
"I dunno. I wasn't really thinking about it," he said. "Evelyn wasn't, like, 'around'." He bent his fingers in mock quotations.
"You said you pushed people away and it's your fault. I don't think it's great that this is all on you, shouldn't this other girlfriends and boyfriends have some responsibility too? I mean, If they matter that much?"
His brow pinched and he shook his head, losing his nerve on a topic way above his own experience, "Sorry... I actually don't want to talk about it. This isn't really my business."
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Ivory
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Pres 4 (Regal) - SL 1 (Noble) Fairest Hunterheart
Posts: 588
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Post by Ivory on Sept 16, 2020 15:14:57 GMT -8
Ivory listened, being fully invested as she was in hearing Anthony's words.
"I get it," she offered as Anthony eventually lost his nerve, "All I'll say is this: Letting people in too deep has never been easy for me, I... I had an interesting childhood? And near the end it was just me looking after me, you know? You hit a weird place when that happens and you feel like you're the only one who should handle your shit. That's how I was when I first met your father and, when he was gone, I just... slipped back in."
She let that sit for a moment. Anthony and Ivory both boasted a similar obstacle, each lived a life prior to entering Arthur's family that both were not highly aware of. Ivory doubted the caseworkers told Arthur everything and she knew little of Anthony's life before he entered Arthur's care. Similarly, Ivory was... tight lipped on her life before dating Arthur. Arthur knew more, of course, but it was decided that the security of the Lost took precedence over giving Anthony an in depth look into 'Abigail's' past.
"We don't need to talk about it, if you don't want to," Ivory assured, "What else is going on with school? Are you taking any classes outside Physical Therapy or?"
Abigail was all to happy to offer another topic, assuming Anthony was willing to remain.
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Post by Anthony Cartwright on Sept 16, 2020 16:10:30 GMT -8
The fresh graduate scratched the back of his neck, "Just the credit requirements. I don't remember much of the details, to be honest. We're reading Maus in Lit, which I don't get why we have to take, but Wendy mentioned it's for, like, getting your basic essay writing down. Social and Behavioural Sciences is learning stuff, like, what happened in Flint and how that impacts their community, or and things like food deserts. Whatever, they can have my money," he sighed. "Most of it's pretty easy, like I said."
Anthony drummed the table again, "Anything else we're missing...? I'm not used to getting 'caught up'," he laughed.
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Ivory
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Pres 4 (Regal) - SL 1 (Noble) Fairest Hunterheart
Posts: 588
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Post by Ivory on Sept 16, 2020 17:31:09 GMT -8
As the tense conversation wanes and dies, giving way to more pleasant things Ivory's easy smile returns.
And then Wendy is mentioned yet again. That, alongside Anthony's comment of "his" money, earned some raised eyebrows and a lighthearted smirk from Ivory.
"Either way I'm glad you're enjoying it," she says, "but if you ever need a weekend away..."
He knows, Ivory.
Ivory caught herself. She didn't want to baby him too much, but it was... odd not having him at home. Either way, that was the process of growing up.
"Honestly, I don't know?," Ivory admitted with a chuckle of her own, "I'm not used to this either... but if you need to get back we can call it."
She rose.
"Should we do this next week, or do you want to get back to me with your schedule?" she asked.
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Post by Krakenbox on Sept 21, 2020 16:30:05 GMT -8
Anthony offers a tight hug, agreeing to making the schedule. He seemed a little embarrassed with how quickly he dropped things once he had a hundred other distractions, and agreed the self-imposed obligation would actually help.
As soon as Ivory goes back to her phone, she notices a missed call from work, and a simple follow-up email that her employing broker with her realtor contract was looking at a sudden shift in management. The email was professional, but the call was from one of her coworkers and timed too closely together to be a coincidence.
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