12:2
“When did they put in couches back here?” Gwen flopped down on one of said couches and plopped her feet on the coffee table in front of it.
“A few dias ago. Leo said something about ‘if you are going to practically live here might as well have somewhere comfortable to sit’.” Patti pitched her voice to mimic her boss.
“Well.” Gwen stacked her hands on her head and leaned back to look at the ceiling. “I like it.”
“I’ll make sure he’s aware.”
Kim walked over and plunked herself down on one of the two other couches clustered around the coffee table. Dropping a quick ‘excuse me’ as she skirted between the coffee table and the couch Kim was on, Siobhan sat down next to Gwen who unlaced her fingers from her head to drop an arm around her friend.
“You good?” She murmured to which Siobhan nodded. But then she bit her lip and dropped her head on Gwen’s shoulder. Gwen tightened her arm and pressed a kiss to the top of Siobhan’s head. She almost took a leaf to the eye from Siobhan’s flower crown for her trouble but, eh, such was the cost of comforting her friend. Without even really thinking about it she reached out with her Magick and spooled a bit of the tension from Siobhan, who relaxed more against her and sighed.
“You don’t have to.”
“Want to.”
“Okay.”
Kim shifted over to make room for Prairie and then a little more when Ivan wedged himself between the arm of the couch and Prairie in the center of it.
“I’ll grab drinks.” Patti pivoted and started for the bar.
Dempsey strode after her. “I’ll help.”
“Won’t say no,” Patti’s voice drifted back as she and Dempsey cleared the dividing wall and their voices got more muffled.
Ben walked over to the empty couch across from Ivan and sat on the far end. He hit the cushion a few times with his fist then leaned back into the seat so Abe and Dan could move past him and sit down. Then, like sitting was a bore after his convalescence, Ben popped out of his seat and ambled over to the cold fireplace. He squatted down and started moving logs from the firewood rack to the grate.
Ivan looked down at Prairie and muttered something. She gave him a soft smile and nodded. Then Ivan walked over and squatted next to Ben, shifting the wood on the hearth. “You have to give it room to breathe.”
“You have to give me room to breathe,” Ben muttered.
“Ouch.” Ivan rocked back on his heels and gave Ben a mock wounded look. “Guess I stepped into that.”
“Yeah. You did.” Ben grinned then gestured at the hearth. “Show me?”
Kim made a rude noise and flicked her fingers in the direction of the fireplace. Instantly the wood caught flame and started crackling merrily. Both Ben and Ivan turned to shoot her looks to which she just gave a big old fake smile.
“You’re welcome.”
Ben picked up a log from the rack and without moving his gaze from Kim, reached back and smashed the burning wood. Smash. Smash. Smash. The steepled logs collapsed and the fire started to sputter. Kim’s smile just got a bit more manic as she flicked just her middle finger. Once. Twice. The fire got brighter.
Gwen squinted at it.
“Is that a chihuahua?” She whispered to Siobhan.
Siobhan lifted her head slightly and glanced at the fireplace.
“Yep.”
“Okay”
Ben narrowed his eyes on the chihuahua made of fire dancing gleefully on the fallen logs on the hearth. “Really, MF? You betray me in this way?”
The chihuahua turned its burning gaze upon Ben then scampered from the fireplace to bat a small, fiery paw against Ben’s bent knee. Its mouth opened and sparks and a crackling sound emerged as it looked up at Ben. He heaved a dramatic sigh and shook his head.
“I thought we were friends.”
Another crackle. More sparks. Then the chihuahua lowered its head and butted it against Ben’s knee before resting it there with a subtle shower of sparks emitting from its mouth.
Ben rolled his eyes and tapped a finger on the top of its head. Gwen winced, expecting him to pull back in pain but nope. Didn’t happen.
“Fine. Good dog.”
The chihuahua lifted its head, let out a crackle, then scampered back to the fallen logs in the fireplace where it curled up in the pile which immediately smoldered and then burst into flames. Ben rocked up to his feet and returned to his seat while Ivan did the same.
“So,” Ben drawled. “Seeing any possibilities, Prairie?”
Prairie gave him a sunny smile. “Not at the–”
“Guys?” Patti’s voice cut Prairie off.
Gwen turned as Patti cleared the wall, Dempsey close on her heels. A young woman followed behind him.
She was a stranger. Not that there weren’t a lot of strangers or new people in Leo’s every day, but more the young woman had about her an air of someone who did not belong there.
She was petite. Beautifully groomed. Not a blonde hair out of place, held back by a white headband. That hair was cut in a bob, stopping just shy of her collarbones in a line so sharp it could cut glass. A do like that had to be maintained and that maintenance cost dear. That hair alone screamed ‘I’ve got money!’
Her clothes said she spent more on one sweater than Gwen spent on half her wardrobe. I mean Gwen did like to go to charity shops. Recycle, reuse, recycle; better for the environment. Also for her pocketbook. Occupational therapists didn’t make that much money. Definitely not enough for cashmere sweaters like the pink one the young woman wore. And definitely not for the big honking chain resting on the young woman’s chest.
Was that? Yeah, she was pretty sure the chain was embedded with diamonds. And the three charms, shaped like flowers, certainly looked like they were precious stones.
Who wore a chain like that on the daily? In the streets? Without fear of being pulled into an alley and having it snatched off? And yet the young woman wore the chain with the ease of someone who lived somewhere where being yanked into an alley was just not a thing. Or like alleys weren’t a thing.
Which, you know, probably?
She clutched a pile of papers in her perfectly manicured hand. The pink of her nail polish stood out against the white of the sheets. That pink almost perfectly matched the pink-gold of the tulip charm on her chunkity-chain. Gwen could tell when Siobhan caught view of the papers because she stiffened against the arm Gwen still held around her shoulders.
Kim blew a big sigh out and then rose to her feet. She plunked herself down on the coffee table which was luckily sturdy enough to hold her and then waved at the seat she vacated.
“Hi. I’m Kim. Would you like to sit down?”
The young woman’s brows drew together over pale blue eyes. Her gaze went from the seat to the circle of Gwen’s friends, then back to the seat before she bit her lip and nodded.
“Here,” Patti murmured and laid a gentle hand on the young woman’s lower back. The young woman looked back at Patti then walked over to the couch and sat down next to Prairie who moved closer to Ivan so there was plenty of room for the newcomer to not be crowded. Or as not crowded as she could be entering a circle of eight people with two more at her back.
The young woman sat on the front edge of the cushion, a foot of space between her back and the back of the couch. She aligned her feet just so on the floor and placed the pile of papers in her lap. Then she laid her hands, palms up, on her legs before lifting her chin and turning her gaze back on Patti while biting her lip.
“Go on.” Patti lifted her chin in the blonde’s direction. Her tone was soft, the kind you used with a scared dog or a kid on the verge of tears. “Tell them what you told me.”
The blonde turned back to the group as a whole and gave something approaching a smile. “My name is Gia. I–”
She trailed off and looked down. “I’m not sure where to begin.”
“I see you have some papers there,” Prairie said in her usual soft tone.
The blonde, Gia, nodded and turned one hand to grip the papers. “I do.”
“Is it a story?”
Gia jerked a look up at Prairie. “How did you–?”
“It’s okay.” Prairie slowly moved her hand towards Gia. “Would it be alright if I took them?”
Gia nodded then moved her hand back so Prairie could take possession of the papers.
“Excuse me,” Patti muttered before turning and moving away for a moment. She came back dragging a chair with Dempsey in tow with another. They pulled them up, one on each end of the couch Gwen and Siobhan sat on with Patti taking the end closest to Gia, then they sat and turned to give Gia their attention.
“How did you know to bring these to us?” Ivan asked in a soft tone. Gia turned to look at him with limpid eyes and bit her lip.
“I went to the guard. To report that my friend, Erik, had gone missing. They told me that because he hadn’t been gone long there wasn’t anything they could do. That he was probably just at a pub drinking with friends or something. But,” she looked at the papers in Prairie’s hand. “I know he isn’t.” She turned her gaze on Gwen and there were tears glimmering there. “If they just read that they’d understand. But they wouldn’t!”
“I’m sorry,” Gwen murmured.
Gia nodded several times. A tear slid from her eye and down her cheek. She lifted an elegant hand and dashed it away then drew a fortifying breath. “A clerk was walking past and heard what I was saying to the dispatcher. They told me that you,” she turned to look around Prairie to Ivan, “would listen to me and suggested I could ask for you here. I didn’t expect to find you. I thought they’d send for you?”
Ivan gave her the warm smile that was his signature. Well, that and several other smiles but this one definitely seemed the right one to apply in this moment as Gia visibly relaxed under it. “I’m glad you found me here. Having to travel all over town would have to be hard.”
“Thank you.” Gia sniffled and then forced a smile. “I appreciate your kindness.”
Well, if her clothing and manner didn’t speak to a good upraising, Gia’s polite response certainly did. It was the kind of thing too many people faked or didn’t even try to fake in this world, but Gia’s thank you was true and heartfelt and Gwen felt it reach out to her and gently touch her Magick.
Suddenly Gwen wanted to rise from her seat and engulf the young woman in a big hug. But she read that instinct might not come off well from a stranger, so instead she just went over and crouched in front of Gia and placed a gentle hand on the other woman’s knee. As she did so she pulled very gently, dragging some of the pain and uncertainty from Gia. Almost immediately Gia’s shoulders lifted, her back straightened from the subtle hunch it had set in, and she drew a deep breath.
She lay a soft hand on Gwen’s and gave a gentle squeeze, then mouthed, “Thank you.”
Gwen nodded in response and gave the young woman an encouraging smile. “Can we get you anything to drink?”
Gia shook her head in the negative
“Eat/”
“I couldn’t.” Gia looked down at her hand on top of Gwen’s. “My stomach is–”
“I understand.” Gwen drew a little more tension from Gia then looked over at Prairie. “Would it be okay if we read the story?”
Gia nodded.
“Out loud?”
Again Gia nodded, but this time she bit her lip and drew a ragged breath. “Okay.”
“Good.” Gwen rose and moved back to her seat then leveled Prairie with a look before draping her arm back around Siobhan’s shoulder. Normally it would be Siobhan who read the story. It had become their pattern. But it didn’t take an empath to read that Siobhan was not in a place where that would be good for her. Seemed like Prairie got that too as she made no effort to hand off the pages but instead flipped the pile face up and began to read in her soft tone.
Enter The Woods 