Taryn was vaguely annoyed with Violet, since talking with Keye the other day. Mostly because she was worried about the other girl and not pleased that Violet had not trusted her enough to tell her that Wick was hurt and possibly in danger of dying. (Or maybe not; she wasn't actually sure, because of the way Keye had phrased it.) It hurt a bit, that Violet hadn't thought of her...

... never mind, of course, that Taryn hadn't told Violet any of the things that bothered her. They weren't recent, and they were life threatening, and they weren't... They weren't the same. They weren't. Really.

Knock, knock, knock.

She was dressed in an off white tank top today, with a crocheted lace longsleeved thing overtop, and her usual jeans. (This particular pair had a heart shaped patch on them, which mostly resembled an applique, but was there for more reasons than simply decoration.)

She wouldn't have waited for Violet to open the door, except that that would be really awfully rude.

Violet was sitting cross-legged on her bed, in grey sweatpants and a nice-fitting blue t-shirt, and she looked quite relaxed. Her hair was up in a ponytail, all loose strands kept away from her face. She was reading.

When the knock came, she jumped, startled out of her book. Putting down the book, she walked over to the door and opened it. She held the door open by only a foot or two, so that she could quickly close it if it turned out to be someone she didn't want to see. Oh, it's just her...

"Hey, Taryn," she said, with a pleasantly surprised smile. She opened the door all the way, nodding to the room's interior, "Wanna come in?"

"How's Wick?" asked Taryn, instead of answering Violet's question immediately. "And yes, I wanna come in."

She folded her arms. "And how come you didn't tell me he got hurt?" Note that she doesn't make mention of Violet's injuries--Keye didn't mention them. Or, if he did, he did in passing and she doesn't remember.

Violet was taken aback to find that Taryn even knew that Wick had been hurt. She didn't puzzle over it too much, figuring that it was bound to come up soon anyway - only three other people knew about what had happened: Keye, Dr. Barclay, and the freak kid. Taryn would have had to talk to one of them.
Or else be clairvoyant or something, but Violet was fairly sure that she wasn't.

"Wick? He's... , you can ask him yourself, he's right there," Violet said, closing the door behind Taryn. She sat back down on her bed and pointed to the open desk drawer where Wick was currently residing (and listening curiously to the conversation). "I didn't tell you 'cause,... geez, I don't know..."

She shrugged, looking away. "It didn't really occur to me to - well, ... it did but I just ,.. wouldn't."

"Hi, Wick. How're you doing, short stuff?" she asked, looking down at the little faery with a smile. Then back to Violet, with a small frown. "How come? You told Keye, but you didn't tell me?"

Okay, maybe she's not being fair. She has more secrets from Violet than Violet does from her, so she really shouldn't be asking all these questions and wanting to know... Though maybe the problem is that she heard about what happened--vaguely--from someone else, not Violet and/or Wick.

Wick waved at her, and offered a small, "Hullo. 'M okay," accompanied by a faint smile.

Keye. So that must be where she'd heard it from.
"I told Keye because he walked into my room recently after the fact, and asked what happened," Violet said defensively, scowling. What was Taryn getting so irked about? It wasn't as if Violet had gone and done all this on purpose to get on her nerves. "I wouldn't have told him either, if he hadn't asked."

Taryn flushed slightly. "Sorry, didn't mean to nag at you. I'd just like to know when something rotten happens to my friends. And getting attacked is very rotten." She sounds like she knows from experience.

She sat down on the floor and leaned on the bed, looking up at Violet with a rather contrite expression on her face. "So, what happened? All I heard from Keye was that y'all two were attacked by somebody."

"Mm," Violet said, unimpressed. She did go on to explain, though.
"There's this guy - I'm pretty sure he's a couple of years younger than me,... and he's completely insane. I've met him twice and I don't want there to be a third time. Even once was more than enough."

She sighed, resting her elbows on he knees and gazing at the wall with a dull sort of expression. "I was just out for a walk - Wick was with me - and we ran into this kid. He attacked, almost choked me to death. I was unconscious for,.. I don't know, a minute? A few minutes? I'm not sure. So, I come around, and Wick's just lying there, and the freak kid's been nightmare-d. And then we went home."

"Yikes. D'you know this guy's name?" A natural question to ask, if perhaps a slightly untactful one. (Taryn, after all, knows unfortunately well that, unless the police capture and subdue one's attacker, one is rather unlikely to find out his name.)

"Did he do anything else?"

You know, she doesn't know that this same freaky kid is the one who raped Keye. She doesn't know much about the details of his encounter, only that Violet is the one who found him after.

"No, I've got no idea what his name is. I have a few for him, but I'd prefer we keep this conversation fairly polite," Violet smirked, shrugging. She tilted her head to one side and looked at Taryn again, with an almost-amused look in her dark eyes.
"You know, Keye asked the same thing. No, he didn't do anything. Choked me, mangled Wick - but nothing else that I'm aware of."

"I paid him back for what he did," Wick's voice emanated from the drawer, sounding vaguely gleeful, "'S too bad I can't make 'im have permanent nightmares, though, or I would've..."

Taryn nodded slowly. "Keye and I have... a lot in common." And she'll leave it at that, for now. If Violet asks, she (might) explain.

And to Wick, "Good for you, short stuff. I'm sorry you got hurt doing it, though, and I'm glad you're doing better." She rested her chin on her hands, looking thoughtful. She doesn't know the name of the man who attacked her, either.

Josh didn't exactly count as... attacking, you see.

"Oh, yeah?" Violet said, thinking maybe Taryn meant: coffee addiction, insomnia, or bad experiences with (figuratively speaking) an inner demon. "That's ineteresting. When'd you run into him? He... I don't think I remember him mentioning you before. I could be wrong..., but then, we don't talk all that much, all things considered. Anyway, I haven't talked to him since, um... since the hospital. He told you what happened - so I'm guessing he told you about getting a ride to the hospital with Dr. Barclay?"

She smirked, but she gave the impression that she didn't want to be smirking. "Turns out he's not quite so bad after all."

Taryn shrugged. "Yeah." She, of course, is talking about their similar experiences with certain men in the past, not coffee addiction or insomnia or demons. (Although, come to think of it, this could be considered an 'inner demon.')

"Yeah, he told me about Barclay giving y'all a ride... From everything you said, I didn't think that's something the guy would do." Another shrug.

"And I met Keye in the park." A blush at the memory. "I was singing, didn't think anyone was around, and he heard me. I guess he liked what he heard, though."

"Well, he did. So he's a nicer guy than I thought - even if he did only do it because Keye asked him to," Violet said, trying not to roll her eyes at this. The professor had also gone and apologized to Wick,... but again, only because Keye had asked him. It counted for something,... but not much of something. Maybe even less than that.

"The park, huh? Cool," she said, noting that Taryn was blushing. Hmmm, has someone got a crush? she wondered, grinning inwardly. "Yeah, um... he plays guitar, so I guess he's got an ear for music. I heard him play once."
He'd played well, actually, but she didn't say so. She didn't feel like she owed him any compliments at the moment.

"I get the feeling that Keye got to him somehow..." Probably she shouldn't say that Keye had moved in with the professor, because it wasn't her business to go around talking about things behind Keye's back. Maybe she shouldn't even have talked about Violet behind her back, though that had been mostly accident...

Oh. That reminded her.

"Keye said you found him."

Probably Violet can imagine what time she's talking about. And the fact that Taryn knows about it.

Taryn isn't sure why she's mentioned this, by the way.

"Found him?" Violet blinked. At first she thought that Taryn might mean when Wick had made him slip on the ice,... but no, there hadn't exactly been any finding involved in that. ...So...?
Oh. Oh. Right.
"...Yeah, I guess you could put it that way," she said guardedly, "Why?"

"Um..." A quirk of her lips that wasn't exactly a smile, but wasn't really anything else, either. "'Cause it means you're trust-able. Safe." A barely perceptible inclination of her head. "Told you. Keye 'n' I have a lot in common."

Yes, she told Keye that the fewer people who know, the better. She also sometimes wants to be able to talk about it with someone she likes and feels comfortable with, without the complications of that someone being male, or potentially threatening. Violet's the closest she's got to a female friend, up here.

Possibly the closest to a female friend she has at all--her last friendship... soured.

Trustable and safe. Positive traits, right? ... Right. That doesn't make it any more pleasant to find out that two of your friends share the same problem, especially when it's this particular problem. Violet wouldn't have been able to think of anything to say hat seemed appropriate, but she had to say something - she couldn't just stare.

"...I'm sorry to hear that," she said finally, in a quiet voice.

Yet another shrug.

"It was a long, long time ago. 'm mostly over it..." Mostly being the key word there. There are definitely still issues involved. "Butyeah. I dunno." She made a face and sat up a little.

"Don't treat me differently, 'kay? I haven't changed in the past ten minutes, you just know more 'bout me."

Okay. Change the subject now.

"So, what've you been up to?"

Very casual, isn't she.

"Okay," Violet nodded, as if it was the most natural thing in the world.

Changing subject? Yes, fine. Carry on.

"Iunno," Violet shook her head, and sighed. Had she been doing anything worth mentioning...? She could only think of one thing, sadly enough.
"I met a guy at the bookstore a little while ago," she said. She had to start the story at the beginning, otherwise it ruined it. "He's a pretty nice guy. He works in the theater. I've gone out with him ...twice so far."

"Oooou. Do tell me all about it." There was a light in her eyes that suggested she was one of those people who read cheap romance novels and then lied about it later, should anyone ask.

Taryn is a romance addict, which is possibly strange, all things considered.

"What's his name? What's he do at the theatre? Is he cute?"

Teasing, anyone?

"His name's Dave. He works with the lighting - tech work and stuff," she said obligingly, smirking faintly and not in the least embarrassed. Was he cute? "He acts cute - sort of,...old-fashioned chivalrous, I guess you could say. Holding the door for me and stuff."

Then she added thoughtfully, "And he drives a motorcycle."

"I never understood tech stuff. I can help with sets and things, and do running crew, or grunt work, as long as they tell me 'zactly what to do with the things, but I don't know much about the actual technical stuff. But that's totally off subject."

She grinned.

"Hey, old fashioned chivalry's good by me; I'm certainly not going to complain if a guy asks to carry something heavy for me." Indeed, in yet another contradiction, Taryn has no compunction about ordering a guy to 'get over here and move this,' if the object in question is too heavy for her.

"He tried to explain it to me - how he makes the lights work and stuff, but I think I've forgotten half of what he's told me," Violet laughed, "Yeah, the old-fashioned thing works for him. He pulls it off pretty well, whether it's an act or not. And I wouldn't complain if he offered to carry stuff for me, but if it was something I was perfectly capable of doing by myself, then I'd have to refuse."

Violet shrugged, blinking at the wall. This was when Wick (bored out of his mind) started sing-songing, "Vi'let and Dave, sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-ng. First comes love, then comes marriage-"
But he didn't remember the rest of the words, so he just hummed.

"Something about a baby carriage," Taryn told him, hiding a snicker. That was something like her little brother would do... Funny how Wick always seemed to remind her of the kid. (And make her miss him, which was a little strange.)

"All I know is that there're computers and stuff involved." She shrugged.

"He sounds like a good guy. I think you should keep him, if he doesn't manifest any sudden bizarre characteristics or anything." A grin. "Like, Iunno, a penchant for avoiding silver and full moons."

Violet ignored Wick's song completely. He was doing his best to be obnoxious with the small amount of material he had to work with - he wasn't allowed to be up yet, so there wasn't much he could do. He didn't even have the energy to put on a glamour any stronger than his favorite invisibility one.
He wasn't doing too good a job of being annoying, really, but maybe Violet was just immune.

"Nothing weird as far as I can tell," the girl shrugged. If you don't count the ghost who tried to seduce him. But that's not weird - not so weird anyway, she thought. She'd rather not mention it - Dave probably wouldn't like for her to tell what she knew of that incident.

"Well then. I say keep him. He sounds like he'll make a good boyfriend. Or at least a good friend, even if you stop dating and just hang out." She grinned. "Besides the fact that he sounds nice, he sounds like he's normal. And normal guys are inordinately hard to find in this city."

Keye's demon posessed, Darcy turns into a dog, Wick's seven inches tall, Jay's fae... None of those count as normal, do they?

No. No they do not.

"Yeah, when you put it that way...," Violet nodded, tilting her head to one side and letting her ponytail tip over her shoulder to brush her cheek. "Geez, I don't know. I do like him. Still getting to know him, I guess - but yeah, he does seem like a keeper. And while normalcy can take the fun out of things sometimes, at least it's something I can count on..."

Violet did like Dave, but she just didn't know how much. For that matter, she didn't know how much he liked her - obviously enough to ask her out a couple of times, which was reassuring. Oh, well. She knew that she liked him as a friend, that was certain. Beyond that, she wasn't completely sure.

A short laugh, light and airy and about as substantial as a bubble. "Trust me. Normal might be boring sometimes, but it sure beats the alternative." A curious expression crossed her face. "Not that I'd know that about guys, except second hand. Never had a boyfriend, y'know." She grinned.

"You have to tell me how it all works out--you're stepping into uncharted territory. Bewaaaaaaaare..." She snickered, spoiling her act. She was just being silly, after all. (Or mostly. It was true that she wanted to know what happened, and it was true that she had not been where Violet was going, but she didn't think the other girl needed to 'beware.' Yet.)

"Yeah, don't worry, I'll take notes and pass them on," Violet joked, smirking, " 'Here there be dragons', like on those old maps before they discovered the rest of the world. Oh, well. It's an experience. I'll see how it all turns out in the end,... right now, I just... I'll just drift. Figure it out as I go along. It can't be all that difficult."

She flopped backwards on her bed and looked up at the ceiling. "You know, I don't think I asked what you've been up to. What have you been doing, Taryn?"

"'It can't be that difficult.' Famous last words." A grin. "Okay, I'll stop teasing now. What've I been up to...?" She looked thoughtful.

"Procrastinating on schoolwork, mostly. Nothing exciting like a new boyfriend." Okay, maybe she wasn't quite done teasing yet. "Oh, and I patched up Keye's friendship with this other guy, Darcy. Or at least got them to patch it up. Silly Keye and his absent-mindedness."

"Bleh. Schoolwork," Violet grimaced. Just because she did hers on time, didn't mean she liked it. Well, not most of it, anyway. It was pretty dry stuff.

Now it was Violet's turn to tease. "What, now you're Dr. Phil?" she joked, grinning, "So what's this about?... I've never heard of this Darcy guy, it seems I don't know any of Keye's friends. What's happened this time?"
The last sentence was spoken in a tone of voice that she usually reserved only for people who complained to her about Wick. The phrase had had a rest over the last little while, and it needed some use.

"Well, Darcy's this guy who's got some kind of idea that everyone in the world is his best friend. I dunno how they met, but apparently Keye forgot to tell Darcy that he moved, and Darcy thought that Keye didn't want to be his friend anymore, and then Keye thought that Darcy hated him because Darcy sounded upset... It was a mess."

Taryn had been near tears, actually.

"And then they actually got around to talking, and it was all right. I coulda smacked 'em both, though. I wonder if all guys are that stupid."

"Heh. That sounds like him alright," Violet smirked, "Nah, I don't know if all guys are that stupid. But it seems a lot of them are. Smart guys are probably just as rare as normal ones are. They're a dying breed. It sure feels like that anyway,... considering how many guys I know, though... that's probably not a valid estimate."

"I'm not stupid," Wick said plaintively, his small voice growing drowsy, "...Right?"

Taryn giggled. "Well, I don't know that many guys, but they all seem to have their moments..." An impish grin. "Shall we answer Wick, or shall we leave him to figure it out on his own?"

Also, he was amazingly quiet. She supposed it was simply because he was still weak and tired from whatever the 'freaky kid' had done to him. But she was sort of hoping to elicit some kind of stronger reaction from him with this.

It simply wasn't natural for Wick to be this subdued.

"No fair. I wanna know," he sighed.

"It's only fair we give him an answer, - he did ask," Violet said, grinning. She tilted her head so that she could see him. The ginger-haired faery looked at her hopefully. She giggled, and looked at Taryn, "What do you think?"

"Well, let's see... shall we call him stupid... or just foolish? Either way, he's still adorable." Now how's that for a crooked compliment? Adorable, and yet stupid. (Or maybe only foolish, but still.)

"Or we could call him thoughtless, perhaps."

There was a tone in her voice that said quite clearly that she was teasing and that she didn't mean a word of this. Or at least, did not mean a word of this to be a put down or an insult. It was all meant to be in good fun.

"You're mean. The pair of you," Wick said emotionlessly, pointing at them with the hand that was not partially trapped in a cast. Being called adorable didn't make up for being called stupid/foolish/thoughtless.

"I think,... foolish fits," Violet said, smiling at him. "So now you're Foolish Adorable Wicked Madigan. Quite a title, huh?"

"Thass my name, don't wear it out," the faery said sarcastically, with a sleepy smirk. He was winding down rapidly, and would soon be asleep. It didn't really take much to tire him. "'Cept the foolish part, wear that out soon."

"Shall we call him Fawn?"

Hey, what do you know, the initials of the words make another word, and it's a creature that's rather cute, and blends in with the surroundings...

"Fawn the faery."

Okay, Taryn has a wicked sense of humor.

No pun intended, of course.

Violet laughed. "That is pretty cute,.. what do you think, Wick?"

"Oh, go to hell...," Wick grumbled. Right. Cute, blends in with his environment, and oh, yeah, he'd want to be named after a creature that regularly stood in the lights of oncoming cars and got turned into road waffles. He sighed, blinking slowly, once, in Taryn's direction. "'f you ever call me that I'll set your stuffed animals on fire an' drop 'em out the window..."