Loud and Out of Key (Closed)

[Sapphy]

Sapphy was lounging in the parlor, pursuing over her final copy of the day's newspaper. She'd been keeping the last one from her stack as of late.

She delicately turned the page and sighed. A bunch of women were fired and arrested when they protested via demonstration over their working conditions at a textile factory. Sexual abuse had been a huge motivator and mostly swept under the rug -- the newspaper reported it as only a rumor.

[Goblin]

Goblin came in from an evening of selling, thinking vaguely of seeing if Script was in the kitchen again, when he saw Sapphy reading a paper and looking rather unhappy. She wasn't exactly the first person he wanted to talk to, but he also didn't want to end up brooding the whole night away alone on the roof again. "Hey. Bad headlines?"

[Sapphy]

Sapphy's eyes darted up. Ugh, Goblin.

She decided to ignore him, and lowered her eyes back down to the stories in the paper. She wasn't going to give him anymore fuel to judge her. He could be miserable on his own -- he wasn't going to pull her in again.

[Goblin]

He sighed. It was worth a try. "Just so you know, the new girl is a completely maniacal baker, so the kitchen's full of cookies and brownies." He headed in that direction.

[Sapphy]

Sapphy, who wasn't even hungry, rose at the word brownie and followed Goblin inside the kitchen. She held her newspaper in front of her, still reading silently.

[Goblin]

Goblin, who had perched on the counter and was already munching on a brownie, was surprised when she followed him in. And even moreso that she seemed completely absorbed in a newspaper. They sold the damn things all day; he couldn't even stand to see one by the time he got home.

One thing was for sure, the awkward silence was going to drive him crazy. "My sister's fifteen," he announced. "She likes being on her own. She usually warms up to just a handful of people and avoids big crowds. She's good at sneaking around, takes a lot of long walks, and secretly reads dirty romance novels. Is that the kinda thing you wanted to know?"

[Sapphy]

"That was, like, what, weeks ago? I don't particularly care anymore," Sapphy mumbled from behind the newspaper. Her hand shot out and snatched a brownie. Her hand disappeared behind the headlines again.

[Goblin]

"What on earth is so interesting about that paper?" he finally asked. No article in the New York World could be that absorbing.

[Sapphy]

Sapphy folded it in half and wordlessly handed Goblin the section she wanted him to read about the female factory workers.

[Goblin]

He gave the article a quick scan, then started at the beginning and read it slowly. Then continued to stare at it as he completely forgot that there was anyone else in the room.

[Sapphy]

Sapphy swallowed her last bite of brownie, watching Goblin with interest.

[Goblin]

He'd probably read the thing three or four times before something, maybe just the sound of another person breathing, brought him back into the moment. He started slightly and handed Sapphy back her paper. "Sorry. Interesting," he said neutrally, munching on his brownie. Though why she found it so interesting, he couldn't imagine.

[Sapphy]

"Yep," was all Sapphy was going to say to him. "Haven't seen you around for a while," she commented. "Everything alright?" She was just being polite.

[Goblin]

He nodded. "I've been lurking. It's what I do, as you know," he said a bit resentfully, and then asked, because he couldn't help it--"Do you know why Wraith goes to Brooklyn so much?"

[Sapphy]

Sapphy just smirked and went back to her paper.