Old Face in a Strange Place

[Juniper Wickes]

It was an immense relief when he relented but there was some place, deep in her chest, that rang with a feeling of lost opportunity. Why did she want him to know, even a little? Less than an hour ago she'd ran a fast as she could manage, trying to escape even his glance. What could she benefit from him knowing? She knew she'd been wronged. It wasn't fair in the slightest but when was fairness ever taken into account? At least on the streets she made her own decisions. She wasn't scheduled for treatments except for the ones she prescribed for herself.

"“Tea would be... wonderful" She said with audible longing. Tea sounded so familiar and... civilized. And she needed some civility. She didn't think he meant any malice towards her but she could not risk him telling anyone she was as mad as they expected her to be. She could hide forever in the dregs of society as long as they didn't look for her too hard.

"“It is interesting." She said encouragingly and tried a smile though it felt weak and shaky on her face. He really hadn't changed much. She rarely permitted herself to think 'what-ifs' but the way he hadn't really changed at all was taking her back. She wondered if she'd not been sent away, if her other prospects dissipated, if they'd married... would he still be the same. It was just as hard to imagine him with a wife as it was trying to imagine where she'd be now if she hadn't been locked away.

  

[Remington Lynch]

A small sigh of relief left Reming's lips as his face broke out into a smile. She wanted tea! The fact that Juniper even seemed to be wistfully thinking about it made Reming glad that the rushed question had actually prospered to something. "“I'll get right on it then!" Awkwardly, Reming looked away from her in embarrassment at the excitement in his own voice. Enjoying tea with someone after one of his trips was always an activity Reming rather enjoyed. It was one of those small moments where the presence of another was almost welcomed as he was ground back into the 'human' realm of things. Knowing now that this moment was going to be shared with Ms. Wickes was more than Reming could have ever hoped for considering just hours ago she'd been a mere ghost of memories past.

Encouraged by the reassurance of the muggle fact being interesting, Reming couldn't help but ramble on more while he got the water ready in the kitchen. "“It's curious really! I know a lot of people tend to look down on muggles but I find that making tea how they would without any magic seems to make it taste better." Despite his words though Reming gave the water a flick of his wand to boil it instantly. He was in an internal debate over which was more important - tastier tea or serving Ms. Wickes as fast as possible. Easily the latter won out. "Probably all in my head though." Reming chuckled as he came back out with the now finished tea.

Smiling at Juniper nervously, Reming gestured with his head towards a small table near the corner of the room. It was his usual place for company tea and the sight of there only being two seats to go along with the table was a true testament towards his complete lack of anything one might consider a normal social life. "“I hope it's alright that I made it a bit strong." It was the kind of thing Reming would normally ask one their preference to but in a silence effort to aid Ms. Wickes he'd even made it a touch stronger than he would normally make for himself. The sight of that pipe in her hand when they were out in the streets though hadn't left Reming's mind just yet and had him concerned, but he also felt it was best not to ask. He wasn't here to past judgements and he already felt like he was walking a thin line between her staying and rushing out the door. Thankfully though Reming knew from his own experiences in botched experiments that nothing quite hit the spot like some strong tea when you were 'coming down' from some kind of weird high. Or at least it always seemed to help him.

As they now sat there, Reming remembered just why he really disliked social interactions. The pair of them had only had a few face to face meetings back in the day and almost all of their real interactions had been through their letters to one another. Now they sat there completely unsupervised and he was at a total loss for words. What was he suppose to say? What was it girls liked to hear again? Since the past seemed off limits for now should he talk about himself? Was there even anything that interesting to mention? Taking a large sip from his tea, Reming glanced up to make eye contact with Ms. Wickes. "I get to go study dragons in March." Everybody loved dragons.

Word Count: 604

  

[Juniper Wickes]

Juni paced the room while he set about making the tea. Part of her was listening, part of her only heard him as background noise. Round and round she walked, taking in details of the smallest items while some things took on a blurry mask as her consciousness neglected to acknowledge them. She could feel the sedation lapping at the edges of her mind. There were far worse side effects that could have come with her poison of choice. Sleep was oblivion and oblivion was good but sometimes sleep was not a good idea so she walked.

She eyed the table he indicated for just a moment. The little chair and table were no more enclosed than she already was but sitting felt like surrender. Which was silly because there was nothing left to surrender. She was already having tea with one of the only person who might have still thought well of her. Well, at least until an hour ago.
Still, she sat and fixed her cup from sheer muscle memory. Cream, tea, sugar, stir. It was strong but it was warm and heavenly. Even after taking a drink she held the cup nearly to her lips, letting the swirl of steam rise and curl against her face. She even held her hand against it's side for as long as she could bear, cradling the warmth.

"“Really? What kind?"

  

[Remington Lynch]

Reming watched as Juniper fixed her cup of tea. For some reason it was nice to watch as she went through the steps and when she took her first sip and didn’t make a face of disgust it was like a small victory for him. After watching this whole event though he realized he was probably making her feel uncomfortable staring like some kind of lovesick puppy and chose to focus back in on his own cup of tea. He zoned in on the design on the sides of their cups; a frilly display of pink flowers that towards the rims the porcelain white faded into a baby blue. The attention shift seemed to be worse on Reming’s embarrassment level though as he couldn’t help but wonder why he hadn’t picked something less girly - it wasn’t like he was at a loss for variety considering tea sets were his one spending and collecting hobby.

An almost childish grin spread across Reming’s face when the topic of dragons seemed to be a good choice. “The Hebridean Black!” The excitement was painfully clear as Reming couldn’t ever contain it when he got to talk about his work. “It’s a beautiful dragon that lives over in Scotland! It’s scales are almost black in color and it has these practically radiant purple eyes. I’ve never seen one before but I hear its quite the sight!” Pausing for a second to take another sip from his tea, Reming’s face suddenly shifted from excitement to mild concern as he remembered the task that was going to be coming his way once March hit. “I plan on trying to collect some scales to analyze the properties of but I must admit I don’t normally involve dragons in my work. They seem to be a little too fond of my animagus form.” Reming gave Juniper a sheepish grin as he poured himself some more tea. He still wasn’t exactly sure how his inner animal ended up being a lanky dog instead of a fly on the wall. Probably life's way of mocking him for being freakishly taller then the average man.

Word Count: 367

  

[Juniper Wickes]

It was a lethal cocktail and Juni had known her fate was sealed the moment she sat down. As the warmth of the tea settled in she was faced with the exhaustion of emotional upheaval, physical exertion, and the sedation side effects of her drug. She wanted to hear about his dragons because who got to say they were studying dragons? but she was physically unable to keep her eyes open.

What was left of her right mind voiced concern about falling asleep here. Mr. Lynch was not a bad person but what if her turned her in? She’d prefer to spend the rest of her days in street gutters before going back to the asylum but he wouldn’t know what it was like. He’d think he was helping her. Her memories of the asylum were peppered with images of black dragons with purple eyes as her eyes fell shut listening to his words. She was losing the battle with her body. She gave up trying to keep her eyes open and focused on trying to keep her head up. It drifted downwards before jerking abruptly back up only to drift downward again. Every part of her being ached for sleep.

The turmoil of wanting to stay awake but needing to sleep twisted painfully in her chest. She was literally so tired she wanted to cry but she was saved having to cover another facet of her craziness in front of Reming as her head drifted down a final time and stayed down as she was forced to surrender.

  

[Remington Lynch]

“There was this one time when I was off in-” Reming was about to begin into his normal bout of rambling when he happened to look up and see that Juniper was slumped forward, sleeping away. He’d like to think it wasn’t the first time his run-on sentences involving his work had helped with such a thing, but Reming also knew that Miss Wickes has been a bit... ‘up in the air’ not to long ago so it wasn’t completely his fault. Smiling as the tipping form of Juniper was in clear need of this sleep, Reming set down his own tea cup and then carefully removed Junipers from her loosening grip as tea was starting to slowly spill from it. Once the breakables were out of the equation the hard reality suddenly hit him. Where was she going to sleep? Clearly he couldn’t just leave her to collapse into his table. What kind of friend would that make him?

Feeling a bit panicked now, Reming glanced around his small and cluttered apartment. The sight of his bedroom door caused him to burn a bright crimson and hate himself for even having such a thought about Juniper. It wasn’t until the battered sight of his couch was focused on that an idea suddenly seem to fall all into place. “Engorgio.” He whispered softly with his wand pointed at the couch. In seconds the piece of furniture was suddenly the size of a bed. It wasn’t really much but it would make do. Bringing his attention back to Juniper it was then that Reming realized this was the hard part. How did one move a lady from one point to another? He debated briefly over the idea of levitating her over to the enlarged couch but the prospect of somehow dropping her terrified him. Sighing as he pocketed his wand and looked down at his own hands, Reming knew what he had to do.

It was a good thing that Miss Wickes was asleep for such an act because it took about four tries for Reming to finally gather the nerve to slip his arm under her legs and his other around her back. It was also good that she was out of it because her head was now slumped onto his chest and Reming was pretty sure his heart was going to explode at any second. Making the walk as gracefully as possible for one of his stature, Reming carefully set Juniper down onto the couch cushions. Lightly moving some hair that had gotten into her eyes with his fingertips, Reming began the next mission that needed to happen: Blankets, pillows, and a small fire going in the decrepit fireplace. Only once she was completely decked out in comfort did Reming realize that there was now none left for him. It became a mental note that he severely needed to purchase some extra bedding.

It was to cold in December to be without some kind of a blanket so Reming went with the next best option at hand; he transformed into his animagus form. If anything were going to keep him warm a furry jacket was definitely a solid choice. Sitting down beside the couch, Reming laid his now wolf snout onto the cushion. The heightened hearing thanks to the form made it easy to hear every heartbeat and breath Juniper made and it was strangely relaxing. He pondered over if he was to close to her for when she woke up, but knew that he wanted to be aware of when she did wake up - encase she tried to flee again. Deciding that waking up to a wolf face next to your own would probably give anyone a heart attack, Reming lifted his head and glanced towards the end of the couch where Junipers feet were. With the couch so large now there was plenty of space between her and the actual end of the couch, and with a gentle leap Reming jumped up onto the open space. Gingerly trying to make all his movements as undetectable as possible, Reming rotated himself in a tight circle on spot before curling up into a ball in way that was very much more cat then dog. After that it didn’t take much for him to drift off to sleep. It also didn’t hurt that Junipers foot made quite the comfy pillow.

Word Count: 739

  

[Juniper Wickes]

Juni slept beyond soundly. When she woke there was a heaviness that had settled on every part of her. Everything around her was quiet and still and as she mustered the energy to open her eyes she fought the confusion that fogged her brain. She was used to the dead slumber that came with over indulging but even now she was reluctant to move. She was more comfortable and warm than she had been in months. Even the confusion of it was not enough to send her stirring for several moments and the confusion of it sent her stirring. As she sat up some of the weight shifted and she sat in the semi dark trying to get her bearings. With a few blinks her vision cleared and she found she was nestled in a pile of blankets on a dramatically oversized couch. For a second her heart jolted as she noticed the creature laying at the end of the couch before she realized who the creature really was.

Memories of where she was and why she was there hit her harder than the weight of weariness that still clung to her bones. She curled up, her legs to her chest as she hid her face. He knew. Mr. Remington Lynch had seen her in all her shame and lowliness; shorn hair, boys clothes, and who knows how hard she’d hit the opium. He’d been so kind to her but the idea that he’d seen her like that sent twists of anxiety through her chest.

She had to leave. He’d never see her again and hopefully in time he’d forget about her completely.

With a deep breath she carefully unfolded her legs, pushing the blankets aside, and regretfully emerging from the den of comfort and back into the cold. Something slid from her shoulders to the ground. He’d left a coat for her. She draped it around her shoulder, watching it’s hem fall past her knees. It didn’t matter, a coat like that was invaluable in the cold of winter. She watched the sleeping form carefully for any sign that Mr. Canine Lynch was awake. Her breath hitched in sudden and unwelcome emotion trying to imagine having to explain to him just why she couldn’t stay. Why she had to return to the streets rather than stay in the safety of his home. Why she would only be a blight in the life of anyone respectable. She was not fit for proper society. No, it was best if she stole away in secret.

Despite her eagerness to leave she could not resist using the washroom. The opportunity to bathe privately did not come often. She moved with every bit of stealth she possessed, pausing with baited breath at every sound. Clean, she padded to the kitchen. It was paltry at best but she took a few things from his pantry. Juni had her own moral code now, though he was a special case, and she refused to ever feel bad about taking food. Food was survival.

With her pockets heavy with what she’d managed to scavenge from his kitchen she placed the pocket watch she’d stolen from him yesterday on the table, carefully laying the chain out, as if arranging it nicely could erase her regret at taking it. No matter how much she could use the coin from selling such an item she could not bear to take it with her.

She stood at the door, hand on the knob, looking over his apartment. The light of early morning was just barely casting rose tinted shadows over everything and she could still make out the large, shaggy form on the couch. She wanted pet it, to run her fingers through his thick coat but she could not risk waking him. She said her silent goodbye from the doorway before closing it resolutely behind her.