Shift-End

[KB]

"Well I could be not-so-human if that'd help," he said before blinking and clearing his throat. "Er, perhaps that's not the best idea." He doubted she'd be put at ease by a gigantic snake in her apartment. Monty looked around once more, allowing himself to gauge whether or not he'd even fit in her domicile.

"You were attacked?" He asked, once again without thinking first. He figured in the next moment that she probably wasn't born with her, what was it? Affliction? Monty smiled, ignoring his own question and continuing. "Surely; maybe social ineptitude will come back in style if we keep it up."

[Clairice-Sarah]

((page four!! ))

"Uh...maybe not, my apartment is...small." Laurel was picturing a huge anaconda in her apartment and she wasn't so sure that was a great idea. The last thing she needed was to add claustrophobia to her general anxiety and other problems. She looked around. "Maybe...sometime outside, when it's warmer?"

Dislike of snakes and crawlies. She was going to have to get over that one pretty fast.

"Uh, yes, it'll be three years ago in February..." She didn't like recalling it. Not so much the attack itself but the result of it. "My boyfriend and I - my boyfriend at the time, I mean - were out on a walk and we came across this body, and it uh...well, screamed. He's deaf, and I'm..." She looked down at her hands. "This."

She shook her head. "Yeah, I guess so.." She stood and walked to the kitchen, pushing the oven light on to check on dinner. Didn't look ready yet. Food was a great way to get over an awkward moment.

[KB]

Monty nodded, figuring as much. Although he could step outside for a minute... The man shook his head at his own train of thought. No, he wasn't going to show off. At least not when it was cold. "Good point. Yeah, let me know and you can just accompany me to the woods sometime."

Her retelling of how she came to contract her affliction intrigued him. His eyebrows lifted as he imagined the damage done, but then lowered as she went back into the kitchen. "And no cure, huh?" Not that he cared, he personally thought she was better as she was, but she didn't seem to share his opinion. And not that he cared about her opinion, but... Oh, darn. He frowned, realizing that he was getting just a bit too chummy with the girl. Caring about her no longer being a human, telling her he'd take her to the woods.... He was pitiful.

[Clairice-Sarah]

"Maybe I'll let you know when I get back from home?" she suggested, standing again. She looked around for her mug, confused for just a second, before walking again back to the couch. She picked it up before turning back to him.

"No...well, no one knows." She shrugged. "I tried telling my doctors but they just told me to move somewhere quiet. I have medication for GAD but it doesn't fix it. Just...usually, keeps me from panicking. Which seems to be usually what sets me off...you saw." Laurel sipped slowly, turning her eyes down to the TV as the late-night news began.

[KB]

"You should," he said vaguely, still more caught up with his apparent lack of dignity. Was he this hard up for company? Well, she was nice, but... No, no. He was not going to excuse himself like that. Monty was simply tired of social ostracism, that's all.

When she mentioned her panicking he smiled a bit sheepishly, "Yeah, about that. Sorry for pushing your buttons, I can be a bit..." He searched for the word, rotating a hand as he did. "Less-than-friendly when conversing with humans. You understand."

[Clairice-Sarah]

"It's alright." Laurel smiled, somewhat distantly. "After all, the end result wasn't so bad, was it?" She leaned over to look at the stove clock. "Besides, I was more cognitive of it this time...maybe the exposure to stressful situations will be better in the long run."

This time when she wandered back into the kitchen, she took a fork and knife from the cutlery drawer. She nudged the casserole dish out of the oven a little bit before poking among the chicken and vegetables. She could wait a little longer on the vegetables to soften, though it was done.

Her stomach grumbled a bit. Decision made.

She took the dish out and set it on the stove-top. "Anyway, nothing to dwell on right?" She took plates down from the cupboard. "How hungry are you?"

[KB]

"I guess," he mumbled, then followed her into the kitchen when he heard the oven door open. He grinned, looking incredulously at her when she asked about his hunger level. "Hungry enough that you won't have to worry about left overs," he said with an amused undertone. Being a gigantic snake, it did take quite a bit to fill him up.

[Clairice-Sarah]

"That's fine for me," she replied as she divided the dish, a much smaller portion for herself than for him. Laurel held the plate and utensils in one hand out to him, while leaning over to turn the oven off.

"I hope you like it."

It wasn't the best of her ability, not by far. But it was late and simple and... well to hell if he didn't like it, she decided. There was always next time.

[KB]

"I'm almost certain I will," Monty said, seeming truly confident about his statement as he took the utensils and plate, not waiting to take a seat before he poked a fork into his meal and took a bite.

His face scrunched up almost immediately at the fresh-out-of-the-oven heat that was searing his mouth, but relaxed in the next moment as the corners of his lips curled up in approval. "Superb," he mumbled around the fair-sized mouthful, recalling suddenly how much he missed actual cooked food. It had been quite a while.

[Clairice-Sarah]

"Careful, it's hot," she warned as he made that face. Laurel moved to her small, poor excuse of a table and sat down, moving her stack of newspapers and magazines to the side. She cheered up exponentially when he complimented her cooking.

"I'm happy you like it."

She was hungry but wasn't in a rush to eat - she didn't know how he could put scalding hot things in his mouth and recover so well. Laurel cut the food and ate slowly, waiting for it to cool. "If you think this is good," she continued, excited now, "You should wait and see what I can make when I have time."

Oh yes. She was excited to have a friend who loved food.

[KB]

Monty joined her, taking a seat in another chair and keeping the plate in his lap. He speared another, smaller forkful of food. "I got that from the first thermonuclear bite," he said with a smile, this time taking care to blow on the morsel before pulling it off of his utensil. "But I don't mind, and if you can do better than this with only a little more time, I think I've died and gone to heaven." Loved food? He was beyond that stage, the guy was like an addict. It was a wonder he wasn't huge already. Except... Well, he was huge.

[Clairice-Sarah]

"Great!"

She hadn't meant to sound that enthused, but having few friends meant most of the things she made ended up frozen or thrown out, or she simply didn't cook at all. She sat quietly afterward, lost in thought as she tried to decide what she could impress him with next.

"How will I get a hold of you when I get back?" she asked him. "Phone? Email?" She never knew what to ask in Bridgeport anymore. It was such small community, compared to home. Half of the people she'd come to know had a work phone and maybe a home phone...even the people her age or younger spent more time outdoors than on a computer. From a big city to here, it sometimes felt like moving back ten years.

[KB]

Monty continued eating, staying fixated on the plate so as not to reveal yet another small, amused smile. She was entirely too chipper when it came to food, it was cute. He mentally cleared his throat. Uh, perhaps not cute. Perhaps... It was... Um. A positive trait that was not affectionate. Yeah.

He shook his head at her inquiry, looking up. "I don't use those, unfortunately." No one ever called him. "But you can use the ever-faithful - what is it? Snail mail? - or just come over." Those were his only options, really. He didn't exactly have a well-paying job that gave him money for an apartment, his candy, his cable television, and communication devices. And he had to keep his priorities straight.

[Clairice-Sarah]

"Okay." She didn't put any more thought into the matter. The only reason she had a cell-phone still was for the long-distance calling, and traveling. There was a whole lot of wilderness and nothing between Bridgeport and home. It was a safety precaution more than a necessity.

"Maybe..." she dug around the papers on the table, fork still between her teeth. "I need to clean," she mumbled as an afterthought, finally finding a small sticky-pad. "Here, can you jot it down? Or I'll forget." A pen stuck out from beneath the pile and she took that too, setting it next to the small pad.

It did seem like a bit of a strange thought to snail mail someone who lived so close, though she'd become quite pro at the letter writing bit. She still sent them out to her ex, even if he rarely responded.

[KB]

Monty observed her shuffling through the clutter as he finished his plate - talk about a pig, by the way - and the picked up the pen, scribbling down his address for the mail, and some brief directions as to how to get there for good measure, in swirly, thin handwriting.

He looked over what he'd written, then handed it back to her. "Voila, if you can read it." He'd been told once or twice that he'd had chicken scratch rivaling that of a doctor's.