s w a h i l i
take a drunk girl home
let her sleep all alone
leave her keys on the counter
your number by the phone
pick up her life she threw on the floor
The interactions were difficult - less due to the stallion himself, and far more in relation to just how difficult it was to read him. Particularly when it came to the past experiences she did have with other individuals. Half-sisters who had a tendency to treat her with the coolness of those who believed themselves to be better. A Father and stepmother who seemed to forget she even existed. Guards who did the bare minimum job in regards to her care. An existence was nothing more than an unwanted 'extra' in a household she never truly felt a part of. Perhaps that was why she immediately assumed he had dismissed the land. Why she didn't even consider the inhabitants to be his issue - because when it came to the way that Swahili was raised, her isolation had led her to know so few. The ones she knew the best were the outcasts like her. The alley-folk who hid in the shadows and kept to themselves. A debutante she was never to be.
But then a task was presented, and while she felt like she could never show enough to what would likely be useful in these plains, she found herself quietly trying to show she wasn't absolutely pathetic. It was a mixture of the desire to be helpful, and the desperate need for any attention - but in particular positive attention that came from proving her own worth. She moved from one plant to another, again explaining what little she felt on the next, but as she approached the third, and he moved towards her, the mare paused in her explanation to look up at the dirt-ridden stallion, and for a moment, a flush of pride that she certainly must be doing something right. His silent stare from a distance had been broken, and while she certainly could never know enough. She was proud of what little she had been able to share nonetheless.
When he suddenly began to speak, her gaze had jumped straight to him, tilting her head in curiosity when he explained that the writers of the books would never agree. But despite her confusion over that aspect, she didn't interrupt, listening instead when he told her of the uses for the plant overlapping - of varients based on location, of the best plants for what, in any area. She slowly nodded, before his next question had her pausing, hesitating, the instant reassurances on her tongue that her family was normal, that it was all normal, all okay, all fine. But then, the thought of the actual wording of his question came to her mind.
And she found herself hesitating, the reassurances dying on her tongue. Would her absence cause concern? Would they even notice her absence? She snuck out from home, not out of necessity, but to try and mute the realization that they didn't care. That she wasn't noticed, wasn't paying attention to. While Addy certainly may notice - even he had his own things to worry about (and his own rabbit holes to disappear down). But . . . The desert rose felt that fire in her soul wilt like the frail petals of a blossom left in the sun for too long. "No," She admits after she realized she'd hesitated for too long, "No . . . eve if they were to notice, to realize that I was absent from my father's estate . . . no, there would be no cause of concern, and they do not usually realize I was away until I have returned. Provided I do not embarrass my father's name . . . . No, my absence will not cause concern." She stated with a shake of her head, forcing the smile back to her face.
"You mentioned that it depends on the user determines what works best, as to what plant to use for what? What are some of your thoughts on the plants around here then? How many were I right about?" She asked, eager to pull the conversation away from her family, in case he would start to question any of her thoughts, her comments. The talk, the discussion of medicine was certainly safer, "I'm curious as well, were you digging in the dirt earlier, or? It's just, you have a pile of it atop your back." She explained curiously, to the antlered stallion, with a muzzle full of fangs - as if it was the dirt on his back that was the only thing odd about him.
"Speech"
Thoughts
@Ogden
Notes: <3
