the rocket to the moon, with a touch of clair de lune

[forthsofar]

Rosie's been busy in the week or so since Darrowfest, and not just because of school, or for the usual Nick or Sabrina-related reasons. One of the places she'd applied, the seafood restaurant down by the water at the fancier end of the boardwalk that'd been looking for a hostess and had seemed like such a long shot, actually called her in for an interview--and that had gone well enough that now she was supposed to come by one night next week, too, for a kind of walkthrough and training just to know what she was really getting into. Even though the main reason she's doing it seems terribly far off, that thought of a quiet little house near the woods with enough space for all four of them, it still feels like a step forward.

As distracted as she's been, though, she hasn't missed the change that seems to have come over Neil since the festival. He's been happy, happier than she's really seen him in months, and it feels just a little like he's finally come out the other side of losing Harry and Guy in one harsh blow. She hasn't asked why, but she's noticed, and whatever the reason, she's glad.

Today, she's spent the afternoon at home, most of it reading on the couch. She's still there when she hears the short buzz of Neil's phone that usually indicates a text coming through. She doesn't pay it much mind, but then it happens again not long afterwards.

And again. And once more, just for good measure.

Rosie still doesn't get up, but when she hears Neil coming down the hallway and into their living room, she looks in his direction. "Someone really wants to talk to you," she says, a little amused. "Everything alright?"

Comments

[forthsofar]

"Sabrina does," she says, shaking her head a little at the thought of the rest of them as layabouts, idle and thoughtless in a way she knows none of them ever could be. "She works at the magic shop on Archer a few days a week, and I think Caleb's still doing something at the garage his friend used to work at. But Nick and Charlie don't, yet."

She can see that changing, needing to change, when the four of them make the move to the house. Even with the allowance they all get from the city, paying for a house seems much bigger and costlier than affording rent on a flat. For now, though, it doesn't matter, and so there's no real need for her or Sabrina to lean on either of the boys.

She snorts faintly. "Sabrina's a witch, Nick's a warlock," she says. "I mean, not that I think he cares that much, but I also accidentally called him a wizard once and I thought he was going to pass out from laughter, so. I guess wizards are also a different kind of thing."

[shadows_have_offended]

"Wizard," Neil says, with a ridiculous sort of voice.

It does seem suiting that Sabrina would work at a magic shop, though he imagines it's the hippie-occult sort of thing, and not the sort of toy store with a magic kit or two. And he thinks that Caleb has mentioned the garage, though Neil probably processed it as working in working on his specific car.

It is a very nice car.

"I suppose they don't really have to," he says. Not that any of them do, with the meager stipend the city gives them all to get by. Neil existed on that alone for almost two years. "Though if you guys are going to get a house..."

[forthsofar]

"Well, it sounds even sillier when you say it like that," she says, rolling her eyes at Neil's ridiculous, portentous intonation. It's nothing she doesn't deserve, though, at least a little.

Once the silliness passes, Neil hones in on the exact question Rosie knows is looming there somewhere up ahead. "If we get a house, it'll probably have to change," she says. "Another thing that will need to change, anyway. It already feels like an awful lot, and we're not even close to having it happen."

[shadows_have_offended]

"You've all got time to figure it out," Neil stays with a smile and a nod. Like getting their apartment and getting Rosie out of the Home had taken time and coordination.

"You and the spooky sex cult." He's grinning, teasing, keeping everything as light as he possibly can. He knows how silly that rumor is and how much everyone involved dislikes it.

"It's going to work out," he says. Because he has to keep looking on the up and up. They all do. It's why she's looking for a place with all of them. "But first, we'll figure out some time to go hiking."

[forthsofar]

"Me and the spooky sex cult."

There are days she minds it terribly, and days she doesn't; times she resents the rest of them for not seeming to care about it at all and others where she wonders if the fault is hers for thinking it mattered so much. One day, maybe, it'll all solidify into something steady. Rosie can't wait for that day to arrive.

Hiking and the distant plans for her future, though, are much easier topics to turn her attention to. She nods, leaning her head against his shoulder. "It'll be brilliant."