For most people living on the Grove, 7:30am was a reasonable time to be up and about, made necessary by their overly excitable children. For Dani, it was a habit learned from years of school, and then months spent on Oakham Mount with her parents. Thus, when 7:30 rolled around that morning, she was waiting outside her little cottage, lying on her back in the grass and enjoying the warmth of the sun as she waited for Zachary to make his appearance.
For Zachary, it hardly mattered. With no job and no particular place that he needed to be, he was free to go to sleep when he wanted and wake up when he wanted. No one had been pressuring him to go to school or work, not yet anyway. It was enough for now to spend his time getting acclimated to his mother's home world, but that wouldn't last forever. And so, it was at precisely 7:30 that Dani found Zach wandering up the path to the cottage, dressed casually enough in jeans and a t-shirt and looking remarkably human.
She pushed herself up onto her elbows, squinting in the sunshine with a smile on her face. "I could set my watch by you," she informed him cheerfully. "Sleep well, did you?" It wasn't exactly a conventional greeting, but it served in place of one. Dani grinned, waving a hand in his direction. "Pull me up, I'm too lazy to do it on my own."
"I slept okay," he replied, as he leaned over to offer her a hand. "What about you?" he asked, returning her question with one of his own, as he presumed it was the polite thing to do.
Seizing his hand with her own, she pulled on him to drag herself up to her feet, her other hand busily sweeping the grass from her skirt. "It takes time to get used to sleeping in a different place," she shrugged lightly. "I'll sleep better tonight, I'm sure."
"Don't you get lonely all alone here?" he asked, daring to ask a question he'd avoided asking the night before. He knew some people liked living alone, as it gave them a sense of freedom and independence, but others found it lonely.
"I've never been all alone before," she admitted, gently taking her hand from his with a softer smile. "The novelty wore off pretty fast. So ....yeah, I do get lonely. I'm not used to not being able to hear someone else in the house. It was kind of scary for a little bit."
"But not anymore?" he asked, finding himself reluctant to retract his hand from hers, though holding her hand was hardly necessary. Touching her, he'd had to repress the instinct to probe deeper - something he'd done without much thought back on his father's homeworld.
"No, it's still scary," she laughed, turning to set off toward the gates. "I just told myself not to be scared, and that kinda worked for a while. I have a pretty over active imagination, so every little noise freaked me out for a while until I got used to it."
Zach shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he set off beside her, as if by doing so, he wouldn't be tempted to reach for her hand or touch her in any way. "I don't think you have to worry, so long as you're inside the gates," he told her. As scary as her encounter the previous night had been, there were no predators inside the gates of Maple Grove that he was aware of.
"No ghosts?" she asked in a teasing tone, tilting her head to look at him as they walked. "Only I'm really scared of ghosts. I think I saw one once, when I was at school, but that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was when I would wake up in the middle of the night, and I'd feel something sitting on the bed next to me when there was no one there, and I could hear them breathing. It was terrifying."
"Ghosts?" he echoed, furrowing his brows. This girl never failed to surprise him with her questions. "Not that I know of," he replied, though that didn't there weren't a few resident ghosts at Maple Grove that he wasn't aware of. He wasn't even entirely sure he believed in ghosts, but after living in Rhy'Din for the last six months or so, he'd learned there wasn't much that was unheard of here. "What makes you think it meant you any harm?" he asked, assuming whatever it was she'd sensed had never hurt her. "And ghosts don't breathe," he pointed out further.
"I heard it breathing," she argued with a smile. "It wasn't my breathing, it was something else, and there was no one else in the room at 2am. You don't think that's creepy' Something you can't see or touch, just sitting there watching you sleep?"
"I suppose," he replied, with a thoughtful frown, though he doubted he'd have been frightened by such a thing so much as intrigued. "It could have been something else," he said, though he didn't think listing the possibilities would put her much at ease.
"What, like some invisible perv watching me sleep instead?" she asked. Her tone made it clear she wasn't disturbed by the turn of the conversation - more amused that he thought other possibilities were somehow better.
"Maybe it's someone watching over you, keeping you safe," he suggested further, seeing as how she didn't seem to find an alternate explanation very comforting. "You know, like a deceased friend or relative," he told her. He'd often wished his mother or father would speak to him from beyond the grave, to no avail.
"But if it was something like that, don't you think I wouldn't be scared?" she pointed out, raising a hand to shake her hair back off her face. "I mean, if it was someone who didn't mean any harm, wouldn't it make sense for me not to be scared of them?"
"Not necessarily," he reasoned. "I mean, not if you didn't know who they were or what they wanted," he added, unsure if he was using the right pronoun, since there was no way of knowing what it really was that she'd encountered. "Maybe it was someone who used to go to the school," he suggested, though again, there was no way to know for sure.
"If it was that, then why would they pick on me?" she asked then, enjoying the debate more than invested in its outcome. It had been a long time since she'd had a friend she could talk to about something more than dresses, boys, and makeup. "Why not one of the other girls in the school?"
"I don't know," he admitted. Without investigating further, he had no information to go on other than what she was telling him. "Maybe ....maybe it was a former student who used to live in your dorm?" he suggested again, though that implied someone may have died there.
She grimaced comically. "Ugh," was her succinct response. "So someone died in my bed and came back to shift me out of it?" Her grin belied the gruesome nature of her query, the gentle nudge of her elbow to his arm encouraging him not to take it so seriously.
"Have you had any visits since you left school?" he asked, thinking the answer to that question would probably settle the matter. He glanced her way at the nudge of her elbow, seeing the grin on her face and unsure if she'd just been teasing him all along.
"No, not since I left school," she assured him warmly. "You shouldn't take life so seriously, you know. Most things are easier to deal with if you can laugh at them." She glanced up as the guards on the gate waved them through. "Besides, you're cute. You're a heartbreaker when you smile."
For Zachary, it hardly mattered. With no job and no particular place that he needed to be, he was free to go to sleep when he wanted and wake up when he wanted. No one had been pressuring him to go to school or work, not yet anyway. It was enough for now to spend his time getting acclimated to his mother's home world, but that wouldn't last forever. And so, it was at precisely 7:30 that Dani found Zach wandering up the path to the cottage, dressed casually enough in jeans and a t-shirt and looking remarkably human.
She pushed herself up onto her elbows, squinting in the sunshine with a smile on her face. "I could set my watch by you," she informed him cheerfully. "Sleep well, did you?" It wasn't exactly a conventional greeting, but it served in place of one. Dani grinned, waving a hand in his direction. "Pull me up, I'm too lazy to do it on my own."
"I slept okay," he replied, as he leaned over to offer her a hand. "What about you?" he asked, returning her question with one of his own, as he presumed it was the polite thing to do.
Seizing his hand with her own, she pulled on him to drag herself up to her feet, her other hand busily sweeping the grass from her skirt. "It takes time to get used to sleeping in a different place," she shrugged lightly. "I'll sleep better tonight, I'm sure."
"Don't you get lonely all alone here?" he asked, daring to ask a question he'd avoided asking the night before. He knew some people liked living alone, as it gave them a sense of freedom and independence, but others found it lonely.
"I've never been all alone before," she admitted, gently taking her hand from his with a softer smile. "The novelty wore off pretty fast. So ....yeah, I do get lonely. I'm not used to not being able to hear someone else in the house. It was kind of scary for a little bit."
"But not anymore?" he asked, finding himself reluctant to retract his hand from hers, though holding her hand was hardly necessary. Touching her, he'd had to repress the instinct to probe deeper - something he'd done without much thought back on his father's homeworld.
"No, it's still scary," she laughed, turning to set off toward the gates. "I just told myself not to be scared, and that kinda worked for a while. I have a pretty over active imagination, so every little noise freaked me out for a while until I got used to it."
Zach shoved his hands into the pockets of his jeans as he set off beside her, as if by doing so, he wouldn't be tempted to reach for her hand or touch her in any way. "I don't think you have to worry, so long as you're inside the gates," he told her. As scary as her encounter the previous night had been, there were no predators inside the gates of Maple Grove that he was aware of.
"No ghosts?" she asked in a teasing tone, tilting her head to look at him as they walked. "Only I'm really scared of ghosts. I think I saw one once, when I was at school, but that wasn't the scary part. The scary part was when I would wake up in the middle of the night, and I'd feel something sitting on the bed next to me when there was no one there, and I could hear them breathing. It was terrifying."
"Ghosts?" he echoed, furrowing his brows. This girl never failed to surprise him with her questions. "Not that I know of," he replied, though that didn't there weren't a few resident ghosts at Maple Grove that he wasn't aware of. He wasn't even entirely sure he believed in ghosts, but after living in Rhy'Din for the last six months or so, he'd learned there wasn't much that was unheard of here. "What makes you think it meant you any harm?" he asked, assuming whatever it was she'd sensed had never hurt her. "And ghosts don't breathe," he pointed out further.
"I heard it breathing," she argued with a smile. "It wasn't my breathing, it was something else, and there was no one else in the room at 2am. You don't think that's creepy' Something you can't see or touch, just sitting there watching you sleep?"
"I suppose," he replied, with a thoughtful frown, though he doubted he'd have been frightened by such a thing so much as intrigued. "It could have been something else," he said, though he didn't think listing the possibilities would put her much at ease.
"What, like some invisible perv watching me sleep instead?" she asked. Her tone made it clear she wasn't disturbed by the turn of the conversation - more amused that he thought other possibilities were somehow better.
"Maybe it's someone watching over you, keeping you safe," he suggested further, seeing as how she didn't seem to find an alternate explanation very comforting. "You know, like a deceased friend or relative," he told her. He'd often wished his mother or father would speak to him from beyond the grave, to no avail.
"But if it was something like that, don't you think I wouldn't be scared?" she pointed out, raising a hand to shake her hair back off her face. "I mean, if it was someone who didn't mean any harm, wouldn't it make sense for me not to be scared of them?"
"Not necessarily," he reasoned. "I mean, not if you didn't know who they were or what they wanted," he added, unsure if he was using the right pronoun, since there was no way of knowing what it really was that she'd encountered. "Maybe it was someone who used to go to the school," he suggested, though again, there was no way to know for sure.
"If it was that, then why would they pick on me?" she asked then, enjoying the debate more than invested in its outcome. It had been a long time since she'd had a friend she could talk to about something more than dresses, boys, and makeup. "Why not one of the other girls in the school?"
"I don't know," he admitted. Without investigating further, he had no information to go on other than what she was telling him. "Maybe ....maybe it was a former student who used to live in your dorm?" he suggested again, though that implied someone may have died there.
She grimaced comically. "Ugh," was her succinct response. "So someone died in my bed and came back to shift me out of it?" Her grin belied the gruesome nature of her query, the gentle nudge of her elbow to his arm encouraging him not to take it so seriously.
"Have you had any visits since you left school?" he asked, thinking the answer to that question would probably settle the matter. He glanced her way at the nudge of her elbow, seeing the grin on her face and unsure if she'd just been teasing him all along.
"No, not since I left school," she assured him warmly. "You shouldn't take life so seriously, you know. Most things are easier to deal with if you can laugh at them." She glanced up as the guards on the gate waved them through. "Besides, you're cute. You're a heartbreaker when you smile."