Reciprocal Hospitality

[Ram]

It had been too long since he and Gerrit and had sat down and talked. Definitely too long since Ram got an actual job and enough money to start paying his share of the rent. Between guard duty, extra shifts, trying to help Frances, and doing favors for construction crews, there was never enough time.

Unless you made it.

Unless you sat down and ordered pizzas and sides. Gave a time you wanted them delivered. And made sure that Gerrit was getting home when you thought he was.

"Shit."

Ram quickly, but carefully, grabbed his phone.

[Gerrit]

Funny how you can live together and spend so little time talking. Schedules were a big part of it, but frankly Gerrit was kind of ashamed because while he did some research on how one would go on about finding his Fetch he never really took action for Ram. He thought he was ready to do so - at least for a friend - but he simply couldn't.

The Render's text was a surprise, but the timing was perfect: there were so many things to do in preparation for a reopening of Rosie's Roses, that Gerrit was simply too tired to worry about the conversation or the possible disappointment coming from his roommate. It was even a tiny bit later than he anticipated when he finally entered the shared apartment with a slight sigh. "Hey, I'm sorry. I tried to get back home as soon as I could - I hope I didn't keep you waiting?"

He hung up his windbreaker - almost too thick for the weather by now - and checked to find the Summer Ogre. "I heard you owed me dinner?"

[Ram]

"Eh, a bit," Ram replied honestly but his smile said he didn't mind and understood "I just let the pizza place to hold off on delivery, so stuffs still hot."

The Ogre grinned. "Only took a couple months for me to pay off but I got it," he laughed, indicating the table, already set up with two pizza boxes, ripped off lids for plates, and crazy bread with dipping sauces.

Ram took a comfortable seat.

"So, what's been up with you lately?" he asked as he began serving himself, at a much slower pace than he normally did at Coronation buffets.

[Gerrit]

Gerrit chuckled along with the back-and forth. Why this worked, in his humble opinion, was because they both recognized and accepted their busy schedules. There were no disappointed expectations between them. At least, that's what he thought.

"Much appreciated." He sat down as well and stretched for a bit. Eating could wait for another minute or so, for now just sitting was great. "Oh you know. I'm preparing some more things at the store. In a few days I can reveal more." An almost devious smile showed in Gerrits face. He mentally added 'send out invitations' to his ever growing list of things to do. Things got pretty serious at the flower shop.

"Um, also I've been spending some time with Vivian. She's a nice girl." He realized that he called her a girl - he just couldn't get around her looks yet. He also left out the juicy details of their last meeting. See, I can respect the Ice Law. The hot prickle of blood rushing into the Ogre's cheeks washed over him. "So, uh. How about you? How are you doing?"

[Ram]

Ram gave Gerrit an incredulous look at ‘a few more days’. “Fine, keep your secrets,” he said with a sly smile. Sometimes he could forget the Stonebones was a Winter.

But not always a good Winter. “She’s a nice girl?” Was his roommate blushing? Ram knew Gerrit sometimes had a hard time with the beauty of Fairests. However, this was different. He gave Gerrit a side-eyed squint. “Suuuuure.” He took a bite of his pizza “You know I’ve met Vivian, right?” ‘Nice girl’ was hardly the best of choice of words to describe her.

“Been busy. Trying to find a way to help my shift lead. She’s been depressed and distant lately. Might be in an abusive relationship.” Hopefully there was a mortal answer.

“Starting setting up a Hollow for Summer. Not much right now. Basically just a bare patch of dirt but it’s a work in progress. Let’s see, what else? Been trying to get in good with a couple construction crews to help out Sera with a building project she’s got in mind for the Freehold.” Though he still hadn’t heard anything about that in a bit. “Planning stuff for the Summer coronation. Gotten pretty good at signing. Caught this weird quinon rodent that escaped a petting zoo and got into the park. Scouting out gyms.” Then of course there was also “The dream stuff with Ethan.” He wasn’t sure if Gerrit wanted to talk about that. Luckily, he just provided a bunch of other topics to pick from.

[Gerrit]

Ram's reaction was more than enough to shift Gerrit from 'just sitting' to 'let's eat and see if we can shift the topic' - he leaned forward and carried over two slices from the carton to the impromptu plates. hoping that this was enough to hide his reaction to the Elemental.

Nah, that probably didn't cut it. While not always hanging around that much, they had been roommates for over half a year. Plus - Winter or no - Gerrit had been too giddy/confused/happy/scared about the whole thing. He kept his eyes carefully on his plate, cleared his throat and elaborated some more. "Uh, yeah of course. So a few weeks ago I invited her out for a picknick and then she invited me to see her dance." A small shrug, before he looked at Ram with a lopsided grin. As if that explained everything. Look at me, acting like a high-schooler. The thought actually made him giggle a bit.


Then Ram hit with his own problems - man, that really didn't compare. Gerrit's blush dropped quickly and he looked at the Render with concern. "Do you want to talk about it? And are you sure there's no.. outside influence?" Knowing Ram this probably weighed heavily on his mind. With all the construction work, helping out the Court and whatnot, the Summer Courtier was carrying a lot.
Which, as if on cue, brought them to what Gerrit saw in Ram's dream. Carrying not only things of this life but also baggage from earlier.

He put the various projects of the Freehold to the back of his mind, in case they needed to steer away from the touchy stuff, and faced his roommate more directly. "Uh yeah, about that. First of all: thank you for organizing this search party.. I guess if anything it reaffirmed what we suspected anyways: that Ethan just.. dipped out and didn't get taken without us realizing." The slightest hint of doubt remained, but John's lessons made sure that Gerrit's voice didn't betray him this time. Probably.
"But.. uhm, do you remember when the dream shifted? Like, from the memory to.. the battlefield?" He wanted to proceed carefully - well, as carefully as an Ogre proceeded around touchy subjects. "How are you doing? Have you considered talking to someone regularly?" He was no stranger to therapy, but he was unsure whether downright suggesting that might offend Ram. For now there was this unspoken suggestion hanging in the room.

[Ram]

“Mmmm-hmm,” Ram seemed to be chewing his cud over picknicks and dancing. And giggling. “And that left you with the impression of ‘nice girl’?” At this point the Render was mostly teasing. He was a soldier after all, and despite regulations, there were a couple rules soldiers tended to ignore.

Although when it came to the next topic, the smile vanished.

“There might be.” Ram admitted. “She’s got a second job and her co-worker there was talking about her getting a necklace recently and talking to someone on her phone. But people at work remember her talking to someone even without a phone.” It was worrying to be sure. “But I’ve got Titania and Sonnie helping . Hoping we’ll figure out what’s going on. Until we can say for sure what’s going on… not much to talk about.” Honestly he wished he could. It tore at him to not know what was tearing apart his team.

Ram’s nostrils flared at the mention of the Battlefield.

“Fine… Mostly.” He scratched at the base of his forehead “It’s not that big a deal. It’s just something that happens sometimes. And honestly… I think having it come up kind of helped.” He couldn’t explain it exactly but whatever John had done had definitely helped.

“I was more concerned that…” how did he say this? “You’d blame yourself for what happened to Ethan?” He sounded unsure. Was that too blunt? Would voicing his fear make things worse?

[Gerrit]

Take a bite. Think about what you're about to say. It wasn't even about the Ice Law - Ram was his friend and probably kind of close with Vivian himself, so sooner or later he'd find out. It was more about Gerrit not knowing exactly what to say about that himself. "You know. I'll have to see where this is going. Or not. If something is going anywhere." And that would probably be the extend to which this middle-aged man was willing to talk about.


Gerrit listened closely to Ram's summary. There was a fine line between 'talking to oneself' and 'Fae shenanigans'.. but between the three of them they'd hopefully be careful enough to not to wake any sleeping dogs. Or get themselves in trouble. "Just be careful. I sometimes get the feeling that you're putting everyone else first and that usually leaves you last." Was he projecting a bit there? Maybe, but seeing how thinly the Render had spread himself lately it probably wouldn't hurt to hear.

Thoughtful bloodshot eyes studied the other Ogre. Was Ram just saying this to calm Gerrit's worries? No, probably not. Besides, it was not his place to keep prodding in this wound.. Still, knowing that John and Seraphina were there to see the dream unfold was comforting to an extend.

But then Ram turned the tables on the Stonebones. "I see." He looked away from his roommate, started picking at the scabs on his hands. He was supposed to have the group's rear, he was supposed the more fragile members of the expedition. Did that include keeping them from running away when they felt threatened? Even after they've examined Ram's dream, there were a lot of questions in Gerrit's mind. He got over himself: they actually got together to talk now, so why not share some of those thoughts?
"I don't know. I mean, maybe it's because Ethan was the first person I've personally saw.. you know, leave again." True, Yamiyo's departure didn't haunt the Onyx anywhere near as much as Ehtan's. Not seeing OC since that day of the park barely crossed his mind anymore. "I guess I've also set the expectation to myself to protect him and Cassandra out there. So if anything had happened.. that means I failed." Which wouldn't be the end of the world, Gerrit knew that. Still.

[Ram]

Despite himself, Ram’s smile probably looked kind of smug. But also… happy for his friend. However far the Stone bones and Elemental had taken it. “Well… be careful. Summers can be volatile.” Ram knew he could be.

Ram began to nod but hesitated slightly “It’s not just for Frances,” he admitted, slowly “I… don’t want the Funderland crew to break up.” He knew it was selfish, but at the same time he couldn’t deny it. Not to another Ogre.

He gave a deep sigh, idly grabbing some crazy bread, before meeting Gerrit’s bloodshot eyes again in time to see him look away.

“From what I remember… you didn’t do anything wrong. If anything…if anything, I should have been paying more attention.” Between them, Ram had been the last to notice that Ethan was gone.

[Gerrit]

He took Ram's advice with a nod and a bite off his pizza. He shouldn't share more about what may or may not happen between the Elemental and him until it actually happened.. or not. "Thanks for the advice."

He got what the Render was anxious about - change was scary. "And it would break apart without Frances?" He didn't want to downplay the situation, but maybe he could show Ram that a group didn't hinge on a single person. "I mean, if more people cared for her that'd show a pretty great team-spirit already."


Now they were just taking turns in taking the blame. If it wasn't so serious Gerrit would have laughed. "No, you're not to blame. You were the one who scattered those- those insects." But beating themselves up wouldn't help either way. "In any case, I'm thankful for what you did.. I guess we'll just have to admit the facts and stay vigilant for now." Lest we lose any other member of the Freehold.

Feeling the mood grow heavier with their topics, the Onyx Courtier decided to change the topic. "So, are you allowed to tell what's in stock for the Summer Coronation? Or maybe you could tell me about that building project of Seraphina."