Anything But Talk

[Ai Nightray]

Ai Edogawa was scurrying around the bakery, helping in any way possible. One moment she was mixing flour and sugar, the next minute she was working on the dough. Maybe she'd be on the cashier after a few more minutes or maybe sweeping and cleaning all around. One thing was for sure. You'd almost never find her being idle around the bakery. It was the least she could do after all when Grace and Shiloh had took her in after Jeremiah had told them of the situation. Ai would have been happy with paying off some of the bills using her own money from her inheritance but then helping with work in the bakery was also fine. After all, she loved to cook and bake and she also didn't want to just sit around. Working seemed to be the best choice and so there she was doing anything absolutely possible she could to help.

Ai would remember when she had first come there. She was most certainly troubled all the time as she was very unsure of what she was supposed to do to help. She knew how to bake bread normally but there may be something different about how they baked here, and so she would always watch carefully. During her first week, she had ceased to help, only to watch very carefully on how Grace and Shiloh would do things around the place, and when she got a hold of things and eventually got used to it, she would always help them out whenever possible. On this particular day, there were not many customers around, and Ai was pretty sure that she had finished her daily jobs of cleaning stuff, and so she had decided to rest for a while. And besides, she had a one hour lunch break too, and so, since she was quite tired herself, she had decided to rest on the hour to the fullest. Sitting on one of the chairs at the back part of the bakery, she leaned her head down on the table at the place where they would frequently take breaks. And there she took a nap, unbeknownst to her what was to occur on the following hours of the day within the bakery.

 

[Grace Raven]

I threw Gracie in as a one off because I haven't rped as her for too long. =)
Also, feel free to GM Grace at your leisure.​

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It was the holidays now, and that meant that Grace expected Shiloh to make sure Ai returned to the United Kingdom safely, which she managed to do. Grace had known the girl for a while now, and really considered her a part of the family. The highly dysfunctional, rather odd family that she and Shiloh's family made. It was so nice to be out of Italy and only associating with the family members that would avoid running down her throat and complaining about her choices. She was so sick and tired of all the complaining and restrictions and rules and prejudice. She was relieved to be out of the school, even if it was a bit premature of her to do so. She was free, and she was happy to be. Now, she was living her dream. A simple one, yes, but her dream one the less. She and her best friend were working together in a bakery. Baking cakes, pastries, bread and all sorts of goodies. She found a nice family in the Denton's, even if they were muggles and she was a pure blood. They were more her family than her own family was. She only really spoke to four people that were related to her, and two were strictly through letter, while the other two was through letter and the rare times when they managed to pop around for tea. That mattered little, however, as she was rather happy with her slightly lonely life. Shiloh would often try to encourage her to 'hang out' with others their age, but people their age were so boisterous and loud. The complete opposite of subtle, quiet Gracie.

"Ai, you've done a really good job!" she praised, admiring Ai's cleaning skills. They were nearly as good as her own. Ai always seemed happy to help out. It was very sweet. "You can take a break whenever you wish, though. Don't feel you have to work too hard." She had just started her holidays, Ai deserved to rest if she wished. Grace finished polishing the windows and flipped the sign to tell customers that they were going for an hour break. She had her younger brother coming over, and wanted to make sure she would not be distracted when seeing him. He would probably not stay for long. When the door knocked, she tapped Ai's foot. "Ai, wake up, we have a guest." She dashed over to the door, and pulled it open. "Jeremiah! Ciao, entrare e trovare un posto per sedersi. Tu sei un po 'sottile ... torta!" She pulled him inside and ran to the counter. "Ai!" she called, making sure she was infact waking up. "Jeremiah's here!" ​

 

[Jeremiah Raven]

Jeremiah had no luggage, as he was not expecting to stay here very long. Perhaps a few hours, maybe a day, but he doubted any more than just that. He had to be home, as it was rare for him to not be there. Except those few times at Ryder's house, but they were very few and far between. He was happy to be here, even if the weather was working against him and threatening to make him sick. Jeremiah ruffled his hair and managed to find the bakery, sighing with relief to find that they were on break. He wasn't sure he'd want to have to wait for his sister. While he was currently supposed to be avoiding his friend, Ai, he knew that she would be here and had resolved himself to explaining to her that he did not like her in a more than friends way, since they were good friends and she deserved to be treated with respect, not confused and left upset. Not only would he never forgive him, but Ai and Conan would surely hunt him down and skin him alive. As he knocked on the door, it was torn open by Grace, and his eyes widened. "He-" his greeting was quickly cut off with her fussing. He looked at himself. "I-" Once again, Jeremiah was cut off by Grace hauling him into the shop and running off to get him cake. "Ma io non voglio torta." He rolled his eyes as she continued to fuss, and looked around.

His heart stopped when he saw Ai, and he tucked his hair behind his ears. This was a little more awkward than he had expect. "Hey Ai," he greeted, exhaling softly as Grace thrust cake on a saucer into his hands and deciding to sit at a table to eat it. He hoped that Ai would sit across from him, but decided that he wouldn't mention it, since he wanted her to make the decision impartially, if she wanted to.
​

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai had been dreaming when Grace had woken her up. She couldn't remember her dream though. All she knew was that she had been in dream land. She was pretty disappointed though as she was sure that she could have use it to practice for her Divination. She hadn't been very skilled at Dream Interpretation yet and she wanted to practice that when she had the time. But it certainly wouldn't work unless she had a dream to interpret. Well, she did have one that she still had to interpret but it was still too confusing for her. Rubbing her eyes as Grace dragged her out from where she was slumbering, Ai was quite surprised to see Jeremiah in the bakery. Of course it was normal for Miah to be there since Grace was his sister but still, she didn't expect it and she still wasn't ready to face him! Even though it had been more than a semester ago, the memory was still fresh in her mind. And she really didn't know how to feel towards the Gryffindor anymore. All he did was make her confused.

She would be confused since she wanted to be mad at him for asking Conan to meet up with her, or telling her brother about the bullying incident (which she doesn't mind anymore, being used to it by now). She would be thankful too since he did punch Conan for all the things that he had said to her that day and he did comfort her a lot, but still! It was a bit of his fault too! And the worst was, he had confessed to her and that has been bugging her a lot! She liked Heath a lot! Or did she really, because she was really confused when Miah had suddenly confessed to her and it was making her head spin a lot. Did she like Miah? Not in that way, maybe but that confession still bugged her and she would keep on second-guessing herself sometimes, but in the end, she would come to the conclusion that they were just friends. Or at least she hoped.

These thoughts ran around her mind, and she was pretty sure that she was staring into blank space the whole time until she heard Miah speak. "U-uh, hey," she stuttered out, quite unsure of how to act around him. And debating with her inner self for a few moments, she had decided that she just can't act normally around Miah at the moment since she still had her inner turmoils because of her confession. "I'll just be in the, uh... kitchen, cleaning up," she said in a hurry to no one in particular, but she assumed that she had been saying it to Grace, before scurrying back to the kitchen, grabbing a mop and a broom in the process. Even though, she had just finished cleaning, she didn't mind as long as it would take her mind off of things for a while

 

[Jeremiah Raven]

"Oh, okay," Jeremiah stammered back, before burying himself into the plate. He slowly began to eat the cake. However, he could feel two holes being burned through his skull. He simply ignored Grace, and continued with what he was doing. Ai did not want to talk with him, and frankly, he was not exactly jumping at the chance to talk to her. He was still confused about everything. Too many things were running around in his life and he just wanted it all to slow down for a bit so he could clear his head. However, Grace soon man-handled him out of the seat, and thrust him to the direction of where Ai went. The kitchen. He grumbled a little at his sister, and then trudged off to find Ai. This was going to be so awkward. Jeremiah sighed to himself as he pushed the door to the kitchen open, and closed it behind him. It only took him a few seconds to locate Ai, and as soon as he did, the Gryffindor put on a brave face. "Hey."

He tucked his hands into his pockets and looked around the kitchen. It still smelled of cakes and baking, which lightened the mood a little bit. But not enough to make the pure blood completely comfortable. "Ai, I think we really need to talk. One, because we're friends and I think that's important to keep, and two, because I doubt Grace will let either of us out before we talk." He shrugged awkwardly. "Want to help me out here?"
​

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai didn't hate cleaning. In fact, at the very moment, she was most grateful for the creation of it! Cleaning the kitchen was taking her mind off of a lot of things, one of them being Jeremiah's little confession. His words ran through her mind repeatedly, endlessly. It would always happen when she was alone and being idle, or whenever said Gryffindor was around. But, now, she was completely at peace within the kitchen as she swept and mopped. The girl was all too happy with her current set-up of while Miah was spending time with Gracie, she would remain within the kitchen to clean up or maybe bake if she wanted to. At least she wouldn't be having any time to let her thoughts wander off to some unpleasant experiences the past few days, weeks or months.

Ai least expected for Jeremiah to walk into the kitchen though. She was totally unprepared for it and she could've sworn that she nearly dropped the mop as soon as the Gryffindor had greeted her. She took a glance at him before resuming to work. Maybe if I just keep working he'll go away, she thought to herself as she tried to mop again before Miah had begun to talk. "We're still friends and there's nothing to talk about," she muttered loud enough for him to hear. She didn't know what they could possibly talk about or at least she just didn't want to believe that this was the time for them to talk about such a thing. And so, she just decided to continue her works in cleaning instead of speaking some more.

 

[Jeremiah Raven]

Jeremiah stared at his friend skeptically for a moment. She was joking, right? They obviously had a problem, and while it was equally their fault, Jeremiah felt that it was more his fault, since he must have said something wrong. He did, after all, make a move at her, even though he did it to purely distract her, not because he actually liked her, but she might have liked him and taken it differently, seriously, and now he felt like he had led on his best friend, and that made him feel horrible. He had no idea how to make it all better, but surely talking about it and letting her know that, no, he didn't like her but was perfectly willing to be friends again, then everything would go back to normal and it can be all okay again. All they had to do was talk it out, and then everything would be fine. He had a nasty habit of ruining friendships lately, and he didn't want to lose a good friend like Ai. So, the Gryffindor simply lent against the counter, hoping that she would say something productive, but that did not seem the case. He felt like he would have to drive this entire thing, but once again he wanted to make sure that they would talk it out properly, not just sort of mention it and then bury it. That would just make everything more awkward. And it shouldn't be awkward, right?

"Are you sure?" he asked, running his fingers through his hair. "Ai, we have been weird since I got you to try and talk to Conan and we both ended up running away," after he had punched Conan in the face, but that was a technicality that did not really need to be addressed right now. He was just helping a friend, and Conan totally deserved it. "I know I said some really silly things back there, but I want you to know that they don't really matter, because you're my friend, and that is all I want you to be. Right?"
​

 

[Ai Nightray]

Ai felt that her cleaning was already getting too muh. In fact she was quite scared that the floor would be totally white if she didn't stop mopping the same spot for like forever! It was pretty much obvious that she was pretty much distracted with the presence of the Gryffindor. She used to love Miah's presence since she found it calming and soothing in her upside down and messed up world. But now, she found her Gryffindor friend one of the persons she found distracting and currently having problems with. In totality she didn't like it one bit, in fact, she missed him a lot. She had practically no one to talk to about everything. And Miah was mostly he only one she could turn to after Ryuuji had graduated.

No, I'm not sure. Everything is messed up, Miah, she wanted to say to him but couldn't bring herself to. Picking up the cleaning materials, she kept them away before washing her hands in the sink. She wanted to bake and bake she will. Surely Gracie and Shiloh wouldn't mind? Ai seemed to not pay any attention at all to Jeremiah but in fact all ears were on him as Ai grabbed bits of ingredients all around the kitchen. She couldn't really bring herself to smile and so she kept a seious face on and tried her best not to look at Miah. That is, until he finished speaking. Ai looked at him in the eyes. "Did you think it was silly Miah? Cause I didn't. I really don't know what to believe anymore. I want to be your friend again. I really do. But I don't even know what jusg happened back there," Ai told him, her gaze not leaving his as she spoke in all seriousness. He needed to know how she felt. All the confusion that was bothering her everytime she would see him. "Aside from the fact that you just let me hear my brother outright tell me that he doesn't want me as his sister and that he absolutely loathes everything I am, you confessed to me. Which I am definitely finding it very hard to deal with cause I've been feeling all confused and messed up."