Open Time Alone

[Delilah Thorne]

(Open after Marijke posts with Mackenzie)

Delilah was happier then she expected to be home. She had been dreading it on the train ride home, worrying about how things would feel after being gone for months. But it almost felt like nothing had changed in her absence. Her father was away for business so frequently she hardly knew where he was on any given day, while her mother hardly seemed to notice she had been gone. Simon ignored her, of course, but at least Caleb was happy to see her and he had asked her a million questions so fast she thought he would pass out. While she was happy to see him too, Delilah needed her own space especially after living in a cramped dorm room for the past year. So she took it upon herself to run into the village to pick something up for her mother, looking for any excuse to be alone for a while. She paused outside Madam Malkin's Robes to stare at the display window.

 

[Mackenzie Dawson]

Mackenzie couldn't be bothered by being home for school. She didn't fully enjoy being at school but between all of the cons there seemed to be a few rare pro's to being there as well. At home she was pretty much alone, it was just her. Sure, her dad was there as well somewhere but he didn't care and hadn't showed his face to her more than once since she got home. And even that one time he hadn't meant to. Hadn't said more than a formal 'hello', not even a 'welcome home', not a single question about how school was treating her. None of that because he simply did not care. Her home had pretty much all someone could need, but still Mackenzie grew tired of it, annoyed of being there. Even if she didn't like to admit it she felt like she needed some sort of social interaction with anyone that didn't live in her home. She'd convinced her caretaker, nanny seemed like a childish word and she obviously wasn't a child anymore, to bring her to brighstone, ditching the woman as soon as they got there. Her caretaker never seemed to mind though, she'd let her do whatever which was why Mackenzie hadn't tried to get her fired yet. Making her way through the streets of the village the twelve year old wasn't exactly sure what she was planning on doing, yet it didn't take her long before she spotted someone she knew and made her way over. Someone who, so far, had managed not to annoy her. "You getting anything?"

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah looked up quickly when she heard someone talking to her. She recognized Mackenzie immediately, they had shared a cramped dorm room for the last year after all. She smiled politely and laughed. “No not today unfortunately.” she said and tucked her hair behind her ears as a nervous tick. “On and errand for my mother.” she explained with a shrug. Delilah made extra careful to keep her face and actions neutral. Not wanting to give away anything Mackenzie could use against her later. Their interactions at school were always pleasant but she knew better than to be too honest. “Are you here visiting someone?” she asked, Delilah had no idea where Mackenzie was actually from but if she did live around here she was fairly certain she would know that.

 

[Mackenzie Dawson]

Mackenzie was slightly disappointed Delilah wasn't getting something for herself, although she obviously wasn't going to show that. She enjoyed clothes, dressing up and would've been interested in what the girl had been thinking about getting if she had been getting anything for herself. "Oh, well I guess that's.. something." She responded dryly. She couldn't imagine running an errand for her father at all but then again she figured that perhaps Delilah's family was better than her own, closer. If she could even call what she had a family. "No," Mackenzie gave a small shake of her head. "Just wanted to get out of the house." She shrugged, her voice carrying very little emotion as she did. She could understand there were kids who wanted to get out of their house because it was too busy, too much going on but for her it was the exact opposite. There was absolutely nothing going on and even if she didn't care about much, or acted as if she didn't care about much, she was still a kid. A kid that needs some sort of social interaction with anyone other than an adult every now and then.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah panicked slightly, knowing how lame she probably sounded. "I know it's not very exciting. I was hoping we might go visit some family back in London, but I don't think my father will have time." she said, trying to make her break from school seem relatively interesting. It wasn't a total lie either, she had asked her father about the trip but it was quickly shot down. “Oh, yeah. Well that’s partially why I agreed to come into town.” she explained, glad that they felt a similar need to get out of the house. At least they had something in common. “It’s oddly quiet at home after being surrounded by so many girls at all times.” she said with a little laugh. “My brothers aren’t much help. Simon likes to pretend I don’t exist and I think Caleb is giving me the cold shoulder since I abandoned him to go to school this year. So yeah….it’s been quiet.” she said, rolling her eyes at the word abandoned. For a horrified moment she felt like she had over shared, it wasn't like they were really friends or anything.

 

[Mackenzie Dawson]

Mackenzie listened on as Delilah explained she didn't think running an errand for her mother was very interesting either. The mention of family in London however, that did sound interesting and her eyebrows went up for a second in acknowledgement of that. When the other girl mentioned her father probably wouldn't have the time for it though the stoic expression she normally wore returned to her face. Her own father had never taken her on any trips so she could recognize some of the possible disappointment in that. Although she had gotten used to not even asking the man for anything years ago. When Delilah started to share whatever it was that was going on in her home that had made her want to get out of the house Mackenzie listened, raising a single eyebrow at the mention of one of the girl's brothers acting like she had abandoned him. "That's just rude." She shrugged. She had zero experience with having siblings but it wasn't as if going to school was something they could choose so it was hard for her to understand Delilah's brother, which she guessed was younger than she was, would think that. It was stupid. She was, however, surprised at how much the other girl suddenly shared with her, feeling like she should share something as well but at the same time not really wanting to. "There's not really anyone to talk to at my house, so I had to get out of the quiet as well. It got me bored." Mackenzie eventually decided to say with a shrug, trying not to make it too personal but still reciprocate in a way.

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah's fears of overshared appeared to not be totally ridiculous after Mackenzie commented about her brother being rude. She felt weirdly defensive and felt the need to explain. “Well...” she said with a shrug but she realized any kind of explanation would likely fall short. Honestly, she could see where Caleb was coming from and if she had been in his position she would probably be a little annoyed too. Although, it wasn’t like she had a choice and she couldn’t exactly stay home or smuggle him in her trunk. But their house wasn’t exactly easy to be in either and after the move it was even worse. “Little brothers can be rude I guess.” she said with a laugh and tried to play it off easily. Delilah was a little surprised at Mackenzie's admittance. “No one at all?” she probed lightly, growing slightly curious but she was careful to tread lightly. After all, if she had to guess it was probably a bit of a sore subject if it had made her come all the way to Brightstone.

 

[Mackenzie Dawson]

Mackenzie wasn't used to being social with other kids, definitely wasn't as extroverted and outgoing of some of the students at their school seemed to be. She didn't want to be either. She didn't need to be friends with everyone, to have some sort of sumb conversation with anyone she'd come across. But she had to. She needed to if she didn't want to spend another year hanging out mostly on her own. That just didn't look good. She shrugged again when Delilah seemed to sort of agree that her brother had been ruse, or at least that little brothers in general could be rude. That was not an only child problem though and whilst she sometimes wondered what her life would be like if she had a sibling it was things like what happened with Delilah that made her think being an only child wasn't all that bad. "Well there's the staff members but adults aren't all that." Mackenzie replied indifferently, making sure not to go into too much detail and surely not mentioning anything about her parents. Or well, parent. Singular. Disinterested. "Unless you think talking to people who get paid to be there counts." She added. "But I don't."

 

[Delilah Thorne]

Delilah wasn’t shocked to hear Mackenzie had people that worked for her family. After all, at their big house back in London they had a small household staff as well. She remembered the maid who would always set up the stuffed animals on her bed in a specific way, and the cook who would make her chocolate cake for her birthday. Growing up she had even had a nanny but the move had changed all of that. Their house was smaller now and if she had to guess, they didn't have the money for that kind of help anyways. “I guess not.” she agreed with a casual shrug. "I doubt they'd offer any interesting conversation anyways." she said playfully and paused. Delilah considered her next words carefully, unsure of how they would be received. "If you'd like, I could write to you." she offered lightly, trying to keep her voice and face neutral. "I know its not the same as actually talking to someone but...." she added, but let herself trail off as her confidence waned.

 

[Mackenzie Dawson]

Mackenzie's family, although family was a large word when it was her and her dad, had staff running around for.. as long as she could remember really. They had everything really. Cooks, cleaners, groundkeepers, her dad's secretaries and nannies. Multiple ones. She wasn't quite sure how many had come and gone over the years but she did know none of them had managed to stick around for too long. "They don't." Mackenzie nodded in agreement with what Delilah had said. In reality the members of their staff didn't even talk to her a whole lot anymore and she figured that after years they had just given up on trying to get her to allow them to take care of her. She squinted her eyes for a second at Delilah's next words, considering whether she was being genuine or not. It was.. a nice offer. A friendly offer. Something she wasn't exactly used to. Everything inside of her wanted to stay indifferent about it, refuse the offer, but there was a tiny part of her that didn't. The part that even though it knew she was fine on her own still figured it wouldn't be all that bad to have a friend or two. "That.. would be alright, I guess." Mackenzie responded, trying to keep her cool as she was struggling to figure out what to say.