“I’m… really glad you’re staying” Lupe stated. I couldn’t help but look at her and nod a bit. A part of me for some reason was ok with staying. I let out a breath and then finally made an answer.
“Yeah…” was the answer that left my tongue. I hadn’t expected to say more yet for some reason, as I said it, it seemed like an insignificant comment.
“….. You said you was a traveler right?” Lupe started again.
“Indeed.” I answered as I tried to find more of something to say besides just a simple answer. However, as I started to think about something to say, Lupe continued talking. I was somewhat thankful for the fact that she didn’t seem to see my answers as insufficient.
“Was it pretty lonely traveling by yourself?” Lupe asked.
“Not really,” I answered back with a short answer once again. I finally gave up all together of saying anything more than what came to mind first. It just made things easier.
“Oh… I wouldn’t like to travel alone. I actually hate it. It’s no fun, ya know?” Lupe smirked.
Now this indeed somewhat confused me. Fun? I had never really taken it to consideration. Traveling was just what I did… what did she mean fun? My eyebrow raised, and I looked at Lupe puzzled.
“Fun?” I asked waiting for her to explain.
“Well, yeah. Hanging around with others is fun, ya know?” Lupe answered. Not… exactly the answer I had in mind. I let my eyebrow sink down again and then shrugged a bit.
“Well, I wouldn’t know.” I answered back. Indeed, I had never really considered it before. This was something different indeed. I found nothing fun in staying around large groups of people… there were… just too many… and yet somehow there were people that apparently liked being around them. I moved my head to one side and gave her another inquisitive look.
“Mmm…. You…. well…” Lupe stood up and stretched as though she were just biding time for a moment. Her eye moved down again, and she looked at me. “You will have lots of ‘fun’ here, bud. That’s a 100 percent guarantee!” Lupe laughed before turning and appearing to head back to the house. After a few steps, she turned back and looked at me as though she were going to say something more. I waited.
“And don’t be running off from us. We don’t bite… much,” Lupe smirked and then winked. This left me half dumbfounded for a moment before I smirked and stood up myself. Looking at my sketchpad and then picking it up, I turned my head and noticed that Lupe was walking in a strange step towards the house. I stood, snagged my sketchbook, and then started to follow her.
“Lupe?” I asked, but she didn’t seem to hear me. She just continued straight inside the house still walking in a dazed way. “Lupe…” I said again but was once again ignored. Suddenly she grabbed at her head and dropped straight to her knees.
“Lupe!” I asked moving a few steps forwards, but she didn’t say anything before falling straight forwards. My body moved before I could think, and I seized her right before she could fall completely on the floor. Slowly the process and carefully setting her down on the floor of the house, I let out a sigh. What had happened?
My eyes darted around for anyone within the immediate vicinity to help. Suddenly every seemed tense as though a bulk of them knew what to do. Finally a few of the Gijika took Lupe up and through the house. I mentally sighed and decided to try and relax. Returning to my chair and opening my sketchbook once again, I started to draw tense shapes that slowly evolved back into calm drawings.
Looking up again, I noticed that a shuppet Gijika was looking at me from where she was sitting. She smiled, and I gave a half smile back. A part of me worried what had happened to Lupe, and yet another part had already come to terms with the fact that if I tried to help anymore, I would probably get in the way. I looked back at my sketchbook and started drawing again.
Hearing the sounds of cards move on the table, I looked up again and noticed that she had started to play with a deck of cards. In that half a second, I understood that she probably played cards in the way that I drew. It was probably something that had started from liking and had simply evolved into habit. Indeed this was the way many things in the world seemed to work. I looked back down at my sketchbook again and started a new page. Looking back up, I started drawing the darkness with heavy shades of deep red.
After another moment, I looked up again and found that the cards were floating in air and then sat down as if on command before dealing themselves out in front of the shuppet.
"What's that?"I asked more or less forgetting my grammar edict again. This was starting to turn into a habit that I did not exceptionally like. The shuppet looked up from the card game half startled, and for a moment, I wished I had said nothing and just continued to draw. However, what was done was done, so I simply waited for a response.
"It's... um... I don't... um... I don't really know how to explain it," the shuppet answered looking extremely nervous. I sighed being able to relate this back to the scene earlier where I had been trying to explain myself to the crowd back in the house. She stated a new game, and the cards were once again floating in mid air.
“Ah,” I answered unsure of anything else to say. After a moment, I just fell back into silence and started drawing once again. “Habit then?” I asked.
“Ya…. I guess you could say,” the shuppet answered.
“Ah,” I answered as I started to realize that I was just filling the page with excess ink. Sighing, I flipped to a new page and started again. “My name is Mear by the way,” I said not looking up but continuing to draw on the new piece of paper.
“Shupple,” was the answered. I gave a nod and looked up and then down again.
“It’s a quiet night,” I commented as the sound of the pen scratching the paper mixed with the sound of wind not far off. I resisted the urge to yawn and just continued to draw. Looking back over at Shupple, I closed my sketchbook for a moment.
“Do you know how to play speed?” I asked sitting across from her. “It’s a pretty fun card game….”
_________________________________________________________
My apologies for the shortness. I am a tad rushed for time today.
Mear
KC
