The Tale You Tell

[andhiswife]

It's been a difficult week.

That's actually an understatement. But she can't let the full weight of it settle on her, not when she's out in public like this. So for as long as she's out here, doing some shopping, it's just been a difficult week.

She's told Baz and Simon about her situation. They'd offered to give her time off, but that wasn't what she wanted. The Gardens are one of the few places where she doesn't feel like climbing the walls. There's too much else going on, too many other things that require her attention. It's everywhere else that's the problem. Her apartment is too quiet and too empty and too immaculate; she can't even justify housework anymore because everything that could possibly need doing has already been done thrice over.

And she knows she has friends who would help her, who would be happy to provide company or distractions or whatever she needed. But that would require telling them. Repeating the story wouldn't make it any more real than it is already, but the thought of burdening anyone else with it -- and how could something this heavy not be a burden? -- turns her stomach. So much so that she's been politely deflecting the invitations she's received, rather than try to face anyone.

She'll say this for texting: it makes it easier to lie.

The thought of food rather turns her stomach, too, but she's getting groceries, anyway. Even if the chief appeal of cooking is making a mess that she would then have to tidy up, it's still a necessary chore. Her clothing is starting to hang a bit looser than it ought to, and she doesn't want to make new garments for what she knows, distantly, to be an impermanent state of affairs. So, groceries. She can do this.

[Find Greta looking terrible either at or en route to a grocery store, or on her way back to Candlewood. Closed unless we've spoken; hmu if you still want in.]

Comments

[a_capella_boy]

Jesse sighed and grabbed a pack of diapers off the shelf as he pushed his cart down the isle. They didn't quite need diapers yet but with a baby you always needed diapers because it was impossible to tell when you were going to run out.

"Why can't you be more regular, huh?" Jesse asked, looking down at his daughter in the carrier. She answered his question with a gurgle, which he assumed was a very wise answer he just couldn't translate.

They were basically all done with grocery shopping now and he was just seeing if there was anything that he didn't know he needed just yet. Jesse thought about getting a pie of some sorts but honestly the pie at Semele's had ruined all other pie for him. It was probably best to just go home.

Turning the corner of the isle Jesse smiled down at Ripley one last time before glancing back up. What he saw at the end of the other end of the isle made him completely freeze up. His stomach lurched and his heart skipped a beat when he saw that it was Greta at the other end.

Oh. Fuck.

[madesomenoise]

She hasn't seen Greta for a few days, but that's not unusual. She's not been worrying. Girl's on her way to the studio when she sees Greta and she steps off the curb, checking both ways before she jobs across the street.

"Greta? Hey! Hey, Greta?"

[shok_ebasit_hissra]

Bull was waiting for a light to change at the cross walk when someone ran into him. Bounced off him, more like. Despite his size, he moved rather quickly to rescue a grocery bag before it hit the ground.

"Easy there," he said, voice gentle as soon as he saw the look on her face. It took him a moment, but he recognized her. Greta. She'd seemed much taller when he first met her.

[on_mans_road]

Amalthea looked at her for a long time. Well, it felt like a long time, to her. Then she moved, quiet and light, and soon she was at Greta's side in front of a display of summer fruit. She reached and lightly grasped the woman's hand.

"You don't look well," she said. She rarely remembered to say things like are you alright? Of course Greta wasn't alright, so why would she ask?

[letitbetrue]

Greta looks awful.

It's a terrible and uncharitable thing for Demelza to think given what she knows of Greta's situation, but she sees her friend, sees how thin she's gotten, and she can't seem to help herself. There's nothing at all she can do to better the situation and she knows Greta had asked, but she still rather wants to belt whoever it is that told her all these details of her life. It may not fix things, but Demelza thinks it might make her feel better.

But her feelings are not the focus now and they shouldn't be.

Garrick is trotting alongside her when she crosses the street to meet Greta and his tongue lolls, his tail wagging, and she can't help but hope perhaps the sight of a dog so happy to see her might lift her mood a little.

"Hello," she says, offering Greta a small smile as Garrick noses impatiently at her fingers.

[singthesong]

The Balladeer has never quite cottoned on to texting; why do that when you can just speak with people? But this also means that he's a poor hand at detecting subtleties of text message, so he hasn't given Greta's absence a second thought. People get busy!

It doesn't mean he hasn't missed talking to her, though, so he brightens when he sees her across a street, rocking forward onto his toes and waving. "Greta! Hi!" He's already crossing; there's no escaping him now. Technically he was headed in the opposite direction to begin with, but there's a guitar case over his shoulder and he jingles faintly when he moves. Today was already a good busking day, and as that's his only regular job, he has literally nowhere else to be right now. And nothing to do but follow Greta to the grocery store, perhaps.

[pontmercyfriend]

Marius is at the grocery store picking up a few last minute things he needs for home. Basics, mostly, with the occasional brownie mix or three. He is, by no means, a master at cooking, but he's capable of making himself some comfort food, which has come especially handy this past school year.

He's grabbing some eggs when he catches sight of Greta in the aisle with him, looking decidedly haggard and upset. Concerned, Marius forgets his eggs as he makes his way over to her.

"Greta?" He asks, the concern evident in his voice. "What's happened?"

[numberhuang]

I know that I actually get out more than I used to, but these days it feels like I don't really have time for me anymore. I don't really get the chance to go to the mall and enjoy a frozen yogurt (or better yet, a chipwich). I don't really get any times when I can just disconnect from my work and feel like I can take a break. It's both wonderful and terrible. Wonderful because I've never felt more productive than I do these days.

Terrible because sometimes my brain does want a break.

But today, it looks like I might have an excuse for not heading straight back to my office after talking at one of the local elementary schools. I see Greta rushing back in the direction that I think she lives in, and so I step forward so that I'm in her line of sight. If she's in a hurry to get somewhere, that's fine, but I want to check that she's okay.

"Greta? Is something wrong?" I ask her, trying to meet her gaze.

[improvises]

It isn't that he's lurking, exactly. For one, that would be creepy, and two, it would definitely be overstepping several boundaries. Greta is a friend, someone who's become important to both him and Jordan, but she's got a life of her own, and it isn't his business to infringe on that. Still, it's been longer than usual since he's heard from her, enough that Jordan has started to ask after her and when she'll next be coming over, which is reason enough — as if he didn't have one already — for him to want to see what's going on and make sure that everything is okay. It's strange, this absence, and there's a part of him that he knows is probably irrational but can't turn off anyway that's wary about Jordan forming connections to anyone who'll wind up leaving. She's lost enough as it is.

So, while it hadn't occurred to him when he first left the house to run errands, when he finds himself in the vicinity of Greta's building, he figures he may as well swing by on the off chance that he might catch her coming or going. Nothing weird or stalker-y or uncomfortable, just one friend hoping to run into another friend, wanting to make sure she's alright. That can't be such a bad thing. If it were the other way around, he tells himself, he would probably appreciate it, in fact. Eden almost certainly would have tracked him down by now, though they at least have the benefit of years of friendship, with her being the closest thing to family he's got, other than Jordan.

It's enough of a justification that he doesn't feel too out of place heading past her building, stopping in a nearby coffee shop for something to drink. When he does see her, it almost comes as a surprise — he'd figured it was unlikely that he actually would see her here, but there's something of a relief in it, too. At least she seems physically alright, not hurt or sick or anything.

"Greta, hey!" he calls, crossing the street to where he's spotted her. That relief fades quickly once he really gets a look at her, the expression on her face. "What's going on?"