Sometimes I Don't Get It

[Ashley McGowen] Ashley has been out of her apartment a lot lately. Ever since the chantry was raised, since the Society announced their claim to it, she's been going there more and more. Particularly since the disappearance of Gregor. There's no one else during the day there, now, and maintaining it falls mostly on herself and Wharil.

That, she has not been pleased about. Tight-lipped, though; perhaps she doesn't want to admit to herself how deeply she's bothered by her cabal mate going missing. Maybe she's just being Ashley about it, which is far more likely.

She has Zane out with her on a leash. Now, she'd intended to come to the park and sit down and read for a while, get outside, avoid the other magi for a bit. Chicago weather has other plans, as she couldn't pull out one of her books without it steadily absorbing the sky's drizzle the longer she sits down. Being out with the dog has to suffice on its own.

She has her coat on, unbuttoned, and a forest green T-shirt advertising a Boston pub beneath it, and is carrying on a quiet one-sided conversation with the dog in normal tones. No high-pitched baby talk.

[Morgan Lake] It's late afternoon, nearing dinner time, and Morgan's out for her second run of the day; there's been work on various writings, which always get presented to Ashley first as rough drafts then as finals, unless they're about the Spirit work she's been doing to Basil, in which case they go to him. There's been work around the house where she stays with Solomon (though she still doesn't call it home, and is remarkably quiet about it, but spends far more time away than in, so perhaps that says something), which revolves largely around the kitchen and baking - which Ashley and chantry both have seen the fruits of on more than one occasion. There's been working out, and gathering the things she needs to start her first semester of college in the fall, because she's bound and determined to do so.

There's been carefully keeping herself busy so as to avoid the things she doesn't want to talk or think about, which is - however bad it may be for her - good for her studies.

Now, she's damp both from sweat and misty rain, but she sees the familiar form of her mentor and mentor's dog ahead, and slows her steps accordingly so that they can walk abreast - on Ashley's bad side, actually (better she be there than some stranger with ill intent), a little protective of the older Hermetic. "Hey," she says, just loud enough to make up for being on said bad side.

[Ashley McGowen] Zane lets her know that there's someone approaching on her bad side before Morgan ever speaks. The dog looks in her direction and chuffs, wagging his tail when he sees the friendly face - he knows Morgan nearly as well as Ashley, at this point - and the Hermetic is already turning her head to look in Morgan's direction. She isn't necessarily expecting Morgan, but Kage or Wharil, maybe, who Zane also responds happily to.

"Hi, Morgan," she says, once she's been greeted and once she can see the girl.

"How're you doing?" There's a short pause, a beat, during which Ashley shifts Zane's leash to her other hand. He's trying to get over to Morgan to say hello, and he nearly trips her walking in front of her legs. She manages it all with as much poise as a five foot tall partially blind woman can.

[Morgan Lake] "I'm okay," she says, and seems honest enough as she offers Zane a hand for sniffing and petting and such; the smile's a hint apologetic (wrong side, all that, and still it feels right to the younger but much taller girl). "How about you? Been busy."

Ashley has. Or she has. Or both, which is quite possible as well.

Morgan doesn't stay still for long - this has been true as long as Ashley's known her. She's athletic, and young, and while her focus is admirable for her age? There's a level of energy that goes along with her lifestyle, and it doesn't get repressed easily.

[Ashley McGowen] "Me too," Ashley says. "I marked up that essay you sent me, too, by the way, on Doissitep. If you come by the apartment with me later, I can give it back to you."

She also doesn't stay still for very long. Over the time that she's been Awakened, Ashley has learned to restrain herself, her urges and drives, and lend herself structure. That isn't the same as remaining in one place, learning to be quiet: even reading she's usually moving and shifting around, always with a purpose.

After a moment, she looks over at Morgan again. It's a short glance; she has to turn her head the whole way in order to look at the girl full on, so within a second or two she's looking ahead again at the path. "I know I've been hard to get a hold of lately," she adds, after a moment. "I should be more accessible. Have you been doing all right? Do you have questions about any of the papers I've given back?"

[Morgan Lake] "I think I've mostly got a handle on it - the politics and laws and things, anyway. I don't necessarily understand why a certain thing came about, but once it's put together, the picture makes sense anyway. And Doissetep . . ." There's a hint of a smirk here, a quiet little thing. "I think I wish I'd seen it, been there even just for a minute."

She's an athlete, and a girl well immersed in law and debate already - in a place that fosters competition (for which she has some affinity anyway, given her various activities and the way she was raised), she could have learned quite a bit.

"And you're allowed to be busy. If it were really important, I'd try harder to reach you - you know. It just hasn't been, is all." And being solitary seems to please Morgan well enough, lately - there's no one that she's truly sought out, other than Mal, that once, to ask about the job that's added to her busy schedule. "And I haven't been particularly easy to get a hold of, either."

[Ashley McGowen] Morgan says she wishes she'd been at Doissetep, and Ashley just looks at her for a moment. Quiet. She says nothing in response. "What's the certain thing that came about that you don't get?" she asks the girl, reaching down to stroke the head of the dog trotting at her side.

Morgan reassures her about being busy, and she just nods. "I still haven't heard back from your priest yet, by the way." But, she supposes, he's probably busy too; she imagines that the life of a priest (Chorister, besides) would lend itself to few spare hours. She was raised Catholic, in her early years - she knows.

Ashley keeps an eye on the sidewalk ahead, content to let Morgan walk along in her blind spot.

[Morgan Lake] "Well . . . there are so many creation stories. Just like with life here, I guess - but Pure Ones, or Fallen, or . . . and then all the times it moved. That had to have taken an awful lot of working together, and while I get that cabals happen - obviously - it seems rare that enough people get together to effect that kind of change, and when they do they don't see eye to eye enough to make something that big happen. Though I guess they'd have had to in the midst of catastrophe and all."

She does this often, when she's brought around to talking - talks through whatever it is that's giving her a problem on her own, at least to a level of understanding that will improve with study.

Then, though, there's a shrug about Mal. "I'll remind him to get a hold of you."

[Morgan Lake] PAWSITUTDE