Apologies and Plans (closed)

[Jory Addison]

I'm sorry I started fighting in your shop. Would it really be that simple? I'm sorry I'm so stupid. Jory sighed. He knew that he needed to go tell Markise he was sorry, he needed to do something so that he would stop thinking so much. Shopping for clothes had never been a hobby of his, but then he had never had the opportunity for it, either. Between that and forcing himself to talk to Markise surely he could figure something out. He sighed once more as he pushed open the door to come into the warm shop from the freezing cold outside.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise looked up from the boxes near the register that he'd been digging in, the sound of the bells chiming over the door pulling him out of the count he'd just started. He probably didn't need to do it anyway, but he needed a break from sewing before his fingers gave out. He blinked at seeing Jory, but put on a smile anyway. Had Jory come back to tell him off for throwing him to Quinn? The look on his face said otherwise, but Markise was no Legilimens. He straightened and called out lightly, asking how he could help.

[Jory Addison]

Jory brought his hands together in front of him and started playing with his rings. He wore no gloves, though his hands were warm from his pockets. It was a miracle his rings hadn't been worn through by now. "Hey," he said as he started through the shop toward Markise. "Um...I'm sorry...about last time." His eyes moved up to Markise for a moment before falling to his hands. "I was...stupid."

((*edits to note this as the 666th post of Jory*))

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's brows drew together as he looked at Jory. "You're not stupid," he said. Okay, so maybe Jory was a little stupid, he'd thought so the one time they'd talked, but it didn't do any good to tell someone that because it justified them not thinking. He felt a momentary hiccup of irony at any past or present relation to himself, but firmly ignored it. "You know, I don't even know what happened except Quinn pissing you off."

[Jory Addison]

"A lot happened," Jory said, shaking his head. "She told me what happened, she said that she understood why he couldn't touch people when he wasn't drunk. But she told me they hadn't gotten drunk, they'd just had pumpkin juice." He still couldn't figure out what had happened between those two, or why Lyric had told her everything and kissed her when it had taken months for Jory to get to that point with him.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise's knit brows didn't ease. "Are you sure they just had pumpkin juice?" he asked. "If the guy's that bad..." He paused to think a moment, then decided enlightenment was the best policy. "She didn't even know what sex was," he said, lowering his voice so he wouldn't draw Ariel's attention. "I don't think she'd have noticed if he put something in her drink and that happens all the time." In the clubs he used to hang out in, anyway. If your drink left your sight, you were finished with it.

[Jory Addison]

Jory only vaguely registered what Markise was talking about, and his lips nearly opened to say that Lyric wouldn't do something like that. But really, how well did he know Lyric? Not half as well as he had thought. "I don't know," he breathed. "I don't know, we didn't talk about that much. She jumped straight into asking me why I didn't understand. She got mad at me because I couldn't understand and because I wanted to understand....she said I couldn't learn because I grew up okay." And he had felt so...stupid.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise was confused, though probably no more than Jory was. He couldn't imagine Quinn telling someone they couldn't learn something, but he knew exactly how quickly she could jump from one subject to the next without seeming to notice. "Quinn can talk a lot," he agreed, "but I hope she didn't mean that last part. It doesn't sound like her, but sometimes her mouth moves faster than she can keep up with." It wasn't an insult, and the tone of his voice said as much, but it was the truth. "Some things you can only learn by doing, but... well, my friend Silver would argue with that. He'd say you can find anything in a book." He shrugged.

[Jory Addison]

"I want to understand," Jory said, looking up at Markise. "I really do. Or...did....I don't think I care anymore." Okay, so that was a lie, but it was easier to convince himself not to care than to think about it all the time. "But she just got mad at me because I was hurt. She acted like I was the stupid one when I tried to tell her that he hadn't talked to me about things until we had known each other for months, or that he only told me after we had had sex that he couldn't do it." Like it had been his fault that he had been hurt because of it, like he should just have told Lyric it was okay.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise resisted the urge to roll his eyes. Very little of what Jory was saying sounded likely or even made sense, and considering their first meeting he'd been told that he was wearing makeup, among other things, he thought it likely that Jory had been too lost in... whatever—in thinking Quinn took Lyric or thinking Lyric dumped him for a girl or that somehow Quinn was some unexplainable exception to the rules—too busy being hurt to pick through whatever it was that Quinn had said.

"If you don't care, then let it go," Markise said, and lowered his voice again. "If you think he doesn't want you and he's moved on, either deal with it or do something fast, because if there's anything worse than holding back around someone you want, it's watching them decide to be with someone else. Do something or move on. I can't tell you what Lyric's thinking, I don't even know him, and I can't tell you what Quinn meant because I wasn't there."

[Jory Addison]

"I think...I just need to forget him." Markise, Zilly, even Eros had told him not to bother, so why should he keep hoping? "He's got a problem and apparently Quinn can get around it." Jory couldn't get around it, he didn't think he would ever be able to get around it, so he should just stop trying. "I mean, apparently I can't even talk to him when he's...not sober..." There was no way Lyric had been sober that day, but he had said he wasn't drunk.

[Markise Sterling]

Markise held his hands up in supplication. "You're asking the wrong guy," he said firmly. "I don't know what his problem is, I don't know what Quinn's doing and I don't know what you're doing except beating yourself up." He shook his head slightly, sending lavender ringlets shifting over and under each other as he reached under the counter for a pack of gum. He needed something to do with his mouth besides scream. FIB. What kind of advice was that for the runes to give him? "I think he's straight. Find a boyfriend who'll be good to you." He popped the gum into his mouth to keep from taking it back. The guy was probably playing Jory and Quinn both, but neither of them would ever believe it.

[Jory Addison]

"Well, that'd be easy if there were actually guys around to find." Well, gay ones, anyway. There were plenty of guys, there were plenty of hot guys that seemed like they could be nice if they wanted to. But as far as he knew every one of them was straight. "Unless you know where they're all hiding." And if Markise did, then he needed to speak up quick.

[Markise Sterling]

"They're not hiding in my shop," Markise said. "And if you're all in the closet, they're not gonna find you at school." He seriously doubted that all the gays at school were either out or half-out like Jory and Lyric. Just because he hadn't found any didn't mean they weren't there. "Go to London and walk around or something. Wear your jewelry and stuff, and talk to people. It's not that hard." When Markise set his mind to it, it was as easy as smiling. Inwardly, he frowned. No one had tried to pick him up in forever. He knew he had Ariel around, and he didn't want to fool around on him, but he hoped he still had it.

[Jory Addison]

"I've only been to London once, like, walking around. I never talked to people...well...until I came here." Jory had never been social until Hogwarts, and probably still wouldn't have been if it hadn't been for Layne's influence over him. "Maybe I should just suck it up and come out." It had just been luck that he had found Lyric and even Markise. He had heard about Dare through Lyric and whisperings around the school. Maybe coming out wasn't a choice.