[attr="class","jaytop"]

[attr="class","littlejay"]

there it is. hook, line, and sinker.

[break][break] the rocket's expression changes little even as willow atkins succumbs to it. he knows that Roman Maher was not a boy who wanted to cause harm, but there is something indisputable that lies between them.

[break][break] fact. roman ran away from home.

[break][break] fact. roman stabbed someone.

[break][break] fact. roman, himself, was hurting.

[break][break] jayden opens his mouth to explain this all to her - his mother - but closes it when willow atkins closes the topic by pushing a small piece of paper towards him. his brow furrows as he looks at the number before pulling out his phone and putting her number in his phone.

[break][break] he knows he has no obligations here. he can just leave, even taking roman's items with him, but there is something that brings him pause.

[break][break] "if it helps, the wound has healed."

[break][break] his fingers brush his chest from where he could still feel the ropey scar even through his t-shirt.

[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins

[break][break]

☉

there is something unspoken. there is something in this stranger's eyes, something on the tip of his tongue, but her order, as forward as it may have been, seems to silence him. she chews her lip nervously. elisabet still watches from her pot of soil, position changing only when jayden reaches up to his chest. 

the words hang in the air for a couple of heartbeats before it clicks. and willow finds herself sliding heavily into the chair beside him, eyes never leaving that spot on his shirt. 

"it was you?" a new slew of emotions runs through her, nerves firing. but one stands out - relief. relief to know that no one is going to come busting down her door looking for roman. relief that the person he'd stabbed is okay. has recovered. 

but then that distrust comes back. that thumping in her heart telling her that this man is dangerous. that he is a stranger she let into her home.

"why would he want to hurt you? you said he went to you for help..."

jayden cross

☉

[attr="class","jaytop"]

[attr="class","littlejay"]

he stills.

[break][break] ah. she didn't know? how much did she know?

[break][break] it occurs to jayden that this is the moment that he ought to pull back, excuse himself, before any more information was released. yet, the way that she seems to be looking at him..

[break][break] somehow, he wants to tell her. to be able to fill in the gaps that are missing in the story that is Roman Maher.

[break][break] "didn't you just agree that he didn't want to do that?" he points out.

[break][break] his head tilts.

[break][break] "accidents happen."

[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins

[break][break]

☉

she thinks, reluctantly, that yes, they had decided he wouldn't do it on purpose. but to hear such assurance from the stranger, the target of her son's violence, settles her flared anxieties. not all of them, because now a hundred more questions are brimming at her lips, but there is enough mystery surrounding him that puts her on edge. 

call it a mother's sixth sense, but something doesn't feel right here. 

"accidents," she says with a laugh that doesn't meet her eyes. "i don't know what sort of accident means stabbing someone at a ball, but...i wasn't there. so i don't know." i don't know i don't know.

"thank you for telling me. all of this. i appreciate your time."

jayden cross

☉

[attr="class","jaytop"]

[attr="class","littlejay"]

it seems obvious. she wasn't there so she didn't know. there were also many other factors, jayden imagined, that might have played into willow atkins's absence of knowledge.

[break][break] perhaps an absence of a lifetime of rocket cruelty.

[break][break] he could answer this for her, or explain further as to why he seemed relatively unbothered by the unintentional stabbing. to jayden — it was obvious. Roman Maher was a child. could he held be accountable for his actions?

[break][break] instead, however, he simply nods.

[break][break] "of course. any time."

[break][break] jayden glances around, wondering if it was time for him to leave, before he blinks:

[break][break] "ah. apologies if you mentioned it earlier, but what should i call you? roman's mother?"

[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins

[break][break]

☉

she smiles despite herself. roman's mother. how quickly her identity had disappeared when she'd brought him into this world. out there, when buying groceries or running errands, she knew they didn't see her as a healthy young woman - just a knocked up teen, a too-early mother. poor little thing that she was. 

"willow," she says, voice rough around the edges. 

"and yourself?" so she could finally put a name to the man her son had stabbed. 

jayden cross

☉

[attr="class","jaytop"]

[attr="class","littlejay"]

"willow," jayden repeats, the word echoing in the static silence of the room.

[break][break] it suited her.

[break][break] "michail," he says, in response to the question of what she should call him. jayden considered lying — it would have only been too easy. then again, if Roman Maher surfaced again, it would only take a single conversation to dash the lie to smithereens.

[break][break] and it would take just as long to ruin his trust. and jayden would have preferred to keep it, where possible.

[break][break] "michail volkov," he adds, as he stands up. if she wanted to look him up later, nothing would stop her. and Roman Maher's mother seemed like the protective, nosy sort. he was sure that she would. "i'm afraid time has gotten away from me. i only meant for this to be a brief visit."

[break][break] he blinks.

[break][break] "perhaps we'll meet again."

[break][break] or maybe not.

[attr="class","ooc"] willow atkins

[break][break]

☉