Ivy tilts her head, thinking for a moment. “Well, I think she said a few scathing things about therapy animals, and stuff. I didn’t really pay too much attention to her, cause some people are just mean. Maybe that’s why she didn’t like me?”
Jade was kind of a jerk, true, but she had never done anything to Ivy before, at least that she could remember, so the chances of Jade having anything to do with this were low. Maybe she had just been spacing out and wandered through a portal, or something? A weak explanation, sure, but Ivy didn’t really have a better one.
When Red mentioned his strings, Ivy tilted her head. “Strings? Like…. grappling hook strings? You know, those things that have hooks on the end and you make them go, and they shoot into the sky and pull you behind them? My small and I read a book with those in them, once. And magic is easy, don’t worry! You just close your eyes, and reach for what you’re looking for, like Roxie did.”
Ivy stopped for a moment, trying to recall what it was like when Roxie first started using magic. “Sometimes feeling strong emotions makes it easier. Like when Jade was first teaching my small to do magic! She would do things that made her upset, and then Roxie would instinctually use her magic. One time Jade trapped me in a metal locker and made Roxie bust me out. It was scary.”
She seemed to think that was perfectly normal behavior, there.
Red’s heart sinks just a bit; this really doesn’t look good. There had been a faint hope, that perhaps it was simply a matter of low patience and someone acting rashly, but… This seems personal. He allows a sad smile, praying Ivy won’t see the epiphany in his eyes, the sudden tension in his posture. “Perhaps you’re right; sometimes, people are just mean because they can be.”
The change in subject is a welcome distraction, though… grappling hooks that pulled one along? His head lolls to the side as he ponders the idea, trying to settle the unease that’s come over him; the only grappling hooks he’s ever known of are the sort one threw and pulled themselves up with.
“I suppose they could be used as such, but…” He pauses. “From what I saw, these strings were just… strings.”
Ah, yes, very eloquent.
The pit in his stomach returns at the mention of ‘Jade’ again, and sinks further as Ivy recounts her “teaching” methods. Strong emotions and magic make sense, he supposes, but to force them? It’s everything he has not to clench his fists, to snarl and bark and curse, do something about the emotions roiling in his chest.
… until Ivy mentions the locker.
The nauseated feeling sharpens into something white-hot, and for the second time in fewer than as many hours, Red is shaking again. His expression darkens, and his chest starts to ache; is he even breathing?
He gives a quiet sigh to try and alleviate some of the tension washing over him, to no avail. A second attempt sees no more success than the first.
“… She did what?” His voice is quiet and as even as he can make it when he finally speaks. A couple strings reach up from the ground, wrapping themselves loosely around his fingers.
