Virtue in Silence

Don't touch the exhibits.

[saturnscholar]

When her scrutinizing gaze reaches Saturn he couldn’t help but feel he had said or done something wrong. Does she not like compliments, or outside conversation? His eyebrow creases, feeling uncomfortable at the moment.

“I don’t think an opinion can be wrong per se unless it’s the opposite of an objective fact,” he mumbles in reply. “Heh, yeah. I get that a lot. You should see it when it’s not straightened.”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

Virgo is starting to feel pretty annoyed, but she bites her tongue and decides that it’s not worth arguing. She’s not required to agree with anything just because they’re partners for a while.

“This is straightened?” The girl questions with disbelief. More hesitantly, a second question follows, “Can I touch it...?” She stops walking and holds her hand up in front of her chest.

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

do you care for the beach at all?

No, erm... I burn pretty easy. Findin’ shells is fun, though...

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

what animals are you taking care of right now V?

I’m teachin’ Meden how to care for bigger animals, so we ‘ave gone to the Animal Sanctuary an hour away, three times a week, for the past couple months. We help with the zebras.

At Wammy’s, I’m takin’ care of a few stray cats, a dog the shelter was goin’ t’put down, and a raccoon with a broken leg. They are all lovely company.

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

dont let the boys push you around too much :(

I’m not a pushover, just a bit, erm... I don’t like trouble.

[saturnscholar]

“That’s okay, we can brainstorm ideas together.” A slight, awkward smile creases his lips for a short amount of time. He straightens the strap on his shoulder before shuffling out of the way so she can stand which reminds him how much shorter she is to him. 

His hands shove into his pockets pencil and all as they exit the classroom and begin to walk down the hall. 

“I like your, uh, hair,” he comments casually to make conversation. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone with that color. It’s nice.”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

As soon as the hair comment comes up, Virgo goes a bit rigid and stares up at Saturn. It might be interpreted as a glare to some people, and that very well might be her intention, but she’s just scrutinizing the boy. She was bullied for this hair color many times, so she doesn’t really know how to accept a compliment for it.

“You’re wrong,” she replies bluntly, “It’s a ‘orrible color. It’s hard to dye.” The girl starts picking at her right sleeve, looking back down the hall. “Your hair is fluffy.”

[saturnscholar]

She doesn’t look too thrilled but Saturn doesn’t blame her. Virgo came off as pretty shy so partner projects probably aren’t her thing either. Looks like they’re both just going to have to suck it up.

He fiddles with the pencil in his hand, lightly tapping it against his thigh.

“Library, okay. That works fine.” He pauses shortly as he itches the back of his neck with the eraser end of the pencil. “Umbral’s many things but I’m fairly certain he’s either sleeping or has better things to do than stalk me.” He nervously laughs, unsure if he could promise Umbral not appearing. He did appear outside of his classes not once, but twice.

“I know he can be troublesome which is partially why I didn’t offer doing it in my room. So, library, okay. Do you wanna walk over now or meet up there in a few minutes?”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

Though it didn’t ease her mind whatsoever, she nods along. Umbral was bound to ruin something of hers again soon, so it was starting to put her on edge. When would he strike?

“You don’t ‘ave to explain so much, I get it... erm, we can walk over now, I guess...?” Virgo quietly puts her notebook into her backpack- it’s plain tan with a blue, silver, and black ‘V’ sticker on it. “I don’t ‘ave a good idea yet, though...”

She knows the teacher won’t mind students leaving at this point, so she zips up her bag and stands up. “I don’t wanna be ‘ere longer than I ‘ave to, so... let’s go?”

Virgo smooths out her skirt, making sure it looks right, then slings her bag onto one shoulder. It doesn’t look very heavy compared to some of the others in class.

[saturnscholar]

Talking to new people isn’t really Saturn’s thing.To be honest he would much rather work on things by himself than have to split or have someone else interfere with his work, but when the partnered project is assigned he finds that is not an option. Partners are, to the best of his knowledge, assigned randomly so when he sees who his partner is he’s rather relieved. The teacher had chosen V to be his partner and at least Saturn already knew her. He walks over to her desk in the remaining minutes of class to discuss meeting up to work on it together.

“Hey Virgo. Where do you want to meet up? I think we should get it started sooner rather than later. Uh, we could do your room, or possibly the library?”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

Group projects, partner projects, it doesn’t matter. Having to work with other people is a pain, and having to communicate to others her odd way of thinking is a pain. Virgo isn’t excited whatsoever, and she isn’t happy. It doesn’t matter that she’s talked to Saturn once, it was awkward. Of all people, why did she have to get Umbral’s roommate?

Aaaaand now he’s at her desk. Fantastic.

“Erm... It’s pretty messy...” She means her room, but that might not be too clear. “The library would be safer.”

The redhead peeks up at her partner briefly, then looks back down at her notebook and scribbles something down.

“Your roommate, erm... He won’t bother us, right?” She closes her notebook and looks up again. “Is he a stalker?”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

“I dunno anytin about that...” V mumbles, staring right at the other student. “Why don’t we do sometin else...?”

[saturnscholar]

“Heh, thanks, I try.” She wasn’t letting go of his hand. What does a person do in this situation? Would it be rude to mention it or more rude not to? Should he just endure it? His own discomfort was probably clear in his expression, his forced smile twitching. 

Saturn gave the hand two firm shakes before letting go, maybe she would get the message. “You don’t seem too terrible yourself.”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

The boy’s hand is released, and Virgo tilts a bit to look past him, down the hall. She knows a few other classes will be letting out, and if the other hall is still blocked, she doesn’t want to be around for a crowd.

“Thanks, erm.. I gotta get goin’ but... thanks.” Soon, she hears the familiar stomping of Umbral’s boots against the floor. V looks back, sees him coming, and accidentally bumps Saturn’s shoulder making her escape. “Good luck with him.”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

Vaughn is a vegetarian, but it’s not completely by choice. She’s only tried meat a handful of times, but because her parents forced her to be vegetarian from the day she was born, her stomach and body became accustomed to not having meat, and now has trouble digesting it. She has medication for it, so if she’s really craving meat, she could probably eat it with little problem. However, she thinks meat tastes disgusting in general.

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

"VIVI!" J exclaims, clasping hands together in a light clap, "I like that alot! We can play sometime, I will teach you everything!!"

V laughs awkwardly, going back to picking at her sleeve. “If you really wanna do that... I guess so. I’m sure you’re a great teacher, Jaggers.”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

“Are... are you talking to me...?”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

"Would you really?! Do you ever play soccer? You should it is so much fun! I am Jaggers, what is your - hm.. not name?"

“Yeah, I could... but, erm... I’m not to good at sports.” Virgo lets go of her sleeve to rub the back of her neck. “I could play sometime, though... I’m Virgo. Some of the little ones call me Vivi.” She smiles at Jaggers, giving a shy thumbs up. 

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

"Leg warmers!! Eight of them! I want to get leg warmers too!" J excitedly bounced up and down, holding his hands close to his chest. "What if people had eight appendages? How crazy would that be! You could do four times the things! I would be an amazing goal keeper!"

She nods along, starting to pick at her sleeve. “You could be a goal keeper with rainbow leg warmers... Able to block everythin’ that comes your way. I would go to, erm... all of your games. Like a soccer mom.”

[saturnscholar]

Uneasiness set in as he was just stared at momentarily. Saturn was never very good at talking to people, let alone girls. The uncomfortable look he could relate to, generally finding himself in that same position. She didn’t seem that bad by comparison of everyone else he had met. In fact, she was a lot better so far.

“Sorry you’ve had the displeasure,” he joked, an awkward chuckle escaping him. “Virgo, huh? Nice to uh, meet you,” he held out his hand as a friendly gesture.

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

Silence- Virgo’s pretty good at that. Again, she stares when the hand is held out to her. There’s a moment where she considers not shaking it, where she feels like it would be easier to just rush off... but she decides to shift her books into one arm and shake it.

“...Okay,” the redhead mumbles, looking to the side. “You... erm... aren’t ‘orrible.” Her discomfort was a little more than obvious, which made her oblivious to the fact that she probably should have let go of Saturn’s hand by now. “Saturn...”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

A young spunky kid, Jaggers, runs up to V. He must look about fourteen. "Animal girl! You are animal girl! Do you know about spiders? Aren't they cool! They are like Halloween!!"

Virgo smiles widely, not wanting to be rude to a kid. Well, maybe not a kid, but she does have a soft spot for those younger than her. “I think spiders ‘ave a bad rep, but are very cool. I like that they ‘ave fuzzy legs. Their very own leg warmers!”

[virtuous-virgo-blog]

       You were transferred into a class with BULIMY.

That’s unfortunate, if only because Vaughn had trouble finding the room and wound up late to class. When she walked in, a few heads turned to stare out of curiosity. One seat was left... next to a stranger, of course. Next to B.

She scanned the room one more time before quickly shuffling over to the only available seat, head down, trying to block out the stares. Virgo quietly sets the books down on the desk, and equally as silent, sits down next to her classmate.