#debukefarmhold

"You got that with Hannah." She reminds. "Ain't like you don't have it at all. Maybe we could have somethin' different."

She nods, despondent.

A pained expression flashes over her features. "An' it's cool if you don't want that." gruffly "So, like, ok, plan is ta move ta Baltimore. One of the kids around here showed me some stuff on a computer. There's a shop there, textiles. Figure I'd work there. Jacob'll go to school. Cemetary near the shop, an' some other stuff." She shrugs.

She looks up sharply and shakes her head. "You can't go there!"

A blink. "Why not?"

"The Countess."

"What about her?"

"What do I care?"

"She'll... she'll be curious... and she would take an interest..."

"What would she know?" Blankly. "What would she care? Nocker an' sluagh move in, work, mind our own business....?"

"She knows you."

"Because of me, she knows you. She helped me find you."

"Saw your picture... the one with me, from before everything happened..."

Miriam blinks rapidly. "Oh. Well. Lotta years ago. I mean. Why would she go lookin'?"

"She's an Eiluned. You know how they are..."

A contemptuous snort. "Yeah."

"Because you will be in her domain, and she's an Eiluned."

"And you will be there, and... aye, she's a soothsayer and a Namer... she is difficult to hide from."

"She recognized my cantrip upon Earl, surely she would recognize my blood..."

"Look, I'm good at hiding from 'em. And even if she gets curi... ok, even if she goes lookin', so what? I'm not breakin' the Escheat or anythin'. An' I think I like this shop."

"No, you're not.. it just..." Flustered.

"What?" She shifts, as if she would approach, but doesn't.

"She... if she..." A helpless gesture. "She's powerful."

"Well, been there done that." Reasonably.

A shaggy nod, face hidden behind her hair. "What's wrong with Scarsdale?"

"Or..." She hesitates, then risks it - "Poughkeepsie?"

She blinks. "Gotta have a job, Zara. 'Sides, cost a' livin' there is.... well, it went up since I lived there, right?"

That faint wilt and she nods. "Aye."

"Furkin'...." muttered with exasperation "I'm tryin', here, Zara. So what, we move to Poughkeepsie, that make ya happy?"

A wince and she shakes her head. "Sorry. Sorry. I'm sorry."

"No. I know better." A soft hiss to herself "stupid"

"C'mon, Zara, work with me here!" She pulls herself back from a short explosion; impressive! "A'ight... like, look. I got -nothin'- right now, ok? Not two cents to rub together. An' Jacob. So... so maybe I get situated, right? Like, get a job an' make some money an' stuff an'... an' we start lookin' Upstate. Like... one thread at a time?"

A soft sound, something caught in her throat. A nod.

"I'm sorry."

"Fer what?"

She gestures, but doesn't manage to articulate a response.

"Baby, you cryin'?" Uncomfortably.

Another hitch of breath and she shakes her head - but her shoulders have a betraying quiver and she certainly isn't letting Miriam see her face.

"Shit...." muttered. An awkward pause. "You want us to move in with you? An' him, I guess?"

Headshake. "Ssss-ssorry."

"Zara, c'mon....!" She stops and makes herself swallow it down. "Ok, so... not Baltimore an' not Poughkeepsie? Gotta live -somewhere-...."

Her hands cover her face.

"B-baltimore iss good. Aye. S-sssorry."

Miriam plonks the coffee cup down. "Zara, what'd I -do-!?!?"

Earl comes back into the room "Everything okay? I thought I heard..." He notices the situation "raised voices"

Miriam flaps at Earl, then towards Zara, spitting and sputtering like a hot skillet.

A muffled groan, wishing she could disappear.

"Oh boy... " Earl moves to Zara, allowing a shield of sorts even as he moves close "I should have stayed. I handed over a coloring book with spiders in it and... yeah" a look "Who wants to tell me what I missed?"

She scrubs at her eyes. "Sorry. Naught. It's fine. Miriam isss... is... moving to Baltimore."

"I -tried-!!!" Exasperated. "She... an' I... furkin'..... explained.... Baltimore.... but Nooo.... an' she.... asked her! An' not furkin' Poughkeepsie.... gotta work! An', an', an'....."