955 Chapter 955 Departure… but not for ME
Eventually Roxy and Bruce decided to leave. As nice as it was spending time with everyone… after a few weeks of hanging out at Vivian’s house they were clearly ready to move on. They’d spent so many years travelling around that even the idea of spending a month in the same place was daunting. Especially when that ‘place’ was a small unremarkable town.
Roxy was actually much more mature about it then Bruce. Bruce, despite his quiet nature, wasn’t willing to admit to himself, let alone others, that spending so much time in one place was really grating on him. Roxy however knew what the issue was, and started preparing to leave. Even if she had to drag Bruce metaphorically kicking and screaming along the way despite the fact he was the one getting more frayed by the day.
For Roxy, this had been a nice change of pace from her current life. Adventure called to her, and she enjoyed going around the world. There was still so many places they hadn’t experienced and that was her life. She understood that. She craved that. She loved that. Roxy also understood that you needed a break sometimes, and visiting Vivian, a familiar face, a familiar town. It was all very nice…
But it was not who she was at her core. The idea of settling down in a small suburb had been destroyed long ago. The smouldering remains of those dreams had used to fuel a new dream, one that she still held close to this day. The idea that she could see the world. That there were new things around every corner, and that there wasn’t enough life to see it all… but she could damn well try. Unlike Bruce, she did not morn the loss of her first dream, to make money then settle down with a big house and a nice garden.
That was a dream born out of desperation, or at least that’s how Roxy saw it. A dream built by a child who had not experienced the world. As an adult though… Roxy still dreamed. She dreamed a new dream that she felt could sustain her until time started to take its pound of flesh. Perhaps then she could settle down. Perhaps she would never get the chance. The idea of not attempting it though? That was sacrilege.
For Bruce though… he was in it for the beauty. The wonder. He travelled because he loved Roxy, and he loved to see the all sorts of new, quiet places. Untouched wilderness, city skylines in the morning light. Dusty old graffiti fading away over time. Ancient carvings, and fresh gardens on the plains. She journey did not entice Bruce, so much as the idea of new, peaceful destinations he could take in.
Of course… it was still those new moments that called to him. Rehashing so many old stories for the kids. Waking up to the same suburb. A town he’d seen time, and time again. A strange house filled with oddities… that ran on such a consistent schedule. Vivian’s house one was on contradictions but it quickly became mundane. Normal. For Bruce it lost a lot of its wonder in just the time he’d spent there.
So it was time to leave. He fought his wife’s decision fiercely despite knowing she was right… but what cut him deeply was Sylvie’s remarkable indifference to their departure. For Sylvie, Roxy and Bruce were interesting people of course. Fun and clearly important to Vivian… but she didn’t really KNOW them. They were visiting strangers, and unlike other children her age, recognised the fact that they were going to leave very quickly. This meant they didn’t properly settle into her heart. Now that they were leaving… it was just a fact. Their visit was nice, and it was over. Nothing more, nothing less.
Roxy was able to recognise this during her preparations. Just as she was able to recognise that Vivian was sad and annoyed to see them go. Vivian had been so busy the entire ‘vacation’ that she hadn’t spent any real time with her parents and they were already leaving. Vivian understood it was in part due to all the things she’d hidden in regards to Sylvie and Kat but that didn’t mean she was any happier about the situation.
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Roxy did take some slight amounts of pity on her daughter. Spending the second last day of their stay in Vivian’s office helping her out with work instead of spending time with everyone else. Vivian’s beaming smile at dinner that day helped ease Roxy’s own guilt at what she’d done to her daughter. Sure it was Roxy’s idea, and the punishment was to make a point… but that didn’t mean she was happy about the whole thing. Still, Roxy knew it left a deep impression on her daughter… just… perhaps a bit deeper then intended.
For Callisto the departure was simply a fact, much like it was for Sylvie. Callisto’s issue with her own parents prevented her from truly being comfortable in the presence of Roxy or Bruce. She could treat them like pleasant acquaintances, or important friends of her best friend… but nothing more. Roxy and Bruce knew this well and didn’t try to push things, so this relationship didn’t really shift.
It did mean that Callisto was not surprised at all by Sylvie’s similar attitude towards them. Though Callisto falsely believed that Sylvie was imitating her, and felt somewhat guilty about that. She was wrong of course, as mentioned before, Sylvie had known about Roxy and Bruce’s departure. She simply had not taken them into her heart. Callisto though, worried that Sylvie’s lack of reaction was due to her own feelings on the matter.
Callisto had no idea how to deal with this issue that was in fact not an issue at all. Callisto was sure that if she actually needed to sleep, this question would have kept her up at night. There was nothing inherently wrong with Sylvie’s colder then expected attitude towards Vivian’s parents’ departure… but it probably wasn’t ideal. At least, Callisto was pretty sure it wasn’t ideal. Her own strange upbringing and lack of issue with the departure was making it hard for her to know exactly what Sylvie’s reaction should be.
Lily and Kat weren’t any help either. Kat had seen way too many people come and go and the orphanage. Even if Roxy and Bruce weren’t gone forever, and could be contacted… so could many of the children and teenagers Kat had said goodbye to. She did not keep in contact though. They were moving on to a new life, and Kat never felt comfortable trying to remind them about where they came from. For Kat, the orphanage was home, and there was nothing wrong with that… but for others, they had their own homes to manage.
So Kat, while slightly melancholy about their departure, wasn’t surprised either. It simply washed over her. Sure Kat spent a bit more time with them in the days after the announced departure, she listened a bit more. Committed the moments to memory a bit more stringently… but she didn’t beg them to stay. Didn’t even try to hint that they could spend a bit more time here safely. She was ready for them to leave, and no tears were shed as the rental vehicle left the driveway.
Lily had some mixed feelings, similar to Vivian. She had forgone a lot of time potentially spent with Roxy and Bruce in favour of practice and wasn’t particularly pleased with the trade-off when it finally came time for them to leave. Even with all the time she put end, constantly burning mana and regenerating it… the best she managed was a paper storm made up of confetti sized pieces that did exactly no damage to anything or anyone. Forget scratching Kat’s clothes, Lily couldn’t even damage a real sheet of paper with her magic.
Well, that wasn’t quite true. Lily figured out how to shred paper with a spell, and that technically counts as damage… but it really wasn’t what she was after. The ‘paper destruction’ spell was intended to be a good compliment for summoning full pages. You could summon large pieces of paper, shred them, then throw all the shredded pieces afterwards. Apparently it was slightly more mana efficient and made for sharper edges.
The fact that it was the only way Lily could damage the paper target she set up was very disappointing. Especially when the paper didn’t shred itself into a bunch of small pieces… instead it shredded into ten or so large pieces because the spell was too hard for Lily to cast properly. So even when she was damaging the target, it was because she was using a massive amount of extra mana to deal damage… to a fragile, paper target.
It was the first time Lily started to wonder if perhaps paper magic was a mistake as her first affinity… and that practice might make perfect… but that she was wasting her test. This was further driven home when Roxy and Bruce had no estimation for their next visit. Lily found herself somewhat bitter as she watched Bruce drive away. A few kisses from Kat did help alleviate the problem… even if it hadn’t vanished completely.
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