(1942-06-22) Coming to Call
Coming to Call
Summary: In the wake of everything, Roderick comes to check on Leona. All manner of topics are covered.
Date: 1942-06-22
Related: Fright Night!, Epic Munchies
Players:
leona..roddy..

Styne Residence, Higsi
Thu Jun 22, 1942


This 1880s farmhouse has seen better days. While the 18 inch limestone walls mean that it is stable and secure, it still needs some work. The tin roof is rusted in many patches, not so much as to eat through the metal yet, but in the next decade or so there will be substantial leaks. The thick oak front door is in need of refinishing, but at least the pillars around the small slab of a front porch have been recently painted a bright white.

The walls inside the house are the original limestone, distressed after many year of being painted and exposed over again. They have a nice mix of yellow, blue, and grey in different fading patches, making each room feel rather warm and welcoming. All the furniture is locally made, though the owner has taken it upon themselves to make sure each room has at least one painted accent piece. A blue armoire. A yellow butlers table. Things of this nature. Each room is decorated simply, with dried flowers hanging by the windows, pewter and some china pieces exposed in the doorless china cabinet, hanging planters, and a few small painting in old frames or hammered horseshoes. All told, the house is bright, tidy, and distressed. The doors to the cellar are locked at all times.

Weather:
It is summer. The weather is hot and overcast.


Today's not a day for Leona to get dirty. Today's a day for Leona to stay clean! She's working in the sitting room, dressed in a simple cotton shirtwaist dress of a rich sky blue with white buds printed all over it. Her hair is pulled up in a bun of twisted braids at the nape of her neck, and all in all, things seem pleasant at the Styne homestead.
The mess of the sleeping powder has been cleared away, and Clyde came to finish the floo the next day. Unsurprisingly, there were no mishaps this time. It's like the issues never even happened at all, except that the Alpha did get some much-needed rest. There's also a new addition to the Styne menagerie—a wren, kept in a cage with lots of materials to climb on, his wing in a splint. He chirps from time to time, and otherwise lives happily in the living room, getting fed far better than he would if he were out in the wild.
The radio in the upstairs living room is twaddling on about Churchill's arrival in DC about a week before, and the subsequent conference that took place. The sound is scratchy, the reporter speaking in a too-fast mid-Atlantic accent, which is still all the rage at this particular time in 1942.
She sits, in the heat of the day, by an open window with a cool glass of lemonade on the coffee table before her. Her knitting is on her lap, as she continues in her mission to make every US soldier, sailor, and marine a pair of socks by the time the war is done. Blue sits at her feet, sleeping lazily. He too, it seems, is not terribly fond of the Tennessee summer heat.

The very same broadcast that churns out of Vet Styne's radio filled the parlor of Rufus and Linda Boyd's estate for much of the morning, leading up to when Roderick saw fit to consider himself 'dried out' enough to finally pay a one Miss Styne a visit. It was mostly out of an earnest concern for her, following what happened with that Walker bastard accosting her and… Roddy can't quite think about that. It makes his knuckles itch, though the hand connected to the arm that was broken in three places seems to tingle off-and-on when the weather shifts into rain. Surely some nerve damage in there somewhere.

But it's mostly out of a need to confront a man who simultaneously enrages Roddy and terrifies him. Not just Clyde, but all of them who take their dirty mountain hides into town to cause trouble.

But for now, at the insistence of his 'darling' mother, Roddy donned his best dove gray (it suits his complexion) button-up collared shirt and a pair of dark slacks. Despite everything he cuts a fine figure and presence and if the sound of his car pulling up into the driveway of her home doesn't reach Leona's ears as she knits contentedly, the rapping of the man's knuckles against the door just might! Roddy's eyes, brown and glittering like sherry, case out Leona's property thoughtfully as if he expects a Walker to just spring out from behind the barn..

No Walkers today. And not just because Leona's house doesn't need too many more major repairs, but also, simply, that the Walkers have put a moratorium on her 'strange' house, unknown to Leona just now. So at the knock at the door she lifts her eyes, surprised, and rather blue in the light of the hot day. Her knitting is set carefully aside and she rises, stepping gracefully over Blue to get to the door.
"Oh, Roddy," she says with a warm smile when she opens it. She doesn't know the drunken brute side of the man too well, and their need for each other seems to have let such little things as unkind rumors slip away. Who believes rumors, anyway? No one seems to believe the ones about the Walkers of late! Unless it involves shacking up. Those ones get quite a lot of legs beneath them.
Leona steps aside in a silent gesture for the man to come in. Blue remains where he is, entirely lazy and uninterested. "I wasn't expecting company today. I've just been hiding out, trying to stay cool. Being lazy too, I suppose," she admits with that same easy chuckle that comes from one who is confident, even in self-deprecation. "Would you like something to drink? I can make a sandwich if you haven't had lunch yet?"

The man waits, still fresh against the growing heat of the imminent afternoon with nary a splotch to be found beneath the pits of his shirt. That's a good start! Roddy rubs the wrist of his 'bad' arm thoughtfully, knowing he will have to put it back into a sling later on to give it a rest. Doctor's orders extended into giving the arm some 'natural' movement (ie. no sling) for a few hours a day, morning and night. It feels okay for now, but every tingle and every moment of weakness in what was once a very strong arm only drives the stake of hatred deeper. It doesn't take long til' Leona answers his call, and her looking quite resplendent in her chosen attire.

All vitriolic thoughts about mountain folk and bum limbs burn away into the summer heat, and one can just see the man's possibilities as he smiles genuinely. Roddy has a strong profile: a somewhat aquiline nose, strong chin, even brow and eyes that can be piercing. But his smile is a high point, the twin to his father's. A businessman's smile with teeth that family money takes care of. He pulls himself up to his full height and looks upon Leona appreciatively.

"Good afternoon Miss Leona," Roddy offers in his smooth Southern way. "Hope I'm not intruding…" He trails off as she describes hiding away from the heat, and his eyes crinkle at their corners in mirth. "Got space in that bunker for another, then? Don't be puttin' yourself out on account of me, but a cold drink would suit. I'm not all that hungry." See, he cares enough to not even insist on alcohol! He pads into the foyer with all the grace of a surefooted man who hasn't had a drop to drink. "Are you holding up alright after everything? I'm sorry I couldn't be here sooner."

"Oh don't be ridiculous; that smile of yours is never an intrusion," Leona says in response, easily closing the door behind him. It's not flirtatious, Leona is rarely if ever flirtatious. It's simply matter-of-fact. His handsomeness is as true as the blueness of the sky, and it's no shame or come-on to acknowledge it. "Go on and have a seat in the sitting room, I'll just get you some lemonade." It is the middle of the day, after all, and alcohol isn't really proper in company. In the evenings, though, Leona has been known to enjoy her brandy a little.
She steps through the house, past the basement door which remains locked, and into the kitchen to pour the man a fresh, cold glass of lemonade, before returning to the living room to offer it over. "There you are, make yourself comfortable." Leona's going to make a wonderful old woman, bustling people in and fawning over their needs until they feel so welcomed they forget that they don't, in fact, live here. In a young woman, it's sometimes seen as a little forward.
"After everything? Do you mean the Japanese bombing in Oregon? Well, I'll admit, it's a little nerve-wracking to know that they're so close as to manage such a strike. But really the whole thing just infuriates me. How dare they!" Leona's cheeks flush under the light freckling as she settles down, bringing her own lemonade up for a calming sip.

Mayhaps that is one of the biggest components in Roddy's association with the lovely spinster: his care with the drink. While most are proper enough to abstain from such things during the day and working hours, choosing instead to unwind at night, it was Roddy's way to have a tumbler or a shot whenever he saw fit. Nobody stopped him; his parents were too busy keeping their noses up the collective spouts of Higsi's denizens; no siblings to mind or mentor. So for Roddy to forgo anything alcoholic and settle — happily — for a cold glass of lemonade? That's pretty serious.

It was an arrangement that was made out of convenience, at least on his part in the beginning. An eligible but troubled bachelor; a peculiar but fetching spinster from a respected family. Roddy couldn't help but like Leona despite some of the things she got up to for leisure and work. But there you have it… the woman's nurturing nature and desire to help others feel comfortable chipped away somewhat (but not entirely) at his opportunistic nature.

Talk of the war efforts makes Roddy squirm, though he hides it well. He's pampered, not used to that sort of strife… he does not sit just yet, looking startled as Leona assumes that's what he meant. "Terrible that, but I meant what happened to you here. It's been talk all over town Leona, that a Walker forced himself on you. I was worried about you." He says levelly, eyes flashing once as he looks into her flushed, freckle-dusted face.

The meeting of eyes is of little concern for Leona. Confident and composed almost always, she's rather fond of meeting the gaze of others. Particularly of men. Farmers and the like won't just turn the business of their birthing cows over to anyone, and you have to make an impression as a solid person, a thoughtful person, a serious person. Eye contact is one way to do that, and either out of natural toughness or practice, it's a comfortable position for her now.
"Oh," she says, and then her lips turn up into a grin of amusement. "You shouldn't be, Roddy. No one forced themselves on me, not in the way I think you mean or in any other particular way." She leans forward to set her own drink on the coffee table, reclining back in the sofa. She crosses her legs at the knee, careful to make sure her skirt doesn't ride up over it in the least. It's a subconscious gesture of politeness rather than any shyness on her part. "Clyde Walker is my handyman," she explains easily, patiently, and with that tingle of amusement still in her voice. "He had his head up the floo clearing a block, and got whiff of something that made him lightheaded. By the time I got him outside, he'd fainted from it." She grins a little wider, almost playful and easygoing toward the young man before her. "I may be a spinster, but I'm fairly certain that being knocked to sleep by fumes makes it rather hard to take advantage of anyone."

Blink, blink. Roddy was already beginning to build up a fine head of steam but who is he to contest what comes out of the mouth of someone who was there? Leona is still seated in her calm, poised way and suddenly the man feels foolish, moving now to lower himself to sit alongside her, folding his long limbs so that he, too, may appear presentable. Clearly Leona does not know of the track record he (Roddy) has with a one Clyde Walker. It started immediately after he harangued that foolish Scottish skirt; sure he may have gotten a bit 'enthusiastic' but he's passionate, damnit! Next thing he knows that crazy-haired lunatic is having a fit and savaging his arm! And Leona has him… that.. as a handyman?!

Roddy needs to process this, but he keeps a fairly calm face as he samples the lemonade. It's coolness hits the back of this throat and liking this, he draws in a deeper swing. His drink joins Leona's on the table and the young man rubs the back of his neck in an unconscious gesture of incredulity. Especially when Leona has to be amused by his concern..! He chalks it up to her unflappable nature that he has come to appreciate so well, but damnit.. he does not like Clyde Walker.. or any Walker.. being in sniffing distance of this house. Maybe it yet shows in his features.

He wishes the man could have cracked his head a good one when he fainted.

"Well.. ah, alright. I'm glad you're… that it was all a misunderstanding. Because.." Because what? What could Roddy have done to Clyde? "I worry for you is all, out here on your own." His bad arm is immediate to Leona, and that hand shall seek out Leona's own to catch it up, if she will allow it. He needs to make a point. It surprised Roddy how much he's coming to give a damn.

And Leona? She just continues to be unflappable, continues to watch him with her mostly-blue eyes today, continues to smile at him, both warmly and fondly. Though she is just very minorly flapped when he takes her hand, more by the unexpected nature of it than anything else. She takes it in stride, save for one blink. Her free hand places over the one he's taken hers with, and gives him a warm, reassuring squeeze.
"You're really too kind sometimes," she tells him, apparently really not knowing anything that's transpired when the man was drunk and pawing and Lillie. Sure, there's other rumors of him doing other things when he's drunk, but it's the sober man she knows, and the sober man she speaks to now. "I'm alright out here. I grew up in this house, remember. I was here long before you ever had a thought to be concerned." She grins at him then, another gesture of reassurance, before she removes her extra hand from his, but allows him to keep her other one if he wishes to. She leans back in the sofa comfortably.
"I should think I ought to be the one concerned about you," she continues, cocking her head slightly to regard the man and to allow her blue eyes to flick across his face in the hopes of reading his reaction. "I understand you did an especially good turn by Miss Wright and her sister, is that so? She's a very particular friend of mine, you know." She waits then with that welcoming smile on her face, encouraging him to open up about the particular incident.

Yes, Roddy can be grabby… when he's been into the sauce. But he's not stupid, and somehow the thought of behaving like a neanderthal in the company of Miss Styne is just… no. Thinking himself to have been bringing the point home by taking her hand in a friendly gesture, Leona goes and places her hand over his and it's all the man can do but feel his own heart trip and give her fingers a gentle squeeze of acknowledgement. Roddy has known few women; fewer in the biblical sense. He's not about to be an ass and mess things up here, though she sure is beautiful in blue. With obvious reluctance he releases her hand and leans forward to collect his glass again, cooling his ire with another sip of the liquid.

"If you insist.. it's a good point. I come off as a buffoon sometimes, gettin' all protective." Roddy admits, knowing well that Leona has coped perfectly fine on her own out here. "You have my number. If you're needing of anything at all.." Is all he can manage; it's all he should manage. He can't be sitting here forcing his worry on this perfectly capable professional. He looks sideward to her, well-aware of her presence and warmth at his side, even as they are sitting innocuously beside on another.

"That little girl came up our porch past midnight, we live just down the street. I did what any decent man would do." Roddy remarks on Madeline Wright, and the by-chance opportunity he had to plug a transient in the face with his 'good' fist. "I don't know Kitty Wright all that well but if she's in good standing with you, she can't be all that bad." He smiles openly at Leona. "Just imagine my shock when they were takin' a Walker out of her house. Not your handyman.. another one." He knows Clifton… well enough.

A man who doesn't force his protection or opinion upon an unmarried woman like herself? A rare commodity, that! It makes Leona smile and relax, a little more comfortably than before. Surely a man with such respect for a woman's opinion cannot be quite as bad as people say, right?
"She is someone worth knowing; I highly recommend her acquaintance. I looked after some fresh kittens for them recently, and Kitty was kind enough to keep an eye on my house while I was in Columbus." Watching a giraffe get dissected. Such fun!
The news about Clifton though does cause Leona's brows to lift after she's leaned forward for her own sip. She leans back, glass still in her hand while they talk. "Is that so? He wasn't the burger, I'm sure," she says, cautiously. However, save for Clyde the woman has little enough experience with Walkers, save for the knowledge that they're in and out of jail all the time. How else is she to know any differently about them? For that reason, her statement of 'I'm sure' has more of a question to it than a statement of confidence on the man's behalf. Kitty will know, but until Kitty is here to talk about it, Roddy's thoughts will have to do as fact for her.

Oh, the need is there… to enshroud and protect and give a 'man's' take on what Leona should be doing. Lord knows Roddy sees it often enough in his parents and their puffed-up contemporaries… but see, he's wiley enough to know where it's not a good idea to be boorish. The time may or may not come where he must push the letter, but he must behave appropriately to stand a chance. This clean-shaven, handsome man beside Leona… if she only knew some of the things he had done. The punches thrown. But he's trying, he really is!

"She's a bit rough.." Roddy starts, regarding Kitty and why he's given her a wide berth. "But my folks have been checking in on them a lot since the robbery attempt. I don't think it's my place to be fretting around her." Roddy grins sheepishly; not when he has his sights set elsewhere. He listens to the topic of kittens and he considers. "Ah.. yes, I remember. The little girl was adopting them out, Madeline. The kittens. Far as I know she succeeded. And.." Pretty blonde Madeline and… cripes, Kitty. Roddy's brow furrows. "I saw Kitty around these parts while you were away, one time in the evening while I was driving by. Lugging around a gun." He pauses.. no wonder the property was as safe as Leona had left it, complete with yard maintenance done.

"I…" Most of his hate is reserved for Clyde; Clifton is an anomaly, especially with what Maddie cried about him. "I think that Walker tried to stop it. The robbery." Roddy grates out reluctantly, he can't override a little girl's words with his own maliciousness. He leans back and considers something… another cause for concern.

"Y'hear much of the latest in town? The strange noises over by that old wreck of a church, and what happened to the trees?" Roddy moves onto this next tangent, enjoying this easy talk.. and the view.

"Well, that's good news then, though it does make you wonder why the boy ended up in jail, unless being at an unmarried woman's home in the evening is something that the Sheriff has started policing now," Leona says. It wouldn't honestly be that surprising, since morality is so often policed as part of law in the early 20th century, and likely even moreso in the back woods of the world. But the implication makes Leona grin playfully to Roddy. "If that's the case, we'd best make sure we get you home before the street lights come on," she teases lightly, finishing another sip of her lemonade and setting it on the stand beside her, rather than leaning forward to put it on the coffee table this time.
When she turns back and the conversation has turned with her, she returns to the comfortable, relaxed and easy smile that she so often wears. She leans back, plucking up her knitting while they talk. The metal needles make soft clicks against one another as the yarn is folded and knotted into the shape of a stitch in a sock. "The washerwoman brought her dog to me yesterday to take a look at, and she mentioned it. Part of me wonders if it might be some sort of animal; really I should go and have a look later today once it's cooled down in case that's the problem. The other part of me doubts I'll find anything if I do go look, seeing as this town gets bored rather quickly when there's nothing else illicit to discuss." But even with those words, she grins fondly for the town and even the town gossips. It wouldn't be Higsi without the biddies.

"Wouldn't put it past them to tighten up on living in sin." Roddy offers his own playful jab, the corners of his eyes crinkling in amusement as he counters Leona's grin. "I'd better keep up a good impression, then." HAHAHA. Write that one down in the books, Roddy saying that. Finishing his drink he leans back into the sofa, doing everything he can to keep it decent. It amazes him, really, the lather he had gotten himself into over Leona as of late. Even though she has outright cleared that asshole Clyde Walker of lascivious blame, he's still not fond of the man. His arm twitches and burns at the thought of him.

Dark eyes linger for a second too long on Leona'a smiling mouth, followed by a lingering gaze at the back of her neck as she leans forward to put her glass down onto the coffee table. Damnit.

When she leans back, Roddy rights himself and turns slightly to face her, listening… isn't he just such a good listener? His eyes flit to the working needles as Leona takes up her craft, and the sound is simultaneously comforting and tiring. He considers, then… remembers one more tidbit.

"Ma was in to see Miss Wright last night, just following the happenings. Turns out your friend was there when it all happened, she was going on about it asking Ma about what the creature could have been. Course she wouldn't know," Linda Boyd only knows about beauty regime and numbers. "What kind of creature can stand up on it's God-given legs and reach up into those old trees? You should see the boughs.. they're stripped." Roddy looks awe-struck. Clearly his imagination is running away with it all, like much of the town.

His own jab amuses Leona even more, and the woman's grin grows appreciatively for Roddy's good humor. "Quite a few of those old fogies would consider a woman living alone a sin. The only thing worse is unmarried women living together. What's the law say, that no more than four unmarried, unrelated women can live in a house together or else it's considered a house of ill repute? Bah," she dismisses the idea with a shake of her head.
She looks down at her knitting, the needles moving with an easy rhythm. The news broadcast has ended, and Glenn Miller is piping through the speaker now, low and relaxing. Any lingering gaze is lost on her, comfortable and confident as she is. "It wouldn't necessarily have to be some creature that could reach up on it's hinds. Something that climbs, perhaps. Even a young bear cub could do the deed, though I'm imagining how it must look in my mind. Perhaps I'll have a better idea when I see the trees," she admits. "I just wish it weren't so hot. A lifetime in Tennessee, and sometimes I still just wilt." With a curious gaze, she lifts her eyes to his, but not her face. A glance more than anything else. "What do you think it is, Roddy?"

Oh God.. oh God, what can Roddy do here? Leona speaks of what is considered 'proper' by the old set and how a clutch of unmarried women living together is…. egads, awful! Sin-making! While he's one to laugh it off and perhaps feel that deep-South discomfort at something so peculiar, Roddy cannot compete with his parents' thoughts on the matter. They would be some of the first to consider such a scenario as ridiculous; hence why they are so insistent on him not messing up his friendship with Leona. No pressure, Roddy.

Folding one long leg over a knee, Roderick considers as Leona knits away companionably alongside him. "I haven't the foggiest, Leona," He admits.. not liking that he hasn't a clue. "I'm just picturing all manner of things, things that a kid would think about, even. I just heard about long legs, a long neck… nothing about the colors or whatever. But if you ask any one person in town you'll get something different. I just heard… tall.."

He caught her brief glance at him from beneath her lashes, and for whatever reason that brings him back to the original intention of his visit. "I don't mind the heat all that much," Lies. "But you know, people are of a mind sometimes to go for a swim in the river when the sun gets really oppressive. What say you join me sometime for a picnic and a swim, to deal with this heat? As friends," He says quickly, heart pounding away. Roddy looks nervous, but in a pure way. Pure for him anyway. "Scout's honor. Folks go to that bend all the time."

"Tall, hmm? Now I'm particularly intrigued," Leona says easily, letting her eyes turn back to her knitting. She draws out one long, metal stick now that she's finished a row, and it takes a moment for her eyes to focus so she can begin anew. Then the rhythmic clicking picks up as though it never dropped off in the first place. "I'll definitely go out and have a look, perhaps let the sheriff know my thoughts if he's truly worried about it. I'm sure it must be an animal of some kind," she decides.
She continues to listen to the man as he brings up his proposal for a picnic and a swim, but it's only when he seems to chatter on about his honor, and the nature of their friendship that she pauses in what she's doing, setting her knitting across her lap again so she can turn and look at him with a warm and slightly amused smile on her features.
"I'd love to," she says, easily and confidently, and in a tone that will hopefully put his own concerns at ease. "I'm sure your mother and my grandmother would love it too," she teases again with a little chuckle, taking up her knitting again. "So much so that we perhaps oughtn't tell them, unless we want to be the subject of the next Women's Auxiliary Meeting." Her face breaks into an amused grin. "Truthfully I haven't had a chance to go swimming at all this year, but I've been thinking about it. So the idea really comes at a perfect time."

"Go check it out, put some of thoe biddies' worries to rest. I've been hearing everything … even aliens. Now those only appear in funnypages, but people really are in a lather." Roddy admits, his lips curling up at their corners in amusement. His sherry-colored eyes watch the needles work, and as if by magic the latest row being finished up before Leona adeptly prepares for the next. Roddy can't make hear or tails out of this manner of hobby… but his feet sure reap the benefits of cozy socks in the winter. As do those soldiers overseas. "Even the Sheriff is in a bit of a flap.." He observes lastly, rubbing one palm over the knee of his bent leg, as if polishing a newel-post.

All of this is undermined by a surprising spat of anxiety over whether or not Leona accepts what he thinks of as a pretty innocent offer. If she says no, he will field it gracefully enough… but when Leona concedes? Well! If she looks up at his face with those lovely blue-greens she may see an expression of absolute wonder cross his features. He's trying to hide it, temper it, but this is really the first time such an offer has been accepted. "Swell!" Roddy exclaims despite himself, then clears his throat. "Okay.. well, it's a date—-" He pauses. "Friendly date!" Followed up, don't want to make this calm and collected lass think him to be too eager.

Concerns eased.

"Making family happy is only a bonus, it may be a good idea. Give the Auxiliary dames something to jaw about." Roddy observes, but leaves it at that. He and Leona's friendly excursions are a hot topic more often than not, and this would be golden. "You'll really like this place. With that said, I'd better be getting on to get some honest work done so I can get that afternoon off. I promise you it'll be worth it." Roddy yammers on, amazed at how happy and awkward he feels. So much so that he leans in to give Leona a fond peck to the cheek. "Thank you for the lemonade. I'll call on you soon, next hot day… and you and I both know that will be as soon as tomorrow in these parts." Hint hint.

Leona grins at the man's excitement. Perhaps it doesn't fully register why he's so excited, except that the day does sound like a very fine excursion in a life that sometimes seems lacking in them. She tilts her face slightly to accept the kiss on the cheek with gracious affection. "Well let's hope tomorrow's a hot one, then," she agrees with a grin, setting her knitting aside. Even with that, she'll stand up to see him out. "I'll have to find my suite, I'm sure I haven't unpacked it since last summer. But just give me a ring, and I'll be ready." She walks him to the door then, to see him out with a friendly wave.

Throughout it all, Blue has just sat on the floor, fast asleep. He really couldn't care less.

Unless otherwise stated, the content of this page is licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 3.0 License