"I'm helping a friend with kind of... well, 'Who's Who' profiles for some breakout stars. It's, um, it's not really my forte, but I can't really say no to people," Clark replied. "But it's good to get out of your comfort zone, I guess!"
"I'm just, um... Well, an informant told me that you'd be great to interview for this article I have coming up!"
Clark smiled, but it faded quickly when he realized how odd that sounded without the full context.
"Because I'm a reporter! Gee, I'm sorry. Should've... should've led with that, huh?"
"Oh, no, that's all right! It's, uh, it's certainly better than mine, that's for sure," he replied with a slight chuckle.
Clark let him drag him about as he pleased, keeping his own handshake as weak as he could manage.
Once he'd gotten his hand back, he adjusted his glasses and remarked breathily, "Gee, you've-you've got a strong grip there."
"Oh, shoot, I'm sorry. I, um, I'm Clark."
He held out his hand.
@eyes-for-disguise.bsky.social
IT'S #TogetherTuesday!!!! 🥳🎉🪅🎊
"Stay safe, and do not deface any buildings... or-or property in general... or people! ...Again!"
Clark hugged the pie close to him and retreated farther into his house.
"I'd... I'd better not see you on the evening news, young lady!"
"I swear, if it's more illegal stuff..."
At this point, his eyes were nothing more than narrow slits. He slowly brought the pie closer to his chest and backed into the house a couple of inches without closing the door.
"I hardly know what to do with you."
Clark's eyes widened in concern, then narrowed in suspicion. 𝘛𝘩𝘪𝘴 𝘩𝘢𝘥 𝘣𝘦𝘵𝘵𝘦𝘳 𝘯𝘰𝘵 𝘵𝘶𝘳𝘯 𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘭𝘢𝘴𝘵 𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘦...
"Ravanna... What exactly do you 𝗺𝗲𝗮𝗻 by 'Plan B'?"
United Methodist Church owns the building."
"Ohhh, that makes sense. The way Methodist churches do that is kind of squirrely."
Clark clicked his tongue and leaned against the doorframe.
"The, um, the local congregation holds the building's title 'in trust' to the entire denomination. So I guess... I guess... technically... the entire
"Why do you need information? I wouldn't say there's much to know," Clark said with an eyebrow raised.
and looked off into the distance for some time before returning his attention to Ravanna.
"What's, uh, what's the pie for, by the way?"
"Oh, Mrs. Nebbins! I think she, um... I think she gave me piano lessons when I was a kid," Clark replied absentmindedly as he looked at the contents of Ravanna's basket over the top of his glasses. "That didn't last very long."
He made a little squeaky noise that vaguely resembled a small chuckle
((REEEEEEEE!!!
((CAS ACCOUNTS. CAS ACCOUNTS.
"Heh, sorry," Clark replied sheepishly while scratching the back of his neck.
His eyes immediately abandoned their ashamed, sideways glance and zeroed in on the basket when she said the magic word.
"Pie, you say?"
Clark rushed to the door, and every light, loose object in his way flew about like it'd been caught in a tornado. His parents had gone off to town to pick up some farming tools, so he was all on his lonesome.
He opened the door and hesitantly peeked through.
"Ravanna?"
"Promise I won't! Scout's Honor."
He held up his right hand with his thumb and pinkie touching and his other three fingers straight up and placed his left hand over his heart, just to show that he was extra serious.
offers with a small, sheepish smile.
Clark goes to put a reassuring hand on Tomio's shoulder but immediately thinks better of it. He still doesn't know Tomio very well, but he is well aware that he's the sort that wouldn't take kindly to a gesture of that sort.
"If it's, uh, if it's any consolation, I'm great at keeping secrets," he
at all, but it shouldn't bother anyone anyhow! That's just a thing that happens to you sometimes... aaaaaand I will shut up for a bit now."
"I've," to say the next part, Clark begins speaking out of the side of his mouth,"I've seen the whole, um, the whole... How to say this... process before."
Suddenly, his eyes go wide, and he starts waving his hands emphatically.
"It's not a problem or anything, though! I mean, it doesn't bother me
"It's- It's been a few months," he murmured, his eyes shifting back and forth.
"I haven't told anyone, though. I-I figured that that's your business, and I have no business spreading your... business around."
Clark opened his mouth and began speaking immediately. He hadn't even had to catch his breath, somehow...
"I, um... I 𝗱𝗼 know."
Oh, thank goodness. Sweet, sweet relief.
"Oh, um... okay! Okay! That's all right."
Respect his boundaries, Clark... Respect his boundaries...
After a while, he's resorted to holding his breath to keep anything from accidentally slipping out.
BOUNDARIES...
Heck yeah!
Happy to help. 😎👍
You'd better watch out! I'm gonna... do stuff!
Is that good?
"Oh, alrighty."
Clark's expression melts into a slight frown.
"You know- you know you can talk to me if you need to, right?"
