Thistle and Stone [Chaennie]

Chapter 7

SUSPICION

Jennie couldn't help but suspect that Roseanne was toying with her. She had the ominous notion that she was a mouse trapped under a rather large paw, being batted around for the sake of watching her scramble. After their impromptu...kiss? Could she call it that? Roseanne had retreated back into silence, and Jennie felt like she could barely parse a sentence together. Thankfully, eating had given her something to do, and Roseanne's stew was better than she had suspected. It quelled the wine and temporarily filled the ache that she felt. Unsurprisingly, she was drained. Her mind swam with images of runes, Suzy Bae's sneer, the plain walls of St. Mungo's, and the outline of Roseanne's lips, illuminated by the soft light above the stove.

"Kim? Are you listening?"

Jennie looked up slowly, catching Roseanne's strange look. "Hmm?" Jennie ladled herself another bite.

"I was asking where you wanted to sleep. I don't have a guest room but I'm fine to take the sofa. Only because of you know, after your day and all." Roseanne gestured towards Jennie, assuming she could fill in the rest.

"Oh," Jennie gently laid her spoon back down, "so at the risk of sounding accommodating, you're only graciously giving me your bedroom because your ex-girlfriend assaulted me today?" She watched as a muscle in Roseanne's jaw twitched.

"If you want the sofa that badly, you can have it."

"Actually," Jennie returned to her dinner, "your room sounds fine. Although I originally suspected you slept in a crypt, I'm sure I can survive a night just fine."

Roseanne let out a soft exhale and shook her head. "Merlin, Kim, if you weren't such an uptight arse, I would've thought that was a decent joke."

Jennie barely let herself react to the jab, knowing Roseanne enjoyed pushing her. "You know," she talked through her last bite, "Lis and Jisoo, and even Taehyung and Jungkook, have these really lovely names for each other, Taehyung is always calling Jungkook 'darling, this' or 'honey, that,' and I always thought it would be nice to have that one day. Instead," Jennie pushed her empty bowl away, "I'm temporarily bonded—through some fairly dark and ancient shit—to someone who dates psychopaths and calls me an arse."

Roseanne hardly glanced up from her bowl. "And I see you've also picked up Taehyung's flair for the dramatic."

"Hmm, yes," Jennie sighed, stretched out her arms and yawned loudly, "and I'm sure that bed will be fabulous tonight. Enjoy the leather sofa though. Seems very..." Jennie waved at Roseanne's partially-attired Unspeakable uniform, "on trend for you, I think."

Jennie ignored the uncomfortable pangs coming from the bond, the feeling almost like someone slowly twisting the skin on her arms and drilling at her temples, and removed herself quickly from the table. She felt smug as she heard nothing but silence behind her. This had to be a victory, right? As she climbed the stairs near Roseanne's front room, she realized that their attempts at communication had largely been, well, unsuccessful seemed like a generous term.

Steeling herself against any notions of regret, Jennie stood on the top landing and eyed the two doors in front of her. One door was ajar, and pushing it open carefully, she assumed she had found Roseanne's room. Understandably so, being inside Roseanne's room felt like an odd intrusion. As she took in the room, she could hear the soft clanging of dishes being washed below her. It was similar to the living room, the wooden beams from below continued up and across the ceiling, the walls were a greying and exposed brick, and the bed was low to the ground, decently sized, and it was—after Jennie sat on its edge—extremely comfortable. And it smelt like Roseanne, like lavender with a hint of cedarwood. On the wall beside the bed a large painting was framed. An old countryside manor painted in dark greys, blacks, and faded greens for the garden. Jennie wondered it if had been her childhood home. The feeling that she was intruding on Roseanne's personal space came back in force. It felt wrong, getting these small glimpses of Roseanne's life. It made her feel more normal and human in a way Jennie wasn't yet sure how to handle. Deciding her curiosity was done for the day, Jennie made her way towards the bathroom, transfiguring a roll of toilet paper into a clean toothbrush. The lack of planning on her part really was frustrating. No pajamas, no toiletries, and digging around in Roseanne's bathroom for essentials seemed like a poor decision. She had already begrudgingly gone through one of her drawers to find an old t-shirt to sleep in, refusing to sleep in her blood-flecked jeans and jumper.