She opened her mouth to speak, but hesitated, turning away. "I.. Really like you, Victor. There's a lot we still can learn about each other." *** He frowned slightly. "Maybe."
He paused before straightening up, returning to his bag on the counter. “I agree.” *** She laughed, leaning against the counter. “What are we making?”
She frowned, looking over at him. "There's so much more I want to know about you." *** He took bits and pieces out. "I'm not really sure."
His back was to her, his head bent over his task. “Like what?” *** She leaned against the counter, watching him. “Are you just guessing?”
She got up, coming over to stand beside him. "Well.. Why I can't really touch you. I'd like be able to, obviously, but.. I dunno. It seems like an important thing." *** He laughed slightly. "Yeah.. What do you want me to make?"
He glanced at her out of the corner of his eye, his hands moving smoothly to gather ingredients from his bag. He was quiet for a moment before speaking. “There’s... it’s unusual to be born a rogue,” he said quietly. “Most rogues are like you. They get tired of living in the houses and they leave. But I was found in the woods. No one knows where I came from.” *** “I don’t know. Something amazing.”
She tilted her head curiously. "Okay.." *** "That's hard to do. There's not a lot of stuff here that really goes together like that."
He cleared his throat, looking a little embarrassed. “So, when they found me, the rogues weren’t really sure what to do. They passed me around to different homes, hoping that someone would keep me.” *** “That sounds like something a coward would say.“
She sat in silence, simply listening to what he had to say. *** He squinted. "Well what would you make?"
“Eventually, I got caught up in some pretty bad stuff,” he said quietly. “Do you know what mousebroding is?” *** She squinted before grabbing the blackberry, going over to the stove and pulling off some of the orbs.
She shook her head hesitantly. "No, I don't know." *** He watched her with a small smile. "What are you doing?"
He huffed slightly, looking uncomfortable. “It’s this thing that’s done with some of the more vicious rogues. They breed mice to fight each other, and they kill the ones that lose in hopes of creating an even more hostile breed.” *** “Being amazing,” she replied smugly. “And you thought I wouldn’t be able to.”
“My job was to remove the corpses,” he said, moving over the stove to cook. “Often, a lot of them weren’t completely dead. They’d scratch and bite, but if I refused, I’d get punished. If o ran, they caught me. Besides, the mice were dying. I became acquainted with the idea of mercy killing fairly early.” *** “Are you being sarcastic?”
Her brows furrowed. "I'm sorry, Victor." *** He shook his head. "No, I'm excited to see what you make."
He laughed in surprise, glancing over at her. “You’re sorry? Why are you apologizing?” *** She squinted at him before returning to her work.”
She frowned, maybe looking a little embarrassed. "Because that's an awful situation to be in." *** He leaned against the counter, watching her.
“Well... I found Munsheiner, and we got out of there. I’m okay.” He turned to look back at her, crossing his arms. “But no touching.” *** She began making some kind of syrup in the bottom of the pan.
He looked over at her for a moment before taking her hands and bringing them down to her sides gently. "Why do you want to touch me?"
