(Untitled)

[needsarobin]

There was a long list of things that Tim needed to attend to and couldn't because they required speaking with someone. And they were all made entirely impossible by his current condition. Yesterday, he'd spent a great deal of time testing the limits of the compulsion and felt fairly confident that he could avoid giving away too much in most

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[anneotherboleyn]

One might interrupt him if she were looking for a young man who could do such work.

Anne was quite sure she already looked impeccable, and as such, felt no need to smooth her dress or hair as she went over to him at a perfectly practiced and pleasant gait. "Hello there," she said. "I am ever so sorry for interrupting you, young sir, but are you one of the people here who builds things?"

[needsarobin]

Direct question. Damn. Tim set the bamboo down and pushed his hair off his face, studying the woman. Looked like Padme, sounded like well-bred England but there may have been french influences underneath. His mental roster of the island cross-referenced these things and came up with an answer.

"I build things but I'm not on the building crew. Chris Cutter is the man you're looking for most likely." Breeding made him give her a polite smile, "What was it that you needed built?"

[anneotherboleyn]

"At the moment, I don't need anything built," Anne said, giving him a bright smile. "I am instead inquiring about the possibility of help in moving a rather heavy object that came with me to this island. I have tried, but I do not believe I can carry it to somewhere I might be rid of the thing."

[needsarobin]

Tim considered his load of bamboo and then set about moving it off the path. "I'll help. Where is this thing that you need moved and about how big is it?" If nothing else it sounded like a good way to kill some time waiting for the compulsion to pass. And Tim never could resist a damsel in...well, need of aid anyway, since the woman looked far from distressed.

"I'm Tim, by the way," he added.

[cavelion_totem]

The people she had been raised by were accustomed to hard work. Collecting material, building and fixing, making and preserving all happened on a daily basis. It was no surprise to see Tim working hard. She watched him from her place, crouched in the dense flora of the jungle floor. It had become habit long before she had arrived here, hiding and watching and waiting patiently. It was a neccesary skill for a hunter, but it was also how she learned things--especially things she was well aware that she, as a woman, should not know.

Harvesting the plant called 'bamboo' was nothing she would be reprimanded for, and she thought that if she got caught, she had fresh, cool water that she could use as an excuse as she had done many times before with the respected men of her Clan.

[needsarobin]

He was being watched, Tim noted idly as a bead of sweat rolled down his spine. That was rather unusual.

Whoever was watching him was extremely good, he really had no idea how long he'd been watched. It didn't feel like a threat though, so he ignored his company for several minutes, binding together the bamboo. Finally he paused and looked around, making it obvious that he could tell someone else was there. It would either scare his silent watcher off or bring them out into the open. Both were outcomes he could live with.

[cavelion_totem]

It was not often she was caught in the act. Instict had her slowly crouch lower, but neither of them was doing anything inappropriate. It took a moment for her to rise with the fluid grace of a hunter. Keeping her eyes averted, Ayla came forward, carrying the skin, still dark and wet from when she'd filled it.

She got close enough and offered in, eyes on his chin which gave the illusion of directness, although it was anything but.

"This woman sees you are working most hard and brings water for drinkng," she said, still uncomfortable with the way that these people expected her to speak without being given permission first.

[needsarobin]

Tim relaxed fractionally though he didn't smile. "Ayla. That explains why I didn't notice you at first." He shook his head at the offer of water, "I brought my own, thank you. How are you feeling?"

He hadn't seen much of her since her brush with inedible plants, though he'd checked in from time to time just to ensure her continued health.

[wizard_errant]

Either luck is not on Tim's side, or he's miscalculated; either way Dairine is perfectly willing to interrupt him. She hops out of a tree, landing lightly just off the edge of the road. "What's that for?"

[needsarobin]

Tim frowned, "Building things." Keeping the reply short but accurate was the key here. He doubted that the young wizard would like it very much if she realized how often he was contributing to entropy by lying. She had quite the temper.

[wizard_errant]

Hm. Only two words. This could mean Tim's one of the ones afflicted, but on the other hand it could also just be Tim. "Building what?"

[needsarobin]

"A shower. For the treehouse," Tim frowned again, considering the fact that Dairine was probably just as intelligent as him. "Asking directly would be faster," he said dryly.

[goldeneyedflash]

Bart had been watching from the tree-house at first, but when he saw Tim struggling with the lengths of bamboo, he came over to help. It wasn't that he didn't think his best friend could do the work on his own, it was just that some jobs were easier when you had help.

"You could have asked for help if you were planning something," he pointed out as he gathered up a couple of poles that had broken free of the bundle.

[needsarobin]

"It was nice to spend the day mostly alone," Tim said with a shallow grunt as he hefted his half of the bamboo higher. "And it would have taken the same amount of time either way."

[goldeneyedflash]

So Tim hadn't wanted to talk. Bart could understand that, at least with the current affliction. "I think you've used up your brooding allotment for the week," he said, eyes twinkling as he fell into an easy pace beside him.

[needsarobin]

Tim's expression went mulish. "I was working. Productively." The implication was that he wasn't brooding but, of course, since he had been, he didn't say that.

[healerofharms]

"Can I help you with that?" Jill'd heard Bart and Tim before, and for all that training had been canceled, she was working on it anyway. She knew by now what was going on - there had to be an explanation for what she'd heard in the yelled outburst, but it wasn't really much of her business.

That's one of the reasons that she wasn't asking him a lot harder questions, the ones that she wondered about the answer too, but couldn't even press his trust enough to ask. Instead, it was simple things, like 'Can I help you with that'.

[needsarobin]

"You can," Tim answered forthrightly, without even turning his head. He didn't usually when it was one of his Titans, assuming that they would understand that lack of reaction didn't actually mean lack of attention. "But I don't need the help. I'm managing well."

[healerofharms]

Jill nodded, her sneakers crunching the leaves underfoot. "I made lunch, if you want some. So you don't have to be around the people in the Compound, but you don't have to eat... well. Trail food." She bit her lip for a moment, weighing the need for her to ask versus his own need for privacy.

"Are you doing alright?"

[needsarobin]

He took a moment to analyze how he felt, finding that though he couldn't not answer, he could still frame his responses carefully. "I'm doing as well as can be expected."