Logs:A Misunderstanding Gone Awry
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| RL Date: 26 February, 2010 |
| Who: Gustav, Madilla, Warucori |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Gustav might get murdered my convict-candidates, oh no! |
| Where: Resident Common Room, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 22, Month 1, Turn 22 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: Taikrin/Mentions, W'chek/Mentions |
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| Resident Common Room, High Reaches Weyr Just off of the main passageway lies the small cavern that forms the hub of the residents' quarters, kept immaculately clean by the headwoman's staff and warmed in cold weather by a stone hearth to the left and well back from the entrance. Comfortable chairs and a plush fur arrayed before the hearth make an inviting spot to curl up with a book or handicraft, or just to sit and chat. Beyond, additional chairs stand in clusters throughout the room, some upholstered with age-softened hide, some plain wood. At the widest point of the cavern, a round table gleams with polish, though its surface is nicked and scarred from Turns of use. Beyond the table, the very back of the cavern often lies in shadow unless the glowbaskets there are unlidded to cast cozy pools of light. The commingled scents of klah, smoke and polish permeate the air along with the sweetness of rosemary and lavender. Tapestries hang across the entrances to dormitories and more private quarters as well as the exit to the outer hall, colorful protections from drafts. The weather outside is frightful-- and that's probably why there is /such/ a crowd immediately surrounding the hearth, still drying out and warming up after the thunder-snow storm raging outside. Probably that's why Madilla is seated quite a distance back, much closer to the edges of the room, working on her latest quilt with studious intention and ultimately, mostly ignoring the chaos going on around her. Gustav strolls on in from the inner caverns, he's not looking like he was outside recently. More like he was working inside, somewhere dusty and a little dirty. There's some marks on his knees and his face carries a smudge of something there. The drying hearth is given a contemplative eye before he decides not to fight for warmth. Instead he aims to find a chair to sit in and oh look! There just happens to be one near Madilla. And she's there too! "Hello!" He calls brightly, rubbing at his face as he comes over and flops down. "Trying to out-quilt the winter?" Madilla's eyes lift their attention from her work to blink surprisedly in Gustav's direction, but the smile that accompanies them is warm and genuine, nonetheless. "Hello, Gustav," she greets, in a low voice. "No-- well. Still trying to make my room into something more than a dark cavern that holds my things. Quilts /do/ make a place much more home-like, don't you think?" "I suppose they do!" He answers brightly. "Tapestries are better at absorbing the noise, I think. But quilts are a lot less ornate and well... Probably easier and cheaper to make." Gustav drops his voice down to match her now low one. He glances around with lifted eyebrows. "Are we conducting a secret conversation?" He asks, tone conspiratory. "Should I pretend to be someone else?" Blink. Blink, blink. And then? Comprehension. "Oh," she says, and laughs, though again, it's a soft little laugh. "No-- no, I just hate to add /more/ noise to the room, if you know what I mean. I can't imagine how people think in here half the time." Unless you're Madilla, who has studied in here any number of times and never complained. "I think you're right, though. About tapestries. There's just... quilts are much more cozy, I think. I just like them a lot. How are you, Gustav?" The laughter prompts Gustav to crack a grin and he leans into the arm of the chair. His eyes take an interest in the quilt, looking it over well before flashes his attention back up to Madilla's face. "I don't mind adding some extra noise. If we're too quiet someone will think we're talking about something really intriquing and intrude, trying to find out the scoop. However, if we're loud... we blend in and no one notices us." He wiggles his fingers towards the crowd of someones. "You can always take the quilt off the wall and sleep in it. Very practically. Not so much tapestries. Me?" He splays his hand across his chest, affecting surprise. "I'm great. As always. How're you?" "I hadn't thought of it that way," Madilla admits, tipping her head to one side and looking thoughtful. She's raised her voice a little bit, though, so she seems to agree with the concept. "Mm-- yes, exactly. Quilts can be used in all kinds of ways, for all kinds of things. And I never learned how to make tapestries, so that rather diminishes them in my eyes." One hand smooths the fabric of her current project, idly, touching the mingled patches of cream, blue and red. "I'm glad to hear it," she continues, then, still smiling. "I'm also well. I'd probably be better if I could take a walk outside, but-- no, I'm well. I heard you were Searched: congratulations." When she goes along with it his smile turns brighter. He continues to lean into the arm of the chair, getting nearer to a hanging position by the minute. "I hear that's a project and a half to make one. That's why they can be so expensive. My mother used to complain all the time about wanting to get a new one and my father not wanting to shell out the marks. Something about 'You can still see the scene, it's still good!'" Gustav rolls his eyes and glances backwards to the exit. "I was out there before. It's cold, windy. You're better off in here. Take a walk in the tun- Oh. Yes. Search. Thank you! It's an experience." He tells her with a wry grin. "Walking in the tunnels is not quite the same," says Madilla, though nonetheless, she nods: she /can/ get her exercise that way. "An experience?" She pauses for a moment, and then nods. "I suppose it would be. I know W'chek found it-- interesting." She eyes him, perhaps evaluating his leaning position, but doesn't remark on it; instead, after a moment more, she adds, "Yes, I think they're /very/ expensive. It's a shame, but... I suppose it makes sense. I wonder if you could try and hand paint the faded bits? That might not look terribly good, though, I suppose." "No, it's not." Gustav has to agree and his eyes widen as he once more looks around. "The tunnels can be very scary and dark. And what if a glow were to go out? Well, it would give your heart just that much more to contend with. Maybe you'd get more exercise out of it, you might run the whole way." For the candidacy part he lifts his shoulders and rolls them, "Best way to put it. I'm still working. I'm still in the dorms. Just now I'm sleeping with convicts. Not too friendly that bunch, I did try though." He makes an uncharacteristically thoughtful face before he shakes it off. "I think if I took a paint brush and went to our hold that I would be in a lot of trouble if I touched anything. Nevermind a tapestry." Madilla lifts an eyebrow, though her grin makes her look rather more amused than dubious. "I don't find them all that scary. Though... perhaps if my glow went out. It's still-- I'd rather be outside." She reaches for her needle again, getting back to work on the patch currently in progress, and adds, as she works, "I suppose a lot of it wouldn't be /so/ different, though... the convicts, yes. I'm glad they're getting the opportunity. They're still /people/." Beat. "I suppose I'd be wary of you with a paintbrush, too." Her expression is distinctly amused. "Or fingerpaints." "I find them terrifying." Gustav admits with a small grin. "I don't investigate too far to be honest. Corridors without windows make me feel somewhat claustrophobic." He shivers dramatically for affect and rolls his eyes. "Everyone has the right to stand for a clutch if they're asked. However I'm nervous. Some of them may have threatened to beat me a few sevens ago and I believe they've been searched recently." His smile turns wry, "It would figure something like that would be my luck?" Fingerpaints. The candidate grins and glances towards the nursery. "Definitely would be wary of me with fingerpaints. I'd have the unbelievable desire to touch things. All the things." "So the next time someone finds handprints in paint all over the wall... we'll have to interrogate you, as well as the children," laughs Madilla, as though she includes herself among the nannies for this. Though she /does/ spend quite a bit of time in there, so perhaps that's not too tall an order. But, more seriously, and definitely without pleasure, she adds, "Threatened you? Oh-- goodness. I hope that's not going to turn into anything awful. How unpleasant!" "I'm hoping it'll be easy to figure out which ones are mine." Gustav holds his hands up, showing their you know, man size. "If it's not easy, well I guess that explains my poor luck with women." As for threatening convicts he waves his hand, dismissive of that danger now. "It's possible that I may have aggravated them. Unintentional of course, I assure you. But once I get rolling it can be difficult to stop. You know? I'm thinking as long as I avoid them I shouldn't be beaten to a bloody pulp. But if I do... Guess who I get to visit?" Cue cheeky smile. It's a point Madilla is quick to accept, laughing merrily, this time. She and the candidate are sitting towards the edges of the busy cavern, while a far larger cluster more or less hide the hearth from view: it's pretty miserable outside, so no wonder. "I concede your point," she tells Gustav, as her needle dives back into the quilt she's working on. "You--" She hesitates. "Do seem to aggravate quite a few people? Er-- that is to /say/... I suppose W'chek doesn't count. But. What did you say?" Warucori slips out of the candidate quarters, fanning her hand lightly under her nose. She looks to be making a quick escape but has to dodge around a few people, not expecting it to be such a crowd at this time. "Oh....bother." She hooks her arm more securely around the basket in her arm and glances around to see who's in the room, giving Gustav and Madilla amoung others, cheery smiles. "I don't think that W'chek can count. When I first met him he was yelling at some poor girl." Gustav points out, just in case he didn't get to do that the last time he saw the bronzerider in Madilla's presence. "I don't quite remember." He tilts his head up to ceiling, considering, thoughtful. "I was asking about their names, told the woman. Her name was Taikrin, I think. Told the woman that she had an interesting name. Asked her where it came from. I think she thought I was calling her a man? Then the other one she was with got... irritating. A misunderstanding gone awry." He doesn't notice Warucori right away, but perhaps she'll recognize him from being in the candidate quarters these past few sevens. A familiar face! "W'chek is--" but Madilla doesn't finish that sentence, obviously too polite; and anyway, she genuinely sounds found of the bronzerider. "Oh," she says, of the rest of Gustav's explanation, brow furrowing in as she considers it, though she does spare a moment to smile politely at the newly arriving Warucori. "It does rather sound like a misunderstanding, to hear you say that. How very unpleasant. And a shame: I really have found most of them quite reasonable, ultimately. Misunderstood, even, in some cases." Warucori comes in closer, failing to look as though she's not listening in. Her head tips to one side, smile still in place as she hovers nearby. Awkwardly she inserts herself into the conversation, not quite getting the proper flow of things. "Darn hard thing to be misunderstood isn't it?" She smiles warmly. "He's a character." Gustav supplies generously, though he regards the healer with an amused look. Like maybe he's assuming something here. "These two were not particularly reasonable or friendly. I think it's best I just avoid the convicts. I choose life." He grins and pushes off the edge of the chair, leaning back more comfortably. When Warucori arrives he produces a friendly smile for the girl. "Hello! Seen you around back there." He gestures vaguely towards where the candidates stay. Madilla seems to be able to accept this answer; her smile is rueful, amused, and matched by the faintest pinkening of her cheeks, which can't do much to help any potential assumptions. "He's-- yes. He is that." Warucori's brief foray into the conversation draws the healer's mouth open, then closed again, as the girl leaves. Weird girl, her expression seems to suggestion, but she's too polite for more. In the end, "I think choosing life is far safer, yes. I'd rather you /didn't/ end up in the infirmary." It sure doesn't. In fact, Gustav's grin begins to widen a little more but he thankfully stops short of being overly intrusive this time. Sometimes the world does produce miracles. When the other girl suddenly leaves, he narrows his eyes and appears genuinely baffled for a moment or two. He shoots Madilla a questioning look before staring off after Warucori. "Some strange people here." That's said quietly, just in case. "But if I were to end up in the infirmary you could fluff my pillow and make sure my wounds were tended. I'd compensate for using up your valuable time." And Madilla? Utterly oblivious. How predictable. She shakes her head, mystified, in the wake of Gustav's reaction to Warucori's departure, and agrees after a moment, "It does seem so, doesn't it." Further commentary, though? Oh no, not from Madilla. "Compensate me?" she adds, then, with eyebrows raised. "For doing my job? How would you compensate me? I think I'd still rather you weren't in there at all." "For dealing with me. I can assure you that I'm extremely grumpy. I'm going whine a lot and demand you spoon feed me." Gustav informs her with a bright grin for the scenerio. "Afterwards I'm going to feel very bad. I'll /need/ to compensate you, since you'll have dealt with me at my most atrocious. I'll send flowers, candy, sing to you. Take you out for dinner. Some male figure in your life will probably show up and kick my ass, but I'll try." "I'm not sure who," says Madilla, of this male figure going to kick his ass, but she seems more amused than anything; there's the faint hint of a blush, too. "I don't believe you'd be that bad. And anyway, even if you were... I can promise you I've probably seen worse. It really does tend to bring out the worst in people, sometimes, being injured or ill. I don't mind, though: it's nice to be able to comfort someone when they need it." Angelic little Madilla. Go figure. "Maybe W'chek could come and beat me up. He might enjoy getting the opportunity to." Gustav suggests humorously. "Oh, I can be terrible. I'd probably cry like a baby and then tantrum like a twelve year old!" He lifts a hand to his mouth and yawns, leaning back and slouching a little. "I should get something to eat. Before I starve to death. That would be unfortunate." The candidate comments up to the ceiling, glancing over at the healer. "If you'll excuse me?" Madilla makes a face, though it's an understated one: more a twist of the lips and a wrinkle of a brow than anything too severe. She manages to smile again a moment later, though, and nod. "Oh-- of course. No, starving to death would be a terrible thing. It was nice to talk to you again, Gustav. Good luck with not ending up in my infirmary." "Very terrible. I'd be much less handsome if I arrived in your infirmary a victim of starvation. Of course, then you'd have to feed me by hand..." Gustav waggles his eyebrows suggestively before he stands up. "Good luck with your quilt. I expect to see it when you're finished." He grins before taking off at a quick pace to the living cavern |
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