Logs:Hospitality
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| RL Date: 28 August, 2015 |
| Who: Farideh, X'vin, Alida |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: A Fortian bronzerider causes a stir and Farideh comes to investigate. There's talk of apologies, and a lot of unspoken words between X'vin and Alida. |
| Where: Snowasis, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 1, Month 9, Turn 38 (Interval 10) |
| OOC Notes: Slightly edited for geographical accuracy, with permission from Staff. |
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| A Fortian wingleader has been sitting in the Snowasis for going on twenty minutes, and by now it's not a secret. X'vin is barely gossip-worthy, sitting there with a tall glass of fruit-red liquid and no particular company to speak of, save his engagement with the bartender on duty, but it's doubtful that someone hasn't started a rumor about him, why he's here, and what exactly he's up to. It's a weyr, after all. Whatever his purpose, he seems rather harmless, and tips well when the bartender must take his leave to help a group of Glacier wingriders who have appeared at the other end of the bar. Right on cue, High Reaches' youngest goldrider sweeps into Snowasis from the doorway that leads out to the Weyr entrance. Farideh's dressed in a simple blouse and a long, navy blue skirt, and her face is neutral save those heated eyes that move around the bar, seeking something; and when they latch onto X'vin, she starts to move elegantly in his direction. "X'vin," she greets the bronzerider, conjuring a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes as she steps up to the bar counter to his left. "Imagine my surprise finding you here. Business? Passing through?" Inflection would imply that she hopes it's the later. The shift in the room is palpable: now curiosity shifts from the distant sort that marked his presence into a more focused brand, because what are they saying? X'vin, cool as ever, gives Farideh a bright smile, and in lieu of a salute he lifts his glass in toast to her. "Farideh. Fort's duties, and congratulations on your graduation. I, for one, had no doubts." Needling. "I came to visit an old friend. Not you, though. I figured you are busy enough, and yet, here you are." "You're too kind," Farideh retorts, pulling out the stool she's nearest and slipping onto it with ease. "Here I am." She's not yet letting down her faade, and treats the bartender to a similarly wide smile when he asks for her drink order. "Benden," her eyes flick to X'vin, "red, please," is her order, before she settles on elbows on the bartop and regards the bronzerider thoughtfully. "Are you really just here for that? Not some other ulterior motive?" Her fingers happily wrap around the wineglass once it's passed to her, but she doesn't drink. "I was assisting Aleigha and-- someone said there was a Fortian hogging the bar." "Hogging," X'vin echoes, bemused, but doesn't indulge it further in its inaccuracies. "High Reaches hospitality, I suppose. I came to visit a friend," he reiterates, "and I have no ulterior motives to speak of. Even if I did, what in the world would your lovely weyr have to do with it? I'm a Fortian rider, love." The endearment comes without thought. "My friend isn't here - out on vacation, something or other. I thought I'd test your bar's mettle. It passed." "High Reaches' hospitality isn't lacking." It's not a harsh rebuke, but he gets a bemused frown with the words. "Is that weird to say? Benden was your home for so long," Farideh says, before taking a delicate sip from her glass; she appears satisfied with the vintage. "That's a pity." Her eyes shift to the bartenders behind the bar, studying their faces, until they settle back on X'vin. "Have you seen-- Ewen-- no that's not his name-- Evrit? Oh, I can't remember. He's nice to talk to and seems a decent bartender for all that he's from Crom." All of her initial animosity seems to have passed, and now she's downright conversational. "No, it isn't. I just feel bad having taken too much of it, with my single drink and single barstool and fifteen minute conversation with your bartender." X'vin attributes them all to her, since she's sitting there; likely the same would happen if he was speaking to anyone else in a position of authority. "He should get a raise; he's very attentive." That being his humble opinion, he shrugs and tips his glass in a so-so gesture. "Is it weird for you to say that Reaches is your home, when you were part of Igen for so long? For me, coming to Fort was coming back, not choosing something new." Her question about the bartenders earns a shrug. "I've not been asking names. I couldn't tell you, unfortunately. If you're sweet on him, you'll do better to make me jealous if you remember his name." The left side of his mouth rises in a smirk, and he takes a drink. The pair, Farideh and X'vin, are seated at the bar, talking over their drinks in a mostly amiable manner. "Don't be acerbic, X'vin. It doesn't look good on you," the goldrider informs him, her lips barely quirked with the remnants of her earlier smile. "Yes," completely bypassing his mention of the bartender's efficiency, "it is. High Reaches is the opposite of Igen and I never thought I'd call someplace so-cold and unmoved home." She doesn't mind his crassness, not until his mockery of Everett and then she's stiffening on her stool, giving him another of those polite smiles. "I would never dare to try and convince you to pay me your affections," a pause, a breath, "again." The only time Alida doesn't really drink is between 4 and 10 am, so finding the blonde stalking into the Snowasis right now is pretty typical, Alida's features touched with more-than-ample hints of vexation, with a side of long-suffering (im)patience. Weaving her way through the other patrons without ever touching a single one of them - while somehow managing to eyeball everyone at the same time - the bluerider bellies up to the bar, grunts and nods a sudden greeting to Farideh, and soon orders herself something short and decidedly *not* sweet. Give the 'tender and the stoic 'ex'-guard a little slice of time, and she'll hand over payment in exchange for an eighth of a bottle of some kind of whiskey, while peering rather intently at X'vin nearly the whole time she waits. "You know I don't mean it," X'vin teases, gently. "I have had nothing but a good experience, though hogging does seem overdramatic." The semantics of their lives is something he only has a low hum for, at least for a little bit. "I'm sorry to hear that. Perhaps you'll be able to go back there, one day. Once leadership here is settled, that is, and someone can take your place." He sounds dubious, at best, but it's at least an attempt. His mouth flattens into a line at her assessment, paired with a sigh. "I probably owe you an apology for that," he ventures, but that's not quite an apology in itself, likely because a familiar bluerider has shown up. "The gossips around here will do anything for a good story, including lie. Be surprised that they didn't paint you the villain, crashing through Snowasis, stealing all the impressionable women, and roughing up the place," Farideh returns, gesturing with one finger out of the others grasping her glass. She's all set to say something else when Alida comes up to the bar next to them, and the goldrider's bemused gaze turns towards her, noting the looks she's giving X'vin. "Alida," she greets, and then completely turns in her seat, cocking a querulous eyebrow at X'vin. "I don't accept your apology." A shot glass is slid over to Alida by the busy bartender, the blonde nodding her thanks to him as she uncorks the whiskey bottle, and then pours herself a full shot of the deep-amber stuff. It smells potent, but not harsh, indicating to those in the know about such sub-types of alcohol that her choice is perhaps a higher quality one. "Farideh..." is noted in her mile-a minute, brisk alto back to the junior weyrwoman, her whole shot then pounded back in one toss...no wince or watery eyes following. "Congratulations, belatedly..." is offered in casual aside to the other female, those clear green eyes flicking back over to X'vin as the other two riders' exchanged words filter through her consciousness. For the Fortian, the bluie has a laconic, "Not gonna earn ya any brownie points with important people." His apparent reason for offering an apology to the goldrider. Smirk. "That's good, because that wasn't my apology," X'vin says, with a roll of the eyes at Alida. "I'm fairly certain," he says with a certain amount of firmness that isn't an attempt to pull rank - literal or perceived - but just enough to suffice as warning, "that was not an invitation for your interjection." His smile is tight at the corners, one eyebrow arching. For Farideh, he says, "I wouldn't expect you to accept an apology from the villain crashing through the Snowasis. But --" and this is apparently earnest, "I would make it up to you, if you'd let me." Hazel eyes flit back to Alida, watching as she pours and takes her whiskey shot, but the exchange between blue and bronzerider is not something she comments on right away. Farideh is content to let them debate it, whether or not apologies curry goldrider favor. "Villains do usually come with pretty faces, so I could believe it," she quips back to the bronzerider, before sobering enough to give him an almost-imperceptible nod of approval. "I am not going to let you linger on whatever slight you think you've given-- and I don't mind gifts," wryly. Alida quietly listens to X'vin's response to her words, something odd perhaps laughing behind her cool green eyes, the bluerider's mouth quirking into a faintly nasty little half smirk as she pours her next *half* shot glass of whiskey. "I seem t've touched a nerve." With a more poker face, the blonde next notes in an easy tone, "No special smile fer me, this time?" Long, pale lashes bat a couple of times at the bronzerider, the woman then leaving off her needling of the Fortian for a moment so she can take in how Farideh handles the smooth bronzer. As she hefts up her bottle and half-full shot glass, the bluie notes in rather Harper-esque fashion - mixed dark humor with a splash of sotto-voiced seriousness - to Farideh, "Beware slick bronzers bearin' bullshit..." Wink. "I'll excuse myself before someone tosses a snit..." is then noted with a knowing little smile and a sigh, the blonde soon seeking to move off into the back of the room. "I smile when I'm genuinely enjoying my company, bluerider. Someone once told me I shouldn't smile when I'm not, or something along those lines." X'vin watches Alida go dispassionately, and only when she's out of earshot will he mutter a repetition of his earlier, "High Reaches hospitality, weyrwoman." He dips his head to Farideh though - he's reserved his smile for her, it seems, indicating he isn't holding it against her - and then makes short work of the rest of his drink. Setting the empty glass on the bartop and pushing it forward so it's clear he's done, he says, "I'll start by paying for your drink," the bronzerider says glibly, putting a piece on the counter that may just be another very generous tip. "And perhaps I will find something you'd like as a present. I'd like a reason to see you directly, not by chance and gossip." He is off his stool in a moment, taking up his jacket and shrugging into it. "I'll be on my way. I'd hate to see where the rumors go if I linger too long." Farideh's eyebrows stay elevated throughout their exchange, and some of what the bronzerider says for her ears only too. Her expression only softens at the end, and she's saying, after a judicious flick of eyes towards the departing bluerider, "You can always have him bespeak Roszadyth. I am not entirely bogged down by work every second of every day. Perhaps, I can visit your family's Hold. See where it is you come from." His movements illicit a nod and a tiny wave of farewell. "Clear skies, X'vin. It was a pleasure-- and do gives our duties to your weyrwomen." If Farideh - for some odd reason - moves to seek out Alida near the back of the Bar...she'll not find any sign of the blonde. There's a back entrance to the Snowasis from the Caverns, and the bluerider - not wanting to interact any further with people tonight - has made good use of it to hasten her escape to someplace more quiet. |
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