Logs:Influencing the Spark
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| RL Date: 19 June, 2015 |
| Who: R'hin, Keysi |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Keysi joins Savannah's wingleader for a brief conversation. |
| Where: Snowasis, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 17, Month 1, Turn 38 (Interval 10) |
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>---< Snowasis, High Reaches Weyr(#555RJ) >----------------------------------<
The Snowasis is rarely quiet, and even then, the high-ceilinged former
weyr is kept from echoing by the fantastical booths tucked into its
convoluted perimeter. The secluded seating spaces have been shaped from
the truncated stalagmites that escaped the smoothing of the main floor,
and are both softened and separated by colorful hangings that are thick
and opaque enough to make each corner its own private nook.
Some of the smaller stalactites still roam the ceiling, their jagged teeth
tracing a bumpy, inverted spine to the hearth. There, a thick rug with a
low klah table and comfortable armchairs and couches sit, their upholstery
and cushions changed sporadically to match the season: bright, light
colors in the summer, fresh greens and yellows in the spring, warm
autumnals in fall, and clear, rich hues for winter. Small tables litter
the rest of the cavern, enough to fit up to four people each, while stools
stand along the smooth wooden bar behind which is the passthrough window
to the kitchen. Glass-paneled cabinetry behind the bar provides a clear
view of the available liquors, the many colors reflecting the soft light
of glows tucked into strategic niches around the cavern. It's a busy night at the Snowasis, the snowfall driving the die-hards off the ledge and into the cavern proper. Savannah and Glacier have been battling it out at the darts board, the collection of glasses on the nearby tables a testament to the number of games. A'gon's up there now, to the cheering (and occasional jabs) of other players and watchers alike. The greenrider's first shot is middling, his second on the outer edge of the board, but his third is a bullseye, to the cheering delight of his teammates. R'hin, too, watches, but kind of distantly, from his position at the bar, leaning casually on it, a small glass of something dark half-consumed already. The catalyst of the night a little bit ago brought about a frequenting of the Snowaisis that was leaning towards being almost noticable by Keysi, though she often showed up around the end of the games. Quiet, reserved, perhaps even intending to be missed as she had been, tonight isn't quite the same. The weyrling brownrider pauses in step just inside the doorway, stormy grey eyes sweeping past the game in progress to fall on the empty glasses on the tables, then suddenly back up at the eruption of cheering. The strictness of her expression gives slightly as a grin finds its way onto her pale lips, perhaps swept up in the moment- and willing herself to be. As another Snowasis-goer pushes past her to exit the cavern, she continues on towards the bar itself with her naturally deliberate and swift pace. "I have not seen you take a turn yet." Is her greeting to the wingleader as she stops, though doesn't yet sit, near R'hin at the bar. A Glacier wingrider takes their turn, and seems to do well if the cheering (and groans) are anything to go by. R'hin's gaze is distracted by Keysi's address, lips curving into a smile as he takes in the weyrling. "Astute," he commends her, with a grin. "And deliberately. So I can maintain an illusion that I am a master player, standing on the sidelong for the sake of fair gameplay. Plus," with a gesture towards the empty stool nearest him, presumably in invitation, as he lowers his voice, "The amount they spent on rounds, I'd be broke." Not quite, and yet the exaggeration is clearly just that. "How long have you kept that illusion?" Keysi's level tone inquires, though at a touch lower volume as she moves to take the seat gestured to. She sets her elbows on the bar top, distracted by the Glacier rider long enough to see the result of the turn. Her interest seems in earnest, though this time her expression doesn't fluctuate to demonstrate any sort of reaction to it. "And you don't mind just watching?" At his addition, her pale eyes look back at him, curious but with the ever so slight lightening of the intensity of her face that may suggest a hint of amusement. "But if you're such a master player, you should never have to buy a round." "Long enough that I hope you won't go spoiling it for me, dashing my well-crafted reputation to tatters," R'hin replies with a low-throated chuckle, glancing past towards the game-in-progress, but soon enough back to the weyrling. He leans closer, keeping his voice low, pitching it so it doesn't travel much beyond where they're seated, "These," he gestures towards the latest dart player, a pretty blonde who spends more of her time trash-talking the other team as actually throwing the darts, "Are about bonding. The one thing you always leave behind when you Impress, no matter who you are, is your family. Even if you love them, they can't understand. You need people who... know." Keysi's latter comment earns a rueful twist of lips, and a press of a finger to his lips as he straightens, reaching for his glass. Keysi shakes her head slowly at his reply, the hint of amusement lingering even if not greatly obvious, folding her arms to lean a little bit forwards on the tabletop to allow a better sightline to the game beyond the crowd gathered. She gives nothing further on the topic, as if in silent promise to keep his secret. "I wouldn't have understood that before." Although the reply follows his wisdom about Impression, it doesn't seem angled at that, but rather bonding in itself. "I did not think it was important. I still.." She hesitates, her grey eyes narrowing briefly more in thought than a sense of disruption or anger, "I've learned much." She decides to stay, looking back at R'hin to study him with that endless intensity. "But not enough. I used to think this-" And one hand raises to indicate the game and the riders around it, "Was for avoiding work. I thought it was a waste of time." Everything lingers in the past tense, the evident thoughtfulness a heavy one. She's been doing a lot of thinking since. R'hin takes a long, savoring sip of the liquid in the glass, the alcohol giving a faint note of roughness to his voice as he says, "Everyone copes with Impression in different ways." The Savannah rider's use of the word cope seems deliberate. "Just as everyone does so with being a rider." He's studying her for a moment, after her last phrase, turning to watch the game, the current player earning a similar mixture of cheers and groans from the crowd. "What do you think, now?" he asks, as pale eyes turn back towards her, taking in her expression with intense, obvious curiosity. "Was it difficult for you?" Keysi asks in regards to coping in either or both instances. The bartender, relieved if briefly, from the ordering of rounds is hailed by a small gesture from the girl who notes, "Tea, please." It's unlikely it's coincidence she does so, though it's for the more usual of flavors of course. "Now?" She echoes, and only after looking to meet his gaze. "That I greatly under appreciated the importance." Of so many things, "We were fine on our own, just following instruction. But we could be so much better. Didn't realize the strength of-" Her head tips in the direction of the game, though of course not meaning the darts themselves, "And I tried to talk about things to a friend." Her pause turns into a sigh as she drops her grey eyes to the table. "Working on it." Not all missions are successful. "Yes," R'hin replies, without hesitation, and without explaination, too. Her request for tea earns a low-throated chuckle, while the bronzerider takes another indulgent sip of his drink while he studies her expression. "It is difficult to change a lifetime of habits. For someone my age, impossible. But not so for you, I think," with an encouraging smile. "We are all, better people, for having someone to lean on, to talk to. It's good that you're working towards that." The noise from near the dart board suggests the game was won (or lost, depending on your perspective), and a pair of riders approach the bar behind Keysi to order another around for the players. "You are interesting," he states, after a beat, "The way you think things through so carefully. Is that Neianth's influence?" he wonders, aloud. "I'm sure you can learn some new tricks." Not all unlike an old canine, as the saying may go. Keysi's jokes are wrapped in dry sarcasm, hard to derive as playful over serious. "No habits are easy to change." She counters, "Though I suppose that's all this is," a hand upturns, indicating 'everything'. "A lifetime of habits changed in a second." That second being Impression itself. As more riders crowd around them, she straightens subconsciously, the leisure at which she was leaning partly dissolving. But as R'hin continues, she spares a glance beside her to see who's closest before turning back to the wingleader with curiosity lacing her intensity. "Isn't everyone interesting? There is always a story." When he draws Neianth into his question, she can't hide the fondness, nor does she try. "He will influence anything that will make us not just better- the best. He has been insatiable since that night." There's much explaination that she forsakes for continuing on to a more direct answer, "I think I was more careful before him. But it's at times hard to decide who is pushing who." R'hin makes a sound in the back of his throat, something that approximates amusement, agreement, but doesn't quite form into words. He does, however, tip his head at her assertion of a lifetime of habits, even tipping his glass towards her briefly in a silent toast before he takes another drink. "Not everyone," he disagrees, easily. "It is a harper's saying, that there is always a story. Sometimes the story is as dull as the book presents itself as. Sometimes," he takes a beat, glancing past, then back to her, "It is not." The pair behind her are familiar in the way that riders are always familiar, one of Savannah and one of Glacier. Her talk of Neianth has him chuckling, under his breath, somewhat reminiscent. "The truth is, it is likely you push each other, and will always do so. There is value in that. In someone that doesn't ever give up." Her mention of that night earns a curious lift of brow, though he doesn't push her for an answer as she breezes past it. "You don't believe there can be something to learn from them?" Keysi lingers on the subject, watching his expression, "Not to keep you entertained in small talk, but from an experience, from.. whatever," A grin threatens the edge of her lips again, "Or have you experienced it all already?" Certainly she's not calling him old. When her drink is delivered, her fingers wrap around it in that idle way she had before, tapping once or twice. "Value, aye. Neither of us would ever." Give up, assumably, "But it's different now. Before you came along, flying longer, higher, faster was what he focused on. Now it's getting me here at night, wondering when I'll start practicing darts, that sort of thing. He sees the value of other development before I do." And then won't leave it alone, which notable by only that unmistakeable fondness, is just fine. "Some people have a..." R'hin pauses, selecting the word carefully, "A spark in them," he lifts his hand in front of him, curving his fingers like he's holding something precious, "And sometimes it just needs a," he blows sharply, like he's fanning the flames of the imaginary spark into life, his fingers opening as if to accommodate the growing size. "And others," he closes his fingers into a fist, "Let the spark die long ago. Experience may mold a person, but the spark makes them live," he says, vehemently, pale eyes intent as they flicker up towards her, as if seeking to see whether she understands. Her talk of Neianth clearly interests him, to judge by his approving, sympathetic chuckle. "Mm. Good." Keysi's grey eyes watch the symbolic demonstration, overly still, overly focused. Her gaze narrows briefly, though after the 'spark' is snuffed out, returns to his face, examining and intent. The passion he uses for that draws a somewhat prolonged silence from her before she decides her next words, "And you don't think the spark can ever come back?" A curiosity of which she doesn't seem to have an opinion for of her own. Taking a moment, she sips the drink she holds and after a considerable second or two adds, "Was there someone who pushed you?" Her question is lower in volume, "Who taught you what to look for?" The last is almost an afterthought, back on the gesture of the spark. "Sometimes. With patience and care. If they are willing," R'hin gestures, vaguely, "Some people are happy with their lives as they are. Some do not strive, or do not want to see what lies beyond their comfortable view of the world. That is a choice." Not, to judge by the Wingleader's dismissive tone, one that he agrees with personally. When she drinks, he does, too, draining the remainder of his glass. There's an odd, bland amusement in his voice as he answers her latter question: "Mine was a... matter of a accidental circumstance. A series of them, to be precise." He avoids using the obvious word bandied around occasionally -- fate -- by deliberate choice, it would seem. Keysi acknowledges that answer with an understanding nod, a soft 'hm' coming as she looks down to the tea as if thinking of something- someone- in particular. "There's moments of.. enthusiasm.. drive?" She searches for the word, tapping the side of her glass in thought, "That I see in some people," Some? All? The ambiguity is intentional, "I don't understand what makes them lose that." She may be implying the spark in her vague example. "We all go through our own struggles." His, hers, the rest of her class, she intends to include it all, "But it should never be easy." Her thoughts become somewhat disjointed by the time she realizes her disjointed succession of thoughts, and she sits up again, "Accidental circumstance? That which was meant to be?" Apparently fate is not so hard a concept for her. "No," R'hin's agreeing, with an uneven smile. "It should never be easy." He pushes aside the empty glass across the bartop, and it doesn't take long for the bartender to come and sweep it away as if it never was. "Weyrlinghood is a... time of change, adjustment. Some fare better than others. Some breeze, some struggle. Don't give up on people, if you wonder. Maybe they just need an external push," he's chuckling again, amused. It's the latter that earns a spread of hands. "We make our own future -- we like to think that we do. We like to think we control all the pieces on the board, but it isn't that simple, less so as a rider. A pawn can only move in a certain way, but, with the right circumstances, even a pawn can become a queen." He snorts, briefly, "An old harper saying, but an apt one, perhaps." "Aye.." Keysi sighs, her gaze narrowing as she stares at the remaining tea in her glass as if she's lost the thirst for it, "I would never. Things just change so fast, it isn't easy following the whys." Those first days of weyrlinghood already seem like ages ago. His suggestion gets what could be a soft chuckle as she shakes her head. "My class tends to have a strong reaction to pushing." Is her dry but humored response, ended with a lopsided and short shrug of her jacketed shoulders. She takes a drink as he explains fate in such a way, and then pushes her glass away from herself as if finished. "A pawn can win the game." Agreeing in essence yet taking one step farther than just becoming something else, she returns her pale eyes up to R'hin's face as she says so. "A strong reaction is good. It is passivity that is the worst offense," at least in R'hin's world. His glance flickers as she pushes the glass away, sliding past her; the game is finished, riders either braving the snowfall outside or breaking up into smaller groups to settle down and talk. "Yes, it can," he agrees, pleased by her words, meeting and holding her gaze for a moment. Then, abruptly, he stands, and with little more than the barest brush of fingers to her shoulder, heads past her. He's walking to catch up with the blonde Savannah rider, and there's a brief conversation before they, too, head out into the snow. |
Comments
Alida (01:44, 25 June 2015 (MDT)) said...
Maybe R'hin has a new 'chick' to tuck under his wing, and Keysi an unofficial mentor. :) Kind of neat, watching them interact.
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