Logs:Lunch Date
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| RL Date: 21 February, 2013 |
| Who: Brieli, Vienne |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Brieli and Vienne have a lunch date. Many weyr-related topics are discussed. |
| Where: Snowasis, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 22, Month 1, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| Mentions: H'kon/Mentions, Taikrin/Mentions, Azaylia/Mentions, K'del/Mentions, Riorde/Mentions, Devaki/Mentions, Hana/Mentions |
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| It was midmorning when Oswinth's buzzy little touch reached out to Iesaryth: tenative contact, slow to actually speak and deferential when he does. He is, however, to the point and an invitation is laid out for Brieli to join Vienne for lunch. And thusly, this time, when the lunch hour rolls around, it is the bluerider who has secured a table among the quiet daytime crowd, settled in just long enough for the sticky snow to have melted everywhere, creating smeared puddles beneath her snow boots and leaving her hair just damp enough to encourage a few extra curls. She has a steaming mug of klah, but the majority of her attention is on some scratches in the table top that look very much like someone tried to write their name with a knife point. Iesaryth is polite as always, pleased to hear from one of the dragons of her Weyr, one of those her rider likes; she's quick to send back agreement, sun warm on ocean waves. When Brieli comes into the Snowasis, it's with her customarily brisk stride and from the inner caverns, her jacket open and scarf unlooped - she's been inside for some time, apparently. No snow on her boots. As she approaches Vienne, she first scans the room, then curses as she sees what the bluerider is looking at. "You're not serious." That brisk stride would belong to no one else, and Vienne does look up when the tall, dark-haired woman makes her entrance. Her smile is ready and cheerful and then... utterly absent. She blinks up at Brieli even though her finger is still idly rubbing over the marks in the wood. "What?" There's a moment of worry and it takes her another beat before she recognizes that the goldrider is not looking at her, but those etches she's rubbing. For that she has a small laugh, the work of her finger becoming a little more insistent, as if there's something for her to rub away to make the name clearer. She leaves it alone, hands back to nestling around her mug. "It was me. I admit it. I always write 'M'rkr' just to throw people off." Delivery utterly straight, she gives a little shrug. Surprised by the absence, Brieli blinks a few times at Vienne before they're on the same page, and laughs a little herself, sliding into a seat opposite the other woman as she does. There's another one for the poker-face, the claim of vandalism, and the goldrider arches a fine brow. "Seems a bit late for you to have your delinquent period. Though, from the look of it..." She tilts her head to try to peer at it straight on, shrugging off her jacket. "More like drunk than delinquent. What she's drinking," she tells the server immediately as she arrives. "I know," Vienne answers, twisting her brows into purposeful confusion over her late blooming. "I guess I was so busy with studies, I forgot to get around to it. Had to happen at some point, though." She cracks a smirk for the goldrider, dropping the act, or maybe continuing to play the part of delinquent delinquent. "Klah," she supplies for the server, in case they've forgotten, lifting her mug a little to explain. Then she's ready to settle into sharing her booth with Brieli, crossing her legs under the table and forgetting the drunken signature. "I'm glad you could make it. I wasn't sure how busy you'd be." "When it's all bottled up, it needs to come out at some point," Brieli agrees seriously enough, nodding as she offers the server a brief smile over her shoulder, then turning her attention to Vienne more fully. "I thought it was," she says, pointing her chin over at the mug. "I'm having a harder time waking up today than usual. Maybe it's Iesaryth. She does like to sleep." Reaching over to trace her fingers over the scratches in the wood, "I'll have to send someone over tomorrow morning... and I do have to eat, so it's a good excuse to socialize." She flashes a grin. "How are you?" "Maybe it's the snow. The fresh layer can make everything seems so quiet, cozy." That could lull a person into sleepiness, in theory. "Or maybe your sleep just wasn't as restful as it could have been." But she smiles widely and warmly for Brieli's reasons for joining her, no offense taken to that 'eh, might as well' attitude, since there are probably any number of other people the goldrider could choose to socialize with. "I'm well. And Oswinth has been holding up to the cold. Physically, at least." Vienne's smile turns a little indulgent for her lifemate, but it only lasts a beat before she considers, "I'm thinking soup today. Do they have soup here?" Glancing to the exit, as if she might see the snow there, "It's possible. Either of those. I don't always sleep well." It's not much of an admission for Brieli to make, light though it is. There likely aren't a lot of people sleeping well. She mirrors Vienne's smile, if not as warm as wide - she's just reserved - though she looks a touch relieved for the news about the blue. "That's good to hear. He should be able to manage the worst of it then, yes? And they should. Even if it's just what they have in the living cavern today." A pause, before carefully, "How are things... in your wing?" "He's been a little down, though." Oswinth. "I'm not sure if taking a day trip would help or if it would just make coming back home feel colder and grayer by comparison." Vienne makes a little face as she lifts her mug for a sip, sorry, perhaps, for disparaging her new home, though at least she's called it that. She flashes a smile for the prospect of soup, eyes darting off toward the boards that list whatever is on the menu, whether they bother to talk much about food or not. However, mention of the wing does have her smile disappearing. The shape of it is still there, it's just that her lips get pulled in between her teeth for a second. "It's alright. Everyone has been very welcoming since I arrived. I'm grateful." But she knows that's probably not what Brieli is asking. "It sounds like things have been troubling for the wingleaders." Not hers specifically, just... in general. "I haven't really heard what happened." With a little wrinkle of her nose, "It is hard to say. Though I find the sun does help, if you can just go somewhere and lie in it for awhile. It could be different for him, though." Brieli has a little shrug for that, unsure what Oswinth's personality is like. And she seems unoffended by the comments on home - it's the truth. It can't be called colorful. The arch of fine brows at the answer shows that it's definitely not what she's asking, but she doesn't poke at it, not as the bluerider goes on. "I've probably heard as much as anyone else," she admits. "I need to talk to a few more people. This... It's getting out of hand." She stops talking as the server comes with her mug, and orders a sandwich. Maybe she wanted it last time after all. Vienne, similarly, holds her answer until the order of soup is placed and the server is off again. "The divide does seem to be growing," she admits in turn. It's hard not to think that the deeper it cuts, the more difficult it will be." She slips in an apologetic twist of her lips, sympathy for Brieli's situation, no matter how Vienne manages to avoid the actual eventuality of choices being made. "The wingleaders were present, whatever happened, they feel must feel it more personally. But I don't know if that means the riders under them are actually more removed or more inflammed by secondhand reports." Her mouth presses firmly over another drink. Warming her hands around her mug, gripping it tight to look into the dark liquid, "Yes. And the longer it goes, the more... emotional some seem to get. None of it is helping. I wish things were different. Daily, despite my determination not to." Brieli looks up to offer a faint smile Vienne's way, a bit regretful. It's not hard to guess how she'd like things to be. With a sigh, "Yes. And I suppose we'll see over the next few days. I don't know what H'kon is thinking sometimes." She waits a beat before, curious, "Have you heard anything from Igen?" "I'm not sure what anyone thinks there is to gain from strengthening the divide," Vienne supposes, that thoughtful look coming to her as her eyes drift away from Brieli and skim across the room. It removes her consideration from the actual parties involved. "But it's hard to compromise if it feels like you're the only one doing it." Her glance shifts back to Brieli as she lets out a faint chuckle. "Does anyone know what H'kon is thinking?" It's mostly rhetorical. But then, again, the goldrider's question makes Vienne hesitate. "I have little contact with Igen," she shares, more of a disclaimer than anything else. "But it sounds like they don't have much patience for High Reaches' situation." And she's sorry about that, too. "I'm sure there's someone who thinks there's something to gain. I'm sure there's true believers too. Set on their cause. Everyone wants to protect the Weyr or save the Weyr or do right by the Weyr, but they don't agree on what the path is and it's tearing the Weyr apart. I might compromise, but..." Brieli sighs, allowing frustration to surface briefly as she looks across the table, gaze open, sincere. "I haven't done anything, not really, Vienne. I've told some hard truths, I've had my grudges, but I've never done anything wrong by the Weyr. By the people. I wouldn't." For H'kon, there's something near a snort before she sips from her klah. "Well, not too surprising, that. Iesaryth talked to their queens and... something was up." "Do they think they'll be able to rally everyone?" Maybe they do, and Vienne becomes rather pensive, puzzling through that line of thought. "I don't disagree, though. I think everyone's heart is generally in the right place. They want the best and fear the worst." But for the rare show of openness from the goldrider, Vienne is quiet. "I know," she says, meaning it, understanding given in those two simpe words. It's the kind of statement that might accompany a touch of her hand, but her fingers stay comfortably around her mug without so much as a twitch. "It sounded like they'd like to see a more experienced Weyrwoman installed." Though Brieli sounds dubious about their prospects, given the givens, "It's possible? If someone is a believer, you more or less have to kill them to stop them from rallying for the cause, lost or no." A beat. "I don't mean actually kill them, but." That Vienne knows, that Vienne seems to understand, that seems to mean much to the goldrider; though she's quiet when their food comes, she murmurs after, "Thank you. Though... I don't know if I'd put it that way, heart in the right place." With a wry smile, she nods, pulling her plate closer. "Iesaryth said they were rather patronizing, so that seems right. I suppose that's an argument that can be made." Food! Soup! It at least saves them both from dwelling over whether or not anyone should be killed. Again, as last time, Vienne has a certain enthusiasm for the delivery of her lunch, like she's about a moment away from wiggling in her seat and clapping her hands. She does neither of those things, but it's all there in the bright smile she shows the server as thanks. Perhaps that enthusiasm is mostly just for the server's benefit, though she is quick to take up her spoon and start digging around to see just what her meal is made of. As for Brieli's wry grin, "Well, I think they think they're doing what's best for everyone. I think the sinking feeling, that there's self-interest involved, probably lives a little lower than the heart. They might mistake it for apprehension about their future rather than uncertainty about their motives." There's a quip in her words, teasing no one in particular, other than the nebulous them that surely excludes members of this lunch date. "It might be a weak argument. The Weyr seems much more passionately divided over the Weyrleader than the queen. A third Weyrwoman would still have to choose someone. And she'd have to do so with less understanding of everyone involved." The sandwich seems to make Brieli pretty happy too; after tucking into that for a little bit, she notes, over her mug, "I hope that they think that. It's really the only excuse for it. Even K'del can't see that passive resistance is still resistance to authority, which reduces any he may want to reassume someday. People have no long view." Perhaps the goldrider has taken Vienne's words more seriously than they're meant, but what else is new? "Don't question their own motives, but everyone else's... I have tried to speak to K'del, by the way. I think he's avoiding me." She seems to think that rather pathetic and irritating both. "And it's funny, that, yes? I suppose we're both goldriders, at least." "I wonder if K'del struggles with that. But there's honesty to it, to revealing something that might not really in your best interest, just because you can't help feeling it. I wonder if he was so open when he was Weyrleader," she muses distantly into her spoon, not having any personal experience to go on. "Or if letting those feelings out is just a way to embrace being a wingrider." But Vienne agrees about the lack of long view with a lift of her brows for emphasis. "Maybe he's not ready," she guesses off-handedly about the bronzerider's avoidance. "But speaking of... The Holders appeared to be rather evasive at Turnover." She slips a look toward Brieli to see if there's any light to be shed there. "I don't know. I hope not," Brieli notes, shaking her head, flicking curls back over her shoulder with the non-sandwich hand. "When he was Weyrleader, I mean. It's a wonder the place is still standing, if so. He didn't seem so bad before... everything, but he never seemed all that... hard to me. Some people, you know nothing will break them. I never got that sense from him." A shrug and a smile to Vienne. "Or it could be that he's just a wingrider now. And maybe." There's a smirk for the bluerider's last. "Maybe something to do with the rumors that one of them is a killer, by proxy. Maybe Taikrin's girlfriend wasn't so thrilled with how close Azaylia was and jumped at the chance to get away." Arching fine brows, a bite of sandwich for emphasis. "People can respond to that, though," Vienne mentions, dabbing her lips with her napkin. "Sometimes people are more comfortable with someone who isn't hard, someone who has the same feelings and failings that they do." She has a little shake of her head, though, not putting too much weight on her thoughts. The shake does loosen a strand of hair from behind her ear and she hastens to tuck it back into place. Then her eyes start to narrow, thinking back to the busy party and what little she could pick up. "There was an awful lot of murmurring when they came in. Taikrin's girlfriend?" There are plenty of faces she's seen and bits of information she's learned, but recognizing Riorde has not been among them. "Is there any truth in those rumors?" The goldrider has to consider that, as she has some more sandwich. "Everyone has the same feelings and failings," Brieli points out quietly. "Not everyone can go about telling everyone about them and expressing them all over, though. It would explain a few things, wouldn't it?" With a purse of her lips, she puts down the sandwich, taking up her mug instead. "I asked a few people after the party. I thought I'd heard something before, but... apparently, the new Lord Holder disappeared from the Weyr just after someone was killed, under suspicious circumstances. In the Weyrleader's weyr, no less. And your guess is as good as mine." A pause. "Riorde. The one he went off to dance with, if you remember." Those quiet words urge a smile from Vienne, warm. "People forget that." And if she takes a moment to fish around in her soup for some particular chunk, it is likely more about her appetite than her private thoughts. Either way, there might be some relief when the topic turns more fully toward rumors and Holders, though it's not until that little fact about the crime scene than she arches a wary brow. "You're kidding," she breathes, not amused enough to make it a laugh. "It's strange that they'd come here, considering rumors like that. I heard something about the road but..." But it sounds like she isn't buying it. "I do remember that. They seemed to know one another." Perhaps a bit primly, odd from her, "They do." Brieli will take the opportunity to finish her sandwich... and perhaps she's likewise relieved when it's someone else they're talking about, even if she brought it up in the first place. As she brushes off her hands, shaking her head, dark eyes serious, "No. Not at all. And it is strange, but... I suppose there's a certain amount that one can get away with at a certain point, if there's truth to it. I don't believe everything I read in those records." Her tone is dubious. As for the rest, "I believe they were both brought back from the island. Exiles, but they prefer Islanders." "At a certain point?" When Vienne repeats those words, there's humor in them, not so much a question as some kind of wry commentary on the mentality of the Holders. It might not be clear what that commentary is, but at least the bluerider seems amused. And she can commiserate on the topic of history. "Records are frustrating. I always feel like I'm missing some important piece." Meanwhile, despite there being a good portion of solids left in her soup, she leaves her spoon and nudges the bowl away. There's a bit of silence that hangs in the air, too many old topics that haven't quite let go enough to focus on the new ones. She draws in a long breath. "Do you know what you want to do?" "Of position? Of... use to someone? Of necessity? I'm not sure." Brieli shrugs a little, noting, "It's hard to say, but I always think it's possible to... avoid consequences if you're in the right place or have the right allies." It's a rather cynical view on the world, but look at who's talking. With a wrinkle of her nose for Vienne, "I know. I think sometimes there's an attempt to be impartial... and then sometimes, there's just spin." She leans back in her chair, grinning at the question. "I know what I want to do. And I know what I'm going to do. They may not be the same thing, but... we'll see if I get to do what I want or not." "Oh, I think it definitely can be," is Vienne's agreement, though from her it might sound more like unbiased acceptance than cynicism. At the same time, she seems rather in favor of bias in recordkeeping. "Sometimes I think it would be better to hear two opposing versions. Or maybe three: one from either end and someone in the middle for perspective." She does grin, rather impishly wistful. If only she could read records like that. At least, between the two of them, both comfortably done with their meals, both leaning toward shrugs and smiles, the discussion that could potentially be the most uncomfortable seems to be the least. And now Vienne chuckles, "I don't even want to know what you want to do," she says, entirely teasing. "But I'll wish you luck with whatever you're going to do." Meanwhile, the time has come for the bluerider to scoot herself to the edge of the booth and get ready to head back into the snow, though not without one more glance for the carved name in the able. "I can't believe you're going to have someone come and buff out my handiwork." Shrugging on her jacket, pushing out of her seat, "Could you imagine, though? Coordinating that? And what's more, paying everyone? There's be a certain accuracy, but compilation would be a nightmare." Brieli shudders a touch for that idea, grinning after. "And thank you for the luck. We'll see how it all goes, but hopefully... hopefully, it'll all be straight sooner than later. There's just too many feelings involved. Ego, besides." And she looks at the scratched tabletop with a huff of disgust. "I can't either. Best arrange that now. You have a good day, Vienne. Thanks for lunch." With a little wave, she heads back into the caverns, shaking her head. Drunks. |
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