Logs:Picnic and a Present
| |
|---|
| |
| RL Date: 13 April, 2013 |
| Who: Sabella, E'sren |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: E'sren brings Sabella to meet his whoooole family, and then presents a present for her because she needed a new one of those anyway right? |
| Where: Lake shore, HRW |
| When: Day 3, Month 7, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
| OOC Notes: Picture of the journal if anyone cares. XD http://imgur.com/Gji7TxH |
  |
| Sheltered Lakeside Ledge, High Reaches Weyr The far side of the lake gets much less foot traffic - there's less grass, due to the poorer soil, and the bed of the lake is muddy and not at all as nice to walk in. But a small stand of four willow trees with long branches hanging low and swinging in the breeze provides some relief from the sun during the heat of the day. A pair of small curved benches sit underneath the trees. The ground rises up sharply towards the northwest end of the lakeside, and the waterfall that feeds the lake thunders downwards there, foaming the water and creating a fine mist in the air that distorts the light.
Merilyn, his little sister, is currently doing two things: wearing a really large floppy hat with a feather in it, and setting the table. The others are idling around, waiting, Seamus is talking with his mother and aunt, Harys, and Adelain is bringing out a basket of rolls to set down among the other food options: vegetables, sandwich fixings, two pitchers for water and juice. When the two weyrlings show up, Siobhan lifts her glass and says, "Aha! Here they are!" The rest shout out 'yay!' (Merilyn) or something equally welcoming. E'sren, grinning, waves, "Hey guys," and, using that same hand to present the girl at his side, says, "This is Sabella." A chorus of greetings rises. Lots of advance warning. While Sabella has absolutely been in support of his family being here and E'sren spending time with them when he can, she's been a little scarce and distracted in response. She hasn't really had an explanation. But today she'll come with him, no complaints and certainly seeming cheerful enough to be there. She laughs, outwardly delighted and amused by the excited and friendly response from the various relatives. "Hi." It's simple and quiet, accompanied by a quick wiggle of her fingers towards them. The smile she has for them is genuine and easy. Her eyes are quickly bouncing from one person to the next, taking in details. Perhaps guessing at identities based on things he's told her over the last couple of months. But largely, she leaves the round of introductions for him to do. Her gaze eventually flickering back to him in anticipation. Quick to do just that, introductions, E'sren points to each family member in turn, and in turn they wave. "Seamus, my brother, that's Merilyn my sister, Harys my aunt, my mom's sister, Adelain my cousin, and Siobhan, my mom." The matriarch and last to be named, Siobhan smiles warmly and lets her gaze linger on Sabella for a long moment before remembering herself and gesturing at the table. "Come on in, we didn't know if you liked any particular food best so we just did sandwich stuff, hope that's okay." E'sren will follow or lead over to the table, whichever ends up happening, without abandoning her to fate, and the rest slowly converge on it all as well as if knowing that by coming in all at once it's a little like a mob. It almost seems like the two weyrlings are going to have a bench to themselves, but Merilyn scoots in next to Sabella and E'sren apologizes under his breath for his elbow. "So Sabella, Chase tells me you're his study partner," Siobhan mentions from her seat at the head of the table. The introductions come quickly and Sabella makes eye contact with each, nodding in recognition for each of the names. She's heard all of them at least a couple of times probably. She manages to maintain the friendly if occasionally nervous looking smile throughout, glancing shyly away when Siobhan holds up that lingering gaze. "Oh, I'm sure that it's fine. Who doesn't like sandwiches?" No one, that's who. No one doesn't like a sandwich. She steps in behind E'sren for this adventure, letting him lead the way through the getting of food and finding a place to sit. Slipping onto the bench next to him, she slides over so that his sister can sit on the other side. She apologizes when her feet bump into someone elses. Whoops. The faces along the makeshift table are subject to curious looks as she observes them talking and settling in to eat. Siobhan's question of course requires her attention so she shifts focus. "Yeah, we started studying for our exams together. And now we've just been studying for everything else too. There's a lot." That comes with an appropriately sheepish laugh for her lack of knowledge. "Yeah, he told me that too." Siobhan shares a smile with her eldest, then takes a bite, maybe so that she can chew instead of asking more questions. E'sren gives her an appreciative look, then adds, "Sabella's been helping me with a lot of my math stuff. I think she's the only reason I passed that test." Merilyn notices Sabella doesn't have a napkin so reaches over for one extra on her end of the table, passes it over with a grin. For the most part the family are talking to each other, perhaps all of them using the same self-awareness Siobhan demonstrated so as not to overwhelm their guest, but Merilyn is not one of these. "I think it's so cool that you're a dragonrider. I don't know any girls who do cool things. I mean aside from you guys." For the women present. She goes on, and E'sren snorts into his bite of sandwich. "Do you get to do any self-defense stuff?" Sabella doesn't seem to be put off by any of the questions, though she does take the moment of pause to bite into her sandwich. She accepts the napkin from his sister with a smile and a quietly murmured thank you. At his words on the math exams, she's quickly shaking her head. "That's not true. You weren't having that much trouble with the problems. I think you would have been able to figure them out on your own. You'd just have needed to read the whole big book." There's a quirky smile for that one, like he must know what that book is. And why no one would have wanted to read it. She turns to his sister, laughing a little at her words. "I don't know that many people who do any cool things at all. Not just women. I think it's a person thing." Taking another little bite of her food and chewing it down in time to answer, "I think so? We haven't been doing any of that now however." Merilyn grins, a very knowing grin for someone her age. "You're right, it is a person thing." She seems slightly disappointed on Sabella's behalf about the self-defense stuff or lack thereof, but Harys, or the 'serious, brutally honest' aunt per E'sren, pipes up so the silence isn't really felt. "Chase also mentioned you might be joining us for the next big family get together. We were all talking about it and thinking it would line up pretty much perfectly for when he said you guys could come visit on your own." E'sren, still shaking his head about the whole math thing in silent refusal of the big book or the idea of it, shifts gears to nodding instead. "Yeah, I'm gonna be bringing her by, I thought she'd have a lot of fun. All the dancing and everything." Siobhan levels one of her Looks on him, though she smiles during it so it might be a measuring look but she's coolly amused at the same time. Seamus and Adelain share looks with each other, maybe a little smile, but don't comment. "Right? I've heard this saying that if you're bored though, that just means you're boring." But before she can launch into any real discussion of that topic, there's another question being fielded at her. This time by his aunt. She shifts so that she can face her more properly, her elbow coming to lean onto the makeshift table. "Oh, we talked about that a few sevens ago. Or was it a few months ago? I lose track of time so easily these days. But I think by then our dragons will definitely be big enough to take us." She agrees, glancing at E'sren out of the corner of her eye. This happens around the time that all of those looks are being shared. So it's possible she misses them or is just really skilled at appearing as if she doesn't notice them. A smile tugs on the corners of her mouth and she takes another bite of her sandwich, nodding in agreement with what he says about enjoying the dancing and other stuff. After that little moment, the family kicks back into normal gear, picking up on Sabella's cue and smoothing it all over like it never happened. Which makes E'sren at least much more at ease. They all eat and talk, Sabella is on the receiving end of quite a few more questions once they realize she isn't going to run screaming if they kind of bombard her. They pretty much live up to everything he's told her of them, right down to Seamus's high-pitched laugh and Merilyn's impersonation of it, which follows right on its tail. They laugh a lot, and share stories with her of their travels, and some embarrassing ones of E'sren when he was a lot younger, which he endures like a good sport, though at some points he grins and tries to explain things to her as they really happened, he did not run out in the rain totally naked that one time, it was for a good reason and no, they didn't find him sleeping off his hangover with the goat, it was his friend Wallas. And when everyone's finished eating, and they start clearing the table, they refuse to let her help if she tries of course, E'sren disappears briefly to fetch something from the wagon. When he comes back he has a small package wrapped in brown paper and twine, and he asks, "Hey, would you come over there with me real quick?" 'Over there' being the benches underneath the trees. Sabella handles the questions as best she can, seemingly entertained all the while and not at all put off regardless of what the content happens to be. The imitation of Seamus' laughter has her in absolute stitches. And whether or not it's good form, she's doing it herself mere moments after Merilyn. She ends up giggling helplessly and leaning into the other girl. She listens with a good amount of fake skepticism whenever E'sren tries to correct something, anything to get him to humorously explain it even further for the comedic effect. Somehow in between all of this she actually does manage to finish her food and drink. And she tries valiantly to try and help clean up anyway. In the end she ends up sneakily stacking the napkins together into a pile. Take that gracious hosts! He interrupts her in the middle of her covert attempts to help and she straightens up, clearing her throat. Totally not helping when she's not supposed to be. "Oh, sure!" She brushes off the front of her shirt and sneaks her way in between his brother and cousin on the way over. "What's that?" She asks, nodding in the direction of the package. She must be covert to escape notice so long, and no doubt whoever ends up finding that napkin pile abandoned will raise an eyebrow. But it'll be too late for them if they find out, because E'sren has abducted Sabella away. The family doesn't comment on the two sneaking off together, but there might be some more shared glances as the conversation picks up behind them. He doesn't lead them now to the trees like he did to the table before, side by side they go and his answer to her question is not an answer and it's vague, "Wait," with a grin, until they come to the benches. He sits down, clutching the package in both hands, and looks up at her. After a quiet beat, "I got you something." The way he says this, with that tentative tone in his voice, and the squint he's giving her, it's almost like he's afraid to admit it, in case that's not okay. But she's gone! And there's a large probability that they'll either forget or won't bother to mention the pile of neatened napkins. She's quick to catch up and fall into step next to him, though she's shooting him a vaguely confused look for the wait. When they get to the benches she climbs on it, sitting crosslegged and facing him. "You got me something?" Sabs repeats, lifting an eyebrow and watching him curiously as he adopts that tentative voice and the little squint in his eyes. With a crooked smile she ventures, "Oh is this your proposal present? I already told you that I don't make the bed, do laundry or dust. Did I tell you about the no dusting? Guess what, no dusting." But more seriously she leans forward and pushes on his knee. "Really though. What is it? And more importantly," with a laugh, "Why exactly?" She takes cross-legged, he adjusts by spinning around and sliding a leg over to the opposite side of the bench, so he's straddling it, which is not exactly comfortable, but at least he can face her this way. He sets the package down between them, leaving just his fingertips to push it closer, across what little distance there is, to her. E'sren's been grinning for her jokes, for their arranged marriage, for no dusting and for the nudge at his knee. He lifts his eyebrows and nods, still grinning, when he says, "I know, no dusting, I got it. This isn't a bribe, don't worry. It's just a... I dunno. Open it." "I'm serious." Or is she? She points her index finger at him and mock glares before drawing the package towards herself. Her slender fingers are quick to pull away the outer packaging. When she gets to the item within she blinks slowly a couple of times. The smile the comes across her mouth is almost tentative and then she's pursing her lips. Sabs picks the notebook up, running her hands over the sturdy fabric of the wrap-cover. There's appreciation in her eyes for the color and she picks a bit at the large button that the spare bit of cord ties around. She glances up at E'sren once before she lifting the cover and touching the brand new pages. Quietly, "You didn't have to. You shouldn't have." It's with a quiet smile that E'sren accepts the stern pointing and mock glaring, yeah yeah, and he keeps it for those next few seconds it takes for her to open the package and find what's inside. He's biting his lip though when the smile fades from her face, the way she's pursing hers is not telling and he's not sure what's going on in her head. Well, less sure than usual. He's actually already talking, kind of, before she does, rubbing the back of his neck like he does when he's stressing out. That's a tell. "It's... it's not a big deal, I wasn't sure if you..." When she speaks he shuts up until words become available to him again. "I asked them to bring it. When I wrote to them, to ask them to come for the play, I asked my mom if she could..." He's talking fast, he clears his throat suddenly in the middle and jerks his shoulder up like he could shrug it all off, reaches to take it from her. "I can just... it's not, like..." She's just not an easy person to read, not one of those heart-worn-on-the-sleeve sorts. So the type of happy reaction that others would have takes a few moments longer to register on hers, especially now with him. There aren't any expectations to be met. Except, maybe there are. He's looking disappointed or flustered with her reaction. So now she's trying to fix it or smooth it over, something. "No, no. I really like it, I do. I just- I'm not used to people giving me things. I feel bad, I wish that I had something for you too." He can try and take it from her if he likes, she's letting it sit in her lap now. But it's probably more distracting that she's reaching out to loop her arms around his neck to give him a quick hug. "Thank you. It is a big deal though, for me. I know it's not for you." "Oh, well--" E'sren's hand was there, but hesitating still between withdrawing and taking the notebook back, uncertain if she's keeping it or not keeping it, and not getting any clear messages from his brain about what to do because his brain doesn't have any ideas either. But she hugs him, and that is distracting, and he's also more equipped to deal with a hug, his arms curving around her on autopilot to return it. It might be quick, so he doesn't get to do a lot more than react, but the not a lot more is to dip his chin down to tuck his mouth in at her shoulder very briefly, then it's over and he's pulling away, trying to look not as relieved as he feels. "Oh, yeah, you're welcome. Um. I just saw you were running out of pages once, a while ago, and my mom knows a guy who makes these, and other things, but yeah." It's entirely possible that she notices the way he dips his chin down, but as with so many other things with her, she doesn't provide a sign that she does. Those moments where she had to process her own reaction in order to give him a reaction to react to have evidentally now passed. She's smiling, excited and flipping through the clean pages. "It's great. Now I can finally use up the last couple of pages. I've been absolutely dreading it. I was going to go to stores to see if they had anything but there just wasn't one with the right type of paper the one time I went. I didn't want to take something I wouldn't use and- No, Chase. This is great, I love it." It comes out in a tumbled rush of words and finally looks up him. Definitely happy, totally. Whether or not it's because she knows he needed that response from her, or she's just genuinely really laying it on that she's that happy, Sabella is doing E'sren a huge favor. He picks up on that happiness, that delight, and it's contagious; he's grinning now, a reflection of her own feelings but on his face. Good, she doesn't hate it, or him for weirdly getting her a present that's just this huge demonstration of how much attention he pays to things. "Oh good, that's good about the paper, I didn't even think about that honestly. I just saw one like this last time Dreyk was around, that's the guy who makes 'em, and he said he could make us some to sell, and I remembered that purple color. Anyway." For lack of anything better to do with all of the nervous energy, he flicks his hand out to tap her knee like he does sometimes. "You should probably start filling it with pictures of me eating apples." Is that what it is? If it is, she has the good taste to not go around pointing it out just now. "It's great," she repeats for the third time, "the color is great too." She closes the cover again and this time wraps the cord around the big button and holds it close to her chest. He's tapping her knee and she leans forward to put her hand out onto his this time, an easy friendly sort of contact. "I already drew one picture of you eating an apple. You're going to have to do more interesting poses for me to draw you up again. Maybe on your first manned flight with Ahruth you could hang off of him by the side, one hand clinging to the straps." She lifts her hand off of his knee to demonstrate the clawing in the air gesture. These are normal with them, he taps her knee, she touches his, a pinch, an elbow, she punches him, they call it a day. Now is no different, grain of salt. His laugh is sudden for the imagery she conjures up in his mind. "You'll have to draw fast, before we both crash land and die. I doubt that part would make a very good picture." Even if Ahruth is totally capable, and E'sren will probably be just fine as a rider in the sky, any comments made towards their future performance in this arena he brushes off with a joke, just like this time. His grin quiets, there's a pause. "Hey, I'm sorry if this was like... a lot all at once." There haven't been any today. But then E'sren hasn't tried to recruit her into any crazy projects either, so she hasn't had a reason to. Not yet anyway. "I'll try to draw as fast as possible. But I think Ahruth could land without killing you on the way down. I'm fully confident in your abilities." Sabs tells him, rocking back as they hand out on the bench. When the quiet pause comes, she laughs into it. "I won't lie and say it wasn't a lot all at once. But I really liked them. Your family is fun, your sister is great. They make good sandwiches." She smiles, pulling her lips to the side a bit. "I guess I can stop being so jealous of them stealing your time while they're here." For her confidence, E'sren touches his hand to his heart, deeply effected, and even if a lot of that gesture is playful sarcasm, the appreciation is there in his smile. He of course listens attentively to her reply, it's important information, he wouldn't have checked in on her feelings otherwise. His nod is understanding, and his grin bright for her opinions. This hasn't been the first time he's had to hide how relieved he actually is, luckily he has that last thing she said to dwell on and it changes his expression enough that relieved is far from appropriate description. "Were you?" he wants to know, little smirk tugging up one corner of his mouth. Sabella fingers the top cover of the purple book, playing with the edges. "Yes, sort of." She admits reluctantly, taking this opportunity to glance at some point behind him. Anywhere but right at his face while she formulates the words she wants to use. "I guess I've just gotten used to you being around a lot the last few months, it's been nice. I wasn't sure if I would be awkward around your family or if I would feel out of place. I don't know, it was stupid. And they're really fun people and they didn't make me feel that way at all." It's another one of those times when she tumbles through the words, sighing at the end. "I'll just be quiet now. I'm not good at this kind of thing." E'sren gallantly tries to hide his satisfaction when given that affirmative, even if it means pouting his mouth out a little to force it out of a smile, and into something that looks thoughtful, if not normal. Eventually he quirks his mouth to one side and when she wraps up he does allow a grin. A big boyish one, squinty eyes and everything. "You missed me," he points out, in a weird schmoozy voice. But, "You can be bad at this kind of thing, I'll be bad at giving you presents. That's fair. And don't worry, they'll be gone in a couple weeks and I'll be back to haunting your every step in no time, annoying you and pinching you." Beam. "Ugh. I guess if you have to put it that way." Sabella responds in a voice that's much more put out than she actually feels. She rolls her eyes at his schmoozy tone and gives him a 'look'. For his allowance she breathes out, eventually laughing. "I might have missed you. And you weren't bad at giving me a present, I was just bad at receiving it. By not being good at this kind of thing, I meant not being good at the friend thing. So that's part of it." She shakes her head, smiling again at him with an uplifted eyebrow. "Oh joy. Because what would my life be like without you annoying and pinching me all day long?" Oh. That clarification elicits a different response, a suddenly serious one. It would never occur to E'sren to pity Sabella, or make her feel like he feels bad about what her life must have been like, a life he knows nothing about but has maybe written some guesses on the inner walls of his mind. Because he doesn't feel that way, he doesn't seem to feel that way, but still, it's something that he feels the need to address. "You're good at being my friend. I meant it when I said I don't think I would have gotten through the math test without you, even if you think you didn't have a lot to do with it. In fact I don't know how I would be doing so well if..." He stops himself there though, looks down, swallows. "You said you didn't get me anything, before. But... and I mean I know a lot of people think I'm friends with everyone, but I'm not, and with you, it's like I can kind of... let go. You know?" Sabs laughs, shaking her head and fixing E'sren with something close to an amused smile. "I think you're probably the first person to ever say that to me. That I'm good at being their friend." She rolls her slender shoulders just then, "I mean, I've had people tell me that we were friends before. But I haven't really believed them, sometimes you just get a feeling." About all of those other people, she knows. She gets the distance. Reaching out she nudges her knuckles against his knee, getting his attention when he looks down. "You're doing great. It's not just because of me though, you'd have figured it out someway. You're more resourceful than you know, I think." She smiles encouragingly at him, because something that might even be remotely about her makes her uncomfortable. "You're more than just that guy who's nice and 'friends with everyone'." The knee nudge works, how could it not? and he does meet her eyes, responds to that smile with one of his own. E'sren isn't the type to be down on himself, that's not what this is about, but whatever quiet moment there was is gone now. "You're right, I'm the guy who annoys and pinches you too, so there's that." And just like that, all thoughts of being good enough at things or not are banished. "We should probably head back for more torture. I mean exercises. It's almost time." Their schedule and all. He makes a move to stand, loses his balance because of how his legs are, and reaches over for her shoulder, bending at the waist and laughing. "Sorry! Okay." Take two. After righting himself he offers her a hand up, because obviously they're going back together. "Right! I forgot that was going to start up all over again in full swing. Maybe they could stay an extra couple of weeks?" Sabella teases, reaching across to pinch him as he's rising to stand. But then he's falling over or something and using her as his stability crutch. She's laughing by this point too and once he's figured out how to stand, she'll take his hand in order to get up with the book tucked under her arm. And then, they'll wander back to his family together for another round of questions before they eventually have to return to the barracks. Where there will be another round of lessons, followed by a round of dinner and well, life gets a bit repetitve sometimes, sure. But there'll be plenty of nagging, teasing and playful abuse to break it up. |
Comments
Azaylia (Dragonshy (talk)) left a comment on Mon, 15 Apr 2013 06:36:45 GMT.
<
Aw. <3 E'sren's family sounds big and loud and fantastic and just... to bring Sabella into it all is both wonderful (and from the look of it) jarring. XD I really enjoyed the way she received his gift, and the worry that stemmed from it. It really read as someone who's just not used to all the niceties that some folks take for granted. <3
I really enjoy reading scenes starring these two. :D
Leave A Comment