Logs:Silence Brings Silence
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| RL Date: 3 March, 2013 |
| Who: Alida, Xhaeon |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Silence begets silence between two candidates. |
| Where: Snowasis |
| When: Day 2, Month 2, Turn 31 (Interval 10) |
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| Winter afternoon at High Reaches finds Xhaeon at the bar of the Snowasis, a scrap of hide in front of him alongside a mug of something that steams and a plate of whatever is being served as lunch in the living caverns. The bar is fairly empty other than that, though people line the booths and the level of audible sound is fairly decent. The bartender, a short man with red hair, polishes his glasses somewhat down the way, keeping an eye on the servers hopping around refilling drinks and checking food-orders. Having missed out on whiskey the eve before, Alida is found strolling into the Snowasis this time to make up for such, the woman casing the place first before wading in amongst the patrons. Ducking staff and the press of happy carousers this way and that, the quiet and self-sufficient holder soon enough makes it to the bar, and awaits the 'tender's attention so she can order. Who cares if it's only afternoon...somewhere else on Pern, it's 5 o'clock, and time for a personal party. At this point, the guard hasn't seen Xhaeon, but the lure of a nice lowball glass lures her on. The redheaded chap straightens, approaches the newcomer with eyebrows raised; "What can I get for you, this afternoon?" he questions, the lull of Tillek's waters represented well in the mellow of his mild tenor. Xhaeon shifts, glances over, but doesn't seem too motivated to greet the other candidate, instead focusing on writing something on his hide, the action of his charcoal against the well-scraped thing slow and thoughtful. Who could blame Xhaeon, given that Alida's previously made it know that she prefers to be left alone. Once the woman is near the bar, she does indeed make out Xhaeon in the drifting crowd, a silent grunt and nod of base acknowledgement offered to him just as she bellies up and orders "Whiskey, neat." Incisive greens skate over the crowd as the holder offers her back to the bar itself, the habitual check of her surroundings ingrained within 'lida allowing her to feel more secure in an ever-changing whirl of circumstance. Xhaeon wouldn't blame Xhaeon. Outside of that... The bartender assesses Alida quickly, and reaches down for the well whiskey, simultaneously reaching up to grab the next clean glass from the hooks overhead. A generous tot is dolloped and moved with thoughtless flourish to land on a fresh coaster in front of Alida's back. Xhaeon, in contrast to the girl's paranoid scanning of the crowds, seems well-confident to leave his back to the bulk of the behaviors occuring, his writing continuing at an unhurried pace. His gaze doesn't lift, and he apparently thinks the grunt aimed to the barkeep and not to himself, happily oblivious. It's only paranoia if nothing has happened before, or does happen. Grunting as the coaster taps her back, turning about, the guard slides over her smallest leftover coin to the 'tender before taking her draught in return. Alida gives her server a low, "Thanks..." before swivelling 'round again to face outward and sip slowly at her poison of choice. Finally getting a little bored, her greens skate over once more to Xhaeon and his writing, soon enough trying to make out what he's scribbling. Sip. The bartender accepts the coin, eyes it a moment, and decides to take it as payment; he goes back to his business. Meanwhile, Xhaeon sticks to his own: if Alida angles right, she'll see that it seems to be some kind of list of areas in the weyr, some with checkmarks and some without; under each main area (living caverns, sections of the bowl, etc) there are smaller areas of writing that aren't easily discernible given the distance. Xhaeon-- is, well, absorbed, printing something down in that smaller script. A crease is beginning to form along his brow. She does indeed angle to be able to observe those lists of Weyr areas better, Alida silently sipping her booze while trying to piece together just what Xhaeon is up to. Once in awhile, those green rise, flick all around, then re-settle onto the other candidate's writing. One of her hands reaches slowly over and back, and finally settles on the wooden mini-basket of pretzels, a few palmed and lifted to the young woman's yap, ingested with muted crunches. It's the crunches that eventually gives her away. Xhaeon looks up at the right moment, catching Alida's snooping: at first, he doesn't even have surprise, simply a blank expression as if he's not quite sure why she's there. Only after a moment do his eyebrows rise, a question silently hanging as he shifts the hide to the far side of him away from Alida, moving his plate in the way in a silent fortressing of whatever-it-is that he's working on. It's very belated that he reaches for his mug, lifting the not-quite-steaming-anymore liquid to take a careful, testing sip, and then a longer draw. What greets Xhaeon's glance up is a rather toothy, bright and even flash of a grin that's half predatory, half amused. And though it lasts for but a second, for once the sentiment is seen within green eyes...which might be as much reason for concern as it could be for surprise. A silent, mock-sad little frown appears on the guard's features when Xhaeon attempts to hide his words from her gaze, soon dropped in favor of a small shrug and a quiet return to imbibing and glancing all about...and nomming on fresh pretzels. Eyebrows shift around, furrowing in consternation at that grin, then rising belatedly at that mock-sad frown. Xhaeon seems entirely unwilling to speak, though the bar certainly isn't a quiet place. Instead, he shakes his head as if in not-quite-comprehension of wtf just happened, and recenters his hide before him, arm curved in a way to try to block any /further/ impeding on the privacy of whatever-it-is that he's doing. A pair of greenriders walks in, chatting away, settle not far down from Alida with little care for the guard's presence. Fair enough; silence brings silence...and Alida's at home with such, the palest-blonde keeping her eyes to herself since Xhaeon wants his privacy...and since nothing of deep import seems to be forthcoming in those written words she glimpsed. It's only when the motion of the other candi's head shake alerts her that something's going on that the femme looks back over, Alida now offering him an expression touched with quiet bemusement and a touch of false pathos before those entering greenies get a swivel of her head and a quick once-over. It's during the swivel of the head that Xhaeon chooses to discretely take his work and his cider with him, moving towards the garden patio with a brief jab of his chin towards such at the barkeep; the barman nods, lifting his rag in farewell, before starting in on the greenriders with lots of 'hoy there' and a barrage of 'beauties' in his speech. Xhaeon's strides are unhurried but ground-eating naturally, and it takes him very little time to hit the door and disappear outside. Again, it's motion and sound that draw Alida's attention back to Xhaeon, the Pars hold gal only faintly lifting one pale brow as her fellow candidate takes himself and his words and thoughts someplace else. A brief, dark chuckle is all for herself, the woman taking her final sips of whiskey and nips of pretzels before she too strides off...though towards the exit. A look over her shoulder to the patio outside, then a lift of greens up to the sleeting sky silently inquire as to Xhaeon's sanity...but she leaves him (and herself) in peace. |
Comments
Azaylia (Dragonshy (talk)) left a comment on Mon, 04 Mar 2013 04:18:50 GMT.
< YOU BOTH TALK TOO MUCH.
- grins*
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