rogueinladysclothing | A friendly visit [Tagging Viatorus]

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A friendly visit [Tagging Viatorus]

It hadn't been her intention to stay away this long. In truth, Amelia had intended to see Viatorus again right after Christmas, to thank him for his gift and make sure he wasn't in trouble for accepting hers. But after being cursed and then putting Steve through hell as she came down from it, she needed a few days to herself. Now, however, she feels fine. Now she wants to make good on her plans to see her friend again.

As she makes her way toward Viatorus' office, she realizes that, by postponing her plans, she's forgotten to make an appointment. Again. Normally, she'd consider pushing her way in as she did last time. Given her desire to not cause a scene, though, other measures need to be taken. Time for Amelia to exercise some of her more... questionable talents. It's early enough in the day to pencil in a late afternoon appointment, right?

When the office comes into view, so does Lyall. Amelia waits in the shadows of a nearby alley until the guard is distracted by some passerby before walking up and palming his scheduling notebook from a pouch on his belt. Once she has that, it's a simple matter of passably forging an appointment for herself in his handwriting and returning the notebook to his pouch when she's done - all in the span of about 60 seconds. That part of her plan complete, she heads off to a nearby cafe for a light snack and some tea to fill the time before her "scheduled" appointment.

About five minutes before said appointment, Amelia appears at the door to the office. Lyall doesn't exactly scowl at her, but his displeasure at seeing her is obvious, even if her lack of armor over her usual linen clothing and corset puts him a bit more at ease with her today. The rogue is completely undaunted as she steps up to him with a bright smile on her face. "I'm here to see Viatorus," she says in an equally bright tone. "But no need to worry today, friend, I have an appointment this time."

Lyall crosses his arms in front of his chest and rolls his eyes at her. "You most certainly do not." His voice rumbles from deep within his chest, and would likely scare off most people. Sadly for him, Amelia is not most people.

"Please check your appointment ledger - I have an appointment with Viatorus this afternoon." There's a certain smugness in her eyes that doesn't match her cheery tone of voice, but she can't quite help it on this one.

Begrudgingly, Lyall grabs his appointment book and opens it, his eyes widening when he sees an appointment listed for the current hour. When did that get there? He's certain he didn't put that in, but... there it is, in his handwriting and everything. He looks up at her with a look that is equally surprised and upset. "Amelia Ronsam, I presume?"

How she manages to keep smiling when she wants to be grinning is anyone's guess. "Yes. I'm not too early, am I? I can wait out here if necessary." It's a good thing Lyall works for Viatorus, or she might be getting her friend in some serious trouble right now.

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"Spring is wonderful," she agrees quietly. At least, when she was home it was. "But I... I can't face it without them. I can't celebrate the coming of Spring without them. I can't... I can't--"

Her hands fly to her face as she tries in vain to hide the tears that are suddenly making their way down her cheeks. This is certainly not what she wants to be doing right now. He's being so kind and comforting, he's trying to raise her spirits by talking about her family. She certainly managed to sink that ship quickly.

It takes a minute, but she does get enough control to finish her thought for him in a very soft, somber tone.

"I can't face the coming of Spring when it means I have to spend my birthday alone." Finally, the heart of the matter.

The tears turn his own expression into one of dismay. He shuffles closer, but doesn't quite reach for her, eager as he is to comfort her.

"You don't have to," he says quickly. "Tell me when it is. Tell me what you used to do. What you'd love to do. I'll throw you a party. It will be lots of fun."

"No, no you don't understand," she says plaintively. "I don't want to celebrate with anyone else. I want to celebrate with them. If I can't be with them when Spring comes then I'd rather live in Winter."

It's a ridiculous, childish thought - and one she hasn't shared with anyone until now.

She sighs and slowly lowers her hands from her face after one last wipe of her eyes. There's still tears there, but she can't do anything to stop them at this point. "It's not that I think celebrating with you would be bad. I just... I wanted this one tradition from my home to stay with me. My birthday... it was how I always knew that Spring had come. The whole family would come together, just to be together, and that's all I ever wanted." She wipes at her eyes again in vain before looking up at him. "Last year was different. We held a huge party to celebrate the family becoming noble. But it... didn't end the way I wanted it to." The sigh that escapes her is soft and sad. If he remembers anything of her dream, he'll have some understanding of what she's talking about.

When she speaks again, her voice is barely above a whisper. "I'd just rather not have a birthday than deal with the pain of not having my family with me that day. And I... I'd rather not have my heart broken twice in a row on my birthday."

Edited (adding more details) 2016-01-20 17:05 (UTC)

The strong protest throws him off. He flinches back slightly, withdrawing and looking extremely apologetic. Rubbing the back of his neck, he shrugs and shakes his head. "I... I'm sure there's something we can do... Offer a distraction maybe. A day out, doing something else. Not... Not celebrating. Not if you don't want to. But... something.""

Why does she do this? Why does she push so hard on him every time he tries to help? It's reflex, a habit she knows she has and can't break. She's been trying so hard to break it, but her lack of success is plainly obvious.

"A distraction would be nice." She's trying to focus on what he's saying, not what she's feeling. Work through things, not push them aside. "I was honestly planning on hiding away for the day, not seeing anyone if I could help it. But a distraction of some kind would be welcome." There's no need to mention that she was debating setting up the target dummies she purchased and railing on them with her blades until she physically couldn't anymore. No, doing something with him, or any of her friends, would be better than not taking care of herself.

"I love dreams, and I love thinking, but sometimes hiding away inside isn't the best thing to do," he tells her softly. After a second of silence, he feels he can move onto the more fun thought of planning something. "What... What would you like to do? Would you like to be with a few friends? Or just one? Maybe two? Would you like to go for a walk, o-or see a film? Explore, o-or go shopping, or...?"

"I know." He's right, of course, but she knew that from the start. Making the choice to do what's right versus what's easy is still difficult, but with his encouragement, it doesn't seem quite as daunting.

"I don't want to do anything big, and I don't really have many friends here, so I would be okay with all of them coming." Maybe he doesn't realize it, but she can still count on one hand the number of people she considers to be her friends. There's still a huge gap between acquaintance and friend for her. "I... don't know what I would want to do though. I've done some exploring and I have no need of more things." Clearly no one's explained 'window shopping' to her yet. She gives him a curious look as she considers all of this suggestions. "What's a film?"

He doesn't realise it. Surely Amelia, like Verity, is so well loved, and so confident, she must have dozens of friends by now.

"A movie. A..." His eyes flicker back and forth as he thinks of the simplest explanation. "A recording. Like theatre, only captured and recorded as a moving image. I can show you an example, if you'd like."

Amelia, unlike Verity, doesn't make the same effort to have friends. She's met plenty of people, but she calls very few of them friends.

It takes a minute, but she makes the connection to things she's heard in the Nexus. "Oh, the moving pictures. I've heard of them, but I've never seen one. What are they about? Don't you have to go some place to watch them? Or can you watch them wherever you'd like?" Getting onto a subject that makes her curious is good - it helps distract her from the sadness. It's obviously still there, but her tears are drying up, which in itself is progress.

Tears are something Viatorus has had more experience with than he'd like to admit. He, more than anyone, knows the embarrassment they bring with them. Distractions, and moving on swiftly? That's all he knows to offer, since he finds it so hard to offer physical comfort. "There are lots of devices that play them, but some are better to watch on than others. New ones come out in cinemas, with screens bigger than my wall. But mostly people watch them on televisions, which are shaped like... like large paintings, landscapes."

He's eager to encourage the curiosity, the questions. "And they can be about all kinds of things. Real life, but mostly fiction. Stories. Romance, comedy, science-fiction, fantasy... Heroes and villains. A lot like theatre, really."

As someone who is better at pushing aside her feelings than confronting them, Amelia much prefers the distractions to the comfort. The tears are an uncomfortable thing, but they pass quickly enough when she's fully distracted. His explanation of televisions gets a very small laugh - and an a accompanying small smile. "I've been to a version of Earth before, you know, so I've seen a television. They were practically everywhere as I walked around." There's some light teasing in there, but it's nice that he cares enough to explain so much without her asking.

The curiosity, once turned on, is hard to back down from. "Romance and comedy I understand - those seem to be a universal constant no matter which world you're from. But I don't understand what fantasy or science-fiction are. Heroes and villains, sure, but they're only characters in a story. So what kind of a story does a fantasy or science-fiction tell?"

Bouncing in his seat as he adjusts his position, he thinks of how to describe things he hasn't read as much about as he'd like. "Science fiction is about imaginary tales based around science. Sometimes it's big things like stories about people living in space and aliens. Sometimes it's small like... like if everyone had machines to help them live incredibly long lives."

"Fantasy is... is usually based around magic. Around magical creatures and people. Sometimes it's in an entirely make believe world, with strange and wonderful creatures, civilisations, magic... Like science-fiction, some stories seem very normal but for a small difference. People being able to do bits of magic, or... or magical creatures being real."

His excitement earns another small smile. "So, you're saying this place is both a science-fiction and a fantasy story?" She laughs softly before explaining. "This place has so many machines that I could have never dreamed of in my world. So many things to help people live their lives more efficiently and, sometimes, simply better than ways that the people of my world live theirs. On top of that, there's real, honest magic here. Some subtle, some overt, and all far beyond the scope of anything told of in the stories of my world."

Perhaps her friend Nathan would have come up with a few of the machines she's seen, given enough time and inspiration, but she tries to dismiss that thought as quickly as it comes on. Now that he's gotten her spirits up, the last thing Amelia wants is to see Viatorus frown at her again. "So, now that I know what kinds of films there are to see, what's your favorite kind? And are there any you recommend we watch for an introduction?"

"Yes, I guess it is."

He beams when she laughs. It's so good to see after her tears. He'd much rather she was happy than upset and the feeling of joy runs through him at being able to make that change. Just like turning a nightmare into a dream.

"I like old movies. Fantasy and romance are my favourites... I like the old movies about Greek heroes and Romans. We could watch one of those and see how you enjoy it? You can always tell me if you don't like it and we can stop it."

Smiling and laughing feels so much better than the tears. Considering how many times she's cried in front of him now, she can only hope he doesn't think he's the cause of said tears. There are still many things she has to work through and he's one of those few people she feels comfortable opening up to about them.

"That sounds like a wonderful plan." She vaguely knows who the Greeks and Romans are, but she figures she can read up on them later. Reading is her favorite pastime around the Nexus, after all. "When should we do this? Do I need to bring anything?"

"We can do it whenever you like. I don't have much going on these days..." And it would be nice to have a distraction from the whole fiasco with Verity and how he's been an awful friend...

"You don't need to bring anything. I'll have wine and tea, and I can get popcorn and snacks... I'll pick out a few movies and we can choose one."

"Neither do I," she admits with a small shrug. "If you have something here, we could always watch it now. Otherwise... sometime next week?"

Oh, but there's a word she doesn't know again. "What's popcorn? And... can we have chocolates while we watch the movie?" She may not have tried many new foods in the Nexus, but she's learned she's quite the fan of chocolate. This seems like an excellent excuse to try a few new varieties.

"I'll choose a few movies and then next week we can decide on one and watch it." The chocolate comment gets a smile out of him before he can help himself. "Popcorn is popped corn, it's... well, you'll see. And of course I'll have chocolates. We'll make an evening of it, trying different chocolates and watching movies."

She smiles in return. "That sounds perfect. The time, I mean." There's no denying that blush on her cheeks. "Do you want to come find me at the inn when you're ready, or should I come here?" It's easy to see that she's relaxing again, given the way she turns toward him with that smile of hers.

"Popped... corn. Huh." When did someone come up with that? What a curious thing. "Are there any chocolates you like in particular that I should look for? Or would a sampler box of truffles be agreeable?" She's always looking for suggestions for new chocolates to try and if they happen to be his favorites? That's just an added bonus.

"I can come and find you. I might... maybe, if you're alright with it, invite you back to my home in my world. I have a good television for watching movies there."

"I don't mind. Truffles are lovely! I'll bring some pralines too, and some Belgian chocolates..." He beams and shakes his head. "I'm getting carried away."

Wait. Did he just...

Yeah. He totally did.

Her smile brightens significantly at the thought of being able to see his world. "I would love that."

She laughs softly at his enthusiasm. "From what I've heard, one can never have too many chocolate options available at once. If we have a large number available, it simply means we have to take our time to enjoy them all. If that means multiple movies over multiple days... well, I think we'll manage." She adds a wink to make sure the teasing is understood. Honestly, though, she couldn't think of a better way to spend an evening or two than trying lots of chocolates with her friend.

"Good," he chirps happily.

"I think we will too." Though he's smiling, he looks around, but of course there's no clock, so he settles on Amelia again. "I should let you get on your way. I'll start thinking about films and chocolates and I'll see you next week."

Amelia doesn't need to check her pocket watch to know he's right, but she does so anyway. "It is getting rather late," she murmurs. "I should let you get back to your work for the night, and debate which truffles to bring." Slowly, she stands and pulls her cloak back on. Leaving him to go back to an empty room is a truly sad thought, but all nights must end, even this one.

"Whenever you're ready, come and find me. I'll be waiting." There's a slightly sad hint to that smile she gives him, but she hopes he won't mind. Or notice, for that matter. It's such a small lie, what does it matter between friends?

He walks her to the door, oblivious to sad thoughts for the moment, and smiling from the pleasant plans ahead of them. It's the first truly good thing to happen to him in a while.

"I won't keep you long. It's been far too long since I've watched a film. I'm looking forward to it already." He makes sure to be a gentleman and open the door for her, still beaming as he wishes her goodnight.

It's best he doesn't notice, because she's all smiles when he opens the door for her. And then, suddenly, inexplicably, she leans up and places a soft kiss on his cheek. It's an almost intimate thing for her, to be so close to someone - both physically and emotionally - but she finds she can't not do this. Her cheeks are rosy as she pulls back and offers him another smile and a whispered "goodnight" before she disappears turns to disappear into the night.

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A friendly visit [Tagging Viatorus]

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