seventh; video + open to action (let's skip the charades, you're seeing right through me anyway)

[bekommen]

[Nick has been notably absent from her usual post at Delight's bar for the past several weeks, but today, as she turns the video camera of her phone on herself, the familiar sight of shelves of multicolored bottles lined up behind her indicate her location. That's right - she's back, and she is smiling as she holds up a tambourine and gives it a good shake. If you've met Nick even once, you'll know that she is made of sharp edges and not someone who smiles easily.]

Hey ... I dunno who left this here for me, but I wanted to say thanks. This is ... this is really great.

[The fact that she is openly addressing Hadriel with her thanks is perhaps a testament to how significant this particular item is for her, since gratitude doesn't come easily for Nick, either. Then again, if you know her well enough, you may notice something different about her entire demeanor - something softer, something warmer, something much less feral and hostile.]

Oh, and one more thing ... [She sets the tambourine down on the counter in front of her and gestures to the bar around her.] Thanks for not letting this place burn down while I was out ... "sick." Everyone knows this place is a shithole, and we only got so many not-shitty things here. Delight's bar is prob'ly the best one. Gotta hang on to what we've got, right?

[She grins again as she reaches over to cut the feed and get back to work. Perhaps you're there to place an order with her for something to drink?]

Comments

video

[avephoenix]

Oh that's so good!

[Faith is happy because you're happy.]

And of course we'd keep the bar up. It's such a good place! Thanks for workin' it, you make damn good drinks!

video

[bekommen]

Hey, it's what I'm here for.

[She shrugs affably, grinning.]

You don't happen to know who left it here for me, do you?

video

[avephoenix]

The gods, looks like. Everyone's gettin' things from home! Must be Delight, maybe Hope too.

Got stuff for a margarita tonight? I'd love one!

video

[bekommen]

Really? That seems uncharacteristically generous of 'em.

[But hey, she's not complaining even a little bit.]

I got the tequila, for sure. Everything else ... [she shrugs] might hafta improvise.

action;

[verinumeri]

[ As he does not know Miss Rivenna, excepting for a brief interaction during an attack that hardly warranted bright faces, this is not as startling as it might have been.

Even Hermann, long accustomed to only leaving the Shatterdome lab to collapse on a bed then rise in three to five hours and return, will take the occasional scene change from the lab here, the house here. The coffee at Delight's bar is simply better, so he pursues it, taking time when he can. He listens to the end of the recording, or of her making the recording, while helping himself from the coffee cart, then approaches the bar.

He may be a social misanthrope, he might otherwise have indeed gone and sat with himself, saying nothing, but there are times he has bit more initiative. So it is. ]

I would agree, I think, about the bar's ranking. [ If more for the coffee. ] Do you play?

action;

[bekommen]

Well, yeah, of course.

[She grins, even managing to keep the duh mostly out of her tone. She picks up the tambourine again, gives it another long shake, then a series of three taps against the heel of her hand.]

Everyone can play a tambourine. According to my ex, anyway.

[She half-shrugs, and holds out the instrument to him.]

You wanna try?

action;

[verinumeri]

Perhaps, but there must be a difference between banging it wildly about and having a proper rhythm.

[ As to everyone's ability.

If he does not immediately answer when offered, it is less because Hermann actually considers tying it, and more he cannot believe she is actually making the offer. ]

Er. No, thank you.

[ A single second's beat. ]

I would never live it down, if Newton caught wind.

video;

[wendigoner]

A tambourine? [ Hannah smiles, tilting her head slightly to study the thing. ] I'm glad you got something from home. Looks like it's something good, huh?

[ Based on the way Nick is smiling, anyway. ]

video;

[bekommen]

[It's bittersweet, but more sweet than bitter, all things considered.]

Yeah ... I used to play in a band, back in Chicago. It was - it was a lot of fun.

[A lot of drama, too, and not a small amount of heartache involved. Perils of playing in a band with your girlfriend who then breaks up with you and skips town - skips to another country, in fact - to get back together with an ex of her own.]

What about you? You get anything from home?

video;

[wendigoner]

That does sound like fun. I've never been very good with music.

[ Not beyond the realm of "average," anyway. ]

I... Yeah. I got a music box, actually. One Josh gave me one year.

[ And something else, something that technically belongs to her, though she isn't about to talk about that thing. No way. ]

audio.

[edibles]

Are you okay now?

( She could totally have been sick )

audio.

[bekommen]

[If you can count having your mind broken by invasive psychic powers as sick, then yes, that's exactly what Nick was.]

Yeah, I'm good now. Nothing contagious, I promise.

audio.

[edibles]

That's good. I know I don't know you but I'm glad you're okay.

| action.

[haemophobe]

( thank you for the beer, and for the reminder that she still can't figure out what the people who lived here before them did for fun. )

It's yours?

| action.

[bekommen]

Yeah, it's definitely mine.

[There are tiny scratches in the wood from times in the past where she'd thrown the instrument in a fit of frustration, accidental scrapes of black nail polish that she remembers laying down. Nick smiles as she studies the tambourine in her hands, then gently sets it down on the counter.]

Been a while since I played, but I guess it's not that hard to remember. Not like playing a guitar or anything. I wasn't ever any good at that. Couldn't ever make my fingers move the way you're supposed to.

| action.

[haemophobe]

( she can't really imagine. there was, years ago, a time her mum tried to get her to play clarinet.

yeah. getting Kate to sit still long enough to learn clarinet. we can all imagine how that went. one lesson and she was done. )

Always liked th' sound of a guitar. Can't say I ever tried to play though. ... That hard?

( is it that hard. pls with the full sentences, kitkat. )

[Video]

[thechoiceisyours]

[Chris has noticed her absence, of course, but he'd figured she was just avoiding him like he was avoiding her, to an extent. Now he feels more than a little guilty for that assumption at her mention of being 'sick' and that's enough to prompt him to reply.]

Hey. So you're um, doing better now?

[From whatever state she was in before. She certainly seems better than last time he talked to her, at least.]

[Video]

[bekommen]

[What Ushahin did to her mind pulled into sharp focus just how petty her arguments with Chris have been. Nick can't even remember why they were fighting anymore, and she's sure it wasn't over anything important, just as she's sure that she doesn't want to keep fighting with him anymore. Moreover, that experience showed Nick just how important it is to keep those you care about close - and she does care about Chris, more than anyone else she's met here. They've been through a lot together, and he's her closest friend. It's hard to be close to people, but it's worse to stay separated. She knows this now, after having hundreds of years of experience shoved violently into her mind. The good parts balance out the pain and make it all worthwhile, and Chris has been the best thing about this place. For the first time in many long years, Nick has begun to feel something like hope again, and when Chris responds to her message, Nick knows that part of that is the hope that maybe it's not too late to patch things up with Chris. She gives him a faint smile, and a nod.]

Yeah ... um, some shit went down, but I got better. Not like, the zombie shit, I didn't get bit or anything. It was something else.

[Video]

[thechoiceisyours]

[How Chris feels about everything is... Complicated, to say the least, and he's not entire sure how to deal with any of it. So he's defaulting, again, to a state of just ignoring it, at least enough to have conversations that feel necessary like this one. He's worried, despite everything else, and her answer doesn't reassure him much.]

Okay.

[Should he ask more? He isn't certain; normally he would, but now he isn't sure how she'd take it. So instead he hesitates, before sort of compromising.]

'Something else' like something to be concerned about, or...?

video

[unknowable]

People have been getting a lot of stuff, good and bad. I'm glad you got something more on the good side.

[It's nice to see her smile, at least.]

video

[bekommen]

[She hasn't really had much reason to smile, especially not here. But it feels good to smile, to be happy about something so simple. Maybe Nick could get used to this.]

Yeah? Well, it's about damn time, I'd say. What about you - you get anything cool?

video

[unknowable]

Nothing that great. My watch, a scrying bowl. Still, nice to see both of them again.

[The watch especially - despite the tooth marks, or maybe because of them.]

text

[greywaren]

where the fuck do you live

i found some of your shit

text

[bekommen]

[Well, hello to you too, Ronan.]

apt 702 but im not there. @ the bar

text -> action

[greywaren]

good

[He's been meaning to pick up some more alcohol, so that's rather convenient for him.

It's about forty minutes before Ronan strolls through the doors of Delight's bar, a journal under one arm. He moves quickly, sure of himself as he slides into one of the stools like he's done it a hundred times.]

Hey.

[Is the only real form of greeting he offers before tossing the book up on the table, careless almost to the point of trying-too-hard.]