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

[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?]

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

[ 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?

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?

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.

[Nick sort of knows that feeling. She laughs, not unkindly, and places the tambourine back down on the counter.]

Who's Newton - friend of yours? Lemme guess - fan of apples?

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

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