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Posted: Tue Dec 22, 2009 5:09 pm
"It's nothing." Jericho said, waving off her apology. "I've gotten used to it. Well, I've just gotten used to not talking about my hobbies, I guess." he mused "It's nice to find someone who doesn't care that a guy likes to work in the kitchen sometimes." He smiled at her offer of a tour "That would be nice. I'm familiar with all the major places in the Weyr by now, but I wouldn't mind seeing some of the other parts. If you're not busy, anyways. I'd hate to take up your time if you have other things to be doing." He took a sip of juice before he started again "Yes, I've had a few lessons by now. It's been interesting learning so many new things. I had one this morning, actually." "Tell me, though," he said with a warm smile "What is it like, working in the creche? Do you always come away with bruises?" His blue eyes flashed with quiet humor "Or was today a special case?"
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Posted: Wed Dec 23, 2009 7:10 am
"You'll probably find there are lots of people who don't care that you like to cook. Most of them will probably be women though. If you're hiding away any other domestic tendencies, perhaps you shouldn't. I mean, most women kind of like the idea of a guy who doesn't have to be tended like a small child because he can't even handle rudimentary cooking and mending."
Tanda was glad that her darker skin tone made it more difficult to tell when she was blushing unless she was really blushing furiously, which she wasn't at the moment. She was only blushing a little. The sort that might show up at the tips of her ears if anyone could see the tips of her ears, which they couldn't because of the state of disarray her hair was in. That had also not been what she meant to say to Jericho. The selfish part of her kind of wanted to keep him to herself, and not have any of the other women at the Weyr discover his attractive skills. Oh well. Once you're in the water, you might as well swim.
"Actually, considering how fast some of the girls around here move, I'm surprised you haven't found yourself the proud owner of several lap warmers. You're not bad-looking, you know." She grinned like she was joking. Oh, hypocrisy. She was conjuring her grin more out of self-directed amusement than anything else.
"After my shift in the creche ends, I have nothing but time," Tanda said truthfully. Because her shift tended to last from after breakfast to before dinner, she was rarely assigned to other chores. She put in a full day's work, and the Weyr didn't tend to overwork its permanent residents. Just its candidates. And for them it was a character-building exercise. Of course. "So any day you have time after dinner, really."
She glanced down at her plate and decided she was eating too slowly, and so she mixed the contents of her plate together. It wasn't as though it wasn't all going to the same place, after all. Her hand curled around her cup of water. She raised it to her lips while Jericho spoke, thinking about how to answer his question.
"Well. Usually it's the other way around, and I'm the one doing the beating, but one day a month we switch it and the children are allowed to beat on their keepers," she said with a mischievous smirk. Her expression softened as she continued. "Really, it's nice. I love being around children, and watching them grow and learn. There's really nothing like seeing comprehension in someone's eyes the first time they learn that words have meaning, or how a puzzle fits together, or how to walk. It's even more amazing in the older ones, though, who think they have nothing left to learn, and are then surprised."
"What about you? Do you like being a candidate? What are they covering in lessons these days?"
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jan 01, 2010 9:35 am
Jericho was a little surprised at the idea of people not minding his hobbies. That would certainly take some getting used to. It was refreshing, he decided, heart lifting quite a bit, to be around people who didn't judge so harshly as some of the men in his home hold did. "Well, in that case, I also happen to be very good at sewing." he admitted "At home I was normally restricted to weaving nets, because I was quite good at it," he explained, holding up a hand with its long, fine boned fingers. They were quite deft at handling small things such as needles for sewing or the delicate lines for net making. "but my mother taught me to sew on the side. I find it quite relaxing sometimes to have something small to focus on. I made this tunic actually." he said, showing her the sleeve with its fine, tight stitching, and decorative thread work on the cuffs.
When she turned the conversation to 'lap warmers', he flushed, and this time it was a bit noticeable, if you were looking for it. Luckily for Tanda, he was so taken with his own embarrassment, he didn't notice her own. "I...er...well, I had noticed that the women here seemed rather...forward." he said, fumbling a bit for the words. He hadn't taken any of the girls up on their not-so-subtle offers, though, the idea of just sleeping with a woman for the fun of it was foreign to him. He'd always been raised by his mother that you should only sleep with your wife, and not before. Not to say he hadn't done a little...experimenting with some of the girls back home, but nothing serious. It was a part of growing up, or so his Father had told him. The man hadn't been quite so conservative as his mother was.
Much to his relief, Tanda soon changed the subject back to the idea of a tour, and he seized on it eagerly. "That would be great." Jericho said truthfully, flashing her a thankful grin. "I'll let you know one time at dinner when I'm free. Sometimes we still have chores and things to do after meal." he said with a slight grimace that was soon wiped away by a hearty, warm laugh. The idea of letting the children beat on the adults was too funny for him to hold it in. It subsided into a warm smile though, when she spoke of the perks of working with the little ones of the Weyr. she was a woman who really seemed to enjoy her job, which was always nice to find, especially if that person was helping raise the next generation. "Being a candidate has been a lot of work so far, but... I don't really mind. Learning about the weyr and the dragons...its really fascinating." he said earnestly. "Earlier, we were learning about the star stones. I hadn't ever really known what they were for before. Fascinating how the ancients managed to erect such things." he mused.
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 6:45 am
Tanda raised her eyebrows. Sewing? Well, net-weaving and a little sewing. New-weaving wasn't particularly useful in High Reaches, but sewing was always a useful skill. And so few men were willing to learn it because it was domestic. Even at High Reaches, which she had been told repeatedly was a more liberal-minded Weyr than Telgar was. She didn't say anything, though, except when he offered his sleeve for her examination. Herself, Tanda was not much for sewing. She could darn rents and sew a straight seam and hem clothing, but that was about the extent of her abilities. She didn't do fancywork and she didn't do buttonholes, though if forced she could reattach buttons.
"That's very well-done. Maybe I'll do like the other forward girls and snatch you up myself," she teased. This time she really was teasing. He'd better get used to the fact of Weyr life that people were far more open about their sexuality.
He had nice hands, she thought also. He didn't have the sort of hands her father had, where the flesh above the joint of his thumbs was considerably larger than the flesh connecting that part of his thumb to the rest of his hand. Her mother had once told her that men with hands shaped like that tended to be violent, but when Tanda asked her mother hadn't said that Musil was violent. She also hadn't said that he wasn't, Tanda recalled. It was something Tanda was wary of in men.
"Really, though, you're a candidate. They don't mean more than just teasing. The people who grew up here know that candidates aren't supposed to get into relationships." She meant this to be reassuring. "So you may as well take them up on their offers. As long as you both know and follow the rules, there's no harm done."
It occurred to her that she probably shouldn't be encouraging him to enjoy the favors of other girls. But then, she hadn't decided whether she would pursue him or not. It wasn't as though she was looking for a lasting relationship or anything. Just some good times and a baby. Not that she had any plans to tell Jericho about that last goal. It was one of those need-to-know sort of things. There was absolutely no one who had made it onto the need-to-know list.
"I know all about your chores. Little brother and life at the Weyr, you know? Don't worry, I wasn't meaning to take you away from your chores. I know how you candidates love them. And I know the candidatemaster appreciates how it keeps you all too tired to cause any trouble." She grinned. That last part was probably true. A large number of young men and women going through puberty were best kept too busy to cause trouble if they were going to be sharing living quarters and competing for the same thing - in this case a dragon.
"The ancients managed all kinds of things. Some people say it's because they had better tools to work with. Might be." She shrugged. She wasn't much interested in the ancients. They were dead and gone. It was left to the living to deal with the world as it is.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:07 am
Jericho rolled his eyes at her teasing. He was coming to realize that she did quite a lot of that. The man found that he didn't mind her teasing so much as most that he had received in his life time, hers, at least made him smile. "As of yet, none of them has really peaked my interest anyways." He said with a dry aloofness that was quite comical as he took a long draw from his cup, acting the high and mighty lord with taste to fine for such a rough place. When he put the cup down though, he was smiling, laughter in his eyes at his own jest. He grimaced at the thought of chores. He still had a few he had to get done before he went to bed that evening. Chores chores chores, it was like being a boy again, before he had become a journeyman ship builder. Nothing but busy work. He could understand the reason for it though. Why not use the candidates as free labor? Filling in all those little jobs that everyone else was too busy to do. Granted, just because it made sense, didn't mean that it made it any less mind numbing half the time. Ah well. Jericho nodded "I had heard that as well, from our Harper." he said. He'd always loved stories about the ancients when he was younger, but he had eventually grown out of them. He still had a sort of interest in them though, especially after seeing the star stones for the first time.
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:32 am
Tanda affected an expression of being affronted. "Well, aren't we the high and mighty lord holder? Or was it weyrleader? I can't quite see your shoulder knot from here."
Her smile quickly broke through her facade, however. She liked being able to talk to people close to her own age and at her own level of comprehension. Not that she didn't love children. She did. More than anything. But their conversation left something to be desired, as she was forced to limit her topics and vocabulary to things that they could understand and which would interest them. Mostly she didn't mind that. Children were interested in so many things, after all, and weyrbrats were less preoccupied with dragons than most, despite what people might think. They weren't so much of a novelty, or a mystery. And their riders weren't held in such reverent regard.
There had been harpers at the Weyr on and off, and the Weyr harper trained the children in the creche when he could be bothered, but mostly it fell to their minders to teach them conventions. Being weyrbred, everyone knew the ballads and histories that related to the Weyrs, particularly High Reaches, but on other matters some of them were less well-informed. Tanda was one such person. "I confess, it sounds like it must be dull to be forced to be educated every day, will ye, nil ye. I think I would prefer the way I was brought up. Far more freedom. Though I suppose time spent with a harper is time not spent doing chores."
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Tue Jan 05, 2010 7:55 am
Jericho laughed at her feigned offense. "Alas, I am but a lowly Journeyman." he said with a mock despondent sigh. He was quite surprised, he had to admit, at how well he was getting on with this woman. He wasn't normally so easily brought to laugh and jest as he had been today. Jericho decided he rather liked it, and resolved to try and do so more often here in the Weyr. People were much more free thinking here, he found. Yes, he rather thought he would get on quite well here, give him a chance to really spread his wings, so to speak. "Some found it tedious, I know," Jericho said with a bemused smile "but I normally found it very interesting. Granted, there were always the slow days mixed in with the fun ones, just can't be helped sometimes." he mused "But our Harper went a long way towards making learning fun, which really makes the difference, I think."
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Posted: Wed Jan 06, 2010 2:49 am
"A lowly journeyman is better than a lowly apprentice," Tanda pointed out. "But I'm not sure that a journeyman's in any position to be so picky. After all, you're still lowly."
From what she'd heard, apprentices were in a position similar to a candidate's, but there was less chance involved with their promotion. For them it was about skill and managing not to offend the higher-ups. Dragons were not so concerned with whether their riders could sing or train a runner or sew. Or so she was told. Following two paths at once (about how dragons chose their riders and the status of candidates), her mind also brought her to recall that she technically held authority over candidates because hers was a permanent position in the Weyr. She wondered how he'd react if she pulled rank, and decided to wait.
"There are always slow days." Tanda shrugged.
As someone who had to look after youngsters, slow days were a mixed blessing due to the reasons they could be slow. They could be slow because her charges weren't interested, and those were unpleasant days. They could also be slow because her charges were feeling sluggish, which were more pleasant than the other kind, but still not really pleasant. The only time when slow days were pleasant was when they were slow because things were going so smoothly time seemed to run slower. Such days were rare.
"It's good that your harper made an effort. So many times those who are put in a position that involves instruction aren't actually instructors. I mean, they can do the thing, but they lack the ability to teach others to do it." There was a woman in the kitchens who was like that with puff pastries, though Tanda suspected that her inability was purposeful. "And it does make a difference, like you say."
Her eyes strayed to her plate. She'd nearly cleared it, and her water was gone. Too bad, that. She liked to wash down her last few bites with something liquid. She nudged the person seated beside her and pointed with her chin to the wineskin that was on the table within his reach. Once he'd handed it to her, receiving her murmured thanks, she poured it into the cup that had held her water and looked across the table at Jericho. She hefted the wineskin inquiringly: Would he like some?
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Fri Jan 08, 2010 5:41 am
Jericho chuckled "Hey, don't try and boost my moral or anything." he said with a wry smile as he finished off the last of the water in his cup. When she offered him the wine skin, he accepted. One cup wouldn't hurt. If anything, it would ease the pain of chores a bit if he had a bit of warmth running through him. Jericho could quite proudly say that he was quite good at holding his wine. It would take a few cups before he even started feeling it. "Yes, thanks. It'll help with those chores I have to go attend to here in a bit." he said, bemused as he took the wineskin from her and poured himself a healthy amount. Not too much, though, just 3/4 of a cup to warm him up a bit. He took an appreciative sip and smiled at her, white teeth flashing against his sun darkened skin. "Yes, the harper we had when I was a boy was a very smart, engaging sort of person. Everyone loved to hear him speak. He switched out with someone else recently though, so we have a new harper now. He's very nice, great voice, but not the same way with kids, I've noticed." Jericho said as he took another sip of wine. It was quite good. Nice and smooth, and warm all the way down. He looked at his cup and then at Tanda "What sort of wine is this? I don't think I've had it before." he asked curiously.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 4:28 pm
Tanda shrugged apologetically. Sometimes she could get carried away with her teasing. It came from living in an extremely repressive family, she guessed. If her mother had a sense of humor, Tanda had never seen evidence of it, and she was almost certain her father had none. That man was so consumed with the shame of his failure to Impress a dragon, she wondered that he managed to be such an arrogant person. Certainly there was no room in him for humor. Ylabet's humor had been like Tanda's, but she'd left turns ago. As for B'shir, he didn't come home much anymore, and she could understand that. She didn't spend much time with their parents either.
"I don't mean any harm," she told Jericho truthfully, just in case she had managed to hurt his feelings and he was smiling to hide that fact from her. She dealt all day with children, after all, many of whom lied just because they'd recently figured out that they could say something that wasn't true and sometimes be believed, not to mention the stoics who would protest that they were injured even when she could see the blood.
She sipped her wine and watched Jericho pour for himself. She would have poured if he'd waited, but perhaps it was better this way. She might've been tempted to pour more than he wanted, and then he'd either not drink it and let decent wine go to waste or he'd drink it and be a little looser in the limbs than he probably should be. Drinking wasn't forbidden to candidates, but it wasn't encouraged in excess either. She didn't know Jericho's limits, and it would be better that she didn't push them. Though if he kept smiling at her like that, the temptation to encourage him to overindulge might prove irresistible.
"Er. I have no idea," Tanda admitted of the wine. She wasn't any great connoisseur of wines. She drank what was available in whatever quantity suited her at the time. "Do you know much about wine?"
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 4:48 pm
He waved off her apology and took another sip of wine before putting the cup down and looking down at it, admiring the rich red color of the liquid "Well, I'm no harper when it comes to wine" he said laughingly "but I can usually name where a wine is from by its taste. They are all quite distinctive. Granted, I don't have the widest palate for wine in the world. We didn't get too many different kinds at home, so this one is new to me. I like it." He took another drink. Jericho raised an eyebrow at her and smiled as he suddenly lifted his cup to her in toast "Here's to new friends and good wine, whatever vintage it may be." He took a healthy drink from his cup, his bright blue eyes regarding her over the rim of his cup before he put it down again. He opened his mouth to say something when a familiar sensation came upon him and those blue eyes widened slightly. Reflexively, the man ducked forward, nearly knocking over his glass, just in time to avoid a firelizard as it bowled through the air where his head had just been, soon followed by another which seemed to be chasing it. "S-sorry." Jericho said, jerking back upright again when he realized that his face was practically in Tanda's, briefly meeting her warm dark eyes with his before pulling away. "Sharding flits. I don't know what it is I do to deserve having them flying at my head all the time." He said ruefully. "I thought it was just my mother's Green that liked to do it, but apparently they've all got it out for me." Jericho grimaced at the thought. Firelizards went for his head so often that he had practically developed a sixth sense about when to duck. He didn't know what it was about his head that attracted them so, but it was more than a little annoying. "Maybe it's the curls." he said with mock despair as he pulled on one of the honey colored strands.
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 5:19 pm
Tanda smirked. She wasn't sure how it was harpers had gotten a reputation for being winos, since none of the harpers she'd known had been any more inclined to drinking than anyone else, but she could appreciate the joke. It was a common one in their culture, no doubt dating back to some famous harper who liked his wine a great deal. History wasn't really her area of interest, and neither was harpering. Mostly, her interests were narrow and limited to parenting, the Weyr, and any way the two might be combined.
"That's an interesting skill," Tanda remarked. "I know a number of people who are picky about their drinks, but I lack their discernment. I'll drink anything as long as it's not too bitter or too...dry? I think that's the word. So nothing really dark red or really light white."
She raised her cup in response to his toast and drank when he did. She had nothing to add to his toast. Quickness of wit was one of those things that she could only claim on occasion. Oh, she could tease easily enough, but that wasn't quite the same thing. Toasts were supposed to be more than just clever. They were supposed to make people feel good. She had some very definite ideas about certain social conventions, though she rarely gave voice to them. It would not serve any purpose, for one thing, and for another she couldn't really be bothered. She didn't care that much.
Tanda's eyes widened at the sudden appearance of a pair firelizards. They weren't exactly uncommon in the Weyr, but most of them were better behaved. She glanced around for someone who looked embarrassed by the flits, but the only one who seemed to have been much disturbed by them was Jericho. And his nearest neighbors, though they went back to their conversations quickly enough. Firelizards really weren't all that uncommon.
"I don't see why you're sorry if you don't do anything to provoke them," Tanda said. "And if you have that sort of rapport with firelizards, I hear it's not too much of a stretch to dragons."
Which might have been pushing it a little, but Tanda's reassurances were automatic responses. Everyone liked to be told that dragons would probably like them. The fact that they'd already been Searched meant that much was obvious, but it was nice to be reminded of it she supposed. It was certainly no skin off her nose to offer pleasantries. Besides, she'd not met anyone to whom firelizards universally had that particular reaction.
"I should borrow my brother's firelizard sometime and see how she reacts to you. Shibra's about as mellow as they come. The little thing's content just to bask in Sakneth's radiance, which suits his high and mightiness just fine." She rolled her eyes. She had been raised to be respectful to dragons, but a lifetime around them had taught her that they weren't all worthy of the degree of respect they seemed to expect. She wasn't sure anyone could appreciate Sakneth as the bronze thought he ought to be appreciated.
"Maybe it is the curls," she decided, giving his golden hair a speculative once-over. "They're quite spectacular."
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Sun Jan 10, 2010 6:05 pm
"I'm not sure its a rapport so much as some sort of bizarre magnetic field around my head that attracts firelizards." he said laughingly. "As long as it doesn't apply to dragons the same way it does to firelizards I won't mind. I'd hate to have dragons dive bombing my head too." Jericho said jokingly as he took another sip of wine, taking a surreptitious look around him for flits before he did so so he wouldn't end up with wine up his nose in front of his new friend. He sighed "It's a curse, really." he said, sounding put upon "babies pull at it, girls always trying to run their fingers through it, mothers chase me with hair brushes, flits try and nest in it..." another sigh, and then he grinned at her before he took another sip of wine. Perhaps it was the wine, perhaps it was just the good company, Jericho was in an unusually playful mood. With Tanda's smiles and her teasing, though, it was hard not to be. He would be sorry when he had to leave the table to go do his chores. A time that was fast approaching. He chuckled again at her eyeroll when talking about her brother's dragon. "I take it you don't get on well with your brother's dragon?" he asked curiously. He hadn't met many dragons before moving here to the Weyr, so he was really only just learning that each dragon had it's own personality, just like people. They weren't always similar to their riders either. Sometimes they were complete opposites, or so it seemed. "I have to admit, I haven't met many arrogant dragons." he said, and amused look on his face. He supposed of all the colors it made sense for a bronze to be arrogant, being second only to the queens. He had met the junior queen and her rider, Amelia not long ago. The queen had seemed a little arrogant, granted, she was probably entitled to it, and it was to an obnoxious degree. Her rider's very down to earth personality certainly played a good counter balance to it.
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 6:32 pm
Tanda gazed into the red depths of the wine once more, thinking about how to answer Jericho. It was one of those questions that she had to answer carefully, because even though her family was not bound by ties of affection, they were bound, and they always presented a united front to the world at large. If her father found out that she was telling tales of disharmony, even between herself and her brother's dragon - especially between herself and her brother's dragon? - it would not be a pleasant scene.
"Sakneth has a very strong personality and very definite ideas about many things. He makes it clear that I don't measure up to his standards," she answered diplomatically. Then she added, "I don't think anybody does, though, so it's not as though I've been singled out."
In truth, she didn't care what the bronze dragon thought of her. He wasn't her dragon. She was glad. Aside from the societal awkwardness of a female Impressing a bronze, she didn't know how she would deal with having a dragon who actually held her in disdain, as she knew Sakneth did B'shir. Her little brother was quite the stoic, but sometimes she caught a glimpse in the way he would sigh occasionally while talking with his dragon. Being Sakneth's bondmate was a constant struggle for authority, and B'shir wasn't one who had ever sought power or authority.
"And I wish I was cursed like you. My family is full of people with beautifully curling hair, and then there's mine - straight as a rod until it rains." Her lips twisted ruefully. With heat and rollers she could have curls like the other dark-haired folks in her family, but most of the time it wasn't worth the effort, since her hair was almost always pulled back to keep it out of the grasping hands of her charges.
Her mouth shifted to form a smile once more. "Just the same, I'll hope that dragon's don't feel the urge to dive bomb you. That might not be as safe as firelizards, which is a tenuous safety as it is."
Tanda glanced at one of the candles burning conspicuously. It was one of the ones that marked time, and she knew the chore schedule for candidates reasonably well. Jericho's time was almost up, which meant she would have to make her farewells. It was a policy of hers to always leave first if the option was available. She gathered her diningware and stood up.
"I'm going to let you finish your dinner so you can get to your next round of chores on time," she said. "But maybe we'll run into each other again some time."
Shifting everything she was carrying to one hand she reached across the table and mussed his golden curls, snatching her hand back quickly. Her grin was wicked, and her tone unapologetic as she said, "Sorry. Couldn't help it."
Then she ducked into the crowd to dispose of her cutlery and tableware.
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Princess_Feylin Vice Captain
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Posted: Thu Jan 14, 2010 7:46 pm
Jericho raised his eyebrows slightly at her diplomatic reply, but decided it was definitely better not to push it. "Well, if you're going to be disliked by someone, might as well be by someone that doesn't like anyone." he said in a bemused tone. Jericho smiled at her as she spoke, chuckling as he took another sip of wine. She took him by surprise though when she abruptly stood to leave. He looked around and noted that, just as he thought, his time was nearly up. "Hey, I'm going to hold you to that offer of a tour." he pointed out with a grin, trying to duck and failing as she managed to ruffle his curls. He rolled his eyes and waved farewell as she disappeared into the crowd, smiling thoughtfully to himself as he watched her be swallowed by the crowds. He would certainly be looking her up again soon. for now, though, he needed to get to his chores, he realized, grimacing as he downed the last of his wine and stood to return his tray and dishes before heading out.
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