Welcome to Gaia! ::

Bran made no attempt to hide his approach, nor did he do much to mask his expression, well, no more so than normal one might say. He carried a book tucked under his arm, marching with deliberate, measured strides towards Talfrid, when he drew within arm’s reach he took the book in both hands, raised it, and –thumped- Talfrid on the head with it.

“You…. are….an….idiot.” He said emphasizing each word.

“Take a good guess who I spoke to!” He ordered and folded his arms.

“That was rather the impression I got.” He still had his arms crossed, if friendship had done a positive thing it was that it could tell you that on no uncertain terms, he was still irritated. “And I think I did say something about ‘don’t stalk her’, didn’t I?” His foot tapped.

“Annnd according to her she felt like you were… following her around! People don’t LIKE that Talfrid, Generally speaking unless someone has agreed to play ‘hunter and prey’ in the woods, which she also found less than savory behavior from either of us…then you don’t DO that.”

He sighed, the irritation fading and sat down beside you.

“She said she MIGHT talk to you again if you talk to her like other people do. You’ve seen them do it, just… talk.” He said sinking slightly in his pose from ‘stiff’ to ‘wilted’.

Bran started to say something, opening his mouth and then closing it again. He raised a hand as though he wanted to illustrate some point…and dropped it again.

“I’m going to have to help you aren’t I…I’m going to have to help you guys break the ice in some kind of vaguely sane fashion…oh god I’m neutral ground.” He bent forward to let his hand rest on his book.

“Damnit damnit damnit…” He cursed. “Ok… so…I’ll go…WITH you to talk to her. And by the way, HI is a great starting point, just for future refrence.”

“I can do it if you NEED me to.” He said firmly.

He took a deep breath and sighed. “You might try flowers, but I wouldn’t get anything more complicated than that. Girls like flowers…or chocolate, but some people are…well their sometimes allergic to flowers too.” He crinkled his nose thinking. “ok…well, anyhow most people like flowers. You should also apologize again, possibly admit you are an idiot, because you were.” He glanced at Talfrid and gave him a stern glance.

He looked deeply thoughtful for a long moment, such thoughtful, pensive moments could either lead to a great deal of trouble or a rather amazing insight, sometimes both. Actually, it was more often both than strictly one or the other if only because people didn’t always appreciate the insights.

Fortunately, he’d learned at least somewhat to curb his tongue.

“We should…YOU should practice. Pretend, pretend I’m her.”

Bran thumped Talfrid lightly on the head again after the weapon-book joke. He felt it was proper and right ‘on principal’ to have that kind of follow up.

He sat back and looked, well, prim as Talfrid started, arched an eyebrow at the faltering, waited, and sagged again.
“You’re going to have to keep going you know.” He prompted. “You…what, you won’t do it again? You…you need to say something poetic maybe. She’s a GIRL. She’s a –girly- girl I think too, not like Daphne, try…saying you were too…intimidated by her beauty or something. I mean I’m not saying Lina isn’t mind you, I don’t want… oh never mind, keep pretending.”

“Better…” Bran said after a moment and nodded. “And… yes I think you could ask for her name. Be sure you introduce yourself too, unless she already said your name. I can’t remember if I told her or not.” He sounded distressed to be unsure, but that was no surprise. “I think…her name was Fiona, but you SHOULD ask to be sure. If she knows you know her name, or something like it she might think you were collecting information on her. Trust me, people don’t like that.” He said with a serious expression on his face.

“no…they definatly don’t like you knowing what they didn’t say. But yes…she gives you her name. She might be hesitant to forgive…so expect some scolding.”

He cleared his throat and spoke in something of a falsetto.
“ I really don’t approve of you following me, I’m not a deer you can hunt! It seems really dishonorable that you’re doing that to people.” He affected her mannerism as best he could for having interacted with her for such a short time. But really…Talfrid should know what he was probably going to hear.

He hesitated. “I…hmm.” He murmured. “…I didn’t quite talk to her long enough to be sure.” He admitted and frowned. “He squinted slightly and re-ran the conversation in his head. “No…I think she’s at least a little interested. I mean she was pleased to hear you thought her pretty I think. So either she’s not been told that a great deal or she’s one of those people that sort of, thrive on being reminded that she is pretty.”

He touched a hand to his chin thinking. “Let’s hope it’s the first. So… assume she’ll be willing to forgive so long as you don’t…follow her again. I mean if she invites you to that’s ok.” He waved his hands to emphasize the point. “So…lets see.”

He cleared his throat and tried to pitch his voice like hers again, it came out as a bit of a squawk.

“Well, you should talk to a person as another person, you shouldn’t treat them like prey! It’s quite ‘creepy’.” He scolded, though he wasn’t positive that ‘creepy’ was a word she’d use but it seemed a ‘girly’ thing to do.

He folded his arms. And let his voice drop. “You should probably ask about her, what she likes, what you should do instead, maybe where she’d consider meeting you!”