[PRP] Well, this is incredibly awkward. [Amapola + Criofan]

[Menelie]

It's an ordinary day for Amapola. The last of the little ones had been collected by their parents for the day, which meant she could go home. Except, she remembers, it's her week to go to market for fresh meat and vegetables. Fresh food had been somewhat scarce lately because of the cold weather, but it was likely to become even scarcer as the weather had turned unseasonably, unreasonably cold. Best to stock up now. Wrapping her wings around her shoulders like a feathered coat, Amapola steps out of the child-care building she worked in and starts walking toward the market near the city center.

Her list for this week was fairly short. Written in Elizabeth's familiar, blocky print, were the necessities: root vegetables, apples, pears, potatoes, ice block. Then, appended at the bottom, in Ruya's scrawled handwriting (the poor dear had such a hard time holding a pencil with her claws), was one word: fresh meat. Elizabeth's latest adopted charge had developed a voracious appetite as she'd grown, and was becoming quite the carnivore. Honestly, thinks Amapola, Elizabeth just needed to settle down with someone and have children of her own. Normal children. Of course, she'd never voice this to her sister, but she could secretly hope.

As she's speaking to an orchard owner and negotiating a price, out of the corner of her eye, she sees....no. No, that couldn't have been him. It must have been the glint from a jeweler's stall. Still, Amapola is shaken, and she just forces a smile and accepts the vendor's offer as it stood at the moment. Smiling politely, the vendor puts some apples and pears in paper sacks. Amapola pays him and takes the fruit, tucking it into her basket. She feels as if she'd seen a ghost.  

[Seiana_ZI]

She might have seen a glint from a jeweler's stall, or maybe what she was seeing was the man standing at the jeweler's stall.

"I propose a trade," stated Criofan, eyes bright with the perspective of a good bargain. "I've got these here. Raw materials, really. You could easily turn these into something useful for your own trade."

The demonic jeweler was eyeing him with a suspicious quirk of the brow. Criofan knew he would have to really sell this one, leaning in a bit closer. Let it be known that Criofan never let anything out of his sight, especially not when they sparkled and contained what looked like some relatively rare gems. That purple one was of a variety he did not see all too often...

"Here. See this?" Criofan lifted up one small gem, a sparkling rock that looked much like a diamond. He scrapped a nail against it, confirming that nothing happened to the stone when he pulled his finger away. It was definitely a hard gem... "Very valuable. I'll give you this and what I already showed you for the large necklace you have sitting there. My daughter would like it." His daughter would never see it. He loved her, but this was his-- "She's such a lovely young girl, and I would like to give her something to show how much I care..."

The demonic's eyes softened. There he goes...

After a few minutes, the faerie had himself a new necklace for his collection. He carefully placed it around his neck for safe-keeping, before thanking the jeweler for his business and heading off. That was, of course, before he spotted a --

Bloody zebra.

Eyes widening, Criofan decided to duck towards a food stall. That was Ei-Kal's job this week, but maybe Amapola wouldn't notice him if he kept on the move...  

[Menelie]

Trying to shake off that weird feeling, Amapola thanks the fruit seller and continues on her way. She pauses for a moment at the jeweler's stall, sure she'd seen something, but when the jeweler began to give her the buy-something-or-move-along face, she smiles nervously and moves to the next stall.

She almost walks right past the stall where, unbeknownst to her, Criofan is hiding, but the wafting smell of bread from another kiosk reminds her that, with these soup ingredients Elizabeth wanted from her, perhaps some bread would go well to dip in it. Mouth watering, she takes a shortcut through a food-seller's tent...

And bumps into the very glittering b*****d she'd never wanted to see again.

"Oh, I'm sorry," she begins to apologize with a smile, but as soon as the recognition hits her brain, her face falls to a flat affect. "Oh." She shifts her basket further up into the crook of her elbow as she flicks her eyes over him once. Yep. Same cocky, arrogant, good-for-nothing imp he'd always been. "Hello."  

[Seiana_ZI]

Oh good. She was walking away. From him, hopefully. He didn't exactly feel like dealing with her.

Besides, it smelled rather nice in here. The last thing he needed was a blood zebra interrupted him while he swiped a loaf of bread or something. Just bartering with the guy was too easy when he could figure out a plan of attack and just take a little to munch on. The salesman seemed rather distracted with the amount of people coming in; this would honestly be a piece of--

What the--

Criofan regained his balance rather quickly, despite the very blood zebra he was trying his hardest to avoid ramming right into him. The temptation to narrow his eyes and scowl was very present, but years of spewing complete and utter crap out of his mouth to get what he wanted instead just lessened the temptation to scowl into a simple, thin line. Great. Just what he needed. Awesome.

What exactly was he supposed to say to her? Hey, remember me? We once decided it was a great idea to get drunk and have children! Great fun right?! That would go well. Or maybe even a better one, Heyyy, dodged a bullet there...

Instead of his ever-so-sarcastic statements, Criofan instead came out with a, "Hello, Amapola." It was a rather flat-toned statement, but it wasn't exactly rude or arrogant like she might have been used to from him. Well... at least he wasn't acting that way just yet. "Here for the bread too?"

Small talk. That'd work. Maybe she'd go quickly.  

[Menelie]

"As a matter of fact, yes," says Amapola. So it had been him she'd caught a glimpse of in the jeweler's stall. Typical. She can't believe she'd ever been involved with this...this...person. Not even drunkenness ought to be an excuse for this. He's just awful.

"I hope you've been well," she says, with a smile that doesn't quite reach her eyes. "And Zaria, how is she?" Her tone is definitely even, and solidly in the range of small-talk, but her heart grieves for the daughter she'd never known. Especially with how Masozi had been lately.

Seiana_ZI

 

[Seiana_ZI]

Great. If she was here for the bread maybe he could find a way to subtly wave the bread maker over to where they were. Give her a loaf so she would just ... go away and do whatever bloody zebras did. He hadn't known her long enough to figure that out.

For all he cared it could be faceplanting in sand.

Absentmindedly, he fiddled with his necklace. He wasn't really trying to draw attention to it; more like he was trying to keep his irritation from bubbling onto his expression and the touch of something so inherently valuable did a lot to soothe him. It kept his expression fairly even, and even allowed it to soften a tad when she mentioned his daughter Zaria.

"Zaria's been doing well," he supposed Amapola deserved to know that much. She was the one who actually, uh, carried the kid. "She's bubbly and excessively cheerful at times, very adventurous, seems absolutely determined to drag her brother across the Isle." By 'her brother' he meant Kheliot, but he wasn't even thinking she might think of someone else as her brother. The thought of Masozi did not even cross his mind.

He chuckled softly. "She's a very bright girl. Even if she's a little ridiculous."

As if embarrassed by showing a softer side to Amapola of all people, he cleared his throat. "Right. Does that answer your question?" Where was the damn bread-maker?! All the way on the other side of the stall?

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

Though she'd been determined not to show any sort of emotion, Amapola's eyebrows go up at the mention of a brother. "Funny, Masozi hadn't mentioned spending any time with her." He hadn't asked about Masozi--probably because he couldn't remember his own son's name--but damned if he wasn't going to hear about him anyway.

"It must have slipped his mind--he hasn't been quite the same since his wife and daughter disappeared." She says this off-handedly, but fixes Criofan with an icy gaze, almost daring him to respond with some kind of breezy comment. She'd caught the slight change in his expression when she'd asked about Zaria. Good. At least he wasn't a total sociopath, and had provided at least some level of care for the child he'd snatched from her arms. Amapola hardens her face again. Disappearing out of her life completely, failing to provide for his children she could forgive, but she'd never forgive him for stealing Zaria.  

[Seiana_ZI]

When Amapola's brows shot up, he almost felt a little smug. That's right, Criofan had other kids--

Oh, wait, she meant Masozi... who had children. He was a grandfather. Criofan's expression broke for a moment, face twisting when she mentioned the whole 'disappearing daughter' thing, but he quickly got it back under control, face moving back into its neutral stance. He knew he had let himself falter, so he needed to find a way to quickly recover from that. But how? It was hard to recover when she just told him he was more ancient than he thought why--

"Oh, sorry, I didn't mean Masozi." Thinking on his feet, he tilted his head, quirking a brow ever-so-slightly. "I was referring to her step brother when I said that! Kheliot. He's a nymph boy." There was a certain amount of extra pride that seeped into his voice when he directly mentioned step and Kheliot, but otherwise his voice was fairly polite and even.

Try to ignore the grandfather thing...

Try to ignore it...

... Masozi and Criofan had no connection at all that was the easy answer ...

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

Aha. So he hadn't known about Cari and Kasmai. She can't quite tell if the pained expression on his face had resulted from finding out he was a grandfather, or some kind of remorse about his son's sad condition.

Knowing him, it was the former.

Amapola can't resist turning the knife a little more, so she adds, "I'm sure Kasmai, that's Masozi's son, would love to meet his grandfather," she says sweetly. "Perhaps he can come 'round sometime." Hmph. That ought to do it.

Although the clarification of stepbrother was fascinating. Fascinating! A stepbrother meant a step-parent. Perhaps Criofan O'Kane had settled down, then. Perhaps, she realizes with a bit of a start, he'd always been settled down. That might at least explain his behavior toward her. Guardians knew she'd be horrified if she'd gotten drunk and was unfaithful to her (entirely hypothetical) partner.

But it didn't explain his baby-snatching, so she could still be perfectly reasonably bitter towards him. "A step-brother? My congratulations," she says with a civil smile.  

[Seiana_ZI]

If she thought it was about him being a grandfather, well, she was honestly right. He knew what she was trying to do, naming his grandson directly and saying he could come over and visit sometime. Considering he never even spoke to his son more than once, maybe, the idea that he'd speak to his grandson was outrageous--

He didn't let the jabbing get to him, at least physically, instead offering a genial smile when she finished her almost saccharine-sweet statements. He didn't choose to address them, though, deciding to instead move on to her second set of statements about the step-brother.

Ha, she actually had to congratulate him!

There was some amount of victory in his mind, but the pride that showed in his tone was only for the men he spoke of. "Thank you. Kheliot has grown up well, too, though he's much more asocial than his sister. I suppose it makes sense. His father isn't exactly extroverted either." Not that Ei-Kal had nearly the social issues that his son had, but that wasn't really the point there, was it?

... Was she going to end up winding back to Kas-whatsits? He needed to stop that from happening. Where was the bread-maker when he needed him?

"Besides for that, how have you been?"

Oh that wasn't gonna work and he knew it!

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

Hm. How had she been? Not much luck on the romance front--she'd all but been ruined for that by...past experience. Still, not a chance in hell she'd let him know. "I've been well," she says cheerfully. "My sister Elizabeth and I have been keeping busy. We both work here in the city. And you?" Not that she cared. Although it wasn't like he'd cared when he'd asked after her well-being. Awful imp.

She feels an increasing desire to wrap this conversation up quickly, buy her bread, and get as far away from Criofan O'Kane and all the bad memories he brought up. She starts to look for the bread vendor.  

[Seiana_ZI]

She had been well. Great. Good to know that she hadn't ... he didn't know, fall off a cliff or something.

Of course, she was right in front of him. Kind of precluded the whole "fall off a cliff" thing. Right. He didn't really like her but he still wanted her to be, uh, not dead or something.

That was probably the most she was going to get out of him.

"I've been alright. My life has actually been fairly well. I am still on the beach," not like that told her where to find him considering the area was so big. No mysterious bloody zebras showing up to shove unknown and unwanted grandchildren in his face to make him bond or something if he kept that much quiet-- "It's a nice place. We've made well for ourselves."

In some ways, Criofan was honestly bragging. In others, he was honestly just trying to keep the small talk up and maybe keep her mind off bringing back up anything else.

Menelie

 

[Menelie]

"That's good. I'm happy for you," she responds. And it's not even a lie, much to her own surprise. She hated the man, but it isn't like she wanted him dead or perpetually unhappy or anything. Perhaps she'd done some maturing since they'd last met.

Finally, blessedly, the bread vendor had helped all his other customers--drawn by the smell of fresh bread, no doubt--and was making his way over toward this end of his table. She lifts her head to him, signaling that she was here to buy.

"It was nice running into you," she says, wondering if he'd go away now. This time it was a lie. She'd have preferred not to have run into him at all. In fact, if she never saw him again it would be too soon.  

[Seiana_ZI]

Of all the comments she had made in their conversation, that had been the one that had been stated with the least jabbing. There were no comments on how his never-known son had lost his family, no icy stares... huh. Well. Maybe she thought the same he did.

Good he hadn't fallen off a cliff or something.

Criofan lifted his arm when the bread vendor looked over that way. While he had admittedly been coming over there to hide, the more he stood by the bread, well, the better it smelled. It was still Ei-Kal's job to take care of some of the food issues, but he could pick up some things while he was out. Mainly some nice, warm bread.

When she commented it was nice running into him, Criofan quirked a brow. Doubtful. He didn't terribly want to see her again himself; this was mostly just a stroke of unusually bad luck for someone whose entire life was, for the most part, fairly lucky. Of course, now she had spotted him. Would she seriously try to seek him out with that grandchildren thing--

"Nice running into you too. Good to know things are going alright," offered Criofan, shooting over a smile before turning his attention over to the vendor.

The sooner they got the bread and could split off, the better.

Menelie