[Log] I Bet You're An Amazing Counter
Who: Tiriana, Virgil
When: Day 11, Month 4, Turn 16
Where: Lakeshore, Telgar Weyr
What: Tiriana and Virgil, BFFs?
Lake Shore, Telgar Weyr
The vegetation thickens near the lake, becoming a meadow that runs along the edge of a narrow, sandy beach. The sands spill down into a crystal lake to the north, lapping against the crater walls to the north and east. A fence runs northwest-southeast, blocking off the lake from the feeding grounds. The grass is thick with autumn, and the long strands are beginning to seed. The few trees that stand on the banks of the lake are in their full splendor with leaves of red, gold, and brown. In one corner of the meadow, Telgar's herb garden makes the air thick with the smell of mint, thyme and chive. The light of the morning sun spills over the eastern rim of the bowl, and sets the lake sparkling and shining like a giant mirror.
The morning is clear, and the sun shines with a few small clouds floating past. It is completely still, no winds blow and the spring air feels a bit nippy.
Chilly mornings are the best for finding a quiet moment to yourself, outside. Everyone else is too busy being comfy cozy indoors, /eating/ or something. Apparently Virgil requires neither comfy, cozy nor food; she's found herself a nice section of shore to stand on and, if the little pile of rocks inches away from her suggests, throw things. For anyone watching she'll confirm that assumption by stooping to pick one of the stones from the stack, fling her arm back and let it fly. Skip, skipskipskip plop.
Tiriana, like Virgil, is out without food or anything else, as she trudges on across the flowering bowl, back from the living cavern. Her destination might be the stables, but she's not heading that way--or at least not directly. Instead, she takes a roundabout tour that leads her down toward the lake first, past Virgil there. She's even being lazy enough today to stop and watch the stone-skipping, noting, "Four," when the other girl's rock finally sinks.
After their last meeting, they both have all manner of excuses for being awkward around each other. Maybe it's Tiriana's forward-ness that has Virgil giving the other girl one of her bright smiles. Or maybe it's just her incessant openness with, it seems, everyone, or some frightening combination of both. Whatever it is, when 'four' is announced, she says, "Right." She bends to pick another rock, glancing up at the stablehand on the way back to upright. "Hi." And that's all, she faces the lake again, arm flings back, snap, skipskipplop. And that's two less than last time, for anyone keeping score.
"What, think I can't count now, either," Tiriana answers Virgil automatically, but without too much venom. She edges closer to the other girl and her pile of rocks all the same, and after a moment even reaches down to pick one up herself and skip it across the water. Okay, not so much skipping as flopping, because it sinks right below the surface without a single skip to its name. "Stupid rock," Tiriana blames in, snorting.
The look Virgil gives her, in return for that remark, is sort of 'really?' mixed with 'that's silly'. It's a twisting, quirky look indeed, and it remains even up to Tiriana's own endeavor. That she fails to skip doesn't result in disappointment or amusement. Instead, she reaches for another rock and makes a slower go at pulling her arm back. "If you tuck your hand under and sort of keep your arm straight," and letting it go. And, because it was slow, rock goes skip plop. "For the record, I bet you're an amazing counter."
Tiriana glowers. "I know how to do it," she answers, defensive. But she still sneaks looks sideways at Virgil and picks up another rock. Taking more time with it, she mimics the other girl's form better, and manages to get a couple of skips out of it this time. "See?" she tells Virgil, far too smug over that. A beat later, she adds, frowning, "You're making fun of me."
"Nope." It's very simple, her denial. She doesn't look at Tiriana when she gives it either, she's watching those skips happen and the resulting ripples. Ripples, it seems, are a matter of concern or a source of some of her curiosity just now. Virgil hedges a glance at her companion, her hands on her hips, and takes a little breath. If nothing else, she's ballsy. "My dad tells me that the littlest things make ripples that touch other things and change them. So even if something sounds silly or you think it isn't worth it, you should do it anyway. 'Cause you never know."
"Yeah?" says Tiriana, only half-listening as she bends to grab up another rock, hefting it in her hand. She doesn't skip it just yet, however, as Virgil's words sink in and she shoots an odd look the other girl's way. "Yeah? My daddy says..." She trails off when she can't come up with any similar pearls of wisdom. Instead, she settles for, "What /are/ you talking about?"
"I'm making ripples." Which doesn't really clarify anything, but Virgil doesn't seem about to divulge further, not for the moment at least. She, too, has another rock ready in a matter of steps and stands, poised, with it for a beat before snapping it out. Skipskipskipskip plop. "That one was okay."
Tiriana eyes Virgil, one of those dubious looks that says she thinks the nanny might just be crazy. She snorts. "Ripples." Shaking her head still, she tosses her rock in her hand a time or two, then flips it out over the water again. Gets two skips; at least she's consistant. "Does this," she begins suspiciously, eyeing the water rather than her companion, "have anything to do with that crap in the baths that day? --That was you, wasn't it?"
"Sort of. Not specifically." Now she smiles again, and not /at/ Tiriana. Maybe for. "I'm not doing charity work, trying to change you for the better. If that's what you're thinking. Because people are the way they are." Done, for the time being, with rock skipping, and content to watch the other girl's ripples on the lake's surface, Virgil tucks her hands into her jacket's pockets and levels a steady gaze on the horizon. "But I still meant what I said."
"Well, good," says Tiriana, with another look sideways, still a little bit suspicious even if even she can't really find fault in that. She shrugs in the end. "Just... keep it that way. I'm no charity case." She nods once, firmly, and bends to pick up another rock even if Virgil doesn't. Tiriana doesn't throw it just yet, however. Instead, she toys with it, and finally says, "Why do you care, anyway?"
In complete agreement, Virgil lifts her eyebrows and keeps her mouth buttoned. She doesn't watch the other girl or bend for another rock, and she doesn't speak until spoken to. And, likely, only because it was such a direct question. To ignore, at this point, would be a breed of rude she doesn't practice. She gives Tiriana a real full look and smiles again. "Because." No, it isn't really that easy. She has more, the playful narrowing of her eyes precedes it. "The way I see it, we're all in this together. Life, y'know?" Pause. "How come you're so mean?"
Tiriana just rolls her eyes. "Yeah, whatever. Sure," she halfway agrees with Virgil's latter question, before the next one makes her scowl and shoot a sharp look the girl's way. She throws her rock out over the water without trying to skip it; just lets it plunk down under the surface while she plants her hands on her hips. "I'm not mean," she defends herself. "I just... say what I think and I don't let anybody take advantage of me."
"Oh." Virgil's mouth is still an 'o', even, after the syllable's out. Up go her eyebrows again, then she's turning her attention to the lake again, reaching without looking for the dwindling pile of rocks to blindly select one. She hefts its weight and considers. "I say what I think too." Insert another pause. "And I think you're mean." Fling! Skipskip plop.
"Well," says Tiriana slowly. "I don't care what you think. If that's mean or not. I don't know." She shrugs. "Not like I set /out/ to be mean. I'm just the way I am and if people don't like it, tough." Another of those firm nods, like she has to convince herself of it, too.
"Okay." Again, Virgil is compliant. "But I never said I didn't like it. Not that I /do/ like it. People are the way they are." But: ripples. She grabs another rock. "Like me, I don't get mad. So no matter how mean you are, I'm just gonna take it. Doesn't mean I won't still try to be nice to you." No throw, not yet, she's running her thumb along the smooth flatness of the underside of the stone.
At that, Tiriana just stares, not quite believingly. "I don't believe that," she voices those thoughts after a moment. Pause. "Seriously? Maybe if you tried standing up for yourself once in a while, people wouldn't be mean to you, walk all over you, like that," scoffs the elder girl. "How do you ever manage children if you just let them get away with everything?" Eyeroll.
At that, Tiriana just stares, not quite believingly. "I don't believe that," she voices those thoughts after a moment. Pause. "Seriously? Maybe if you tried standing up for yourself once in a while, people wouldn't be mean to you, walk all over you, like that," scoffs the elder girl. "How do you ever manage children if you just let them get away with everything?" Eyeroll.
"I never said people walked all over me," she singsongs. "/And/ I never said I let the kids get away with everything. Or anything. I stand up for myself, when I have to. And sorry, but you being snotty isn't really enough to, I dunno," her hand lifts, finger wiggling, "/rile/ me." Virgil flashes a grin. "You have to pick your battles."
And that, Tiriana's not about to believe, either. "Yeah, right. If you just let people be mean to you and you take it? Please." Shaking her head, she turns to go. "I'm going to work," she notes then. "See you. Good luck with all that... not getting mad or whatever." She snorts one more time, sarcastic, as she exits.