[Log] The Sort Who Should Be In Trouble
Who: B'ren, E'sere, Miniyal
When: Day 23, Month 5, Turn 1, 7th Pass
Where: Records Room, High Reaches Weyr
What: E'sere finds Miniyal acting suspiciously after a visit from B'ren.
Records Room
Some effort has been made to keep this immense room warm and comfortable. Given its size and contents, this has not been an easy undertaking. There is a slightly musty scent to the air and no matter how many baskets of glows are brought in, there seems to be a perpetual state of gloom. Some of this may have to do with the way the cavern is arranged. The area nearest the exits is given over to tables and chairs, meant to be used by those studying the records. Here it's always quiet but generally well-lit and not as musty.
Then there is the rest of the cavern, which is filled with hundreds upon hundreds of stone shelves. Rising from floor to ceiling, they bear more scroll tubes than could be counted in a month. The hides inside of each tube cover every topic imaginable and are marked by little tags, indicating where they're to be stored according to the organizational system created by the current weyrwoman.
Classroom (C) Upper Caverns (UC) Staff Office (SO)
B'ren looks shocked. She said yes? Yes? Er...well he was expecting to get a slap in the face but...she said yes? "Al-alright," he actually stammers briefly, "I'll just go clean up the ledge and be back in a bit." She said yes? He walks out, a tad dazed.
Miniyal clears her throat, "Umm. Alright. Yea. I'll wait here." Sure she will. And she watches him go, shaking her head before stumbling over her feet on her way back to the table lit up by glows.
While B'ren is heading out, E'sere is slipping in, surreptitiously shooting a glance over his shoulder. Once safely ensconced in the records room, he rakes a hand through his hair and breaths a relieved sigh, coming to rest leaned against a table just inside.
Miniyal is somewhat distracted, but the arrival of someone else gets her attention. Or maybe she was just expecting B'ren to come back and laugh. Either way she notices E'sere come in and blinks, almost looking guilty before ducking her head and saying nothing.
E'sere shakes his head and finally rises again, turning to find himself a seat. He seems to have no interest in the hides themselves tonight. "Good evening, Miniyal," he offers after a moment, manners remembered then.
Miniyal clears her throat and folds her hands over the hides she was, at some point, working on. "Good evening, E'sere," she returns with a nod of her head. "Umm. Did you need something?"
E'sere shakes his head, giving the doorway one last glance before turning to Miniyal. "No, no. I'm just... Well, ah, hiding out," he admits painfully, grimacing. "But. How are you?"
Miniyal nods her head once, clearly accepting with ease the thought someone would hide out in here of all place. "Oh, well. I can go?" Not that she won't be going, unless she plans on fleeing before B'ren returns. "Ummm. I'm fine. I guess. Working on some things." In the middle of the night.
E'sere quirks a brow. "Oh, no--not from /you/," he hastens to reassure her. "Ah, someone else entirely." But rather than divulge that information, he adds thoughtfully, "B'ren wasn't giving you a hard time a while ago, was he?"
Miniyal, oh dear, yes, she blushes and shakes her head rapidly. "What? No. No, not at all. Nope. Not at all. I mean, no. We're, you know. . .friends. I guess. I mean, yea. No. We were just talking is all. That's it." Ahh. Good response. Way to act normal!
E'sere's brows arch further. "You seem... out of sorts," he remarks after a moment, perceptive. Not that it's very hard to see that. "Are you sure everything's all right? I can speak to him if you like--I think I need to, anyway."
Miniyal blinks a few times and nearly overturns a basket of glows as, in her haste to sit up straighter she kicks the table leg and then brings her elbow down hard on top of it. "No! No. I mean, no. I mean, everything's fine. Really. There's nothing going on." A pause and then she can't help but ask, "Is he in trouble?"
"Should he be?" counters E'sere, still not entirely convinced by Miniyal's demeanor. He repeats, "You seem out of sorts. What's wrong?"
"Probably," Miniyal says almost cheerfully. "He seems like the sort who should be in trouble all the time. But I don't know of anything he's done recently." Her shoulders rise and fall in a jerky shrug. "Nothing's wrong. I'm fine. Why would you think something is wrong? Nothing at all is wrong."
E'sere, bemused, shrugs. "When people deny something that strenuously, it usually means something /is/ wrong--or at least they're trying to hide something, no?" he muses.
Miniyal fiddles with the hides on her table, shuffling through them and generally fidgeting. "Nothing is wrong. I was merely not expecting people to show up here this time of night and therefore was surprised when people did." See? It makes perfect sense.
"Ah, I see," E'sere says, in the tone of one not entirely convinced, agreeing just for the sake of agreement. "If you say so. I'm sorry to bother you, in that case, especially since I don't really have any need for the room itself."
"It's fine," Miniyal says with a shrug. "I'm almost done. I mean, I'll be leaving soon. So, it's fine. I mean, if you're not touching things it's not like you're a bother I guess."
E'sere smiles at that, nodding once. "Ah, well. Don't let me keep you, then. I should probably be on my way as well; I imagine I've deterred my... follower long enough, and I can't hide all night."
Miniyal wrinkles her forehead, looking somewhat confused. "Are you alright?" she asks with some hesitation. Does she really want to know? Most likely not. But. . .those damned manners she actually can use when not thinking about fleeing kick in every now and again.
E'sere smirks slightly. "Me? Oh, yes, quite. But, ah... Well. I've hardly had a chance to be to myself, or rather, without--Sinopa, lately," he admits, frowning as he gives away the name, though not unpleasantly. "She, ah. She means well, has been worried since the last 'Fall--" a true frown here, sad but brief "--and, well. I suppose I'm too nice to tell her to go away."
Miniyal considers all of this with her head tilted over to one side. "Oh. Well, just tell her to let you be politely. Or, well, hiding works. Anyway, I'm sorry and all that. I mean, everything that's happening and all. I'm sure it'll be alright. . .well, maybe not. But, well. . .right." Forget it. She's been nice and sympathetic to one person already tonight. It's obviously put a strain on her and she's struggling to keep it up. Hard enough with someone who's a friend.
E'sere quirks a slight smile, telling Miniyal solemnly, "Thank you. Perhaps I'll have to take that advice. Until then...?" He stands, taking a few steps toward the door. "Good night, Miniyal."
Miniyal nods her head once and then purposefully pulls a hide closer to her, going back to work or at least pretending. "Good night. Good luck." Mumbled as she stares down at what's in front of her without really seeing it at this point.
E'sere nods once more, then slips out.