[LOG] - B'haal: Waylaid by Revelation
Title: Waylaid by Revelation
Summary: B'haal is waylaid on his way to make a delivery. Then he's hit with a bombshell. It does not go well.
Characters: B'haal, Cassara, Hika
Location: Marketplace, Ierne Weyrhold
Time: N/A
RL Date: 08/23/2014
Hika and Cassara are nice and settled into their cothold by now. Hika is still enjoying the break, and Ierne's nice cool weather, at least compared to Igen. She's somehow convinced Cassara to come down to the marketplace so they can do a little shopping. Maybe with the promise of beer and food afterward. The greenrider basically is hanging off Cassara's arm, dragging her this way and that as she browses.
Cassara gets dragged around begrudgingly. It was pretty funny to watch Hika drag around a giant woman almost effortlessly. Cassara looked like she'd rather be doing anything else, but that expression was hard to differentiate from how she usually looked.
And then there's B'haal. The weather's cool enough to necessitate his cloak, though the hood is down - for once. A heavy satchel is slung cross-wise over his person, still full to near-bursting; clearly, some delivery has yet to be made - or he just likes to pack along a lot of stuff. In either case, he's found an unoccupied wall and is leaned against it, brow furrowed and a notepad of some sort open in his hands. He's scribbling something or another down, nose wrinkled all the while. He might well be lost to the world of frantic writing, but the passage of the two contrasting women is enough to jerk his head up for but a moment in search of recognition.
Hika is busy poking through some jewelry when she spots B'haal out of the corner of her eye. "Hm..?" She peers at him a moment, then goes back to browsing. Then peers. Then browsing. "Cassy.." She says, tugging on the brownrider's arm. "Does that man look familiar to you over there?" She asks curiously, motioning in his direction. Then she starts pulling in his direction. "Hey! Er... Hi!"
"Why would anyone here look familiar to me?" She mutters without much interest. Suddenly she was getting yanked. "Hika, what the hell?" she resists for a moment before allowing her self to be pulled along. "What's gotten into you...?" she asked, quietly.
Cue some hasty flipping through his notebook. B'haal doesn't find what he's looking for, ultimately, and he closes the book. He tucks it into a pouch on the bag, while the writing utensil joins a few others in a case resting at his other hip. A salute is tipped to both Hika and Cassara, though it's the former that gets a bit more scrutiny. Is there recognition? Not yet. Not at that distance. His forehead creases just a little and the bronzerider tenses - but not in preparation to run. "Do you need something?" It's not a proper greeting, to be fair, but the question is offered amiably enough despite all the other signs of wariness.
Hika looks up at Cass. "Because he looks familiar to me. Come on!" She was going on an adventure! Or at least going to make a new friend maybe. She eyes B'haal's knot. And his face when they get close enough. "Helloooo--oooh! I know you! You're B'haal, aren't you?" Hika seems to tense up at the realization. "You uh... you won one of my flights, a long time ago... At Igen..."
Cassara rolls her eyes slightly. Well, there was no stopping her now. She pushed up her glasses and straighted out, confidently and coldly following her weyrmate. If she was going to meet someone, she wasn't going to to do it whining and being dragged. Her stoicism was cracked with the words that came out of Hika's mouth, but she immediately choked down her look of surprise. She stood there calm and quiet, all while her stomach became a knot of emotions.
B'haal's expression goes through several rapid shifts - confusion to recognition to acknowledgment - before settling on dawning revelation. "Hika. It's been... a while." This is managed before she makes the next observation, which is met with a nod and an added, "Mephixath's first. He refuses to let me forget that flight - or any other, for that matter. He's... peculiar about that." If it's said with a hint of long-suffering misery, so be it. "Ah. How have you and Amekasith been?" His gaze cuts abruptly to Cassara and holds on her for a long moment. "My apologies. I'm B'haal, bronze Mephixath's." A hand is offered in further greeting. "And you are?" Because, clearly, all that flight stuff was just a very awkward re-introduction to his mind. Clearly.
Hika looks a bit relieved when B'haal recognizes her. That makes things much less awkward. Though with Cassara standing here... not as much as she'd like. "Aw... did you hear that, Cass? Ame was his first! You guys weren't Ame's, but... you're one of the ones I remember." She smiles to him. "Good, real good! How have you and Mephixath been?" When he introduces himself to Cass, Hika rubs her arm. "This is my weyrmate, Cassara. Brown Golth's."
Cassara's lip curls. "Hey." she muttered dispassionately. She looks at the Bronzeriders hand for a moment, hesistating before giving a firm but short lived shake. While her exterior was cold, Hika could feel the tension in her arm as she rubbed it.
B'haal shifts his weight just a little, enough to allow him to square his shoulders and tuck one arm behind his back while the other rests on the satchel. "Glad to hear it. Very glad." His smile falters just a little. "We're good, just taking care of Mother of late. She's- well. Crazy. Collecting firelizards like they're mis-printed marks." He's more than happy to move off that topic, though. As Cassara's introduced, he offers her a friendly smile and tip of his head - despite the seeming tension. He's either unaffected or accustomed to such a reception - more likely the latter. "It's a pleasure to meet you. You've done quite well for yourself - both of you."
Hika squeezes Cass's arm and leans against it in a loving fashion. It wont change the brownrider's demeanor, but it'll make Hika feel better. "Ooh, you're here for your Mother then? Or just picking up supplies?" She motions to his satchel. "It's been so long since I've seen you... we should spend some time catching up! There's a stand over there that sells meat rolls and beers. You two hungry?" She suggests.
As Hika predicted, Cassara remained stone faced and certainly not returning a smile to B'haal. Well, until she suggested eating together. Her eyes look over to Hika with furrowed brows -- a look of incredulity as if to say 'are you serious?!'. Still, she tried to keep her composure. "... Whatever you want to do, Hika."
B'haal glances off in the distance for but a moment, lost in draconic communion. When he snaps out of it, it's with a shake of his head and a shudder that crawls down his spine. "Ah. Well, I live there," which is clarified with a vague gesture to the seaside cotholds. "With her and her... 'lizards," which is not the word he wants to use, but diplomacy wins out over personal opinion. "I'm due to deliver this later, after it's all been appraised. So- I suppose I have time. I can always eat." The last is added with a wry grin, one that's short-lived as he catches that fleeting hint of incredulity on Cassara's face. His visage settles into neutrality a moment later - cool and distant, an easy mask for him to wear. "But, if you two are already busy, I would not want to intrude."
Hika is interrupting her and Cassara's date by inviting a MAN along. How dare she! She ignores the brownrider's looks though. "Ah..." Hika isn't really sure what to make of B'haal living with his mother? She doesn't ask a bunch more questions about that, even though she's curious, as it might be rude. "Oh? Well it won't take too long. We won't keep you!" Hika starts moving toward the food cart she mentioned, waving the other two along. She orders up a few baskets of meat rolls, and three beers, then finds a table out of the way where they can sit and talk.
YES, HOW DARE SHE! Cassara felt like she could breath fire right now but she did her best to just look disdainful and cranky. She follows behind Hika, silently. Beer might have been the only thing she had to look forward to, but she already knew there wouldn't be enough to help. She sits down next to Hika with a heavy sigh and pops open her beer.
There's that dragon-inspired glossing of his eyes again. B'haal pulls out of it with a barely breathed groan and he's quick to grab for his notebook and a writing tool. No apologies are made as he flips open to a clean page and scribbles something or another down; that he manages to do this while tagging along is a testament to how often he's had to do this very thing. As soon as a table is claimed and food is ordered, he takes a seat and finishes up whatever writing he's been employed to do. "Thank you," is intoned for Hika when he finishes up - and then he goes digging in a pocket to fish up his share of the money to cover the cost of food. "So," he says once they're settled and his book is shut. His fingers lace over the book and his gaze briefly fixes on Cassara before landing a bit more heavily on Hika. "Talk."
Hika nibbles on meatrolls, but leaves her beer alone for the time being. She watches as B'haal does stuff with the writing and the notebook and all of that. Was he always this strange? "So! Remind me again which weyr you were at when we first met, B'haal? It was such a long time ago... I was only fifteen. Cassy and I had just gotten weyrmated. Which seems silly almost now, getting weyrmated that young. What have you been up to, recently?"
Cassara takes a long swig of her beer before beginning to chew on the meat roll. She tries to zone out, just looking off into space, but it's no luck. "I ... guess it was a little silly." she shrugged uneasily. "But it worked out." Something about that remark didn't sit right with her, even though she often thought the same still. She takes another swig of her beer and tries to push the thought out. It was irrational and silly and she was just being on the defensive.
B'haal's beer, too, is left alone for the duration. So, too, are the rolls. There's a slight working of his jaw while he recalls, "Born at Ista, but I Stood at Telgar - if that's what you mean. We met at Igen, if I'm remembering right," and he might not be, despite all of his note-taking. "Same age. Different Weyrs. Vastly different people - it seems to have worked out for you, no matter how silly you think it is." It's something worth noting, though his shoulders rise and fall in a shallow shrug. "Working. Caretaking. Writing," but the last is a grudging admission. "I do deliveries, mostly. Courier-work. The kind of stuff you can't always trust a firelizard to handle. Mephixath isn't... -happy- with it, but it is what it is for now."
Hika smiles up at Cass. "It was. But we were happy, and in love. And we're still that way now!" She pats the brownrider's leg. Hika nods at the info about B'haal. She'll file that all away for later. "We did, yep." SHe watches him write. What's with that? Cass is given a glance. "Ah, that sounds fun. I bet you get to fly all over then, delivering things. Important documents and such." She ponders. "So uh... I don't usually invite bronzers I hardly know to lunch. But I feel like there's something you ought to know, B'haal. Something probably both of you ought to know..."
Cassara puts her hand on top of Hika's. At least all she had to do was mostly keep quiet and wait and this would probably be over soon. That thought was rather soothing to her. But when Hika said she had something important to say, her expression changed to one of surprise and interest. "... Huh? What could we possibly both need to know?"
B'haal glances from Hika to Cassara and back with a steady, inscrutable gaze. No more writing for the bronzerider, at least; his fingers are again steepled over the book and he sits, back straight, while he listens. "I'm sure we've logged more flying hours than most," he admits. "We've been anywhere - and probably everywhere, at this point. Mostly deliveries but, sometimes messages." Though, this time, he's not delivering the message - whatever it is. His brows knit and he leans forward just a little, mouth twisted just a touch to one side. Cassara says it best, though; he'll just let the silence and look on his face reflect the brownrider's words.
Hika gives Cass an apologetic look. Which means she's about to say something the brownrider won't like. She makes a sandwich out of Cass's hand, putting her own on top of it. Hika nods to B'haal. "Mmm. We were search and rescue at Igen, so not a lot of travel required. I was also assistant weyrlingmaster on and off." She looks between the two of them, then down at the table. "Well... after our flight so long ago... it turned out that I... was pregnant. We were pretty young, but... Cass and I decided to keep the baby. Sorry that... I never told you. I know it's pretty late and all. And Hotaru doesn't really need a father or anything. But I thought you ought to know."
Cassara looks at Hika with widening eyes. Her hand starts trembing and her face tenses into a scowl. Her beer dropped to the ground. "Neither of us... need to know that!" She spat. She pull away from Hika, and turns way from both of them. She takes off her glasses, and grabbing her face in frustration.
B'haal hasn't touched the beer or food - and this is a good thing: there's nothing for him to choke on or spit out as the revelation hits. "I see," are the only two words he can pull out at first. He sits back a little and his eyes gloss over, dragon-seized, as it were. When they clear, his fingers twitch - but he doesn't immediately grab for the notebook. Cassara's reaction is noted and earns a tight expression of empathy; perhaps she's just proving to be better at saying the words he wants to say before he's able to. "Hotaru," is said, instead. "That's... her name?" The gender is just a guess, from the way the wording is knotted. "It- ah. It's best, I think. That I didn't know at the time." He tries on a half-smile that doesn't quite fit. "Mephixath knows I wouldn't have had clue one about what to do." Nor does he still, given the sheer dumbfoundedness that he's clearly been struck by. So many questions - and not a word to articulate them, save for one. "So what- why now? Why... why." There. It's the easiest one he can muster.
Hika winces as Cass's reaction and sighs. "Sorry, Cassy. But it's only fair." She pops open her beer and slides it over toward the brownrider. Hika nods. "It is. She's... not looking for another parent, B'haal. So... you probably don't want to just rush over to see her. But she might want to meet you." Hika smiles, though it's as apologetic as the one she gave Cassara earlier. "I'm not sure. I haven't seen you in so long, not even in passing. And I wasn't sure I'd ever get the opportunity again. Plus Hotaru's looking to start a family of her own and all... she's probably curious now more than ever about her genes." She'll be happy to know her father is a blonde. Hotaru wants blonde kids so they look like Nae.
Cassara says "Only fair!" She scoffs and turns around, with big furious red eyes, though even her anger couldn't mask pain in her eyes. B'haal didn't seem thrilled either which would have been the last thing she needed. "This isn't fair for either us!" her hand slapped down on the table. "I ..! D-d-ammit..." she was having a hard time speaking. "... We weren't supposed to know! that was the point! We didn't need to think about the father" She hits the table again, gritting her teeth. She even managed some empathy. "And we throw that out for what? To tell this guy 'Oh you have a kid but she really don't need a parent'?! What the hell!""
B'haal sucks his teeth in silence, with a slow nod placed as appropriate. Understanding. Digesting. Somewhere in the distance, a dragon can be heard bellowing - but it's hard to tell what kind of bellow it is. "I will send her a letter," he decides, while his fingers rub anxiously along the edge of the notebook. "She can decide what she wants or doesn't want." With that settled, he pushes his chair back and rises to his feet - just before Cassara's outburst. The timing is good enough to avoid the inevitable rattling of the table, but he has to reach out to catch his beer lest it fall over with the next hit. The tip of his tongue presses out to wet his lips. He, with far more patience and diplomacy than one might expect if they knew the beast he was bonded to, simply weathers the storm that's not directed at him. Only when the worst seems to pass does he offer a slow and carefully constructed, "Thank you, Hika. I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk before now," and there's a sidelong look to Cassara that's laden with sympathy, "but at least- at least that's one less burden for you to carry." And another to be shared, perhaps, but there's that lawyer-like tongue at work again.
Hika furrows her brow to Cassara. "Calm down. Hotaru asked about him. And he was here. It's not for you, and it's not for him. Or for me. It's for her. She's twenty turns now, Cass. I think she can handle knowing who it is now. And so can you. You don't have to think about him if you don't want to, but she may as well know. And he may as well be warned that she might look for him, since we bumped into him here. She's not a kid anymore." Hika pouts at B'haal gets up. "Sorry, B'haal. That we never talked earlier. I'll let Hotaru know where you are, and we'll let her decide what she wants to do with the information." And hopefully Cassara will calm down at some point.
The fact Hotaru wanted to know made it both better and worse. She clutches her face and and slups forward on the table, seething. She had no words -- at least any productive ones. She could hold it in, but her mind was racing. This would have been hard for her under any circumstances, but this was too sudden.
"I understand," B'haal replies with a slow sort of smile and a ducking of his head. "Life happens, Hika. Don't apologize for that." Even if he just did. It's the brownrider's meltdown that seems to be his cue; he offers a hand to Hika along with that lingering smile, and says, "I just hope that I measure up to her imagined father, that's all." Whether or not the hand is taken, he'll eventually step away from the table - after setting his beer back down. The brownrider looks like she could use it, evidently. "If you - or she - should need anything, don't hesitate to ask. Don't be a stranger." Not now. Not after that. "I need to take care of a few things, but it was... it was good talking to you again."
Hika leaves Cass to stew for a little bit. B'haal seemed to be on his way out anyways. She takes the bronzer's hand and gives it a gentle shake. "Thanks for being understanding, B'haal. You're as good natured as I remember. I'm sure you'll do just fine for Hotaru. She's a good girl. We won't. See you later. Good talking to you!" As he gets up to leave, Hika reaches over to take Cass's hand. If the brownrider will let her.
Cassara pulls her hand away. Her breathing as at least calming down. She felt sick -- sick on emotions and didn't know what to do or say. Why did this need to be in public? She just wanted to hide away or be somewhere where she could scream.
B'haal tips a final salute to the pair and pivots on a heel to make good on his departure. "Clear skies," is called over his shoulder, along with another wave. Work still needs to be done, after all; and he has a particularly impatient dragon looming on the horizon, anxious to tend to the -real- work of the day. It's not long before he's out of sight, his long-legged stride eating up the distance to leave the other pair alone.
Summary: B'haal is waylaid on his way to make a delivery. Then he's hit with a bombshell. It does not go well.
Characters: B'haal, Cassara, Hika
Location: Marketplace, Ierne Weyrhold
Time: N/A
RL Date: 08/23/2014
Hika and Cassara are nice and settled into their cothold by now. Hika is still enjoying the break, and Ierne's nice cool weather, at least compared to Igen. She's somehow convinced Cassara to come down to the marketplace so they can do a little shopping. Maybe with the promise of beer and food afterward. The greenrider basically is hanging off Cassara's arm, dragging her this way and that as she browses.
Cassara gets dragged around begrudgingly. It was pretty funny to watch Hika drag around a giant woman almost effortlessly. Cassara looked like she'd rather be doing anything else, but that expression was hard to differentiate from how she usually looked.
And then there's B'haal. The weather's cool enough to necessitate his cloak, though the hood is down - for once. A heavy satchel is slung cross-wise over his person, still full to near-bursting; clearly, some delivery has yet to be made - or he just likes to pack along a lot of stuff. In either case, he's found an unoccupied wall and is leaned against it, brow furrowed and a notepad of some sort open in his hands. He's scribbling something or another down, nose wrinkled all the while. He might well be lost to the world of frantic writing, but the passage of the two contrasting women is enough to jerk his head up for but a moment in search of recognition.
Hika is busy poking through some jewelry when she spots B'haal out of the corner of her eye. "Hm..?" She peers at him a moment, then goes back to browsing. Then peers. Then browsing. "Cassy.." She says, tugging on the brownrider's arm. "Does that man look familiar to you over there?" She asks curiously, motioning in his direction. Then she starts pulling in his direction. "Hey! Er... Hi!"
"Why would anyone here look familiar to me?" She mutters without much interest. Suddenly she was getting yanked. "Hika, what the hell?" she resists for a moment before allowing her self to be pulled along. "What's gotten into you...?" she asked, quietly.
Cue some hasty flipping through his notebook. B'haal doesn't find what he's looking for, ultimately, and he closes the book. He tucks it into a pouch on the bag, while the writing utensil joins a few others in a case resting at his other hip. A salute is tipped to both Hika and Cassara, though it's the former that gets a bit more scrutiny. Is there recognition? Not yet. Not at that distance. His forehead creases just a little and the bronzerider tenses - but not in preparation to run. "Do you need something?" It's not a proper greeting, to be fair, but the question is offered amiably enough despite all the other signs of wariness.
Hika looks up at Cass. "Because he looks familiar to me. Come on!" She was going on an adventure! Or at least going to make a new friend maybe. She eyes B'haal's knot. And his face when they get close enough. "Helloooo--oooh! I know you! You're B'haal, aren't you?" Hika seems to tense up at the realization. "You uh... you won one of my flights, a long time ago... At Igen..."
Cassara rolls her eyes slightly. Well, there was no stopping her now. She pushed up her glasses and straighted out, confidently and coldly following her weyrmate. If she was going to meet someone, she wasn't going to to do it whining and being dragged. Her stoicism was cracked with the words that came out of Hika's mouth, but she immediately choked down her look of surprise. She stood there calm and quiet, all while her stomach became a knot of emotions.
B'haal's expression goes through several rapid shifts - confusion to recognition to acknowledgment - before settling on dawning revelation. "Hika. It's been... a while." This is managed before she makes the next observation, which is met with a nod and an added, "Mephixath's first. He refuses to let me forget that flight - or any other, for that matter. He's... peculiar about that." If it's said with a hint of long-suffering misery, so be it. "Ah. How have you and Amekasith been?" His gaze cuts abruptly to Cassara and holds on her for a long moment. "My apologies. I'm B'haal, bronze Mephixath's." A hand is offered in further greeting. "And you are?" Because, clearly, all that flight stuff was just a very awkward re-introduction to his mind. Clearly.
Hika looks a bit relieved when B'haal recognizes her. That makes things much less awkward. Though with Cassara standing here... not as much as she'd like. "Aw... did you hear that, Cass? Ame was his first! You guys weren't Ame's, but... you're one of the ones I remember." She smiles to him. "Good, real good! How have you and Mephixath been?" When he introduces himself to Cass, Hika rubs her arm. "This is my weyrmate, Cassara. Brown Golth's."
Cassara's lip curls. "Hey." she muttered dispassionately. She looks at the Bronzeriders hand for a moment, hesistating before giving a firm but short lived shake. While her exterior was cold, Hika could feel the tension in her arm as she rubbed it.
B'haal shifts his weight just a little, enough to allow him to square his shoulders and tuck one arm behind his back while the other rests on the satchel. "Glad to hear it. Very glad." His smile falters just a little. "We're good, just taking care of Mother of late. She's- well. Crazy. Collecting firelizards like they're mis-printed marks." He's more than happy to move off that topic, though. As Cassara's introduced, he offers her a friendly smile and tip of his head - despite the seeming tension. He's either unaffected or accustomed to such a reception - more likely the latter. "It's a pleasure to meet you. You've done quite well for yourself - both of you."
Hika squeezes Cass's arm and leans against it in a loving fashion. It wont change the brownrider's demeanor, but it'll make Hika feel better. "Ooh, you're here for your Mother then? Or just picking up supplies?" She motions to his satchel. "It's been so long since I've seen you... we should spend some time catching up! There's a stand over there that sells meat rolls and beers. You two hungry?" She suggests.
As Hika predicted, Cassara remained stone faced and certainly not returning a smile to B'haal. Well, until she suggested eating together. Her eyes look over to Hika with furrowed brows -- a look of incredulity as if to say 'are you serious?!'. Still, she tried to keep her composure. "... Whatever you want to do, Hika."
B'haal glances off in the distance for but a moment, lost in draconic communion. When he snaps out of it, it's with a shake of his head and a shudder that crawls down his spine. "Ah. Well, I live there," which is clarified with a vague gesture to the seaside cotholds. "With her and her... 'lizards," which is not the word he wants to use, but diplomacy wins out over personal opinion. "I'm due to deliver this later, after it's all been appraised. So- I suppose I have time. I can always eat." The last is added with a wry grin, one that's short-lived as he catches that fleeting hint of incredulity on Cassara's face. His visage settles into neutrality a moment later - cool and distant, an easy mask for him to wear. "But, if you two are already busy, I would not want to intrude."
Hika is interrupting her and Cassara's date by inviting a MAN along. How dare she! She ignores the brownrider's looks though. "Ah..." Hika isn't really sure what to make of B'haal living with his mother? She doesn't ask a bunch more questions about that, even though she's curious, as it might be rude. "Oh? Well it won't take too long. We won't keep you!" Hika starts moving toward the food cart she mentioned, waving the other two along. She orders up a few baskets of meat rolls, and three beers, then finds a table out of the way where they can sit and talk.
YES, HOW DARE SHE! Cassara felt like she could breath fire right now but she did her best to just look disdainful and cranky. She follows behind Hika, silently. Beer might have been the only thing she had to look forward to, but she already knew there wouldn't be enough to help. She sits down next to Hika with a heavy sigh and pops open her beer.
There's that dragon-inspired glossing of his eyes again. B'haal pulls out of it with a barely breathed groan and he's quick to grab for his notebook and a writing tool. No apologies are made as he flips open to a clean page and scribbles something or another down; that he manages to do this while tagging along is a testament to how often he's had to do this very thing. As soon as a table is claimed and food is ordered, he takes a seat and finishes up whatever writing he's been employed to do. "Thank you," is intoned for Hika when he finishes up - and then he goes digging in a pocket to fish up his share of the money to cover the cost of food. "So," he says once they're settled and his book is shut. His fingers lace over the book and his gaze briefly fixes on Cassara before landing a bit more heavily on Hika. "Talk."
Hika nibbles on meatrolls, but leaves her beer alone for the time being. She watches as B'haal does stuff with the writing and the notebook and all of that. Was he always this strange? "So! Remind me again which weyr you were at when we first met, B'haal? It was such a long time ago... I was only fifteen. Cassy and I had just gotten weyrmated. Which seems silly almost now, getting weyrmated that young. What have you been up to, recently?"
Cassara takes a long swig of her beer before beginning to chew on the meat roll. She tries to zone out, just looking off into space, but it's no luck. "I ... guess it was a little silly." she shrugged uneasily. "But it worked out." Something about that remark didn't sit right with her, even though she often thought the same still. She takes another swig of her beer and tries to push the thought out. It was irrational and silly and she was just being on the defensive.
B'haal's beer, too, is left alone for the duration. So, too, are the rolls. There's a slight working of his jaw while he recalls, "Born at Ista, but I Stood at Telgar - if that's what you mean. We met at Igen, if I'm remembering right," and he might not be, despite all of his note-taking. "Same age. Different Weyrs. Vastly different people - it seems to have worked out for you, no matter how silly you think it is." It's something worth noting, though his shoulders rise and fall in a shallow shrug. "Working. Caretaking. Writing," but the last is a grudging admission. "I do deliveries, mostly. Courier-work. The kind of stuff you can't always trust a firelizard to handle. Mephixath isn't... -happy- with it, but it is what it is for now."
Hika smiles up at Cass. "It was. But we were happy, and in love. And we're still that way now!" She pats the brownrider's leg. Hika nods at the info about B'haal. She'll file that all away for later. "We did, yep." SHe watches him write. What's with that? Cass is given a glance. "Ah, that sounds fun. I bet you get to fly all over then, delivering things. Important documents and such." She ponders. "So uh... I don't usually invite bronzers I hardly know to lunch. But I feel like there's something you ought to know, B'haal. Something probably both of you ought to know..."
Cassara puts her hand on top of Hika's. At least all she had to do was mostly keep quiet and wait and this would probably be over soon. That thought was rather soothing to her. But when Hika said she had something important to say, her expression changed to one of surprise and interest. "... Huh? What could we possibly both need to know?"
B'haal glances from Hika to Cassara and back with a steady, inscrutable gaze. No more writing for the bronzerider, at least; his fingers are again steepled over the book and he sits, back straight, while he listens. "I'm sure we've logged more flying hours than most," he admits. "We've been anywhere - and probably everywhere, at this point. Mostly deliveries but, sometimes messages." Though, this time, he's not delivering the message - whatever it is. His brows knit and he leans forward just a little, mouth twisted just a touch to one side. Cassara says it best, though; he'll just let the silence and look on his face reflect the brownrider's words.
Hika gives Cass an apologetic look. Which means she's about to say something the brownrider won't like. She makes a sandwich out of Cass's hand, putting her own on top of it. Hika nods to B'haal. "Mmm. We were search and rescue at Igen, so not a lot of travel required. I was also assistant weyrlingmaster on and off." She looks between the two of them, then down at the table. "Well... after our flight so long ago... it turned out that I... was pregnant. We were pretty young, but... Cass and I decided to keep the baby. Sorry that... I never told you. I know it's pretty late and all. And Hotaru doesn't really need a father or anything. But I thought you ought to know."
Cassara looks at Hika with widening eyes. Her hand starts trembing and her face tenses into a scowl. Her beer dropped to the ground. "Neither of us... need to know that!" She spat. She pull away from Hika, and turns way from both of them. She takes off her glasses, and grabbing her face in frustration.
B'haal hasn't touched the beer or food - and this is a good thing: there's nothing for him to choke on or spit out as the revelation hits. "I see," are the only two words he can pull out at first. He sits back a little and his eyes gloss over, dragon-seized, as it were. When they clear, his fingers twitch - but he doesn't immediately grab for the notebook. Cassara's reaction is noted and earns a tight expression of empathy; perhaps she's just proving to be better at saying the words he wants to say before he's able to. "Hotaru," is said, instead. "That's... her name?" The gender is just a guess, from the way the wording is knotted. "It- ah. It's best, I think. That I didn't know at the time." He tries on a half-smile that doesn't quite fit. "Mephixath knows I wouldn't have had clue one about what to do." Nor does he still, given the sheer dumbfoundedness that he's clearly been struck by. So many questions - and not a word to articulate them, save for one. "So what- why now? Why... why." There. It's the easiest one he can muster.
Hika winces as Cass's reaction and sighs. "Sorry, Cassy. But it's only fair." She pops open her beer and slides it over toward the brownrider. Hika nods. "It is. She's... not looking for another parent, B'haal. So... you probably don't want to just rush over to see her. But she might want to meet you." Hika smiles, though it's as apologetic as the one she gave Cassara earlier. "I'm not sure. I haven't seen you in so long, not even in passing. And I wasn't sure I'd ever get the opportunity again. Plus Hotaru's looking to start a family of her own and all... she's probably curious now more than ever about her genes." She'll be happy to know her father is a blonde. Hotaru wants blonde kids so they look like Nae.
Cassara says "Only fair!" She scoffs and turns around, with big furious red eyes, though even her anger couldn't mask pain in her eyes. B'haal didn't seem thrilled either which would have been the last thing she needed. "This isn't fair for either us!" her hand slapped down on the table. "I ..! D-d-ammit..." she was having a hard time speaking. "... We weren't supposed to know! that was the point! We didn't need to think about the father" She hits the table again, gritting her teeth. She even managed some empathy. "And we throw that out for what? To tell this guy 'Oh you have a kid but she really don't need a parent'?! What the hell!""
B'haal sucks his teeth in silence, with a slow nod placed as appropriate. Understanding. Digesting. Somewhere in the distance, a dragon can be heard bellowing - but it's hard to tell what kind of bellow it is. "I will send her a letter," he decides, while his fingers rub anxiously along the edge of the notebook. "She can decide what she wants or doesn't want." With that settled, he pushes his chair back and rises to his feet - just before Cassara's outburst. The timing is good enough to avoid the inevitable rattling of the table, but he has to reach out to catch his beer lest it fall over with the next hit. The tip of his tongue presses out to wet his lips. He, with far more patience and diplomacy than one might expect if they knew the beast he was bonded to, simply weathers the storm that's not directed at him. Only when the worst seems to pass does he offer a slow and carefully constructed, "Thank you, Hika. I'm sorry we didn't get a chance to talk before now," and there's a sidelong look to Cassara that's laden with sympathy, "but at least- at least that's one less burden for you to carry." And another to be shared, perhaps, but there's that lawyer-like tongue at work again.
Hika furrows her brow to Cassara. "Calm down. Hotaru asked about him. And he was here. It's not for you, and it's not for him. Or for me. It's for her. She's twenty turns now, Cass. I think she can handle knowing who it is now. And so can you. You don't have to think about him if you don't want to, but she may as well know. And he may as well be warned that she might look for him, since we bumped into him here. She's not a kid anymore." Hika pouts at B'haal gets up. "Sorry, B'haal. That we never talked earlier. I'll let Hotaru know where you are, and we'll let her decide what she wants to do with the information." And hopefully Cassara will calm down at some point.
The fact Hotaru wanted to know made it both better and worse. She clutches her face and and slups forward on the table, seething. She had no words -- at least any productive ones. She could hold it in, but her mind was racing. This would have been hard for her under any circumstances, but this was too sudden.
"I understand," B'haal replies with a slow sort of smile and a ducking of his head. "Life happens, Hika. Don't apologize for that." Even if he just did. It's the brownrider's meltdown that seems to be his cue; he offers a hand to Hika along with that lingering smile, and says, "I just hope that I measure up to her imagined father, that's all." Whether or not the hand is taken, he'll eventually step away from the table - after setting his beer back down. The brownrider looks like she could use it, evidently. "If you - or she - should need anything, don't hesitate to ask. Don't be a stranger." Not now. Not after that. "I need to take care of a few things, but it was... it was good talking to you again."
Hika leaves Cass to stew for a little bit. B'haal seemed to be on his way out anyways. She takes the bronzer's hand and gives it a gentle shake. "Thanks for being understanding, B'haal. You're as good natured as I remember. I'm sure you'll do just fine for Hotaru. She's a good girl. We won't. See you later. Good talking to you!" As he gets up to leave, Hika reaches over to take Cass's hand. If the brownrider will let her.
Cassara pulls her hand away. Her breathing as at least calming down. She felt sick -- sick on emotions and didn't know what to do or say. Why did this need to be in public? She just wanted to hide away or be somewhere where she could scream.
B'haal tips a final salute to the pair and pivots on a heel to make good on his departure. "Clear skies," is called over his shoulder, along with another wave. Work still needs to be done, after all; and he has a particularly impatient dragon looming on the horizon, anxious to tend to the -real- work of the day. It's not long before he's out of sight, his long-legged stride eating up the distance to leave the other pair alone.