☆018-He's planned this trip and to this plan he's going to stick.
[This entry is slightly backdated to the morning of February 22nd.]I didn't want to do this immediately after the fact, but it's been nearly a month since Grift's departure and I don't think there's sense in waiting any longer
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[ooc: I know you have a lot on your plate, plotting-wise. Do you want to quicklog it or would it be more convenient to handwave?]
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[ooc: Can it wait? Until next week? Would love to, cannot this week. We could backdate?]
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[ooc: Waiting until next week and doing something backdated is actually perfect. Let me know whenever you want to do it. o/]
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She found the house after a bit of searching, straightened her hair and clothes, and knocked. She knew Lyle only by sight, as one of the long-time presences in the Sphere, and didn't think she'd ever even spoken to him alone. She knocked politely and waited for the door to open.]
Hello. I'm Kagerou, and we spoke on the journals earlier. It's nice to meet you properly. [She held out a hand to be shaken, aware that it seemed more common in the Sphere than the polite bows that came easier to her.]
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Likewise, Miss Kagerou. [He didn't often bother with titles outside of teasing, but something in the occasion felt like it called for the extra bit of propriety.] I've seen you bustling around the bar, but it's good to have an introduction. Come in.
[He stepped away from the door and gestured towards the living room.] Feel free to have a seat if you'd like. Or you can roam around and look things over at will.
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[A little gingerly, she stepped inside, took off her coat and laid it carefully over a chair. It was a spacious place, and seemed to show a side of her erstwhile employer she had never seen. She moved with slow steps, as if digesting, or giving herself permission to be here.]
He was your friend, then, right? Since you're taking care of his things. I'm... not really sure I can say the same, but... he made the bar a good place to work.
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[Closing the door behind them, Lyle watched as she made her way around; very careful, as if moving too quickly might shatter something, be it an object or something in the mood.]
Yeah, we were friends. [Not necessarily the closest, but the number of visitors seemed to attest to the fact that there weren't many that really qualified as 'close' to Grift.] Drank, chatted, shot at the Range, that sort of thing. [He stuck his hands into his pockets and started meandering around the stacks of stuff.]
The bar was one of those things he seemed to take seriously. [One of the few things.] So it wouldn't really surprise me to know he gave the same sort of consideration to the employees.
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I suppose that's why it was the first thing I asked about. I sort of hoped he'd left some set of instructions, I don't know. Maybe it doesn't matter. I mean, I don't expect you to tell me, of course.
[She went to the bookshelf and ran her hand thoughtfully across the spines of poetry volumes, wondering that something like poetry and Grift should go together. Maybe it wasn't so strange.]
What did he say about me, then? If you don't mind?
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[One shoulder hitched upward in a shrug.] He said that he wanted the bar to flourish, but not how. To be honest, I was surprised he left any sort of last words to begin with. And from the tone of it, it wasn't something he expected of himself, either.
[Really, it was less instruction and more musing about the state of things in the Sphere and Grift's attitude towards them. The sentiments were frustrated, certainly on the bitter side, and so Lyle curbed the temptation to hand Kagerou the whole letter to just read. A small summary of the relevant points would do.] He said that he sometimes wondered if this wasn't Hell or some sort of twisted afterlife, but if that was the case then he wouldn't have been here with people like you. [He gave her a small, wry smile.] Seemed he thought you were a good person, even if he didn't care about gaining a title like that for himself.
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[She'd just take a book, she decided. It wouldn't be something inadvertently too personal, and it would have value beyond the fact that it was a remembrance. It wasn't that she didn't want to remember, just that she shouldn't rob someone closer to Grift of a more intimate keepsake.]
I see. Thank you. [Her mouth quirked as she bit her lower lip thoughtfully.] He did good things sometimes, though, but... I'm not really surprised to hear that.
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[One hand moved in a gesture towards Kagerou once she picked out a book.] Found something you fancy?
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I didn't know he read poems. That's... a bit strange. I say that a lot, don't I?
You're very kind to wait here, though. Did you know him long? I suppose you could have--I mean, you've been here longer than I have, right? And even I'm starting to feel like it's been a long time.
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[Death in and of itself wasn't strange but the circumstances, and the fact that one could wait for a month without logically resigning themselves to the truth of its permanence, were certainly strange. Throwing poetry into the mix certainly didn't make things any less surreal.]
[The comment on kindness got a shrug.] Kind of feels like the least I could do in light of everything. As for how long I've known him... hard to say. Maybe a year, possibly a few months shy of that. [He cocked his head to the side and regarded her.] How long have you been here?
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[She paused, then glanced up and gave in to the impulse to ask another question, even if it wasn't strictly polite.]
Um. If you don't want to answer, then please, just say so, but... do you think it gets any easier with time? Staying when other people go?
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