Log: Furniture & Friendship
Who: Milani, L'vae
When: Early evening, 11/31/15
Where: Central Storerooms, High Reaches Weyr
What: Milani and L'vae literally bump into each other and Lou has a request for Millie from Stores. They go 'furniture shopping' and Lou's got some concerns about friendship to air with Milani. All's well that ends well.
Central Storerooms, High Reaches Weyr(#17755RIJM)
Though certain of the Weyr's supplies are stored at the places where they are used, most are kept here, in the central storage complex. A series of caverns grouped around a central corridor, the complex is cut on the grand scale necessary to hold all the items a full and active Weyr needs.
It's dinnerish, but Milani's not in the living cavern or the kitchen getting a meal, rather she's taking advantage of the relative quiet to get some fresh reading material if the short stack of books under her arm is any indication. She's got one more volume in her hands, reviewing the first page as she walks, head down and not really paying close attention to where she's going. This might not be a problem though, given how well she knows the caverns. It might however be problematic for avoiding anyone walking in her directiono unless they're more on their toes than she is.
L'vae is luckily more on his toes as he moves down the corridor with his satchel slung over a shoulder. There's a smile that brightens on his features when he sees Milani, fading as he realizes she's not looking and might very well plow right into him. "Hi, Milani," he says instead of moving out of the way. Reaching up hands, just in case, to get ready to catch her shoulders if she doesn't stop in time. "What do you have there?"
Milani turns the page, lips moving along with the words and startles a little at the hail. Wide-eyed she looks up and blinks, open-mouthed as she realizes she's about to plow into the weyrling. "Oh shells ..." she takes a fumbled step forward, stops, but not before meeting those staving-off hands. "Serves me right for reading and walking at the same time! Sorry L'vae!" Brightly as she turns the book so he can see the title page. "More of the Ikonnen," she explains further, smile widening. "And um ... some poetry and some more tales." With a little nudge of her elbow into the three volumes under her arm. "How're you doing? Bremuth good?"
L'vae chuckles, his hands pressing into her shoulders until he's sure she's solidly on her feet. "It's okay," he says lightly, dropping his knuckles to his hips. His head leans in as he peers at the turned book, brow furrowing a moment before she explains and he recognizes, and then his smile blossoms. "Oh good! You must be enjoying them, then?" But he goes on. "I'm well. Busy, but it's good. Bremuth is doing great." Tipping his head, his eyes drop back to the elbow-held books. "What kind of poetry?"
Milani's smile blossoms again for the steadying then her head bobs energetically about that particular author. "Yes. You were right about him." The book is closed and she shuffles the armload, bringing up the slender volume of poems. "Um ... it's some kind of collection, it looked more interesting than the ones that were endless prattling about love and romance," she explains with a little eyeroll. "There's some funny ones and dramatic ones and some lovey dovey ones, but it's all mixed up. I've never really /read/ poetry so I thought I'd give it a try." Deep breath. "Yeah, busy's a definite for any weyrling right?" Her eyes settle though on his knot and widen a little, breath taken in sharply. "And even busier lately I guess." The books are shifted again, her fingers lifting to trace that thread of silver. "Congratulations," offered lowly, but with a highly pleased smile.
Beaming, a single nod is given to her first. Eyes staying on Milani's face, L'vae listens with interest about the poems. Her eyeroll presses a deeper dimple into one of his cheeks. "Thank you!" His chin pulls in, a look made out of the lower corner of his eyes as he watches her tracing with a grin. "Definitely busier since this." His shoulder shrugs under her fingers. "In some ways, though, better then the start of training. Most of what's new right now is conceptual, and I can get to speed on that much faster then the physical stuff." Another shrug, this time both shoulders, and his smile turns back to Millie.
"Maybe someday you'll even make wingleader," Milani muses, a hint of teasing in her voice. "Are you ambitious for it?" Her fingers trace one more loop then pull back, books clutched to chest. "What sorts of concepts do you have to catch up on? And yeah, I'll bet it's easier to just stretch your brain a little. To get stronger you just have to run and run and lift and lift, right?" With an answering beaming smile.
"That'd be a ways off... I don't know." Lou's eyes turn up, thinking a moment. "What I'm catching up on - formations theory. I wouldn't say it's likely my strongest suit. I don't think I'm the best when it comes to seeing that in my head." Eyes returning to Milani, L'vae shrugs yet again - still smiling. "Maybe it'll be better, once I get up in the air. But in any case, I don't feel need to get too far ahead of myself." A soft chuckle sounds in his chest. "At least up there, Bremuth will be doing most of the work." And this, along with her comments about getting stronger, has his arms folding up. His hands knead at the biceps which have become more defined since his days of deskwork.
"Well yeah, not even tapped into a wing yet, but -- " Milani trails off, shrugs, "some weyrlings seem to get kind of caught up in it. Have it as a goal or something, just curious." She listens politely about the formations, though maybe doesn't quite get it. "Oh sure, I hope it does get better when you're up there," one finger lifts and makes a few circles skyward, eyes following, then they return to his face and, yep, smiles again. "Sounds like Bremuth's having a good steadying effect anyway, baby steps to getting where you need to go, yeah?" And then he's ... flexing and Millie's lips fold inward a little on the laugh that's trying to get out, eyes shining though with her good humor. When she speaks though, it's a sincere compliment: "You look good, Lou."
"Yeah," L'vae says about Bremuth, his smile turning more self-conscious. "He's... he helps me realize what comes from in here, y'know?" One of his hands slides up, a finger pointing to his chest before returning to the cross-armed position. "And tries to get me to not focus so much what's coming from other people." Then there's that compliment. Her sincerity's flattering, sure, and that's there in his expression. But there's also a shade of uncertainty. The weyrling fades back a step, his arms actually tightening about his torso a hair. "Thanks," said lightly despite the shift.
"You've needed that?" The question's out perhaps before Milani's even aware that she was going to ask it, blinking a little but she nods, further acknowledging what he's saying. "That's good though, knowing who you are, that he's helping and um ... " she trails off as the weyrling closes up like that and her eyes search his face, probably trying to figure out the shift. "Almost everyone seems to be bulking up," she rattles on, perhaps trying to bring back easy banter. "Even the girls!" Big eyes.
Bashfulness settles on Lou's expression, his chin dropping so that his softly smiling eyes peek upwards at the tall girl. "Well. Yes. I suppose I did. Do." And he nods as her words that trail off. Her big eyes pull his chin straight again, grin widening. "I know!" Easy as that, his voice is light again. "I think pretty much all of them are faster then me - especially Lu. And Leova was tossing around those sacks like a champ, until she threw her shoulder out."
"Well then, good thing Bremuth picked you and I'll wish you lots of success in getting that all sorted out," Milani continues in a sincere vein, though her eyes are twinkling, likely in response to that wider grin from the weyrling, her own shoulders relaxing a little, though any momentary tension was probably slight at best. "Lu /ought/ to be faster than everyone, given she was a runner," Millie muses and makes a little face about Leova's injury. "Heard about that, saw the sling. Guess she was overdoing it?" Blunt.
L'vae turns out a hand, a gesture of concession to the point on Lujayn. "Guess so," he agrees, with a little tilt to his head at the bluntness. He takes a breath, kind of huffs it out lightly. "So." Toothy grin. "Funny that I ran into you," or the other way around, really? "I was hoping to peek around at stores, get a feel for what sort of furniture is available." That turned out hand comes back to hook behind his neck. Brows go up expectantly, wrinkling his forehead.
"That's a shame - sucks to get hurt like that," Milani's tongue sticks out to the side expressively. The toothy grin and the query lift Milani's brows too and for a second there's a blank look on her face then it clears right on up. "OH! Weyrs." Sage nod. "You guys're getting weyrs. Good thing to get your bid in for stuff early," continues Millie with a crafty look. "C'mon. I'll take you back." And there's a shuffling of books again to slide them under her arm and reach for the ring of keys that jingles at her waist. "What kind of stuff are you looking for? Fancy, formal, casual, comfy?" Briskly all-business, she turns just like that to stride on down one of the hallways, clearly very sure of her direction.
The teeth melt away into something of a more natural grin as the blankness evaporates from her features. Her crafty look is met by a flash of widened eyes from L'vae, slyly appreciative. Watching the keys jangle. "Comfortable, yes," he starts as he falls into step beside her. "Simple lines and classic in look, maybe? Could you use a hand with those?" And one of his reaches partway out, towards the stack of books.
That smile of hers twists to the side, still wicked. "Gotcha. We'll see what we've got, generally speaking, weyrlings get the leftover junk, but Hayda had us toss anything that needed too much repair-work or break it down to reuse parts, so mostly it's all at least decent even if something's got a patched leg and whatnot." Mmilani shoots him a sidelong look at that offer for the books and she shifts off two of them to him. "Thanks!" Brightly. It doesn't take long to walk to the store room in question and there, Millie fits key to lock and turns, then leans up on tiptoes to catch the glow from the niche just outside, unlidding it as she pushes the door fully open. "Here we go! This ought to be /fun/. And ... I'll bet you're looking forward to your own space, yeah?"
L'vae's gaze is tipped sideways, listening interspersed with little nods as he walks. "Okay," he resigns himself to the prospect of patched things. "My mum has hinted that there may be a few furniture pieces in the works for me, so I'm not too worried about getting everything perfect right away." The books are accepted with a smile and folded into one arm against his chest. As she pushes the door open, his grin flares wide again. He takes a step in, looking about to get his bearing. "Definitely," he states flatly. Turning a look back to Milani, more wry. "I guess I've been spoiled. I've had my own space for more of my life then not, I think." Glancing back to the room, "a bed is probably the most important. So that, first?"
"Oh that's nice, that you might get stuff from home," Milani continues to chatter on as she walks down neatly arranged aisles of furnishings. Larger pieces are stacked to one side without the benefit of shelving, accessories however, line one of the walls on shelves. "Best not to yeah, you've got turns and turns to collect good stuff and make the place feel like home." She pauses near some chairs and tilts a look over at him. "Have you seen your weyr yet? Do you know if there's a bed already in there, or if there's a sleeping alcove? But yeah, sleep's definitely the most important thing probably, after all the /not/ sleeping all of you've been doing." And regardless of his answer she moves on to bedframes, in pieces, stacked at the far end of the storage room. "Most of these are pretty simple, though there's a few that have that little bit of extra oomph to them."
Following a step behind Milani, L'vae gazes from left to right to take in the varied furnishings. Subtle reactions flash across his face a few times - intrigue over a nightstand, sneering confusion over a bizarre wash basin, and so on. Bringing his gaze back around as she pauses by the chairs, he's stopped in his tracks. "Oh! No, I haven't seen it yet. The beds are left in them?" This thought settles on him, uncertain thoughts washing across his expression. He's slow to start again, following her to the frames. "Mm," he notes oh-so-eloquently while eyeing the stack. A hand reaches out, brushing along a headboard that might fall into that oomph category. Dark wood, five narrow slats rising to a top piece that's been shaped into a subtle curve that is higher at the edges then the middle. "This one's kind of nice, if the legs are okay." He takes a step over towards the side, crouching down to better peer into the stack to try and see.
Milani shifts her books to the side, propped out on one hip as she watches him sort through the frames. "Mmmyep. Some weyrs the beds were built right inside them so the frames can't really come out and some don't have bedsteads at all, sleeping alcoves, you know, stone shelf, pile it high with furs, more like a nest than an actual bed," she describes and leans her free hand down onto the edge of a nearby sidetable that might actually make a near match for that headboard L'vae's checking out. "Looks like they are from here, check the support pieces too though, I don't remember off the top of my head if that's the one that had a new piece put into the middle of one support. Good repair though."
"A nest? That sounds kind of interesting," L'vae comments as he turns a grin back towards Milani. "Cozy." Looking back to the headboard, he drops a knee and braces his hand with the two books against that leg as he reaches the other into the stack. Snaking in to run fingers along those support pieces. "It looks pretty good. I can reserve this one?" Disentangling himself, he shifts back to a crouch and then up to his feet. "And that end table you have there?" a nod is given towards it as dimples press deeper into his cheeks.
"Yeah, used to have fun curling up with my sisters in one of those when I was little," Milani reminisces fondly then nods at the question about the reservation. "Absolutely, here, give me those," and she holds a hand out for the books, sets them and the glowbasket on the side table they're near. "I'll be right back with some tags, sit tight." She vanishes for the space of a few minutes, likely just going far enough to whatever workstation is set up for this sort of thing and returns with six labels made of stiffened hide and trailing leather ties from a hole punched in the end of each. His name is now written in her precise hand on one side and an "M" is on the other, likely noting her as the authorizing stores person. "All righty, the bed and the side table, got it." And she moves forward to thread ties through the slats in the headboard, then moves to do the same around the drawer-pull on the side table. "There's a chair back here too you might like, wherhide upholstered, not too stuffed, but comfy. Just had a cracked leg and Lessom made a new part and glued it together. There's a faint line where the repair was made and a scratch in the leather on the back, but if you put it back facing the wall no one'd ever notice."
L'vae hands over the books, and then entertains himself by peeking around at the shelves nearby while Milani runs for the tags. He meanders back over with his hands in his pockets when she returns to tag the two pieces. A knuckle comes up to tap against his chin as she tells him of the chair. "Show it to me?" he asks, tipping the hand out towards her. "I'll also need a mattress, I'd think?" He asks with a glance down to the tagged headboard. Before they can walk away, he notes: "and I kind of like that wash stand over there." A thumb gestures back over his shoulder to the area he was just prowling around.
Milani props hands on hips after she's finished tying that knot, chin lifting a little. "Don't want much at all, do you?" she teases him, eyes dancing merrily. "And yes, we have mattresses too, though if you've the marks to spare, that'd be worth spending them on. There's nothing /wrong/ with the ones we have here, but most of them are /not/ new." She starts to back up along the open aisleway back towards the chairs. "Chair first, then wash stand."
L'vae spreads his fingers, tilting a little smile downward. Guilty. "I appreciate being comfortable," is what he says. More serious at her mention of the mattress, he gives a nod of his head. His hand drops back into his pocket. "That is a good point. I'll have to talk to Mum about that. Okay. Chair," is agreed and his grin flashes again. His strides reach to catch up with her, bringing him to her side in the aisle. "You have your own space, don't you?" he asks while they walk.
Milani turns to fall into step with the weyrling as he catches up and grins. "Nothing wrong with that. I'd rather be comfy than not." She nudges his arm gently with her elbow, a warning that she's about to turn in by the chairs. It's a sort of little side aisle here, lined with chairs, a number upholstered in canvas or tapestried fabrics, most are plain, but some of them are garishly loud and overstuffed. Towards the back, a masculine item indeed stands, warm brown wherhide stretched over clean, strong lines of the frame and held in place by a row of burnished bronze, rounded tacks. "Here we go. What do you think?" A nod follows about her own space. "Yep, it's a tiny hole in the wall but it's all mine, door with a lock and everything. A lot better than the dorms or having to pop up and down to my parents' all the time."
The nudge draws his eye, to the spot on his arm, to her, and then to the side aisle. L'vae lets her lead while he looks over the chairs they pass, smirking at a few of the more outlandish ones. And then there's the one she points out. "Yes. Looks promising." He slides past her, a hand going out towards her waist to let her know which way he's going - maybe not even touching, as the weyrling makes his way to the chair. He takes a moment to glance over it, hand pressing against the back, before he turns and slides into the seat. "Sounds nice," he finally mentions about her room as he looks up with a smile. "Did you decorate it from things from here? It's kind of surprising, how much there really is." A glance goes back down the row of chairs they've just come from.
"Good, when you said clean lines, this one leapt out in memory, there's some other plainer -- " there goes his hand and Milani's eyes drop a little, tracing the path his hand and arm take then she keeps on going, "-- ones mixed in here, but this one's probably more comfortable because of the padding." Her hands slip behind her, arms folding across the small of her back, weight shifting between heel and ball of foot. "I like it. I've made it up kind of like I imagine a trader's tent would be with fabrics my mother made hanging from the ceiling." Her teeth catch lightly at her lower lip and before she speaks again. "You're welcome to come by sometime and have a look. See what you can do with a teeny tiny space." And on she goes, nodding energetically about the contents of the storage room. "Oh sure, you know, riders buy stuff for themselves and then if they move weyrs or ... well if they die, there's always interesting stuff turning up when you clear a weyr out. I've got the standard cot and mattress, but my table and chairs came from in here. Nice wood."
"It's quite nice. Simple, comfy," L'vae is nodding his head and sitting deeper into that wherhide padding. Tilting the look he gives Milani, he listens to her description with a soft curve to his smile. Imagining trader tents, perhaps. "That sounds pretty. Your own soft oasis inside all this rock." The weyrling gaze tips up, to the stretch of the cavern above them. He ruminates on her further words quietly, a more solemn cast briefly on his features as he's reminded of how short some rider's lives are. His palms absently press into the arms of the chair.
"Yeah." Agreement plain and simple, Milani, remarkably word-free for a bit. "Want me to tag it for you?" And she's already leaning down to thread ties around a chair leg. "It's ... yeah, it does soften things, makes the light all kind of warm, kills the echoes. I like to curl up there to read, dream, you know, when I'm not in the mood to hang out in the Common Room. " From the ground where she's tying her gaze travels upward rests on his face rather than the cavern's ceiling. "You okay?" after a moment.
"Yes, please," to the tagging. L'vae scoots his legs to the side to make room as she does just that. He watches her tie, listening to her talk. "Sounds like a nice retreat," he throws out there, a comment on her curling and dreaming. A little smile curves at her question. "Yeah," he says at first. Eyes bounce away to his hand on the chair arm opposite her, where a finger presses idly against one of those bronze tacks. He takes a breath - It just ends in a deeper smile. Something wry, there. The weyrling turns back to her, finally answers. Sort of. "Milani, we're friends, right? Just friends?" There's a peak to his brow and his eyes search her face for the truth of whatever she's answer.
Milani finishes tying off that tag and sits back on her heels, skirt pooling around her feet. "It is. And it's good to have it, though I always wind up coming out to find company. I like people." Her eyes meet his straight on when they drop to her face and something thoughtful sneaks into her expression, a faint touch of color in her cheeks. "I'm not sure, Lou. We flirt too y'know. Sometimes I'm not sure whether it's just friendly or not. I'm not chasing you though if that's what you mean." The assistant headwoman's head tilts to the side curiously and her eyes are still on his face, not dropping away, elbows resting atop knees, hands loosely clasped together. "What am I to you? You know, within the whole ... you're a weyrling, I'm not, thing."
L'vae isn't without a flush himself, though it mostly shows in his ears. His fingertip keeps worrying at that tack, though his eyes don't leave Milani's. "I didn't want to imply you were." Chasing. It's said as somewhat of an apology for bringing it up. But, he continues. "I've been a bit concerned, that I've been misleading you." His eyes squint a little, his smile still soft. "You're a friend, Millie. You've been a great help, figuring out the Weyr," a hand gestures out to the storeroom. One example. "You're fun to talk to. About books, about gossip, about ice skating," his eyebrows lift up. Hopeful.
There's probably a lot of things Milani could say or do right now, but she opts for straightforward here, straightening up from the floor and reaches for that worrying finger of his to pat the whole of his hand. "I /like/ you, Lou. It's good to have a friend who likes a lot of the same things I do. But I'm not in love with you. My heart's been pretty set in one direction for a long time. I've been trying to let that go, because it's ... well it's never going to happen, yeah? So I flirt a lot, because it's fun and ... I guess it kind of, I dunno, takes up that space that I might spend pining if I were a different kind of girl." Her brows furrow thoughtfully as she works all that out. "Anyway. If I've been misleading /you/ I'm sorry." She chews on her lip for a second then shifts her hand upward towards his hair to tousle it gently. "You're cute. Who wouldn't want to kiss you, you know? So I did. Is that what you're worried about? The night before the Hatching?"
That hand settles as its patted, fingers curling more easily over the edge of the chair's arm. L'vae watches as she moves, as she talks. There's a sympathetic look, a troubled look, as she goes on about the direction of her heart. And there's a bit of bemusement in his eyes as she apologizes. The weyrling's chin ducks at her tousle, the color in his ears all the more intense at the words that follow. "Sort of," he admits to her question. He peeks back up, and there's a tentative smile on his face.
Milani considers for a moment, then nods, fingers smoothing down what she just ruffled up and her hand drops to his shoulder instead, squeezing lightly. "Okay. Well then I guess the easiest way to say this is just ... don't worry." She smiles down at him warmly, encouraging that tentative one on his face. "I don't know if you've noticed, but like, I have this /little/ thing about A'son and he's the sharding Weyrleader at /Ista/ now," big eyes made at the weyrling as she pinches a bit of air between her fingers. "And he's twenty-seven and I'm not quite seventeen. So. Like N'thei keeps saying: Not. Going. To. Happen. Once upon a time Ays told me to have fun, enjoy being my age and that's what I've been doing. Doesn't change how I feel about him though. Just fills up the time, like I said. And maybe someday I'll wake up and I won't feel the same anymore. Or I dunno ... " Her head dips back against the chair's side and she examines the distant, dim-lit ceiling. "I suppose I /could/ feel that way about you, because you know, you're lovable, probably a girl or uh ... a guy out there for you someday if you want one. Beat. Or more than one." She breaks off and laughs. "That's probably more weyr-attitude than you wanted right now though. Long story short. Don't worry. You're fine. I'm fine."
L'vae's smile strengthens with the encouragement, though there's a wrinkle of sympathy on his brow again as she explains the situation with A'son. "I'm glad, at least, you're not pining," he notes with dubious optimism. The weyrling's expression freezes a little as what she says come back around to him. Goes a bit twitchy somewhere in the middle there. "I can't say I've fully acclimated to the weyr-attitude, just yet," he agrees sheepishly. He rolls his lips. "Okay. We're fine. Just," brows go up again. "Don't? Feel that way about me." Just to be sure, since the supposition was thrown out there.
"Not pining. Miss him. But I'm not pining." With a certain stubborn set to her chin. "I just downright refuse to lose a friend as good as he is because of ... well everything." Milani's head comes up off the chair as her hands wave vaguely. "It takes a while. Give yourself time and if you're getting freaked out about anything, come talk to me, okay? Seriously." Her expression turns suddenly impish and she slides off the chair's arm towards the weyrling's lap. Puts on the big show she usually uses on the bar tenders. "Why? Don't want me swooning in your arms and fluttering my lashes at you?" It doesn't last long and she bursts out laughing after a second. "Okay. Got it. No going soft over Lou, no problem." She gives him a cheery thumbs up, foot kicking idly off the side of the chair. "Still want that wash stand?" Change of subject, abrupt and she looks over in that direction, lifting up one of those tags between two fingers, gaze shifting back to L'vae, brows uptilted questioningly.
"That's strong, to be able to do that," L'vae notes about her refusal to give up her friend. He starts nodding to her offer, but then she's sliding towards him. Eyes go a bit wider, but he straightens so there's room. Warily he allows her a seat in his lap and eyes the show, a lopsided smile edging onto his features. When she laughs, his arms settle more comfortably around her instead of the awkward float they'd adopted at first. "Excellent," he says as his grin becomes more sure. Tilting a look at the lifted tag. "Sure." Brightly. "Unless you had a better suggestion?"
"Think so? Some people'd just say it's stupid," Milani notes thoughtfully, still holding up the tag, apparently quite comfortable where she is, but not making a big deal about it either. "I'd say shake on the deal, but I think we're pretty clear," she continues after a moment and there's another playful smile from her and a kiss for his cheek, before she slips off his lap and snags his hand on the way. "C'mon. Let's go look at that one and one other one, we'll tag that up and then rugs, man, you're going to need /rugs/ believe me. All that stone is sharding /cold/ in the winter."
L'vae bites his lip, lifting his eyebrows at her first. The two aren't mutually exclusive, maybe? Her offer to shake is met by a laugh. And this sort of kiss is okay, apparently. Not only does he not flinch away, but he mirrors his own 'muah' for Milani's cheek. Letting her hand lead him, he unfolds from the chair and follows along with another laugh. "Rugs! Oh, I believe you," he goes on cheerfully. "I'll need a big thick one? Don't want my toes to freeze off!"
There follows some more merry charging through the furniture cavern until L'vae's got enough stuff to outfit a weyr of the size he's likely to get for a brown Bremuth's size: two warm rugs in colors he likes, the chair, the bedstead, a wash stand, maybe a table and a wall hanging, some folding chairs or floor cushions for company. A particular mattress is also tagged, 'just in case'. Returning to the table where the books were left behind, Milani's giggling helplessly over the last joke just shared. "All right, I think you're set, Lou." The assistant headwoman tucks her hair behind her ear and picks the books up, hands him the glowbasket. "And the invitation to come over sometime still stands. No strings. Just friends hanging out, okay?" And because it's Millie, it's absolutely sincere as she starts to retreat back out of the store room.
L'vae nods as he accepts the glowbasket. "Think so." About being set. "Thank you, so much," the weyrling says with a deeper flash of his smile. He nods again at the restated invitation. "Okay. That would be nice, Millie," softly sincere in return. Following her retreat to the door, he reaches up to fit the glow back into its niche once they're outside the storeroom. "I'm going to pop into records for a little bit," he notes with a look in that direction. Glancing back to Milani with a smile, "you have a good evening?" And now it's he who steps in, reaching a friendly parting kiss to the girl's cheek.
"Sure thing!" Milani says brightly, beaming at L'vae, clearly very pleased with how the furniture hunting went. "There's a book by shoot ... Aregan I think the name is, I read it last week, you might like it. Check it out maybe?" she suggests, bouncing a little on her toes. That parting kiss is met with a lean of her cheek and her hand resting on his upper arm briefly then she gives him a jaunty little wave and heads off through the caverns in the direction she was originally heading when they bumped into each other. "Good night L'vae!" drifting off over her shoulder as she rounds the corner.
When: Early evening, 11/31/15
Where: Central Storerooms, High Reaches Weyr
What: Milani and L'vae literally bump into each other and Lou has a request for Millie from Stores. They go 'furniture shopping' and Lou's got some concerns about friendship to air with Milani. All's well that ends well.
Central Storerooms, High Reaches Weyr(#17755RIJM)
Though certain of the Weyr's supplies are stored at the places where they are used, most are kept here, in the central storage complex. A series of caverns grouped around a central corridor, the complex is cut on the grand scale necessary to hold all the items a full and active Weyr needs.
It's dinnerish, but Milani's not in the living cavern or the kitchen getting a meal, rather she's taking advantage of the relative quiet to get some fresh reading material if the short stack of books under her arm is any indication. She's got one more volume in her hands, reviewing the first page as she walks, head down and not really paying close attention to where she's going. This might not be a problem though, given how well she knows the caverns. It might however be problematic for avoiding anyone walking in her directiono unless they're more on their toes than she is.
L'vae is luckily more on his toes as he moves down the corridor with his satchel slung over a shoulder. There's a smile that brightens on his features when he sees Milani, fading as he realizes she's not looking and might very well plow right into him. "Hi, Milani," he says instead of moving out of the way. Reaching up hands, just in case, to get ready to catch her shoulders if she doesn't stop in time. "What do you have there?"
Milani turns the page, lips moving along with the words and startles a little at the hail. Wide-eyed she looks up and blinks, open-mouthed as she realizes she's about to plow into the weyrling. "Oh shells ..." she takes a fumbled step forward, stops, but not before meeting those staving-off hands. "Serves me right for reading and walking at the same time! Sorry L'vae!" Brightly as she turns the book so he can see the title page. "More of the Ikonnen," she explains further, smile widening. "And um ... some poetry and some more tales." With a little nudge of her elbow into the three volumes under her arm. "How're you doing? Bremuth good?"
L'vae chuckles, his hands pressing into her shoulders until he's sure she's solidly on her feet. "It's okay," he says lightly, dropping his knuckles to his hips. His head leans in as he peers at the turned book, brow furrowing a moment before she explains and he recognizes, and then his smile blossoms. "Oh good! You must be enjoying them, then?" But he goes on. "I'm well. Busy, but it's good. Bremuth is doing great." Tipping his head, his eyes drop back to the elbow-held books. "What kind of poetry?"
Milani's smile blossoms again for the steadying then her head bobs energetically about that particular author. "Yes. You were right about him." The book is closed and she shuffles the armload, bringing up the slender volume of poems. "Um ... it's some kind of collection, it looked more interesting than the ones that were endless prattling about love and romance," she explains with a little eyeroll. "There's some funny ones and dramatic ones and some lovey dovey ones, but it's all mixed up. I've never really /read/ poetry so I thought I'd give it a try." Deep breath. "Yeah, busy's a definite for any weyrling right?" Her eyes settle though on his knot and widen a little, breath taken in sharply. "And even busier lately I guess." The books are shifted again, her fingers lifting to trace that thread of silver. "Congratulations," offered lowly, but with a highly pleased smile.
Beaming, a single nod is given to her first. Eyes staying on Milani's face, L'vae listens with interest about the poems. Her eyeroll presses a deeper dimple into one of his cheeks. "Thank you!" His chin pulls in, a look made out of the lower corner of his eyes as he watches her tracing with a grin. "Definitely busier since this." His shoulder shrugs under her fingers. "In some ways, though, better then the start of training. Most of what's new right now is conceptual, and I can get to speed on that much faster then the physical stuff." Another shrug, this time both shoulders, and his smile turns back to Millie.
"Maybe someday you'll even make wingleader," Milani muses, a hint of teasing in her voice. "Are you ambitious for it?" Her fingers trace one more loop then pull back, books clutched to chest. "What sorts of concepts do you have to catch up on? And yeah, I'll bet it's easier to just stretch your brain a little. To get stronger you just have to run and run and lift and lift, right?" With an answering beaming smile.
"That'd be a ways off... I don't know." Lou's eyes turn up, thinking a moment. "What I'm catching up on - formations theory. I wouldn't say it's likely my strongest suit. I don't think I'm the best when it comes to seeing that in my head." Eyes returning to Milani, L'vae shrugs yet again - still smiling. "Maybe it'll be better, once I get up in the air. But in any case, I don't feel need to get too far ahead of myself." A soft chuckle sounds in his chest. "At least up there, Bremuth will be doing most of the work." And this, along with her comments about getting stronger, has his arms folding up. His hands knead at the biceps which have become more defined since his days of deskwork.
"Well yeah, not even tapped into a wing yet, but -- " Milani trails off, shrugs, "some weyrlings seem to get kind of caught up in it. Have it as a goal or something, just curious." She listens politely about the formations, though maybe doesn't quite get it. "Oh sure, I hope it does get better when you're up there," one finger lifts and makes a few circles skyward, eyes following, then they return to his face and, yep, smiles again. "Sounds like Bremuth's having a good steadying effect anyway, baby steps to getting where you need to go, yeah?" And then he's ... flexing and Millie's lips fold inward a little on the laugh that's trying to get out, eyes shining though with her good humor. When she speaks though, it's a sincere compliment: "You look good, Lou."
"Yeah," L'vae says about Bremuth, his smile turning more self-conscious. "He's... he helps me realize what comes from in here, y'know?" One of his hands slides up, a finger pointing to his chest before returning to the cross-armed position. "And tries to get me to not focus so much what's coming from other people." Then there's that compliment. Her sincerity's flattering, sure, and that's there in his expression. But there's also a shade of uncertainty. The weyrling fades back a step, his arms actually tightening about his torso a hair. "Thanks," said lightly despite the shift.
"You've needed that?" The question's out perhaps before Milani's even aware that she was going to ask it, blinking a little but she nods, further acknowledging what he's saying. "That's good though, knowing who you are, that he's helping and um ... " she trails off as the weyrling closes up like that and her eyes search his face, probably trying to figure out the shift. "Almost everyone seems to be bulking up," she rattles on, perhaps trying to bring back easy banter. "Even the girls!" Big eyes.
Bashfulness settles on Lou's expression, his chin dropping so that his softly smiling eyes peek upwards at the tall girl. "Well. Yes. I suppose I did. Do." And he nods as her words that trail off. Her big eyes pull his chin straight again, grin widening. "I know!" Easy as that, his voice is light again. "I think pretty much all of them are faster then me - especially Lu. And Leova was tossing around those sacks like a champ, until she threw her shoulder out."
"Well then, good thing Bremuth picked you and I'll wish you lots of success in getting that all sorted out," Milani continues in a sincere vein, though her eyes are twinkling, likely in response to that wider grin from the weyrling, her own shoulders relaxing a little, though any momentary tension was probably slight at best. "Lu /ought/ to be faster than everyone, given she was a runner," Millie muses and makes a little face about Leova's injury. "Heard about that, saw the sling. Guess she was overdoing it?" Blunt.
L'vae turns out a hand, a gesture of concession to the point on Lujayn. "Guess so," he agrees, with a little tilt to his head at the bluntness. He takes a breath, kind of huffs it out lightly. "So." Toothy grin. "Funny that I ran into you," or the other way around, really? "I was hoping to peek around at stores, get a feel for what sort of furniture is available." That turned out hand comes back to hook behind his neck. Brows go up expectantly, wrinkling his forehead.
"That's a shame - sucks to get hurt like that," Milani's tongue sticks out to the side expressively. The toothy grin and the query lift Milani's brows too and for a second there's a blank look on her face then it clears right on up. "OH! Weyrs." Sage nod. "You guys're getting weyrs. Good thing to get your bid in for stuff early," continues Millie with a crafty look. "C'mon. I'll take you back." And there's a shuffling of books again to slide them under her arm and reach for the ring of keys that jingles at her waist. "What kind of stuff are you looking for? Fancy, formal, casual, comfy?" Briskly all-business, she turns just like that to stride on down one of the hallways, clearly very sure of her direction.
The teeth melt away into something of a more natural grin as the blankness evaporates from her features. Her crafty look is met by a flash of widened eyes from L'vae, slyly appreciative. Watching the keys jangle. "Comfortable, yes," he starts as he falls into step beside her. "Simple lines and classic in look, maybe? Could you use a hand with those?" And one of his reaches partway out, towards the stack of books.
That smile of hers twists to the side, still wicked. "Gotcha. We'll see what we've got, generally speaking, weyrlings get the leftover junk, but Hayda had us toss anything that needed too much repair-work or break it down to reuse parts, so mostly it's all at least decent even if something's got a patched leg and whatnot." Mmilani shoots him a sidelong look at that offer for the books and she shifts off two of them to him. "Thanks!" Brightly. It doesn't take long to walk to the store room in question and there, Millie fits key to lock and turns, then leans up on tiptoes to catch the glow from the niche just outside, unlidding it as she pushes the door fully open. "Here we go! This ought to be /fun/. And ... I'll bet you're looking forward to your own space, yeah?"
L'vae's gaze is tipped sideways, listening interspersed with little nods as he walks. "Okay," he resigns himself to the prospect of patched things. "My mum has hinted that there may be a few furniture pieces in the works for me, so I'm not too worried about getting everything perfect right away." The books are accepted with a smile and folded into one arm against his chest. As she pushes the door open, his grin flares wide again. He takes a step in, looking about to get his bearing. "Definitely," he states flatly. Turning a look back to Milani, more wry. "I guess I've been spoiled. I've had my own space for more of my life then not, I think." Glancing back to the room, "a bed is probably the most important. So that, first?"
"Oh that's nice, that you might get stuff from home," Milani continues to chatter on as she walks down neatly arranged aisles of furnishings. Larger pieces are stacked to one side without the benefit of shelving, accessories however, line one of the walls on shelves. "Best not to yeah, you've got turns and turns to collect good stuff and make the place feel like home." She pauses near some chairs and tilts a look over at him. "Have you seen your weyr yet? Do you know if there's a bed already in there, or if there's a sleeping alcove? But yeah, sleep's definitely the most important thing probably, after all the /not/ sleeping all of you've been doing." And regardless of his answer she moves on to bedframes, in pieces, stacked at the far end of the storage room. "Most of these are pretty simple, though there's a few that have that little bit of extra oomph to them."
Following a step behind Milani, L'vae gazes from left to right to take in the varied furnishings. Subtle reactions flash across his face a few times - intrigue over a nightstand, sneering confusion over a bizarre wash basin, and so on. Bringing his gaze back around as she pauses by the chairs, he's stopped in his tracks. "Oh! No, I haven't seen it yet. The beds are left in them?" This thought settles on him, uncertain thoughts washing across his expression. He's slow to start again, following her to the frames. "Mm," he notes oh-so-eloquently while eyeing the stack. A hand reaches out, brushing along a headboard that might fall into that oomph category. Dark wood, five narrow slats rising to a top piece that's been shaped into a subtle curve that is higher at the edges then the middle. "This one's kind of nice, if the legs are okay." He takes a step over towards the side, crouching down to better peer into the stack to try and see.
Milani shifts her books to the side, propped out on one hip as she watches him sort through the frames. "Mmmyep. Some weyrs the beds were built right inside them so the frames can't really come out and some don't have bedsteads at all, sleeping alcoves, you know, stone shelf, pile it high with furs, more like a nest than an actual bed," she describes and leans her free hand down onto the edge of a nearby sidetable that might actually make a near match for that headboard L'vae's checking out. "Looks like they are from here, check the support pieces too though, I don't remember off the top of my head if that's the one that had a new piece put into the middle of one support. Good repair though."
"A nest? That sounds kind of interesting," L'vae comments as he turns a grin back towards Milani. "Cozy." Looking back to the headboard, he drops a knee and braces his hand with the two books against that leg as he reaches the other into the stack. Snaking in to run fingers along those support pieces. "It looks pretty good. I can reserve this one?" Disentangling himself, he shifts back to a crouch and then up to his feet. "And that end table you have there?" a nod is given towards it as dimples press deeper into his cheeks.
"Yeah, used to have fun curling up with my sisters in one of those when I was little," Milani reminisces fondly then nods at the question about the reservation. "Absolutely, here, give me those," and she holds a hand out for the books, sets them and the glowbasket on the side table they're near. "I'll be right back with some tags, sit tight." She vanishes for the space of a few minutes, likely just going far enough to whatever workstation is set up for this sort of thing and returns with six labels made of stiffened hide and trailing leather ties from a hole punched in the end of each. His name is now written in her precise hand on one side and an "M" is on the other, likely noting her as the authorizing stores person. "All righty, the bed and the side table, got it." And she moves forward to thread ties through the slats in the headboard, then moves to do the same around the drawer-pull on the side table. "There's a chair back here too you might like, wherhide upholstered, not too stuffed, but comfy. Just had a cracked leg and Lessom made a new part and glued it together. There's a faint line where the repair was made and a scratch in the leather on the back, but if you put it back facing the wall no one'd ever notice."
L'vae hands over the books, and then entertains himself by peeking around at the shelves nearby while Milani runs for the tags. He meanders back over with his hands in his pockets when she returns to tag the two pieces. A knuckle comes up to tap against his chin as she tells him of the chair. "Show it to me?" he asks, tipping the hand out towards her. "I'll also need a mattress, I'd think?" He asks with a glance down to the tagged headboard. Before they can walk away, he notes: "and I kind of like that wash stand over there." A thumb gestures back over his shoulder to the area he was just prowling around.
Milani props hands on hips after she's finished tying that knot, chin lifting a little. "Don't want much at all, do you?" she teases him, eyes dancing merrily. "And yes, we have mattresses too, though if you've the marks to spare, that'd be worth spending them on. There's nothing /wrong/ with the ones we have here, but most of them are /not/ new." She starts to back up along the open aisleway back towards the chairs. "Chair first, then wash stand."
L'vae spreads his fingers, tilting a little smile downward. Guilty. "I appreciate being comfortable," is what he says. More serious at her mention of the mattress, he gives a nod of his head. His hand drops back into his pocket. "That is a good point. I'll have to talk to Mum about that. Okay. Chair," is agreed and his grin flashes again. His strides reach to catch up with her, bringing him to her side in the aisle. "You have your own space, don't you?" he asks while they walk.
Milani turns to fall into step with the weyrling as he catches up and grins. "Nothing wrong with that. I'd rather be comfy than not." She nudges his arm gently with her elbow, a warning that she's about to turn in by the chairs. It's a sort of little side aisle here, lined with chairs, a number upholstered in canvas or tapestried fabrics, most are plain, but some of them are garishly loud and overstuffed. Towards the back, a masculine item indeed stands, warm brown wherhide stretched over clean, strong lines of the frame and held in place by a row of burnished bronze, rounded tacks. "Here we go. What do you think?" A nod follows about her own space. "Yep, it's a tiny hole in the wall but it's all mine, door with a lock and everything. A lot better than the dorms or having to pop up and down to my parents' all the time."
The nudge draws his eye, to the spot on his arm, to her, and then to the side aisle. L'vae lets her lead while he looks over the chairs they pass, smirking at a few of the more outlandish ones. And then there's the one she points out. "Yes. Looks promising." He slides past her, a hand going out towards her waist to let her know which way he's going - maybe not even touching, as the weyrling makes his way to the chair. He takes a moment to glance over it, hand pressing against the back, before he turns and slides into the seat. "Sounds nice," he finally mentions about her room as he looks up with a smile. "Did you decorate it from things from here? It's kind of surprising, how much there really is." A glance goes back down the row of chairs they've just come from.
"Good, when you said clean lines, this one leapt out in memory, there's some other plainer -- " there goes his hand and Milani's eyes drop a little, tracing the path his hand and arm take then she keeps on going, "-- ones mixed in here, but this one's probably more comfortable because of the padding." Her hands slip behind her, arms folding across the small of her back, weight shifting between heel and ball of foot. "I like it. I've made it up kind of like I imagine a trader's tent would be with fabrics my mother made hanging from the ceiling." Her teeth catch lightly at her lower lip and before she speaks again. "You're welcome to come by sometime and have a look. See what you can do with a teeny tiny space." And on she goes, nodding energetically about the contents of the storage room. "Oh sure, you know, riders buy stuff for themselves and then if they move weyrs or ... well if they die, there's always interesting stuff turning up when you clear a weyr out. I've got the standard cot and mattress, but my table and chairs came from in here. Nice wood."
"It's quite nice. Simple, comfy," L'vae is nodding his head and sitting deeper into that wherhide padding. Tilting the look he gives Milani, he listens to her description with a soft curve to his smile. Imagining trader tents, perhaps. "That sounds pretty. Your own soft oasis inside all this rock." The weyrling gaze tips up, to the stretch of the cavern above them. He ruminates on her further words quietly, a more solemn cast briefly on his features as he's reminded of how short some rider's lives are. His palms absently press into the arms of the chair.
"Yeah." Agreement plain and simple, Milani, remarkably word-free for a bit. "Want me to tag it for you?" And she's already leaning down to thread ties around a chair leg. "It's ... yeah, it does soften things, makes the light all kind of warm, kills the echoes. I like to curl up there to read, dream, you know, when I'm not in the mood to hang out in the Common Room. " From the ground where she's tying her gaze travels upward rests on his face rather than the cavern's ceiling. "You okay?" after a moment.
"Yes, please," to the tagging. L'vae scoots his legs to the side to make room as she does just that. He watches her tie, listening to her talk. "Sounds like a nice retreat," he throws out there, a comment on her curling and dreaming. A little smile curves at her question. "Yeah," he says at first. Eyes bounce away to his hand on the chair arm opposite her, where a finger presses idly against one of those bronze tacks. He takes a breath - It just ends in a deeper smile. Something wry, there. The weyrling turns back to her, finally answers. Sort of. "Milani, we're friends, right? Just friends?" There's a peak to his brow and his eyes search her face for the truth of whatever she's answer.
Milani finishes tying off that tag and sits back on her heels, skirt pooling around her feet. "It is. And it's good to have it, though I always wind up coming out to find company. I like people." Her eyes meet his straight on when they drop to her face and something thoughtful sneaks into her expression, a faint touch of color in her cheeks. "I'm not sure, Lou. We flirt too y'know. Sometimes I'm not sure whether it's just friendly or not. I'm not chasing you though if that's what you mean." The assistant headwoman's head tilts to the side curiously and her eyes are still on his face, not dropping away, elbows resting atop knees, hands loosely clasped together. "What am I to you? You know, within the whole ... you're a weyrling, I'm not, thing."
L'vae isn't without a flush himself, though it mostly shows in his ears. His fingertip keeps worrying at that tack, though his eyes don't leave Milani's. "I didn't want to imply you were." Chasing. It's said as somewhat of an apology for bringing it up. But, he continues. "I've been a bit concerned, that I've been misleading you." His eyes squint a little, his smile still soft. "You're a friend, Millie. You've been a great help, figuring out the Weyr," a hand gestures out to the storeroom. One example. "You're fun to talk to. About books, about gossip, about ice skating," his eyebrows lift up. Hopeful.
There's probably a lot of things Milani could say or do right now, but she opts for straightforward here, straightening up from the floor and reaches for that worrying finger of his to pat the whole of his hand. "I /like/ you, Lou. It's good to have a friend who likes a lot of the same things I do. But I'm not in love with you. My heart's been pretty set in one direction for a long time. I've been trying to let that go, because it's ... well it's never going to happen, yeah? So I flirt a lot, because it's fun and ... I guess it kind of, I dunno, takes up that space that I might spend pining if I were a different kind of girl." Her brows furrow thoughtfully as she works all that out. "Anyway. If I've been misleading /you/ I'm sorry." She chews on her lip for a second then shifts her hand upward towards his hair to tousle it gently. "You're cute. Who wouldn't want to kiss you, you know? So I did. Is that what you're worried about? The night before the Hatching?"
That hand settles as its patted, fingers curling more easily over the edge of the chair's arm. L'vae watches as she moves, as she talks. There's a sympathetic look, a troubled look, as she goes on about the direction of her heart. And there's a bit of bemusement in his eyes as she apologizes. The weyrling's chin ducks at her tousle, the color in his ears all the more intense at the words that follow. "Sort of," he admits to her question. He peeks back up, and there's a tentative smile on his face.
Milani considers for a moment, then nods, fingers smoothing down what she just ruffled up and her hand drops to his shoulder instead, squeezing lightly. "Okay. Well then I guess the easiest way to say this is just ... don't worry." She smiles down at him warmly, encouraging that tentative one on his face. "I don't know if you've noticed, but like, I have this /little/ thing about A'son and he's the sharding Weyrleader at /Ista/ now," big eyes made at the weyrling as she pinches a bit of air between her fingers. "And he's twenty-seven and I'm not quite seventeen. So. Like N'thei keeps saying: Not. Going. To. Happen. Once upon a time Ays told me to have fun, enjoy being my age and that's what I've been doing. Doesn't change how I feel about him though. Just fills up the time, like I said. And maybe someday I'll wake up and I won't feel the same anymore. Or I dunno ... " Her head dips back against the chair's side and she examines the distant, dim-lit ceiling. "I suppose I /could/ feel that way about you, because you know, you're lovable, probably a girl or uh ... a guy out there for you someday if you want one. Beat. Or more than one." She breaks off and laughs. "That's probably more weyr-attitude than you wanted right now though. Long story short. Don't worry. You're fine. I'm fine."
L'vae's smile strengthens with the encouragement, though there's a wrinkle of sympathy on his brow again as she explains the situation with A'son. "I'm glad, at least, you're not pining," he notes with dubious optimism. The weyrling's expression freezes a little as what she says come back around to him. Goes a bit twitchy somewhere in the middle there. "I can't say I've fully acclimated to the weyr-attitude, just yet," he agrees sheepishly. He rolls his lips. "Okay. We're fine. Just," brows go up again. "Don't? Feel that way about me." Just to be sure, since the supposition was thrown out there.
"Not pining. Miss him. But I'm not pining." With a certain stubborn set to her chin. "I just downright refuse to lose a friend as good as he is because of ... well everything." Milani's head comes up off the chair as her hands wave vaguely. "It takes a while. Give yourself time and if you're getting freaked out about anything, come talk to me, okay? Seriously." Her expression turns suddenly impish and she slides off the chair's arm towards the weyrling's lap. Puts on the big show she usually uses on the bar tenders. "Why? Don't want me swooning in your arms and fluttering my lashes at you?" It doesn't last long and she bursts out laughing after a second. "Okay. Got it. No going soft over Lou, no problem." She gives him a cheery thumbs up, foot kicking idly off the side of the chair. "Still want that wash stand?" Change of subject, abrupt and she looks over in that direction, lifting up one of those tags between two fingers, gaze shifting back to L'vae, brows uptilted questioningly.
"That's strong, to be able to do that," L'vae notes about her refusal to give up her friend. He starts nodding to her offer, but then she's sliding towards him. Eyes go a bit wider, but he straightens so there's room. Warily he allows her a seat in his lap and eyes the show, a lopsided smile edging onto his features. When she laughs, his arms settle more comfortably around her instead of the awkward float they'd adopted at first. "Excellent," he says as his grin becomes more sure. Tilting a look at the lifted tag. "Sure." Brightly. "Unless you had a better suggestion?"
"Think so? Some people'd just say it's stupid," Milani notes thoughtfully, still holding up the tag, apparently quite comfortable where she is, but not making a big deal about it either. "I'd say shake on the deal, but I think we're pretty clear," she continues after a moment and there's another playful smile from her and a kiss for his cheek, before she slips off his lap and snags his hand on the way. "C'mon. Let's go look at that one and one other one, we'll tag that up and then rugs, man, you're going to need /rugs/ believe me. All that stone is sharding /cold/ in the winter."
L'vae bites his lip, lifting his eyebrows at her first. The two aren't mutually exclusive, maybe? Her offer to shake is met by a laugh. And this sort of kiss is okay, apparently. Not only does he not flinch away, but he mirrors his own 'muah' for Milani's cheek. Letting her hand lead him, he unfolds from the chair and follows along with another laugh. "Rugs! Oh, I believe you," he goes on cheerfully. "I'll need a big thick one? Don't want my toes to freeze off!"
There follows some more merry charging through the furniture cavern until L'vae's got enough stuff to outfit a weyr of the size he's likely to get for a brown Bremuth's size: two warm rugs in colors he likes, the chair, the bedstead, a wash stand, maybe a table and a wall hanging, some folding chairs or floor cushions for company. A particular mattress is also tagged, 'just in case'. Returning to the table where the books were left behind, Milani's giggling helplessly over the last joke just shared. "All right, I think you're set, Lou." The assistant headwoman tucks her hair behind her ear and picks the books up, hands him the glowbasket. "And the invitation to come over sometime still stands. No strings. Just friends hanging out, okay?" And because it's Millie, it's absolutely sincere as she starts to retreat back out of the store room.
L'vae nods as he accepts the glowbasket. "Think so." About being set. "Thank you, so much," the weyrling says with a deeper flash of his smile. He nods again at the restated invitation. "Okay. That would be nice, Millie," softly sincere in return. Following her retreat to the door, he reaches up to fit the glow back into its niche once they're outside the storeroom. "I'm going to pop into records for a little bit," he notes with a look in that direction. Glancing back to Milani with a smile, "you have a good evening?" And now it's he who steps in, reaching a friendly parting kiss to the girl's cheek.
"Sure thing!" Milani says brightly, beaming at L'vae, clearly very pleased with how the furniture hunting went. "There's a book by shoot ... Aregan I think the name is, I read it last week, you might like it. Check it out maybe?" she suggests, bouncing a little on her toes. That parting kiss is met with a lean of her cheek and her hand resting on his upper arm briefly then she gives him a jaunty little wave and heads off through the caverns in the direction she was originally heading when they bumped into each other. "Good night L'vae!" drifting off over her shoulder as she rounds the corner.