How can you define a look or a touch?

[cassie_of_troy]

Who: Cris and Cassandra (and Cho?)
What: Lunch
Where: Cho's Place
When: Monday

Comments

[tenuefarfalla]

"Yes she is," Cho answered, poking her head out from the open doorway that led into the kitchen area. She had her hair tied back in a loose braid, and a scrubbing brush in one hand. "You're early," she chided Cris, though she didn't sound really upset. She disappeared again, and there were a few faint thumps before she'd reemerged and was pulling down the heavy wooden shutter that blocked the view of the kitchen over the counter. "I can clean that later."

She didn't like wearing the clothes the elves had given her if she didn't have to, so instead her skirt and top were protected by a heavy smock that did double duty as an apron and protection against dripping paint. There were small stains left by both on the material, and she began untying it so she could shrug it off. "Don't you two look nice." Cho didn't think she'd ever seen Cassandra looking so... she wasn't sure what the word was. It was a nice change, though.

[creaoi_ang_cor]

During the time when Cho vanished, Cris shrugged his arm away of Cassandra's hand -- and (for good measure) took that hand and kissed it before releasing it. He ambled his way over to the buffet then, inspecting the food with a nonchalant air.

"Everything looks delicious." It was a way of saying 'thank you' for the compliment; repaying one with another. "I'd take my hat off to you, if I hadn't left it at home."

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra folded her arms, scanning the room once more for good measure. No question. She knew that shade.

"I see the gods have paid you a visit," she murmured, raising her voice for Cho's benefit. "They stopped by my room as well." She glanced at Cris, gesturing vaguely to her dress and the combs in her hair.

[tenuefarfalla]

"The gods?" Cho laid the smock on the counter and, with a bit of effort, pulled the heavy pin out of the floor and tugged the kitchen door closed. She hated having the kitchen closed off from the rest of the room, but it would hide the little pile of dirty dishes. No one liked a mess.

She untied the end of her braid and began running her fingers idly through it to unravel it. "That's where all these things have been coming from?" It made sense, she supposed. It was just too complete and perfect for Wizardry. "Interesting."

[creaoi_ang_cor]

That got Cris' attention. He still hadn't learned much of the Rowan gods, but from what Cassandra had told him and the few things he'd heard hanging around the demons, he hadn't thought they'd be quite so... hands-on.

"The gods visited you?" He looked Cassandra up and down. "And they gave you a dress." Not so much an expression of skepticism as surprise.

[cassie_of_troy]

"In a way," Cassandra admitted. "It was the strangest thing. I was thinking about this dress. It's mine. Or at least, it was mine. I wore it to my brother's wedding years ago. I was thinking of it and it suddenly appeared in my room along with a large number of spiders." She shrugged a little. It had been an owl with Rusoren, a crow before with Apollo. The gods seemed to like their familiars.

"I tried to learn more, tried to find out who had visited me, but she...at least, I think it was a she...was very cryptic." She gave Cris a significant look. "It wasn't Rusoren. Of that much I'm certain."

Shrugging vaguely, she gestured at some of Cho's doubtlessly new possessions. "I can see the same aura on some of your things as I saw on the dress when I looked at it in my artless, shaman way."

[tenuefarfalla]

Artless, shaman way. Cho had no clue what Cassandra meant by that, but she wasn't about to ask. It seemed likely that the answer would be deprecating or sarcastic or both. Cho finished shaking out her hair and smiled at them both. "Well, I'm sure you want to eat before it gets cold. Cris, you know where everything is." Cho was interested in where the things had come from, of course, but Kale knew all the lore. She could ask him about the spiders. In fact, she could do that right now. "I'll just head up and leave you alone."

[creaoi_ang_cor]

"Thanks again." Cris gave Cho a wave as she headed out. As soon as the door shut he shot Cassandra a look, one eyebrow raised. Cho might not know Cassandra well enough to ask, but he certainly did.

"Artless, shaman way?"

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra smiled, shrugging slightly. "I wasn't sure what else to call it," she admitted absently. "It's not a particularly valuable skill, seeing all the colors and talking about where they come from." She leaned in closer, adding in a conspiratorial whisper, "Although I must admit, I've really started to enjoy astral projecting. No better way to snoop on people when you have nothing to do."

She pulled back, hoping rather as an afterthought that such a statement wouldn't make him paranoid. She had actually used considerable restraint when it came to astral projection. Admittedly, she had used it several times without anyone knowing, but it had been harmless. Really.

"Lately," she said quietly, "I've been wondering why certain worldwalkers receive the powers they do. If it's related to who they were in their previous lives. It's certainly true in my circumstances."

[creaoi_ang_cor]

Cris had been able to locate a bottle of the wine he'd originally wanted to use for the lunch. He set to work opening it, walking casually toward the table where they'd be dining.

"There must be some logic to it," he shrugged. "After all, on my world, magic of the elements is accessible to anyone." Not just that, either, although Cris hadn't seen or heard of anything like unnatural magic on Rowan. Magician's magic came closest, perhaps, but it had much less... finesse. "Although I do wonder why mages here are so limited." He counted himself lucky to have wound up with two elements instead of only one.

[cassie_of_troy]

"Well, I don't know," Cassandra admitted, walking over to the table. She absolutely hated those three words. I don't know. They were utterly painful. Ironic, yes. But also painful. She had simply gotten used to always knowing, unfortunate though it could often be. "There isn't enough in my experiences to explain magic."

She paused a moment to consider what he had said. "But there must be some logic. You having elemental magic. Me having visions, of sorts. I should like to know what kinds of powers other people had previously." Sam, she realized. She had to know what he had been like before coming here. Perhaps they had something more in common?

As she sat down, a shiver ran across her skin. "I've started dreaming again," she said quietly. "For the first time in over ten years." Cassandra shook her head. "I don't like it much."

[creaoi_ang_cor]

"Oh yes?" The cork left the bottle with a soft pop. Cris tried not to look too worried as he poured some into both of their glasses. "God dreams?"

[cassie_of_troy]

She shook her head. "Not precisely. For the most part, they've been dreams about my life back in Troy. Nothing terribly specific that I can recall. Just about the people from back there." The people who were no longer there. "I suppose that it was inevitable that I would start dreaming again now that I no longer have the visions. I am human, after all." She gave him a wry smile. "All evidence to the contrary."

Planting her elbow on the table, she rested her chin in her palm "Thank you for inviting me today," she said quietly. "I know that things have been...and I haven't exactly been..."

Why was she so bad at these things?

"Thank you."

[creaoi_ang_cor]

He sent her another one of his gentle 'oh please' looks at her suggestion that she wasn't human. He'd found himself wanting to give her those a lot, lately. The way she'd mastered the art of self-deprecation was one of the things he liked least about her, but only insofar as she seemed to allow it to separate herself from others.

"Well, a deal's a deal," he said, almost businesslike in his manner. Not seated yet, he moved near her and perched on the edge of the table. "Anyway, now that the chaos seems to have subsided -- for a while -- I thought we deserved a little something special." He turned over his shoulder to pick up his glass, and clinked it to hers. "Cheers."

[cassie_of_troy]

Cassandra smiled slightly at the toast. It was a pleasantly familiar tradition, although she doubted there would be any games with the wine dregs afterwards. Just as well. There were certain traditions of the symposia--namely the courtesans--that she could do without. "Cheers," she repeated, hoping that was what she was expected to do.

She took a small sip of the wine, letting it run down her throat and warm her body. "Something special," she said quietly, shivering with delight at the feeling. "But I already have something special."

[creaoi_ang_cor]

"Something more special than usual," he countered. That was... sweet. Not her usual way, but not unpleasant in the least. Cris smiled back at her.

"I believe we're meant to start with the salad." Since Cho wasn't around to serve them, and Cris was closer to standing than Cassandra was, he went to go fetch them.