[Thread] Who knows where the sidewalk ends

[never_stay_home]

Characters: Rose Tyler (OU), OPEN
Where: The Park
When: A little before sunset
Summary: Skipping stones is a decent way to occupy one's hands when one has thinking to do. Unfortunately, Rose isn't really very good at it.
Warnings: Probably not!

Comments

[steelninja]

Kurogane was dressed in his usual black, hood pulled up over his head as a clear sign of 'leave me alone'. If that wasn't enough he was reading a thick medical book as he stalked along through the park. Odd reading material but he was in the middle of learning all he could about what Fay possible had. This book seemed to enjoy words that took five minutes to read each. Idiot doctors. They should never be allowed to write books.

The tall man was horribly distracted with his reading as he walked along. A horribly distracted ninja didn't mean that he would run into things, his senses were too sharp for that. Flying things may get to him though. Usually being horribly distracted just meant he would mumble whatever popped into his head without noticing. So as he walked by the woman on the bridge, glancing up at her briefly, Kurogane muttered, "Need smoother stones." And then kept walking on behind her.

[never_stay_home]

Rose had noticed the man's approach, at least insofar as to recognize that there was someone coming from that direction and so she should be certain not to send any of her little stone projectiles astray. And so she wasn't too terribly surprised when he spoke up. She swivelled her head to look at him for a moment, then peered back down at her pile of stones. Definitely a little on the rough side, though they'd been the smoothest at hand when she'd taken a notion to search for some to toss at the water. She grinned just a little, hitching a small shrug, one hand reaching for the rail beneath her to balance herself better. "Maybe, yeah," she admitted. "These were close by."

[steelninja]

Why was someone talking? Kurogane blinked up from his book and halted to look back at her looking slightly confused. Oh. Right. Stones. Inwardly he sighed, he had done that talking thing again, how annoying. Now that he seemed to accidentally started a conversation, Kurogane decided to just hope it was a short one. His eyes could use a short break anyways. He lowered his book and turned to face the railing. "Sure there's better ones down at the edge of the water," he muttered. This was absurd. Kurogane hadn't talked about skipping stones since he was a kid.

[never_stay_home]

"Yeah. I like it up here, though. It's comfortable." Which was an odd thing to say about an old bridge, as opposed to the no doubt softer seating offered by the grass near the water's edge, but the reply was genuine enough. Rose cocked her head and studied him thoughtfully. They were talking about stones. Why were they talking about stones? She almost laughed, lips quirking oddly as she swallowed the reaction. "My name's Rose," she offered after a moment's pause. "What's yours?"

[doesntneedfixed]

A stone went winging across the water, skipping about five or six time, and then splashing dramatically into lake. River Tam stood with her toes dug into the damp shore's sand, holding a few flat rocks. Head tilted to one side, and she smirked at the blonde woman. "It's math. Trajectory. Velocity. Physics." Another stone went flying, and skipped five times. The girl frowned, sticking out her pink tongue at the water.

"Sometimes."

[never_stay_home]

Rose traced the first stone's path back to it's origin, and grinned in faint amusement as the second caused the girl throwing it to poke her tongue out at the water. "It's a conspiracy," she suggested. A flick of her wrist sent another of her own stone skimming out across the water. This one made three skips before sinking beneath the surface with another undignified 'bloop'.

[doesntneedfixed]

"Conspiracy? Physics is making up a conspiracy against us?" questioned the girl thoughtfully, taking a few, slow steps down the shoreline towards the other. Those steps were dancer's steps, deliberate, tasting the ground on the tips of her feet. "Rocks are angled not to fly, nor will they float, but they will skip."

Choosing another rock from the pond, a rather flat, oval shaped one, River stretched out one white hand, held it out to the blonde. "Try this one? Aerodynamics are important."

[never_stay_home]

"Yeah," Rose replied, not quite deadpan with the grin still playing on her lips. "That or the lake. I think I like that better. It's not as big." When given the choice between distrusting an integral portion of reality and a middling-sized body of water, she'd choose the latter. Besides, despite the peace and aesthetic balance of the place, she found it just a little eerie, without any fish or skimming bugs or other things a proper Earth lake should have. Lovely, but lifeless. She'd never thought she'd be quite so grateful for the presence of plants.

She gave the girl a sunny smile as she reached over to take the offered rock. "Thanks." It made a difference, not wobbling so much in flight, and added another short hop to the previous number. Half a hop, really, given just how short it was. Rose laughed ruefully. "I'm not very good at this."

[prince_yaslana]

It had been years since he'd dared to see the world in sunlight, even with it waning on the horizon. He'd been demon-dead for more than fifty-thousand years and looking good besides that. Andulvar could not stay in direct sunlight for it's rays drained him. To conserve his energy, Andulvar strolled the walkways instead of flying in the direct sunlight.

A young blond caught his eye along the water's banks that reminded him of the waif he'd just left. But her psychic scent was different, non-Blood, a non magic lady skipping stones.

He tilted his head to the side, arms crossed over his chest. Before she threw another stone, he chimed in, "Have you been trying flat stones?" The direction came from behind her and he wasn't far off the path to the pond.

[never_stay_home]

Rose started a little, the angle of his approach meaning she'd been unaware of his presence until he'd spoken. "These were close by," she replied, grinning just a bit crookedly as she looked around. She froze then, once her gaze fell on him properly, staring with wide eyes for a long moment before her expression blossomed into one of true delight. "You've got wings!" she exclaimed, the observation offered unselfconsciously, as though she had no real thought at all of giving offense.

[prince_yaslana]

Andulvar was used to the surprised look others gave him. But the Eyrien race wasn't so uncommon in the Realms, either... "Yes," he said slowly in complete agreeance. He was glad she wasn't startled by his presence, especially when he'd approached without introductions. "It would be a pleasure to meet you, Lady of the pond. Prince Yaslana at your service." He gave a bow with his head to Rose.

[never_stay_home]

Rose continued to regard him with open curiosity, of the sort that dispelled any unease she might otherwise have felt. "I'm Rose," she replied. She left her stones in a little pile, and swung herself down from the rail and onto her feet, sketching a cheerful variant of a curtsey. As close as one could come in trousers and not having ever really been taught the gesture, anyway. "It's nice to meet you, Prince...Yaslana?" Her tone lilted up a little in question as she tried the unfamiliar pronunciation of the name, grateful it was neither as tongue-twisting nor as long as some she'd encountered.