✘ 34 ✘ distraction

[notwhatiwas]

[Vincent's birthday was almost a week ago. Thanks to the timing of everyone's punishments and the fact that the only people who could POSSIBLY know the importance of the date were thereby indisposed, he seems to have gotten by without anyone attempting to pull anything stupid.

Or at least so he thinks. It's really only a matter of timeRegardless

Comments

o hai

[missmimmi]

[Well what do you know, you have to go through the bar to get to the coffee shop, which was where Mimmi was headed now! She was also carrying a heavy-looking cardboard box. She pauses for a brief moment when she spots Vincent, and then decides to use this as a chance to put down this stupid box because holy crap it's heavy and she doesn't want to carry it anymore]

Hallo Vincent.

hihi~

[notwhatiwas]

[Vincent looks up from his notes with something along the lines of a smile. It's not REALLY a smile, but it's close.]

Mimmi.

[His glowing eyes dart to the box--the way Mimmi shifts her weight as she sets it down proves it must be quite heavy--then back to her.]

Hard at work?

[missmimmi]

You could say that.

[It's mostly just junk from deck 12 to decorate the coffee shop with because she has nothing better to do]

How have you been, Vincent? Not horrible, I hope.

[notwhatiwas]

I believe I was diseased for a few days--

[He takes a drink from the open bottle and looks back down at his notes, scribbling something else down in his illegible hand.]

--but I seem to have made a rather miraculous recovery.

[Things have been nothing short of horrific lately, but there's no reason to tell Mimmi that. He nods toward the box.]

Would you like help carrying that?

[stoicguardian]

[It was time, Auron decided, to finally get his bearings. Or at least a better idea how big this ship really was. Because Yuna was questioning places he had never heard of and he couldn't let her venture off into this unknown place without some idea of the fiends that could be lurking about. She was a sitting duck without her Aeons.

Oceanview wasn't on his itinerary. But it couldn't hurt to take a look inside. So he stops and peers in. When he notices Vincent, he pauses for a moment, then decides to maybe slip out before he's spotted.]

[notwhatiwas]

[Vincent's eyes dart up from the tablet, one eyebrow disappearing under his bandanna as he arches it, looking Auron up and down. Clearly this is the start of something amazing.]

You're new.

[He leans back slightly, long hair slipping out of his face.]

Looking for something?

[stoicguardian]

[Well so much for that plan. Auron tugs a bit at his cowl before turning to face Vincent.]

I am.

[A moment of silence. Sorry Vincent, Auron's pretty famous for short answers.]

Nothing in particular.

[notwhatiwas]

[Vincent isn't much better when he's not being Exposition Guy.]

You look curious.

[He takes another drink out of the bottle he has yet to empty.]

I'm not sure "distraction" is the right word, but HI! :D

[intimacyphobic]

[Lucrecia has not been this nervous since her first grad school entrance exam. She's been looking for Vincent, actually, because some helpful outside sources indirectly reminded her what time of year it was. Oh, how she fails so hard.

But she does care, sort of. And so, more than fashionably late, she creeps up hesitantly behind him, holding a jar wrapped in plain paper and tied with one of her ribbons.

She has... no idea how much he knows about what's been going on with her and the others--probably everything, it's Vincent, after all--and, therefore, no idea what kind of reception she would have from him. She bites her tongue to keep from clearing her throat, gently setting the jar on the bar and freezing, debating speaking to him, or turning and running off without an explanation.

Oh, hell, he probably heard her enter the room. So, in her smallest voice, there's a whispered:]

Hi.

[notwhatiwas]

[Vincent will not comment on the fact that, for a fraction of a second, his face lights up when he hears her voice. One of these days that will stop, he's sure, but for the moment those shadows of his feelings for her still show themselves now and then.

But only for a second.

He turns to look at her, eyes flickering from her face to the parcel in her hands and back again.]

Hello.

[He straightens in his seat and pulls his things aside a little, enough that she should be able to comfortably take a seat herself, if she wants.

...Vincent hates being so conflicted.]

[intimacyphobic]

[She definitely doesn't catch his look, probably because even after what he said at their first meeting, Lucrecia hardly believes someone could feel that way about her, particularly after what she's done, will do.

She nods and sits down, lacing and unlacing her hands a few times, eyes cast to the bar as she looks for more words.

She does notice his glances, however, and eventually, she speaks quickly and quietly.]

Happy Birthday.

[There's more wringing of her hands as she looks down at her lap, stealing a glance sidelong first at him, then at the package. Sucking in a breath, she scoots it a little closer to him with the definite sound of glass sliding on counter.]

It's... for you.

[She gestures by flipping her palm up, fingers fluttering, as if she's explaining a white board diagram. And with that, her manner doesn't ease so much as allows her to focus in on something more technical and familiar than this attempt at... whatever it was. She had no idea. And felt dreadfully silly.]Dionaea muscipula. At least I think that's what

[notwhatiwas]

[For a minute Vincent just sits there. He blinks, eyebrows arching ever so slightly, and doesn't seem to believe her.

A flytrap? Lucrecia engineered him a flytrap? For his birthday? That's--Honestly, he's moved. It doesn't really show, but there is a glint of something in his eyes as he turns and just holds out both hands for the jar.]

[consummateturk]

[Veld spent a lot of time in the library over the past few days. He's better now, however and has located a book that Vincent would probably remember. They had been halfway through it once upon a time. Veld never had bothered to finish it. He came up to Vincent and flops the book on the table before him without a word.]