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Post by Linyü on Jun 5, 2024 0:27:51 GMT -6
Just as Seveth was dreading being the accessory to a public row between old flames, the Makiyan pointed out the murmuring crowd starting to form around them. Rill seemed to come back to her senses at that too, and some of her anger gave way to mortification. That... Maybe that wasn't better, but privately Seveth thought the Makiyan's proposal wasn't a bad one. If they were going to have it out, it would be better for it to happen in relative privacy. Hells, it might have been better if she'd invited this friend of hers over to where she was staying, rather than to some kind of eatery.
When Rill didn't respond, however, Seveth stepped in. "Wow, yeah, great idea! I'm starving. What kind of food do they serve here anyway? I've never been to one of these places," he said, injecting as much forced cheer into his voice as he possibly could.
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Post by Noa on Jun 5, 2024 0:33:24 GMT -6
Some of the fight had left Rill at his words, but before Laevi could say anything else, a... human popped out from behind her, seemingly to accept Laevi's invitation on her behalf. Laevi blinked, caught off guard by its-- his?-- unexpected appearance. He'd seen humans from a distance, but never up close; none of the Draconics he'd stayed with had had human hangers-on. Opal's extended family apparently had one that they dealt with, but it hadn't visited in the short time that Laevi had spent with her thus far.
"What-- Er, who is this? Is this human... yours?" Laevi said. It was rather nondescript for a human, with dark hair and unremarkable features. It seemed young, though not young enough for her to have raised it from childhood; humans aged differently from Draconics, from what he could remember hearing about them. He had never pictured Rill keeping a human, but this definitely wasn't the kind he imagined she'd want if she did.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 5, 2024 0:38:08 GMT -6
Now Seveth wanted to wince for his own sake. It was pretty clear that this Makiyan thought of Seveth as some sort of pet. And for that matter, what was this guy's name anyway? He didn't think Rill had mentioned it this entire time. Well, one way to find out, he supposed. "I'm Seveth! I don't believe we've been introduced?"
At that, finally, Rill remembered herself enough to speak again. "He's not mine," she blurted, as if that was the most important thing to establish here. Seveth really was being punished for being a busybody. "He just... came with the place that I'm... renting."
"Hey, you're going to make me sound like some sort of infestation," Seveth said. But in the interest of smoothing things over, he turned to the Makiyan again. "This is the friend you were telling me about, right? Come on, let's find a place to sit and catch up over some food."
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Post by Noa on Jun 5, 2024 0:44:53 GMT -6
Laevi wasn't adept at reading human body language, but this human's voice seemed to carry a slightly manic, desperate edge beneath a veneer of forced cheer. Laevi supposed that it must have been uncomfortable for him to get caught up in all this... But he also still wasn't sure why it was here to begin with. Rill's explanation, such as it was, didn't really clarify anything. In fact, it left him with more questions. He followed the human into the establishment with a bemused expression, and watched as it made for a table that it would have to stand at to see over.
"For two-- er. Three," he said to the Draconic at the counter, who gave him an odd look. Wordlessly, Laevi gave them a look back that made it clear that he was just as confused about the situation as they were. Could humans even eat the food here?
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Post by Linyü on Jun 5, 2024 0:48:43 GMT -6
Seveth tried not to look behind him to make sure Rill was following them in. She had to, right? She wouldn't just bail now. She was the one who had asked him to keep her friend from running away-- a friend whose name he still didn't know. Maybe he should just give up on the idea of finding out. That guy could just be 'Makiyan, The' forever.
"Man, the scale of things sure is different over here," Seveth said. Briefly he wondered if they had some sort of high chairs for humans, then decided he'd actually rather not find out. Now that he was at a table, he could look for Rill, and to his relief he found her hesitantly making her way over to the table. She kept sneaking glances at Laevi, who seemed to be placing their order at the counter. As she drew near, Seveth leaned over to whisper, "Are you still worried he'll, what, make a run for it?"
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Post by Noa on Jun 5, 2024 0:54:48 GMT -6
Laevi decided that he would leave that problem up to the human in question. He hadn't come here expecting to babysit a human, and if it was accompanying Rill, he would have to assume she knew what to do with it. Once he had placed an order, he joined them at the table, though once he had gotten there, he saw the human sidling up to Rill.
"I have no intention of running anywhere," he said pointedly, though to his own chagrin, he spoke his words to the human and not to Rill, as he ought to have. It was just... harder to speak to her. But he'd said it, hadn't he? Taking a deep breath, he forced himself to face her. "Rill, I know you're angry about what happened, and you have every right to be. But you didn't invite me out here just to tell me to get lost, did you?" he wished he could have said that as a rhetorical question, but with how things were going, it came out as a genuine one instead.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 5, 2024 1:00:54 GMT -6
Note to self, Draconics have sharper hearing than I thought, Seveth thought, holding back a grimace through sheer force of will. It was fine. This Makiyan thought he was just a silly little pet Rill had picked up. Or, since she had clarified that he came with the place she was staying, maybe he was more like a stray cat that was following her around hoping for handouts. Either way, it wasn't as if he had any dignity to lose in the eyes of this Draconic.
Seveth was curious about Rill's answer to the Makiyan's question though. She was apparently the one who had arranged this, but she didn't seem as though she wanted to be here, or to hear what the Makiyan had to say. A complicated expression flitted across her features, and the crease between her brows deepened. Her... tail...? danced in what might have been agitation. "That depends on what you say next," she said quietly. "Why did you agree to come?"
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Post by Noa on Jun 5, 2024 1:09:59 GMT -6
... Well, she didn't say yes outright. That, at least, was something to be relieved about. She was giving him a chance with this -- reaching out to him after all this time, and staying to hear him out even when she didn't want to. For the first time, he wondered what she had been hoping to find when she saw him again, and whether there was anything she had dreaded.
He really did owe her an explanation.
But the question she had asked him was the hardest one to answer. He could have explained, maybe not adroitly, the reasoning behind everything else -- why he'd left, where he'd been, why he'd lived the way he did, why he hadn't turned up before now. And it wasn't as if he didn't know the answer, deep in his heart. It was just... hard to say it out loud.
"I guess I just missed you," he said quietly, a subdued laugh trailing into his words.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 5, 2024 1:17:31 GMT -6
Seveth genuinely couldn't decide whether he wished he knew more or less about these two. On the one hand, the little he was able to glean from today definitely indicated some sort of sordid history, and he would be lying if he said he wasn't curious about what it actually was. On the other hand, if he had just kept out of their business, he could have lived life without having become possibly the most uncomfortable third wheel in the entire canyon area.
Rill bristled at the Makiyan's words, but her voice broke when she said, "Then why didn't you come back? Why did you make me chase you all the way until--" Her throat closed, and she couldn't speak any further, turning away so that neither of them could see her... cry? Probably cry. Did Draconics cry? Seveth supposed they must. Maybe it was time to make himself scarce.
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Post by Noa on Jun 5, 2024 1:27:46 GMT -6
Whatever foolish thoughts had been plaguing Laevi vanished as soon as Rill's voice broke. He stepped around the table to sit beside her, curling his neck around her shoulders in an embrace, the way he used to do when they were younger. Her scales, no longer soft, dug their points into his throat, but he ignored the discomfort and rumbled as soothingly as he could. "I'm sorry," he said. "You're right. I should have. I just didn't know how to face you again after I ran away." He had been struck by how much she had grown since he last saw her, but sitting beside her now, he realized how much smaller she was compared to him. That hadn't changed, either. Maybe there was more of the Rill he knew left in her than he had thought.
"I know we can't go back to the way things were, but... I really did miss you. I'm glad you didn't give up on me," he said.
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Post by Linyü on Jun 5, 2024 1:31:10 GMT -6
The sight of Rill breaking into tears -- probable tears, anyway -- brought the Makiyan over to her side of the table, and yeah, yep, it really was time to make himself scarce. Seveth considered saying something by way of a farewell, but decided it was better not to draw any attention to himself. Actually, they had probably both forgotten that he was there by now. Better to keep it that way.
As quietly and discreetly as he could, Seveth slipped away from the table. It was a shame he wouldn't get to taste whatever they were serving at this place, but he could always come back here another time, hopefully with less fraught company. At the entrance to the establishment, he snuck one last backward glance at the two of them. Would things work out between them? He sure hoped so, though he couldn't say for certain.
... He never did learn that Makiyan's name, did he?
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