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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Jan 17, 2008 17:32:06 GMT -5
Merchants called out in a ragged and uneven chorus, announcing their wares as shoppers, heavy with shawls and coats, pushed past them. The wind blew against the stalls, shaking their flimsy construction with ease. Despite the weather, the market was as crowded as ever and Tem nearly had to shove past people just to walk down the street. He was wrapped up in a thick coat with wide fur trim, it was plain to see that he was overdressed compared to the other shoppers, however he flatly refused without a coat because he was very sensitive to cold. In fact, it had been several years since he had felt really, truly warm, even during the summer times. He was headed for a particular stall, it sold some type of spice that apparently his uncle couldn’t live without. The house was in a state of chaos because his uncle was preparing for a dinner party, the servants were all busy and Tem had spent most of the day wandering around the house sulkily. His uncle had already selected his outfit for the party, it was a painfully hideous green coat with thick gold trim. Tem had been forced to try it on and somehow had managed to pull open a seam on the shoulder, making Tem wonder why anyone even bothered with seams if they were just going to immediately rip open anyways. Regardless, the debacle led to an argument, which Tem inevitably lost, sulking, which inevitably drove his uncle mad and led to the current mission for spice. Tem elbowed his way through a crowd, bumping into an older woman carrying an armload of fresh fish, she cursed after him as he responded by sending her a little dismissive wave as he trampled past her. He arrived at the stall for spices and stared down at the wares, suddenly realizing that he didn’t remember which one his uncle had requested. Mentally, he weighed out if his uncle really wanted the spice or had merely been trying to get him out of the house. His thought process was so drawn out that the merchant, who had been eyeing him warily from the outset, started to hassle him. “You planning to buy something?” he asked loudly. “Yeah, yeah,” Tem said distractedly, flicking his eyes over the wares. “I don’t know where you’re from, but here you can’t buy things with your eyeballs. Hurry up and show me some coins or move along,” the man said. He was a greasy little man with thin red hair and a thick mustache. Tem’s pride instantly flared up, “Do you really think that I can’t pay?” His eyebrows shot up. The little man shrugged, “I’m having my doubts. You look like you come from a lesser-“ He wasn’t able to finish sentence before Tem lunged forward to grab at him, but at the last minute thought better of it and yanked his hands away. He settled instead for knocking over a rack of spices that was propped on the merchant’s table. The items spilled to the ground with a crash, the shoppers in the vicinity stared at him, looking back and forth from Tem to the merchant, who was angry enough that his face was actually redder than his hair. A small crowd of expectant faces gathered around them as Tem and the merchant stood there in silence, glaring back and forth at each other, just waiting for the other to make a move. ((OPEN!!!!! Please join in ))
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Post by Elyssa Vetinari on Jan 27, 2008 14:16:14 GMT -5
It was a fine day for a walk, Elyssa decided as she weaved and maneuvered her way through the throngs of people in the square. She was glad to be out of the house; her mother was in a mood and had taken to cleaning every inch of the house, and rather violently at that. Elyssa smiled to herself as she thought of the woman sweeping the floors furiously, muttering to the dirt on the floor. It was a humorous sight, to be sure, but it was better just to be away from it all.
Her eyes scanned the crowd as she walked, searching for the best pathway between the groups of people. She dodged a man carrying a sack of flour who wasn't watching where he was walking and almost ran into another woman with a child on her hip. The woman opened her mouth to chastise her, but Elyssa was quicker.
"Deepest apologies, madam," she said to the woman, her voice full of genuine remorse.
She gave a smile and turned away before the woman could say anything back. Continuing on her way, Elyssa's eyes caught sight of a young man who was quite overdressed for the weather. Yes, there was a bite to the air, but nothing that required the use of a fur-lined coat. She stifled a laugh as she moved out of the way of the other shoppers in order to watch this stranger.
Her vision was blocked by a man leading a donkey-pulled cart that was piled high with raw cotton. A scowl formed on her face as she craned her neck to see around him. A crash reached her ears just before the cart was out of her sight. Frustrated, she walked to a new place where she saw on the ground some of the spice merchant's wares. The young stranger and the red-faced merchant were merely staring at each other, no words being exchanged between them.
Elyssa's fingernail went between her teeth as she fought her laughter. As much as she wanted to watch the scene play out before her, she felt that she had to help this curious young man. An idea sparked in her mind almost immediately, and she could only hope that the stranger would be able to see that she was trying to help and play along. Standing up straight, she walked with with an air of confidence to stand beside the young man.
"Oh! Jassen, what have you done?" she said with slight alarm to the young man, hoping he wouldn't look surprised at her making up a name to call him by. She quickly looked to the spice merchant. "Sir, I am dreadfully sorry. My cousin here has just arrived from Scanra and he is a bit lost as far as Torallan manners and customs are concerned. Please forgive his ignorance."
The red-haired merchant frowned. "Who's to pay for all of this?" he asked, spreading his arm to indicate the spices on the ground. Elyssa dug in her purse and drew out a few coins and handed them to the merchant.
"This is all I can offer you, master spice merchant." Turning to the young stranger she said, "Come, cousin, my mother has dinner waiting for us at home." She met his eyes, silently pleading him to go along with her act.
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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Jan 28, 2008 2:15:27 GMT -5
Tem narrowed his eyes at the stranger that intervened on the distressingly tense situation, he glared at her the entire time that she was explaining herself and apparently even making excuses for him as well. He was surprised that a stranger would be as willing to jump into a conflict like this on a whim, he wondered if she was going to be one of the meddling save-the-world-and-feel-smug-about-it types. Part of him wanted to announce that he had never met her in his life before, just so just in case she was one of those types she couldn’t get the satisfaction out of being mildly helpful first, but even as he thought it sounded ridiculous. Besides, this man couldn’t possibly believe the story about him being from Scanra, right?
Tem glanced at the merchant, to his unending shock the red-haired man didn’t seem like he was going to completely reject the story. He looked over at Tem and his thick fur coat, then back at the girl, where his glance seemed to linger at little too long. Tem figured that he probably just thought that the young woman was attractive and would have believed her story if she had said that Tem was her great-great-grandmother brought back from the dead.
He stared at the mysterious young woman as she offered the man money, he would have yanked it out of her hand before she parted with it, but he was too shocked to make a move. The merchant, while still angry over the issue, was considerably more consoled however. Her presence was certainly diffusing the situation, though Tem wanted more than anything to continue to escalate it. He wouldn’t have minded if the man had continued to fight because Tem was more than certain that if it came to that he would prevail.
However, the girl was just standing there, having said something about a dinner, a perfect escape for Tem to take advantage of. He bit his lip, if there was such a thing as a graceful exit where Tem was concerned, this was it.
“You are right,” he finally said, though it was grudgingly. He looked back at the merchant with a fierce expression, “If we pass on the street you’d better cross to the other side or else I may forget all the lessons I have learned today about manners and customs.” This was a nice threat because in a city like Port Caynn he would probably never see the man again, which would suit him fine. If his uncle ever found out about this debacle he would be in endless trouble.
His pride satisfied, he turned to his new cousin, “I think that I am done shopping for today,” he announced.
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Post by Elyssa Vetinari on Jan 28, 2008 22:37:15 GMT -5
Elyssa felt the stranger's eyes on her the whole time she explained her fabricated story to the spice merchant. It was slightly unnerving; after all, didn't he realize she was trying to help him? She could only hope the merchant didn't notice his glare and begin to suspect that her story was a lie. And above all, she desperately hoped that the young man would play along, for if he didn't, it would mean a rather unfortunate and uncomfortable confrontation. Her mother would certainly have words to say about it...
The dinner line rolled smoothly off her lips and she took to waiting for the stranger's response. His face seemed a bit annoyed, like that of an egotistical boy who was just robbed of a chance to prove his manliness to a large crowd of bystanders. No matter, there will be plenty of other chances, Elyssa thought. Besides, who in their right mind would turn down a chance to make a clean getaway from a messy situation?
He finally gave in. Elyssa had to hold back a grin as a victorious pride rose within her. Easy, she thought smugly. He gave a rather icy farewell to the merchant and told her that he'd had his fill of shopping for the day, playing right along with her act.
"Right then," she said casually. To the merchant, she added a cordial, ladylike farewell. "Thank you master spice merchant, for being so understanding."
To the stranger, she merely smiled. "Let's be off, then. Mother's waiting."
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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Jan 28, 2008 23:30:09 GMT -5
Frowning, Tem nodded and started moving away from the merchant. He didn’t want to give into the temptation of starting things up with him again, and moving away would definitely limit that possibility. He pushed his hands into the pockets of the thick fur coat and clenched his fists, an easy way to release his built up aggression in a subtle, suitable manner.
Questions were flitting wildly through his mind, like why had this stranger stopped to help him? Who was she? Was he obligated to say thank you? Would he say it even if he was obliged to? With all of this jumbling about all he could manage to say was “Do I even look remotely Scanran to you?”
He wondered briefly why, of all the things he was wondering about, that was the first statement that came from his lips. However, now that he had said it, he decided that he actually was curious why Scanra had entered her mind in the first place. He shivered a little in the wind, even though he was wrapped tightly in his coat, he was obviously not built for the cold.
It wasn’t until after the question that was mildly inappropriate to the situation came out of his mouth did he pause to wonder if he was behaving rudely to this person, who was, after all a young lady who could be connected to his uncle in some way. He couldn’t imagine the personal mortification if his uncle had to reprimand him, yet again, about not being rude to people, especially ones of social significance. It wasn’t that Tem was deliberately rude, most of the time, often he just got so caught up in situations that he behaved in an undeniably rude way. However, while he realized this, he was unable to calm his emotions enough to behave in a civil manner at this moment and he resorted to glaring at her as if she were the cause of all his troubles.
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Post by Elyssa Vetinari on Jan 31, 2008 9:46:43 GMT -5
The young stranger whom she had just helped began walking away. She followed him, not saying anything until they were well away from the merchant. He was probably fuming right now, or at least that’s what she gathered when she last caught a glance at him. The glare he gave her was more than definitive proof of this. He probably didn't see what she had just done as helpful, but as they say, beauty is in the eye of the beholder. He can either see it as help or not, and it wouldn't matter much to her.
Oh, this was going to be an interesting conversation, or at least it would be when one of them would finally decide to speak. Elyssa kept quiet; she didn’t want to anger the young man any more by putting him in a position where he would be forced to talk to her if it was not in his personal interests. At least she had that tiny bit of humility left; the sailors seemed to have taken the rest.
They were approaching the intersection of two streets, and she had decided that she was going to bid him farewell and leave him in peace when he finally spoke. It was a rather blunt comment, something she was only used to hearing form her sailor friends in the wharf. It was so startling she had to laugh. "You look Scanran enough to a certain merchant who's probably never set foot outside of Tortall."
He continued to glare at her, and Elyssa raised an eyebrow in response. "Besides, what else would you have done?" she asked, curious. Images formed in her mind's eye of him quarreling with the little, red-haired man. "Hitting him certainly wouldn't have gotten you very far."
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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Feb 1, 2008 0:19:25 GMT -5
“But it would’ve made me feel a whole lot better,” he replied.
Tem kicked at a moldy apple that had been on the ground for a few days at least, as the toe of his boot made contact with it made a squish sound and was launched through the air and landed against the wall of a nearby building with a satisfying splat. With a muttered curse under his breath he noticed that some sludgy bit of apple was stuck to the toe of his boot, he attempted once or twice to kick it off, then gave it up and was promptly distracted by the issues at hand.
The girl didn’t seem so bad, she hadn’t immediately started reprimanded him for not being grateful for her impromptu rescue, but she could still start. At least she hadn’t said anything implying that his temper was out of control, that probably would have achieved nothing but having him start in on her.
“I only looked like a Scanran to that man because he was a raging idiot who I probably should have hit, if nothing else but a public service to the rest of the community.”
He kicked at the ground halfheartedly simply because he didn’t have anything else to kick at and his heart was still thumping in his chest and his nerves were still on edge. He pulled his hands out of his pockets and crossed his arms over his stomach, then almost immediately pulled them apart again and stuffed them back into his pockets.
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Post by Elyssa Vetinari on Feb 6, 2008 9:52:46 GMT -5
Elyssa nodded and then promptly crossed her arms to ward off the sudden chill in the air brought by a frigid wind. It worked for a moment, but soon she began shivering slightly and so she turned her attention to the boy as a distraction. She watched as he kicked an apple against the side of a building, obviously venting some sort of harbored frustration or anger. Her eyes went to his face, where she did see signs of annoyance while he muttered something inaudible to her ears.
Perhaps this was a young man who was frustrated of being in the constraints of society. Judging by his attire, he wasn’t poor, and therefore he probably wasn’t allowed the freedom that lower-class citizens had available to them. Perhaps he had an overbearing family that kept a tight grip on his life, and his sullen demeanor was the result of such suffocation. Either way, he was obviously unhappy, and Elyssa was determined not to make him more so.
His next comment was to be expected, judging by the way he was fuming. She only smiled, keeping herself unnaturally calm in the hopes that he, too, would cool down. He began fidgeting— something she knew was the result of either nerves or anger, though she guessed it was the latter. The wind began to pick up again, and she decided that the air was becoming a bit too nippy to be comfortable standing around conversing out of doors.
“I’ll give credit where credit is due. That man did deserve to be hit; he’s never exactly been the friendly type to anyone,” she said nonchalantly, hoping that some small talk would help in calming him down. “But,” she continued, raising an eyebrow at him, “in any case, you should consider yourself the better man for not stooping to his low level.”
She shivered again and her eyes searched the street until they rested on a small pub. “I’m Elyssa, by the way,” she said smiling. “Care to continue this in a more civil and er…warm setting?”
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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Feb 8, 2008 2:33:31 GMT -5
Tem shrugged heavily, “For some reason I think that feeling like a better man for not stooping to his level wouldn’t feel quite as good as hitting him,” he replied. It was so easy for her to be so reasonable that Tem felt that he was being rather unreasonable, which of course he knew that he was, but he couldn’t help it. Blame it on his temper.
He would have loved to rage and fume all day, but, here, standing directly in front of him was something far more interesting than the moody merchant. He usually delighted in meeting in new people and he dug deeply within himself to find that part of him that was instantly fascinated by anything new or interesting. When she said her name, he found it much more easily. She seemed relaxed, not like the stodgy ladies at the various parties and dinners that Tem was dragged to. He noticed that she did not introduce herself with a title or even a last name, which was definitely odd in his admittedly limited experience with young ladies.
“I am Tem Christopher Scott,” he said, “It is a pleasure.” The words and the accompanying little bow flowed smoothly, having been practiced often. He heard himself give the Tortallan version of his name, the proper version.
“Yes, I would very much like to go inside, this weather is absolutely miserable.” Tem felt himself closing up, behaving like a proper young man instead of an angry one that knocked over spice racks at the marketplace. He pulled his head back into the warmth of his fur coat like a turtle pulling its head back into the shelter of its shell. “I know a tea shop just around the corner, it’s nice. It’s warm.”
He watched her carefully for a reaction, “We could go there if you are not the type to mind going for tea with a strange young man, though I assure you that it is a proper place to be seen, if you do happen to be that type.” That was dangerously close to blabbering and he smiled a little, laughing at himself.
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Post by Elyssa Vetinari on Feb 11, 2008 16:38:43 GMT -5
“And therein lies the problem,” Elyssa said with a smile. “If everyone were to go about hitting each other to make themselves feel better, think of how bruised and battered the world would be. Quite a daunting idea, if you ask me. I don’t think anyone would like it…except for the healers, they would be richer even than the king!” She laughed while also realizing that she was dangerously close to rambling. Oh splendid. I have wondrous prospects of befriending him now, she thought sardonically to herself.
After introducing herself, she watched as he seemed to relax. This was good; perhaps he would be a bit more agreeable now. He then introduced himself with a nice little flourish. Certainly he was no common born citizen with a bow like that. The only thing that suggested so was his name: he gave no title or fief when saying it. She had withheld her last name out of habit. The sort she normally was found hanging around didn’t much care who your father was or where you came from. Thinking about it now, she was a little embarrassed that such a simple, yet tactful, action slips her mind. And so to make up for it, she gave a little curtsy.
Upon hearing that he would like to join her inside for a drink, her smile only grew wider. To get out of the cold seemed the most marvelous idea at the time. However, she had been thinking of the pub; he had suggested the tea house. The action caught her off guard a little, but she would go with it. She had no reputation to protect, for what little of it she possessed was gossiped away when she began conversing with sailors on the docks.
“Tea sounds wonderful, Tem” she told him. “Anything to get out of this cold.”
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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Feb 11, 2008 23:46:35 GMT -5
“Excellent,” Tem said, and for the first time in a while that he was not actually dreading an engagement for tea. In fact, this was the first time that he had actually arranged his own engagement for tea instead of being stuffed into a suit and practically dragged there. It was an interesting sensation, part of him felt rather good about finally understanding the foolish rituals of this culture and the rest of him felt like a sell out.
“The tea parlor is not far,” Tem said as he started to lead the way to the shop. It really was rather close, it was a small building that was always busy. A wooden sign hanging outside of the establishment read The Silver Plume in large, pretentious letters. The place was bearable though, despite its overtly elegant name, at least it had forgone the usual clutter of obnoxiously ornate furnishings and annoying selection of trinkets that were so commonly the chosen décor of tea parlors in favor of a few, tastefully selected furniture pieces and a few well placed flower vases.
He had a feeling that Elyssa probably wouldn’t miss the usual fluff of a tea parlor, but he still couldn’t tell for sure. She didn’t seem like the usual young ladies that he was forced to entertain from time to time and due to lack of experience he was a little unsure how to avoid making a fool of himself in this company.
Before they could enter the establishment, Tem took the opportunity to turn to his companion. “I must return to our discussion, if we were allowed to hit whomever we pleased, I would argue that the only ones that would be bruised and battered would be the ones that lost,” he said with a grin.
“And, it my personal feeling that the king, or queen I suppose, having never really done anything in his or her life to deserve wealth besides being born into it, should probably be a good deal poorer than healers on general principle, because healers at least, well, heal people. I don’t mean to be treasonous, but-” He paused to think, but what? Tem was certainly being treasonous and there really wasn’t any ‘but’ about it. “I’m not sure how you feel about the concept of royalty, but so far I have yet to be impressed by it.”
He gestured to the Silver Plume, “Shall we go in?” he asked, though he doubted that she would say no with the wind whipping about as it was. Even through his fur coat he was feeling cold, he knew that part of this came from the fact that he was too sensitive to cold and the other part came from the actual temperature.
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Post by Elyssa Vetinari on Mar 8, 2008 15:31:32 GMT -5
Elyssa smiled, noticing that her new friend was finally beginning to relax. She rather liked this side of him; the side that seemed to enjoy a bit of intelligent conversation once in a while. Yes, she thought, I could get used to this. It was a change from the blatant and raucous comments she was used to hearing at the wharf, and a rather pleasant one at that. She would not miss this opportunity to get to know a much more upstanding young gentleman.
Tem pointed out that the tea parlor was not far, and he was right. Her eyes wandered until she found the little shop: The Silver Plume. Not having been to this particular tea parlor before, she was uncertain as to whether it was directing itself to appeal to the upper class. But after taking another look at the wooden sign and remembering that they were still near the harbor, she decided that it was most likely another tea shop like the ones she visited with her mother on occasion to practice her manners.
She looked at her companion, who grinned and made a rather witty point about hitting people. “Yes, yes, I suppose that the unfortunate losers of a fight would, indeed, be the ones covered in bruises. But seldom do you see only one person walk away from a brawl injured. Usually both people participating would sustain some sort of injury.”
Elyssa laughed after hearing his opinion of royalty, noticing that it was very similar to her own view. “By all means, please speak your mind. I’m not a spy of the king, I swear it,” she told him, giving a warm smile and holding up her hands, simulating surrender. “I myself have not been impressed by anyone who considers themselves royal. Being born into money, I think, is probably one of the worst things that could happen to a person.”
They reached The Silver Plume and Tem suggested they go inside. Elyssa nodded fervently. “Oh yes, let’s get out of this wind,” she said as she opened the door and held it for him. It was not in her mind to care that she just opened the door for a man; Tem was a friend and she saw her friends as equals.
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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Mar 9, 2008 17:58:39 GMT -5
“Both would sustain some sort of injury? Then you have obviously never seen me fight,” Tem said with a loud laugh. “Or so says my male ego.” He was too busy talking to notice that Elyssa had opened the door for him until he was already inside the Silver Plume.
The tea parlor was bustling as he stepped into it, but it wasn’t crowded by any means. There were a few other people enjoying their tea and small cakes, spread around the room. Servants strode back and forth efficiently, balancing tea pots and dishes with effortless grace. One of these servants saw the two enter the establishment and offered them a quick, polite greeting before whisking off.
It took him a moment to realize what he had done, or failed to do. He backtracked, smiling apologetically, what a bad show of etiquette he was putting on. “I’m sorry, how rude of me. I didn’t mean to make you open the door yourself. I’m a rather terrible attempt at a gentleman, aren’t I?”
He spoke lightly, with a smile on his lips, but really he wasn’t too pleased with himself. This was his first chance to use everything he had learned since he arrived here all those years ago without his uncle hovering and meddling and he wasn’t doing so well so far. In the past, he had experienced worse social situations though, when he was young he didn’t have quite so good a grasp on Tortallan customs as he did now. He was under the impression that he knew most of the millions of manners that this country insisted on, but apparently he was still lacking. He tried not to show his frustration.
The shop was rather warm, which was a relief from the wind and he unbuttoned his thick fur coat so he wouldn’t start to boil. Under his coat was a puffy white shirt and a embroidered vest, which his uncle insisted was the style but Tem found to be suffocating and strange looking.
He hadn’t planned on taking off his coat while he was out so he was still wearing a few necklaces made of bones, beads, and animal teeth that he had bought off ships that journeyed to the Western reaches. These he liked to wear at home, but never in public, so he tucked them quickly into the shirt and vest ensemble as he glanced around, looking for a servant to come over to take his coat. His movement was discreet and casual, most people wouldn’t have noticed it amid his other movements as he removed his coat, but that’s what he wanted it to be. He didn’t want her to see them, he didn’t want her to know that he wasn’t from here because once people knew, they generally acted strangely around him.
“I do hope that you will forgive me,” Tem said sheepishly. He gestured to a table near the front of the store that was empty, “We can sit down, if you would like.”
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Post by Elyssa Vetinari on Mar 18, 2008 8:47:52 GMT -5
Elyssa heaved a sigh when they stepped inside The Silver Plume, for it was infinitely warmer and much more pleasant now that they were out of the wind. She let her eyes wander, taking in the new surroundings like a dry sponge takes in water. Such was her habit when she visited new places, for she liked to remember as many details as possible about any new and strange place.
“No, you’re not a terrible gentleman,” she reassured him with a smile. “I was much too preoccupied with the cold to even be thinking about it. After all…” She paused for a moment, searching for the right words. “It’s not like we’re having tea with the queen. For if that were the case, I can assure you that I would be dressed much better than I am.” She gestured to her plain, and rather worn looking dress made of dark purple cotton. Her overcoat was a modest black that, according to her mother, was very versatile and went with all of her clothing.
Servants strode about bearing teapots and wonderful looking dishes and immediately her mouth began to water. Not having eaten since breakfast that morning, she was anxious to sit down and have something to eat. However, those stupid manners reminded her that she should be patient and not appear hasty to eat. Bloody manners, she thought to herself. Talking with her new companion gave the impression that he wasn’t one to care much for manners, but perhaps until they were a bit better acquainted, it would be best to refrain from appearing common.
"Yes, sitting down sounds wonderful."
She removed her coat, and looked over to the table he indicated. It was situated in a quiet corner of the shop where they could perhaps have a very engaging conversation. She strode over to it and took a seat.
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Post by Cuauhtemoc Scott on Mar 18, 2008 23:30:46 GMT -5
Tem followed Elyssa to the table in corner of the parlor, his coat draped over one arm. He was about to go around to the other side of the table to pull her chair out for her, but she was already sitting. He decided not to bother with the custom, she had obviously handled it well by herself and he was tired feeling bad about his poor manners for one day.
He dropped his coat on the back of the chair and he slid into the chair opposite Elyssa. Tem looked around the parlor, not sure what to say. “Well, this is nice,” he finally said. He chuckled, “We should probably get some tea, that is what is proper at times like this, isn’t it?”
Tem eyed her dress thoughtfully, it was very simple, which was strange as far as Tem’s experience with women’s clothing went. He rather liked the simplicity of it, but he didn’t want to draw attention to it by commenting. He waved at a waiter so they would be able to get some tea and perhaps something to eat, the waiter nodded at him and then bustled off. Tem assumed that meant that the waiter would return in a moment.
He turned his attention back to his guest and smiled. “Well now. What type of thing are we to discuss?” he asked, “I feel like I am being too forward to ask you about anything that really matters about your life, but on the other hand I feel like I can’t stand a conversation about the weather or the newest hairstyles in Corus without falling asleep.” He paused to adjust the coat hanging over the back of his chair, he figured that she wasn’t interested in that type of thing either, quite a difference from the ladies that he was usually forced into conversation with.
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