The Park, Monday Morning

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

It was getting cold, but the chill was bracing, truly, nothing more than that, and so, armed with a coffee, Rosalind could be found wandering the park that morning, looking contemplative.

Leaning against a bench that overlooked the duck pond--yes, she could sit down, but Rosalind didn't feel like it at the moment--she idly wondered what Elena was doing right now. Which Elena?

Well, both of them. And how things were going back home--the reports she got were hardly the same thing as being there, after all, and Rosalind itched with the urge to know more. Or musing on what radio considered being 'sassy' at Reno.

For now, though, there were no answers all she could do was push away from the bench, sip her coffee and continue her walk through the park.

That was soothing, in a way. She did like nature. Even the quiet and sleeping sort there was to be had this time of the year.

[Ooopen as an open place is, la.]

Comments

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

Quinn didn't normally do anything more ambitious with her morning break than trying to wheedle Gunther out of a cup of skim hot chocolate, but something about today had her out for a walk despite -- or maybe because of -- the cold air.

She wasn't sure she wanted company, but the blond girl she vaguely recognized from school got a smile and a "Hi" anyhow. Wouldn't do to be too publicly miserable.

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

Rosalind glanced at the other girl, mid-way through a sip of coffee, and nodded back pleasantly enough.

"Good morning," she offered, her voice carrying easily in the cold air. "It's not a bad time for a walk."

Mmm pleasant observations. Well, it was a way to get started.

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Officially," Quinn said, glancing back to the hotel, "I'm on my break from work. I just didn't feel like staying inside."

She added a resigned, "I'm Quinn." She thought they had a class together, but she'd given up on expecting people in Fandom to recognize her.

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

A faint smile played around her lips. She'd known that--a Turk would.

"Rosalind," she said, almost lightly. "I cannot claim to be on a break--officially or unofficially."

A beat.

"It's not a bad day to want to be outside," she observed. Rosalind doubted her conclusions were correct--she didn't know the girl, Quinn, well enough to make a solid guess. "Though I suppose that depends on the reasons. Some people care not for being restless, while others embrace it."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"That's all zen," Quinn observed, not unkindly. "The staff's just going a little nuts decorating for Christmas. I think if I stick around on my break, I'll end up working through it."

"So," she added, with a little smile, "do you embrace being restless, or the other thing?"

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

"Another holiday so soon?" she asked, a bit curious. "And, I suppose I would take both options--it depends on the day. Today I do not mind it overly so. The wind and the cold are enough to soothe it into something more pleasant."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Mmm, an even bigger one," Quinn said. "Huge religious thing, and then we have the New Year. You're one of the 'not from around here' types, huh?"

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

"An evasion would be pointless," she said lightly. "True enough, though I lucked out in that the technology I understand--it is merely the culture that is different."

[chief-cheerio.livejournal.com]

"Is that really lucky?" Quinn wondered. "I mean, a light switch is a light switch is a light switch -- you can deal -- but not knowing culture comes up in thirty seconds of small talk."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

Chill? What chill? Yeah, Jake was still just wearing a t-shirt and that wasn't likely to change.

The most abnormal bit here was that he was actually awake instead of sleeping in when he didn't have classes. Honestly, Jake was wondering about that too. Maybe because Bod had been sort of absent lately and somehow that was less fun.

Anyway. Somehow he was awake and because he was polite, he wandered over when he noticed Rosalind. "Hey."

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

She looked up at him. (And up.)

"Good morning," Rosalind said, lips twitching slightly. "Will it ever get cold enough for you to bother with a jacket?"

Said the girl in the suit that never changed no matter the season...

It was a Turk skill. Looking badass no matter how hot or cold you were in your suit.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"I could wear a jacket," he said easily, shrugging. "I just don't need it. It's a perk."

And honestly, she did leave herself open there. So she only had herself to blame when he glanced at her and raised an eyebrow. "Is it ever going to get too hot for you not to wear a suit?"

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

"Never," Rosalind assured him dryly. "Much to your dismay, I'm sure."

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"Yes," he nodded, attempting to keep serious. "It's all I ever think about lately."

Just to be sure, he took a few steps back from her, eyes twinkling with mischief as the whole keeping serious thing hadn't lasted long.

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

She sniffed and took a sip of her coffee, deliberately turning and walking away from him.

He'd follow, she was sure--it was fairly obvious that she wasn't pissed about it--and why not walk through the park?

"You think?" she teased.

[need-no-moon.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes," he said easily. It wasn't too hard to catch up with her and he stuffed his hands in his pockets. "When I'm really, really bored."

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

"Most people think when they aren't bored," she noted, casting a side-long glance at him. "Because they're doing something that requires thought."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

It was getting cold, and that reminded Dolf of winters back home - and less of summers somewhere else. He supposed that was something of a blessing, at least, to calm his mind and put him more squarely back into the reality of the now.

He had his hands stuffed in his pockets, because he still didn't have a job, and so not a lot of money -- what he had, he was saving for Cally's Saint Nicholas Day present, but the downswing of it was that he didn't have any gloves.

But either way, he wasn't used to a lot of people being here at this time of morning, and so spotting the girl made him pause and smile at her briefly. Which immediately made him feel awkward, but the move had been made.

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

She was--mildly surprised at the smile, but it seemed to be her day for talking to those who she didn't normally see much of. First the girl from the hotel...

Jacob didn't count. Jacob was a very special pest of hers.

"Good morning," she said, her voice calm rather than truly pleasant, but that was pleasant enough all on its own, wasn't it?

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"Good morning," Dolf replied. At least he didn't sound too nervous; the island had him awkward enough most of the time, with his ill-defined space among the students and the language barrier. "Out for a walk?"

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

A faint smile played about her lips.

"I enjoy being outdoors and it's not so cold as to be uncomfortable as of yet," she said easily. "And you?"

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"I think it is getting pretty cold," Dolf admitted, shrugging both of his shoulders together. "But I like it here. The ducks and the water and all of it." It reminded him a little of home.

It was also a completely inane statement, but at least it was true.

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

Even if she'd been cold, she'd have lied. Suit meant keeping her pride up.

"It's peaceful," she replied, with a glance at the water. "In a different way than the ocean is."

[swordsandsoccer.livejournal.com]

"I'm not really a big fan of the beach," he admitted. Not that the sea wasn't familiar, either, but it tended to remind him of how far he was from the other end of it. "Are you from a seaside country, then?"

[give-areason.livejournal.com]

"No." If Rosalind sounded far-away for a moment, surely she could be forgiven? "My home--even the sun is never seen. All of this is something we do not have much of."