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| Details |
| Author: | Athena |
| Summary: | After an exchange of letters back and forth, Oranna Stormbreaker meets Tadget Springblade for an interview to possibly work with the Cobalt Company accountant out of professional respect. After the same exchange of letters back and forth, Tadget Springblade meets with Oranna Stormbreaker for a date out of interest in how this dwarf has clearly fallen absolutely head-over-heels for the gnome. Maybe it's best they just stay gals being pals. 2400-ish words. |
| Rating: | T for Teen |
Oranna takes a deep breath, and smooths a hand over her hair again. It's clear from the slight frizz to it that she has done this significantly more than once, and it has likely made the stray hair situation worse. She enters the Pig and Whistle Tavern, trying her best to project confidence.
The tavern is not crowded, but it is bustling with energy from the dinner crowd, and Oranna bites her lip and she looks for the gnome she knows only by description. Not seeing her, Oranna sighs and eyes the tables still available. There is one under the stairs, dark and secluded. A candelabra is lit upon the table at least though, and it seems far enough away from the rest of the crowd.
Oranna waves over the server making the circuit between tables, sits down at the small table, and waits.
Nearby in the shadows, a gnome lurks. Assessing, peridot-green eyes narrow as the dwarf enters, and the judging gaze makes a quick sweep of Oranna from head to toe. Thoughtful fingertips tap at her lower lip. Then she gives a little shrug, as if to say, hell, why not, and creeps silently along in an arc that keeps her out of the dwarf's eyeline, but allows her to approach behind her soundlessly as she sits down.
She waits for the moment when Oranna has juuuuust started to relax and then says from a slightly too intimate distance behind her, very quietly and sweetly, "Hello."
Oranna gasps a little, and turns around, her eyes wide. She doesn't entirely relax once she sees who it is. With a quick, smooth motion, she stands and turns to the gnome. "Oh! Ah, ye, ye mus' be Lady Springblade." She holds out a hand with a smile. "It's a pleasure ta, ah, meet ye, in person, tha' is. Oranna Stormbreaker." She pauses, and makes a sound. "No, ah, of course, ye, ye already knew tha'." She coughs and gestures to the table.
"I, I hope ye don't mind I picked tha table? I thought, well, it…it's a good dark corner, an' tha's…well, seemed ri'. Good…ah, good line o' sight ta tha door, as well." She frowns at the chairs. "Did…did ye want ta move both chairs ta tha side here? Then we both ha' a…well. Ahem. You know." She waves a hand awkwardly at the door, as if to imply that they could both watch the exit.
Tadget watches Oranna stony-faced for a moment, then one corner of her mouth pulls into a smile, revealing a dimple on that side. It's a very oh I see how it is kind of smile.
"Sure, sure," she says. "You go ahead and just pull your chair right around next to mine."
She seats herself in the chair facing the door, waiting affably for Oranna to reposition the other one. She's wearing a dapper dark waistcoat of fine material, edged in the same jeweled green as her eyes, which are currently darkly lined and shadowed for a smoky effect oddly inappropriate to a business meeting. She probably wasn't wearing those boots at work either; the heels seem a little impractical.
"So," she says. "Let's start with what you've heard about me to make such an impression, and then I'll interrogate you a little. Haha, that's a bit of SI:7 humor, there. I won't interrogate you. Well, not with tools or anything. But I might ask you a few questions. I'm a curious person."
Oranna smiles, and pulls the chair to the other side of the table. She clears her throat and reaches into her pack for a flask of water. She takes a drink, and puts it back.
She runs a hand along the seam of her dark green shirt, and crosses her legs carefully under the table to keep them from dangling on the over large human chairs. She tucks a stray bit of hair behind her ears and smiles a little shly at Tadget. Her eyes widen a little at the mention of interrogation, but she pushes her smile wider.
"Well, ah. Of course Sir Elohad, ah, told us about you. An', well, tha' is. I mostly jus'…thought, well, from yer letters. It's clear ye really know yer way around, ah, people, an', ah, managing a Company like this. I really admire tha' kind o' thing. Especially, well– " Oranna pauses and chuckles lightly. "Well, Sir Elohad is tha best o' people, really, but I know he cannae be makin' it easy on ye, addin' new people, havin' e'eryone paid on time, e'en on vacation, and, ah. Well, tha's…tha's no' a job e'eryone could do, ah, alone. It's…very impressive." She seems to be fumbling for more words and takes another drink of water.
"D-do ye wan' ta order somethin' ta eat maybe?"
"Sure, I could eat," says Tadget. "I wonder about your appetite, though. You seem a little nervous."
She pauses briefly for effect, and then says in an even, silky sort of tone:
"Do I make you nervous?"
Oranna blushes a very deep red and tries, futilely, to clear her throat again. She tries to retuck her hair, but it's still tucked behind her ear securely. "I…well. I…ah. It's jus' tha'…well. Ye, I've ne'er really, ah, done this before. This kind of thing. No' wi' someone like you, I mean. I, well, I'm sure you know my history. So, I guess, in tha spirit o' honesty, yes. Ye…ye make me a wee bit nervous." Her eyes widen and she looks at the gnome as though she's waiting for something horrible to happen to her.
Tadget leans back in her chair a bit, the slightly sharklike quality of her attention receding. "I appreciate your honesty," she says primly. "You're not alone, you know. I intimidate a lot of people."
She flags down a server, and while she waits for the young man to approach the table she turns back to Oranna.
"So what kind of people have you… done this sort of thing with?" she says. "Do you just mean… dwarves? Men? There are a lot of things I'm not, so I'm not sure what you mean by 'not with someone like me.' What am I 'like,' exactly?" She dimples again.
"Oh, ah, well. I guess…well, no one before?" Her cheeks are still very pink, but her shoulders have relaxed a little. She aims a smile at Tadget, her eyes honest and warmer than before.
"I don't know tha' I've e'er really met anyone like ye before. I met a lo' o' gnomes in tha…tha Siege, in tha Second War, but most o' them were like, well, Jo. I ne'er really met anyone who trained wi' SI:7 before. It, ah, it mus' ha' given ye so many…skills." Seeming to have run into a wall of words, she looks desperately at the young man approaching the table.
"What can I get for you, sir and madam?" the server asks them. Tadget does not correct him, but when she speaks the server suddenly flushes with embarrassment; her voice is not the voice of a 'sir' at all.
"Just two of whatever the special is tonight, thanks," she says. The server nods and hurries off.
Tadget turns to look at Oranna again, and the slightly sadistic mischief in her eyes has softened a bit to something more sympathetic, almost hesitant. "No one at all?" she says. "That's not — I'm not making fun of you about it or anything — everybody's life takes a different path and all. But I just — I don't know if I'm the place you want to start. "
Oranna's eyes flit back and forth between the server and Tadget. She seems to be mentally adjusting something in her mind when Tadget doesn't correct the server's choice of pronouns.
She meets Tadget's eyes and smiles warmly. "Well, I mean, it doesn't ha' ta be ri' now. I know, it's probably a lot, an' I'd be gone so often wi' the Company tha' I mi' no' be what yer really looking for ri' now. But. If…well. I jus' thought. I've been thinkin' ahead, an' considerin' tha future, ye know, o' what might be when the Company, well, when things change, like they do. What my life mi' look like, after tha'."
Oranna recrosses her legs and takes a deep breath before she looks at Tadget, her dark brown eyes sincere. "An' I know I could be a good partner." She pauses and seems to think. "Or, ah, well, possibly subordinate? I'm no' really sure wha'…tha' is, wha' ye'd prefer, in tha' kind o'…how ye like ta run tha', personally. I could be fine either way, really! I'm very flexible an' willin' ta learn." She hears what she's said a moment after she's said it, and recalls a very different conversation in the Pig and Whistle, and blushes a very, very bright red again.
Oranna may be one of only a handful of people who has ever surprised Tadget so thoroughly that her mouth drops open. She corrects for it almost immediately, but it takes her nearly seven entire seconds before the normally glib little gnome is able to formulate a response. One of her heels taps gently against her chair, since said heel is of course nowhere near actually touching the floor.
"Well, you are not at all what I was expecting," she finally manages. "This is… definitely not what I was expecting. But I suppose… life is short, right? Kudos to you, for just— you know. You may as well just… lay it all out there, am I right?"
Another long moment, during which Tadget stares at Oranna flatly, inscrutable. When the gnome speaks again, she sounds a little uncertain, almost apologetic.
"I think… I think I might not be quite as good at that as you are. Just… laying out what I want. Or even knowing it. You may need to give me a minute."
The server returns with water glasses, and Tadget takes hers before he's quite finished setting it down, taking a long drink from it.
Oranna tilts her head a little to the side. "Ah, well, I…know I don't….ha' yer skill, wi' words an'…bein' inscrutable, all shadows an' mystery. I was ne'er goin' ta be headhunted by SI:7," she says with a chuckle, and then pauses, suddenly frowning. "Although, I guess, ah, possibly mi' ha' accidentally gotten into a situation where they mi' ha' really, ah, hunted my head."
Oranna takes a sip of her own water. "Ye…well, ye said ye mi' ha' wanted ta ask me some things? I…don't mind answerin' questions. I mi' no' always know what ta say, but I promise I'll try ta always be honest."
Tadget drinks some more water, and then sets down her glass. She looks thoughtful, serious. There is always something more of a stillness to her than other gnomes, but right now she's verging on gravitas.
"I think," she finally says, carefully, "that I probably don't need to know any more about you to know that… we're not a good fit right now, you and I. I think… what you're looking for is just… not something I can really offer. Not because there's anything wrong with you."
She turns to meet Oranna's eyes then, her own steady and almost defiant.
"I don't flatter people needlessly, you know. I know people say this kind of thing all the time just to be nice, to let you down easy, but I don't. If I thought you were ugly, or an idiot, or smelled bad, I'd just say so. I am not a nice person, ask anyone. So you'd better believe me when I say, you're going to be… a real treasure for somebody. But it's like… certain gems shine best in certain settings. I'm the wrong setting for you, I think."
Oranna sighs deeply, and looks down at the table, nodding her head. There's still a small smile on her face, but her eyes look sadder than they were a moment before. "No, it's…it's all ri' lass. I understand. I…appreciate yer honesty, an' tha', well, yer tellin' it ta me here an' now before I got…well, afore I started ta plan tha' future out."
Hesitantly, she reaches out a hand closer to the gnome, not quite daring to actually touch Tadget, but close enough that it's meant to be a gesture. "Thank ye fer sayin' tha'."
She looks into Tadget's eyes, her smile sad but filled with warmth. "An' I know the difference between nice and kind. Ye mi' no' be nice, but I know tha' yer a kind lass. I am glad tha' at least I got ta know tha' about ye. I…I hope, well, I hope ye know tha' I really appreciate what ye do fer the Company. An', well, if ye still want any strange fish I come across, I'd be happy ta send them along."
Tadget is just starting to look weirdly stricken when the server brings two plates of salad and sets them down on the table. "While you wait," he says obsequiously.
"You know," says Tadget brightly, "This will probably be enough, just the salads. You can put it on Cobalt Company's tab."
The server nods. Tadget turns back to Oranna as he leaves, and again, it seems to take her longer than usual to find her words.
"Let's… have a nice fresh salad, and just talk about our days, and we can just pretend that this whole thing was always just two pals getting together after work for salads, and there's no reason to be sad at all! But go easy on the fish, will you? I move around way too much for that sort of thing to be practical. I like letters, though. So, you know, you can write me anytime at my Booty Bay office. They'll know where to forward it."
She tucks into her salad, seeming none the worse for wear.
Oranna laughs a little, her smile warming even further and a little of the sadness fading from her eyes. "I honestly wasna sure how ta tell ye I'd probably only eat tha salad." She tries to wink, but only blinks both eyes oddly.
"So, well, do ye want ta hear how I fell into tha canal today because I got distracted tryin' ta carry three different sets of ore ta send ta the others an' was tryin' ta count how many I had fer tha' lad Dane, an' just missed tha turn off to the bridge o'er tha water by two steps. I dropped tha ore in the water, of course, an' then it was– "
She continues telling the story, gesturing and miming the great struggle of this, with enthusiasm.