RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes

Naunet · **08-21-2013, 06:56 AM**

Ulanan set the book and the jar on top of the table, on her side, and waited patiently for the chair to be brought over before climbing to it.

Antimony moved after D'hein, tail dragging low, and sat after a moment at their new table. "I really am s--" She caught herself and sighed in frustration. "Right. Desserts."

Casting Antimony a knowing smile, he said, "Every time you apologize to me for the rest of the night I'll buy you another small dessert and then force you to eat it."

Antimony cringed at that and seemingly reflexively, "Apologies, I don't-- ah! No, I'll burst!" She looked a bit helplessly towards Ulanan.

"Do not portray such a petrifying picture."

This drew a laugh from D'hein as he dropped into his seat and went searching for the menu, flipping it to deserts and offering it to Ulanan, "Here, choose what you want and then let Antimony see it."

She took the menu and glanced over it for a moment. She pointed at something in it, leaning towards the other woman so she could see: pumpkin pie with whipped cream.

Antimony flashed a small smile at Ulanan, "I'm sure it's delicious." Her head tilted slightly as she scanned the menu herself.

Waiting patiently with his hands knit in front of him, D'hein smiles and whips his tail around.

"Ahah," Antimony nodded to herself, apparently having made a decision, and then looked to the side at D'hein. "What about you?"

"Oh, I know what I want. Are we ready?"

"That sounded ominous," Ulanan nodded.

Again Antimony nodded and then stilled herself, feeling rather like a bobblehead, and simply declared, "There is a pudding, made with butterscotch and nutmeg. I will try it."

"Excellent!" And then, waving down a waiter, he declared, "We'll have pumpkin pie with whipped cream, one of those butterscotch nutmeg pudding things, and three glasses of chocolate milk." Antimony's brows lifted at D'hein's own order.

"Ah, a man of milk. Must be a modest, meticulous man."

"Milk is healthy. All a man needs is milk and love! And other stuff." He nodded, turned back to the table, smug expression on his face. It dropped within moments, though, and he looked over at Ulanan, "You're much-discussed, I'll have you know. But can you really live up to all the legends I've heard?"

Antimony's ears laid out flat, splaying out from either side of her head. "I haven't told legends."

Ulanan's expression was neutral, but she shifted in her seat. "Aw!" she exclaimed at Antimony, faking disappointment. "I'd like to be labelled with a legacy of legends." She tilted her head to D'hein. "What did you hear?"

"Ah! It's quite fantastic!" He then fell silent and thought for some time.

Antimony bit her lip, smoothed down wrinkles in the lap of her robe, and looked between Ulanan and D'hein. "Well, we met in Gridania," she offered hopefully helpfully. "Not... terribly exciting, I'm sorry."

"I also carry olives. I don't think they mix well with our current desserts, though."

"Ah, yes!" He nodded, "I'd heard that you met in Gridania, and came with her all the way here. Legendary friendship!" He looked around as if he expected the desserts already.

"I did appreciate Ulanan's presence very much," Antimony said with a touch of solemnity and a firm nod, looking to the lalafell.

Ulanan smiled. "It was an interesting journey."

"It was a legendary journey," observed D'hein, passively, "Or so the legends say." Turning back to the table, he looked over towards Ulanan, "I'd love to hear about the tale told by its very protagonist."

"Legends! Who is saying these legends? I never said anything about legends," Antimony sighed, but wove her fingers together in her lap and watched Ulanan.

"I'm afraid it only involved lots and lots of walking and useless chocobos."

"And Megiddo was pleasant company, for the most part," Antimony added with a faint chuckle. "Moreso than the chocobos, at least."

D'hein's ears fell back on his head, and he gave Antimony a very straight look, "Hm? Who now? No doubt this M'Gido is some jealous Nunh, hm?"

She gave D'hein a baffled look. "Why do you always assume a... jealous Nunh...?" She shook her head.

"He's an old elezen hermit." She raised one hand to cover her mouth while chuckling. "Was I a jealous Nunh, too? Is that why you pointed at me with a dinner knife?"

"Supposedly," Antimony nodded at Ulanan. "But no, Megiddo was not... either of those things, jealous or a Nunh. He was very helpful though. Took me all the way to Gridania."

Crossing his arms and looking affronted, D'hein remarked, "Jealous Nunhs... Let's just say it's come up!... Anyway, sounds like you've got a pile of great friends."

"Oh, I don't know if I... is two a pile...?"

"I could stand on his shoulders. Then we would be a pile."

Gesturing to Ulanan, D'hein remarked, "You see. It counts."

Their desserts arrived around this time, the same waiter from before - the overly tall elezen - slipping the pie, pudding, and three glasses of chocolate milk into place so smoothly as to hardly be noticed. Antimony offered him a smile and thanks and then, "Well, I suppose if you're going to speak in literal terms..."

"If we can use literal terms to poke holes in some colloquialisms, we can use them to support others." He took hold of his glass of milk, eyeing it with a smile, "Sorry. I get grumpy when there's no milk around."

Ulanan reached to her own glass, holding it with both hands and drank from it. "I didn't know milk had such soothing qualities."

Ducking her head, Antimony took a spoonful of her pudding, and her ears perked up a bit at the sharp scent and accompanying rich taste. "I would object to turning my words around on me, but... ah, I suppose that's fair."

D'hein was quiet, smiling and chuckling at the taste of his milk.

Ulanan decided to take a slice of the pumpkin pie, raising a brow at D'hein's weird chuckling. "You sure like milk."

"Well of course I do! It's... probably the best thing in the world. At least when it's well-kept and preserved, but that's true for anything worth having."

Antimony kept to herself for a few minutes, focusing on the dessert and not making a fool of herself, until her head shot up along with her ears, and her tail whipped behind her in realization. "Oh! Oh no, I'm so sorry, I... Ulanan, I completely forgot to introduce you to... well!" And she gestured to D'hein, spoon still in hand, "Ulanan, this is one of my future employers with the Commerce Regulation Agency, D'hein... ah, D'hein..." She trailed off and blinked, then turned to look at the miqo'te curiously

"Yes, I know, the legendary Ulanan."

Her brow furrowed. "No, I... ah, I've realized I'm not entirely sure how to refer to you." Her ears twitched a bit uncomfortably.

"Pleased to meet you. The desserts had no involvement in that pleasure" Ulanan said, smiling and chomping a piece of pie.

"Likewise, legendary Lalafel. Haha!" His ears swiveled in a curious bundle of motions before simply directing themselves to either side as he turned to Antimony and said, "Perhaps I choose to forego my regulatory title the same way you choose to forego your Miqo'te name. Does it really matter if I'm Nunh or Tia?"

Antimony leaned back slightly. "Oh, I'm sorry, I meant nothing by it, only... well, no." She smiled then and shook her head. "No, it doesn't matter."

"Of course it matters or you wouldn't ask." He frowned rather deeply, but founds his chocolate milk to chase it away.

"And you asked about my name," Antimony countered.

At that, D'hein practically bit, "You chose your name. It means something."

At that, Antimony looked down and away with a frown. "... It doesn't matter. Whether you're a Nunh or Tia, or what my name is. I am sorry; I won't ask again."

Ulanan remained oblivious to all. Or at least, she pretended. Maybe the pumpkin pie and the cream on it were just too good.

Looking frustrated, D'hein took refuge in his milk. But it did not sate him this time, for he had run out of it.

After a pause, Antimony sighed and glanced down at her mostly-eaten dessert. "Perhaps it's gotten late enough," she ventured carefully.

Nodding once, "If that's how you feel, then, farbeit from me to disagree." He pulled out his bag of gil and began to count out payment, found himself unsure of how much he owed, so just huffed in exasperation, tossed more than was obviously necessary on the table, and stood roughly, "They can just keep the rest as tip. Or you can take it. I don't care. Good night."

Ulanan said simply "Good night.", finishing her pie slice in two bites.

For several seconds, Antimony froze, startled and then anxious by the suddenness, before hastily collecting herself and nodding towards D'hein. "Thank you for the meal," she adds and bows her head before glancing to Ulanan, inner tension only slightly visible in her eyes. "We should walk together, what with it having gotten dark."

Not bothering to look behind him, ears flat against his thick hair, D'hein made his way out of the restaurant, tail whipping about and whacking things the whole way.

Ulanan jumped down her chair, making sure to pick up the book and the jar of olives she had left on the table previously. "He looks like a good fella."

As soon as D'hein had walked away, Antimony practically crumpled and turned to the lalafell, "Oh Ulanan, that was a mess! I'm positive he's going to return to his partner and... and I'll find myself out of a job by morning!"

"Did you tell them about the assasins?"

She cast a rather pitiful look Ulanan's way, harried and despondent. "Well... not explicitly, no."

"One would think that was a very important thing you would mention at some point."

Antimony blinked hard at Ulanan and then exclaimed, "What good will that do when they're bound to fire me! Three times, I've seen them three times now, and each one is just... horrible!"

Ulanan soothed her with a gentle pat to the leg. "I'm sure you weren't so horrible."

Her ears down-turned, tail brushing against the ground, Antimony frowned. "You didn't see... Ildur Vaernian showed up on my doorstep and I'd been... well, I'd been lighting candles. Dozens of them! Enough to burn my home down, and I don't know why, and I just couldn't stop talking." She looked distressed. "And then when I took the contract to them, I made a horrid mess, knocked right into D'hein and spilled his milk all over the floor - and I don't think they were happy with the changes I'd made to the contract, either. And now tonight...!"

"Stop." Ulanan interrupted the Miqo'te by walking in front of her and raising both hands, looking up and frowning. "Calm down. Anyone would be a mess if their employers died mysteriously after assassins attacked you. Twice. Calm down and..." She raised the jar of olives, "Have an olive!"

Antimony turned her head so she was looking sideways at Ulanan and felt rather young in that moment - certainly not the nearing-50 of reality. She held out one hand to accept an olive and sighed. "... You're right. I'm sorry. Perhaps... Perhaps I should seek to apologize tomorrow." A pause. "Though that may make things worse."

"No. Just wait to see what they do. You can apologize after they have hired you."

Antimony sighed, and then chuckled lowly before pushing herself wearily to her feet. "Of course, you're right." She looked down at Ulanan and smiled. "Thank you. We should be going, though. I'll walk you back to your hotel."

Ulanan moved out of Antimony's way. "You're the one with assassin-aches. I'll walk -you- back to your home." She gestured onwards. "And we can talk about why you keep so many candles there."

"For reading, of course," Antimony stated matter-of-factly, though only after a reluctant pause. She moved to walk alongside Ulanan as the pair exited the Bismark into the open night air.

Third Time is Not the Charm [story, ooc welcome]

RPC has moved! These pages have been kept for historical purposes