Cygnet to Arryk: “You look cold,” she observed. She thought a moment, then unwound her scarf from her neck and reached up to put it on him. “Here. You can have my scarf. I don’t mind the chill.”
"Do you normally just give your things to strangers?" Arryk remarked a bit skeptical looking of her, though with a fair amount of amusement in his voice as he looked down at her. She knew Troy and Aemond? That's about as much as he'd gathered briefly from afar inside the large house party currently going in inside. He'd otherwise been otherwise occupied up until now. Harwin had shown finally which meant he for the moment could take a break from standing inside and looking intimidating so that their 'other guests' from Ireland wouldn't get any smart ideas. Yes it was actually one of those parties beneath the surface. Business but disguised as a simple fall party with fancy foods and a variety of guests that knew the family.
Suffice to say yeah, he was definitely cold standing out here but it was his one moment to escape the noise for a time and a moment long enough he could fully collect his thoughts.
"Material things only have the value we assign to them," Cygnet answered. Her voice, much like Sebastian's lately, was a near-perfect monotone, only in her case, it didn't come from depression, necessarily. It was just the way she talked. Like Cin, she'd be turning 22 in February. However, where Cin was a senior majoring in chemistry, Cygnet had taken it really slow with her course load and was in mostly sophomore classes, some of which she shared with Troy and most of which she shared with Aemond. She had also never declared a major, which, once you got to know her, wasn't overly surprising. She was either highly ambivalent or highly apathetic verging on antipathetic. No-one quite knew which.
"This has more value if it brings you warmth than if I wear it as a decoration while allowing you to be cold," she added. She didn't feel the need to ask him why he didn't have a scarf. She'd come outside for a similar reasonー to escape the hubbub that made it hard to properly people-watchー and had almost collided directly with the solemn man.
"I mean.... Yeah I guess if you put it that way. How are you NOT cold?" He replied with a brief raise of his eyebrow before his gaze moved back to the snow again. Moving to briefly take a drag of his cigarette. Yikes honestly by now his finger were freezing and he was debating breaking into Erryk’s truck knowing the other DID smoke in there verses his own car which. He was more anal on even as a smoker. The seat covers were custom. Yeah speaking of such a topic....
"I'm originally Swiss," Cygnet answered. Well, her family was from an area of France that was on the Swiss border, but Cygnet herself had lived in Basel for a few years as a child. It was an easy explanation to most of her peculiarities: she wasn't weird, she was just foreign.
"Your fingers are almost blue," she observed. She didn't have any gloves on, nor was she carrying any at the moment. "You know, I live just a couple houses down if you want to get out of the cold for a few minutes. My uncle won't mind; he's in the South of France at the moment visiting my mother."
"No shit? Funny... So was my great grandma" He replied with a bit of a chuckle finally. Small works right? Well he his brother weren't entirely Swiss now they had British, and a hint of Irish mixed in there but they definitely both looked like they had Vikings for great ancestors for a reason. What with both being fairly tall and able to grow thick ass beards alone.
Still didn't mean he loved the cold, or else he was just a wuss. Whichever he didn't really care. The other could be the fact he'd been raised for at least half his life here? Yeah it definitely wasn't nearly as cold hear at least during the day as it got in London or Ireland where his aunt lived.
"Are they? Hadn't noticed" He remarked taking a final drag of his cigarette and moving to step on it so it sunk into the snow. However hearing her he glanced at her raising an eyebrow. And a neighbor? Interesting and definitely noted. "You have drinks there?" He asked a bit offhandedly. The idea of dipping was definitely a bit tempting as it was. That and he'd have to have been an idiot to turn down the offer to hang out with a pretty girl. Harwin would just have to deal with him possibly.... Poofing.
His family was Swiss? Interesting. She would have taken him for a Norseman, she thought, filing the information away.
"I have cocoa and cider," she said. "You'll have to spike them yourself. A wise person learns from the mistakes of others and I have no desire to experience legal tedium from playing amateur chemist." She turned and began walking to her house, calling back over her shoulder, "I'll show you where the liquor and medicine cabinet is."
"Fair enough...." Arryk replied after a brief moment watching as she'd turned to leave before looking back to the door of the house. Finally though he moved to catch up with her only slowing once he was near beside her. "Take it you really wanted to get out of there? Or you usually call it quits so early in the night" He finally asked a bit curious. It definitely wasn't late yet she seemed pretty intent on heading for her place. He definitely doubted it was for his sake so? Well it was something to at least make conversation to distract them both from the chilly night air.
Wanted? Cygnet tested the word in her mind for a moment. It felt strange, foreign, even intrusive, when applied to herself.
"Your hands are blue," she repeated from earlier. There was no inflection, nothing to suggest impatience or that she was restating something obvious. "My home is nearby. I intern for Mad Tech part-time and my boss lent me beta equipment for testing that you can use to keep an eye on the party in case you want to head back." Her direct supervisor was Catherine Maddock, but most people familiar with the company would automatically assume she meant the owner, Trent.
"Ooh.... Yeah no I think they'll live without me for a bit" Arryk replied with a bit of a roll of his eyes. Yeah he immediately knew which company being as used to Trent's lingering presence as he was. He honestly found the other male a bit unnerving at best. Something was just, so off about the guy it literally made his skin crawl.
What a curious thing to say. Of course they would live without him. However, Cygnet did not comment as she continued leading Arryk to her house.
She opened the door, which she'd left unlocked, turned on the living room light, and carelessly removed her jacket and put it on the back of the fur-draped leather couch a few paces in. "Come on in," she said, blinking golden eyes over at him. The place was painted in blue gradients, light up top and darker at the bottom, with a mural of sea life decals. She stopped to fondly stroke a viperfish on the antenna. Every table and counter was decorated with seashells, both real and otherwise, and even her home phone was shaped like a conch shell.
She walked to the fireplace and set a fire with one of those little dollar store torches, then went to the kitchen. She set water to drip in a coffee pot and pulled out a tin of chocolate powder from the cabinet. "It'll be ready in a few minutes. The liquor and drugs are above the stove, and the stepladder's... Oh, you're tall, so you won't need it."
Well she certainly wasn't Trent level weird but, the longer he'd been talking to her, been around her? She was definitely a bit off. He'd caught a few of her looks that almost seemed a bit off for the things he'd been saying. Following her inside his eyes briefly looked over the inside which was pretty cool honestly. He almost got distracted looking at some of the decals and decor littering the place and making it look like he was walking through a damn aquarium.
However he'd caught up after a moment and briefly moved to lean on the counter. And the step ladder? He'd actually already started moving for the cabinet when she said that and it sort of made him chuckle. "Yeah, I think I can reach... Thanks" He mused moving over to open the top cabinet eyeing what was inside for a moment before finally reaching up to grab one of the bottles. Moving back to the counter he went back to lean for a moment just sort of watching her quietly for a moment.
She didn't mind, if she even noticed at all. She put her jacket away in the hall closet and walked back to her bedroom to grab some blankets. A couple were those fuzzy, fleecy ones that insulate better than duvets. The others were crocheted from chenille yarn, blues and greens twined into each other. She set them on the couch.
By now, the water had fully dripped into the 5-cup pot. She made her way into the kitchen and scooped a healthy amount of chocolate powder into it, then stirred with a long-handled spoon. Once fully mixed, she separated it into two cups and added vanilla creamer, sprinkles of nutmeg and clove, and marshmallows to hers. She left those accoutrements out for Arryk.
"Have some," she invited him. "It'll keep you warm. Warmer than Cin's first husband, at least." She paused and furrowed her brow. "Mm, maybe not. Second circle isn't one of the cold ones, but then, that's all fan fiction anyway. Courtesy of his cellmate, of course." Her expression cleared and she looked up at Arryk, drinking in his rather handsome features. "Have you read La Divina Commedia?" she asked. "I'm still working on Inferno, but I know the beats through cultural osmosis."
By the time she'd came wandering out Arryk had already removed his coat and the scarf leaving them on the back of a chair leaving him in the silky purple long sleeve button up he'd worn for the party. After that he'd gone for the dark rum bottle and managed to find a cup to down a few shots while he was waiting on her and the water she had heating.
For a time he'd ended up distracted on his phone until she came wandering back into the kitchen. Briefly glancing up he sort of watching her for a moment before moving to pocket the phone in his slacks again and downing the rest of the drink in his hand. Which he immediately choked on a bit at her comment about one of the girl husband's. Jesus fucking Christ brutal...
"Wait someone wrote fanfiction about a guy in jail?" About all he got out of that at first. Moving to mix up his own drink he cast her a look from the corner of his eyes "Darlin I haven't read anything since ..... Shit I was a junior maybe? And I definitely don't remember what it was. Well ok actually.... " He paused in thought for a moment. "I mean I guess articles on my phone count and so did the textbooks that came with the mechanic classes I took but, I definitely mainly skimmed those" He admitted with a chuckle as he shifted where he was standing and went to lean on the table for a moment taking a brief sip of the drink in his hand.
Cygnet shook her head and clarified, "The Divine Comedy is a Bible fanfiction. The first third of it, Inferno, describes the nine levels of Hell and the sins associated with them. The second level is lust, which in and of itself, the author Dante considered a minor sin, but it did land Cin's husband in jail shortly after they married. He'd been on house arrest before. Presumably he was convicted, because he was imprisoned for life and she got word that he had been killed by his cellmate."
She cocked her head the other way. Curious, very curious. A man entirely uninterested in reading and education, yet he certainly seemed intelligent, in a worldly sort of way. She herself would be a student for the rest of her life, at a snail's pace or otherwise, and when she could no longer see to read, she would become reliant on audiobooks, which she already enjoyed to a degree now. People who didn't care about school mystified her.
Still, she couldn't say Arryk was unpleasant by any stretch of the imagination. He had always been civil, and perhaps he could even be kind. Those qualities were, she was told, just as important as intelligence. He wasn't hard on the eyes, either. In fact, before today, she'd caught herself sneaking glances at him at other functions similar to tonight's. This was as good a time as any to get to know each other.
"You've trained as a mechanic?" she asked.
"Yeah, I did for awhile. Before...." He paused briefly rethinking actually saying the whole 'Before I dropped out to take care of my mother' he knew better than to flash baggage even if it might make him look good. "Well I dropped out so I didn't technically finish. What I do now pays more" He joked with a bit of goofy smirk and eyebrow waggle as he moved to lean back against the counter. "But I at least know more than some of these jack offs. Grew up taking shit apart just to see how it worked, I'm more of a hands-on guy if you know what I mean. Books are helpful but ... Not as much as just getting in and figuring that shit out by trial and era. At least when it comes to cars and shit like that" He added with a shrug. "Didn't make my mom to happy though .... Especially the time I pulled apart her tv and hadn't figured out how to put it back normal by the time. Then of course block head fucking knocked the screen over and broke it" He added with a bit of a laugh at the memory of it. Fucking Erryk had been the wild one when they were kids and had come running through the living area with his two friends and yeah, bad things had happened.
That made sense. College could be a black hole when it came to money. She was lucky enough to have a friend paying for her tuition, as she'd just barely disqualified for FAFSA and her course load was, as a rule, too light to keep a scholarship.
His goofiness was contagious, and she smiled back at him. She felt her cheek flush slightly when he mentioned being a hands-on guyー 'Shame on you, that wasn't what he meant!'ー and found herself listening far more attentively.
"I've heard that's typical for boys," she said with a little nod. "Girls study with their eyes, boys study with their hands. It's just a stereotype, but the two of us are good examples."
He shrugged a bit "Yeah I guess we are..." He agreed with a shrug before moving to take another swig of his drink. "You smoke?" He asked rather randomly as he glanced over at her with a raised eyebrow. He definitely didn't mean cigarettes though he was not quite to the point of realizing she was more book smart than social ques smart.
That and let's be honest if she hadn't picked up at least slightly on the fact he was at least half a playboy she was definitely socially off. He hadn't actually even flirted with a girl who didn't at least smoke weed in quite a hot minute. Social norms of his typical cried you could say. Then again it consisted of mostly party animals, gear heads and work associates.
Cygnet shook her head. "The only drugs I enjoy are caffeine and small amounts of alcohol," she clarified. "I don't mind if you smoke, though. My mom had parties all the time and the house was always hazy, back home."
"Really? Wow... You know technically pot isn't a drug though. It's an herb" He replied a bit teasingly to her as he moved to pull the pen from his pocket which he'd already had a decent amount of wax added to before he'd left home. Enough to smoke a couple times throughout the night at least.
"But alright little miss goody three shoes, you don't smoke, you hardly drink, ever gambled?" He asked with a bit of a smirk. JESUS have mercy on his back soul what kind of Mormon virgin’s house was he in? Yeah he wouldn't have blatantly told her that but it was definitely a thought. Least she was pretty hot for.... apparently being a slightly ruffled straight edge.
"Technically mushrooms are fungi," she replied. "Technically alcohol is the product of fermentation." If he wanted to sass, she could sass him right back.
She wanted to ask him if she looked like she was made of money. Instead, she said, "I'm told my grandparents lost two million dollars playing the stock market. I took it as a cautionary tale."
While she was at it, she could explain her other answer. "If you must know, I don't like the taste of alcohol. I don't drink anything I didn't watch poured. I don't accept anything on the rocks because ice can be drugged. I don't do drugs because, regardless of regulations, the wrong batch can cause a reaction." She looked him dead in the eye. "Last year, I had a bad reaction to either a bad edible or a... something-pam that was in my drink, or both. It was the worst hangover of my life and I was unable to study for the test the next day. Needless to say I also forgot anything I'd attempted to study that night before that... happened. You can think of me as uptight. I prefer to call it playing it safe."
"Woah there gorgeous. Nothing wrong with sticking to your guns" He replied with a bit of an awkward chuckle. Yeah he hadn't exactly expected an explanation but he couldn't blame her either hearing that. "Look I'm sorry I wasn't trying to pry. We all make our own choices.... I mean shit I may do all of the above but I tend to avoid Gin for example. Shit tends to make me a bit on the angry side. To the point this one time I apparently ripped one of those stuffed deer off the wall of this casino one time and attempted to ram these three douche bags. Apparently it was funny ... I can't remember it all too well I just remember a hangover in a jail cell was terrible so I avoid that strong ass trash anymore. That was like the fifth time I tried to beat someone up while drinking it" He explained with a chuckle. "Point being I get playing it safe... Just took me a few more dumb ass mistakes before I decided to" He added with a faint smirk before he moved to take a hit of the pen.
Cygnet nodded. "A stuffed deer?" she echoed. "Did someone get that on...." She trailed off as she realized the stupidity of the question she was asking. "Never mind, I'll ask my boss for the footage. She's almost as good at hacking security as her brother."
"I'm sure there is some. Place was fucking packed" He replied with a bit of a laugh. By now he was starting to feel it for sure and definitely missed the whole Trent's sister part of that comment. "You know what I'd actually pay to see that .... I was told it was pretty hilarious" He added with snicker. "What about you any actually funny drunk stories? I mean you said you drink so I'm sure there's some.... Even if it was just witnessing another jack off such as myself" He mused all to smoothly making a joke at his own expense.
"I'll ask her rates," Cygnet said seriously.
Hmm. Did she have any funny stories? That really depended on your definition of funny.
"Nothing involving property destruction, but... I did once try to call my car to pick me up, as in, the literal car. I forgot the number, so I stood on the bar and tried to do a car-summoning dance. Apparently that's a funny story, too."
"A.... What...!? Jesus now I just feel lame with my fighting bullshit. A car-summoning dance!" He by now was laughing that was for sure though after a moment he stopped for a moment taking a hit of the pen once more before slipping it away. "So did it work? Did your car come floating into the bar like a magic carpet for you?" He teased with a smirk.
"I don't remember," Cygnet said thoughtfully. "Probably not. I did find some money in my clothes afterwards, though, or at least what was left of them when I woke up the next day."
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