Random 48

"I wanted to talk to him," Sylvie answered slightly confused, ignoring the second half of the statement. Then she concentrated on the suggestion made. "Do you have peppers?"

Meanwhile Ayu-Asra opened his maws wide, showing off two pointed tongues and hissing. On the part of the right head there was an unplanned belch, accompanied by a faint wisp of smoke.

"I think I do," Auker replied, giving a look to the half-elf. Sebastian appeared to be busy staring at Ayu-Asra in a way that was... far too curious for his own good. "Er, green peppers are fine, right?"

Sylvie nodded. While Auker gave her an overview of the provisions present, Ayu-Asra met Sebastian's look. Judging from his bristling crests, he was suspicious.

After some fifteen minutes' worth of deliberation on the required ingredients (and some Auker-ish yapping at poor Rosz), Auker set off to work herself. "It'll take some work, getting Monty off his arse," she said chipperly as she handed Rosz a list of things to buy. The boy looked nervous and a little envious when he finally wandered out the backdoor; Auker gave Sylvie and Sebastian a set of instructions before she left, babbling energetically until the moment she stepped out.

Sebastian had outwardly been ignoring the "conversation", but as the door slammed shut, he let out a sigh and leaned back in his chair. The dragon would just have to live without his attention now. "Tea?" he asked quietly.

"Good idea." Sylvie picked up the teapot and shook it - yes, there seemed to be something left - found a cup for herself and joined Sebastian at the table. She poured for both of them and said, "You look like smalltalk would do you good, but the only topic that comes to my mind is weather."

"Thank you," he said, rubbing his forehead with a pair of fingers. He took the cup in one hand and looked up from it, at Sylvie. The remark earned her a brief smile. "I think we can manage something. We talked about dreams at some point, didn't we?"

She didn't remember exactly. "The kind you have at night, or the ideas you build your life around?"

"Well, either is suitable for our purposes. I believe we talked about the latter, and I already mentioned I had nightmares last night. I'm sure it's the present situation playing tricks on me." He sipped some tea. "Let's talk about the ideas we build our lives around. I want a vacation, to start with."

"Mhh, yes." Looking for something not wet, she said, "It's been a while since I saw any mountains. There is something very impressive about sharp-edged peaks in clear air."

This was just the kind of thing to get the half-elf started. He smelled the tea for a moment before he began, slowly: "There is. And there's somethng equally impressive about the view from the mountains, especially when there are no clouds at all, or only distant ones. It's been a while since I was up on a mountain. Not the best place to live, heavens no, but I miss the view. Wintertime, fall or summer."

Sylvie shuddered. "I've been in winter-mountains once, and am not particularly interested in repeating that experience."

Sebastian-Kai smiled. "They're not too pleasant in the summer either, are they? No, you know. I think, right now, that I would like to go back to that little river and that warm day just before this... mess."

Well, here we are again. Sylvie took a sip of tea, which had turned rather bitter, while considering that.

"With knowledge of what'd happen, that might even be not only pleasant, but useful, too."

"Too bad it doesn't work that way," he said, licking the corner of his mouth to clean a spot of tea. "But it was pleasant, which is what I'm trying to say. I liked that day, all things considered. I wouldn't mind another go, after all this."

"Nor would I," she answered smiling.

He raised his eyebrows a little, opting to just warm his fingers with the cup for now. "A well-prepared basket of food and a nice riverbend. Where, well, nothing to even think about there. Away?" Still, he found himself entertaining a little thought, but caught himself quickly. It would do no good to possibly give the Lady Luck some ammunition, just on the off chance that she did read his mind. It certainly seemed like it sometimes, Sebastian-Kai lamented and inspected his... was she a business associate, or just partner-in-miracle?

"Sounds like a plan." For whenever the weather was better, of course. She met his inspecting look with a questioning one.

"Deal, then," he said, tilting his head with a faint smile before looking away at the windowpane and the sound of pouring rain. Is this weather really getting to me? he wondered momentarily, adjusting his grip on the cup. "I like the sea," he admitted then. "Provided it's not too damned cold."

Sylvie frowned. "It's just in my head, I guess, but cold, really cold sea, would appear like something gone terribly wrong to me." She shot a shrug and a half smile after that.

"Oh, definitely. A gigantic landmass that turns out to be an iceberg would qualify, I guess?" He refrained from mentioning the bears. And the arctic foxes, which had been, if possible, even worse than common red ones.