In the Times we Can't Sleep... Who: Davie and Cathryn When: Anesus 2, After the meeting for the new arrivals Where: In the Courtyard
When Davie had made his way to the evening's large meeting, he had wished he could go to bed instead. Now the meeting was over, rules had been explained, chores had been assigned, people had very vaguely met each other, and Davie found himself frustratingly awake. He had actually gone back to his room long enough to lay down for about a minute before deciding that he wasn't able to keep his eyes shut even that long and would be better served familiarizing himself with the complex.
It was thus that he found himself wandering aimlessly around the Compound at what he would typically consider the middle of the night, poking his head into various public rooms while not stopping in any of them for very long. He had to admit he was surprised at the number of people still up and about at this hour, though quite a few of them were Vrykolas, and he supposed that was to be expected. He didn't bother taking too much note of who he saw or what they were doing; for the moment he was considerably more interested in the building itself than in any of its inhabitants. He would be stuck with the same people for the next six years, but he figured getting to know the grounds sooner rather than later would probably be to his advantage.
After a bit of wandering, he noticed the courtyard and moreover that it seemed to be unoccupied. The weather was cold, but not so bad while he was wearing a jacket over a shirt with equally long sleeves. It seemed like an ideal location to just sit for a while. After the crowded meeting and all the information it presented, he could use a quiet place to sit and sort out his thoughts, anyway. With a quiet "oof," he flopped himself to the ground and sprawled out on his back, his arms crossed behind his head. At the very least the sky was something more interesting to stare at than his ceiling.
The moon, he found, was a pleasant sight, despite the unpleasant associations he had with the moons in general since his accident. In truth, that was more an association other people had. There was only one moon that bothered him, and this one wasn't it. He wondered how long it would take before the people here started whispering about him whenever a full moon rose. He somehow doubted he would be able to keep his past a secret for the entire time he was here, but maybe if he was careful it wouldn't get out too soon. Maybe if he was really careful, it wouldn't get out at all. For now, all he could really hope was that there wasn't anyone around who already knew, or who would find it very easy to guess. And for this moment he didn't have to worry about it at all, given that his only present company was the moonlight.
However, as life is often want to do, solitude is often disrupted. Even with the most well intentioned of people, which Cathryn could be, in the least intended circumstances, such as those she'd found herself in.
The meeting, while late in Cathryn's mind, had been helpful in making this place more sensible. After early this morning, and breakfast with Harlan and Jacta, Cathryn hadn't known what to expect. The subtle dominance of males in the other two species had only just barely begun to touch her consciousness, largely out of the still limited contact she'd had with either of the foreign (to her) species.
Still, she hadn't been settled enough from earlier to get to sleep, which was a rare enough condition with her that Cathryn felt vaguely irritated with herself. Stepping out into the courtyard from the door by the stairs, she found herself quietly enjoying the crisp, fresh air of the evening. The light of the moon was even pretty, when Cathryn thought about it. She realized she didn't normally. Maybe she'd get more used to seeing the stars and the moons as objects of beauty, and not just aspects of religion and indicators of the lateness of an hour.
In this one almost agonizing consideration, Cathryn didn't notice the other dark body out in the yard. She'd have continued to think that perhaps she was alone, if the lump laying on the stones of the courtyard hadn't resolved itself into the vague shape of a person as she squinted. Pulling her country-bred politeness around her like a cloak, she said, with a fair amount of sobriety, "Pardon. Would you mind if I join you? Inside feels almost too crowded, just right now, and I'd rather not feel I'm intruding."
Davie grimaced ever so slightly as his ears picked up the sound of footsteps in the courtyard. He had hoped the person attached to those footsteps would just as quickly leave the courtyard and not notice him laying there, but no such luck. He was at least grateful that it wasn't a Lykos that was asking for the pleasure of his company.
"Yeah, sure," he muttered, in such a way that made him sound neither irritated by the request nor interested in the person who had asked. What she had said was reasonable enough. After all, that was the same reason he had decided to make a place for himself out in the courtyard. Why shouldn't she do the same? He supposed he should be making some effort toward making a good impression on people while he had the chance, though it probably didn't matter too much. He suspected once his secret got out, any effort he had made toward being nice to people would dissolve just like it had when he first became strange. Even so, it might be worth making an effort, especially where people he might eventually end up partnering with were concerned.
"Couldn't sleep either?" he inquired, not bothering to look at her while he said it. He figured that had to be the case. He was more of an early-riser in general than most people he had met, but he would be hard pressed to name a human who was quite nocturnal enough to be up naturally at this hour.
Cathryn turned her head to half regard him before answering his question. "No," she said, "Between the ruckus a few folk have been raising in the basement sitting area and the nap I forced myself to take this afternoon, I can't settle down." She frowned, her lips barely turning down at the corners. Most facial emotions were in minute degrees with Cathryn, as with all the members of her family and community - with the exception of her little sister.
Not feeling the need to maintain conversation for the moment, Cathryn lapsed into silence. She wasn't prone to conversation unless a situation demanded it, and the Compound had been more demanding than normal.
She did, however, figure the least she could do was introduce herself. At some point. "Must be cold enough to keep the rest of folks indoors." She pulled her shawl more tightly around herself. "Still, it's nice." Particularly for the clarity of the air, the quality of the sky, the soft light on the cold stones. For the silence of the night from the standpoint of human, and other, activity. The loudest things were the more normal inhabitants of nature, beyond the Compound's walls, the muted voices inside, and breathing.
Davie was thankful that the other person didn't seem terribly interested in conversation. Much as he had been hoping to be completely by himself, a little company -- of the quiet and human kind -- was not unpleasant. The fact that she seemed perfectly content to sit by him was comforting on some level as well; it meant that she wasn't aware of his background. In his experience, people only sat next to him when forced, and grudingly then.
"Yeah, seems like," he replied simply to her comment about people staying inside. "Or they're all more social than we are," he added with a wry smile. Most of the people he had seen inside had been in groups, talking or laughing about this or that. He suspected that most of them wouldn't be quite as drawn to the quiet solitude that the courtyard currently provided.
A quiet chuckle from Cathryn met her fellow companion's remark. "I'm not against being part of a large community. I come from one, myself," she said. "I'm just used to a slightly... more manageable number of people. And voices," she added, giving a slight shake of her head. "And above-ground rooming, though I did choose to be downstairs. Those ceiling slits help keep the air fresh, but it's nothing like home." She breathed deeply, holding back a sigh. "Or here."
Her last two words carried a sort of imposed weight, as if she were having to decide on what constituted as home anymore, and was battling uncertainty by claiming the space she existed in now. Cathryn wouldn't spend time thinking about concepts of home, when home wasn't a particularly concrete word in her mind anyway. The Compound was now home, and a place to build toward the life she expected when she walked out those gates in six years. Then home would be somewhere new, where she'd be practicing in full capacity as a Mage, where she'd be with her Partner, and then with her Partner and her husband.
Decided in the core of her being, she claimed the feeling of slow relaxation, letting go of the tension she'd been carrying in her back and shoulders bit by tiny bit. Cathryn blinked, looking out across the courtyard, then back to her companion. "But look at me, blathering on like a moon-eyed calf when you'd probably prefer the quiet!" She smiled, her lips turning up just at the corners, looking a bit lopsided.
Davie listened to the girl's speech and replied with nothing more than an "mm" as he continued to stare at the sky. He didn't mean to come off as rude, more it was odd to have someone talk quite so freely to him and he wasn't quite sure what to do with it. That, and it got him lost in thought a little. Clearly this girl missed wherever she had come from, which he guessed was to be expected of people who led normal lives. The only thing he really missed about his home was his magic teacher and accompanying lessons. On the other hand, this wasn't looking to be a terribly good home either, not with Lykos around and people up socializing at all hours of the night. He let a long moment pass in silence before coming back to any kind of conversation.
"What's your name?" he inquired. It had only just then occurred to him that they hadn't actually been introduced.
Cathryn looked back toward her companion, offering a hand as she answered the routine question. "Cathryn Ivensbury, out of Bessimal." She'd been settled into a sort of complacency, not having noticed the lack of introduction after a short wave of them had haphazardly happened throughout the course of the night. In the silence that had fallen between them, she'd been quiet of mind, watching and alert for whatever there was out there to engage her attention. Nothing providing itself as a target, her mind had finally decided to start reviewing the text of one of the studying books she'd brought with her. Which reminded her that she really needed to write home, if she could, asking that her parents and teacher keep her well provided, since all the more now that single minded willpower Cathryn had would be necessary to pursue her life's dream.
"And you?"
"Davie Terallas," he replied as he took the offered hand, though he intentionally neglected to mention a place. For all he knew, rumor had spread to other towns about some boy in his area that had been bitten by a Lykos, and he would rather not give out any more information than necessary, lest someone piece it all together. "Nice to meet you," he added, though the phrase seemed a bit out of place when they had been sitting there together all this time. He wondered how long it had been since he had come out here. It was later than he cared to think about, he was sure.
"Pleased to meet you, as well." She noted the lack of place mentioned, filing it away as either a childish impulse to keep his origins to himself, or perhaps a conviction that once in the Compound, none of that mattered anyway. "So, Davie Terallas, what time do you think it is by now?" Regardless, Cathryn had a gut feeling she'd be waking at her normal hour, until the time where sleeping past the hour of necessary movement became psychologically okay.
"Just Davie is fine," he responded a little too hastily. People who were intentionally trying to keep a distance from him tended to address him using his full name, so the fact that she had done so made him a little nervous. He took a moment to remind himself that it wasn't odd to do that when first meeting someone before getting around to answering her question.
"The time, huh?" He thought about it, pondering out loud. "Well, the meeting was at half past midnight and that took a while, and then I've been out here for a while, so that probably means it's," he paused, still not ssure how long any of those 'while's had been, and finished with a slight shrug, "late."
Cathryn snorted at his answer, but really she had no better estimate than "late" herself. "Well then, Davie, we're an unintentional pair of early morning owls. Does anyone ever call you Dav?" She had spoken without bothering to put a hamper on her thought process - part of what made Cathryn sometimes difficult to work with, since she lacked the fine touch of the politic mouth.
"It's odd to think we're this late in winter, but the trees in the orchard are still bearing fruit."
Davie resisted the urge to snort back at her snort, deciding that would be highly unproductive. As for the comment about being called 'Dav,' he couldn't say that was one he'd heard before, though he'd been called quite a number of less-than-nice nicknames over the course of his life.
"I've never been called Dav," he informed her, "though I suppose you can if you want to." He'd gotten used to basically being called whatever people saw fit to call him, whether it be his name or something along the lines of dog-boy, so he didn't much care as long as it was something recognisable. In the grand scheme of things, Dav wasn't too bad. He didn't have any reply for her comment about the orchard. He hadn't thought much about how odd it was to have fruit at this time of year, though now that she mentioned it he wondered if the trees were enchanted by magic of some kind. Life magic maintained them, probably. That would make sense to him at least.
Cathryn turned her mind away from the potential for a few delicious pies based on the ripened fruit already available - she didn't spend time thinking about the magic holding this place together, though once she did the study would be at least of viable interest. "Good to know."
Her thoughts on pie, and conversely, the kitchens, lead her to her next question after a short period of quiet. "What did you make of the chore set-up, Davie?" Cathryn had appreciated the idea of allowing people to choose areas where they might potentially excel, though in practice she wasn't sure. Assignations might almost be better in the long run, once people are noted for being fairly intelligent and willing to do certain chores over others. Working with a willingly less competent group would be the start of a long period of frustration for her, at least.
Davie shrugged, though the motion may not have been very obvious in the dim light. He didn't have much of an opinion yet of how things worked, not having seen any of it in action. The fact that there even was an organized system for chores had been a little surprising to him, actually. Somehow he had expected this place to be a disorganized mess, though he supposed they would have had to figure out some system at some point so people could survive in it.
"I think it's as good a system as any," he commented. "I'm more worried about those nightly challenges that were mentioned." He knew they should all be workable in groups, but he wasn't exactly the best person to turn to for teamwork, since nobody had ever wanted to work with him on much of anything before. Moreover, what if it was something dangerous? Being potentially forced to put his life in the hands of, for example, an unfamiliar Lykos seemed like it would be just an exceptionally bad idea. He shuddered slightly, hoping she didn't notice.
"What particularly worries you?" Cathryn had dismissed her more irrational fears once she'd talked with Harlan, as brief as that moment had been. Nothing would be insurmountable in her opinion, and she wondered what seemed like such an obstacle to Davie. Was he less than physically sound? Given Harlan's ability to cope, Cathryn felt if this were the others worry, he would be fine. If he was uncertain about the other species, then there was little other than time that would help such an uncertainty. Like working with a balky colt, you needed patience and kind words and feelings to coax the other into accepting the world, and finding some pleasure in their place in the world.
After all, everyone had a place, and given that Davie was seemingly a human male, his would be assured as soon as he was ready to grasp it. A wife, in the future, and children. A career, and depending on the strength of his magic and the motivation he'd had in pursuing it, perhaps even a partner.
Cathryn was certain. Her world, while rough, and certainly toiling, still operated in a basic understanding that societal expectations would be met. When encountering exceptions, well, they were to be handled practically. Male mages, childless adults, these two were options among many others as well - just not ones Cathryn had met before.