Belle (enchanted_rose) wrote in musingslogs, @ 2011-02-21 22:07:00 |
|
|||
Entry tags: | belle, piers knight |
Who: Shiloh and Athena
What: Unpacking and drinking wine.
When: Sunday afternoon
Where: Shiloh’s Apartment, Bathos 106
Warnings: Mild flirting
Athena had worked for most of the day on Saturday, so she didn’t wake up until closer to 11am on Sunday. She wasn’t too worried that she had slept in, but as she was going through her morning routine, Athena remembered her conversation with Shiloh from Friday. She went to her computer to check and see if he had posted his apartment number, but found he hadn’t. Next, she checked the apartment directory for an S. Preston and found that he lived on the first floor of Bathos.
Grinning, she went back to her room to change. She pulled on a pair of dark wash jeans, her sneakers, and a floral print t-shirt that looked cute and modern at the same time. She brushed her hair and put on just a small amount of make up before grabbing her small medical bag, wallet, and keys. Athena slipped out of her apartment and locked the door behind her before walking down the staircase. Once she was at 106, she knocked.
-----
Mornings for Shiloh started with a cup of tea, toast with boysenberry jam, and the New York Times. Had to keep up with life out east, after all, even if he hadn’t called that home for quite a few years. He had gotten started later that day than normal and was just brushing the crumbs from his fingers when he heard the knock at his door. Glancing towards the clock on the stove, he made a quick note of the time before calling out towards his visitor.
“Just a moment!”
His accent was decidedly from Boston, that marked elongation of certain vowels that identified someone born and raised in that area. Even after not living there for the last decade, Shiloh still hadn’t shook the drawl. Before answer the door, he deposited his plate and coffee cup in the sink, brushed his hands off on a tea towel laying on the counter, and then strode towards the door to pull it open. There was a smile ready and waiting for his visitor, a smile that widened even further at the woman standing there.
“Well hello there. Welcoming committee?” He leaned in the doorway, shoulder butted up against the jam, dressed casually for the day in cords and a dark green button down, feet bare against the hardwood floors of his apartment. The way he stood blocked most of the view behind him, but piles upon piles of boxes were quite obvious.
----
Athena took a step back as she heard his statement, content to wait for a few moments as she heard movement in the apartment. She hadn’t spent much time with people from the Boston area, but recognized the accent. Her doctor office had a number of patients who weren’t from the area. He had mentioned working in Beijing, which intrigued her. The museum job made sense given the history of the city. She just wasn’t quite sure why he had chosen Seattle and not New York.
When he finally did open the door, Athena couldn’t help but smile. He was cute, she’d give him that, and flirtatious. Perhaps she wouldn’t divulge the fact that she lived just a half dozen floors above him. “Not quite,” she replied. “More like the moving in help?” she added, just slightly questioning to see if he’d remember their conversation from Friday.
-----
The door was kicked open further as her identity became clear, and with an inclination of his head, he nodded for her to come in. “Athena Henderson, I presume?” he asked, waiting until she was within before closing the door behind her, taking a moment to give her a look up and down, though he was as discreet as he could manage. Had to give the guy some credit; he was a gentleman through and through.
“And of course, you’re just here for the wine, aren’t you?” Shiloh passed her by with a smile, heading towards the kitchen.
----
She grinned when he opened the door more fully and invited her in. She stepped inside and followed him toward the kitchen. There were a number of boxes in the apartment, but nothing that seemed too difficult for him to handle on his own. She hardly noticed his wandering eyes, but she did catch him just as his gaze was settling on her face. “It’s a lovely place you have here,” she commented, leaning against the counter top.
“Whether or not I’m here for the wine depends on the kind of wine you have, Mr Preston,” she added teasingly. “Otherwise, I suppose I’m just here for a doctor visit,” Athena added, patting her medical bag that was slung across chest.
----
That got a laugh out of him, not one of those polite laughs, but a real laugh deep in the chest. “Please, call me Shiloh. If you go around calling me ‘Mister Preston’, I’m going to be looking around for my father.” There was a flash of teeth, straight and white, as he turned and went to a box sitting on the counter, reaching in to pull out two glasses. “As for the wine...”
He trailed off, giving her a long look, clearly one of those people who was never meek, never cautious and looking away. “Shiraz. Are you a fan? Or do I get my ‘check up’ first?” There was that grin again, boyish and flirtatious.
---
“Shiloh then,” she amended with a smile, rocking gently back and forth on her feet. There was something about him that made Athena nervous in a good way. She recognized the glasses for what type of wine they were for and smiled. “Shiraz is quite lovely,” she replied warmly. “Though I suppose if you really needed a check up I wouldn’t be averse to work before play.” Her own tone was light and teasing, and the small, playful laugh that accompanied it was certainly flirtatious.
----
Shiloh made a pleased sound, giving her a nod of his head as he dug a corkscrew out of yet another box. “Are you asking to work first?” he said with a light tone of his own, brandishing the corkscrew like it was a treasure unearthed, laying it on the counter beside the two glasses before turning his attention fully upon her. Leaning against the island counter, large hands laced together, eyes on her. “To be quite honest with you, Athena, I can’t remember the last time I was sick. A check-up would likely be a waste of your time.” Still, those eyes of his were bright, his entire demeanor nothing but warmth and openness.
---
Athena blushed lightly, but held his gaze. “I find play to be a bit more fun if all the work is out of the way,” she replied with a shrug. She glanced around his apartment, at all of the boxes. “Though I think the wine might make unpacking more interesting,” she added with a playful grin.
She leaned forward herself, resting her arms on the counter top as the distance between them grew smaller. “I doubt you could waste my time, Shiloh,” Athena replied softly, gaze flicking from his eyes to his lips and back. She stayed there for a moment, before pulling back slightly. “Though I do believe I promised you help unpacking first, and the check up came later in our conversation.” Athena was just a bit hesitant about flirting with Shiloh too much, considering she barely knew him.
---
The colour that blossomed in her cheeks told him that he still knew how to talk to women, even if he was slightly out of practice. Flirtations didn’t work nearly as well out East as they did at home. “Perhaps you’re the one who needs the check up. Your cheeks are a little flushed. Are you feeling feverish?” Oh, there was a glint in his eyes then, and he reached out, closing the distance between them with one arm, stroking her cheek with the back of his fingers.
---
Her cheeks flushed a darker red as he called her out, this time from embarrassment rather than flirtation. His fingers were cool against her cheek and Athena unconsciously closed her eyes, leaning into his touch. It had been a very long time since she had any sort of flirtatious interactions with men. She tended to put them off with her extensive accomplishments when she only looked twenty. Shiloh was older though, and perhaps less likely to be flustered by her skills.
“It’s nothing a little wine and company won’t cure,” she finally replied, opening her eyes to look at him as her hand reached up to touch the fingers that were touching her cheek. It wasn’t to stop his movement, but rather to move with him.
----
He said nothing, quiet as he watched her reaction, the way her skin darkened further, the flutter of her lashes as they settled against pinked cheeks. When she brought her hand up to touch his, Shiloh turned his hand around, gripping her hand lightly with his own, bringing it to his lips to press a kiss against her knuckles. “Doctors orders then,” he said before releasing her, straightening his posture without another words and moving to fetch the bottle of wine from where it was stowed in a cupboard.
Little else was said as he deftly uncorked the bottle, pouring them each a glass and placing a glass bottle stopper in the bottle to save the rest for later. Lifting a glass in each hand, Shiloh finally looked back towards her, offering one out. “You really don’t have to help me unpack. It’s quite ungentlemanly of me to ask a lady to help me when we’ve hardly exchanged more than a handful of words.”
----
Athena swallowed as he pressed his lips against her knuckles. She was quiet as he moved to get a bottle of wine, and stayed where she was as he opened the bottle and poured them both glasses. She accepted the glass with a warm smile. “I don’t mind,” Athena replied, turning her back to Shiloh and walking toward the couch. There was a box next to the coffee table that she opened. “We’ve got most of the day and a whole bottle of wine. Have you got a better way to spend a Sunday?” she asked, her voice teasing as she looked up at him.
----
Shiloh followed after her, taking a sip of his wine before resting the glass on the coffee table a moment later. “Mmm. I can think of a few better ways.” A pause, just a breath. “But not too many.” Another grin followed as he moved towards another box, stripping the tape from the top and crumpling it into a ball. “Though having a woman I hardly know seeing the bits and pieces I’ve gathered through my life...” He trailed off, pulling out an object wrapped in newspaper, peeling it away layer by layer to reveal a carved wooden figure of a bird. “I’m glad you’re not a psychologist. I’d hate to see you analyse me after something like this.”
---
Athena blushed faintly as her mind spun with whatever possibilities he might’ve been thinking of in the slight pause between his words. She forced herself to focus on the task at hand, pulling out various accents and knickknacks from her box and setting them on the coffee table. “I shall do my best to not analyze you,” she replied, “though it would be nice to get to know you.” The last part was added somewhat shyly as she pulled out an unfamiliar object from the box.
“What’s this?” she asked, turning it about in her hands. “It looks like it’s Chinese in origin. Something you picked up in Beijing?”
----
Taking a seat on the couch, Shiloh reached out to take the object from her, dusting it off with his fingertips for a moment. “A Chinese dragon. It’s supposed to bring about success and offer protection as well. Though I’m sure that’s common enough knowledge for the layman.” He looked up towards her, his smile making the corners of his eyes crinkle. He was nearing 40, but somehow still retained a boyish quality to his person.
“I though your thing was Parisian history. Not Chinese. Sudden interest just because of myself?”
---
“It is quite beautiful,” she countered, excusing her curiosity of the small object. Athena placed it on the coffee table, positioning it just so. “The sentiment is quite noble as well.” She took a sip of her wine then, before offering Shiloh a warm smile. She couldn’t help but notice the cute crinkling of his eyes as he smiled.
“I do have a fondness for Parisian history. I grew up in France, though I’ve lost my accent over the years sadly,” she explained, glancing down at her lap for a moment. Her accent was something she hadn’t noticed had disappeared until someone had pointed it out. “History is something to be appreciated in any country, whether a country one is intimately familiar with or not at all,” Athena countered with a teasing smile.
-----
“A point of view I wish more people held,” Shiloh commented as he watched her place the small object down, settling back onto his couch once more, glass of wine in hand to sip at. “History has defined who we are, no matter where you are. It’s interesting to hear people’s viewpoints on it.” Half of the glass of wine was finished off before he sat the glass back down on the table, inviting her to sit with a pat of his hand on the cushion beside him.
“You don’t really have to help me unpack. I was just looking for a non-creepy way to invite people up to say hi.”
----
Athena blushed slightly again, this time from the fact that he appreciated her point of view. Many people she had encountered in her life time either disliked the fact that it was a woman saying these things, or because what she was saying had merit. She supposed though, that if anyone were to appreciate her love of history, and her own history, it would be a museum curator.
“History can be skewed sometimes,” she countered, referring to the fact that people often left out parts that would make them look bad or to the notion that the victors were the ones who wrote history. She smiled at him then, and took a seat on the couch next to him. “Some might consider it a touch misleading,” Athena teased, taking a sip of her wine. “By the way, you have excellent taste,” she complimented, motioning to her glass.
“I wonder though, how you came to have a love for Asian history. Your accent is from the Boston area if I remember correctly,” she observed, curious but giving him an option not to answer.
------
“Of course I have good taste,” Shiloh responded without missing a beat, giving her a wink as he lounged against the couch. “And yes. I’m from Boston, born and raised. As for the source of my love for Asian art and history...” His shoulders shrugged up towards his ears, one leg crossing the other for the ankle to settle atop his knee. “Chance? I had a good professor in college that taught some courses and I think he just instilled his passion into me. After traveling to China, it all just kind of solidified.”
-----
Athena sipped her wine as he spoke, listening intently. What he said made sense, and it was wonderful to hear how a professor got him into history. Many professors who taught history had a speciality, and those that could inspire students were often the best kind of teachers.
“That makes sense. I’m glad you’ve found something you love to do. I firmly believe that everyone should be paid to do what they love. Being a doctor was never an option for me growing up, but as the times and places changed, it just fit. I don’t know what I’d be if not for a doctor.” She smiled then, and finished off the small amount of wine that was still in her glass. She saw his could use a bit of a refill as well and held out her hand for his glass. “Another?”
----
“If you would be so kind.” His glass was handed over towards her after finishing the last couple of swallows, settling back with his hands folded across his stomach, watching as she moved towards the kitchen where the bottle still sat.
“Have you been a doctor for long?” he called out towards her. “You hardly look a day over 20, if you don’t mind me saying, so that begs the question as to how you became a doctor so early or...” Shiloh trailed off for the rest of it, leaving the question hanging in the air, unasked. It was simply uncouth for a gentleman to ask a lady her age, after all.
-----
She took his glass with a smile and walked back toward the counter where the bottle was. She pulled out the stopper and poured his glass first before refilling hers. Athena glanced over her shoulder at him as he tactfully asked her about her history. “I am only 20, you are correct, but I have been a doctor for a good while. Long enough to have my own practice,” she replied with a secretive sort of smile. There was obviously more to the story than that, but Shiloh would have to work harder for her actual age. “What about you? You’re in your late thirties I’d guess, and with your own museum to look after. Most curators I have heard of at least in their fifties.”
Athena returned to her spot on the couch as she was speaking, handing over his glass as she settled in next to him.
----
Glass taken in hand, he took a sip, pondering her words for a long moment before choosing to give any sort of answer. “39, actually. I got my doctorate when I was 30. Let’s just say that once I put my energy into something, it gets done pretty quickly.” He let out a laugh then, a pleased little sound. “You’re talking to an old man, you realise this, don’t you?” Shiloh asked, all too aware that she wasn’t merely 20 years old, but he’d go with it.
----
Athena couldn’t quite tell from his reply whether or not he had spent a good number of years in Musings or not. The age that he graduated with his doctorate was a fairly typical one, which meant that even if he had been in Musings, he would have been young when he crossed over. “That kind of tenacity is quite admirable,” she replied, tucking her legs up underneath her. Her knees brushed against his leg quite accidentally, but she found no reason to move them.
“You’re hardly old,” she chastised with a grin. “I’d only consider you old if you remembered World War I,” she added, a slight twinkle in her eye that might’ve indicated that she did remember that time in history.
----
The way her knee touched his leg did not go unnoticed, though he was hardly making a big deal out of it. Instead he simply smiled, sipping at his wine and mulling her words around in his head. “No, can’t say that I’m quite that old, though there’s hardly anything wrong if a person was that old. Age just makes someone richer in both mind and soul.” A sidelong wink was given to Athena as he put his wine glass down, settling back with a soft sigh.
----
Athena grinned as she sipped her wine, enjoying the game they were playing. He was smart and kind, plus his interest in history made her wonder if he would listen to some of her stories, or would even be interested in them. “Age can be deceiving around here, I’ve noticed,” she commented, giving him a playful grin. “Though I can only imagine the sheer amount of history that has accumulated in the buildings connected on the forums,” she added, wondering aloud. Every so often, she would find herself wondering if anyone was as old as she, if not older, around Seattle.
----
“If many here would ever admit to their real background. I assume it’s wise to keep quiet about it, honestly. Never know how people would use information against you.” For as much as Shiloh had said about himself, he was still somewhat private. There was no problem in someone sitting in his public areas, taking of his wine and company, but beyond that he preferred to keep to himself.
----
Athena shrugged, though a smile still played on her lips. “I would think many people are hesitant to share intimate details of their past, and given the unique circumstances of some, it is more than understandable,” she replied, sipping her wine thoughtfully. She wondered, idly, if it would take a few hundred years to develop a close relationship with Shiloh, as she had done once before. It hardly mattered though.
“Anyway, when do you think the museum will be open to visitors? I find myself wanting to see the exhibits more and more,” Athena asked, a teasing smile gracing her features.
-----
“I’m afraid you’ll have to wait until March. Budget cuts with the state and all that bureaucratic bullshit.” Shiloh let out a laugh at that and finished off the rest of his glass, setting the glass on the coffee table and leaning back, hands folded over his stomach once more. “But I’ll be sure to let you know as soon as it is open. Or perhaps...” He trailed off, looking thoughtful and perhaps a wee bit sly as he gave her a sidelong glance. “I may be able to arrange a private visit. If you could find the time in your busy schedule, that is.” Yup. He just winked.
-----
Athena was slightly disappointed that she would need to wait until March, but his comment about budgets made her wonder if she could help at all. She merely smiled as he repositioned himself on the couch, sipping her own wine. As he suggested a private visit, Athena blushed, looking down at the wine in her glass. She took a sip, finishing off her glass before offering Shiloh a playful smile.
“A private visit would be most...agreeable. I’m the type of person to critically look over things that interest me,” Athena replied, attempting to flirt with Shiloh and it no doubt showed.
-----
Oh, he was no stranger to this sort of banter, the back and forth conversations, waiting to see what the other would lob their way. So he continued on, smiling as she finished her glass of wine, waiting only a moment before standing and plucking her glass from her fingertips. “You seem to be looking at something quite critically here. I didn’t think the knickknacks I had laying around were that interesting.”
Both of their glasses in hand, Shiloh padded towards the kitchen, the clink of glass sounding as he poured them one last glass, the empty bottle sat in the sink to recycle later on. Returning, he offered her the glass before sitting, angling his body slightly towards her.
-----
Athena let go of her glass easily, and as he went to refill their glasses she looked at the clock. They had been sitting for over two hours, and time had just melted away in his company. “Knickknacks tell a lot about a person,” she replied easily. “Observation is just as important as conversation in getting to know someone, wouldn’t you agree?” she went on to ask as he returned to the couch.
She took the proffered glass and angled her legs tucked underneath her so that the entire side of her leg was resting against his, barely touching. She wondered exactly what they were doing, but she found herself enjoying it.
-----
“Oh, so are you expressing interest in myself?” One eyebrow arched, his smile telling a story of simply teasing, having no serious implications to his words. “Interesting... I never realised that I was so captivating.”
----
Athena smiled as his reply but bristled lightly. “Hardly,” she replied, though her tone and expression made it clear she meant the opposite. “You are merely new, and therefore interesting. I’m curious if you’ll keep being interesting after today,” she teased, sipping her wine in slightly bigger sips, though nothing entirely noticeable.
----
Shiloh let out a laugh at that, a deep chuckle that reverberated in his chest. “Mmm. You are the interesting one, aren’t you, Athena?” he asked with amusement in his voice. He lifted his glass towards her, tipping it slightly in her direction. “To a budding friendship?” he inquired, one brow lifted in question.
-----
“I try,” she replied in a quirky manner, smiling at Shiloh warmly. She raised her glass to his and they clinked together. It was something to signal the beginning of a new relationship and Athena nodded at his toast. “An interesting one at that,” she added, taking a sip for herself. They ended up talking most of the afternoon away, and Athena was quite happy by the time she left his apartment.