The card was in her hand and she glanced at it again; her eyes going from the card to the building in front of her to the card again. Her hand was getting numb, she had to take the mitten off to reach into her pocket for the card and she had been standing there like that for at least ten minutes as the cold bit deeper into her flesh.
For a moment she closed her eyes and pictured the slider, black and white with the shimmering butterfly that was racing its way up the numbers and sighed. Drawing in a deep breath she at least stopped its forward motion but no matter how she thought about gently guiding it back to a lower number it would not budge. "You'd think it was as stubborn as I can be, I should ask for a better pointer guide next time." It was a neat a trick that Karras had shown her, that mental slider thing but it was forcing her to evaluate just how socially awkward she had become, and it wasn't a comfortable view. It wasn't like she didn't know where the awkwardness stemmed from, it was just that she never thought about actively doing anything about it before now.
A few people passed her by but the sight of a woman in front of a building talking to herself was not an odd enough thing to get a second glance from any of them. A hand rose and rubbed at the back of her neck, or where her neck was beneath layers and layers of clothing. Making friends was difficult for her, at the heart of things she was very shy. She compensated, at times, by being overly chatty or forward and then going home drained from the energy expenditure.
It wasn't that she didn't want to make friends, she was just inept at the process. Hell, the person she hung out with the most was her brother. The next person was Shon"ge, and while she considered him a friend, he was a friend that she'd made by proxy as he was one of her brothers best friends. There was Gigi and Tali, they were both cousins and she was pretty sure they had to like her, right"
"He said you could come and...its magic. You know that you want to see it. Still, he's probably really busy getting ready for his New Years Eve show. Bet that's going to be awesome. Wonder if he does mini-fireworks, that would be neat to see an indoor fireworks show." A pause and she added because she felt like she was tempting fate putting that sentence out there. "That didn't end in lighting the place on fire, of course."
A couple passed her by, laughing and chatting in an animated fashion. They had bottles of something, she thought she recognized the labels as being the holiday Silvermark brew and her gaze pulled toward the direction of the Inn. The Inn would be empty, surely it'd be empty right' The Manor was full of people, mostly happy but there was a current running through the place that had driven Robyn out for the stroll.
The stroll had turned into her standing in front of the building that he owned, she wasn't the type of person to analyze those things. If she analyzed it then she would have to admit that she enjoyed his company, even if it was a bit strange at times. He weighed and measured everything, she could see him doing it deep in his gaze. What conclusions he reached were a complete mystery to her; but she thought that those concerning her couldn't be too bad if he'd offered to allow her to see what he did to prepare for his shows. Realizing that she had started chewing on her lower lip she frowned and forced herself to stop. It was a childhood habit that usually prompted her brother to tease, saying that she couldn't think 'real hard" or else she'd bite through her lip.
Checking the mental slider again she saw that the butterfly had settled around sixty and the string of curses that came next was enough to get a second glance; probably because her curses consisted of her literally saying, "Curses! Curses! Curses!" over and over again. "It's just " just..." It was no use, she wasn't going to be able to convince herself it was OK to pester him at work. "But it's magic." Was the last she said before shooting a forlorn glance at the building. She tucked the card into the back pocket of her jeans again and pulled the mitten back in place. "Maybe after New Years." It was a pretty lie, and it was something she wanted to do so she was able to get away without the usual tell tale signs that she was lying. "I'll bet the mini fireworks are pretty..." And then she was heading for the Inn, hot cider and the hearth calling her name.
For a moment she closed her eyes and pictured the slider, black and white with the shimmering butterfly that was racing its way up the numbers and sighed. Drawing in a deep breath she at least stopped its forward motion but no matter how she thought about gently guiding it back to a lower number it would not budge. "You'd think it was as stubborn as I can be, I should ask for a better pointer guide next time." It was a neat a trick that Karras had shown her, that mental slider thing but it was forcing her to evaluate just how socially awkward she had become, and it wasn't a comfortable view. It wasn't like she didn't know where the awkwardness stemmed from, it was just that she never thought about actively doing anything about it before now.
A few people passed her by but the sight of a woman in front of a building talking to herself was not an odd enough thing to get a second glance from any of them. A hand rose and rubbed at the back of her neck, or where her neck was beneath layers and layers of clothing. Making friends was difficult for her, at the heart of things she was very shy. She compensated, at times, by being overly chatty or forward and then going home drained from the energy expenditure.
It wasn't that she didn't want to make friends, she was just inept at the process. Hell, the person she hung out with the most was her brother. The next person was Shon"ge, and while she considered him a friend, he was a friend that she'd made by proxy as he was one of her brothers best friends. There was Gigi and Tali, they were both cousins and she was pretty sure they had to like her, right"
"He said you could come and...its magic. You know that you want to see it. Still, he's probably really busy getting ready for his New Years Eve show. Bet that's going to be awesome. Wonder if he does mini-fireworks, that would be neat to see an indoor fireworks show." A pause and she added because she felt like she was tempting fate putting that sentence out there. "That didn't end in lighting the place on fire, of course."
A couple passed her by, laughing and chatting in an animated fashion. They had bottles of something, she thought she recognized the labels as being the holiday Silvermark brew and her gaze pulled toward the direction of the Inn. The Inn would be empty, surely it'd be empty right' The Manor was full of people, mostly happy but there was a current running through the place that had driven Robyn out for the stroll.
The stroll had turned into her standing in front of the building that he owned, she wasn't the type of person to analyze those things. If she analyzed it then she would have to admit that she enjoyed his company, even if it was a bit strange at times. He weighed and measured everything, she could see him doing it deep in his gaze. What conclusions he reached were a complete mystery to her; but she thought that those concerning her couldn't be too bad if he'd offered to allow her to see what he did to prepare for his shows. Realizing that she had started chewing on her lower lip she frowned and forced herself to stop. It was a childhood habit that usually prompted her brother to tease, saying that she couldn't think 'real hard" or else she'd bite through her lip.
Checking the mental slider again she saw that the butterfly had settled around sixty and the string of curses that came next was enough to get a second glance; probably because her curses consisted of her literally saying, "Curses! Curses! Curses!" over and over again. "It's just " just..." It was no use, she wasn't going to be able to convince herself it was OK to pester him at work. "But it's magic." Was the last she said before shooting a forlorn glance at the building. She tucked the card into the back pocket of her jeans again and pulled the mitten back in place. "Maybe after New Years." It was a pretty lie, and it was something she wanted to do so she was able to get away without the usual tell tale signs that she was lying. "I'll bet the mini fireworks are pretty..." And then she was heading for the Inn, hot cider and the hearth calling her name.