December 4, late evening
The Marketplace Fountain

It was cold, a little snowy, and foggy. Only the fog was somewhat familiar to Glenn. The rest of the weather, though? It was a bit unusual. He had stopped into town briefly earlier that afternoon to meet some customers at his room, deliver some things he'd made for them and take their payment. They were surprisingly more generous than he'd expected, and he'd had a little extra money to...shop with. A plain brown paper bag was next to him on the bench he was sitting on, and a styrofoam cup with some sort of beverage was in his hands. The bench was south of the fountain, a decent distance away, but at this hour, the marketplace was mostly empty. The memorial was to the right of the fountain from where he was, and it, too, was also unattended.

Slowly but surely, things were looking better in the marketplace. It would be a while yet, but the progress already made was astounding. It was rare for people in Rhydin to unite like that, but the surrounding area was evidence that it had happened. The little blonde elf meandered down the main path of the market, glancing here and there as she moved along not far from the fountain. She would have gone over to look over the memorial but it was sort of... depressing. Carley occupied herself by fiddling with the mint candy in her hand, trying to unwrap it single-handedly. That wasn't working however, so she lifted the wrapper to her teeth for assistance. It worked.. but the candy fell from the wrapper onto the ground. Sighing, her cheeks puffed out as she stared at the red candy on the ground. She didn't believe in the three second rule in this case.

He spotted...someone familiar, over by the fountain, but from that distance, he couldn't quite tell who it was. Even so, he decided to wave to them. He then lifted the cup up to his mouth, taking a swig of hot chocolate, purchased from a stand that was getting ready to close down just behind him.

Huffing at the candy, shoulders and ears sank in defeat before she turned on her heel, ready to move away from the fountain, though turning put another in her line of vision, and...they were waving at her? Blinking, she waved back, and ventured a little closer. When a face was visible, she grinned widely and happily, her pace picking up to jaunt on that way.

To stand, or to sit? Glenn got up about halfway, sat down, stood up a little again, and finally sat back down again for good. He patted the left side of the bench he was sitting on. It was a bit cold, but there was plenty of space left on the wood.

Stepping forward, Carley turned around and took a seat right next to Glenn, close and all, since it was cold. She was quiet momentarily before glancing aside, then she gave him her sweetest smile. "Cormamin lindua ele lle." And she did it with a straight face, no laughing or snickering...at least she was trying.

It wasn't quite as elegant, but hopefully? The soft smile that crossed his face and the happiness that laid in those jade green eyes would get his message across better than his words. "It's good to see you too, Carley."

She laughed a little, eyes nearly sparkling, then extended a frigid cold hand to take one of his. "So what are ya doin' out here so late? Kinda cold to just be sittin' around isn't it?" She peered at him curiously, smile never waning.

Glenn's hands were warm, thanks both to the leather work gloves he was wearing and the hot chocolate he was carrying. He interlocked his fingers with her own slowly. "I was in town to do some business earlier, and I decided to stick around and do some shopping. And then I decided to see how things were going here." His hand, holding the cocoa, waved in the general direction of the fountain and memorial.

She gripped his hand a little tighter than the norm for her, appreciative of the warmth. "Business? So that means things are goin' good for ya there?" Bright blues shifted aside towards the memorial, quickly, before flickering back to Glenn. She didn't want to think about the sad. Not right now. "How close are you to getting yer own shop around here?" Not that he was probably in a hurry at the moment, all considered.

"Business is pretty good, and I haven't put up posters for the solstice yet. It may take a little while before I move out here though." He drank some more cocoa, then looked behind him. The cart operator seemed to have closed his stand for the night, and looked ready to dispose of his thermos full of hot beverages. Glenn called out to the man. "Hey! Hold on a minute, and we'll get something from you, if you don't mind." The man grunted, but stopped his tear-down. Glenn then turned to Carley, a sheepish look on his face. "Did you want something warm to drink?"

"I'm glad it's workin' out for ya." Carley glanced over when Glenn called out to the other man, then back, pondering momentarily. She just drank some cocoa at the inn, but geez it was cold! Another warm drink wouldn't hurt "I'd like that, diola lle."

Reluctantly, he let go of her hand, standing. "I'll be right back. He quickly shuffled over to where the tall, thin, heavily bundled man was standing next to his cart, loading the last of his thermos and styrofoam cups below. They talked for a few moments, before the man opened up the bottom again, grabbed a cup and one of the thermos, and poured something into it. He put a lid on it, and when Glenn went to pay the man, he shook both his head and his hands at Glenn. Glenn thanked him heartily before he walked back over to the bench, giving a wave over his shoulder as the operator started to slowly push his way out of the marketplace. He handed the beverage over to Carley. "Here you go."

Pointed ears, red with the cold, gave a little wriggle as she reached out for the cup, sighing happily at the warmth it gave off. Sipping from its contents, she cradled it close, glancing to her other hand, wrist still in its cast. So that meant no hand holding for the moment. She actually looked disappointed at the realization, but tried to wipe it from her face as she regarded Glenn again. "So what'd ya sell?"

"Nothing too big, really. A checkers board with pieces. Those were kind of hard to make. Some toy animals. And-" Why was he blushing? "-a music box. Just a small one. And I've been working on the barn a little bit. And writing." Phew! He breathed a sigh of relief.

"Sounds like you've been pretty busy. It's so neat you can make all that stuff outta wood like that. Must be hard." Carley sipped her drink before tilting her head to the side, intending to rest it on Glenn's shoulder. "How's the writing goin'?"

He scooched over on the bench, so that she could rest her head on his shoulder. The gesture brought a smile to his face, as he gazed at her out of the corner of his eye. "It took me a long time for me to get good at it. Wood-working. I've got a poem written, but I haven't quite got it memorized yet." Glenn leaned his head towards hers, hoping to rest on her as well.

Rather than actually drink her drink, she was just holding it close to savor the warmth. Eyes closed partially as she listened to Glenn talk, smiling as he moved closer. "I think that it's like that for everything, takin' a long time to get good at it, but I guess there's rare cases were some people are just born good at certain things." She paused, blinking. "You do? That's great! Yer gonna have to let me read it then, or memorize it to recite it to me." Such a demanding little elf.

There was a sense of....pride in his words, along with a palpable wistfulness, that also shone in his eyes. "My...poppa taught me well. Spent a lot of time with me. And then I went to school for a while. I was really lucky." Glenn paused, then considered her second comment. "You'll be the first to hear it."

"I think he did a really good job with ya." There was a softness to her tone that wasn't there often. It was obvious Carley didn't speak of just woodworking. "I wish there was somethin' I could do for ya in return for that, besides just playing music." She paused, her next words coming hesitantly. "I could try writing a song, just instrumental, but I was never all that good at that sort of thing."

"Thank you." He paused, staring straight ahead at the fountain for a second, before glancing back to her. "I wish he was still here. To meet you. And everybody else I've met here." Another pause. "Playing music for me would be enough." He lifted the styrofoam cup to his mouth, finishing off his cocoa. The words were hesitant; he knew they were cliche, but that didn't stop him from saying them. "You're enough."

Cliche perhaps, but they didn't stop her cheeks from reddening. Well. Darkened a little; the cold already made them redder than usual. She leaned away from him, so she could turn and face him. "Ya think he'd actually like me?" A faint smile, the question was mostly rhetorical. Mostly. "And I wish he was too.. ya seem to talk about him so fondly. She lifted her own cup to finish some of the contents off, trying to be mindful of her slurping habits.. but she slurped. Just a little.

Rhetorical question was answered with one of his own. "He took me in right? He turned, just a bit, to look over her shoulder. "He wasn't like a lot of people where I'm from. I miss him a lot. And momma. I've been thinking about them a lot." Pause. He had heard of Cythia a lot, but the rest of her family? It either never came up, or only fleetingly, or maybe he'd just missed it? "What about you? I haven't heard too much about anyone in your family...besides Cythia?"

((Edited and adapted from live play))

Glenn flinched at first, but slowly, very slowly, he allowed her hand to push strands of light brown hair off the top of his right ear. He brought his own left hand up to his left ear, shifting the hair off the top of that one as well. Dimly visible in the hazy light being thrown by the street lamps were his ears. The earlobes and the entrance to the ear canal seemed normal, like humans' ears. Just above that, though, they started to taper into points. Or would have, if the points were still there. Most of the top portion of his ears was missing, shorn off. Where the ear ended abruptly, there were angry, pinkish-red, jagged scars, presumably where the tips had been removed. Below that were another series of scars: crude stitch marks that wrapped around the front and back of the ear, just below where the tips had been removed.

Carley's eyes widened in shock at the sight of his ears, mouth opening slightly. She studied both ears for a moment before withdrawing her hand, gaze shifting back to his eyes. Bright blues brimmed with unspoken sadness and curiosity. "Glenny..." Voice was whisper soft. Frowning, she looked away from him momentarily, then back again. "..wh.. what happened? I mean... I..." She studied him intently then, eyes unmoving.

Glenn tried to maintain eye contact, but it didn't take too long for the shame and embarrassment to get to him. His forest green gaze immediately shifted to the ground. He touched the top of one of his ears, and winced. Not from pain, but just at the thought of how long it had been since he'd actually done that. He started to rock back and forth in his seat a little bit, as his eyes started to brim with tears. When he finally stopped fidgeting in place, he tried to talk, but his voice tightened up. "It's a long story, and a sad one. Are you sure you want to hear it? I-I don't want to make you sad."

She huffed, just barely, even looking and sounding a touch annoyed. "You worry about makin' me sad too much." Carley lowered her head a little then, in an effort to peer up into his eyes. "I wanna hear it... if yer willing to tell me." Her voice softened then. "Ya can't hang on to things in the past that make you sad. Right? It helps to let them go, even if ya gotta give it away, piece by piece to someone else."

He did his best to lock his dark green (almost black) irises on her bright blues, his look a searching and haunting one. He shivered, and not entirely from the cold. Just thinking about telling the story brought up painful memories and powerful phobias for him. Glenn started, as he always did, with a small piece of the story. Old habits died hard for him. "You remember that time it was Pirate Day, or something like that? And you came by my room, dressed like a pirate? And I...sort of freaked out?"

"Yeah..." Carley replied somewhat hesitantly, feeling a little guilty at the memory. She hadn't meant to do that. "Pirates scare you..." She didn't know. To apologize for it again would be unnecessary though.

He kept being vague, waving a hand in the air. "It's the same way you were, when those guns came out at the inn that one day, right?" He looked down briefly. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have brought that up." His head then raised, searching for her bright blues. "I'm glad you told me about your family. I'm...not good about telling people things, secrets, unless they've told me stuff they've kept secret too. I'm trying to get better about that, but..." He shook his head, completing the thought. "I do owe you a secret."

"Don't apologize." She shook her head. "Yer right, it is the same..." She chewed a little on the inside of her lower lip. "To be honest, what I told ya really isn't a secret, it's just not somethin' I bring up unless someone asks." She paused, glancing away. "I don't want ya to tell me something just because you feel you owe it to me."

Glenn lifted a hand towards his ear, towards the hair he had tucked behind it, and it was only sheer force of will that kept him from brushing the light-brown strands back in place. "I...think I need to tell you. Poppa...wasn't around. And momma..." He shook his head sadly. "It was just Aunt Kyla and Kathryn and Haleigh who knew. And some elves I didn't really get to know too well. I want you to know. It's part of...the everything I guess."

Glancing briefly to his ear, Carley reached up, attempting to take his hand in hers. "Well.. tell me then?" Her eyes moved to lock on his. "I wanna know the.. everything." Her posture seemed to relax, and she leaned back just a little, sinking against the back of the bench.

((edited and adapted from live RP))

It.. hurt her. To see Glenn like that. Weeping and feeling such sorrow. Tears welled in her eyes as she squeezed him tight, reaching up with her good hand to settle it on the back of his head. "Ta naa tereva... ta naa tereva..." Carley lowered her head some, so her lips were close enough to an ear she could whisper to him. Her speech came quickly and softly, all in elven. It was an attempt to comfort him, since she generally sounded different when she spoke elven - more lyrical and natural, her words flowed easier.

For a while, Glenn rested his head against her shoulder, being soothed, being comforted. The shaking subsided first, then the tears, replaced by sniffling. He whispered back, words muffled against her cloak but still audible. "Diola lle, Carley. Diola lle." At that moment, with her kindness, the pain he'd been carrying around for so long by himself seemed almost bearable.

She wasn't used to being one to comfort another. Generally.. it was something she avoided. This wasn't avoidable though, and it wasn't something she wanted to avoid. In an almost hesitant gesture, she ran her hand down his head and over his hair, repeating a couple times. "Lle creoso Glenn."

It had been too long since someone - anyone, friend, family, or otherwise - had touched his hair for anything other than a haircut. Glenn sighed, breathily, before he finally (and hesitantly) lifted his head off her shoulder. He leaned back, eyes focused on Carley's briefly, then flicking upwards to the dark sky. His face, wet with tears, looked worn out from the emotional display. "I...need to get to bed. I've got a busy day ahead of me tomorrow." He paused, tilting his head to scrutinize her face, before he gave a quick, sharp, singular nod of his head yes. "And I'm sorry I didn't get a chance to tell you all the story. And please don't think, when I tell you the rest of it, that I kept something from you so I didn't look bad."

"Ta naa telwa..." She trailed off, before shaking her head, having to force herself to revert back to speaking her secondary language. "It's late... it's okay." Pausing then, her eyes widened, just a little. There was more to the story? It was hard to believe there could be.. more to it. "I won't.. Amin vesta." More elven words. She paused, forcing herself back. "...I won't. Be careful okay? Goin' back. And sleep well...?" She leaned forward, to try and kiss his cheek.

Glenn's words were murmured in elvish, as she planted a kiss on his cheek. "Quel kaima, Carley." And, he suddenly decided to say more, despite the crimson flush it brought to his cheeks. His words spilled out in a rush that, somehow, seemed to aid in them coming across more lyrical and less flat and incorrectly pronounced than usual. "Cormamin niuve tenna' ta elea lle au'." He grabbed the brown paper bag by the rings attached to the top that were designed to serve as handles. It took him a long time to leave that bench, but when he did, he quickly headed north, not looking at the fountain or the memorial. A nice warm room awaited him at the Red Dragon Inn, and he didn't want to waste any time going home.

((edited and adapted from live RP))