New to Nachton (open)

Tris was still learning the layout of Nachton, and getting along on foot was turning out pretty good. Even though Shay had offered the use of her car, he found in walking around he saw a lot more. So, as long as he still had more of the inner city to see, he guessed he'd stick to what was working.

The Grand Piazza was impressive on the outside, and since it boasted a world renowned restaurant, he figured it would be a great place to grab lunch. Plus, a lot of these places were great for picking up girls. He doubted the pool would be too busy, but it wouldn't hurt to check out the lobby.

Finishing up his burger, he was now doing just that. Casually strolling through the hotel lobby, he found himself in luck as two girls around his age walked in, holding hands.

The hand holding made him think twice, but with girls you could never tell if it meant they were really good friends, or more. Before putting a move on either, he just stood next to one of the sofa tables, and pretended to read "Welcome to Nachton" June 2005.

Rorri took hold of Ana's hands, both of them, and pulled Ana into a well needed hug, though for who was still up in the air.

A moment later she led her friend into the hotel and over to the bar where they could take a seat at a private table to the side. She figured that Ana would want to talk, she knew she did, but first they both needed something in their tummys.

A waitress came by and Rorri ordered some hot tea for herself, and somethgn warm for Ana of her choice and some snack crackers.

After the waitress had gone Rorri glanced up over at Ana, her Ana? "Are ye ok dearier? Did something bad happen at yer appointment?" Rorri asked in a kind youthful tone.

Ana saw the gentleman who kept looking over at them, but promptly forgot about him by the time they'd been seated at the table. "Rorri... quite calm."

She ordered coffee with cream and sugar. Her eyes held only the view of her hands, folded together, on the table before her when Rorri asked, "Did something bad happen at yer appointment?"

Ana blinked slowly, formulating a response.

"Nothing bad happened. Nothing good happened, either. It just... happened."

She didn't feel like saying much else.

Rorri sighed. "As long as yer ok then." Shw whispered as she took a sip of her hot tea.

"Ana...what are ye gona do now?" Rorri asked softly as she bit her lower lip out of nervous habbit.

Ana shrugged expansively. Her voice dropped and became raspy as she said, "I don't know what I'm going to do. I could go home; I do have an indefinate position available to me, but that's about it. I could stay here, but I don't really have anything here..."

She sighed, and sipped from her cup, keeping both palms along side it, warming them.

Ana was scared. Scared to go home to nothing. Scared to stay here with nothing. Scared that if she somehow decided that Rorri was more than "nothing," was enough to stay here in Nachton... That something bad would happen to her, too.

A rattling sound brought her attention back to the Piazza restaurant. Focusing again on her hands, she saw that she was holding it so tightly, her hands were shaking, tapping it against the tabletop.

"That which I might have, I don't want to chance losing."

Rorri reached out and took Ana's hands into her own to silence their tapping.

"Ana...I would like to...er like you to stay with me, will you please?" Rorri asked softly with a slight blush.

She wondered as she looked into Ana's eyes through her glasses if she understood how well she had made Rorri feel last night; how much it had meant and done for her to have someone next to her during the night?

Watching the two girls hug, and then even after they moved to one of the more secluded tables in the bar, Tristan shrugged. They seemed much more intimate with each other than mere friends, so he lightly tossed the magazine onto the table, and looked around the lobby.

Aside from an elderly couple coming from the restaurant, and a noisy family with kids, there was nothing else of interest for him there tonight. So he stuck his hands into his pockets, and moved on through the entry. He would continue his walk and see where else he might find a better selection of company.

(Tristan out)

Ana's eyes raised from her cup long enough to see the pleading look on Rorri's face. It tugged at her heartstrings to discover that only twelve hours with the englishwoman had made such a profound impact on both of them.

Her voice was soft as she spoke, eyes still riveted to the steam wafting from her cup.

"I lost my older sister when I was three. I don't remember her much. Just this angelic face that flows into my consciousness from time to time, or into my dreams.

My mom was killed by a collision with a drunk driver when I was eleven. My dad raised me. He died January of this year, also in a car accident. The woman who became my best friend and jolted me out of my grieving funk, who I came down to Nachton to visit, was murdered horribly. That's why I went to the Nachton Police Department this morning... That's why I'm worried as hell that, if I befriend someone new... Something bad will happen."

Rorri listened with watery eyes and held onto Ana's hands with her own.

"Less then a month ago, my entire family, mother, father, my two little sisters, and my best friend Kimmie, was killed when our manor caught on fire. The police say it was an accident, gas main perhaps. Two weeks ago I laid them all to rest in the Rosethorne family crypts. I...I don't have anyone anymore Ana..." Rorri whispered.

"We're both like the wind blown flowers searching for some meaning to our lives Ana; last night...was the first time I slept without waking up in fear or crying..." Rorri whispered.

"I came to this city to find a long lost great uncle, to know that I am not the end of my bloodline, but I don't know what to do anymore, only that with ye I feel safe..." Rorri explained in a soft tone.

Ana's hands took Rorri's into a firmer grip as she gasped. "Oh, Rorri... I feel like such a fool, going on about my own losses, when yours were so much more..."

And she did. Ana felt her cheeks heating up and a knot formed in her stomach over how selfish she'd been. "I'd say let's find a cheap bottle of good wine and drown our sorrows but it's barely breakfast time, and besides, I'd rather be sober enough to listen to you crying on my shoulder and retain it... That is if you feel the need." She reached into her purse and dug out a clean handkerchief, and gently dabbed at Rorri's cheeks.

Rorri managed a weak smile, her emerald eyes rull of tears.

"W...we don't need to settle for cheap wine..." She managed to whisper through her own wall of pain and misery that she had kep at bay for so long.

She allowed Ana to wipe away the current wave of her tears as she tried to uphold her brave front.

She was English after all.

"Well," Ana reasoned, "we could start with good wine, but we might want to end up with cheap wine, so we at least remember what the good stuff tastes like. After all, once we get through a bottle, we won't remember much if anything."

Getting drunk wasn't something Ana generally pursued. And it was definately too early. But it seemed like a good idea for later that night. "Certainly something to think about for later. Meanwhile... we need to freshen up and find something to while away the daylight hours. I'm not in much of a mood for socializing or dealing with a lot of people... Okay I'm never in a mood for dealing with a lot of people. But if you have an idea of somewhere we could go, like an art museum or somewhere we could wallow in our own internal silences for a while... Speak up."

Silence would be a good thing. She hoped.

Rorri nodded.

"We can check with the hotel directory to see what they suggest?" Rorri said with a faint smile.

"A park maybe? Would you mind spending the day with me Ana?" Rorri asked softly.

"A park sounds okay," Ana assented. "But I'd like to go upstairs to change into something a little less business appointmentish."

A park should prove to be quiet. Something about nature reserves tended to cause people to be a bit more reverent, more silent. Much like libraries. Strange coincidence, that. Even in state parks and national forests, back when she'd been a Girl Scout, there'd been less yelling, less running around. It was quite... odd. Good odd, though. It gave her time to think, or just appreciate the beauty around her.

"Shame we don't know of anywhere around to just go camping," she semi-lamented as she stood from the table.

"Camping?" Rorri asked with a question in her eyes as she left a tip for the waitress while paying the bill.

"I...I"ve never been camping before??? What about room service and maids and where would we go to the bathroom at?" Rorri blurted out clearly innocent to the ways of the outdoors.

Ana nodded excitedly. "Camping! There wouldn't be any roomservice but what we could cook ourselves. Maids? For what? The only thing to clean, per se, would be the sleeping bags when we wake up and the pots when we're done cooking. Bathroom?"

Ana arched an eyebrow. She pulled Rorri into a phone booth in the hall near the elevators and whispered, "You just pull down your pants and go in the woods. Lean on a tree if you need to."

Pursing her lips smugly at Rorri's shocked look, she stepped out of the booth and pushed the "up" button.

Thoughts flitted through her head as she waited. So many thoughts, she was almost oblivious to Rorri's standing at her side. It would probably be fun, she conjectured, to take Rorri camping. But the girl's - the woman's the... well her predilections for posh extravagance might not make the transition easily to the quiet humility of camping for a weekend.

Turning to the girl - woman - other female, she asked, "Rorri, how old are you?"

"Huh? Oh! Sorry, I'm seventeen, why Ana?" Rorri replied softly with a hint of innocence in her tone.

"You're only... seventeen?" Ana was actually shocked at how badly she'd mis-estimated the other girl's age. And she could consider her a "girl" considering she was under eighteen. But some of the things she said, and the mannerisms with which she conducted herself, had led Ana to estimate her age at twenty one or twenty two. She said so much, looking up and down the taller woman appraisingly.

"Wow. The way you speak - accent notwithstanding - and the manner with which you conduct yourself, led me to guess you were twenty one or two. It's not so often I'm wrong on my age guesstimates."

She shook her head, and felt a blush creep into her cheeks. "Shows me, I suppose. Then again you do lead a more actively business-filled life, from what you've said."

Rorri smiled proudly. "My pappa raised me with the full intent of taking over Rosethorne Industries, though at a much older age, so I've been trained and schooled on how to handle situations from a CEO's perspective, that is with a level of maturity far above my own age, but don't think I can't be childish Ana...you have yet to see me break a nail or go shopping!" Rorri giggled.

"Besides, it's all a matter of perspective and courage, with a little bluffing to refine the image." Rorri added with a knowing smile.

"So since I answered yer question now it's yer turn; how old are ye Ana?" Rorri inquired with a smirk as she leaned back against the elevator wall.

Ana smirked at Rorri's admission about being able to be childish. "I think most women have moments when nails break or when shopping is involved. I don't much care for shopping, myself."

The elevator "dinged" as it arrived, and the polished doors swished open. A tall gentleman was inside with luggage, he said his "excuse mes" and said "Good morning ladies" as he passed. The two stepped inside, and Ana pressed the forty-first floor's button.

She then decided to answer Rorri's question. "I'm twenty-two. My birthday is January seventeenth. I don't feel twenty-two though. Sometimes I feel like I'm eleven, missing my mom occasionally. Those moments are usually few and far between, but I'll probably have a serious bout of it the week of my birthday." She pursed her lips, took a deep breath, and continued. "Then there's the days I feel like I barely know the world, like when I... found my friend. And then sometimes I feel really old, even though I don't have anything to compare it to, like the weight of the sun is crushing my shoulders. I think I had a little of that last night."

A strange little realization popped into Ana's head, as she remembered hugging the porcelain throne while Rorri asked if she was okay. "I'm sorry if I derailed any specific plans you might have had for last night, Rorri. I just... couldn't take it."



(( ooc: keep in mind this thread takes place the day after the Nachton Charity Gala. It is hence still December and Ana's birthday has not yet come to pass. ))