Long walk...
How in the world had it gotten to be so late. Reign looked up bleary eyed from her mountains of notes and noted that it was nearly midnight. Well hell nearly a whole day shot and what had she accomplished, precious little. Irritably slamming the book shut and throwing her pen across the room Sirius looked up at her from his near by spot on the floor, his head cocked in question.
"Yeah I know immature and pointless but you deal with this mess."Â?
The dog's gaze was steady almost asking Reign to continue.
She only sighed at him and stood, stretching and cracking her back slightly.
"Ok you win, you've been good."Â?
Knowing what that meant the big Shepard was immediately on his feet and waiting expectantly at the front door. Snapping the leash to his collar they both headed out finding their way to the C John Apollo Park and Nature Preserve.
Pop would have approved of they guys name, Reign mused but other than that it meant nothing to her. She noticed a baseball stadium and thought there might be hope for this place yet, a minor league team was better than no team at all.
However, Reign headed down for the beach. She liked being near the water, it always calmed her. Sirius, however, kept tugging at his leash, obviously wanting to run.
"Sorry boy-o. Leash laws and I didn't bring a Frisbee anyway."Â?
The Grail romance was something Reign was fond of, mind you she thought this whole Da Vinci Code was crap and didn’t give it the time of day. However, the mythology and how it had permeated so many aspects of European culture was fascinating. Hell you could even make a case that Star Wars was a retelling of Le Morte De Aurthur, maybe more The Once and Future King, but the point was Avalon was alive and well in the imagination.
“I never would have made it as a goddess though, I have a habit of speaking first and thinking later. It causes problems.”
She smiled softly, almost apologetically. Chivalry was something she had a hard time with, it always seemed to go wrong, besides much better to rely only on yourself. You were very rarely disappointed then.
Will chuckled softly, as his brain began to recall facts of the French queen. She was more a victim of circumstance than anything else, with a husband that was indifferent toward her in a land that hated its rulers.
"I think you would make a fine goddess. Aphrodite, Athena, Hera, Gaea, all were most outspoken. I do not believe one must act like a goddess in order to be treated as such. If more men today would open doors, pull out chairs, walk closest to the road...protect their companion from the every day unpleasantries, then, I do believe, we would fall back in to that more polite era, and fewer people would be beaten, abused, and mistreated over something so small as a misunderstood look in the offended persons direction. But then I am a simple man and believe in chivalry."
Will's lips turned up in a small smile as his ears pinkened at his gentle castigation of society.
At least she thought they had. Not that it mattered she was hardly a French noble and had no intentions of becoming one.
His mention of the goddesses made her smile. He’d hit on her middle name and didn’t even know it and her Pop had often said he’d picked the right patron for her. She liked to think that even without that tie she would have a fondness for Athena. But she refrained from mentioning that, maybe if they got to know each other better it would come up.
“Hera had a habit of causing trouble… … of course her hubby wasn’t a saint so I guess they deserved each other.”
Reign mused aloud.
He was probably right, it didn’t take much to offer simple courtesy but such things were easily misinterpreted, willfully or not. Reign was willing to admit she was often guilty of not trying but even more so she was starting to resent her own actions being tempered by what some one else might do. But she couldn’t help but smile at his plan.
“It’s a noble goal, I have to give you that. I’m not sure society is ready for it though.”
He chuckled softly, as they turned onto a busier street. Will wondered how far this young woman had walked to escape her work. He wondered if she liked to walk as much as he did. He wondered a lot of things about this woman, and hoped he'd get to know her better.
"Do you like to ride horses, Reign?"
“I used to, a little, I was never very good at it.”
Her riding had been the direct result of a relationship that had gone south, far south, Antarctica south and she’d not really kept up with it. The occasional random trail ride here and a gain was about it.
She indicated they should turn off the busier street and into a quite residential area, they had gone a rather round about way. It wasn’t wholly intentional but had rather just happened especially given their stop at the restaurant.
“I have a sister who is still very involved in it.”
"Horses care little about skill, only passion and authority. If you think the horse will hurt you then the horse will hurt you. If you believe you are in control, then the horse will give you control. If you balk at the gait the horse will throw you, but if you give into the wind in your hair and the feel of powerful muscle beneath you, then horse will take you to the ends of the earth."
Will cleared his throat and felt his ears and cheeks go hot again. He'd used a double entendre again, and he hadn't meant to. He really ought to have more control over his togue, after all he wasn't a youth courting a woman.
"I...ah...would love to take you to meet my horses some day."
There that left things open for another meeting, with out him having to ask her directly, or at least it forestalled the direct asking for the moment.
At the very least Reign decided she wanted to see him again and form a clearer opinion. Reaching that conclusion she spared him the usual retort she would have tossed back, something smart assed, funny, but also intended to keep him off balance and at a distance.
“That sounds nice, I’d like to take you up on that.”
Her house was in sight now. Since they were tentatively going to meet again, Reign refrained from inviting him in but did ask him to wait as she darted in and back out. With a business card in hand. It had the tour’s logo, her name and her agent’s number on it (although she’s scratched out Jane’s number), but on the back, she’d scrawled.
“That’s my cell and my e-mail. My schedule is really pretty open, so the odds are when ever is good for you is good for me.”
"Thank you, Reign. Shall I give you mine as well?"
He reached into his pocket and pulled out his wallet, from with in it he removed a small wood colored card that advertised his work. One office manager or another had forced them on him. They had the telephone number of the shop, it's address and something called a web site. Will had never actually seen the web site, but he trusted it's contents, and he had gotten compliments from his customers on it. He handed the card to Reign.
"I do not have a telephone in my home, but you can reach me there any evening."
He replaced the wallet and found himself awkward again. He didn’t normally end things with a woman in this manner, generally they were too passed out to need a good bye. He smiled slightly and offered Reign his hand. "I enjoyed your company, Reign. I am glad I chose to walk along the beach this evening."
He nearly touched her knuckles with his lips, but chose not to, he did not want to offend her and women these days tended to think a man was "on the make" if he did such things. Instead he squeezed her hand gently and let go.
"I shall phone you soon. Good night, Reign."
Smiling, he released her hand, walked a few steps, ad turned back to give a small wave. At the ed of the block he stepped into a dark shadow, hiding himself. He turned back toward her house, to make sure she got inside unmolested, and then broke into a ground eating run, racing the dawn home.
((ooc Will out pending response. Thanks, Reign, this was great fun!))
Reign agreed readily. She wasn’t exactly a chatty Cathy and it would probably take a bit for her to work up to calling him. However, it indicated mutual interest and that was a good thing. Although what you did on a first date, or second depending on how this one counted, was something she’d have to think about. Some how taking him out for a friendly game of pool didn’t seem like a good idea.
She had time. Reign neatly tucked the card in her pocket and promised herself she’d call him in two or three days if she hadn’t heard from him. That seemed like a good wait time, interested but not clingy and not enough time to forget her.
“No phone? I’m jealous. Not that I get many calls.”
You didn’t get a lot of calls when no one knew were to find you and you had no friends. Oh maybe she shouldn’t have said anything, too late now. Fortunately, his manners covered her awkwardness. She grinned, slightly foolishly, ok so there was a bit of a romantic buried in the cynic.
“I’ll look forward to it. It was nice to meet you Will.”
She watched him leave and returned the wave. Sirius had accompanied her through all of this and was now quite ready to go in, tugging on his leash to make it very clear.
“All right, all right. However, he was nice, didn’t you think so. Bet ya he calls too.”
The dog wasn’t interested in the conversation so she took them both in and locked the door behind them.
((OOC… ditto thanks! And that’s Reign and the mutt out.))