Back Together?

The Vault
No more than a hideaway amidst the gothic grandeur of the StarHall, this cozy lounge is a place of laughter if not greatness, warmth if not splendour. The close stone walls are insulated with tapestries of all shapes and sizes, most a little worn, several faded and a good many depicting scenes from childhood stories. The mismatched chairs and sofas are in a similar state, rescued from cellars and rubbish-heaps but perhaps more softer and more comfortable for that, scattered in a rouch circle on a hardwood floor. A low round table in the centre of the room holds cards, discarded hides, mugs, and a pot that holds klah as long as someone remembers to fill it. The one window at the back wall lets light and air into the warm, cozy room.
Scattered troughout the rooms are numerous glowbaskets. Thin hides, that would be transparant if they weren't coloured in light shades of red green and blue cast a colourfull and happy athmostphere troughout the room. Small bells and sticks, hung near the window, create soft, eerie yet comfortablly soft sounds,
On the perch are Pingouin, Teremi, Kataxia, Aftiel, Tas, Jena, Bartleby, and Ryann. You see Sweet Root plant, Kaelli, and Tuvock here.
Cress and Caelestis are here.

Linora walks in quietly with a large book under her arm. She makes her way over to her usual comfy chair and sits down... a lot less ungracefully than she used to... and opens the book on her lap.

Cress is slung on a couch, his nose pratically buried in a book, as his eyes moves from side to side, reading the lines.

Linora
Honey-blond hair falls heavily down her back, almost to her hips. A few long wispy pieces refuse to be tamed, often falling into her face to be brushed impatiently behind her ears. Linora is just a bit over 5' tall, with curves just beginning to grace her slender frame. Her once-bronze skin has faded to a lighter tan as her studies keep her away from the sun most days, and her serious eyes are a pale enough blue to almost be considered white. A gaunt look lingers about her face, leftover from her recent illness, but her eyes are bright. A large bruise mars her right shin, fading to an attractive greenish purple.
A lightweight cotton shirt, crisp and cool, is tucked neatly into a pair of tan trousers - sleeveless, with a softly scooping neckline, dyed a soft, robin's-egg blue. The trousers, amazingly, actually seem to have been made to fit her, tailored flatteringly to waist and hips, following the lines of her legs and hemmed neatly just below her knees. On her feet she wears a pair of knotted wherhide sandals. Her hair is drawn back in a heavy runnertail at the nape of her neck with a wide blue ribbon. Perched on Linora's shoulder is Spray.
Red and silver intertwine in a single loop at her shoulder, the small red tail denoting her status as StarCraft Senior Apprentice.
Linora is 15 Turns, 10 months, and 1 day old.

Linora reads quietly for a few minutes, then turns over a page with a bit of a crackling sound in the silent room. She shifts a bit to make herself more comfortable, lounging down a bit in her chair and drawing one leg under herself, using her knee to help support the weight of the book.

"Lin?" Cress asks, eyes wandering to where she sits. "Are you alright?" Been some time since he's seen her last, and he doesn't really know why they suddenly became so distant from each other. She hadn't even said hello to him when she came in.

Linora blinks and looks up from her book, as if surprised Cress even spoke to her. How long's it been? She nods dumbly, an odd expression in her eyes, and shifts in her seat, flipping the book closed over her thumb... to hold her place. "I'm fine," she lies. "I went home for a little while, t'get better and stuff." Not that he'd even missed her... had he?

"I missed ya," he says, the look in his eyes showing that he's telling the thruth. And he's wondering why she went home, and didn't tell him about it. "Why'd you go home?"

Not as if she hadn't looked for him. Linora chews her lip and looks down at the cover of her book, so as not to get caught by his eyes again. "Healer said the sea air'd help me breathe better." Nevermind she'd been back more than a sevenday and hadn't so much as seen him. "I guess it helped and stuff. Anyhow, I finished my copying." She flips the book open again.

Blinking slowly, Cress, tries to focus on her, and then abrubtly changes the subject. "I see you got your senior appy knot," he says and tries to give her a smile, which turns into a strange grimasse.

Linora looks up with a smile in spite of herself, which fades at his expression. Confused, she shuts the book completely. "Yeah," she says quietly. Then she doesn't know /what/ to say, so she just sits looking at him.

Cress
Standing at only 5'5 this young man's size is not impressive. His blond hair, which has resently been cut short at the back and the front, is the color of wheat, has bleached strands, and he has a light tan from the sun, even if he doesn't spend many hours outside. Narrow gray eyes are framed by light-colored lashes and brows, and his cheekbones are angular as is his chin. His muscles are hardened, from long hours of hard work, done in his previous life as a trader. A scar runs along the right side of his neck and his most obvious feature is a missing inch of his right little finger.
A brand new midnightblue shirt with draw-strings at the V-neck is worn loosely over charcoal-colored trouser, which are hardly new by the look of them. Having been patched in several places these trousers look as if they've been handed down for generations. A shine on his black wherhide boots doesn't hide the fact that these are also hand-downs from someone who's grown out of them. Perched on Cress's shoulder is Dixie. Cress' Pack hangs heavily from Cress's shoulder. Perched on Cress's shoulder is Idoru. Perched on Cress's shoulder is Wintermute.
A knot of intertwined, double corded red and silver, looped once and left with a small tail, shows that he is a Senior Apprentice to the StarCraft.
Cress is 19 Turns, 2 months, and 15 days old.

Cress nods, and smiles, earnestly this time, and nods. "I guess congratulations are in order," he says and puts his book away. "When did this happen?" Could have happened seven-days ago for all he knew. And he felt bad about that, about not having seen her in such a long time. He clears his throat to say something, but can't quite get it out.

Linora smiles brightly. "Only the other day," she says, her eyes twinkling as she remembers. "Keris said I did a really nice job on my project... 'course he /also/ said I'll be doing a lot more copying." She shrugs, biting her lip a bit. "But I can breathe better now, so it'll prolly be okay. An' he knows I been sick and stuff." Abruptly she realizes she's chattering... can she really be nervous? Around Cress? She swallows hard and looks over at him.

Cress smiles too, glad to hear her say more than a few words in a sentence. "You know, I really did miss ya.." Even if he had been busy. He pick at the corner of the book next to him and he looks up at her again, seeing her look at him. "I'm really sorry, if it seemed like I was avoiding you..."

Linora smiles, her eyes softening. Yeah, he said it before... but if he said it /again/ he must mean it, right? She looks down at the cover of her book, and when she speaks her voice is very quiet. "I know I said we oughtta see less of each other and stuff... " She doesn't know where to go with this, now. Only that, having tried it, she didn't like it very much. But what to do?

Cress nods slowly, knowing what she means. "Didn't really feel very good," he mumbles. Being apart that is. But being together present other problems too. Problems that might get them kicked out of the craft.

Jerek walks in from the Male Apprentice Quarters.

Linora sighs and opens her book again, trying to concentrate on her studies. Not terribly successfully. She glances up as Jerek enters, greeting him with a nod, then looks back at the page again... not really seeing it.

Cress picks his book up too, opens it and stares at the pages, his eyes moving back and forth as if reading. Which he's not. He makes a note of Jerek coming in and glances at Lin, who's doing her best trying to pretend she's reading. Like himself.

Jerek falls asleep.

Linora gives up and flips the heavy book shut with a thump. And a sigh. She looks at Cress, who looks like he's reading. And sighs again and gets to her feet, hugging the book to her chest as she turns toward the door.

Cress looks up and his jaw drops as he sees Lin is leaving. Not knowing what to say all that comes out is; "Lin?"

Linora stops short, turning back to face Cress with wide eyes. "I thought you were busy and stuff..." her voice trails off uncertainly. "I mean... aw, I dunno what I mean." And she doesn't. She looks at the floor.

Cress blinks slowly. Closing his lids and opening them again. "It's, it's," he starts and then swallows hard. Just get it out! "It's just as hard being apart, as it is being together..." Words of wisdom, from a poor boy in love? Or is he just trying to /sound/ wise?

Linora looks back up from the floor, silent for a long moment. Wise or not, it's true, and she doesn't know what to say. So she falls back on something safe. "Wanna go get something to eat?" Not much above a whisper. Maybe if they just do something /normal/, things will seem all right again?

Cress nods, sure eating something would be good. So he gets up and puts his book under his arm, then joins her at the exit. "Food would be good..."

Linora's smile is more than a little relieved as she leads the way out of the Vault. But 'thank you' doesn't seem to be the right thing to say. And since she can't think of anything better, she just keeps quiet. For now.