Quiet Corners

Niall, for the first time ever at 'Reaches walks into a room, in the light /and/ oblivious to his surroundings. Well maybe it's because of the letter in his hands, or is it's perhaps it's because the lack of guitar -- no it couldn't be that, he'd bored not oblivious. Whatever is causing it, it's also the cause of him moving in front of Reiko, and seeming to sit right where she is, but he moves off, and doesn't sit.

Reiko scowls lightly as a shadow crosses her work, glancing up quickly. Spotting Niall, the scowl deepens a degree or two.. but he seems preoccupied. Hm. Quietly laying her sewing aside, she curls herself back into the couch a bit, emerald gaze following his progress through the room, a twisted smirk curling her lips. No, she won't speak right away. Maybe she won't speak at all. She hasn't decided yet.

Niall smiles, then he grins, and finally smirks as he read the letter, and continues to walk around the room. Preoccupied with the letter he maybe, but for some reason he keeps near the couch, and even he's not sure why yet. He'll figure that out, after he's done, and after he finds a seat on the couch he's been staying near.

Reiko continues to watch Niall, noting his expression as he reads with thinly veiled interest, the twisted smirk still in place even as he sits down practically next to her, seemingly without noticing her. Innteresting. Gathering her work onto her lap, she slides closer to peek, one elbow resting lightly on his shoulder. Someone in a good mood today? Note the date.

Once Reiko's elbow touched his shoulder, Niall wasn't oblivious anymore, and everything became clear about why he was close to the couch. Well, he's not about to ruin this moment, and keeps on playing like he's oblivious to everything. But he adds one little part, and anyone could do if they are as oblivious as he was; and that was sliding the letter over some, allowing Reiko to read it easier.

Reiko's eyes scan the page idly, without really seeing the words, then she withdraws. Not the reaction she'd expected, but no matter. If he's still oblivious, she might as well sew. She slides back to her corner of the couch and picks up her work again without a word.

Niall smiles inwardly, not about to give up that he's oblivious. He finished reading his letter, when Reiko leans on him, but he continued to act like he was scanning it. "I hope you haven't had trouble with your sewing," he finally says. He was sincere this time, as he spook to Reiko.

Reiko looks back up from her work to eye Niall coolly, the smirk returning. "I had a very ... interesting lesson," she informs him, although look - she's still sewing on her lap. "It's nearly finished, in any case." Arching a brow, she glances at the letter again, but refrains from further comment.

"Oh?" Niall's interest was sparked now, she had an interesting lesson, maybe she will share. "What was the lesson about?" He then smiled and lifted the letter, pointing it slightly at Reiko. "What would you like to know about this?"

The smirk spreads to a twisted smile as Reiko returns to her work. "One of the riders invited a group of candidates to his weyr to learn the finer points of robe-making," she informs him - a lot of words without much information. She glances up at the letter again, fixing her eyes on him calmly. "And nothing you don't care to tell me."

Niall smirked at Reiko's explanation, and shrugged some, not much information though. "Sounds like that was a lot of fun," he said with a nice bit of sarcasm there, but now to his letter. "I'll tell you anything if I don't give it up voluntarily, then all that's needed is to ask me. Besides if there was anything to hide, why would I come to a public place to read it."

Reiko suddenly remembers why she finds Niall so infuriating. "Indeed," she says quietly, the smirk fading as a brow arches. One hand lifts to tuck her hair behind one ear, and she returns her attention to her project, refusing to ask for the simple reason that he asked her to. Or rather, told her to.

Niall watches the sudden shift in her attitude towards him, and sits back some, with a slightly defeated look. This game of chose was quite frustrating to him, especially when he's never had to work this hard. Well there's a first time for everything, and he is determined. "Why the sudden shift of attitude?"

Reiko glances up, her expression carefully neutral. "I won't beg you for information," she says calmly, the merest hint of disdain coloring the word 'beg'. Not after that klah incident, and the awful hangover and gap in consciousness that followed. She won't let him have that much control again, if she can help it. "If you want to tell me something, fine." The slight narrowing of her eyes adds a silent note; if he doesn't, she doesn't care.

"Beg!?" Niall repeats, showing a disgust for the word. He stopped for a moment, considering her words, and his before hand, and behold, he finally catches onto one thing. "I would never and have never wanted you to beg. I was just simply informing you... I don't want to bore you." Time for another pause, time to think and chose carefully. "But the letter was from my family, asking the questions that all do; about how am I, and what I'm doing. But it also said they were going to try and send me some carving tools, that I asked for."

Reiko flinches, barely perceptibly, as the word is thrown back at her, steeling herself for the worst he can offer... but she's caught off guard by his next words. She blinks once, slowly, then nods, stalling as she gathers her composure about herself again. "That wasn't so hard," she says quietly... but whether she's talking about his letter, or what just happened, is not clear.

Niall nodded slowly, hearing her words, seeing her reaction, but not seeing much. He sat down the letter, his eyes catching one of the design sketches added to bottom. They were similar to the designs on his clothing. He looked back at Reiko, opening his mouth to talk, but closed it when he could find no words.

Her hands quite still on the unfinished garment now, Reiko looks up as the weight of all the silence becomes unbearable. She looks at Niall dispassionately for a very long moment - more silence. Finally she speaks. "Or maybe it was." Hard.

"Or maybe for once, I don't know how to go on. That you have placed me in a loop. Or it could be the pure shock of knowing we have been speaking kindly to each other. No snaps, or vagueness, games or coldness." That's all except for that one little section. "I've been so use to the snaps, and the coldness, it's strange to talk to you like this. But I prefer it to the coldness and games." Niall softly spook, calmly and like a person. No commands, no orders, nothing remote on either side of those. He was just explaining and informing.

Reiko listens, her eyes on Niall's face as he speaks. "Do you analyze everything?" she asks quietly, when at last he finishes speaking. How different from the man of action he professed to be when she first met him. Almost automatically, she lifts the needle again and resumes her careful stitching.

"When I can't learn from other means. It's not my first choice in this overall situation," Niall said, leaning back some, and looking at Reiko. He was a contradiction, just as he told her, not long after they met. That was one of the few, constants about him.

Reiko keeps her eyes on her work this time, on the slow but steady progress of the needle as it stabs through the gauzy fabric on her lap. "Why?" Quietly spoken, the single word could really refer to anything, but she doesn't clarify.

Niall looked down for a moment, catching sight of the design on his clothing. Fro a brief moment he looked, before shaking his head, and looking straight at Reiko. "Why what? Why I've been analyzing? Why I don't prefer it? Why I choose you? What does the why mean?" He asked, not sure how to answer her question without more.

Reiko looks sharply up again, her eyes guarded. "Yes." All of the above, actually, now that he's gone and spelled it out. Her fingers stop on the needle, and she straightens her shoulders, ready to hear anything he might have to say.

Niall nods once, more to give him a pause to gather his thoughts and words then to agree to it. "Why I choose you? Choose is the wrong word in there, for that would mean I controlled that situation. But I didn't have control as to whether I have feelings for you, or fall for you, or whatever you want to call it. I didn't control that, but I'm glad it happened, that it was you; I've gained feelings for. But I may not control gaining the feelings but I do my actions off of those feelings, and right now I'm analyzing. I have no other options, but too. I can't try by actions, for I've already ruined any chance of that at the moment. That day might come, but it's not here at the moment. I prefer to try actions to learn, to get to know you. I learn better when I try and fail, or try and succeed, compared when I have to analyze."

Reiko just stares, her expression carefully neutral, as Niall speaks. And speaks. Then a twisted smirk curls her lips. "What makes you think I want to be known?" she says lightly, picking up her needle again to resume her slow stitching.

"Maybe it was you telling me to try to get to know you," Niall started off with, even it that seemed more like a threat when Reiko had said it. "Or maybe it's been the brief glimpses I've seen, of something other then what you show to others. Who knows, maybe I don't know if you want to be known, but I do want to know you." Peacefully said, passionately toned, the games where over with Niall, and now he just wanted to try.

Reiko is apparently unmoved by Niall's words... and his tone... the needle never wavering in its careful stitches. "Nobody knows me," she says, lifting her eyes momentarily to fix a coolly appraising gaze on him. Statement of fact, yes... but something in her tone conveys warning as well. She has her reasons, which she has no inclination of sharing.

"How many have tried?" Not many Niall would guess. None would be a safer bet, with how cold he has seen Reiko become. "I want to know you. I'm trying to. And I don't think, in fact I know, there is nothing that would scare me away from trying."

Reiko doesn't move for a long moment, then she slips her needle into the fabric and carefully wraps it into a small bundle. "I have work to do," she says flatly, getting to her feet.

Niall raises with Reiko; the start of a new approach, of trying something new. "What are you afraid of Reiko? Are you afraid of me actually getting to know you? And with that, the possibility me leaving? Is it that you're afraid you want me to get to know you? Is it something else?"

Reiko stops, turning sharply to glare at Niall, her features set in an emotionless mask. "I'm not /afraid/," she snaps, straightening her shoulders defiantly. "Not of you, or anyone else."

Niall never lose his calm, it's never faded or faltered. "Then why is it, that every time I see what others do not see, and I touch you with my words, you leave. Why is it, that when I seem to touch you with my words, and effect you, you end it. Why don't you face it?"

Reiko regards Niall evenly, her expression unreadable. "I can make choices too," she says quietly, standing just a bit straighter. "I choose not to be known." She can choose not to be affected by his words as well, even if that means choosing not to hear them. Without another word, she turns on her heel and slips out the door.