Thuraya was known for at least one thing, and that was her bottomless stomach. While she had a lot on her mind, the most prominent thought was that of food... As far as what had happened after Cyril's big sis was murdered in front of the lot of them, Thuraya was making a conscious effort to forget it all. From seeing people's limbs be torn off and more people dying, and the seemingly endless crying- Not that Thuraya ever cried. Hah! The thought caused the crowd around her to give her an odd glance as she let out an audible laugh over the noise of the people around her, and quickly, emerald eyes fell from the stalls to the floor- if only for a moment.
Her main thoughts were with Yihira. She'd planned to head back to Seryosa's side after the battles were won, but it seemed that her life of combat was just that. Right now, was the only break she felt she'd really get. Food and a play, what more could you ask for? Well, Thuraya had a few suggestions; like... food and an arena battle to watch. But she was sure the play would be... alright..?
Eyes scanned the stalls a bit more and she basically started throwing her money at some of the vendors there. It all smelled delicious. Some was proper food, other bits was complete junk. She'd loaded up as much as she could, which managed to fill both of her arms as much as they could carry, as well as a few bags strapped to her tail. The bottomless stomach would be filled tonight!
She didn't realize quite how much she'd gotten until she was trying to make her way upstairs with it all though... Alone... Lips turned downward into a slight pout as she made it to the half-way point of her ascent to the balcony where the others were seated. She just hoped she wasn't going too high as she went up the last set of stairs she needed to. If she'd missed them, she'd have more to worry about than missing the play. She might be dead... be it from carrying too much, or the hunger setting in for food that she could smell but not eat without both hands.
When she made it to the balcony, she sighed in relief of the fact she didn't have to sit on the stairs eating all alone... Not that she needed to share.. but maybe... just maybe she could make a friend..?
She looked around for a seat, and noticed one that wasn't too far from where she was currently standing. A couple "Pardon me"s sounded as her tail hooked onto clothes and seats as she tried to quietly pass, as to not interrupt the play for anyone, but the dream of for once not being an obnoxious distraction slipped from between her fingers once more... As did a lot of her food. Tail hooked on seat, she took a step too far without unhooking herself and down she went...
A soft whine sounded as she hit the floor of the balcony with a squeak of voice and a crash of bought goods. Her eyes welled up slightly as she watched pieces of fruit roll away from her, hand outstretched for an apple, just missing it in her grasp, and forced to watch as it rolled to the wall, hitting against it she pushed herself up and turned to look behind herself. The bag strapped to her tail was near empty... the bags in her arms scattered across the floor. Quickly she gathered it all and shoved it all back into the bags. She'd managed to find a place that had cooked skewers; that was the delectable she'd taken... Blew on one lightly and picked at it a bit, making sure it was clean enough to eat; not that she would've minded a bit of dirt, and plopped herself in the free seat she'd seen. Legs forced toward the person next to her, since her tail needed to sit off the other side.
Eyes shifted to who that someone she was sitting next to. Christopher, if she recalled correctly... Hadn't talked to him, really. But the sight of him was enough to trigger a scene in her mind of what she'd rather forget... "Uhh..." she started, taking a piece of the meat from the skewer into her mouth. She chewed for a moment, swallowed, and held the skewer over to him, in case he'd like a bite. "So, one arm... That's not very handy... is it..?" she smirked a bit, stifling a small laugh, eyes shifting to the bags again.
The horror of the Kyorans in the balcony was obvious, and almost overwhelming. Servants who had realized too late that Thuraya was walking into a disaster winced and recoiled, and the guards dressed in orange nearly stepped forwards, perhaps to drag her out. A sudden wave from the Governor a few seats down sent them back to their places, but the King was already covering his face with both of his hands for a brief moment.
Meanwhile, Christopher was adjusting to someone new in his space. The near fall and spilled food had been enough to draw his attention for a brief moment, but the noise wasn't quite enough to pull him out of the static in his own head as barely watched the play below. He was only vaguely following the events as battles went by and the Rebellion grew. In that moment, what he supposed was a giant (it was hard to tell, as the man who played him was in sort of contraption that mimicked the larger body) had come to the rebellion with a thin man with grey-white hair who wore bandages around the lower half of his face. The giant was the one who spoke, his voice booming:
"I am Eoa, one of the last giants. And this is my friend, Veneno. We come because Chrysanta has finally turned to war, and life suffers because of it."
And then, suddenly, there were legs pushing against his, forcing his to the side. At first he didn't say anything, simply flinching and adjusting, arm shifting from the armrest. And then the scorpionfolk who sat down next to him spoke. The voice was barely enough to pierce through the fog in his mind, caused by the dull ache where his arm wasn't.
He looked over, his brows furrowed, as if not certain she was actually talked to him. Furthermore he looked down to the skewer held out to him, upper lips rising slightly in a classically confused expression. Shrugging it off, he brought his arm up reach for the skewer.
And then he paused, registering what she said. For a moment, he was silent, and then he snatched the skewer, saying, "Knew there was a reason why I didn't give you a bloody hand earlier," before tearing into the meat with his teeth.
Well then! We'd see if she shared any more of her goods with him, now wouldn't we! Though she knew his response was likely warranted. The more she thought about what she'd said to him, the more she felt bad for it, though how else was she supposed to open conversation..? "Oh, hi, I'm Thuraya! Nice to meet you!"? Well... probably would've been a better option, now she thought of it. Her eyes stared for a moment moving down to the play for only a moment, uninterested for the most part.
She pulled out another skewer from a bag, "You can have that one..." her tone held an apology in it. Her eyes locked on the meat as she took a bite of her own and let out a soft sigh. She chewed silently, expression changing to one of bliss as she let the flavours swirl around her mouth before swallowing. She tried to turn her legs away from him, but ultimately failed as her tail hit against the back of her chair. "You know some days I'd rather one less limb to a spare-" she cut herself off, eyes widening as she looked back to Christopher again, before quickly away. "I-I mean, uh... I-.. Damnit.. Hah; let's uh.. start over. Hi, I'm Thuraya, nice to meet you." she knew it was too late for that one, now...
Christopher could only blink a few times as Thuraya continued to speak. Indeed, it seemed like she was digging herself into a deeper and deeper hole. And he thought he was bad at speaking to others; he legitimately didn't know what to say to her at first, and so he instead just slowly looked back down to the play below. As he watched the actor playing the dwarf stepped around, holding his hand forwards to shake Veneno's hand-
The reaction was quick, happening as soon as the dwarf got close. The other actor stepped back, flinging both hands out to the side; suddenly butterflies (where from Christopher was sure) appeared, fluttering to create a wall. Quickly, the giant moved a little forwards, as if to protect the man-
"Oh, no, no, please don't. He doesn't like to be touched by people."
Christopher glanced back over to Thuraya, and then sighed, finishing tearing away the last of the meat from the skewer, holding it down afterwards. "Christopher. Nice to meet you outside of, you know. Constant battle. We picked you up in Gurata, right?"
Thuraya's eyes shifted as the butterflies appeared. Like a crow on shiny, the Scorpionfolk woman seemed in awe for a moment, though turned back to Christopher as he spoke.
"Yes, that's right." Her tone seemed a bit sad saying that, mind wandered to Seryosa; wondering how she was... And then to their current mission. Lips turned to a slight scowl and she tore into the meat a little more violently as she thought of Yihira again. Missing home was one thing, but now her mind was filled with thoughts of revenge. Her petty hatred for the man who'd bested her in the arena and made her come all this way had faded in favour of a new emotion she hadn't felt in quite some time, if she had at all.
She tore into another piece of meat, then another, and another, until it'd been cleared. She dropped the skewer stick into the bag she'd pulled it from, not realizing how long she'd been lost in thought, a foul look on her face, furrowed brow and scrunched nose, emerald eyes glaring daggers into the distance. She hadn't quite noticed her tail lift either, but when she did notice all this, her tail dropped quickly and she looked to the male at her side. "Heh... hehah..! P-pretty butterflies, right?"
For a moment, Christopher thought he was looking at another woman who was going to try and kill him. The look on her face shifted rapidly, going from embarrassment to awe to sadness and finally anger, and that very dangerous looking tail began to rise. His eyes quickly went from her face up to the stinger, and he slowly started to lean back, sinking into his chair as best as he could.
'You gotta be fucking kidding me...'
Thankfully it ended quickly, and without him being stabbed in the eye or some other crippling wound. He slowly exhaled the breath he had been holding between his teeth, he looked forwards and down as she spoke again. The butterflies had begun to disperse rapidly, fluttering out over the crowd and higher up into the air, and he gave a nod. "Sure, that's fair enough. It was a neat trick."
The look on his face was one she was used to seeing around herself. One of fear. His body language spoke loud enough that no words really had to be said, but when he seemed to relax, she took that as her chance to apologize once more, the only way she really knew how...
She forced a smile back onto her lips and took back any thought of not sharing with him. She slid one of the bags over with her foot, in front of herself and closer to him. She motioned down to it and nodded. "It may not all be the cleanest, but.. help yourself. I got more than enough for-" she looked to the other bags and smiled a bit more awkwardly, "For everyone here... to be honest. haha!"
He blinked a few more extra times as she moved, pushing the back over. Once more he glanced down to it, then back up to her, and with a shrug he reached down to pick up the bag, sitting it down in his lap so that he could start rummaging through it. "Hey, if you're hungry, you're hungry. Ain't no shame in it. We've all got our vices."
Finding something else he wanted took a little while, but he didn't want to set it down without taking anything out. He understood the gesture fully, and wanted to make sure he didn't slight it in return. After a little while he settled on another skewer and an apple, setting the latter to the side so that he could focus on the former after placing the bag back down. "You able to follow the shit going on, or nah?"
Her eyes half watched him select the items he wanted, and shifted back to the play below when he spoke. She watched for a moment, before shaking her head. "Not at all." she admitted. Of course, she'd shown up late, then managed to be distracted since she sat down; the only thing grabbing her attention being the butterflies.
"Never really been one for watchin' stuff like this." she stated, reaching into a bag and pulling out the first thing her hand touched; an orange. Of course. Something she had to work for. She held back from sighing as she dug her thumb nail into it and started peeling it. "More one to watch people fight. Though... Lately I could use a break from all that..."
Down below, the scene was going through another rapid shifts. It was a feat of skill, both physically and magically; moving to change the props within the dark took both the efforts of stage hands and mages who stood out of sight, the same mages her raised and lowered the lights, even as the actors moved in between the moving objects to take their places. Christopher supposed, in a way, it was all impressive enough; it just wasn't his cup of tea, like it wasn't hers.
Though he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to watch pit fights, all the same.
"I get what you mean." He gave a little grunt with a shake of his head. "We got two months, but I don't think it was enough. Certainly doesn't feel like enough. Shit's hit the fan all over again; seems like all we did almost meant nothing. Fucking sucks." His hand drifted over as he spoke, two fingers tugging at the tied sleeve, adjusting it some.
Eyes shifted over as his hand moved. Guilt for her initial greeting toward him creeping back, though she hoped not to grab his attention too much, as she bowed her head, hiding her face slightly, behind silvery strands, and kept her face toward the play. Fingers pried open the orange pieces after she'd gotten the skin off, and popped a wedge into her mouth. It was juicy.. which was nice. But it didn't do much for her mood.
She couldn't tell anymore if she was bored, tired, hungry, angry, embarrassed or all of the above plus some more... Likely all of it, but she fought the feelings with another piece of the orange being bitten into. "It wasn't for nothing. We accomplished a lot, even though it doesn't seem like it right now." she turned her head toward him then, and gave the best grin she could, placing a hand on his shoulder. "And once we take care of business here, this time... Things will be better! You'll see." it was a poor attempt to make him feel better. Her grin was beyond fake, and her tone was uncertain, but at least she was trying.
At first he didn't look over to her, even when she touched his shoulder. He at least didn't flinch, instead just remaining fixed on that point of space. He wasn't looking down at the shifting play, but rather just a little above it, where there wasn't anything at all.
And then he shifted, blinking a little as he pulled himself out of his thoughts, hand dropping as he glanced over. For a moment he was quiet, expressionless, and then he gave a sort of smirking smile, nodding as he did so. "Yeah, you're probably right. Can't just give up and die now, can we. Come too far for that. May as well finish the job."
Though her tone and grin may as well have been glass, he smiled all the same.
Expression changed again, though only if he were really paying attention. If a smile could be more fake, it wouldn't be recognizable as a smile anymore. Hand slipped off his shoulder and she peeled another wedge of the orange off and popped it into her mouth, turning her head away again. Head bowed as she let her eyes wander toward the stage again, hair shielding her from anyone's prying eyes and while she looked in the direction, her focus wasn't on the play, that much was certain. She looked past the actors, past the props, backdrops and even the stage itself.
Can't just give up and die. No, they couldn't. She couldn't, anyway. She had things to do still, and while she knew, deep in the back of her mind somewhere that being full of rage and thoughts of revenge wasn't the way to go about any of this. She'd end up dead... or worse.
Free hand clenched into a fist, the other threatened to squeeze the remaining pieces of the orange into juice but just shook slightly instead. That was, until she popped the last few pieces into her mouth and let the hand fall to her leg and clench as well. "Oh, I'll finish the job, alright..." she said in reply, her tone hushed.
Christopher himself admitted that he was a bit of an idiot, and a bit of an ass. Sometimes he was blind too, unaware of what was going on around him until it was in his face. But, when he was actually watching something, he had a sharpness to him. Perhaps the most surprising part of it was that he was able to understand how another person was feeling when it mattered. Probably had something to do with his mother.
So he winced slightly as she looked away, realizing that he had set her on a path that no one should go down. A path he knew well enough himself, had been feeling for awhile. A path that he was grateful that she had taken him off of, if even for a moment, so he certainly didn't want to put her on it in his stead.
He reached over, gently tapping her shoulder in a brief motion, one that wasn't hurried but short all the same. "Oi. Stay with me here. None of that."
The tap on her shoulder made her quickly turn her head back toward him. Silvery strands parting to reveal one of those brilliant green orbs staring through, over at him. It wasn't filled with anger, like one might think it would be. Despite her fists clenching ever tighter with each moment, with the scowl across her face, with her entire body tensed and posture slouched forward slightly. Her eye caught his and she paused. Mind registered what he'd said.
"No." Her tone was eerily calm, but her breath caught slightly, eyes threatening to well up. "I-I'll rip his heart out..."
"Sure we will. But he isn't here right now, is he? There's point focusing on it right now. Use the time to take a little bit of a break." His hand slowly lowered. "Tomorrow we'll go on the search again, and soon enough we'll find him. But right now let's take a break. We'll get him soon enough. No need to rush."
He looked up, gaze sort of drifting towards the ceiling. "If we rush, then we lose. That's what he wants us to do. Whether it feels like it or not, we're the ones at the advantage here, not him. That's why he's trying to offset us. And if we let him, it all comes to nothing."
The threat became reality when he started speaking. Eyes welled but didn't dare to let a single tear fall. Not now. She didn't even blink, fearing it might cause the stream to start, instead, she just kept her eyes locked on him for a moment longer. Lips parted as though she were about to say something but instead, looked away, back to the bags of food. Her escape. "Oh..." Her tone hadn't changed from it's calm state, but she pulled out a small box from one of them and lifted the lid off. "Almost forgot about these."
Fingers went in, and she lifted out a small, bite-sized.. something, that looked like bread. She held the box over toward Christopher in case he decided he'd like one, the smell of warm bread, melted cheese and light spices wafting from it as it moved over. "Glad I got them... they're even better than they smell."
He slowly looked back over to her, quiet for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak, hesitated, and closed it. Another moment was spent thinking, before he just gave a slight shake of his head and a weary smile.
"Sure thing. Thanks."
And so he reached over taking a piece for himself.
Her main thoughts were with Yihira. She'd planned to head back to Seryosa's side after the battles were won, but it seemed that her life of combat was just that. Right now, was the only break she felt she'd really get. Food and a play, what more could you ask for? Well, Thuraya had a few suggestions; like... food and an arena battle to watch. But she was sure the play would be... alright..?
Eyes scanned the stalls a bit more and she basically started throwing her money at some of the vendors there. It all smelled delicious. Some was proper food, other bits was complete junk. She'd loaded up as much as she could, which managed to fill both of her arms as much as they could carry, as well as a few bags strapped to her tail. The bottomless stomach would be filled tonight!
She didn't realize quite how much she'd gotten until she was trying to make her way upstairs with it all though... Alone... Lips turned downward into a slight pout as she made it to the half-way point of her ascent to the balcony where the others were seated. She just hoped she wasn't going too high as she went up the last set of stairs she needed to. If she'd missed them, she'd have more to worry about than missing the play. She might be dead... be it from carrying too much, or the hunger setting in for food that she could smell but not eat without both hands.
When she made it to the balcony, she sighed in relief of the fact she didn't have to sit on the stairs eating all alone... Not that she needed to share.. but maybe... just maybe she could make a friend..?
She looked around for a seat, and noticed one that wasn't too far from where she was currently standing. A couple "Pardon me"s sounded as her tail hooked onto clothes and seats as she tried to quietly pass, as to not interrupt the play for anyone, but the dream of for once not being an obnoxious distraction slipped from between her fingers once more... As did a lot of her food. Tail hooked on seat, she took a step too far without unhooking herself and down she went...
A soft whine sounded as she hit the floor of the balcony with a squeak of voice and a crash of bought goods. Her eyes welled up slightly as she watched pieces of fruit roll away from her, hand outstretched for an apple, just missing it in her grasp, and forced to watch as it rolled to the wall, hitting against it she pushed herself up and turned to look behind herself. The bag strapped to her tail was near empty... the bags in her arms scattered across the floor. Quickly she gathered it all and shoved it all back into the bags. She'd managed to find a place that had cooked skewers; that was the delectable she'd taken... Blew on one lightly and picked at it a bit, making sure it was clean enough to eat; not that she would've minded a bit of dirt, and plopped herself in the free seat she'd seen. Legs forced toward the person next to her, since her tail needed to sit off the other side.
Eyes shifted to who that someone she was sitting next to. Christopher, if she recalled correctly... Hadn't talked to him, really. But the sight of him was enough to trigger a scene in her mind of what she'd rather forget... "Uhh..." she started, taking a piece of the meat from the skewer into her mouth. She chewed for a moment, swallowed, and held the skewer over to him, in case he'd like a bite. "So, one arm... That's not very handy... is it..?" she smirked a bit, stifling a small laugh, eyes shifting to the bags again.
The horror of the Kyorans in the balcony was obvious, and almost overwhelming. Servants who had realized too late that Thuraya was walking into a disaster winced and recoiled, and the guards dressed in orange nearly stepped forwards, perhaps to drag her out. A sudden wave from the Governor a few seats down sent them back to their places, but the King was already covering his face with both of his hands for a brief moment.
Meanwhile, Christopher was adjusting to someone new in his space. The near fall and spilled food had been enough to draw his attention for a brief moment, but the noise wasn't quite enough to pull him out of the static in his own head as barely watched the play below. He was only vaguely following the events as battles went by and the Rebellion grew. In that moment, what he supposed was a giant (it was hard to tell, as the man who played him was in sort of contraption that mimicked the larger body) had come to the rebellion with a thin man with grey-white hair who wore bandages around the lower half of his face. The giant was the one who spoke, his voice booming:
"I am Eoa, one of the last giants. And this is my friend, Veneno. We come because Chrysanta has finally turned to war, and life suffers because of it."
And then, suddenly, there were legs pushing against his, forcing his to the side. At first he didn't say anything, simply flinching and adjusting, arm shifting from the armrest. And then the scorpionfolk who sat down next to him spoke. The voice was barely enough to pierce through the fog in his mind, caused by the dull ache where his arm wasn't.
He looked over, his brows furrowed, as if not certain she was actually talked to him. Furthermore he looked down to the skewer held out to him, upper lips rising slightly in a classically confused expression. Shrugging it off, he brought his arm up reach for the skewer.
And then he paused, registering what she said. For a moment, he was silent, and then he snatched the skewer, saying, "Knew there was a reason why I didn't give you a bloody hand earlier," before tearing into the meat with his teeth.
Well then! We'd see if she shared any more of her goods with him, now wouldn't we! Though she knew his response was likely warranted. The more she thought about what she'd said to him, the more she felt bad for it, though how else was she supposed to open conversation..? "Oh, hi, I'm Thuraya! Nice to meet you!"? Well... probably would've been a better option, now she thought of it. Her eyes stared for a moment moving down to the play for only a moment, uninterested for the most part.
She pulled out another skewer from a bag, "You can have that one..." her tone held an apology in it. Her eyes locked on the meat as she took a bite of her own and let out a soft sigh. She chewed silently, expression changing to one of bliss as she let the flavours swirl around her mouth before swallowing. She tried to turn her legs away from him, but ultimately failed as her tail hit against the back of her chair. "You know some days I'd rather one less limb to a spare-" she cut herself off, eyes widening as she looked back to Christopher again, before quickly away. "I-I mean, uh... I-.. Damnit.. Hah; let's uh.. start over. Hi, I'm Thuraya, nice to meet you." she knew it was too late for that one, now...
Christopher could only blink a few times as Thuraya continued to speak. Indeed, it seemed like she was digging herself into a deeper and deeper hole. And he thought he was bad at speaking to others; he legitimately didn't know what to say to her at first, and so he instead just slowly looked back down to the play below. As he watched the actor playing the dwarf stepped around, holding his hand forwards to shake Veneno's hand-
The reaction was quick, happening as soon as the dwarf got close. The other actor stepped back, flinging both hands out to the side; suddenly butterflies (where from Christopher was sure) appeared, fluttering to create a wall. Quickly, the giant moved a little forwards, as if to protect the man-
"Oh, no, no, please don't. He doesn't like to be touched by people."
Christopher glanced back over to Thuraya, and then sighed, finishing tearing away the last of the meat from the skewer, holding it down afterwards. "Christopher. Nice to meet you outside of, you know. Constant battle. We picked you up in Gurata, right?"
Thuraya's eyes shifted as the butterflies appeared. Like a crow on shiny, the Scorpionfolk woman seemed in awe for a moment, though turned back to Christopher as he spoke.
"Yes, that's right." Her tone seemed a bit sad saying that, mind wandered to Seryosa; wondering how she was... And then to their current mission. Lips turned to a slight scowl and she tore into the meat a little more violently as she thought of Yihira again. Missing home was one thing, but now her mind was filled with thoughts of revenge. Her petty hatred for the man who'd bested her in the arena and made her come all this way had faded in favour of a new emotion she hadn't felt in quite some time, if she had at all.
She tore into another piece of meat, then another, and another, until it'd been cleared. She dropped the skewer stick into the bag she'd pulled it from, not realizing how long she'd been lost in thought, a foul look on her face, furrowed brow and scrunched nose, emerald eyes glaring daggers into the distance. She hadn't quite noticed her tail lift either, but when she did notice all this, her tail dropped quickly and she looked to the male at her side. "Heh... hehah..! P-pretty butterflies, right?"
For a moment, Christopher thought he was looking at another woman who was going to try and kill him. The look on her face shifted rapidly, going from embarrassment to awe to sadness and finally anger, and that very dangerous looking tail began to rise. His eyes quickly went from her face up to the stinger, and he slowly started to lean back, sinking into his chair as best as he could.
'You gotta be fucking kidding me...'
Thankfully it ended quickly, and without him being stabbed in the eye or some other crippling wound. He slowly exhaled the breath he had been holding between his teeth, he looked forwards and down as she spoke again. The butterflies had begun to disperse rapidly, fluttering out over the crowd and higher up into the air, and he gave a nod. "Sure, that's fair enough. It was a neat trick."
The look on his face was one she was used to seeing around herself. One of fear. His body language spoke loud enough that no words really had to be said, but when he seemed to relax, she took that as her chance to apologize once more, the only way she really knew how...
She forced a smile back onto her lips and took back any thought of not sharing with him. She slid one of the bags over with her foot, in front of herself and closer to him. She motioned down to it and nodded. "It may not all be the cleanest, but.. help yourself. I got more than enough for-" she looked to the other bags and smiled a bit more awkwardly, "For everyone here... to be honest. haha!"
He blinked a few more extra times as she moved, pushing the back over. Once more he glanced down to it, then back up to her, and with a shrug he reached down to pick up the bag, sitting it down in his lap so that he could start rummaging through it. "Hey, if you're hungry, you're hungry. Ain't no shame in it. We've all got our vices."
Finding something else he wanted took a little while, but he didn't want to set it down without taking anything out. He understood the gesture fully, and wanted to make sure he didn't slight it in return. After a little while he settled on another skewer and an apple, setting the latter to the side so that he could focus on the former after placing the bag back down. "You able to follow the shit going on, or nah?"
Her eyes half watched him select the items he wanted, and shifted back to the play below when he spoke. She watched for a moment, before shaking her head. "Not at all." she admitted. Of course, she'd shown up late, then managed to be distracted since she sat down; the only thing grabbing her attention being the butterflies.
"Never really been one for watchin' stuff like this." she stated, reaching into a bag and pulling out the first thing her hand touched; an orange. Of course. Something she had to work for. She held back from sighing as she dug her thumb nail into it and started peeling it. "More one to watch people fight. Though... Lately I could use a break from all that..."
Down below, the scene was going through another rapid shifts. It was a feat of skill, both physically and magically; moving to change the props within the dark took both the efforts of stage hands and mages who stood out of sight, the same mages her raised and lowered the lights, even as the actors moved in between the moving objects to take their places. Christopher supposed, in a way, it was all impressive enough; it just wasn't his cup of tea, like it wasn't hers.
Though he wasn't exactly sure if he wanted to watch pit fights, all the same.
"I get what you mean." He gave a little grunt with a shake of his head. "We got two months, but I don't think it was enough. Certainly doesn't feel like enough. Shit's hit the fan all over again; seems like all we did almost meant nothing. Fucking sucks." His hand drifted over as he spoke, two fingers tugging at the tied sleeve, adjusting it some.
Eyes shifted over as his hand moved. Guilt for her initial greeting toward him creeping back, though she hoped not to grab his attention too much, as she bowed her head, hiding her face slightly, behind silvery strands, and kept her face toward the play. Fingers pried open the orange pieces after she'd gotten the skin off, and popped a wedge into her mouth. It was juicy.. which was nice. But it didn't do much for her mood.
She couldn't tell anymore if she was bored, tired, hungry, angry, embarrassed or all of the above plus some more... Likely all of it, but she fought the feelings with another piece of the orange being bitten into. "It wasn't for nothing. We accomplished a lot, even though it doesn't seem like it right now." she turned her head toward him then, and gave the best grin she could, placing a hand on his shoulder. "And once we take care of business here, this time... Things will be better! You'll see." it was a poor attempt to make him feel better. Her grin was beyond fake, and her tone was uncertain, but at least she was trying.
At first he didn't look over to her, even when she touched his shoulder. He at least didn't flinch, instead just remaining fixed on that point of space. He wasn't looking down at the shifting play, but rather just a little above it, where there wasn't anything at all.
And then he shifted, blinking a little as he pulled himself out of his thoughts, hand dropping as he glanced over. For a moment he was quiet, expressionless, and then he gave a sort of smirking smile, nodding as he did so. "Yeah, you're probably right. Can't just give up and die now, can we. Come too far for that. May as well finish the job."
Though her tone and grin may as well have been glass, he smiled all the same.
Expression changed again, though only if he were really paying attention. If a smile could be more fake, it wouldn't be recognizable as a smile anymore. Hand slipped off his shoulder and she peeled another wedge of the orange off and popped it into her mouth, turning her head away again. Head bowed as she let her eyes wander toward the stage again, hair shielding her from anyone's prying eyes and while she looked in the direction, her focus wasn't on the play, that much was certain. She looked past the actors, past the props, backdrops and even the stage itself.
Can't just give up and die. No, they couldn't. She couldn't, anyway. She had things to do still, and while she knew, deep in the back of her mind somewhere that being full of rage and thoughts of revenge wasn't the way to go about any of this. She'd end up dead... or worse.
Free hand clenched into a fist, the other threatened to squeeze the remaining pieces of the orange into juice but just shook slightly instead. That was, until she popped the last few pieces into her mouth and let the hand fall to her leg and clench as well. "Oh, I'll finish the job, alright..." she said in reply, her tone hushed.
Christopher himself admitted that he was a bit of an idiot, and a bit of an ass. Sometimes he was blind too, unaware of what was going on around him until it was in his face. But, when he was actually watching something, he had a sharpness to him. Perhaps the most surprising part of it was that he was able to understand how another person was feeling when it mattered. Probably had something to do with his mother.
So he winced slightly as she looked away, realizing that he had set her on a path that no one should go down. A path he knew well enough himself, had been feeling for awhile. A path that he was grateful that she had taken him off of, if even for a moment, so he certainly didn't want to put her on it in his stead.
He reached over, gently tapping her shoulder in a brief motion, one that wasn't hurried but short all the same. "Oi. Stay with me here. None of that."
The tap on her shoulder made her quickly turn her head back toward him. Silvery strands parting to reveal one of those brilliant green orbs staring through, over at him. It wasn't filled with anger, like one might think it would be. Despite her fists clenching ever tighter with each moment, with the scowl across her face, with her entire body tensed and posture slouched forward slightly. Her eye caught his and she paused. Mind registered what he'd said.
"No." Her tone was eerily calm, but her breath caught slightly, eyes threatening to well up. "I-I'll rip his heart out..."
"Sure we will. But he isn't here right now, is he? There's point focusing on it right now. Use the time to take a little bit of a break." His hand slowly lowered. "Tomorrow we'll go on the search again, and soon enough we'll find him. But right now let's take a break. We'll get him soon enough. No need to rush."
He looked up, gaze sort of drifting towards the ceiling. "If we rush, then we lose. That's what he wants us to do. Whether it feels like it or not, we're the ones at the advantage here, not him. That's why he's trying to offset us. And if we let him, it all comes to nothing."
The threat became reality when he started speaking. Eyes welled but didn't dare to let a single tear fall. Not now. She didn't even blink, fearing it might cause the stream to start, instead, she just kept her eyes locked on him for a moment longer. Lips parted as though she were about to say something but instead, looked away, back to the bags of food. Her escape. "Oh..." Her tone hadn't changed from it's calm state, but she pulled out a small box from one of them and lifted the lid off. "Almost forgot about these."
Fingers went in, and she lifted out a small, bite-sized.. something, that looked like bread. She held the box over toward Christopher in case he decided he'd like one, the smell of warm bread, melted cheese and light spices wafting from it as it moved over. "Glad I got them... they're even better than they smell."
He slowly looked back over to her, quiet for a moment. He opened his mouth to speak, hesitated, and closed it. Another moment was spent thinking, before he just gave a slight shake of his head and a weary smile.
"Sure thing. Thanks."
And so he reached over taking a piece for himself.