Roleplaying
2004 Archive
2005 Archive
Seminars
| When: | 19 March 2005 |
| Who: | Alden, Faith |
| What: | A mishap in the University Student Union leads to two people making new "friends". |
The University
The campus of the University of Texas at Austin stretches over several square miles. The most striking area of the campus is the clock tower, which looms over the rest of the campus and glows depending on when the school wins a victory in something it considers important. The West Mall is also another large part of the campus, housing the school's Union and having an open grassed area in front of it with enough trees to give it suitable shading.
The southwest corner of the campus is where the Harry Ransom Center is. A massive library and archive area that has several rare books and artifacts that make it of special interest to Yves. Finally, the last place of major interest is a Tokamak reactor buried deep beneath the Math and Sciences Building; the reactor a source of constant interest by both servitors of Jean and Vapula.
A college campus is the perfect place to meet new people, if you don't have those annoying class things to worry about. Which is what has brought a certain blonde out this way. He's easy enough to spot, seated under a tree in the grassy area outside the Student Union. Or rather, the effects of his presence are. Anyone passing by would hear the flute music, pure and sweet, and quite skillful, too. And anyone passing by would also notice the small group of students clustered around the player, seated on the grass nearby, a silent audience. Probably all either art or theatre students, but you never know...
Alden, for the most part, seems to be oblivious to the crowd he has attracted, at least at the moment, his eyes closed and his full attention centerred on his instrument, coaxing the notes from it in gentle melody. However, there's more than mere music, here. So nice, being able to grab peoples' attention by sheer force of will. He doesn't even need to use Essence for it...
Faith doesn't have classes to take, per se--she has classes to teach. It gets annoying at times, university students being prone to slacking off, and all, but she's handling it well. Even though she's heard that some of her students are griping about her grading too harshly, using not-very-nice language. Faith, to her credit, is handling them well; she's been calm and collected for the entire thing. And now, having gotten through with a bit of thesis work, she's walking through the Student Union. She hears Alden's music long before she spots him, and stops; her arms are full of books, and she looks suitably geekish. Once she locates the music's source, she heads toward the edge of the crowd, listening. She's got a little while to spare, after all.
Alden continues playing for a minute or so longer, the song slowly tapering off like a breeze ghosting away. As the last notes fade, he lowers his flute and looks up at those gathered, smiling slightly and reachiing up with one hand to brush some flyaway hair back from his eyes, "I hope you approve?" His voice is just as musical as the flute, light without being too high. Still, it skirts the edge of being feminine. At any rate, his query draws several statements of approval and scattered, almost hesitant applause, making that smile stretch wider as Alden's eyes wander over the students... and Faith. Though the latter gains no more attention than the others, just yet. One more person, and not even that close by. Time for all, later. For now... for now the blonde sits back against his tree, lightly holding his flute in one hand, "Do I hear any requests?"
Shifting her books in her arms, Faith makes her way through more of the crowd. She pauses again, noting that a chemistry journal is about to escape her grip. She hastily moves to try and secure it, but isn't quite fast enough--and the careless elbow of a passer-by upsets the whole thing. The pile falls to the ground in a heap, and Faith scowls. ...Nobody saw that, okay?
Just as Alden starts to lift his flute to play once more, he spots sudden movement. Hm? Oh dear. Even as some of the nearby students begin to react, the musician is on his feet, having tucked his instrument into a shoulder-bag that rests against the same tree he was using as a backrest. And while the music remaining silent might be a hint for the grad, unless she's watching she might be surprised when a pair of hands start to help gather the books, "Are you alright, miss?" Such a nice young man, really. Faith will even get the patented Winning Smile if she meets Alden's eyes as he offers the books he was able to gather back to her.
Said graduate student is already in the process of getting her papers together by the time Alden arrives. But there's a lot of it to gather up--looks like the fall was the death of a three-ring binder. Its rings have come loose, and its contents are currently scattered all over the place. Faith moves to start cleaning it up, and notices Alden as soon as he starts helping her. She's a little annoyed; she can do it herself, and is a little worried about what might happen... But as she gets it all cleaned up, she stands up again, taking the things Alden offers her. "Thanks," she says, calmly. It's a little stilted, barely covering annoyance, but it's there. She could've gotten those herself.
Alden simply smiles, both worldly looks and otherworldly charm doing what they do best. Though, with the current audience, that may not amount to much... "You're welcome. Are you a student here?" The little gathering of students has begun to break up, since the playing's stopped and doesn't look to be resuming in the immediate future. You know the attention span of freshmen, after all. Though a few of them seem to be reluctant to leave, a few even throwing moonish looks at the flautist. Go figure. "I think I got all the papers before the wind caught them," is said slightly ruefully, a glance tossed back to the spot where the binder exploded. Such an effort, he might have broken a nail, or mussed his hair.
Roll by Alden: (1) (5) (2)
Roll by NAME: (3) (2) (2)
Faith looks into Alden's eyes for a moment... and blinks. For a moment, she suspects /something/, but that something fades very quickly. "Thank you," she says, the calmness in her voice wavering slightly. And it's a vaguely soppy sort of wavering, to boot. She doesn't notice it, of course, but she certainly notices Alden. And starts going into geek-girl-meeting-cute-guy mode. Dear God. "Thank you. I need those. What's your name?" She even cracks a weak smile, thankful she bumped into Alden, here. He's so friendly...
Alden smiles again, the expression reaching and lighting his eyes, "I figured that they were important." Knew he still had the touch. Well then. "I'm called Alden. And you?" One of his hands starts forward, as though to offer a shake, but the gesture is turned into a lazy adjustment of his collar as he remembers the books. "I was just passing through, decided to stop a moment." Then he cocks his head a little to one side, blinking once and still smiling, "I'm glad that I did." He may be laying it on a bit thick, but that's what the little trick earlier was for. "Where were you headed? I could walk you partway there, maybe."
It seems that Faith is still under Alden's spell for the time being. "Faith," she says, politely, with the undertones of sop still present in her voice. And he's cute. "The parking garage. And thanks, I'd appreciate that." She starts to head off in the appropriate direction, still comparatively fuzzy-headed. "That was beautiful music," she says. "Where did you learn to play like that?" She's being positively talkative now. /For/ now, anyway...
Alden casually scoops up his bag as Faith starts moving, lifting it to his shoulder with the end of the flute still sticking out, catching the light. "Faith? That's a pretty name." Then he laughs softly as he falls into step beside the girl, "I'm glad you liked it. It took me a while to get good, but I like to think practice has paid off." A casual shrug, then he gestures with one hand out towards the downtown area of the city, "I've been doing the ocassional turn around the clubs, lately. Seems a stage-set pays decently, at least." Carefully avoiding just where he practiced and learned his music, of course. Its reflex, by now. After all, he's had a long time to practice. "Are you on your way home?" Going to the garage and all.
Faith is normally, a calm, introverted, just-shy-of-thirty engineer and research scientist. And as Alden's charm starts to wear off, she blinks, slowly settling back into her usual persona. She doesn't think much of what she just said, but she does put some distance between herself and Alden. "Yes," she states, sounding just a little annoyed. There's something at work, but she can't quite put her finger on it. "I'm going home."
Alden hears that shift in vocal tone, notes the change in body language, and smiles. "Well, I hope you make it without any other unfortunate spills. Have a good day, Faith." And with that, his path begins to diverge. Not a sharp change of course, but instead just a correction of a couple degrees, moving away but still in the same direction. "Maybe we'll see each other again, someday." By this point, Alden's about a yard or two distant, so waves with another of those lively grins and picks up the pace, jogging off with his flute flashing in the sun, a cheerful whistling tune following him. Ta~
Faith, meanwhile, picks up the pace as she heads to the garage--she doesn't respond to Alden, as something feels... a little wrong. She tries not to give it any more thought, and heads off to her car. Who was that guy, anyway?
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