Roleplaying
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Seminars
| When: | 2 November 2004 |
| Who: | Megumi, Nalren, Zaman |
| What: | Megumi and Zachary meet an interesting fellow. |
Southwest - Austin
The closer end of this side of town to the center of the city is mostly a suburban sprawl of homes and condos. But as you get further away from it along the highways, you begin to notice quite a few industrial sites and chemical plant's smoke stacks. Most of the Southwest side of Austin has become an area for industry, whether chemical, semiconductors, or mining.
Somewhere amidst the chemically goodness and industrial whodunnits in this particular area, there is a street with sidewalks. Not any sidewalks, mind you, but mostly clean well-kept sidewalks in front of a business that claims to have something to do with gemstones of some kind. This in of itself really doesn't matter much to Nalren (Or Nathan, as the vessel called for) so much as the clean sidewalks bit. For that is right where he's seated, smack dab in the middle of the thing, scribbling away on a notepad in what to the uneducated might look like archaic symbols. In all actuality it's just computer programming scrawl on paper, but being mysterious is always good. If being tall and thin wasn't bad enough, he had the unfortunate problem of apparently being albino as red, right down to the pinkish eyes and translucent skin. Neat, well-kept clothing of jeans and sweatshirt hides this for the most part, but it's still a minor inconvenience.
Zaman strolls down the industrial streets, each step invested with a solid confidence that threatens to turn his entire gait into a swagger. The man's hands are pocketed into his jacket, and there is a wide grin on his fair features. Where he's going is hard to say, his eyes are locked forward, not searching to either side or aware of anything but the goal that lies down in the distance.
Uh oh! Albinos! Megumi better be careful, or she might be Eaten! She walks along the sidewalks, carrying a LAPTOP CASE with her. Inside, there may or may not be a laptop, it's hard to tell actually. She just seems to be going for a walk, and not in a particular hurry to get much of anywhere. She sees the gemstone store, and looks on over to the entrance. She watches it for a few moments, and actually looks inside through the windows, as if searching for anything interesting. Apparently, she doesn't find anything interesting, and just curses under her breath quietly. And then she looks up and sees someone with pinkish eyes. She tilts her head curiously at the fellow.
The swaggering man, impressive though he is, is not .. quite noticed by the busily scribbling Nathan. In fact, nobody at all, including fair laptop-toting maiden are noticed for a good solid several minutes. At least until the impression he's being watched doesn't go away, and the pale man glances up and around quickly, locating ... nobody of consequence, at first glance. Megumi is offered a bland, polite smile, fingers waggling lightly in a small salute before.. back he goes to his work. FOCUS! Had he -not- been so washed-out looking, he'd probably have been quite handsome.
"Ah, Megumi, good evening." Zaman offers to the laptop laden woman, his grin widening. For a split second his eyes sneak a glance at Nathan before refocusing on Megumi. He comes to a stop just a few paces from the albino, but aside from the glance he doesn't receive any more of Zaman's attention. "It's been a while since our paths have crossed...Lunar eclipse, if memory serves correctly?"
The fair laptop-toting maiden (That's Megumi if you aren't used to such descriptors) tosses a return 'salute'. She says, glancing over to Zaman for a moment (though she soon returns her gaze to Nathan), and says, "Hallo, believe so, you called me...a four year old, I believe?", and then she watches Nathan some more, trying to subdue her curiousity internally. She chews on her lip.
An ear is kept on the conversation suddenly started in Nathan's vicinity. He's not by nature an eavesdropper (much), but sometimes it does help. And so he continues to work away at whatever problem gripped him so tightly, while contentedly multitasking and listening to what the nice monkeys have to say. He supposed given their opening dialogues, that they're not QUITE friends, which made things a little more interesting! Nathan shifts a bit to uncramp one leg, the pause lasting for only a few moments.
"Three, I believe, you look much too young for me to guess at the age of four. I'm not ready to give your senior citizen discount just yet." Zaman replies with a slight chuckle. "Anyway, my dear, anything of interest happen to you since our little bonfire? It's been a quiet week, in many ways. But, I'm locked up in an office all day. What's the word on the street, as they say?"
Megumi says, "If something interesting happened, I would only tell you if I needed a lawyer. One that would lose on purpose.", she continues to watch Nathan, though she keeps a 'mind's eye' on Zaman. She can restrain her curiousity as long as someone's going to chatter with her to take some of her mental energy away from the other activity. "I am not going to call you Gramps."
It is Nathan's unprofessional opinion that the other man is not old enough to be a grandfather of a child at Megumi's age, but for all appearances he's still not paying a lick of attention. Though his diverting focus from his work is tending to mess up his equations quite a bit, running computer-geekery into a backwards-written sonnet from one of Shakespeare's plays. Nathan fails to notice.
"No, that would be insulting to *me*. Good lord I'm not that old yet." Zaman replies with the same chuckle, an echo of the previous exchange. "And I don't backstab people who give me money, despite how much I might hate their guts and want to drag them across the courtroom floor. That, my dear, would be unprofessional, and though I may be many things unprofessional is not one of them."
Megumi says, "That," softly, "Is a matter of opinion.", oh, she could go on with this conversation for a while, but she decides not to. She looks at Nathan's 'scribbles' and says, "So-sir, what'cha up to?", she actually steps forward, closing the distance! How sudden! "You seem to be quite busy."
Ah, money exchanges. Perhaps he was looking for a lady to spend the night with, though Nathan doubted the young lady was dressed for that kind of an activity. He glances up, startled, as he's actually addressed - damn, no more covert sneaky obvious listening! "Huh?" The response is particularly clever (not), and he quickly scrambles for something a little more intellegent. "Oh, um. I'm just working on a small programming bug back at work. .Or I had been until Shakespeare snuck in." He scribbles on the actual written part, frowning. "Am I disrupting anything?"
"I believe the lady questioned you, sir, so therefore you can't be disrupting anything." Zaman informs Nathan matter of factly, letting the comments about his professionalism slide right off. "Programming and Shakespeare don't tend to mix very well, do they? I've never met a computer that had an appreciation for MacBeth, at least."
Megumi brightens as Nalren mentions Shakespeare. She gives Zaman an 'I told you so!' look as she looks back to Nalren, "Zachary thinks Shakespeare is too old to bother with, so I wouldn't whisper any of that.", she stretches her arms out behind her and adds softly, "No, no, Zachary is quite right about that at least, I bothered you, but I was curious, you don't mind, do you?"
Yes, he minds. He was eavesdropping! Nathan folds the notebook closed and casts about for the cup of coffee he normally had onhand, and finds it distressingly missing. Oh yes, back on the desk. Crud. "Oh, nor have I, but computers, they tend to have strange opinions to begin with." He taps his notebook and gives a too-wide smile. It makes him seem somewhat manic, but certainly not dangerous. "I don't mind being bothered. I probably shouldn't be sitting in the middle of the sidewalk like I own it though!" Which might be why he gets to his feet with the painful slowness of someone who'd been sitting in one position for far too long, carefully unkinking his legs. Mental note, bring cushion next time.
"The old Bard was a hack, is all. I enjoy a good play as much as the next well educated man, and I think the insights he offers towards human nature are true, but not revolutionary. Shakespeare is what he is, good, but not the master. His plays are too droll, too obvious. It's like reality TV for the sixteenth century." Zaman shrugs nonchalantly at Megumi. "Bother with him all you want, there are better minds."
Megumi says, "It wasn't just made for the common, it was made for the elite as well, and since it was made for both, it has sensational elements by neccessity, but if you are blinded by that alone, rather than looking at the language and hidden inticracies of plot and character, then you are making a grave error. A lot seems obvious now simply because people have jumped on his work and made their own inferior copies.", she shrugs her shoulders at Nathan, however, "If you are planning on sitting a while, there are more comfortable locations."
As a debate is launched, Nathan listens with bemused silence. His personal opinions on Shakespeare aside, he figured Zachary might be partially correct. "Well, it's hard to get anything truly 'new' these days. Even your epic battle movies can be traced to some elements in ancient greek plays and writings." Not all of them, but some! Like Troy. "...Oh yes, you're quite right on that, I'll probably head for a coffeeshop if I can find one and finish up my work there! Pardon me for asking though but are you two.." He gestures vaguely, "Familiar with each other?"
"Acquaintances, you might say." Zaman affirms to Nathan, "But I must take my leave. I actually had somewhere to go, believe it or not, and I've lingered too long in getting there. A good night to the two of you." The man then picks up his step once more after delivering a short, curt nod.
Troy is an obvious example! Megumi says, "Good evening, Zachary, try not to get into anymore discussions. Wouldn't want you to be late.", she waves after him, smiling. "Sorry for bringing that to you, of course, sir.", she says, bowing her head slightly. Now into a bow, but more like a low nod.
"Have a nice night." Nathan tucks his notebook under his arm and smiles blandly as Zachary takes his leave, attention returning to Megumi. "It's alright." She was talking to him, right? He thought so, but that might just be arrogance talking! "Do you often go into literary discussions on streetsides?"
Megumi shakes her head, "Oh, not really, we've had a discussion about Shakespeare before, that is all. He called him all sorts of unfashionable things, and as I'm rather fond of him, I found his descriptors unpleasant.", she offers a hand, "Megumi, nice to meet you, sir."
"I don't think I'd react any better to someone insulting what I like." The smile returns, though this time there's more life in it, the offered hand shaken easily enough. Despite pale coloration that might make someone think he'd be cold, his grip is as warm as anyone else's. "I am called Nathan. The pleasure is mine, though I have to take your leave and get back to work soon." Out comes.. a business card! Well, not really, all it seems to have is his name and a phone number on it. "If you ever have any trouble with a computer, or just want to chat, feel free to give me a call sometime."
Megumi smiles back and hefts her computer up carefully. She shakes Nathan's hand and says, "Oh, of course, good luck with that.", she then snags the 'business' card and adds, "I think I will. Thank you very much for your time.", she straightens, "As with Zachary, I hope you do not run into anymore streetside discussions to waylaid you from your destination."
Nalren certainly hopes not, though he might brush up on his shakespeare just in case. "Well, if I do, I suppose it'll just make life more interesting. Have a pleasant evening, miss." And then!! Off he goes in a randomly chosen direction that looks like it might have coffee in it. Damned caffeine cravings...
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