A little cafe talk (for Han).

[bornstrong]

 At 7 o'clock, Iphigenia is waiting in Sophia's Cafe, waiting for someone who may just turn out to be a new friend. She's glad to talk to him, even if he's maybe a bit reluctant.

She understands, and so she's sitting quietly at a table by the window, people-watching as she waits. She's got a small chamomile tea and a chocolate croissant in front of her, though she really hasn't eaten much of it yet.

Comments

[bornstrong]

"I'm glad we agree," she says, grinning. "I never used to be a bold person, but I think it's not necessarily a bad trait to have."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"No?" He says with a tilt of his head. "What were you like then? I'm trying to picture it."

As if this spaceman could form anything in his mind that resembles Earth's Ancient Greece. Damn if he doesn't try, though.

[bornstrong]

"I was a very well-behaved child," Iphigenia says with a light laugh. "Very obedient, very willing to help out if needed. Quiet. Maybe a little shy."

She pauses.

"But that changed, later on."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"Change can be good and bad." He comments.

It seems like the safe answer. One that invites her to tell him more if she should want to or shut the door on the subject completely. There are so many things he'd rather not talk about he'd never begrudge someone else for wanting to avoid a touchy subject.

[bornstrong]

"Yes," she says softly, looking down a moment. "But it's the one constant in life, isn't it?"

[twelve_not_fourteen]

"That is true." The slight nod of consent is there too. "Life's always moving even when you're not."

[bornstrong]

"Even here, the seasons change," she notes. "But it's better to be here than back home, I think."

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Hrm.

She continues the subject on vague terms, which makes him wonder if she does want to get something off of her chest, but feels like she can't ... or if she's too polite to just change topics.

"I'd have to think that a princess would have to accept everything that comes her way with 'dignity' and maybe wouldn't feel like she had many people to confide in." He murmurs. "I want you to know that you can let your hair down around me."

[bornstrong]

"And I thank you for that, but I don't think you want to know what has happened to me," she says. She wants to protect Han from the truth--that she should be dead, that she was a sacrifice, that she went willingly.

All this she thinks about, and remembers, but doesn't say.

Not yet, at least.

[twelve_not_fourteen]

Well, he ain't going to nudge any harder than that. As long as she knows he's listening, she's welcome to tell him what she likes when she likes to.

"Alright, princess." He says with a touch of thoughtfulness in his eyes. "I'm easy."

[bornstrong]

She smiles softly, then, appreciating his respectfulness.

"One day," she muses. "One day it will be easy to speak of."