[Winnie]

Oh joy! This was spiraling out of control! Nic had cussed out Kiel, all because of her comment! She had watched the unfolding drama with, at first, a mischievous grin, and then a feigned look of shock. Kiel seemed perplexed with the outburst, his face seeming to ooze sadness. And then he stood and begin to gather his belongings.
Oh no. She was not going to get involved with this. Sure, she'd started it, but it had slipped from her control the minute Nic opened his mouth.
Is that what you tell yourself? asked a little voice in her head. Do you really believe you're that innocent? That you're the victim here?
“Shut up,” she growled quietly.

"Kiel, don't be that way. Kiel." called Nic. And then the 'Vari was out the door, having muttered something as he strode out. Nic called after his friend again and then raced after him.

Oh joy. This was spiraling out of control. Her company was out the door, leaving her and the Dardanian staring at the entryway in bewilderment. She watched as if she was being controlled as she stood, leaving her shoes and food and headed for the door.
Oh no! She was getting involved with this! She headed out into the cold night, the only thing between her feet and the pavement being the feet her pantyhose. Her head swung back and forth, trying to find Nic or Kiel. Why was the Plaza so busy this early in the morning?
There. She saw two figures facing each other not to far ahead. Her near-bare feet carried her swiftly towards them, her honey-blonde waves swishing along her back as she sprinted.

She arrived, panting, at her destination, red-faced and tired. “Hey, you know, just thought I'd go for a jog,” she wheezed. It wasn't that she was unfit, she'd just ran a distance really, really fast with a belly just crammed with food and water.
Boy, did she have to pee.

Piper's Boutique — Saoirse Ronan

[Kiel]

((Well, I pronounce "keel" as "kee-uhl", so it's maybe a bit of both?))

Kiel wasn't deliberately ignoring Nic. Like, it was just that he was thinking too hard to really be aware of his surroundings, and he honestly didn't think the dude would follow him, you know?

Like, “I don't get it, man.” He really didn't. Nic had asked for his company, like, knowing full well what and who he was — so, then, why the heck get mad? “Wah!” he cried at a suspicious-looking, scrawny young man, who looked like he totally belonged in dark alleyways, as they passed on the street. He didn't even think about the fact that it was now 2am and most of the nice folk were tucked up in bed. “I don't get it!”

But then, like, Niccy caught up with him, and Kiel's brain caught up with what his ears had been hearing, and he stopped in the street to face his buddy, the utter confusion and sadness evident on his face. “Um. Like.”

Normally, the apology would have been enough, like, especially from a drunken dude at 2am. But, like, “I don't get it!” He knew people didn't like him, you know? Like, most people, really. He'd learned a long time ago that he had to either not be who he was if he wanted people to like him, which was totally impossible, or just, like, accept things the way they were, you know? But he'd thought Niccy liked him, and that they were friends, and in Kiel's world it just didn't work both ways. Deep down, he was still pretty convinced that even Zeph didn't like him, and they were dating!

But then, like, Winnie totally saved the day by coming up and talking about something totally randomly unrelated, and Kiel's ears practically perked up. “Like, you like to jog? Hahaha, me and Niccy like to run too! Hahahaha, I'm totally the fastest, man, for sers.” Except, 2am was probably a bad time to suggest a race, you know, especially since Nic was probably too drunk to run in a straight line...

“Hahahaha, we should totally race.”

[Nicolay]

Ohhh fantastic.

Not only had Winnie abandoned the pub and by doing so, lost Nicolay his "placeholder", the two of them were now talking about jogging at two in the morning. Really, this was all too much for a drunk brain to deal with.

“I, I'll be back,” he said out of the blue as he promptly abandoned the pair and hurried back to the pub. He could see the relief in the keeper's eyes the moment he saw his face again and after paying for all their meals, stepped back out to the cold night and he stopped in his steps as he looked at the two standing across him from a distance. A quiet sigh slipped through his nose as he jammed his hands into his pockets and approached them.

He was quiet as he reached them, eyes on their feet. Then abruptly, with a finger to Winnie, “I'm sorry but can you give us a second? I just really, really want to make this really clear.”

Facing Kiel, he said, “Kiel, did you ever, even just for once in your life, wish you could have a straight conversation with...your best friend?” There, there couldn't be an offensive word there, right? “I mean...I know that you...” have the attention span of a fish, “...are very excitable, you tend to focus on...so many things at once but...really, I was just really hoping for a...straight conversation. Y, you know, no shouting or jumping topics just...just a simple, sit-down conversation, just...just,” Nicolay shrugged, “a talk! Just a talk, a quiet,” sensible, “talk. I, I mean...you're the closest guy friend I have and I'd...really, really like to have one with you.”

[Winnie]

She would have to disagree with Kiel's statement about being the fastest. Surely a fleet-footed thief such as she was the quickest. She was almost ready to accept the challenge of the race, but then Nic began to speak.

Nic had asked her to 'give us a second,' which Winnie gladly did, stepping away to allow privacy. Well, ersatz privacy. She was pretending to be interested in her bare feet as she really just eavesdropped.
Well, this was just incredibly touching.
As soon as Winnie had heard Nic say 'best friend,' Winnie stepped away a bit more. Not because she wanted to give them more privacy, of course. Oh no, Winnie just didn't want to hear this gushy, touchy-feely crap. Winnie bent down and picked up a stone, examining it's smooth surface with both her her eyes and fingertips. It was just an ordinary stone, but she rather liked it. It was definitely a river rock. It was an oval-sort shape, with incredible symmetry on it's plain gray surface. A perfect little stone only, about an inch across on the longest side. She looked at the portals and was tempted to run to them and toss it in, just for a laugh, but it would be more trouble than in was worth.

She turned around. Ah, they seemed to be at a break in their conversation. Perfect. She strode up and looked at Nic for a second. He surely wouldn't care much for the little pebble. Turning her gaze to Kiel, she recalled all the junk in his wallet that had spilled onto the floor. He would definitely enjoy the little pebble. It would earn his trust, should she need him later for something. Besides, she had no real use of the stone.
“Here,” she said, presenting the pebble in her upturned palm, an offering to the 'Vari.

Maybe it would make them shut up about their feelings.

Piper's Boutique — Saoirse Ronan

[One, she can walk up either when they're done talking altogether, or just after Nic finishes talking, it's up to you.
And two, Kiel doesn't have to accept the gift, but I have a feeling he will. CX]

[Kiel]

"Can you give us a second?"

Kiel was worried. Like, that usually preceded some sort of telling off, you know? Although, like, his parents didn't need to ask him for time of day, and didn't usually care who saw him being yelled at, so maybe it wasn't so much a telling off as a "I'm breaking up with you" kinda thing. You know, between friends.

But what Nic said next just, like, totally confused him. Was all this because the dude was having trouble with Laz or something? 'cause by now, Kiel was pretty convinced Nic didn't think of him as a friend, or certainly not his best friend, and must be talking about something else.

But then he mentioned "you" specifically, and Kiel's mouth gaped. He was totally stumped. Like, as far as he knew, what they had was a straight conversation, you know? He might be scatter-brained and scatter-bodied, but, like, he'd always thought he was a good listener when it counted. That's what all the girls back home said, anyway (when he ever saw them, that was, on the few runs into town he was allowed to go on), and used it as an excuse to not date him.

Maybe they really just didn't like him, you know? That thought, and what Niccy was saying, made him so glum his shoulders and chin drooped. “Weh. Well. Like. I.” Didn't know what to say, man. Like, he would have settled down in the pub after a few minutes, at least enough to talk as seriously as Kiel ever could. He would have fidgeted and gotten distracted now and then, and fiddled with utensils and the bar nuts and whatever else he could get his hands on while his feet drummed out a rendition of the song he'd last heard. But, like, he would have listened. Was that... Was he really so bad?

“I wah. Was. I would have. Eh? Wahahahaha, best friend. Haha.” Because he'd finally "heard" Nic say those words, but his laughter was hollow. He just honestly didn't know what to say that wouldn't, like, piss the dude off. “Y-you know, I do listen, man.” He remembered pretty much everything his buddies ever said to him, too, and would come out at 1am or something to answer their texts when they were lonely, not saying a word about having to get up in, like, three hours, 'cause he was just like that. But he didn't know how to stop being... fidgety.

“Here.”

Like, it sounded bad, but Kiel had kinda forgotten that they had company, you know? He stared blankly at the pebble the chick had plonked in the hand he'd held up automatically at the word "here", then glanced up at her. Like... “Is this some kinda magic rock, man?” Was she trying to help him patch things up with Niccy? Only, no, 'cause it kinda looked just plain and ordinary, and “Hey, hey, look!” Moving forward to show Nic, he pointed out just how smooth and round it was. Coming from Dardanos, where there were few rivers and none near his family's farm, it was new to him, you know? “Thanks!”

“Ah, but, like.” Gaze tearing from the odd little gift, he tilted his head so that his hat was perched precariously on his skull. “What'd you wanna talk about?”

[Nicolay]

It was amazing, what a small rock could do.

And Nicolay realized how that...sudden, random gesture was so smart and so sensible...that common sense would have been the only one that could lead to that action. And with how it looks, that was something he didn't have right now. Of course, it was all too stupid. What the hell would a guy with his own house want with a rock? It wasn't like it was blessed or secretly some sacred egg of sorts. Hell, if no one was looking, he could grab that rock, replace it with another rock, and no one would be able to tell the difference.

But it could have been anything. A leaf, a bone, a shell, anything. The fact was that among a million of those things, it was that one item that was especially prepared for him, and of all the people that it could be given to, it had to be him. There had been a bazillion of possibilities, but of all these possibilities, it was the one that made him feel special, somehow, that was chosen to happen. And that was all that mattered.

And he, who was the closest friend of Kiel between the two of them, hadn't even been able to figure that out. Nicolay felt bad. Here was a man who was ready to surrender everything for him and he couldn't even bring himself to...understand him, maybe. He was fun to talk to when it came to food or relationships and things but...

Maybe he shouldn't ask too much of him. As...condescending as that sounds. Nicolay thought he ought to remember that there was something very childish about Kiel that he just had to accept and understand -- case in point what just happened a while ago because Nicolay was pretty sure he didn't mean what he'd said and if anyone told him that and was drunk, he would have just shrugged it off and offered him a ride home instead.

He shook his head and placed a hand lightly on his friend's elbow. Smiling softly he said to Kiel, “It's nothing. I'm sorry. I guess I just...had a lot of things in my mind.” He pressed his lips together slightly. “I'm really sorry about what happened. And yes, you do, listen.” Leaning closer, he said more quietly, “I hadn't forgotten what you'd done for me during the time I was still adjusting to my life as a Therian. That was really special, Kiel.”

He stepped back and slipped his hands inside his pockets as he looked to his left and found a woman disappearing into the portal. Actually, he wanted to talk about going home to Earth...

“Hey, this place sucks, let's go somewhere else,” he said almost randomly as he started to lead the way out of the central. Gesturing to Winnie he said to her, “Come on, we didn't get to talk properly.”

[Kiel]

If possible, Kiel's confusion had gone from just being, like, "Huh?" to being all-out "What the heck?" Like, Niccy seemed to have calmed down or something, but Kiel still had no idea just what had happened, and it worried him because, like, surely it would happen again sooner or later?

But, Kiel could only worry for seconds at a time, and it was driven out of his head by Nic telling him what he'd done was special. Only, like, Kiel had no idea what he'd done or how he'd helped, because he never did anything deliberately... and that only added to his confusion.

The rock still clutched in both hands where he'd cupped them around it to show Niccy, Kiel followed the dude's gaze to the portal and frowned. Like, if he'd been anyone else, maybe it would have been insignificant... but Kiel was homesick too, sometimes, and he remembered how Nic had struggled when he first got here, and maybe...

“Hey, this place sucks, let's go somewhere else.”

“Ah, weh.” He would have said, "Wait, I have to be up in, like, two hours for work." But Kiel was Kiel was Kiel, and Niccy'd called him out here for a reason, and it wasn't like he needed much sleep anyway. And he totally agreed with Nic that "Come on, we didn't get to talk properly," so he was all, like, “Like, totally, man! Like, let's go to my place, okay, we can play with Shane!” Because, since Kiel had gone out, Zeph would have gone back to the smithy, and not many places would be open this time of night. “I can cook!”

---

Thread finished. Thanks, guys.