DragonDreamer’s Comments (group member since Dec 18, 2016)

DragonDreamer’s comments from the Exiles group.

Ryo's spine shivered. Did she want to leave already? No, they couldn't. He needed to find those papers... or maybe it would be better to come back later when she wasn't here so he could search privately? No, it would be suspicious if he came without her...

"Um, of course, we can leave if you want... though finding where that key goes could be fun. I do love a good mystery... Maybe there's a secret compartment in his desk or something? Or if there's a squeaking floorboard or something?" He offered, trying to appear casual as he perused the tables.

As his wife suddenly stepped away, Ryo became painfully aware that their fingers had been touching. Had he let his exchange linger for too long? Had he somehow made her uncomfortable? His hand quickly clenched and unclenched at his side in brief panic.

He cleared his throat, grateful for her ease of conversation. She seemed fine again. Had he really just gotten so worried over nothing? Was it nothing? Perhaps now wasn't the time. After all, he was here for other reasons. "I wonder what kind of secrets your father kept. He seemed like an interesting man. You certainly seem to hold fond memories of him." Ryo prodded, tearing his gaze away from Carolien and looking through some empty drawers. Mostly, they held run of the mill laboratory supplies, or what Ryo imagined would those would be. He was hardly a man of science himself. He wouldn't be able to tell a beaker from a bunsen burner to save his life. But he understood some things of the government. And he doubted the police would have left this place untouched since the arrest of Professor Rivers. If Rivers was the intelligent man he was believed to be, he probably had something less obvious around, right? Some way of conducting illegal business under the watchful eye of the University.

"Detective Caro has a nice ring to it. Sounds like a character in one of those edgy shows they broadcast." He shrugs, rifling through some loose papers. Nothing important. Looks like he might have been grading a student's assignment.

"I'm not sure..." Ryo shrugged, glancing around the room for anything obvious, which he couldn't find of course. If Dr. Rivers had important papers and documents he wanted hidden from prying eyes, he couldn't very well make it obvious, could he?

"I found a key. It could be completely useless... or maybe not." He brought the small item over to Carolien to inspect, taking her hand and gingerly placing the cold metal key in her palm. Something about the closeness made his chest flutter briefly, but he quickly ignored it and stepped away once more. "Um... any idea what this might open?"

Carolien waved Ryo over to a particularly high shelf. Even Ryo had to reach onto his toes in order to grab the binders. He hadn't heard of Mr. Rivers to be a particularly tall man... perhaps he used a ladder? Ryo glanced around the room, still reaching and grabbing the material. Unfortunately, he fumbled and the shelf's worth of binders tumbled to the floor, conking Ryo's head on the way down.

"Ack!" He tripped, falling backward. A cloud of dust had risen and the young heir coughed, waving away the dirt and making to collect the materials he had scattered. A few papers had slid deep under one of the desks and Ryo had to crawl to reach it. Oddly enough, while he was reaching under the desk, his hand came into contact with a disgusting dust bunny, but it felt odd. There was something hard without the ball of dust and dirt. Grabbing the mass, he brought the object into the light, rubbing it as clean as he could manage.

A key materialized beneath the grime. Something in Ryo's chest flickered. Could this be a clue to what he was looking for?
"Hey, did you happen to see a keyhole anywhere around here?" He asked as casually as he could manage, trying not to appear completely excited as to what this could mean.

((yeah I can do that :) ))

The world seems bigger than before, huh? Ryo ponders this for a moment, looking around the room. He wasn't quite sure how she meant the statement. Isn't it natural to feel a bit more confined as you grow older? You learn about the responsibilities you bear and the roles you must fill and the marriages you are arranged into. She was so against the marriage initially too. And yet she felt the world was bigger? Just how small was her world before. Carolien's words break Ryo from his reverie.

"Hm? Oh. Of course." Ryo snagged some paper towels from a nearby sink, dampening them before beginning to go about cleaning some of the counters and equipment, his eye on the lookout for anything that might be related to his mission with the Overlooked.

Ryo admired how comfortable Carolien seemed in the space. Her eyes were somewhat distant as though staring at fond memories from long ago, "It's funny. When you're small the world seems so large and grand by comparison, but then you grow up and you realize things weren't quite as big as you remember." He followed her to the desk and smiled when she sat in her father's chair. He wondered if child Carolien had sat in that very chair in her father's lap, legs too short to even reach the ground, dreaming about doing what her father did all day.

Ryo immediately felt the tingling of dust in his throat when he inhaled after stepping into the abandoned office. He coughed a few times, waving the cloud of dust away from his face and followed his wife.

The light streaming through the opening windows illuminated the dust covered laboratory. It appeared like any other lab, full of test tubes, a supply shelf, and scienc-y contraptions that Ryo did not know the names of. He stayed close behind Carlien, hoping she was doing alright after returning to such a place. He didn't imagine it was easy.

((Right?! I want him to give the head pats! Do it Ryo! JUST DO IT!))

"Pfft." He fought back a laugh. She's so cute He had the sudden urge to pat her head comfortingly, but he stayed his hand. He wasn't sure if they'd reached the part in their relationship that he could touch her so casually. "I'm the one asking, so it is only trouble for you, not me." Understanding this research was the main reason for their marriage in the first place. Yet she always seemed to think she was the one troubling others. He wondered if they would ever reach a point where she could truly be comfortable as herself around him. He wondered if he'd ever come to deserve it, even after how far he was going to deceive her for this information.

Ryo admired the way her face lit up as she talked about her happy memories with her father. There was a glint of mischief in her eye as she talked about their theories and a his ears practically tingled at her mention of the travel between planets and working for the Overlooked.

"You don't say... that sounds fascinating!" He managed. "Maybe you could share that with me sometime." He coughed, "If you'd want to that is." He averted his gaze bashfully, worried she would see right through him if he caught her gaze. It was funny. Putting on a show and saying the right things to others always seemed to come naturally to him when it came to business dinners and high society. He'd even pulled it off at their initial meeting, yet now it felt forced and uncomfortable to him to feel like he had to continue a facade with her. How had he gotten so used to just... being himself around her? This fast? It felt natural, oddly enough. He couldn't hardly describe the feeling.

Ryo noticed the way Carolien naturally drew him close. It was unexpected, but it was nice. He supposed there were people around who might know they were recently married, but he wondered what if that was the reason she did so... Or perhaps this is just how she was with people she walked with? He tried not to let his thoughts cloud his attention for too long and instead focused on her description of her father. Ryo nodded, offering an encouraging smile. "He sounds like a brilliant man, though perhaps his choice of entertainment for children is a bit questionable." He chuckled, nudging her shoulder teasingly. "What kinds of theories did you two discuss?"

"You speak warmly of him." Ryo observed. There was a sadness in her tone when she discussed her father, but it did sound like she missed him. "What is he like?" He wants to ask her what she thinks about all this Overlooked business and ask her if she would help them and promise that they can find a way to bring her father back, but he doesn't. Not yet. Not when they are still dancing on the edge of blissful ignorance and seeing where each other stood in their marriage agreement.

Ryo still had much to learn about his wife. He knew she respected his space, that she liked dogs, made delicious crepes, was curious about the world she'd been sheltered from, and that she is surprisingly beautiful and kind, and yet he felt like there was still much more to learn.

((yeah we can end the scene here))

Ryo smiled, remembering his own childhood, "I never quite understood my father's work when I was younger either. The secret chats I wasn't allowed to listen to were important business deals. And my parents preferred to not discuss business over dinner, but amongst themselves, until we were old enough to understand and be a part of the conversation." He recalled. "Did you..." He began tentatively, "have a good relationship with your father? Before... everything?"

((they can probably head back to the house or something or she can watch/help Mira and Peter make dinner maybe? idk lmk if you have any ideas/suggestions. I'm just spitballing. I was thinking of doing a post with her learning the ropes at her job with Maryn later))

"Honestly, a little nervous." Ryo huffed before realizing he had no reason to be nervous that he could tell her about, "I-I mean nervous for you." Ok that's not a total lie... "I just mean I'm sure this must be a little odd for you after such a long time. Also, the university setting is a little surreal. I imagined something more like a dark secret laboratory or something." He added, trying to redirect his earlier misstep and lighten the mood.

He bit the inside of his cheek nervously. He really would be a terrible spy. And the idea of being so brazenly deceptive towards Carolien was making him more jittery than usual. He couldn't say why. This had been the plan from the very beginning, but being in the moment felt so much more different than he'd imagined. He was in a personal, meaningful space of hers and he was using that to his own selfish advantage. Well... ok doing something for the Overlooked usually made him feel less selfish, but looking into Carolien's wide, earnest expression kept making him feel worse about his ulterior motives.

Nymme eventually made herself comfortable sitting on a rock while she sifted through the tidepools with her hands half-heartedly. All the thinking about forgetting or not forgetting was starting to weigh on her. She tried to focus on other things, like playing with the starfish or one of the little fishes or crabs in the water. She did end up finding a couple more pieces of glass, but they were smaller, one whitish-clear and the other a light amber color. They were pretty enough. Surely, Mira would appreciate them.

Carolien directed Ryo to a Frostwell University, where her father had worked prior to his Exile. Ryo wasn't sure what he should have expected, but returning to a fully functioning campus just didn't seem right. He felt like there should be a tad more danger and excitement rather than knocking at the reception desk at the science college and explaining that they'd come to visit.

Ryo didn't speak much but would glance down at his wife every so often to gauge her reaction to things. He wondered how she must be feeling, returning to the place her father had once called his and found meaning in his life. He wondered if he'd do the same in her position if he wasn't working with the Overlooked. Would he have been able to write off his own disgraced parent like it was evident Paramount government expected of families of the Exiled? His palms felt sweaty and nervous. What if he had the opportunity to steal the research he needs today? What if Carolien caught him? What if he failed and this would be his only chance? Suddenly, his stomach felt unfomfortable.

"A direction? Hm..." She glanced back and forth across the shoreline before making her decision. "That way." She pointed towards the more secluded part of the beach. There weren't as many people around there, so she reasoned if there were any pieces, they'd less likely be picked over.

She enjoyed watching the glistening water, tiny scuttling crabs, and running, laughing people along the way. It was different from what she was used to, but it was pleasant. Her feet were cool as the water lapped at her ankles and the sun was warm against her neck. She should be peaceful, but the thought of Peter's words nagged at the back of her mind, but she tried to continue to ignore them. She wished she could talk with Mrs. Faust about it. Had she truly left all of her memories of her past behind? Even good ones? Would her life before this just become a distant memory? Was Mrs. Faust ok with that? Could Nymme really be ok with that? Thinking about it all made her tired. The depressed side of her wanted to just crawl into Peter's bed again and shut the worlds out again, but the other part of her already told herself that she was going to do better than the lifeless bedridden lump. At least for now. So she shoved the thoughts aside as they kept popping up along the walk until she stubbed her tow on a buried rock and was again brought to the present. Right, they were supposed to be looking for glass. There was a cluster of rocks she climbed over to, bending down to inspect the tide pools and sift her fingers through the sand.