(no subject)

[veryvorkosigan]

She's spoken to Gregor about her conversation with President Roslin, and she's had a few quiet words with the Viceroy on Sergyar, and she's generally done about as much as she can at this point. But she hasn't seen Roslin, or anyone else from the Colonial Fleet, since then. And from here, all she can do is hope that's because of time differences between here and home, and not because they've run into trouble they couldn't get out of. Hope, and keep looking for them.

So Cordelia's approaching the bar, with the intention of ordering a snack and a drink and finding a place to sit and people-watch for a while.

(She'll happily talk to you even if you aren't from the Colonial Fleet.)

Comments

[freedom_is_grey]

There's a woman with braided white hair, black facial tattoos, and an immense brown dog also seated at the bar.

She has a staff leaning against Bar right next to her, within easy reach of her right hand.

She's also drinking beer, though she does look up as Cordelia approaches, swallowing the last of her most recent sip and trying out a polite smile.

The dog lifts his head off her knee and barks hello. His tail is wagging. New people are great!

[veryvorkosigan]

Cordelia smiles down at the dog. "Well hi there."

The woman with the dog gets the end of the smile as Cordelia looks up.

[freedom_is_grey]

Ysalwen's smile goes crooked, but only slightly.

"Would you like him to head over toward you for a proper hello, or is it better if he stays firmly by me? I ask because there seem to be a lot of dog-lovers here that can't have a dog for one reason or another. So."

[veryvorkosigan]

"Oh, if he's not likely to bite, I don't mind."

[freedom_is_grey]

"As long as you're not secretly an assassin poised to kill me, he'll be gentle as a lamb. A very enthusiastic and occasionally drooling lamb, but a lamb nonetheless."

Her voice is a little dry, but the expression on her face seems pleased.

"Go on, Liranan. Say hello to the nice lady."

Liranan leaps to obey. Well, trots carefully to obey.

Hello new person! Are you good at scritches? Do you have tasty food? Both?

[veryvorkosigan]

"Well, I can't fault his priorities in the event of assassins." That's only very faintly dry.

No tasty food, but there are scritches! Oh yes. ALL THE SCRITCHES.

[freedom_is_grey]

"Strangely enough," Ysalwen says, amused, "neither can I. Ysalwen Surana. Pleased to meet you."

Liranan, meanwhile, has found his bliss. Scritches, yay!!!

[not_the_cavalry]

Melinda's standing, leaned with her back against the bar, a mug of tea in her left hand.

She seems mostly lost in thought, but as Cordelia enters her peripheral vision she glances over -- and nods to her.

[veryvorkosigan]

Cordelia nods back, with a small smile, as she steps up to the bar.

"Coffee and a brillberry muffin, please? Thanks," she adds, as her order materializes.

[not_the_cavalry]

"I don't think I've ever heard of a brillberry. Are they a hybrid?"

[veryvorkosigan]

"They might be," Cordelia says consideringly, "or some other sort of cultivar -- I've never heard of them off of Barrayar. Would you like to try one?"

[not_the_cavalry]

"Sure. Thank you," Melinda says, after a moment, turning so she's actually facing Cordelia, elbow resting against the bar. "Barrayar is your... world? Melinda May," she adds. "From Earth."

[veryvorkosigan]

"Planet," agrees Cordelia, "and yes, mine by marriage. Earth? Pre- or post-spaceflight?"

[dejah_thoris]

Sitting at the bar, pot of tea at her elbow, she'd intended to work through the isolate diagram for the prostheses, but her thoughts kept wandering. She'd flipped over to a clean page in her notebook, and was idly tracing out the planes of his face. She may have the ghost of a goofy little smile on her lips.

[veryvorkosigan]

It's kind of a charming goofy smile!

Cordelia notices it, and her own smile is private and quiet. Whatever it is this lady is thinking about, it's clearly pleasant enough that it would be unkind to distract her from it.

[dejah_thoris]

After awhile, the smile drifts into a touch of sadness.

She flips the page back, and sighs. Working. She's working.

[veryvorkosigan]

She orders coffee and a muffin, and tries to avoid glancing at the other woman's papers.

... tries without very much success.

[dejah_thoris]

It's an engineering schematic, one of an artificial human arm. A male's arm, judging by the musculature.

Dejah's hand hovers, and she jots a quick calculation in the margin, taking the resulting value and noting it in the diagram. A moment later, she's staring off into the distance again. She blinks, laughs to herself, covering her face with one hand for a moment, and then turning back to the sketch she'd been working on.

She can either get this out of her system now, sketch the expression on his face, that subtle almost smile that's been haunting her for days now, or she can pretend like she's capable of focusing right now and run the risk of missing some small and vital detail. Dejah knows how to pick her battles.

And besides, it's a nice face.

[veryvorkosigan]

It really is. That artificial limb looked pretty fascinating too, though.

Cordelia reaches for her mug, misjudges the distance, and knocks it sideways. A ripple of coffee spreads over the bar, coming dangerously close to the sketchbook.

"Oh damn -- I'm so sorry," as she reaches hastily for napkins.

[wheatencrown]

(OOC: I wasn't sure who to tag with but if you want Ivan for anything, let me know.)

Demeter's at the bar with a glass of wine, some bread and oil along with a romance novel.

When Cordelia approaches, she nods at the other woman with a smile, this spring is complicated but fairly nice so far.

[veryvorkosigan]

Cordelia nods back, cheerfully. "Hello."

[wheatencrown]

"Good evening. I hope its good for you,"

She doesn't think she knows this woman but Demeter appreciates anyone who walks with such surety.

[veryvorkosigan]

"Going pretty well so far," she agrees. "And the same to you."

[wheatencrown]

"Yes, I think its going to be a good summer. Would you like some wine or bread?"

[veryvorkosigan]

"No wine for me, but bread sounds lovely, thank you."