OPEN | prompt one | RAIN

[wrens]

prompt one | R A I N I have been one acquainted with the night. I have walked out in rain - and back in rain. I have outwalked the furthest city light. I have looked down the saddest city lane.

 

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[grafted]

[ Dr. Margot Baran is just outside the entrance, huddled coatless in the small dry patch beneath the meager awning. There's a cigarette pinched between her fingers and she's smoking it hastily like she has somewhere better to be (which she does; there are figures waiting for her back up in her office practically burning a whole through the manila folder they're inside). She gives him a glance as he appears at the mouth of the door, the umbrella being shaken open by one hand.

Dryly, she says (she says everything dryly): ] Very well observed, doctor.

[ She never calls him Evan; not unless he insists. It's something of an insult, Dr. Baran thinks, because Evan was the name his parents gave him but 'doctor' was the title he earned for himself. Credit where credit is due, and all that.

Margot takes another quick drag, blowing the smoke in an opposite direction out of the corner of her mouth. ]

[experimentalism]

[ evan's head turns to look at margot, taking in the lack of a coat on her body (and disapproving of it) and the cigarette between her fingers. he's used to knowing that she's in hurry to get back to her work (it's not a bad thing, because that's what allows them to still function as important members in constantinople, but still).

her dry tone is contagious when he's around her and he answers back with an equal level of dryness: ] I believe that's part of the reason they call me doctor. It wouldn't do anyone any good if I couldn't make observations as keen as that one, Dr. Baran.

[ when outside, he refuses to call her anything but dr. baran for the same reasons she doesn't call him evan unless he insists. respect. a simple concept in theory, but one that a number of people seem to have an issue with. he doesn't bother to correct her because he appreciates it to a degree when out in the open even if indoors he prefers evan. (why brag when she already knows how worthy of the title doctor he is?) ]

Should I assume that you'll be working until you potentially decide that it's time to take another break to sleep?

[grafted]

[ Margot smiles at Evan; a thin, knowing smile. When she makes an effort (and she does on occasion, Evan himself has seen her; official functions, parties, things like that) she's actually quite beautiful. Her features are fine-boned but striking, not delicate, and her eyes seem to bare deeply held knowledge beyond the simple functions of physics and engineering. But more often than not there's a haggardness to her, a undaunted weariness that keeps her clothes ill-fitting and her hair undone. It's what as her here, shivering and tucked in on herself and around her cigarette as she stands on the front stoop. ] Rest is for the weak, Dr. McKinley, [ she chides harmlessly then wraps that smile of hers around the filter of her cigarette before taking another long drag. ]

Off so soon? [ She's been known to invite him to her office from time to time, insist that he sit and listen to her spout her ideas, curious about his opinion and his particular perspective given his area of expertise. ]

[experimentalism]

[ evan looks at her for a moment before letting out a chuckle and moving toward her (he should give her his jacket so she doesn't freeze). the thing about margot is that despite how she looks ninety percent of the time (and if he's being honest and actually looks at the data, it's more like ninety five percent) she still manages to look far more striking than most women he sees. in part, he's almost certain that it's the look of her eyes, after all, he has always been a fan of knowledge and knowing oh so many things. ] Ah, but it's also require to maintain certain higher level functions. Hardly weak, even if you would prefer it to be. [ it's said in much the same tone, though deep down there's a bit of concern, even if he knows she can take care of herself. ]

I might be. There's a party being thrown by another violet. It might be advisable for me to go. [ there's a pause once he says that and with it comes a debate of should he or shouldn't he. staying behind allows him to be at her disposal if she wants to use him as a sounding board (a very vocal one from time to time, considering how strong his opinions could get) but leaving allows him to make sure once again that he's safe. an added bit of security. ] I could stay.

[grafted]

[ Margot laughs, though it's little more than a puff of smoke pluming from her lips. A party, of course. No wonder he seemed so eager to leave, wishing to hurry off to whatever social respite the gathering would offer him. Abstractly, Margot understands the necessity of such things, but to her they served merely as a distraction from where her attention naturally drifted and wanted to be: work. ]

Some systems function more efficiently than others. I'd say something about how we've all gotten it down to a science by now, but I've never been one for puns. [ Margot pauses just long enough to pick a bit of ash from the tip of her tongue, shivering in the process. ] I wouldn't want to keep you from your party.