Re: Nightmares (Open)

[Sadiq Adnan]

Sadiq shrugged at the question. "Food? Hardly picky. As long as it fills my stomach I tend to not have any complaints about it. Soup is usually good, spiced meat, things like that." He titled his head down at her. "How much do you know about the areas food anyway?"

He froze, eyes widening behind his mask slightly at her reaction. It was... more extreme than he had really expected, but he probably should have seen it coming. "Well," he said slowly, trying to be soothing. "I don't know the guy personally, I was just curious. I apologize if I crossed any lines."

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

"That sounds good. Though I'm not extremely good at preparing meat..." She tilted her heat a bit as she looked back at him. "Mm, I really don't know much of anything about this region's food...I am sure I could learn quickly though. It's mainly quite spicy, I think..."

"I...I'm very sorry..." Natallia took a few steps back, her expression very telling: she was a bit shocked at herself. "No, do not appologize. I...am sometimes prone to outbursts like that. Ivan was all I had for a long while and...I am very defensive of him..." She was wringing her hands as she spoke - a nervous habit for her.


[[Yay for non-linear conversations...XD]]

[Sadiq Adnan]

[[Yeah... actually bothers me a little, and is the biggest down side to a two paragraph limit. Ah well XD]]

"Well, as I said I'm good with most things," Sadiq replied with a slight shrug. "Spicy tends to be good, but that comes from livin' here most my life. But if you're a quick learner, you should do fine here, especially if you take the time do do anythin'."

His brows arched again under his mask and he spread his hands out. "No, it's fine," he murmured, voice still soothing and low. "Outbursts happen to the best of us, and if he was the only one with you for a while, then, well, we're damn well protective of those we love," he continued, feeling a slight pang in his own chest. "And, well, I understand well enough. I won't talk about him again, yeah?"

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

"Ah, okay. I'm sure I can make something you will like then. And I hope I can get some new recipes this week. Things are actually starting to look up for me. I only hope that I don't curse myself with my new-found confidence..." Her look one one of slight concern which then melted into a dull sadness.

"I just...I do not like being so violent sometimes. I wish I could make it better, but every time I make progress, I just snap and set myself right back to where I was to begin with. But...thank you. For trying to help...and just for not thinking that I'm crazy." She looked up at him with as much of a smile as she could at the moment. "And...that would be appreciated, yes."

[Sadiq Adnan]

"Confidence is never a curse," Sadiq replied with a smile. "And as I said, anythin' will do. I'm sure I could hunt up any recipes you'd like. Or even show you some. I cook from memory when I do it, and I could certainly provide any spices you might need." His grin only widened at that.

"Violence is part of life," Sadiq said softly. "Even small snaps aren't that far of a set back and well..." he shrugged. "Alright, I hardly know everythin', but I think you're a fine person. I wouldn't talk about him but... if you ever need to talk to someone about him, I can listen."

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

"Ah, if you say so." Natallia returned his smile, wondering a bit about her good mood. Hadn't she been upset earlier? "I think I would like that. Oh, of course you could. I believe you said that is your specialty, no?" Natallia's pace slowed now...she really should have put on some shoes at least.

"I just wish it wasn't a part of my life..." Natallia sighed and clasped her hands in front of her. "Thank you for that, but...You're one of few people who would think so. And...I don't think I really could talk about him. Just mentioning him like this... It affects me. And not in a very good way either. I love him...but I am trying to get away from that."

[Sadiq Adnan]

"I do say so," he replied, giving her a grin. "And yeah, spices are supposed to be my specialty. Don't tell anyone, but I'm not nearly as good with them as I'm supposed to be," he said, voice low but teasing. "Though still decent enough to tell them apart and cook with them, if I do say so myself, pretty damn well."

"Well, there's many parts of our lives we sometimes don't wanna have anythin' to do with anymore, but without all those parts, the good, the bad, the painful and the gorgeous, we wouldn't be who we are, hm? We can grow, but we can never really forget what shaped us," Sadiq said, and sighed softly. "Those things make us stronger to live with. And I won't brin' him up again then, no worries. Maybe someday you'll be able to deal with it hm? But it doesn't have to be today, or even anytime soon."

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

"Sadiq..." Natallia said, playfully swatting the man's arm (this was something she wouldn't normally do but...eh, why not?). "That must mean you do something else then. What is it that's got all your time? And I would like to taste your cooking, if you wouldn't mind."

"I'm a bit surprised at you. That was very profound." Natallia smiled a bit ruefully as she looked out into the distance, the ocean just visible on the horizon. "You are right, but... Sometimes I wonder if I wouldn't be a better person if I had grown up differently... And...I really hope that I can face him again one day...without going insane again. But that day will probably be quite a time away..."

[Sadiq Adnan]

"I will cook for you then!" he said, trying to make it sound somewhat dramatic, as he wasn't too thrilled with answering the other question. and trying to figure out how to get around it. "Well, it's less of doin' somethin' else now and more of havin' done it in the past. Most merchants actually had things like apprenticeships and the like to learn their trade? Me? I'm just pickin' it up as I go."

He snorted slightly at her first comment. "I'm deeply profound," he protested. "And there's a lot of possibilities for people, if they had grown up different. But as I said, we grow up different then we're not really the same people anymore. Our scars make us us. And I hope, more for your sake than anyone's, that that day can arrive."

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

"I look forward to it." Natallia laughed softly at Sadiq's rather flamboyant tone, but soon her smile faltered as she listened to his reply. "I see...I don't want to pry, so I won't ask what you did before, but that does sound a little suspicious, you know."

"Oh, well I certainly didn't mean to offend you, but you really don't seem the intelectual type to me." She pursed her lips as she listened, frowning a bit at the truthfulness of his statements. "I am trying to get better, but it si difficult on my own. I hardly know anyone in this city...not even my own sister."

[Sadiq Adnan]

For a long moment, Sadiq didn't respond. "I look forward to it too," he settled for finally, wondering how much he could brush off of his past. After all, basically being a pirate was a bit more than just sounding suspicious. "More of a lack of formal education or trainin' creatin' a checkboard of my life," he said finally, which was entirely the truth... from a certain point of view. And he would be damned if he didn't twist things to suit him.

He shrugged. "I wasn't hardly offended," he offered, though he had been slightly pinged with hurt. But it was like the poke of sand being thrown against your arm. "Well, then don't try on your own," he said. "Besides, you know me now."

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

Natallia tilted her head slightly to look up at Sadiq, a slight grin on her face. He was being a bit elusive and she knew it, but she decided not to press it just now. If he wanted to be secretive, so be it. "Ah, a very mysterious way of putting things. I'm almost sure that your life has been...eventful though."

"I still apologize. I should know not to judge by appearances." The Belorussian woman nodded thoughtfully, expression still a bit apologetic. "You're right. Thank you..."

[Sadiq Adnan]

He laughed softly at that, tilting his hat back to scratch his forehead before pulling it back down. "You claimin' I'm mysterious?" he asked, voice still light. "Surely you're thinkin' of some other bloke around here. Me, I'm rather run of the mill." There was a pause as he considered. "But it's true, that lives been rather eventful up 'til now. Now? It's gotten a bit borin'."

"Well, consider it a lesson then in not judgin' on appearances," he said, with a grin. "Learn from your mistakes and you should be fine. I'm a right desert sage I am. Just missin' my robes somewhere..." He nodded to her last bit. "Well, you're welcome then. Though I haven't done much of anythin'."

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

"Yes, I am." Natallia's voice was soft and full of laughter. "A man who wears a mask and such a het is surely mysterious in my book. And the way you speak just adds to that persona; eloquent, but...very circuitous." Her head tilted slightly at the end of his last sentence. "Boring? We shall have to fix that."

"Thank you then. But again, I am sorry if I offended you. And I'm sure you are." Natallia laughed softly, her hand coming up to cover her mouth. "Perhaps you could get the tailor to make you some. It would complete the ensemble. And...you have done plenty. Somehow I feel less of a stranger here since meeting you."

[[Yikes, sorry that took so long...o.o I have been so busy getting ready for college lately...]]

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

[[Should we start a new thread, or are you not interested anymore? Just asking...]]

[Sadiq Adnan]

[[I am a terrible person and have been gone for ages. I'm still interested! *Flails* Just had some stuff come up and failed utterly, over pretty much the entire summer. Whoops]]

"Really, there's nothin' mysterious about me," he protested, though his grin belayed that slightly. "I'm just your average travelin' man who's settled down finally."

"Besides, I was kiddin' about the robes. Don't really need them to be any sort of sage, that's just what they want you to think." Sadiq paused a moment at her last statement before nodding. "Well, I'm glad you feel less of a stranger then. That's pretty important, to feel like you belong to somethin', somewhere."

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

[[Oh, it's okay. >.< I was just wondering since it had taken so long. It's fine though.]]

"Oh? Well, if you aren't mysterious, why don't you take of that mask?" Natallia's blue eyes twinkled in the moonlight as she looked up at him. "You must be hiding something. Or perhaps hiding from someone...Or maybe you just like people to think that."

She smiled and nodded at his response, knowing all about how important appearances are to some. She let him finish talking and thought for a moment before speaking again. "It has been a while since I have really felt...'home' anywhere. I hope this place can be something like that for me." She stood up on tiptoes to place a chaste kiss on his cheek. "...Thank you."

[Sadiq Adnan]

[[Still, I feel bad. Ah well, on with the show.]]

He looked down at her, something passing behind his eyes. "Maybe I'm not hidin' from anythin', except superstition. An old legend says you can fend off the evil eye with masks like this, didn't you know that?" He shook his head slightly and looked out over the dunes. "Besides, it's part of an image, innit? And images are worth somethin'."

Blinking, Sadiq glanced down at her after the kiss on the cheek. "What was that for?" he asked, not quite as confused as he sounded but still slightly surprised. "Hope this place can be such a thin' too. Everyone needs one."

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

She looked up at him curiously, blinking a few times before shaking her head. "No, I didn't know that... Does it really work?" She paused for a second, following his gaze over the sands, before replying. "That makes sense, I think. You like people to see you a certain way, da?" The concept was not a strange one to her. She put on her own mask of sorts when she walked through the market, avoiding peoples' eyes and making sure that her face stayed void of emotion.

A small amount of pink stained her cheeks when he looked at her, her certainly fading slightly. But she came back with an answer quickly to cover, her voice perhaps a bit to smooth. "Just my way of saying thank you. You are very kind for a stranger. I see this town in a different light after talking to you. ...Perhaps just because your outlook is so much more positive than my own."

[Sadiq Adnan]

He laughed at that. "Works against the evil eye? Hell if I know whether it does or not. I've escaped it so far but probably through sheer dumb luck more than a fancy mask. But," here Sadiq paused for a moment. "Masks are as important as the things people try to hide. Images are everythin' when you get to a place like this, or if you're on your own."

Considering her for a moment he bumped her shoulder lightly with his. "Thanks accepted then," he said, retreating to a safe distance again. "Besides, you should always take a positive view on things or you're just goin' to sink under the weight of life itself. You swim until you don't, that's just a fact of life. Doesn't mean it can't be fun along the way."

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

"Hm." She frowned a little, tilting her head to the side as her hands clasped in front of her. "Luck is quite important though..." She mused, and then remained silent for a few moments. "On your own...? Are you?" She shook her head minutely before answering her own question. " Of course. You aren't hiding, but rather...trying to protect yourself, da?"

She looked down at her shoulder where it had contacted his, just listening to his voice. She decided that she quite liked it, despite his odd accent. The things he said were intelligent and kind, but she though to herself that a large part of why he seemed trustworthy to her was that he sounded trustworthy. Natallia's head snapped up when she realized he had finished speaking. "Ah, fun... I have been working for too long to have fun again, I think. I have too many important things to do."

[Sadiq Adnan]

For a long moment he really didn't know where to start with a response to that. "Luck? Luck's the most important thing there is. As for me? I've been on my own for a long time now." It hadn't always been that way, but he squashed down any of those memories before they got any more of a hold on him. "Isn't hidin' the same as protectin'?" he murmured before shaking his head. "Yeah, well, I'm here."

"Workin' too long for fun?" he protested, shaking his head. "Surely not! Everyone needs some form of fun. It's just as important as so many other thins," he declared firmly, nodding to emphasis his point and adjusting the mask over his face.

[Natałlia Arłoŭskaja]

"...I don't really have much luck myself." Natallia's expression was one of deep thought and she took a few minutes to continue. "I don't believe that luck has anything to do with why I am here. Bad luck or good luck." She looked down at the sandy ground, eyelids drooping slightly. She was beginning to get tired again. They had been out here for quite some time after-all, and she hadn't even gotten half the amount of sleep she was used to before her nightmares had awoken her. At length, she looked up and finally finished her thought. "I think that if one wants to improve their 'luck', they actually need to act. It's not a thing that just happens. And...hiding is a very passive way of protecting, don't you think?"

Natallia's face sobered as she thought about the last time she had actually done something just for the fun in it. Such activities had been few and far between since her childhood with Ivan. "Fun is a waste of my time. I need to make enough money too feed and clothe myself at the end of the week. That is important to me."

[Sadiq Adnan]

"Sometimes passive ways are all people are given," he replied with a shrug. "Runnin' in half cocked doesn't always work, and don't people learn that the hard way." He considered her. "Should really get you home, shouldn't? You look tired."

"But," he continued. "Money is important and all that but that doesn't mean you can't have fun too. There has to be time in the day enough for both or you'll wear yourself out so badly that you won't be able to function. Should take you to the airship field sometime, just to look around at all the pretties."

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