An Inauspicious Beginning: Part 6

"Are you alright, Rish", Larin inquires, stopping for a moment to regard her. "You don't have to come along if you'd rather just head back to your own quarters of some such. I'd not be terribly crushed." He's not a very good liar.

Malion makes his way towards the lift, head hung low as he waits for the doors to open.

"Don't lie to me," Rish retorts, a wry smirk on her face. "You're not good at it." She sighs and shakes her head then. "I just don't know what's got him acting so weird. It's like he's afraid to even talk to me, then he wonders why I pay more attention to you. It makes perfect sense to me..." She snorts, eyeing the lift herself. "So, where's this park?"

The lift door opens and the Malion steps in. Not waiting for any to board, he presses the door closed behind him and descends.

"This way, Madame.", Larin eventually concedes with a sigh. "There are some important things that you should know." He escorts her to the lift, never losing his smile.

Arizhel steps into the park carefully, shivering just a bit. "Erm, I should have grabbed a coat or a cloak or something. I didn't even think of it," she says, her eyes on the sky. After a moment, though, she shifts her eyes to Larin, her head tilted slightly to the side. "So... what is it that's so important for you to tell me, Larin?"

"I just wanted some time to talk in a quiet setting.", Larin explains as he leads Rish towards just the spot he had picked out previously. The bench is unoccupied and he guides her into the seat next to him. He unfolds his own suitcoat and drapes it over her with a light smile, moving in slightly to keep her warm.

"So you're admitting you just wanted to get me alone," Rish retorts, grinning mischeivously. "Why, Larin Weyr, so you are a shameless knave after all." She chuckles and pulls the suit coat around her, smiling at him. "Thanks..."

"Ah well you didn't seem so intent on sticking around yourself...", Larin murmurs into her ear before he blows into it playfully. "Don't mention it." He looks up to the stars before he clears his throat. "I was wrong you know."

Arizhel giggles as Larin blows into her ear, then looks over at him, one brow quirked. "Wrong about what?" she inquires, blinking curiously. "And no, I didn't want to hang around. Not after Karlan spent the whole night ignoring me, getting drunk, and being generally sulky." She sighs, shaking her head. "Anyway, what were you wrong about?"

Larin shifts a bit and draws his arm around her and the coat. "The Verse is a big, big place. If you kept running there'd never be an end to the excitement I'm sure.", Larin muses. "So many stars and people and things. You know they say there's just that one person for you out there? Well either they're wrong or people have been getting damn lucky for centuries and centuries."

"I used to believe that," Rish replies, shrugging faintly. "When I was a kid. Before I ran away from home, and spent thirteen years finding out what kind of people are out there, even in the good parts of the 'verse. I've pretty much spent half of my life jumping from one relationship to the next, not really knowing where I'm going, or what I'm doing with myself." She sighs, shaking her head. "I dunno. I'm getting too old for this, though. Wandering, I mean."

"I gave up for awhile. Signed women off as the devil and likely to get you shot more than anything else.", Larin murmurs. "It didn't last long. I needed some sort of happiness ... I wasn't getting it from work, booze, money, or sex really. I ... christ there are so many." Larin is again looking at the stars. "Sometimes I look out there and wish I could have a chance to see them all. I wish I had the time." He frowns lightly. "Or at least could leave some legacy behind. I don't want to be some little speck in the solarsystem. I want to make some sort of lasting change ... maybe try for a family however odd that may sound."

Arizhel shrugs, reaching up to tip Larin's head gently towards hers, so that she can look into his eyes. "You, my dear, want a little slice of forever, and there's not a thing wrong with that." She looks away then, her eyes going to the ground. "I know there's no 'forever' for me and Karlan. That's what's been bothering me all this time. I think I -am- just getting older, growing out of this need to see and experience everything that the universe has to offer." Rish waves a hand dismissively, her lips twisted in a wry smirk. "It's all really stupid and hypothetical anyway. I'm not making any sense."

"I can't say I'd be able to offer 'forever' either, Rish", Larin admits but not without a fair amount of pain. "What I've been trained to do and most likely going to be called upon to do in the near future will be dangerous. I might be here the next day and just ... gone forever the next." He discusses his mortality rather openly here. "I suppose though somone could just as easily get hit by a hoverbus or die in their sleep." He shakes his head slightly. "You make perfect sense in just about every way."

"I know," Rish says, shaking her head, her expression somewhat pained as well. "I know, and that's about the only thing left that's making this so hard on me. This decision, I mean." She sighs, leaning her head against his shoulder comfortably. "I just... I don't know. This is all happening really fast. That's saying a lot, coming from me."

"Rish. I've gotta say that I would not be lying if I said I'm beginning to care for you more than damn well near anything else.", Larin remarks. "I know that I'm supposed to be a good sport but admittedly tonight I did try hard to /beat/ Karlan. I wanted to win. I ... it was lousy." He loosens his grip on her slightly in case she should want to storm off or do one of the many odd things women are accustomed to doing.

Arizhel shrugs vaguely, her expression somewhat lackluster. "It was like he just gave up. Like he didn't care. He sat at the damn bar all night. It certainly wouldn't have been hard to outdo that, Larin." She sighs then, looking up at Larin. "It made me so -mad- when he said something about me leaving with you, after he'd ignored me all God-damned night. What does he -want- from me? I'm not made of stone, for God's sake." She turns away and covers her face with both hands.

"I don't know.", Larin replies with a sigh. "I really don't know." Again his eyes back on the stars before they venture back to her face. "There's just something else I should say. I don't know whether or not you want to hear it. If it will make things any more difficult for you..."

"I don't think there's much else you could say that would make it any harder," Arizhel says, shrugging slightly. She scoots up closer against him, shivering slightly as she stares at the stars, as if trying to percieve what exactly it is he's looking at. "I dunno. In some ways, I think I've decided already, and it's just a matter of admitting it to myself, and to the two of you..."

"All the same. I think I love you.", Larin murmurs, drawing her closer for warmth. "I love damn well near everything about you. Your looks, your wit, your gifts, your faults, the way your head tilts to the side when you look at someone ... I know that if I were given time it might be confirmed and even be mutual." He pauses. "I know I'm not overly attractive, or wealthy, or smart, or any of all those things that makes someone a good catch but all the same I think I'm in love with you. In fact I know it. It's beyond attraction. Beyond hugs and kisses and anything physical." His cheeks flush a bit before he coughs a bit and manages a hoarse. "Sorry."

For a few long moments, there's no reply, the ebon haired woman leaning wordlessly against the Lunite, snuggled close against his side. She chews absently on her lip in the interim, before she closes her eyes, a slow smile quirking her lips. "Oh, Larin... I don't care about money. If I did, I'd still be a concert pianist instead of a bartender on a cruise ship. God knows I'm not the sharpest knife in the drawer, either. I do think you're wrong about not being attractive, though." Rish pauses, chuckling, and shifting her gaze up to study his face. After a moment, she looks back at the sky, and sighs contentedly. "I was starting to think that I was crazy," she muses, her expression pensive as she leaves the cryptic comment as it stands.

"Sometimes I think I've gone insane too.", Larin replies, a mixture of so much relief and happiness that could not be nearly described in words settling over his face. "I realized though that its just the rest of the Verse that's gone insane. There are just a few of us surprisingly sane people left." He doesn't question the comment, relying on all those years as a homicide detective to allow inference to take over. Just in case though he leans in for a tender kiss. "It's official then. I'm in love and hopelessly lost...again."

Arizhel quirks a brow then, looking up at Larin, her expression pensive. "What do you mean again?" she inquires head tilting to the side. "Eh... sorry, I probably shouldn't pry..."

"No. No.", Larin replies, his grip around her becoming just ever so slightly tighter lest she vanish. "I was in love once. It wasn't mutual. I nearly drank myself to death over it." He smiles lightly and shakes his head a bit. "But if I hadn't been so down the Boss would never have sent me to the Masque and I would never have...". A light squeeze and a smile.

"Crashed into my life like a drunken starship pilot?" Rish replies, chuckling. "Things happen for a reason, I guess, hm?" She grins and pokes him in the side, her expression mischeivous. "We should get back to our respective quarters, Mr. Weyr. It's getting awfully late. People will talk, you know."

Larin gives Rish an incredulous look that seems to say 'Let them talk.' but eventualy he concedes with a light sigh and a nod. "I suppose you're right. None of that sort of stuff until after you've decided to make public your decision." He slips his hand behind her back, ready to help her up. "You know I mean everything I said tonight and that there is so much more that can't really get out? I'm not so good with words."

Arizhel chuckles, shaking her head. "I was kidding. I don't care what people say, to be quite honest. It's my life, I'll do what I wish with it." She shrugs then, getting up from the bench with his gracious assistance. "I know. I'm supposed to be the writer, and still, I can't come up with the right words myself."

"Actions speak louder than words.", Larin quips with the old adage. "Well we had best get back to the ship then lest we die of hypothermia." He smirks lightly. "I'll try to keep you warm until then." He holds her close as he prepares to guide her back to the Masque.

"I'm sure you'll do fine," Rish reassures, chuckling faintly. "I'm quite warm now, actually. Ah... ahem." She flushes slightly and looks at Larin, again looking slightly down because of the added height from her heels. "You know, I really need to get some shorter shoes..."

"Or I need to grow a few inches and stand on my toes.", Larin quips. He looks to the crew quarters as the approach them. "Well this is where you get off I guess." He looks rather reluctant at that. "I had a wonderful evening. I hope it was just as enchanting for you as it was for me."

Arizhel chuckles and nods, reaching over to tousle the Lunite's hair affectionately. "I did at that," she agrees, a smile touching her lips. "I'm glad you had a good time, though. Hell, I'm glad you came to the ship in the first place, drunken first kiss and all."

Larin leans in for one last not-so-drunken kiss of the evening. "Me too.", Larin replies. "But you had best get to be young lady." An affectionate run of his hand through her hair and he is slowly backing away, green eyes not leaving Rish's. He looks as giddy as a schoolboy.

"Mmh, I'm an old maid," Rish protests, chuckling. "But I'll go to bed nonetheless." She smiles, and backs toward the crew quarters, her hands held behind her back. "I'll see you soon, Larin. I know it for a fact." She grins mischievously, and turns to head through the door to the crew quarters.