1x1 with Mouse26

[Rondell]

As agreed, we'll start out with Michael and Fia (and Kiba) being separate from Leizu and Caelo, but if/when it makes sense for them to meet up, we can have it happen for a change of pace. ^o^

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Setting for Michael and Fiesta (and Kiba)
A surprise birthday party planning meeting at which Michael - a friend of the Foxer having the birthday, and the dude who's volunteered to help with the lights - and Fia - the overall party coordinator & designer who's been hired by the group of friends throwing said party in the first place - are meeting for the first time and trying to feel each other out (both are very good at their job and don't want to work with someone who isn't) whilst getting party things done. The meeting is taking place in a medium-large city, in the 'party room' of the restaurant that's been chosen as the venue. Mid-morning.

Kiba comes in later, to keep them from killing each other. XD
He's employed as a bartender in the restaurant where the party is happening, and is going to work the party too.

Setting for Leizu and Caelo
A stretch just up the beach from Leizu's little seaside home, which is in turn located just outside a small rural town which is, yet again, situated about half an hour to an hour's drive outside of the city where Michael and Fia are. Mid-morning. Leizu heads out on her morning walk to find a stranger digging around in the sand.

[Rondell]

Michael
Michael sat silently toward the back of the room, his papers spread and waiting on the bar before him. He'd already gone over the existing setup as well as he could, noting the built-in track lights spaced evenly on the ceiling, what kind of outlets were in the wall, how many outlets were in the wall (not to mention where they were), the places where he could possibly mount some equipment of his own, and spots that would be a problem to cover. He'd even tracked down a restaurant employee who looked like they knew what they were doing and double checked how much current the system could take. All in all, it wasn't bad - he'd certainly dealt with worse over the course of his career - but it could have been better. Lots better. With a quiet sigh Michael leaned his elbow against the bar and put his chin in the palm of his hand. Now all he had to do was wait for this 'Fiesta' person to show up.

She wasn't late. No, he was ridiculously early. Though knowing it didn't make waiting for the party planner any more fun.

Leizu
After a quick breakfast of oatmeal topped with blueberries and brown sugar, Leizu slung her bag over her shoulder and headed out the front door, not bothering to lock it behind her. After all, there was no one around to care - just one of the many perks that came with living in the middle of nowhere. Or, at least... on the edge of nowhere. She paused briefly near the crest of the dune on which her little home stood and breathed deeply to fill her lungs with the chill morning air, laced as always with the slightly sweet, salty scent of the ocean. Then, thus fortified, she began making her way down the hillside, picking her way skillfully between clumps of sea-grass that rustled softly in the wind. It didn't take long. Very soon, and with one final hop that sent up a spray of sand, she'd made it to the foot of the dune.

Down here, on the beach proper, the omnipresent roar of the waves was louder, and the breakers crashed onto the beach not thirty yards away. She also discovered that the sand was still damp from the morning fog. It stuck to her bare feet as she resumed her stroll, and gave her no small amount of pleasure. She loved mornings like this!

Once she was closer to the shoreline her sharp eyes began picking out shapes in the sand, and on a fairly regular basis, she'd bend down to pick something up. After washing it gently in the water which periodically rose up about her ankles, she'd either slip it in her bag or toss it back to the ground, and move on. Leizu began most of her days by beachcombing. It was part of her routine, and she knew exactly what she was looking for. As she rounded another dune, however, she found her eyes drawn to something - or rather, someone - that was anything but routine, just up the quiet beach from where she stood.

[M2627]

Venti e Caelo
Caelo dug furiously into the wet sand. She hated it. It was bad enough when she dug far enough to hit water, but this was worse. She huffed and sat down, taking a break. Caelo wished she could call on Spirit like her older sister could. Spirit seemed to help Wind Song out. "Come on. Is there any treasure here?! Or maybe you could tell me where Father and Mother are." She wasn't sure if it was listening. Caelo growled and summoned a strong blast of wind, blowing a large portion of sand away, hoping to uncover treasure.

Fiesta de la Primavera
Fia struggled to carry all the supplies she had bought for this party. Her hands were so full she had to hold her forearms up to put the other bags on. Her mind wandered to what this Michael guy had done already. Fia hoped he wasn't terrible. She did not want to have to deal with that. She tried to hurry up, but running was difficult in high heels. "Sorry, darling. I had some shopping to do." Fia spoke with a rich Spanish accent as she entered the resturaunt. "First things first, decorations. What..." She eyed the lighting suspiciously. "What is this?" Fia asked, her voice clearly laced with apprehension.

[Rondell]

Michael
For lack of better things to do, Michael had flagged down a passing waiter and asked for a drink. And he'd gotten it. But the question remained... what had he gotten a drink of? Swirling the dark liquid around in the glass, he decided that he didn't want to find out.The guy he'd asked was most likely on his break, and had probably come into the normally empty 'party room' to have some alone time. He had looked pretty surprised when he ran into Michael. Then he'd looked peeved when Michael had insisted on a drink. So. The glass could contain just about anything a vindictive waiter could lay hands on. He wrinkled his nose. Then again, it could just be cruddy tea that had been left to sit out too long.

He was spared any further suspense because it was then he heard a voice behind hin and he was given more immediate issues to deal with. Abandoning the glass of whatever on the bar beside him, Michael spun around on his stool, doing his best to keep a friendly expression plastered on his face. "That's alright. I was... keeping busy." The person that stood before him was so unbelievably colorful and festively dressed that there was no doubt in his mind that the was looking at... well, Fiesta. Even if she hadn't been loaded down with bags overflowing with streamers and chit-chatting about decorations. It was unfortunate though, that she seemed not to appreciate his setting up shop in this little corner. "This - " Michael gestured to the papers scattered across the bar as well as to a few stray lighting instruments he'd stashed under the counter, " - is my job. Remember how I said I'd been keeping busy?" He threw her a mischievous wink. "Well, part of that's been my getting the feel of this place. I already have a couple of ideas."

Leizu
She'd never seen this person before - and that was something when you considered the size of the town nearby! Everybody more or less knew everybody else around here. Which meant this person, on the beach, in front of her, had to be from out of town. And they were.... Leizu eyed the piles of sand that littered the beachfront with a mixture of curiosity and surprise. Digging...? As she stood there and watched, her head tilted slightly to one side, the figure appeared to hunch forward. Shortly afterword sand began to fly into the air, most likely from some unseen hole. Yes, it definitely looked like they were digging. Leizu blinked. No sooner had she answered that question for herself than a thousand and one more came bursting into her brain, all at once, all equally insistent. Why were they digging? What for? Had they lost something? And, who were they? Were they here visiting someone specific, like a family member or business contact, or were they just passing through? Had they maybe come... just to... dig? And...what was that? Leizu strained to listen, and caught the barest sound of a voice carried on the breeze. Now: who were they talking to? It certainly wasn't to her. They had their back to her, and hadn't seen her yet.

All this had taken but a moment.

Just as Leizu decided that her curiosity outweighed her caution and began to move forward again, her hand raised in greeting, her voice preparing to call out, an unusually strong gust of wind swept her off her feet. Instead of a cheerful 'Hello!' her mouth let out something more along the lines of 'Aaarugugh!' - a sharp, short expression of surprise. Then she found herself landing face-first on the sand. Where had that come from?

So much for first impressions.

[M2627]

Venti e Caelo
Caelo huffed in exasperation. The wind blew again, as if mimicking her annoyance. "Nope. Spirit isn't listening. Why do they speak only to Big Sister? I want to talk to them too!" The sand barely moved. It was too wet. She considered summoning a full blown hurricane hoping to put a dent in it when she heard a startled cry. "Hmm?" Caelo stood up and turned around. A young girl was lying face first in the sand. Caelo knelt next to girl and poked her. "Hello? Are you okay?"

Fiesta de la Primavera
Fia eyed the paper scattered everywhere on the table. What a mess... She turned around to look at the lighting setup. The wires were tangled together in plain sight. Her face reddened slightly. Did she have to work with this guy? "This is... unacceptable." She said finally. No one wanted to see a mess of wires at a party. They wanted the lights and dazzle and music. Not... this. "Start over." Fia said, forcing herself not to explode.

[Rondell]

Michael
Michael raised an eyebrow, at the same time allowing his mask of joviality to slip slightly. This was not at all what he had expected from a design meeting. What he HAD expected, having never worked with a party planner before, he couldn't quite say... but this twasn't it. Hadn't the guys said he'd be working with a real professional? Yet here he was, confronted instead with a person who was fast proving herself incapable of basic - read: civil - communication! "It's nice to meet you too." He quipped, ignoring her words entirely for the moment and choosing instead to lean back in a relaxed fashion and prop his elbows up on the bar. "I'm sure we'll have a great time working together." Then, smiling slightly at the reaction this had caused, he shook his head and dropped the niceties all together. "Look, Miss, I really haven't done anything yet. Most of this... eh, 'crud', shall we say, was here when I showed up this morning. All I've done is tidy up. So I am starting over. From the wreck whatever inconsiderate moron who worked in here last left me to deal with. Furthermore, the only thing that's unacceptable is the setup..." Michael hesitated slightly, sorely tempted to add 'and your manners'. At the last moment however, he decided against being overly antagonistic since he did have to work with this Fia person, and simply added: "I can't believe that this place was the best venue we could find on short notice! I need adapters for all the outlets I'm using." Which was nevertheless said with no small measure of disgust.

The glass of whatever had somehow found its way back into Michael's hand as he'd been talking. He'd even been about to take a big swig of it. Reflexes were the darnedest things sometimes... shuddering inwardly at his near mistake, he considered getting up and going to find some unfortunate potted plant to dump the stuff on, so he wouldn't have to worry about it anymore.




Leizu
At Caelo's poke, a muffled and more or less indistinguishable noise issued from Leizu. She had been prepared to lie there all day, face-down if need be, in the hopes of not being spotted by the stranger. She was so embarrassed! But here was the stranger, right beside her now, poking her in the forearm and asking if everything was OK. Which it wasn't. Yet it was way too much to hope that this person would go away at this point. Plus, she was still burning with curiosity. So there was no choice but to grin and bear it.

The sand was gritty between her teeth and almost intolerably salty on her tongue as she maneuvered herself into a kneeling position, sputtering slightly yet grinning from ear to ear. "Yeah, I'm fine. Just got caught off-guard, is all." She very badly wanted to spit - to try and clear some of the sand from her mouth - but, at the same time, didn't want to further embarrass herself in front of this stranger. "Did you feel that gust of wind too? Weird, on this kind of day." As she spoke, Leizu pulled her bag from her shoulder and flipped it open, revealing an eclectic array of flotsam and jetsam, from sea glass and driftwood to old coins and bits of netting, along with a canvass canteen. The latter she pulled from the bag eagerly, drinking deeply from it and swishing the water around in her mouth before swallowing.

[M2627]

Venti e Caelo
Caelo chuckled nervously at the mention of the strong wind. "Yeah... That was me. I was looking for treasure. I figured the worst that could happen was finding spare change. But there's nothing!" She tried to look at what was inside the other girl's bag, but wasn't quick enough. "I can control the wind. Stuff like speed, strength and frequency. I tried to blow some sand away hoping to uncover something. I would have summoned a whole hurricane if you didn't show up."

Fiesta de la Primavera
"Why didn't you start fixing this mess before I got here, instead of sitting around and drinking whatever THAT is, if you're so much better than him!" Fia slapped him on the back on of his head viciously. She wasted no time in tossing a few bags full of decorations to a couple of stage hands and started barking out orders. "You! Set these up, and do it competently! I will not accept anything less than perfection! And you! Set the tables decently! Do it now! This party won't set up itself!" Fia ignored Michael until it was his turn. "You. Take everything down and set it up again, competently! No wires lying everywhere in a tangled mess and tripping people!" Fia would usually do this in a more cheerful manner, but this guy was insufferable.

[Rondell]

Michael
For once in his life, Michael was honestly and truly at a loss for what to say. This woman was nuts! Furthermore, it had been a long while since anyone had treated him like an incompetent intern. He hadn't liked it then (even if he had actually been a fairly incompetent intern at the time) and he certainly didn't like it now (when he was anything but). As for the last guy who'd punched him... it was all Michael could do to fight down the cold rage which had been building in the pit of his stomach and keep himself from dumping the contents of his glass over the top of Fia's pretty little head. Although his knuckles were beginning to turn white from the force of his grip.

He staid silent until Fia had finished bossing around the crew she'd brought with her, and even let her bark out the orders she'd come up with for him. But before she could do anything else, much less start shouting again, he pushed himself away from the bar and got to his feet, letting something of a sneer creep onto his lips and into his voice. "A: I don't live here. I only showed up an hour or so before you did, and I used most of that time to haul my stuff in. The rest of it was spent going through the programming on the light-board..." Michael jerked his thumb to indicate a complex panel of switches, buttons and sliders that was set up in the far corner, "to find out what was hooked to what." He set his glass back down on the bar before continuing. "B: of course there are wires and such everywhere! There's no masking of any kind at the moment. Also, how can you expect a work in progress to look neat and tidy? Cleanup is the last step. You don't want to waste fifteen minutes carefully tying bundles of wire to the bar, only to find out you have to move everything around again."

At this point, Michael took a step forward and put his hands on Fia's shoulders. "C:... sit down and shut up! For five minutes at least! I can't understand that accent of yours when you get going so fast." As he spoke, he pulled her forward, switched places with her, pushed her down onto a bar stool, and held her there to keep her from bouncing right back up. Seeing as he'd spent a good portion of his life hauling around scaffolding, massive extension ladders, and lighting instruments that weighed 30+ pounds a pop, not to mention scenic elements when the carpenters were short-handed, Michael was no weakling. "I'm not one of your crew. I'm an independent party. A volunteer. And I don't appreciate your attitude! Besides, I think you're overlooking the tiny fact that I can't light anything to advantage if I don't know where you're putting your decorations." Michael let go of Fia, leaning forward to pull a pile of papers closer to her. As he spread them out, they were revealed to be a set of meticulously done sketches that outlined several different possible lighting placements. "I also can't light anything if I don't know what colors you're using - I have to coordinate."



Leizu
"That was you?! No kidding?" Leizu's voice was full of surprise and awe, and she stopped trying to screw the cap back onto her canteen mid-turn as she fixed her eyes to Caelo instead. If this stranger had indeed called up that gust of wind, it would explain a lot - she'd heard of rouge waves before, even seen one break on shore in a storm, but she'd never heard of rogue gusts. Either the wind was blowing or it wasn't, and today... it wasn't. "That's so cool! I mean... how did you learn to do it? I didn't know anyone could control the wind. Are you an elemental or something? Or half elemental? A Magician? A... uh... " Quite suddenly Leizu realized how foolish she must look, kneeling there in the middle of the beach with her face all covered in sand, sputtering like a foolish kit while the waves came up and soaked her shorts. "I'm sorry, I don't even know your name." With a shy smile she tightened the cap on her canteen and stowed it in her bag. Then she brushed at the sand on her face with the hem of her shirt. When she was satisfied she'd removed as much of it as possible, she got to her feet and smoothed her clothing back into place. "I'm Leizu Hotios," She pronounced it 'Léi-Zǔ O-twah', "And It's nice to meet you! It's always nice to meet a fellow beachcomber!" Now grinning from ear to ear, the young girl slipped her bag from her shoulder and flipped it open so that Caelo could see inside. "I don't know about treasure, but I find coins and stuff all the time. I have a metal detector back up at the house, even, although I didn't bring it today. I'm more after pretty bits of driftwood and sea glass today."

[M2627]

Venti e Caelo

Caelo pondered the question of how she learned. She probably learned it once before losing her memory, then completely forgot about it and had to rediscover it all over again. "I'm not sure... It's sort of complicated. I think it was triggered by strong emotion? The details are kind of hazy." The young woman put a smile on despite her regret of losing her memory, and her family. "Elemental? Is that somone who controls an element? I guess I am one, then. I was born with this ability, as far as I remember." She peered inside the bag curiously. There were so many nice treasures in here. "I'm Caelo. Venti e Caelo. It's some language for winds from heaven."

Fiesta de la Primavera

Now it was Fia's turned to be at a loss for words. She was ready to slap him again when he placed his hands on her shoulders, though she restrained herself. He seemed pretty strong. She picked up the paper that worked best with the design she chose. He seemed competent enough at his job. "The colours are blue, pink, green and purple. This one works best with what I have." Fia studied the paper again. It was really complicated, but she didn't give asking about it a second thought. She was still seething at being told to shut up, but didn't show her anger. She wasn't going to let him know how much it infuriated her.

[Rondell]

Michael
"Now we're getting somewhere!" Michael said, scooping the drawings which Fia hadn't chosen back into a pile. "I'm rather fond of that setup myself, if you don't mind my saying so." That done, he slipped onto a stool beside her and bent double to retrieve his backpack from the floor. He was inordinately glad that the party planner seemed to be unbending a little - for a moment there he'd been afraid she was going blow up again - and was determined to press his advantage. If he could get all the fiddly stuff sorted out now, he could let Fia and her crew get on with their business, and he could get on with his. Luck providing, he wouldn't have to deal with her again until last-looks. And by then she might have burnt off some of her pent up energy! When he straightened up again, Michael promptly plopped the backpack on the bar in front of himself and began rummaging through it. "Now. Did you have any sort of patterns in mind? For the dance floor? My rover here," he kicked out a foot as he spoke and gave the largest of the lighting instruments beneath the bar an almost loving tap, "has several built into it. I can show them to you once I get it mounted. However, I also brought a pile of Gobos along so I could fit the source-fours, and those I can show you now." By this point he'd found what he'd been looking for in the depths of the backpack and had brought out a decent-sized stack of gobos which was held together by a rubber-band. Each was stashed in its own transparent envelope (or zip-lock baggie), so that one could see the pattern on it without needing to open it up each time you were looking for something specific, and as he spread them out before Fia, he made sure that each one was displayed to advantage. Some bore assorted zigzags, others had stars; there were also a verity of polka-dot patterns, splatters, stripes, checks, and a couple of different types of foliage. Just for the heck of it. "See anything you like? I was thinking the stars, as they're pretty festive, plus the rover has something very similar in it so I could sync them up. Along with..." he hesitated, then put his finger on one of the foliage patterns. "This one? Left mostly unfocused, it would just add some nice texture to the room."



Leizu
"Venti e Caelo, Winds from Heaven... that's a very pretty name. Poetic, even! Mine is pretty boring. 'Leizu' is just the name of the Chinese empress who is traditionally credited with the creation of silk spinning." Leizu made a face as she flipped her bag closed and shouldered it again, almost as if she found the the whole concept to be a bit silly, then her smile was back. "My parents, back before they died, took baby-me to see an oracle. They wanted to find out what my talent would be when I grew up so that they could help me along. Put me in the right schools, introduce me to the right people... you know." She shrugged. "Well, the oracle read my tea leaves and said that the pattern she saw meant I'd be a silk weaver. My parents were so pleased with that - silk can be a lucrative business! - they gave me my name. But little did the old lady know... I'd spin sea silk, not worm silk!" Leizu laughed, brushing a lock of hair from her eyes. "They're different. And the empress I'm named for worked in worm silk! So it works... but it doesn't. Know what I mean?" As she finished her story, she took a moment to wring some of the water from the hem of her shorts. The sun was well up into the sky now, and the day was growing warmer by the minute, but the breeze still made her damp clothing a touch uncomfortable.