[Ravi/Sofie] - sorry 'bout the tables
Who:
Ravindra
Sofie
When: After this post.
Where: Home
Rating & Warnings: G
Ravi comes to apologize for flipping tables and then tries to convince Sofie to enter the Sabremes' art contest.
There were some moments when Ravindra wished he didn't have to share a house. Sofie walking in on him in the middle of a rage-fit was one of those times. He didn't feel like explaining why he'd felt the need to overturn a table, so he had told her to leave don't worry about it everything was fine. Luckily she had taken the hint and hadn't appeared the second time.
By the end of his conversation with Alex, he was feeling much less frustrated. He owed Sofie an explanation, he felt, so after he closed the ledger he went to knock on her door.
It wasn't like Sofia hadn't seen her husband be angry before. In fact, she had been the instigator of a few of them. However, her own concern for the feelings of others and the fact that she had something of a friendship with her spouse only encouraged her to ask anyway, despite the predictable response she knew he was going to give. Not wanting to make it any worse, she took his reply and simply slipped into her room until it was over.
She had been staring at the wall, mindlessly biting her finger nails while in her evening wear as she pondered what to do about the coming festival. Should she join? Just be a spectator? If she did join, what would she make? the knock of her bedroom door gave her a mild jump of surpise, but instead of opening, she just gave it curious look and spoke. "Come in."
He pulled open the door and paused in the doorway when he saw how she was dressed. "Did I wake you?" he asked. No, probably not, she hadn't sounded just-woken when she'd said to come in and her bed was still made. Nonetheless he felt like he was interrupting something.
Sofia pulled her fingers away from her mouth and shifted her limbs until she was in a little more comfortable sitting position. She was a little embarrassed being caught with a shameful bad habit, but wasn't going to really help point it out further than it already was.
"Oh. No." She answered, making a quick glance at her attire before looking back up at Ravi with an awkward smile. "I was thinking about sleeping, but ended up in thought. Did you need something?"
Thinking about sleeping but ended up in thought. There was a joke in there somewhere, but he couldn't think of it. It would come to him ten minutes after he left; that was how it always worked.
He leaned against the doorframe, folding his arms. "No, I only wanted to explain about the table. The investigation has been going poorly. That was more bad news." A pause. "Twice."
Even Sofia cringed at that news. "I could see why you'd be angry then."
Still, what could possibly had happen to be considered bad news twofold? Not to mention how angry he seemed. It wasn't normal for Ravi to show much emotion, even something easy as anger. Sofia may have had one of the most unusual relationships with her husband, but she still cared for him. "Is there anything else you can tell me? You seemed a little more angry than usual."
He started to say something, but sighed and shook his head instead. He couldn't tell her about Alex, and that was the entire reason he seemed angrier than usual. There was more to it, though, something she could understand. After a pause to consider how much to tell her, he said, "I don't know if Myron really was killed by an Other."
Sofia's eyebrows peaked as her husband was about to say something and then the corner of her lip quirked into a frown when he seemed to hesitate. She could already tell he was hiding something, but she didn't want get in the way of his work's protocol nor interfere with Ravi's attempt at actually being earnest with her. If it was something in important, than surely he will tell her eventually.
What he did say intrigued Sofia all the same. Her eyebrows were peaked again, a quizzical expression crossing her face. "But there was rumor that suggest an Other on the contrary, isn't there?"
It wasn't like she was snooping on his meetings, but rumors seemed to do that all on their own.
He gave a nod. "That is the rumour. And it does look like he was killed by an Other, but there is a lot about the case that is..." He paused, turning inward as he considered what to say. "...Strange. A lot that does not seem to fit right."
"Strange?" She asked. A little unsure how else to continue the conversation without breaking any protocol or getting her husband to close in on himself again.
"I do not think I should say more than that." Final. It wasn't because he wanted her excluded, it was just the way of these things. Protocol meant he couldn't discuss the case's details with too many people outside of it, and it was just safer not to tell Sofie at all. So when he said it, it carried a slight undertone of apology beneath the finality.
While his eyes drifted from her, they caught sight of the canvas she had set up on the other side of her room. He'd taken it as a given that Sofia was going to enter the Sabremes' contest at the Fest, being that she was exactly the sort of person they expected to enter. "Have you decided what to enter into the art contest, yet?" he asked.
Ah. Guess there really wasn't much else she could say to make him talker further in that regard. Her lips hung open a minute as if she was trying to form words, but after a moment thought better than to follow through.
When Ravi brought up the art contest though, her cheeks flushed a little, her mind a little reeling at the subject. "M-maybe? Um. That is, if I am entering the contest. I...I haven't really decided."
Sofia was always uncertain about displaying her work, especially with the public. She loved her work, but displaying it to the masses made her uneasy. She just knew everything she made was far too amateur. Any artist in the city would simply pity her work, probably consider it to have been done by a child. So why should she show it?
His eyebrows rose. Then lowered. Her response shouldn't have surprised him at all, really. She was always like this. He understood how crushing a complete lack of self-confidence could be, and the debilitating fear that goes with knowing everyone is judging you, all the time. But, well, outside of Sofie's crippling self-doubt, she was really not that bad.
"You should enter," he told her. "Your work is much better than you think it is."
"You think so?" Sofia asked, her growing a little in surprise, but only to be drawn away back toward watching the wall in thought. "Iii don't know though."
She shifted uncomfortably, trading the postions of her legs into a mirror position. "What should I even make? I don't want to make something nobody likes..."
He sighed, but only because it was a sentiment he understood and he didn't really have anything to say to overcome it. He straightened, stepped out of the doorway, and came to sit beside her on the bed. (Not too close. A polite distance.)
"Sofia," he began, "the truth is that you are quite good, and as long as you make something you like, there will be somebody else who also likes it." He took a breath, let out another sigh, and turned to look at her. "I understand how it is to question everything you do. To always think, 'nobody will like this, everyone will think I am a fool, it is better to do nothing.' If you are really worried about what people will think of you, enter under a false name."
Sofia nodded and partially hugged one of her knees. "I don't know if I want to go that far. I might have very little confidence, but If I'm going to join, I want to be responsible with what I made rather than rely on a false name."
Still though, what was she going to do? She should probably work on one of her more favorite art methods, but what if-
She let out a small groan and leaned her head back against the wall. "What do you think I should make for it?...If I did decide to join, I mean."
He shrugged. It was her choice whether to use a pseudonym or not; if she didn't want to, he wasn't going to force the issue.
The groan got a sidelong glance. He understood how difficult this sort of decision could be, but he felt like she was only trying to get his opinions so that if she failed, she could blame it on him. Not out loud, of course. But she'd look at him and think, "I only failed because I did what you said."
No. That wasn't what she was doing. He needed to stop thinking like this. Be reasonable, Ravi, she was only asking for advice from a friend. "Scenery is your specialty, yes? Perhaps your favourite place, then," he suggested. (An obvious suggestion and TOTALLY not something she could blame on him if she failed.)
Really? He really thought Scenery was her specialty? Sure, she did like to draw landscapes and the nice blend of colors that seemed to nature loved to produce and decorate itself with, but already Sofia was starting to count out all the flaws that she knew her paintings had. She could never make clouds look right, her vegetation was always just a little too green and her blue skies never seemed to really blend right to give that certain dimension that it was supposed to have. None of these details really mattered to the common eye, but they always stuck out whenever she looked at any of her own work. She was almost equally sure anyone with a taste for art probably saw the same.
"I wouldn't say it was my specialty...Why? Do you like them" She asked.
This was one of those questions that was going to be wrong no matter how he answered it, wasn't it? The honest answer was that he felt indifferent to most of her paintings. He preferred art that told a story, and most of what he saw from Tyrol's artists, including her, did not.
He tried to figure out how to phrase the truth in a way that wouldn't insult her. He took a deep breath and answered, "I think you are good at it. It is a strength, you should play to it."
That seemed to satisfy Sofia enough, a heartfelt smile spreading across her face. She could already tell there was bit of posturing there, but only for Sofia putting him on the spot like that, something that she saw only after she let the words go.
"Thanks." she finally said, turning her head to look at the far wall again. "I'm still not sure if I want to enter the contest, but if I do, I'll probably make a scenery painting like you said."
She turned to look at him again. "Besides the case you're working on, how have you been?"
She'd probably enter, despite saying that. If he couldn't convince her, he'd sic Amelia on the task--she was good at that sort of thing. He didn't want to see Sofie miss out on an opportunity like this just because she lacked confidence in her work.
How had he been? Oh, boy. He couldn't exactly say that his best friend slash first crush had suddenly come back from the dead after 17 years as a vampire and that it was making his life both amazing and complicated. He shrugged. "Fine," he said. "I have been fine. The case is really all that is going on for me right now." THE BIGGEST LIE.
"Ah." Sofia had been around Ravi long enough that she knew there was something else. Something else besides his work was bugging him. To see that he still was hesitant telling her made her kind of feel a little exasperated. Still, it'd be best if she just let it slide. If he really wanted to talk about it, then she'd be here.
Maybe she could convey that? Probably something a little on topic. She gave her husband a kind smile. "Well, if you ever need to talk more about your frustration with it, you know where to find me."
But he hadn't said he was frustrated--oh wait with the case? Or maybe she could tell he was lying?! Aaaahhh Sofie get out of his head! "Right," he replied, because it was an appropriate answer to an offer like that even if he didn't plan on taking her up on it, and it didn't reveal any of what he was thinking.
"Anyway," he stood, facing her. "Good night, Sofia."
Sofia withheld her resigned sigh and watched her husband leave her room. "Good night."
Ravindra
Sofie
When: After this post.
Where: Home
Rating & Warnings: G
Ravi comes to apologize for flipping tables and then tries to convince Sofie to enter the Sabremes' art contest.
There were some moments when Ravindra wished he didn't have to share a house. Sofie walking in on him in the middle of a rage-fit was one of those times. He didn't feel like explaining why he'd felt the need to overturn a table, so he had told her to leave don't worry about it everything was fine. Luckily she had taken the hint and hadn't appeared the second time.
By the end of his conversation with Alex, he was feeling much less frustrated. He owed Sofie an explanation, he felt, so after he closed the ledger he went to knock on her door.
It wasn't like Sofia hadn't seen her husband be angry before. In fact, she had been the instigator of a few of them. However, her own concern for the feelings of others and the fact that she had something of a friendship with her spouse only encouraged her to ask anyway, despite the predictable response she knew he was going to give. Not wanting to make it any worse, she took his reply and simply slipped into her room until it was over.
She had been staring at the wall, mindlessly biting her finger nails while in her evening wear as she pondered what to do about the coming festival. Should she join? Just be a spectator? If she did join, what would she make? the knock of her bedroom door gave her a mild jump of surpise, but instead of opening, she just gave it curious look and spoke. "Come in."
He pulled open the door and paused in the doorway when he saw how she was dressed. "Did I wake you?" he asked. No, probably not, she hadn't sounded just-woken when she'd said to come in and her bed was still made. Nonetheless he felt like he was interrupting something.
Sofia pulled her fingers away from her mouth and shifted her limbs until she was in a little more comfortable sitting position. She was a little embarrassed being caught with a shameful bad habit, but wasn't going to really help point it out further than it already was.
"Oh. No." She answered, making a quick glance at her attire before looking back up at Ravi with an awkward smile. "I was thinking about sleeping, but ended up in thought. Did you need something?"
Thinking about sleeping but ended up in thought. There was a joke in there somewhere, but he couldn't think of it. It would come to him ten minutes after he left; that was how it always worked.
He leaned against the doorframe, folding his arms. "No, I only wanted to explain about the table. The investigation has been going poorly. That was more bad news." A pause. "Twice."
Even Sofia cringed at that news. "I could see why you'd be angry then."
Still, what could possibly had happen to be considered bad news twofold? Not to mention how angry he seemed. It wasn't normal for Ravi to show much emotion, even something easy as anger. Sofia may have had one of the most unusual relationships with her husband, but she still cared for him. "Is there anything else you can tell me? You seemed a little more angry than usual."
He started to say something, but sighed and shook his head instead. He couldn't tell her about Alex, and that was the entire reason he seemed angrier than usual. There was more to it, though, something she could understand. After a pause to consider how much to tell her, he said, "I don't know if Myron really was killed by an Other."
Sofia's eyebrows peaked as her husband was about to say something and then the corner of her lip quirked into a frown when he seemed to hesitate. She could already tell he was hiding something, but she didn't want get in the way of his work's protocol nor interfere with Ravi's attempt at actually being earnest with her. If it was something in important, than surely he will tell her eventually.
What he did say intrigued Sofia all the same. Her eyebrows were peaked again, a quizzical expression crossing her face. "But there was rumor that suggest an Other on the contrary, isn't there?"
It wasn't like she was snooping on his meetings, but rumors seemed to do that all on their own.
He gave a nod. "That is the rumour. And it does look like he was killed by an Other, but there is a lot about the case that is..." He paused, turning inward as he considered what to say. "...Strange. A lot that does not seem to fit right."
"Strange?" She asked. A little unsure how else to continue the conversation without breaking any protocol or getting her husband to close in on himself again.
"I do not think I should say more than that." Final. It wasn't because he wanted her excluded, it was just the way of these things. Protocol meant he couldn't discuss the case's details with too many people outside of it, and it was just safer not to tell Sofie at all. So when he said it, it carried a slight undertone of apology beneath the finality.
While his eyes drifted from her, they caught sight of the canvas she had set up on the other side of her room. He'd taken it as a given that Sofia was going to enter the Sabremes' contest at the Fest, being that she was exactly the sort of person they expected to enter. "Have you decided what to enter into the art contest, yet?" he asked.
Ah. Guess there really wasn't much else she could say to make him talker further in that regard. Her lips hung open a minute as if she was trying to form words, but after a moment thought better than to follow through.
When Ravi brought up the art contest though, her cheeks flushed a little, her mind a little reeling at the subject. "M-maybe? Um. That is, if I am entering the contest. I...I haven't really decided."
Sofia was always uncertain about displaying her work, especially with the public. She loved her work, but displaying it to the masses made her uneasy. She just knew everything she made was far too amateur. Any artist in the city would simply pity her work, probably consider it to have been done by a child. So why should she show it?
His eyebrows rose. Then lowered. Her response shouldn't have surprised him at all, really. She was always like this. He understood how crushing a complete lack of self-confidence could be, and the debilitating fear that goes with knowing everyone is judging you, all the time. But, well, outside of Sofie's crippling self-doubt, she was really not that bad.
"You should enter," he told her. "Your work is much better than you think it is."
"You think so?" Sofia asked, her growing a little in surprise, but only to be drawn away back toward watching the wall in thought. "Iii don't know though."
She shifted uncomfortably, trading the postions of her legs into a mirror position. "What should I even make? I don't want to make something nobody likes..."
He sighed, but only because it was a sentiment he understood and he didn't really have anything to say to overcome it. He straightened, stepped out of the doorway, and came to sit beside her on the bed. (Not too close. A polite distance.)
"Sofia," he began, "the truth is that you are quite good, and as long as you make something you like, there will be somebody else who also likes it." He took a breath, let out another sigh, and turned to look at her. "I understand how it is to question everything you do. To always think, 'nobody will like this, everyone will think I am a fool, it is better to do nothing.' If you are really worried about what people will think of you, enter under a false name."
Sofia nodded and partially hugged one of her knees. "I don't know if I want to go that far. I might have very little confidence, but If I'm going to join, I want to be responsible with what I made rather than rely on a false name."
Still though, what was she going to do? She should probably work on one of her more favorite art methods, but what if-
She let out a small groan and leaned her head back against the wall. "What do you think I should make for it?...If I did decide to join, I mean."
He shrugged. It was her choice whether to use a pseudonym or not; if she didn't want to, he wasn't going to force the issue.
The groan got a sidelong glance. He understood how difficult this sort of decision could be, but he felt like she was only trying to get his opinions so that if she failed, she could blame it on him. Not out loud, of course. But she'd look at him and think, "I only failed because I did what you said."
No. That wasn't what she was doing. He needed to stop thinking like this. Be reasonable, Ravi, she was only asking for advice from a friend. "Scenery is your specialty, yes? Perhaps your favourite place, then," he suggested. (An obvious suggestion and TOTALLY not something she could blame on him if she failed.)
Really? He really thought Scenery was her specialty? Sure, she did like to draw landscapes and the nice blend of colors that seemed to nature loved to produce and decorate itself with, but already Sofia was starting to count out all the flaws that she knew her paintings had. She could never make clouds look right, her vegetation was always just a little too green and her blue skies never seemed to really blend right to give that certain dimension that it was supposed to have. None of these details really mattered to the common eye, but they always stuck out whenever she looked at any of her own work. She was almost equally sure anyone with a taste for art probably saw the same.
"I wouldn't say it was my specialty...Why? Do you like them" She asked.
This was one of those questions that was going to be wrong no matter how he answered it, wasn't it? The honest answer was that he felt indifferent to most of her paintings. He preferred art that told a story, and most of what he saw from Tyrol's artists, including her, did not.
He tried to figure out how to phrase the truth in a way that wouldn't insult her. He took a deep breath and answered, "I think you are good at it. It is a strength, you should play to it."
That seemed to satisfy Sofia enough, a heartfelt smile spreading across her face. She could already tell there was bit of posturing there, but only for Sofia putting him on the spot like that, something that she saw only after she let the words go.
"Thanks." she finally said, turning her head to look at the far wall again. "I'm still not sure if I want to enter the contest, but if I do, I'll probably make a scenery painting like you said."
She turned to look at him again. "Besides the case you're working on, how have you been?"
She'd probably enter, despite saying that. If he couldn't convince her, he'd sic Amelia on the task--she was good at that sort of thing. He didn't want to see Sofie miss out on an opportunity like this just because she lacked confidence in her work.
How had he been? Oh, boy. He couldn't exactly say that his best friend slash first crush had suddenly come back from the dead after 17 years as a vampire and that it was making his life both amazing and complicated. He shrugged. "Fine," he said. "I have been fine. The case is really all that is going on for me right now." THE BIGGEST LIE.
"Ah." Sofia had been around Ravi long enough that she knew there was something else. Something else besides his work was bugging him. To see that he still was hesitant telling her made her kind of feel a little exasperated. Still, it'd be best if she just let it slide. If he really wanted to talk about it, then she'd be here.
Maybe she could convey that? Probably something a little on topic. She gave her husband a kind smile. "Well, if you ever need to talk more about your frustration with it, you know where to find me."
But he hadn't said he was frustrated--oh wait with the case? Or maybe she could tell he was lying?! Aaaahhh Sofie get out of his head! "Right," he replied, because it was an appropriate answer to an offer like that even if he didn't plan on taking her up on it, and it didn't reveal any of what he was thinking.
"Anyway," he stood, facing her. "Good night, Sofia."
Sofia withheld her resigned sigh and watched her husband leave her room. "Good night."