Penelope Dawn

"how did the tournament go?" the chess tournament that he assumed she'd come from. this was strange for him. probably more talking than he'd done in the last week in person.

When Valen crouched down to scratch Rook’s ears a crooked little doggy grin spread across his face, tongue hanging. Penny watched with a smile as Rook shook his head after Valen stopped his scritching and laughed a little. Rook gave a soft bark, almost sounding disappointed. Idly, Penny reached down to pat his head as Valen answered her about the food. She hadn’t eaten either, had been too nervous. About the tournament and this meeting. Now though, her stomach was complaining. Silently, thankfully, but she could feel it. “Very,”she nodded again when he asked if she was hungry and looked around for the direction of the food stalls. Easy enough to find with the signs for the tourists, she headed in that direction. “Oh, it was good. I placed in the top ten. Which is pretty good considering I have played someone on a real life board in some time,” she answered with a smile up at him. “I don’t think I ever asked if you play?” At least it was something they could talk about, otherwise she might have been at a loss. This was the most she’d said out loud to another person since her last call with her publisher and she was terrible at conversation. At least that was what she’d been told.

what caught him off-guard was kyra speaking about having to leave. offering him up as a comfort of sorts before turning to walk away. reaching out without turning his body from penny, valen's head turned towards her, fingers wrapped gently around her elbow. eyes narrowing, and hollowing out into nothing as if in warning, caution. a silent promise that she would tell him what she was hiding. blinking, after they had their silent exchange, he released his friend before turning back to penny - eyes having changed back as soon as he blinked before his head turned back. "and who is this?" brow still cautiously, yet curiously rose as he looked over at the creature. a smirk curling the corner of his mouth at the whine that he earned from rook. "hello, rook." with a lick of his lips, he motioned out towards the midway with his hand. "would you like to walk with me?" or if she'd rather they could probably find somewhere to just sit. reaching up a hand, he scratched the back of his head, unsure of how to do this. valen was a loner by nature so people came a little harder to him. it was just easier with kyra because she'd been around since he was young, well, young by their years.

Penny watched as the pair exchanged something, some kind of silent conversation, and wondered what it was about. The anxiety in her spiked a little, but it didn’t feel dangerous. No, more over, Valen didn’t feel dangerous. And Rook was calm. That was always her best indicator. If Rook was calm, things were fine. “Oh, this is Rook,” she replied when he asked, realizing she hadn’t introduced the big German Sheppard at her side. Rook gave a little sound of greeting, a soft almost whine. Penny smiled a little as the two greeted each other. Rook wasn’t at all cautious of Valen and that further put her at ease. He asked then if she wanted to walk with him and she nodded immediately. He seemed unsure of what to say and she felt that on a soul level. It was strange to not have a screen between them. She’d always been better at talking to people through forums and chat rooms. Real people in real life was another thing entirely. It seemed maybe he was the same. “H-have you eaten? Maybe we could get some food,” she offered.