Logs:Girls
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| RL Date: 7 March, 2015 |
| Who: Edyis, Laine, Drex |
| Involves: High Reaches Weyr |
| Type: Log |
| What: Edyis and Laine discuss the future, Drex gets advice on girls. |
| Where: Greenhouse, High Reaches Weyr |
| When: Day 11, Month 3, Turn 37 (Interval 10) |
| Weather: Wind and snow make for very bad weather today. The visibility is low, making travel dangerous. |
| Mentions: Farideh/Mentions, Aishani/Mentions, Itsy/Mentions |
| OOC Notes: As usual feel free to edit/add/remove/change anything I may have missed. |
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>---< Greenhouse, High Reaches Weyr(#2203RJ) >-------------------------------<
A rustic and unadorned vestibule leads in from hewn spiral steps to a
refitted ledge, enclosed by limestone pillars. Sturdy wooden framework
captures elongated glass panes, tilted to absorb the most light during the
day. The wash of heat from within, lush and humid, persists even into the
dead of winter; the air is heady with the scent of fresh-turned soil and
various flora.
Long, deep troughs of soil line the inner stone wall, planted with an
assortment of broad, leafy tropicals - practical and decorative alike.
Fruit and vegetable baskets hang from rafters, optimizing space, tempting
in reach with a perpetually ripening harvest. A series of stone shelving
is devoted to flourishing, aromatic herbs and new green shoots; even the
softest touch releases a burst of savory scent from tender leaves. Amidst
the greenery, a handful of wooden benches have been scattered, making this
a temptingly warm and secluded spot to sit.
Shuttered vents serve to regulate humidity and heat given off from a small
hot spring recessed into an alcove at the back; a secondary pool with
cooler waters siphons off to provide a constant, fresh supply for
irrigation. A small potting station nearby is cluttered with watering cans
and gardening tools of various uses, with a wooden bin for composting
materials tucked underneath.
-----------------------------< Active Players >-----------------------------
Edyis F 20 5'4" athletic, brown hair, brown eyes 0s
Laine F 17 5'4" trim, dark hair, grey eyes 17s
----------------------------------< Exits >---------------------------------
Complex
>-------------------------------------< 11D 3M 37T I10, winter afternoon >---< Judging by the angle of the shadows, it is still early in the afternoon when Edyis finds herself meandering in the humidity of the green house. Dark eyes scan the hanging baskets and planted rows before quiet steps bear her to the pool in the back. Laine's form, idly sprawled out on a wooden bench and screened as she is behind broad-leafed vegetation, might not be readily spotted. She's face-up, with an arm draped over her eyes, and may very well be sleeping. Beside her, on the flagstone floor and dangerously close to a small puddle encroaching from a tipped-over water can, lay a messy heap of books and scrolls--homework, from the look of it. Edyis's lips press to a thin line as dark eyes focus intently on the encroaching puddle. The heap, is tended to first, the former scribe crouching to pick up the items, dusting each one off before arranging them neatly a safe distance from the puddle. It is really only after she starts cleaning that she notices Laine, not bothering to disturb the younger girl until after the books and scrolls are safe. "You should take better care of your materials." Her soft soprano voice finally pierces the silence. The snoozing apprentice tanner wakes up some time after Edyis' started tidying but before she's scolded, so it's with bleary eyes and a wide yawn that Laine replies, "uuhhn. Yeah. I get that a lot." She scoots up to sitting, bracing herself on staight arms and dangling her feet over the bench. She's barefoot, but makes no move to put on her shoes. "S'nice and warm in here. Shitty out there." She thumbs upward, indicating the glass panes above: heavy snow, whipped by that biting wind. "Whatcha doin', apart from cleaning up my messes?" Lazy, lopsided smirk. "And yet here your books are, about to be ruined." The words do not hold any bite despite their content, and even the thin press of Edyis's lips relaxes into something more akin to a smile. "I was looking for a warm quiet place to think. I wouldn't worry too much though, I think by this point in my life I am rather used to cleaning up other people's messes." "Some kind young woman would've come along and picked 'em up for me," Laine quips, "they're fine." She passes an idle glance over her new, neat, safe pile of work; that look wanders over the nearby greenery, then finally lands on Edyis. "Quiet. Warm. I won't make any more messes." Laine shuffles to one side, freeing up the rest of the bench, and pats it in invitation. "I can even be quiet if you want." She mimes zipping her mouth shut. Edyis snorts lips still twisted into that pleasant shape. "No, no need to silence yourself on my account, besides I am not entirely sure that you are capable of it." She teases, tipping her head back to look through the snow frosted glass, claiming the offered spot. "I just wanted to clear my head a bit, is all." A beat before dark eyes shift to study the younger girl, copper hued features schooled into something akin to curiosity. "Did you always want to be a tanner?" It may seem out of the blue. Laine's smile is wry and crooked. "You might be right about that, unfortunately. But you're in the right place for head-clearing." (Or sleeping.) The girl leans back, draping her head over the back of the bench so she's staring straight through the glass, snow-laden ceiling panels. "Something about the humidity. Gets into your brain." Laine doesn't look over at Edyis when laughs, abruptly, a low, genuine chuckle. "Want? No. No I did not. I... fell into it, you could say." Now, she slants a look over at Edyis. "What about you? Same question. 'Cept not the tanner bit." Edyis smirks, nodding in agreement about the humidity. "I don't know. Before I came here I never considered possibilities outside of the future that was outlined for me. That changed after standing, suddenly I was free to want something different. I would be lying to say that I am completely satisfied with my lot as it is currently." Her lips purse as she traces the thought to its conclusion. "What did you want then, if not the illustrious life of a leather worker?" Eyes alight with mischief as she smiles at the younger girl. "You stood? To Impress?" Laine lolls her head to one side so she can look properly at Edyis, her expression one of lifted-brow surprise. "What was your pre-here future? And... what would you do different, now, if you could? Do anything at all. Would you stand again?" Edyis' last question earns a shrug, an indifferent, "dunno. Never thought about it, much. Been doing this almost for as long as I haven't been doing it. It's just... what I do." Even if she does it lazily. And with no respect for her books. Edyis laughs, "Not because I wanted a dragon at the time, I was so terrified on the sands I could hardly think." She shrugs, "Marriage into one of the valley cotholds, children, a mundane sort of life lived out in obscurity." As for the question of what would be different now, her brow furrows as she tries to consider the question. "I would have tried to be braver I think, but hindsight." She shrugs. "If you could do something else? Would you?" She asks then, sidestepping the question of standing neatly. "I can't imagine," Laine says, thoughtfully. "Well. I can imagine but I bet what I'm imagining is nothing like what it was like, really. Goes for both standing and marriage-and-babies. That's the thing I like about obscurity," she says, her sincere expression dissolving under a loose grin, "no one expects anything of me, so I don't disappoint anyone." But she sighs, and that smile is short-lived. "Maybe. Depends. I have friends--friends who made choices that--" She pauses, then shakes her head as though to dislodge a thought. Says, instead: "I could've been a very different person than who I am now." Sidestepping, too, but in a different way. Dark brown eyes shift to study Laine then, some mixture of inquisitiveness and understanding perhaps in the former scribe's expression. "You are always going to disappoint someone, no matter what choices you make." It's spoken with the weight of experience perhaps. "Everybody has their own versions of right and wrong, their own truth that they choose to believe in." The young apprentice ducks her head so she doesn't have to meet Edyis' gaze, and instead stares intently at her bare feet, wriggling her toes. "Ugh. Being an adult is so hard," she eventually announces. "Everything was so much easier when I was a kid. Everything made sense, and if it didn't make sense, I could just ignore it." Which might be some general version of what Laine does now, in fact, but she seems deaf to the irony. "Maybe I should try. For this clutch. Maybe they'll send me back to Igen, where it's warm." Maybe, maybe, maybe~ Edyis tilts her head, eyes drifting back to the snow dancing in the wind outside, "It wasn't as scary the second time around, so long as you get out of the way of the hatchlings, and pay attention to what is going on around you." She recalls somewhat distantly. "If it is something that you want, you should." Laine chuckles again. "I didn't really mean it. I don't know what I'd do with a dragon, much less what the weyr would do with me. Would you do it again, do you think? Having done it... twice?" Twice: another perked look of interest, grey eyes turning on Edyis. "Want is such a funny concept. I have food, a nice bed, and work that's not too hard and that I'm not terrible at. What else could I want? Except for summer." Edyis smirks, still watching the wind and snow outside. "I haven't decided yet." She answers honestly this time. "So you are completely content? The state of your books, and your work ethic might suggest otherwise." The words gently teasing. "Time enough to make that decision, at any rate," Laine offers up, "seeing as there's no eggs to collect candidates for." For a thoughtful moment, Laine watches Edyis watching the snow, then follows that gaze up, up. She says, apparently to the ceiling: "content? Sure. Don't feel like I'm missing anything." But there's doubt in her voice. "Don't know what there is to miss. Does anyone really like what they do? You don't, sounds like," she points out mildly. Edyis frowns at the thought. "There will be fuss over candidates I am sure. The Igen arrangement went over about as well as a bucket of year old milk." Of satisfaction, the copper-skinned woman considers her words before speaking them. "I love hearing stories, getting to the truth of a thing and discovering new concepts and ideas. That part of serving in the Riders' Lounge has always appealed to me, but by itself it isn't enough, just as the Records Room wasn't enough on its own. I used to think that someday someone would tell me, Here. This is the thing that will make you content, here is that greater grander purpose you have been searching for." She shakes her head then, frowning. "But I am starting to believe that whatever that thing is, is going to be something I have to discover for myself." Laine clicks her tongue, thoughtfully. Without comment on the Igen/candidate situation, she leans back again, but braces her neck this time with laced fingers, her elbows and arms resting along the back of the bench. Carefully, she says, "sounds like you've found bits and pieces of your purpose. Just gotta put it together into something bigger. Harper?" She suggests. Since harpers are the story-telling, story-collecting type. "You've probably thought of that already," Laine concedes with a little laugh. "I'm still holding out hope one day my One True Passion will just fall into my lap and announce itself." "Too old for it now. That ship sailed some years ago. Something is wrong if you are twenty and still haven't made senior apprentice. Besides music was never my talent." She smirks, "Careful, I'm pretty sure there are a few boys around here who might take that as an invitation to sit in your lap." Laine winces, almost imperceptibly, and absently touches her own apprentice (junior apprentice) knot on her shoulder. She doesn't seem too hurt by the comment, however; she even laughs softly. "I suppose being musical is pretty important criteria for being a harper." She and Edyis are sitting side-by-side on a wooden bench, somewhat obscured from view from the entrance to the greenhouse. The younger girl's laugh brightens for Edyis' second comment. "I hope not. The weyr builds 'em strappy. Most of them would crush me." It's not the sort of weather to be out and about, unless one has somewhere specific to go, or is looking for a quiet, warm place to hang out. It's hard to tell which is Drex's intention: his furred coat is covered in a thin layer of snow, arms wrapped around his middle as he pauses to adjust to the warmer climate of the greenhouse. It's the voices that naturally, draw his wary curiosity, the first notice of his presence likely to be the snorted response to the term strappy, or maybe the weyr, or maybe just in general. Edyis frowns catching that wince. "You still have plenty of time, you are only how old?" But her eyes dart downward and in the direction of the door at not one but two snorts. The former scribe leans the, until she can see the fur wrapped shape of Drex. "No there are plenty of troublesome strays who cause just as much trouble." She tells Laine, before her attention fully drifts back to the younger girl. And here's one of those strappy young men in question: Laine's attention is caught by that snort, and she leans, too--tandem with Edyis--peering through rows of hanging plants. She answers the woman's question absently: "Seventeen turns, now. I know, I know; young. I'm practically still a baby." Does she catch sight of Drex? Maybe. Or maybe just a furry, cold-looking snowman. In any case, she settles again into the bench. Sighs. "How old are you, anyway? If you don't mind me asking." With not just one, but both of them staring at him, Drex growls a, "What? Aint never seen a boy before?" as he steps around into better view, coming to a halt in front of the bench, frowning between the pair of them. "Why are you girls so confusing?" he asks, like they're somehow, personally, responsible. Or maybe he's just going on the offensive. Edyis arches a brow at him at the accusation not bothering to give any thought to his first question. "People are generally confusing, but I get the feeling you don't mean us particularly." She replies blandly, before sighing. "What did you do to Farideh this time Drex?" Before murmuring something to Laine. Edyis whispers "Twenty." to Laine, in answer to her question. Laine wrinkles her nose, though there's no disdain in her expression as she inspects Drex. On the heels of Edyis, the apprentice tanner not-so-helpfully adds, "What, you didn't get the handbook when you turned fourteen? We all got the handbook." She even laughs at her own joke, quietly, but then turns an attentive, listening gaze on Drex. Yes, Drex, what did you do to Farideh? Given he's standing right there, Drex just gives Edyis a glowering look as she murmurs to Laine. "See," with a gesture towards her, "All this whispering. I'm right here." He ignores the questions about Farideh, because duh. He's not that stupid. Instead, he reaches into his coat and extracts a bottle, uncaps it, and takes a generous swig of the contents. Edyis didn't get the handbook, but she does look at Drex as though he has gone round the bend. "I only told her how old I was, though good job assuming I had some further comment on you that I simply lacked the gumption to state directly to your face." She tilts her head eyeing the bottle and him both speculatively. "What did you do?" Laine straightens, indignant: "It was only--" and then Edyis' goes and says what it was and Laine punctuates her words with two sharp nods. "And, also? We're sitting right here," Laine says with a pointed look at Drex's bottle. "Why is it always my fault?" Drex retorts. And then Laine, and her look at his bottle makes him hold it up, just in case there's ideas of trying to snatch it from him. "Aint gonna share with people who are grilling me." He looks at her, like maybe there's a counter-offer in there. Drop Farideh, and he'll give you the booze! The once-scribe laughs at the question, "If you have to ask why, you have already lost." Edyis chuckles as she follows the grey-eyed girl's stare at to the bottle, and then the movement of said bottle. After that, the discussion of the Laundress is dropped rather quickly, in favor of a quiet smirk. Laine will defer to the relationship experts on this one. She just shrugs, lips pressed and crooked in a wide-eyed, 'what do I know?' look. "Consider Farideh dropped," she says, with a sidelong look at Edyis and something that looks like a smirk trying-but-failing to be suppressed. She even offers up a conciliatory: "it's probably not always your fault. Probably." Drex takes a gulp from the bottle, and because he is a dirty pirate, doesn't even wipe it before he passes it over to Laine. She probably gets first offer because of her words, to which the sailor looks grateful, even if it's only half supportive. "Friend of yours?" he asks Edyis while eyeing Laine. "Naturally." Edyis states of Laine. "This is Laine, apprentice tanner. If I recall correctly she has lived here just about as long as you have. Laine this is Drex." She leaves the sailor to explain his own purpose at Reaches. Laine, accepting the bottle with a genial nod, takes three quick gulps (without wiping it off). She carelessly polishes her sleeve on the mouth of the bottle before handing it to Edyis, though. "Pleasure to meet you and your booze," Laine offers up cheerfully to Drex. "Whose friend are you?" The sailor squints suspiciously at the tanner. "Aint seen you around," like it's some sort of accusation, though Drex doesn't linger on that thought. A grin appears at her question, fading swiftly, after. "No one's, apparently. Used to be Itsy's, but she went all... weird." Her expression says heathens as the bottle gets passed, and when offered the bottle, Edyis wipes it with her sleeve only taking a short gulp before again wiping it and passing it back almost guiltily, as though she has just committed some terrible transgression. Instead of lingering on the bottle though it is Weird that gets her attention. "How so?" Curious and for once, not accusatory. "Not much of me to see," Laine replies with a self-effacing smile and another short shrug. She watches that grin flicker and vanish, but nods to that bottle making the rounds. "Hard to think why a guy who shares his drink so freely wouldn't have many friends," she says with a little cough. Another smirk tugs at her mouth. "Another one of those, 'definitely-not-your-fault's?" She hazards. Drex gives Edyis a strange look, perhaps for her attentiveness to the bottle-wiping. "Aint gonna give you boy cooties. You know that's runnershit, right?" as he reaches to accept the bottle back, taking a generous gulp. "Dunno. All angry and shit. You know... girl stuff." Like they should know. He gives Laine another look, "Aint much of a people person," like it's a surprise, as he hands the bottle off to her. It's Laine's latter guess that earns a grimace, and a not-quite-completed shrug. "That was half my fault, maybe. But only half." "There's cooties, and then there is just plain being polite and civilized." She answers with a sniff, though she doesn't take too much offense to the look, and falls mostly quiet. "It's more probably 'cause spit is gross," Laine suggests, although the tip of her head toward Edyis says that there might be something to be said for polite and civilized. Despite that, Laine drinks directly from the bottle without hesitation. As for girl stuff? One eyebrow arches, and the tanner's expression wavers between amused and quizzical. "You do know that girls are just, like, real people, right? Half fault or no." But, what does she know? After another swig, she offers the bottle to Edyis (after a courtesy wipe, of course). Drex's scoffing laughter is apparent response to Edyis' talk of being civilized. "Aint got room to stash a full set of glasses under my coat," as if that was the only reason. "You got one stashed about your body, feel free to be civilized." He's warmed up enough from outside that he sheds his coat, giving Laine a quizzical glance in turn. "I aint an idiot," he counters, perhaps not very convincingly. "But a lot of you seem to get angry over something and then don't tell me what and then storm off and..." he makes a frustrated noise. "And least boys get into a fight and get it over with." Edyis accepts the bottle with a smile for Laine, taking a couple of longer gulps this time. His scoffing is met only with an even tone, and it doesn't change the fact that she wipes the bottle mouth after she finishes passing it back to him either. "Since I don't know what kind of stomp off you are talking about I can't really help you there. I don't exactly have a guidebook to the female mind. I'm pretty sure if one was ever written it would be burned instantly." "You could try punching her, see if she'll punch you back," Laine submits for Drex's consideration with a back-and-forth tilt of her head. Alternatively: "Have you tried asking her what's wrong?" She tacks on: "Without scowling? Scowling tends to put a person off. And anyway," Laine shrugs, echoing Edyis, "since neither of us are obviously the lady--or ladies?--in question you seem to be having troubles with, I'm not sure how useful our input would be." She wrinkles her nose. "Try flowers." Another lazy shrug. "Or, you know, just keep scowling and asking other people what the problem is." "You mean, you've never stomped off in anger?" Drex seems to find that difficult to believe, if his expression as he stares at Edyis is any indicator. He does at least have the presence of mind to secure the bottle first before he does so. Laine's suggestion earns a genuine bark of laughter, and then, "I aint that' suicidal." It's her other, more reasonable suggestion, that has him frowning in thought. "I don't scowl," he says, while scowling. And drinking. "Suppose I could try that. Flowers, that's good." And worth another pass of the bottle, apparently. Edyis rolls her eyes, "Because asking other people what the problem is without explaining precisely what happened is sure to net you a bunch of good answers." She frowns at the flowers, "That would work for some girls, not others. Who stomped off?" Laine recaptures the bottle with a flourishing, you're welcome sort of seated bow. And drinks. "I've stomped off in anger," she says as an aside, more to herself than either of the other two, peering down the neck of the bottle and sloshing what remains. "A good stomp can be really satisfying." When she glances up at Drex and his scowl, it's with a funny sort of expression. "I think we need to get you a hand mirror, my friend. And Edyis has a point," Laine says, handing the bottle over to the aforementioned. "If she's not into flowers, definitely do the punching thing." "Dunno, I think that's pretty good. All girls like flowers, right?" Drex says, gesturing around them and, as if he's planning to do so right now, investigating likely flowers nearest them. "You think she might not be?" Apparently this thought has never occurred to the sailor, and he's frowning again. "She likes dresses and pretty things, so she'll like flowers." And so he resumes his inspection of the greenery, though does add: "Edyis might be more of a punching type?" he could be joking, but it's hard to tell with his nose buried in some plant. Edyis glances to Laine nodding, though she frowns. "No I wouldn't recommend punching Farideh. If that is who stomped off. Flowers would probably work with her." At mention of being a punching type, she waves a hand dismissively. "I wouldn't recommend trying it. Besides, I have no reason to stomp off on You. I can tell you precisely what I think and feel about your person. Stomping off is usually something that only happens when that isn't an option." "Flowers," Laine drawls as she fishes a pair of boots out from under the bench, "are pretty things. Pretty things that smell good. Safe bet." After tugging her boots on, the apprentice tanner stands, and moves to collect a small stack of books and scrolls from nearby. She flips them under her arm and grins lazily at the other two. "It was great talking to you both," she says, although her warm smile is especially for Edyis, "but I really need to get my work done before tomorrow. These ones are nice," she jerks with her chin to indicate a cluster of flowers with long, brilliant yellow petals. And just before she vanishes, she adds for Drex a sympathetic, "good luck. Really." Drex's "Oh yeah?" in response to Edyis sounds almost like a challenge. Or an invitation. He's leaning in and plucking a few flowers, frowning at them as he straightens and offers them for inspection. "These seem ok?" They're probably a little bit pitiful all told, but it's not like most of the nice flowers bloom during winter. Laine's gesture towards the yellow flowers get his attention, with a genuine, "Thanks," before he veers off in that direction. Edyis watches the tanner leave with a wave and a warm smile, though it melts when Drex's statement reaches her ears. She just stares at him for a moment. "I think, you are going to end up hurting my friend, and that you make things obscenely complicated." Honest, as she pull her knees up to her chin on the bench. Drex picks a small selection of the yellow flowers to add to the ones he's already chosen. "I aint making things complicated," he replies. "We're both enjoying ourselves. Can't see why you can't be happy that your friend is happy." He gestures for the bottle, as he claims Laine's spot on the bench. Edyis doesn't seem to mind him sitting there, but she does take another swig before passing it back. "I am happy for her, but I also worry about her, I just don't want to see her get hurt." Resting her chin back on her knees. "She will make her own choices I suppose in the end." "Yeah, she will," Drex replies, not bothering to wipe the bottle before he takes a deep draught. "I don't want to see her hurt either. Aint much point threatening me on that score. Figure it'll probably happen and I don't even know why. Girls." Right? Though this is probably the wrong audience for that, and he seems to realize it a second later, pushing to his feet and leaning to scoop up his coat, shrugging into it. Squinting at the bottle a moment, "You want me to leave you the rest?" For him, it's a peace offering. Edyis shrugs, "Never said I was threatening you, because it is pointless." There's almost a smile for that, girls. "I will let you in on a secret Drex, though if you tell anyone I will firmly deny it." She cants her head at him, "Most of the time we don't even know what is going on in our own heads let alone each others', and half of the time when we do realize exactly what is going on it is too late. " The peace offering gets a smile, "No thank you, I wouldn't want to deprive a sailor of his spoils." Drex, apparently, doesn't seem to believe her secret, if the furrow of brow is anything to go by. Still, he says, "That must be very... confusing," and, hoisting the bottle, tugs his coat closed as he departs, taking a bracing gulp as he's leaving. |
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